Leave it to the NYPD to make an Android phone useful for more than countless Snapchats. More than 400 smartphones have been distributed to officers since last summer as part of a pilot program to make it easier for them to access police data on-the-go, reports the New York Times. Read More
Love in the Time of Algorithms
Here’s an important cultural milestone for online dating: a digital Bonnie and Clyde! The San Mateo County Times reports it was an “online romance” that led to a recent pair of local robberies. Ah, l’amour.
Gangs may soon join teens in the “totally over Facebook” collective. The NYPD announced yesterday that it has arrested 63 members from three East Harlem gangs, after they left a trail of evidence boasting about their exploints online.
Authorities said the members—all men, 16 to 25—are responsible for 30 non-fatal shootings in the neighborhood since 2009. When using Facebook to plan their hits, they often used slang words. For example, guns were identified as “biscuit” or “clickety,” while ammunition were often labeled as “sea shellz” and “gas.” Read More
Apple’s iPad is a magnificent tool that can be used for education, entertainment and communication. It has revolutionized the way we interact with computers. It is not, however, a weapon. Read More
A few weeks ago, Betabeat caught wind of a handful of attempted robberies that had taken place at startup offices around the Flatiron area. On a visit to his office, Onswipe CEO Jason Baptiste told us that a few men who looked to be in their early 20s had come to Onswipe claiming to be soliciting money for a sports team. Instead, they attempted to steal some of the company’s iPads. Read More
Manhattan’s district attorney has slapped Gucci hacker Sam Chihlung Yin with up to six years in state prison for hacking the corporate network of Gucci American, Inc. In a press release from the office of Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., the D.A. noted that Mr. Yin pleaded guilty in mid-July to one felony count of computer tampering in the first degree and 10 felony counts of “criminal possession of computer related material.”
Mr. Vance’s announcement regarding Mr. Yin’s sentence included a quote from the D.A. that could be read as a none-too-veiled warning to anyone else tempted to follow the former Gucci network engineer’s example: Read More
Mobile devices are a brave new frontier for cyber thieves, and the BBC reports malware creators are cashing in. Citing surveys by Lookout mobile security, the BBC states that sneaky cash-snatching apps have increased from 29 to 62 percent of all smartphone malware. Users acquire the thieving bugs when they ride into your phone on the backs of seemingly innocent apps: Read More
Around 9 a.m. Friday 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, a former accessories designer with Hazan Imports, shot and killed a 41-year-old former co-worker. Reports from the scene indicate the shooter was confronted by police outside the Empire State Building and was killed when he opened fire. At least nine others were injured during the shootout.
Every smartphone owner in the vicinity began tweeting about the drama, many uploading photos taken on the fly–to Twitter and, perhaps more strangely, Instagram. Read More
On Sunday the Times published the melancholy and disturbing tale of former dot-com millionaire Jennifer Sultan, who is sitting at Rikers Island, facing the prospect of years in prison.
Jennifer Sultan’s name is not familiar to anyone in tech today, but at one time she and her boyfriend Adam Cohen were sitting atop a small, forward-looking, valuable startup called Live Online. Ms. Sultan and Mr. Cohen sold Live Online in 2000 for $70 million. They rented a house in the Hamptons. They bought a big loft not far from Fifth Avenue. But that was 12 years ago. Now? The Times reports: Read More
Every savvy Facebooker knows that bragging about your misdeeds on the mostly-public social networking site is a huge no-no, but perhaps a lesser-known adage is this one: Don’t accept friend requests from strangers, especially if they look like they might spend their days fighting crime for a living.
The New York Daily News reported yesterday that a cluster of NYPD cops nailed one of the city’s worst burgling crews by friending them on Facebook and tracking their status updates for details about potential robberies. Read More
