jackson

When you join Twitter, the elation of suddenly experiencing free access to self-expression can be Zen-like.

You become at one with it. It becomes at one with you. Until the point where you're not sure which is you and which is it.

I feel sure that such feelings overcame Phil Jackson -- the NBA coaching great -- when he joined Twitter and 55,000 people immediately genuflected in the face of his Zen.

His account, @PhilJackson11, has been verified. It describes him as "coach and author." I have not read one of his books, but I suspect they don't necessarily include the character sequences that appear in his first tweet.

For it reads: "11 champ;ipnsikp[ ringhs."… Read more

There is one star of the original Batman television series that hasn't aged a bit in the decades since the show went off the air. The original 1966 Batmobile is still a beauty. If you had a big enough pocket book and were in Scottsdale, Ariz., for the Barrett-Jackson auto auction over the weekend, you would have had a chance at driving it home for your personal collection.

The modified 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car commanded a whopping $4.62 million selling price, taking the crown as Barrett-Jackson's highest-selling car at the annual auction. As we've learned, the cost of being Batman isn't cheap, but this would surely put at least a dent in Bruce Wayne's ample budget.… Read more

The show title isn't just an SEO play, we actually have five copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 to give away on the system of your choice (Wii U, Xbox 360, or PS3). Just follow us on Twitter and tell us your best 404-related box art parody name--use this one as an example, and don't forget to use the hash tag #404COD!… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Instagram 3.0 adds infinite scrolling, lets you plot on a Photo map.

- How to control which Instagram pics show up on your Photo Map.

- Hipstamatic lays off all but six employees.

- Hipstamatic becomes the first third-party app to officially post photos to Instagram.

- Buzzfeed invites you to rub Ryan Gosling. Learn the Moonwalk from MJ too, while you're at it.

- From a visual perspective, RubGifs still don't compare to cinemagraphs.

- Google US map shows regional stereotypes by autocompleting "Why is ____ so..."… Read more

Middle-earth buffs now have something to rejoice about -- Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson announced today that his movie adaptation of "The Hobbit" will be a trilogy rather than the previously announced two-part sequel.

He made the announcement on Facebook, saying that while he was editing the first and second movies in the series, he realized how much of the story was being left out.

"We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life," he wrote. "All … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- There's much more to hacking than just the Hollywood portrayal of a speed typing contest, say the computer security professionals who've developed a new hacking-themed card game called Control-Alt-Hack.

Control-Alt-Hack is based on Steve Jackson Games' Ninja Burger, but from the characters to the mission cards to the entropy cards, the demystification of white hat computer security is the name of this game. Game co-designer, security researcher, and University of Washington Computer Security and Privacy Research Lab honorary member Adam Shostack said at the Black Hat 2012 confab here that when it comes to teaching … Read more

Jeff's still gleeful after the results of this weekend's NHL Eastern Conference Finals, but there are other things going on in the world of The 404 too.

On today's show, Jeff gives a 50/50 review of "The Avengers," Justin gets an East Coast geography lesson, airports around New York announce holographic avatars designed to "help" lost passengers, Facebook reveals plans to develop yet another Facebook-exclusive phone, and Sony files a patent that could pause games to show players advertisements.… Read more

Today we'll take a critical look at the way people respond to celebrity deaths in the wake of Maurice Sendak, Adam Yauch, and Vidal Sassoon. We'll take you through the five typical stages of "grief" based on what Vice Magazine calls the Facebook Death Patrol.

We also have some bad news to report to children of millennials: your parents are still getting it on, and they're probably using a smartphone at the same time. A survey from Meredith's Parent Network questioned 1,000 moms born between 1977 and 1994 and found that 21 percent of them used their smartphones in the bathroom, while an astounding 12 percent admitted to using them in coitus! Sorry if we just ruined your day, kids.… Read more

Rep. Mike Rogers, the author of a controversial Internet surveillance bill and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, isn't exactly a card-carrying civil libertarian.

The Michigan Republican has called for the execution of accused Wikileaker Bradley Manning. His CISPA bill, which passed the House of Representatives this afternoon, has been savaged as obliterating "any semblance of online privacy" for Americans and, by fellow Republilican Ron Paul, as "Big Brother writ large."

But Rogers strode onto the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon to invoke the same Big Brother epithet to denounce … Read more