Gawker
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public relations
Staring Into the Craigslist Cesspool
"Craigslist killer" Philip Markoff was arraigned on grand-jury charges that include first-degree murder, robbery and two counts of armed kidnapping. As if Craigslist users needed another reason to feel jumpy. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by uncivily obedient: I once made a fake Craigslist post in "casual encounters" just for fun and I got 34 responses in 24... 4 Responses | Other threads
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scams
Nigerian Scammers Adapt to the Recession and Are Now Targeting the Unemployed
As if it's not hard enough being unemployed right now, Nigerian scammers are trolling Craigslist, wasting the jobless' precious — OK, not so precious — time with fake employment offers. Hopefully no one's gullible enough to send money. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by TempleDrake: I know a guy who just sold a piece of computer equipment on Craigslist and ended up getting a money... 5 Responses | Other threads
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mysteries
Pot Behind PC World Editor's Slaying, Accomplice Confirms
Courtroom testimony appears to have solved the riddle of why tech journalist Rex Farrance was killed in a seemingly bizarre 2007 slaying: The thieves knew about all the pot stashed in his San Francisco Bay Area home. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Miss Anita Manbadly: And this is why legalizing pot will work and is necessary. People won't have to (or be allowed to)... 5 Responses | Other threads
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crime
MySpace gossip about an affair allegedly ended in a Staten Island murder.
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crime
Danny Pang, California's Answer to Bernie Madoff, Arrested
The FBI has arrested Orange County financier Danny Pang on money-laundering charges, as his firm, PEMGroup, faces an SEC investigation. It's a classic law-enforcement move, like when Eliot Ness caught Al Capone on tax evasion. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by stylin: Everything other word he says is a lie. He will promise you the world. I have never seen a con-artist... more » | Other threads
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crime
Danny Pang's Last Gamble
A dead stripper wife. A gambling habit. A made-up résumé. All Southern California financier Danny Pang needed to complete the picture was an SEC investigation of an alleged Ponzi scheme. Now he has that, too. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Gawkchalk: what ever happened to all of the good asian roll models? 4 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Did Julia Allison Break the Law in Search of Facebook Fame?
Former dating columnist Julia Allison, an Internet microcelebrity now famous for not being particularly famous, has finally gone too far in her attempt to acquire Facebook fans. She may even have broken the law.
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By Owen ThomasComment by resipsaloquacious: Ptr Nrth, jst ff cmr, nd h s bt t "nnnt" ths clssy lds n hs wn spcl wy. 8 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Craig Newmark to Speak at Tribute to Craigslist Victim
What on earth will Craigslist founder Craig Newmark say at a memorial service for Katherine Olson, the 24-year-old Minneapolis woman shot by a killer who found her using a Craigslist ad? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by AramisHorse: This girl who was killed was a friend of my cousin's. This murder hit everyone there really hard. ... 1 Responses | Other threads
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law and order
Feel Free To Hire Hookers Off Craigslist Again
Law-abiding citizens, tremble in fear: the NYPD is no longer secretly patrolling the hooker ads on Craigslist. Are we safe without undercover cops trying to lure horny men into motel rooms and arrest them? More »
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Comment by Private Hangnail: I'm looking for a hot commenter to spend some time with. A hot, generou$ commenter, y'all. 13 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Prison Official Sacked Over Facebook Friends Behind Bars
Nathan Singh, a 27-year-old U.K. prison warden, has been fired for making friends with 13 criminals on Facebook. Singh was suspected of smuggling cell phones to his Facebook pals. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by poppedcollar: I like the standard prison uniform in the U.K. Look at them, all dapper and non-threatening looking. Who knew you'd... 1 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Barack Obama's CIO a Confessed Thief
In the annals of vetting, this will go down as the most laughable miss ever: Vivek Kundra, the D.C. official tapped by Obama to run government technology, pleaded guilty to a theft charge in 1997.
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By Owen ThomasComment by notsogreatsatan: Unless I'm getting my math wrong, 22 is pretty old to chalk it up to youthful indiscretion. 5 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Obama's Top Geek on Leave after Minion Charged with Seeking $6 Million in Bribes
Vivek Kundra, the White House's chief information officer, has been placed on leave after Yusuf Acar, a technology manager in the D.C. government who previously worked for Kundra, was arrested on bribery charges. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by abettertomorrow: Didn't Washington D.C. do a highly publicized transition to Google Apps last year? If Acar controlled hardware/software budgets was... 3 Responses | Other threads
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wtf
Dude Turns to Twitter As Guy Breaks In His House
Well, our array of omnipresent blinking gadgets has officially rendered us totally incapable of normal human action. The proof: David Prager, whose reaction to having his home broken into was to Twitter about it: More »
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Comment by WindowSeat: # smelly intruder is stabbing me repeatedly should I call ambulance? will set up poll on my blog 5 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Jason Calacanis's Felony-Friendly Hiring Practices
Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo, the world's largest compendium of rewritten Google search results, claims he hired a computer hacker because he never bothered to Google him. Now his employee is headed to jail. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by RodericaMockingbird: Id hire a felon. I dont like the idea that you only get one chance in the US unless... 2 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Facebook Killer: 'I Feel Like Killin Some1'
Mark Zuckerberg, the 24-year-old CEO of Facebook, wants to know what everyone in the world is feeling. But did he really want to get inside the head of 19-year-old murderer Leon Craig Ramsden?
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By Owen ThomasComment by Private Hangnail: I'm not on Facebook, but I can only imagine my status updates would be like Just found a three-day old... 16 Responses | Other threads
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barack obama
Inauguration Sex Leads To Linguistic Conception
His rocket fetish and bio-weapons research notwithstanding, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson is known for funding invention, not producing it. Funny how some illegal Obama sex changed all that. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by i'm a bottle: Hmmmm. Why were there so many D.C. cops at the party? Do you really need eight of them to... 6 Responses | Other threads
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Terry Drayton
Little League Thief Rewarded with Magazine Cover
What happened to Terry Drayton, the tech CEO whose company allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from kids' sports clubs? Why, he's Seattle Business's new cover boy.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hydroceph: Yeah! Media whitewashing! The Atlantic's playing, too: [www.theatlantic.com] Here's the Atlantic by-line: Henry Blodget is the editor of Silicon Alley Insider, an online... 3 Responses | Other threads
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real estate porn
The House Built on a Ponzi Scheme
Alleged $50 billion swindler Bernie Madoff has been confined to his house between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Ah, but which house?
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By Owen ThomasComment by ClockOnTheStove: Looks like the model home built by the Bluth Company. 4 Responses | Other threads
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wall street
A Bloodthirsty Public Finds the Villains We Want
The national mood demands businessmen in handcuffs. And here's one already: Federal agents have arrested Bernie Madoff, the 70-year-old founder of a Wall Street brokerage, accusing him of bilking $50 billion from investors.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Private Hangnail: For a long time I'd hear about Ponzi shemes and think: Why are these con jobs named after a character... 5 Responses | Other threads
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john rogers
The dotcom douche of Beverly Hills
Poor John Rogers. The former CEO of Pay By Touch can't pin the fall of his online-payments startup, which raised $340 million and employed 750 people before going bankrupt. This self-aggrandizing outlaw has no one but himself to blame. -
Terry Drayton
Little Leaguers claim tech CEO stole sports-club cash
In the world of startups, there's fraud — and then there's fraud. It's one thing for entrepreneurs to bilk venture capitalists with a sketchy PowerPoint. But using money meant to buy baseball bats and uniforms to fund your company? Despicable.
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShyamalikaSatyr: Ummm. Wrong photo. That's not Terry Drayton. 2 Responses | Other threads
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crime
VC bust proves sports teams a better bet than startups
The Securities and Exchange Commission has caught up with William "Boots" Del Biaggio, a venture capitalist once dubbed a "young financial god," on charges of defrauding clients and banks out of $65 million — in part so he could buy a sports team.
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By Owen ThomasComment by SFJoe: Sports teams will always be worth something? Maybe, but the Yorks and their 49ers are trying their best to prove... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Alberto Vilar
A villain of the last boom convicted
For most of the rich, the object of charity is to make one's name known. Alberto Vilar, a founder of a once-high-flying tech-stocks fund who stiffed New York's Metropolitan Opera on a $25 million pledge, has succeeded all too well. But his name is in court documents rather than the opera halls and college buildings he had hoped for. A jury found Vilar and his partner, Gary Tanaka, guilty of stealing $20 million from customers of Amerindo Investment Advisors, in a series of frauds dating back to the dotcom bust. He could face 20 years in prison. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShreeIsmene: Amerindo stiffed my web development company out of some $30k after the bust. They had hundreds of millions of... more » | Other threads
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mark cuban
Blog maverick charged with insider trading
The SEC has filed charges against Dallas Mavericks owner and dot-com billionaire Mark Cuban. The Wall Street Journal, which disgraced Cuban with a stipple portrait this morning, sums up the paperwork thusly: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by nobuggin: When you have over a billion, why risk an insider trading charge over $750k? He should have just sucked... 2 Responses | Other threads
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Marilyn Lewis
Murdered HR manager was a classic Valley workaholic
Today's Chronicle mourns the three victims of an angry coworker at SiPort, the previously obscure vendor of radio chips in Santa Clara. No surprise that CEO Sid Agrawal is remembered as a "Renaissance man," and VP of operations Brian Pugh as a "brilliant engineer." But most touching to me is the story of 67-year-old Marilyn Lewis, the HR manager gunned down by 47-year-old engineer and father of three Jing Hua Wu, because she had handled his firing that morning. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by nobuggin: There's good reasons why HR has no respect in tech and it has little to do with whether they have... 5 Responses | Other threads
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crime
San Francisco man risks life for iPhone
Gene Wood, an operations manager at Ask.com, the Barry Diller-owned search engine beloved by Midwestern moms, wrestled a mugger to the ground rather than lose his iPhone, for which he paid $499. While riding on a subway train in San Francisco and watching a movie, Wood felt a hand reach behind him and snatch the phone. Wood, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 240 pounds, jumped from his seat and pursued the thief. Here's his harrowing account of how he got his iPhone back through hand-to-hand combat — and got away with just one small, if nasty, head wound: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by pepelicious: It's called BART. If people in NYC can't figure out it's a "subway" that's their problem. 8 Responses | Other threads
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politics
Ex-Broadcom CEO wanted to give himself more jailtime
The political leanings of Broadcom's former CEO, Henry Nicholas III, make for some post-election headscratching. Proposition 6 was one of the two state ballot measures he had underwritten and supported — to the price tag of $6 million — to increase penalties for gang and drug crimes, even satellite tracking of sex offenders. Nicholas is the same guy who is under federal indictment for felony drug use and conspiracy, building out sex dungeons for liaisons with prostitutes, and securities fraud. Good thing voters didn't pass it.
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Comment by macbeach: I could swear I've seen him out by the dumpster bumming cigarettes. In any event, there must certainly be drug kingpins... more » | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Angry, angry IT guy goes to jail
Drugs! Alcohol! Baseball bats! Hey, it's a good story. IT contractor Steven Barnes will serve a year in prison and pay a $54,000 restitution after being convicted of logging into a client's network and deleting the Exchange database, among other things. Barnes claimed he acted after coworkers from Blue Falcon Networks, now known as Akimbo Systems, came to his home and took away his personal computers by force. Barnes reconfigured Blue Falcon's server as an open relay for spammers, causing the company to be automatically blacklisted from delivering real mail. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Barnes's temper that a little prison time won't — haha! I almost finished that sentence without laughing.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Shadowlayer: More like federal pound me in the ass prison, amirite? more » | Other threads
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crime
The Facebook murder
Add to the "email murder," "death by text message," and "MySpace suicide" this technology-enabled homicide: Wayne Forrester, a 34-year-old British man has confessed that while drunk and high on cocaine, he stabbed his wife Emma to death over an update she made to her Facebook profile. She had changed her status on the social network to "single" after her husband moved out. A new way to announce a breakup, but the oldest of stories. Technology does not change human nature; if anything, it amplifies it.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Zoidfarb: I have to say that is one of the things I really dislike about Facebook. You change your relationship status... 9 Responses | Other threads
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politics
McCain thinks of the children so you don't have to
John McCain's bill to protect the children — Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 (KID SPA!) — has been signed by President Bush. According to an episode of Schoolhouse Rock my boss used to watch, that means it's a law. KIDSPA is based on a half-baked idea by MySpace to create a national database to track registered sexual predators' email addresses. At least now you don't have to wait for version 2.0 for fewer pedophiles. [Wired]
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Comment by IngridGaborik: http://www.sltrib.co http://www.4shared.com/dir/9534755/19d8052b/sharing.html Read this case Decided weeks prior to the KIDS Act being signed into law, addressing the State of... more » | Other threads
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Craig Sherman
Wilson Sonsini lawyer erases fraud-ridden Entellium from client list
If your company ever gets into serious trouble, wouldn't you like to know your lawyer's standing behind you publicly? Better hope you're not represented by Wilson Sonsini, then. After Seattle software startup Entellium saw its CEO and CFO charged with wire fraud and cooking the company's books, Entellium disappeared from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati partner Craig Sherman's list of clients. Google's cache shows Entellium was on the list as recently as last Friday. Sherman still represents Ignition Partners, a prominent VC firm which claims Entellium's top execs defrauded it. We'll give Sherman and Wilson Sonsini credit for good financial judgment: Ignition still has money, while authorities are investigating what happened to the $50 million Entellium raised from Ignition and others
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By Owen ThomasComment by Punishglutton: I need a good lawyer in Palo Alto area, to sue someone who has wronged me and committed fraud, and... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Entellium
How deep did Entellium's fraud go?
$50 million of venture capital down the drain. A fraudulent set of books, going back to 2004. How did this happen? Entellium, a Seattle-based software company, saw CEO Paul Johnston and CFO Parrish Jones resign, days before the two were charged with wire fraud. What no one has explained: How on earth were the two executives able to get away with overstating the company's revenues to investors by a factor of four? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShwetaAntlion: I have no idea what Entellium was supposed to be doing. It does seem strange that each and everyone of... more » | Other threads
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Entellium
Software startup's ex-execs charged with defrauding VCs
Here's an inventive business model: When you're not actually making money, try making it up. The former CEO and CFO of Entellium, a software startup in Seattle, have been charged with wire fraud after an employee found the company keeping a cooked set of books for its investors. Paul Johnston, the CEO, and Parrish Jones, the CFO, resigned abruptly last month. 40 of the company's 60 employees in Seattle were laid off, having been told that the "money ran out." Or ran away: Authorities are trying to find where the company's $50 million in venture capital went. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by trevo: Interesting... apparently their folks over in Malaysia were already making a fuss about the shenanigans at Entellium a full month... more » | Other threads
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David Kernell
Palin email hacker pleads not guilty
The twenty-year-old son of Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell, a Democrat, plead not guilty today at a federal court in Knoxville. Prosecutors had charged David Kernell with breaking into GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email by guessing the answers to her password-recovery answers, and then posted her new password, "popcorn," on 4chan. A judge released Kernell without bail, but forbid him to own a computer or to use the Internet for anything other than email and classwork. Compared to Kevin Mitnick's eight-year ban from the Internet, that's a decree as level-headed as it is unenforceable.
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By Paul BoutinComment by giddieup: so where is the hearing for palin about using a free email account to conduct her govnt business. that is what... 2 Responses | Other threads
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social networks
John McCain, defender of Internet children everywhere
Congress has passed a bill compelling registered sex offenders to submit "email addresses, instant message addresses and other identifying Internet information" to law enforcement. The legislation is sponsored by John McCain, who is not uncoincidentally running for president. The bill, which has passed both houses of Congress and is expected to be signed into law by Bush, aims to protect children from sexual advances on social network sites. Facebook, MySpace, and others are meant to cross-check their user databases with the federal list, and, in the parlance of these types of laws, "delete online predators." But these bills are so broken from the start: what's to keep a past sex offender from just using multiple online identities? Oh, and then there's that whole sticky issue of protecting freedom of speech for those who've served their criminal sentences. Courts in Utah — yes, that Utah — have just ruled on that, providing bad news for those who supported the McCain bill. More »
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Comment by sample032: To keep it fair, if parents want to be able to take a guy to court for statutory rape, they... 2 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Venture capitalist charged in hit-and-run
Timothy Biro, managing partner at Cleveland's Ohio Innovation Fund, is facing vehicular homicide charges after running over bicyclist Terrell Jones who later died at a Cleveland hospital Wednesday night. When police stopped Biro and informed him of the accident, Biro told officers he thought he'd hit a pothole. Biro is being held in jail while awaiting a court appearance this morning. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
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By Jackson WestComment by sinical: Ohio does have some serious potholes. Its an honest mistake. more » | Other threads
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sex trade
What Craigslist can actually do about underage prostitution
A Sacramento-based "high-tech pimp" who advertised sex with underage women for pay on Craigslist is now in custody. Federal investigators were able to bust 22-year old Stephen McKesson after one of the young women's friends saw her photo in Craigslist's Erotic Services section for panderers. Nobody will see the benefit to the community in this: In terms of ensuring the health and safety of teenage prostitutes, or in terms of good publicity for Craigslist. CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark get all the blame for offering a space for sex trade ads, but none of the credit for the accidental public service such space offers. As if there were no unwilling minors in prostitution before abusive but charismatic hustlers got laptops? More »
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Comment by sample032: Zuckerberg's 23 and this dude's 22? I have some wantreprenuring to do. 4 Responses | Other threads
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Kaj-Erik Relander
Accel proves venture capital really is a criminal business
Accel Europe, the London-based arm of venture-capital firm Accel Partners, is attempting to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for a new fund. The effort will likely succeed, given Accel's brand name; its investment in Facebook has given Accel new cachet. One thing I'd love to know how the partners explain to potential investors: Why they have a convicted criminal in their midst. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by NorthBeach: You can lead a Norse to falter, but you can't make him quit. 1 Responses | Other threads
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crime
San Francisco's systems mess still unsolved
Terry Childs, the IT guy gone wild who worked for the City and County of San Francisco and effectively froze municipal systems when he went rogue, infamously stashed all sorts of backdoors around the network. Now engineers brought in to solve the mess still can't find one router, which when accessed over the network replies: "This system is the personal property of Terry S. Childs." How much will this cry for job security cost taxpayers? $197,000 has already been spent out of $1 million estimated for the repairs. Childs remains behind bars on $5 million bail and faces a maximum sentence of seven years. [Network World] (Photo by Morten Skogly)
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By Jackson WestComment by Mouser_UK: cant find a router! interesting who did they call in the Geek Squad or a moonlighting Apple genius who gest lost... more » | Other threads
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sex trade
Craigslist cops bust up another sex-extortion scam
Another trio of small-time crooks have been charged with extortion for threatening to expose a California client of an online prostitute. These Fresno-based operators, working with an escort who used Craigslist to meet her client, demanded cash in exchange for keeping his prostitution habit a secret. Is this a copycat crime, inspired by the three scammers who told a Bay Area tech executive they'd leak a sex tape of him with a prostitute unless he paid them off? If the accused Silicon Valley extortionists were reminiscent of The Big Sleep, with their requested $250,000 bribe, the Central Valley guys are more The Big Lebowksi. They said they'd keep mum for a mere $3,000, to be left "in a shopping cart in a parking lot" of a local mall.
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Fri Jul 3
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Transformers blows up this weekend. Need to know more? io9 gets down and dirty with the superbots.
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Gizmodo's just reviewed two great smartphones, the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS. Here's a guide to help you decide which is better for you.
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The Life of Steve Jobs - So far.
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