Reading man jailed for dead girl “trolling” insults

13 September 2011 3:23 PM

Natasha MacBryde threw herself under a train after being bullied.

A Berkshire man has been jailed for posting abusive messages online about a schoolgirl after she committed suicide.

Sean Duffy, 25, of Reading, was handed an 18-week sentence for posts on social networking sites about Worcester teenager Natasha MacBryde.

He previously pleaded guilty at Reading Magistrates’ Court to sending indecent or offensive communications.

Police said Duffy also posted abuse about dead teenagers in Northumberland, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire.

Duffy admitted two counts of sending a communication of an indecent or offensive nature. The charges related to Facebook and YouTube posts about Miss MacBryde, 15, who Duffy had never met.

She had thrown herself under a train in February after being bullied.

Duffy subsequently posted messages on a remembrance page set up by Miss MacBryde’s friends.

In one of the posts he called the teenager a slut. He also posted a video on YouTube, entitled Tasha the Tank Engine, showing the children’s character Thomas the Tank Engine with Miss MacBryde’s face.

The magistrates were also asked to consider three other cases when sentencing Duffy.

He had also posted offensive messages, known as “trolling”, about Lauren Drew, 14, of Gloucestershire, who was found dead after suffering a suspected epileptic seizure, Hayley Bates, 16, of Staffordshire, who died in a car crash, and Jordan Cooper, 14, who was stabbed to death in Northumberland.

Magistrates also gave Duffy an Asbo, banning him from using social networking sites for five years.

Apple loses another unreleased iPhone

31 August 2011 10:16 PM

Cava22, the San Francisco bar where another unreleased iPhone apparently went missing. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

In a bizarre repeat of a high-profile incident last year, an Apple employee once again appears to have lost an unreleased iPhone in a bar, CNET has learned.

The errant iPhone, which went missing in San Francisco’s Mission district in late July, sparked a scramble by Apple security to recover the device over the next few days, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Last year, an iPhone 4 prototype was bought by a gadget blog that paid $5,000 in cash. This year’s lost phone seems to have taken a more mundane path: it was taken from a Mexican restaurant and bar and may have been sold on Craigslist for $200. Still unclear are details about the device, what version of the iOS operating system it was running, and what it looks like.

While Apple has not publicly announced any plans for future phones, unconfirmed reports in the last few weeks suggest the launch date for the iPhone 5 is likely to be in early October. Other reports from Taiwan have set the date at September or October. (See CNET’s iPhone 5 rumor roundup.)

Apple declined to comment after being contacted this morning. A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department said the company did not file a police report based on the loss at the bar. Craigslist did not respond to requests for comment.

A day or two after the phone was lost at San Francisco’s Cava 22, which describes itself as a “tequila lounge” that also serves lime-marinated shrimp ceviche, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said.

Cava22, in San Francisco's Mission District, where another unreleased iPhone apparently went missing last month. (Credit: James Martin/CNET)

Apple electronically traced the phone to a two-floor, single-family home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, according to the source.

When San Francisco police and Apple’s investigators visited the house, they spoke with a man in his twenties who acknowledged being at Cava 22 on the night the device went missing. But he denied knowing anything about the phone. The man gave police permission to search the house, and they found nothing, the source said. Before leaving the house, the Apple employees offered the man money for the phone no questions asked, the source said, adding that the man continued to deny he had knowledge of the phone.

After last year’s embarrassing loss, Apple reportedly has taken extraordinary steps to protect its prototype devices from leaks. Next-generation iPhones are sent to carriers for testing “inside locked and sealed boxes so that the carriers can carry out checks on their network compatibility in their labs,” according to the Guardian.

Apple developers have been given new iPhones with an upgraded processor — the one that is used in the iPad 2 and is expected to appear in the next-generation iPhone. But the device “is virtually identical to the iPhone 4, and there is no way anyone can tell it’s not an iPhone 4 based on the phone’s exterior,” a report at 9to5Mac.com says. Even last year’s prototype was enclosed in a case designed to make it look like an iPhone 3GS.

Last year’s prototype iPhone went missing when Robert Gray Powell, an Apple computer engineer who was 28 years old at the time, left it in a German beer garden in Redwood City, Calif.

In early August, San Mateo County prosecutors filed misdemeanor criminal charges against two men, Brian Hogan and Sage Wallower, for allegedly selling Powell’s iPhone 4 prototype to Gawker Media’s Gizmodo blog. An arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow.

Prosecutors obtained a warrant to search the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen, and indicated they might prosecute Gizmodo, but eventually decided not to file charges.

Under a California law dating back to 1872, any person who finds lost property and knows who the owner is likely to be–but “appropriates such property to his own use”–is guilty of theft. In addition, a second state law says any person who knowingly receives property that has been obtained illegally can be imprisoned for up to one year.

CNET’s Josh Lowensohn and Elinor Mills contributed to this report.

(Report credit: CNET News, Josh Lowensohn and Elinor Mills.)

It’s official: Beyonce is pregnant!

29 August 2011 2:40 AM

Beyonce confirmed at the MTV VMAs that she's pregnant!

It’s official: Beyonce and Jay-Z are going to be parents! The 30-year-old singer confirmed the news on the MTV VMAs black carpet Sunday night.

“OMG Beyonce just made a huge announcement on the #vma carpet! #baby!!!!!” MTV tweeted along with a photo of Beyonce clutching her stomach.

Beyonce pregnancy rumors have dogged the couple since they married in April 2008, including a huge rumor last fall that turned out to be false.

“I always said I’d have a baby at 30,” she told CNN’s Piers Morgan earlier this summer. “I’m 29. But I also said I was going to retire at 30. I’m not retiring.”

“I feel like a woman,” she revealed. “I feel like I’m very aware of who I am. I feel great and I feel like 30 is the ideal age [to start a family], because you’re mature enough to know who you are and to have your boundaries and your standards, and not be afraid, too polite — but you’re young enough to be a young woman,” she said. “I’m so looking forward to it.”

It looks like Beyonce is a few months along — and no word on whether or not it’s a baby Queen Bee or baby Hov.

Boy or girl, the Beyonce and Jay-Z baby is bound to be super talented.

Image courtesy MTV Twitter

Are you happy that Beyonce is pregnant? Do you think she’ll be a good mum (mom)?

Kelly Rowland feels the love with X Factor proposal

27 August 2011 9:19 PM

If music be the food of love then X Factor must be caviar as one hopeful discovered in this week’s show.

37 year old Samantha from Hastings had come to the London auditions in the hopes of wooing the judges, , Tulisa Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland and Louis Walsh. However little did she know that is was her who would be struck by Cupid’s arrow.

As the singer took to the stage for her audition in front of thousands at London’s 02 Arena she was startled to see her boyfriend Paul sneak on stage after her.

Surprised, she asked him: “What are you doing out here?” Before he got down on one knee and said: “I wanted to borrow just a short moment of your time for Samantha…Will you marry me?”

To the judges’ and the audiences’ delight a shocked Samantha said yes! As the crowd gave the delighted contestant a standing ovation she was sent through to bootcamp with four more yeses from the panel.

The happy couple weren’t the only ones in the mood for romance as it looked like Love Takes Over star Kelly Rowland fancied a bit of flirting of her own.

When Perry came onstage to audition it seemed there was chemistry between the pair and she told him: “You’re not supposed to be making me blush!”

The lucky lad, hoping to show her what he was made of, told her: “I have that effect and I haven’t even lifted up my top yet” before revealing an impressive six pack.

His stomach muscles might have been fine tuned, but his vocal chords sadly were not and the Destiny’s Child judge told him: “My darling I must admit I love your abs a little bit more than your voice, it’s going to be a no from me, but I am going to be dreaming about those abs. I counted; it was all eight, just nice.”

So with the first X Factor wedding bells already ringing it could be a bumper year for romance, has anyone caught your eye on the show so far? Who will be the next X Factor heartthrob? Leave us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.

Tim Cook to Apple Employees: “Apple is Not Going to Change”

25 August 2011 4:00 PM

Ars Technica reports that new Apple CEO Tim Cook has sent out an email to Apple employees expressing his enthusiasm for officially taking the reins of the company and reassuring employees that “Apple is not going to change.” The full text of the email:

“Team:
I am looking forward to the amazing opportunity of serving as CEO of the most innovative company in the world. Joining Apple was the best decision I’ve ever made and it’s been the privilege of a lifetime to work for Apple and Steve for over 13 years. I share Steve’s optimism for Apple’s bright future.

Steve has been an incredible leader and mentor to me, as well as to the entire executive team and our amazing employees. We are really looking forward to Steve’s ongoing guidance and inspiration as our Chairman.

I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values. Steve built a company and culture that is unlike any other in the world and we are going to stay true to that—it is in our DNA. We are going to continue to make the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do.

I love Apple and I am looking forward to diving into my new role. All of the incredible support from the Board, the executive team and many of you has been inspiring. I am confident our best years lie ahead of us and that together we will continue to make Apple the magical place that it is.

Tim”

Cook has gained a solid reputation for his leadership abilities and work to streamline Apple’s operations. He has also clearly embraced the Apple concept as revealed by the “Cook Doctrine” he laid out over two years ago as he took on the role of overseeing Apple’s day-to-day operations during one of Steve Jobs’ medical leaves of absence.

TUAW’s Michael Grothaus, a former Apple employee, also offers a personal impression of Tim Cook, noting the thoughtfulness and careful consideration he gives when speaking as an example of his leadership abilities “sans ego“.

“Tim Cook is one of those rare people who stop and think before speaking. Standing in the same room with him I realized that he’s comfortable with silence as long as that silence is productive and appropriate. He’s not like other tech execs who ramble almost immediately and incoherently at any question lobbed at them, as if doing so will convince others they know everything about everything.”

“Tim Cook is a person who has confidence in his position as a leader, sans ego. Ego doesn’t take pauses. It’s rapid-fire. And it’s that confidence and lack of ego that allows him the time to examine the issues and questions at hand, no matter how lowly or silly others may think them, and address them appropriately.”

Cook has been at Apple since 1998, and while he has played a primary role in hosting Apple’s earnings conference calls, he has until relatively recently remained quietly in the background when it comes to Apple’s mainstream public appearances. But the company in recent months has been making a more active role for him, most notably as the on-stage representative for Apple at the introduction of the Verizon iPhone earlier this year.