In the above video several iRobot machines are dressed up like Pac Man characters. The robots are dressed like Pac Man, Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde. The robots report their location to a computer and displays them on the software. The iRobot vacuum cleaners eat up the paper. The Roomba Pac Man experiment was designed to demo an Unmanned Aerial System software suite.

Skype was very close to buying out a VoIP firm called Gizmo5. Since Skype ended up passing, Google moved on in according to a rumor. Gizmo5 was founded by Michael Robertson. The company uses the the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for VoIP communication.

Google will be spending roughly $30 million in cash on the deal according to TechCrunch. It is likely that Gizmo5 would be rolled into Google Talk. Gizmo5 started in April 2003 and raised about $6 million in total funding. Before starting Gizmo5, Robertson founded MP3.com and MP3tunes.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) plans to cut 1,500 employees which is about 17% of their workforce. The reason for the cut is because of a loss of $391 million last quarter. EA announced the results shortly after acquiring social network gaming company Playfish.

“In a tough economy, the consumer is not showing up as consistently as we like,” stated EA CEO John Riccitiello. A big chunk of the lay-offs will be at the research and development department. Many games will be canceled and those who are working on those projects may be the ones most affected too.

EA’s mobile gaming division is growing at a rapid pace. A lot of EA games that are doing well are online too. Riccitiello said that about 35% of the gaming market is online and five years ago it was 10%.

Gameloft is a gaming company that designed Earthworm Jim and Shrek Kart for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Now their latest game has more of a political theme. The new game is called Bailout Wars and it allows players to kill bankers by throwing them into the air or shooting them. Another option is to shake them to the point that their clothes fall off.

There is a free and paid version of the game. The paid version sells for $0.99. “Take revenge on bankers in this fast-paced castle defense game. Defend the White House and save the US taxpayers’ money before it gets stolen! It’s time for you to give them what they deserve!” states the game description. Above is a video clip. What do you think about the game?

American Airlines has fired an employee that responded to a customer complaint personally. An American Airlines customer named Dustin Curtis complained about using the AA.com website and wrote a complaint on his blog. Curtis even suggested how American Airlines should redesign their website on his blog. And I can honestly say I do like Curtis’ design much better. Below is a screenshot (click to enlarge):

A commenter that replied to the blog post going by “Mr. X” agreed with Curtis but also complained about the internal culture of the company. Mr. X told Curtis that he was improving the website but said it was slow a process. But Mr. X was violating an NDA that he signed with America Airlines. Due to the violation, Mr. X was fired.

America Airlines rejected Curtis’ claims that the company website does not satisfy customers. An American Airlines spokesman said that 90% of customers rate the website as “good” or “excellent.”

Iman Crosson is quite possibly the best Barack Obama impersonator that I have seen on the web. I believe Crosson does a much better job than whoever Saturday Night Live uses too. Crosson uploads his creative work under the username Alphacat on YouTube. Crosson also specializes on making parodies of rap music videos such as Drake’s “Best I Ever Had” and Jay-Z’s “Run This Town.”

Before becoming a YouTube sensation, Crosson did time as a waiter in New York. During the presidential campaign last year, Crosson won a Barack Obama impersonation competition held by Denny’s Restaurant. When Barack Obama won the presidential election Crosson made a parody video of the song by T.I. “Whatever You Like” where he sings that as the president, he can do “whatever I like.” That video hit over 10 million views. Crosson made another video this past January impersonating Barack Obama and spoofing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” That video received over 12 million views.

Iman Crosson has found his calling and is now in the limelight. I personally think Saturday Night Live should hire him for their Barack Obama skits. Above is Crosson’s latest videos that makes fun of FOX News and integrates his Barack Obama impersonation skills with Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. That video went live a few days ago and already hit close to 300,000 views.

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) has closed an acquisition deal with Playfish. Playfish is a company that designs games for social networks such as Facebook. EA is spending $400 million to buy out Playfish. Of the $400 million, $300 million will be given upfront and the additional $100 million will be paid as an earn-out. Rumor has it that EA was considering buying out Playfish competitor Zynga Inc. too.

This past September about 250 million people played games on Facebook. One of Playfish’s most popular games called Pet Society has over 20 million active users. Playfish was started by Kristian Segerstrale and Sebastien de Halleux. Playfish raised venture capital from Accel Partners and Index Ventures.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is buying one of the biggest mobile phone advertising companies for $750 million in stock. AdMob started in December 2006 and is based in San Mateo, California. AdMob powers a lot of the advertising that shows up in iPhone and Android applications.

“Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time,” stated Google VP of Product Management Susan Wojcicki. “AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup – generating impressive year on year revenue growth – and we’re excited to welcome this talented team to Google.”

“I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model,” stated AdMob founder Omar Hamoui.

The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, but both parties have agreed to the transaction.