The 2015 Super Bowl ads, Raspberry Pi upgrades, Joystiq and TUAW get canned, Google Earth Pro free, Madden NFL 15 knows the score, and The Simpsons gets pixelated.

The 2015 Super Bowl Tech Ads

The 2015 Super Bowl, or Super Bowl XLIX to give it its official title, took place on Sunday (Feb. 2). Most people were focused on the game, while some were more interested in Katy Perry's OTT turn for the half-time show. We were more interested in the commercial breaks, and, in particular, the ads for technology companies.

There were dozens of tech-related commercials aired the game, but we have picked just a handful of the best to save you having to trawl YouTube for them.

Esurance

http://youtu.be/zLNsdP228LM

There are still plenty of people mourning the fact that Breaking Bad has ended. Which means any company paying Bryan Cranston enough to reprise his role as Walter White was bound to have a viral video hit on their hands. Well done, Esurance.

Kia

http://youtu.be/rSqqCI0LNHs

Kia decided to bring Pierce Brosnan back from obscurity for its 2015 Super Bowl ad. The former James Bond has been somewhat typecast in his career, a fact he's happy to be mocked for on this particular occasion.

T-Mobile

http://youtu.be/ZTwzsV3I3OQ

Kim Kardashian gets absolutely everywhere, and the commercial breaks during the Super Bowl were no exception. Thankfully, she subtly mocks herself and her fame-hungry attitude to life in this ad for T-Mobile.

Mophie

http://youtu.be/1TlDROaCSVA

Mophie, which makes smartphone cases with batteries built into them, produced a stunning ad which shows what would happen if God's smartphone was to suddenly run out of juice. Chaos, basically.

The Clash Of Clans

http://youtu.be/GuFebXDkI3k

Perhaps the best of the bunch was this ad for The Clash Of Clans, a freemium strategy game available on Android and iOS. It turns out Liam Neeson plays this mobile game, and doesn't take too kindly to losing. Be afraid, be very afraid.

This is our selection of the best Super Bowl commercials of 2015, but feel free to tell us your favorite(s) in the comments section below.

Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Released

Morning folks! As you may have gathered if you’ve been on Twitter this morning, we’ve just launched Raspberry Pi 2! http://t.co/L999uza8wu

— Raspberry Pi (@Raspberry_Pi) February 2, 2015

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has officially unveiled the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. The new model is roughly six times as powerful as its predecessor, as it features a quad-core CPU and 1GB of RAM. This extra processing power means the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B can be used just like a PC.

Brilliantly, everything works exactly as it did before, meaning the wealth of Raspberry Pi tutorials should still help users. And Windows 10 is expected to be compatible with the Raspberry Pi 2, meaning this small, highly affordable computer is set to go from strength to strength.

AOL Kills Joystiq and TUAW

Lol joystiq got shut down but AOL still pays this guy a salary https://t.co/XiffCmbGDD

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) February 2, 2015

AOL are shutting down both Joystiq and The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), as well as a number of other, smaller websites. The big-name blogs are the latest victims of a major restructuring at AOL, which is cutting media properties it considers to be "underperfoming."

Google Earth Pro Goes Free

Tell me something cool I can do with Google Earth Pro.

— Anthony De Rosa (@AntDeRosa) February 1, 2015

Google has announced that Google Earth Pro is now available for free. Google Earth Pro previously cost a whopping $399 per year and was targeted at companies in need of more features than are present in the consumer version. Interested parties simply need to grab a key and download the software.

Madden Predicts Super Bowl Result

http://youtu.be/XAE6XPdLSxw

Those of you less interested in the commercial breaks and more interested in the actual score of Super Bowl XLIX will be intrigued to discover that Madden NFL 15 predicted the result way ahead of the game.

Madden NFL 15, available on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360, not only predicted the winner of the game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, it also predicted the exact scoreline of 28 to 24.

Who needs sports pundits studying form when you can just use video games to predict results?

The Simpsons Enjoy A Pixel Makeover

http://youtu.be/FIZ_gDOrzGk

And finally, this video shows the opening sequence of The Simpsons gloriously recreated in retro pixel art. That is to say it's a recreation to a point, before it morphs into something even more interesting and arresting.

Paul Robertson and Ivan Dixon are the animators responsible for this engaging work of art, and they deserve both praise and random drug tests for their efforts. [H/T Polygon]

Your Views on Today’s Tech News

What was your favorite of the technology-related Super Bowl 2015 commercials? Will you be buying the new Raspberry Pi 2 Model B? Have you previously tried Google Earth Pro?

Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.

Image Credit: Maxim Pierre via Flickr