Bud Light's giant Pac-Man is just as cool as it looks in the Super Bowl ad

LOS ANGELES — From the outside, the set of Bud Light's Super Bowl commercial looks like any other construction site in downtown Los Angeles. Most passers-by, in fact, barely look up as they walk past the graffiti-filled plywood walls that surround the action.

I was on set the day in early January after the big filming for the commercial, and people were casually walking by the giant coin slot — which, during the commerical, opens up to reaveal a life-sized version of the Pac-Man game.

Less than 20 days later, Bud Light would unveil this video — its official 2015 Super Bowl spot.

But over the summer, as the company brainstormed for this year's Super Bowl spot, it decided to present an unsuspecting subject with a different kind of star power.

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World leaders pay respects to late Saudi King Abdullah

World leaders are due to arrive in Saudi Arabia to pay their respects in person after the death on Friday of King Abdullah.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande will be in Riyadh. The US delegation is led by Vice-President Joe Biden.

King Abdullah died aged 90. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Riyadh after Friday prayers.

King Salman, 79, pledged continuity after his accession to the throne.

He also moved swiftly to appoint heirs and ministers, including one prince from the ruling dynasty's third generation.

On Saturday, Mr Cameron, Mr Hollande and Mr Biden will take part in official ceremonies in the Saudi capital.

Iran will be represented by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

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Tennis grand slams bring even more heat as the climate warms

he hottest grand slam event on tennis' calendar began this week under mercifully mild skies.




Temperatures at the Australian Open have kept to double digits so far, contrasting with the brutal heat waves that struck last year, causing players and ball kids to pass out. Those heat waves have since been categorically linked by multiple teams of scientists to the buildup of greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere.

And new research by Climate Central has shown how climate change is affecting professional tennis — not just in Melbourne, but the world over, with all four grand slams getting hotter.

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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz dies

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died, royal officials have announced, weeks after he was admitted to hospital. 

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was the fifth of his brothers to take the throne and became king in 2005, reports Caroline Hawley 

King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been suffering from a lung infection. 

A statement early on Friday said his 79-year-old half brother, Salman, had become king. 

Abdullah came to the throne in 2005 but had suffered frequent bouts of ill health in recent years. 

The official announcement from the Royal Court came as little surprise, but this is still a historic and sad moment for this deeply conservative Muslim country, home to the two holiest sites in Islam, at Mecca and Medina, and the world's biggest oil exporter and producer. 

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Microsoft's HoloLens to help NASA scientists explore Mars

Of all the announcements Microsoft made during Wednesday's Windows 10 event, HoloLens, the company's new virtual reality headset, almost immediately dominated the news. 

But it's not just gamers and developers who have ambitious plans for the device. NASA also plans to use the futuristic tech to allow scientists to explore the surface of Mars with its HoloLens-enabled software called OnSight. 

Microsoft and NASA scientists at the organization's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California teamed up to create the software, which works in conjunction with the HoloLens. 

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Twitter's password-killing tool is now available on the web

Twitter rolled out the web version of Digits, the company's tool to help kill the password, to developers Wednesday.

Digits is one element of Twitter Fabric, the new suite of tools for developers the social network rolled out last year during its Flight Developer Conference. Digits replaces passwords with mobile phone numbers with the goal of making it easier to sign up for new apps.

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Seagull comes back from the dead after being knocked out by cricket ball

A seagull has made a historic comeback during a Big Bash cricket match in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday.

The bird, better known for chip pinching, was enjoying some leisure time in the outfield when it got slammed at full force by a pull stroke by Perth Scorchers batsman Adam Voges. The seagull fell straight to the ground in a mess of feathers. 

SEE ALSO: 15 signs it's a stinking hot summer in Australia 

Things weren't looking good for the poor thing with Melbourne Stars fielder Rob Quiney signalling to the sideline to finish off the job.

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Facebook is cracking down on hoaxes in your News Feed

Facebook is tweaking the News Feed yet again. 

In its latest update, the social network is again going after News Feed spam, but this time is focusing on reducing the hoaxes that appear in users' feeds. Facebook defines hoaxes as scams or "deliberately false or misleading stories." 

Such posts, like the rumor that iOS 8 added the ability to recharge iPhones by putting them in a microwave (thanks, 4Chan), are deleted but reported twice as often as other types of posts, Facebook says. 

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Facebook has a big impact on the global economy, says Facebook-funded study

You know what's really cool? $227 billion. 

That's the amount of global economic impact that Facebook had in the 12 months ending October 2014 by supporting news jobs and connecting businesses with customers, at least according to a new study commissioned by Facebook. 

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This app will be your boyfriend for $24.99 a month — calls included

It has come to this: an app that will help you invent a fake boyfriend. 

It's called Invisible Boyfriend, and its significant other-creating services — including texts, calls, and handwritten notes — can be yours for just $24.99 a month. 

Invisible Boyfriend first previewed a version of its service, Invisible Girlfriend, back in 2013. But both girl and boy subscription services were, well, invisible until they officially launched Tuesday. 

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George Lucas: Disney dumped my 'Star Wars' treatments

Independent filmmaker George Lucas has never been one for playing along with the PR game or staying on point. 

So it is entirely in character that in an interview for another movie — Lucasfilm's animated fantasy spectacular Strange Magic, on which Lucas has worked for many years — he would casually drop a Star Wars bombshell. 

Remember those story treatments for Star Wars Episodes VII, VIII and IX, which Lucas sold along with his company to Disney for $4.06 billion in October 2012? Turns out they have little, if anything, to do with what we'll see on screen starting in December. 

"The ones that I sold to Disney, they came to the decision that they didn't really want to do those," Lucas told CinemaBlend. "They made up their own. So it's not the ones that I originally wrote." 

SEE ALSO: If George Lucas directed 'Star Wars: Episode VII' 

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