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Don't you just hate it when you click through a misleading headline? Someone at the Vatican certainly feels that way today. The AP reports that on Thursday, the Vatican's primary Twitter account tweeted out a story about Batman. But for once, it wasn't the work of Guccifer:

"Two Vatican officials said the site hadn't been hacked, and that the reason for the unusual posting was an 'internal system failure' due to a non-native English speaker posting the story on the website.

The story was from the Catholic News Service. It has as its headline: "Holy Switcheroo! Batman has grown bitter, more vengeful with the years" and details the evolution of the Batman comic franchise."

Someone at the Vatican's communications site cross-posted the article, presumably thinking it was relevant to the election of a new pope, and it was automatically tweeted upon publication.

The bigger question is why the Catholic News Services thinks it's news that Batman has gotten grittier. We all saw The Dark Knight Rises last summer, dudes. 

(Photo: Bombed in Outerspace)

Okay, folks: this is not a drill. The Singularity is set to hit the silver screen, with Batman director Christopher Nolan signed on to executive produce.

The Wrap reports that in the film, titled Transcendence and based on a story by Jack Paglen, Johnny Depp "will play a scientist whose brain is uploaded into a supercomputer" while trying to create the first ever sentient computer. Nanotechnology and the Singularity are also said to play pivotal roles in the film, which explains the nerd boner you are currently sporting.

Johnny Depp may seem like a strange casting choice, but given his penchant for bizarre roles, we imagine he'll play a mad scientist quite convincingly. He'll be playing the main character, Will, who is assassinated by terrorists who are against technology. When his wife uploads his brain, Will begins to respond to her queries through the computer. By hooking his brain-cum-computer up to the Internet, he can continue his scientific research.

The Wrap warns that the script summary it received could be out of date, but honestly as long as the film includes brain supercomputers and Christopher Nolan, we'll be just fine. Now if we can get Ray Kurzweil as an advisor to this thing, it's sure to be an instant masterpiece.

The experience, approximated. (Photo: Dumbo Arts Festival)

Fall is coming and, with it, events that don't involve roast corn and hawkers of New York Times subscriptions. For the cultured and/or Brooklyn-dwelling among us, there's the Dumbo Arts Festival, which kicks off in a month, on September 28th. Organizers have just announced that, for the second year in a row, it will feature an enormous, high-tech work of art, courtesy of sponsor AT&T and meant as a gesture to the neighborhood's status as one corner of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle.

According to the announcement:

Superhero is an interactive projection mapping experience in which participants are transformed into superheroes. Festival-goers will be able to fly over the multi-story façade of the landmark Empire Stores, the massive former coffee house on DUMBO’s Water Street, as well as shrink and enlarge themselves, throw light beams, and more.

Now, if someone could develop the technology to make us look like Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises, that would be great.

But first, don't forget to download all your patches! (Photo: CinemaBlend)

This week, in questionable partnerships: The antivirus makers at Kaspersky Labs have teamed up with The Dark Knight Rises for "The People of Gotham City Sweepstakes." The winner gets to be Batman for a day (though without the onerous crime-fighting responsibilities), because why not?

If the name Kaspersky Labs sounds familiar, that's probably because it's the company that figured out the connection between the Flame and Stuxnet viruses.

The contest posits that the villainous Bane has unleashed a devastating computer virus on Gotham, and humbler Interneters like yourself must fight back, by entering this contest. We're envisioning a frustrated Batman, suited up to bash heads but instead peering over the shoulder of a computer technician, which just sounds thrilling.

In a statement released yesterday, founder and CEO Eugene Kaspersky sounded really, really excited about this contest and about The Dark Knight Rises in general:

Like the Dark Knight in his struggle against the insidious threats posed by Bane, Kaspersky Lab fights the equally insidious threats posed by cybercriminals all around the world; in this way we’re both quite simply ‘here to save the world.’ I think joining forces with The Dark Knight Rises is a compelling way to engage Batman fans across North America and reinforce our mission to fight cybercriminal activity around the world.

Sounds like someone will be attending a midnight screening in costume. Own up, Mr. Kaspersky: Was this whole contest cooked up as an excuse to compare yourself to Batman?

The grand prize winner will receive a "Batman New York City Experience," including "a personal hand-to-hand mixed martial arts training session" and "a life-size adult Batman costume," plus, of course, a Kaspersky gift bag. (Doesn't everyone just download these things nowadays?)

No word on whether the prize includes having Michael Caine serve as your butler or Christian Bale scream at you for 15 minutes.

The Cat Signal. (internetdefenseleague.org)

So that whole "Internet lobbyist" movement hasn't quite panned out yet. But hey, here's some good news for people who love cat videos. The Internet just got its own bat signal, thanks to a gaggle of activists and web entrepreneurs, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who created a virtual advocacy group called the Internet Defense League. Similar to the splash page for a startup yet to launch, the IDL for now just collects email addresses and accepts donations.

But just you wait. The next time some analog bully comes along and tries to squash piracy, erode privacy or ban anonymous comments, the geek bat signal will be there, ready to trigger a storm of angry tweeting, blogging and Skype calls to senators. And in extreme cases, the IDL can call for another Internet blackout.

When the internet's in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action. (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.) With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization.

The organizers also plan to build some Internet censorship awareness tools, including a crowdsourced system for "identifying threats and opportunities." The Internet has always been extremely self-aware, to the point where it's possible to forget that there is an outside world that actually makes the laws about it.

The IDL may need to tweak its messaging, though: "The next time there's an emergency, we'll tell you and send new code. Then it's your decision to pull the trigger," says the site, sounding unintentionally like a fleet of black hat basement hackers. Oh well! The police had an awkward relationship with Batman, too.