Gizmodo Australia » busted

Verizon Tech Busted for Using Customer Lines to Make US$220K in Sex Calls

Sean Fallon — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:20:00 +0000

Add Joseph Vaccarelli, of Nutley, NJ to the long list of employees busted for engaging in sex-related activities on the job. A former Verizon technician, Vaccarelli stands accused of making US$220,000 in sex calls using the landlines of some 950 customers. The math works out like this: 900 chat lines, 5,000 calls and a hand-numbing 45,000 minutes of talk time. Apparently he spent 15 weeks over a 40-week span for solid sex chats. Despite its name, it looks like Nutley is off the hook as the horniest town in America. [wcbstv via Geekologie]

Police Take Down Dangerous Perp Armed With a Philips MP3 Player

Sean Fallon — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 23:10:42 +0000

Mechanic Darren Nixon recently got a rude awakening when he was arrested at gunpoint because a bystander and a team of British police both mistook his 4GB Phillps MP3 player for a pistol. Amazingly enough, the ordeal was not cleared up with a simple “It’s an MP3 player stupid”—in fact, Nixon was taken back to HQ, swabbed for DNA, fingerprinted, and thrown into a cell based on suspicion. Naturally, the whole ordeal has left Nixon shaken and disillusioned with his local police force. Hey, at least he didn’t get shot. Update: Additional pic after the break.

[Daily Mail via Crunchgear]

Sony Bastards Ripped Off the Bunny Tsunami Ad

Brian Lam — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:10:01 +0000

What the Hell. When I saw this morning’s post on the awesome Sony Bravia Bunny Ad, featuring multi-hued rabbits climbing through a cityscape transforming into a tidalwave, I assumed it was the work of my favourite artists, the LA-based kozyndan. By my front door, I have a framed print of one of their limited edition NYC bunny panoramics, which I’ve put below. Aside from this, they’re probably best known for reworking of Hokusai’s “Great Wave off Kana gawa” with bunnies inserted in the place of the white wash, which was featured on a Giant Robot magazine cover. I was only half right about kozyndan’s involvement with this Sony project, unfortunately. They were robbed: For pretty damning proof, watch the video, and read on.
Apparently, the Passion Pictures animation studio ripped off KozynDan’s after requesting samples of their work and never called them back. Dan just wrote me an email about it to confirm that this is pretty much the story, at least from their side.

I hear this happens often in advertising, but that doesn’t make it fucking right. I guess it’s not Sony’s fault, but they should at least get their money back or get Passion Pictures to give a fair chunk to the artists. I’m pissed and not sure what I, or anyone else can do about it. Thoughts? [Passion Pictures vs KozyNDan]

Crooks Caught Red-Handed Stealing $20K Worth of Gadgets, Laptops and More

Charlie White — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:33:56 +0000

Next time you decide to rip off a bunch of Macs, camcorders and laptops, you might want to take a good look around for the unblinking eye of a video camera, because you could end up pilloried in public the next day. Check out this brazen burglary in progress, and then step back and think a minute about the victim’s reaction. Rakontur, the robbed production company, decided to exact revenge on the alleged culprits by splashing videos, pictures and personal information about the criminals all over the Internet. And now we are accomplices to that outburst. We feel so dirty. Maybe it would’ve been better to just let the police handle this. [Rakontur]

Malaysian Businessman Tries to Smuggle Heroin Through Airport in Laptops

Jason Chen — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 22:15:59 +0000

We’re not sure what’s wrong with the old drugs-up-the-anus technique, but a Malaysian businessman tried to smuggle 2 kg worth of heroin inside two laptops. Where he went wrong was using two incredibly old laptops instead of something current, and well, looking suspicious while he did his smuggling thing. The airport officials took his stuff, X-rayed it, and found five plastic packs with said heroin inside. Why this cheap bastard couldn’t spring for some gigantic Alienware laptops that are already heavy is anyone’s guess. [Zjol via Spluch]

CIA, Vatican, Fox News Undercover Agents Alter Wikipedia in Lamest Black Ops Ever

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:00:30 +0000

The Guardian is reporting that the CIA, the Vatican and Fox News, among other organizations, are altering key entries in Wikipedia to manipulate you, John K. Public. But before you put your tinfoil hat on, better read about the stupid things they are changing.The Vatican is editing entries on Catholic saints and Sinn FÃ©in leader Gerry Adams, while Fox News is revising reporter entries, including Shepard Smith’s famous blowjobs. Or better said, the famous reporter how said “blowjob” on air (hey, we are fair and balanced.) The Republican and Democratic party, as well as those pesky Brits from the Labour party, have been changing entries to favor their views, too. Not to mention Diebold. Wikipedia Scanner, which is tracking all these changes, said that Diebold:

has made huge alterations to entries about its involvement in the controversial “hanging chad” election in the US in 2000. The company was criticised in the wake of the disputed results, but edits made by its employees on Wikipedia have included the removal of 15 paragraphs detailing the allegations.

So what has been the CIA been doing, apart from covering the JFK assassination, the fake moon landings, Area 51 and Elvis’ exile to a secret island in the middle of the Pacific? Well, they have been editing the entries of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. However, they biggest contribution seems to be Jedis:

A surfer using a CIA address also took the time to add extensive sections on lightsabre combat in the Star Wars movies.

Anonymous source, whoever you are, pick up the phone. Jason Bourne’s calling and he’s not happy. [The Guardian]

$1.5 Million Yacht Plunges Nose-First Into the Ocean

Adam Frucci — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:45:00 +0000

Yes, this picture is real. It’s of a $1.5 million yacht falling off its sling while being loaded into a cargo ship for delivery in Dubai. If you didn’t notice, yes, there’s a dude going “oh shit” on the back of the boat as it goes down, to give you a sense of the size of the 55-foot vessel (he was fine). Hit the jump for a sad view of the aftermath.

[Mad Mariner via Spulch]

Letterman’s Producer Survives Sparky, Smelly, Smoky Powerbook

Seamus Byrne — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:24:02 +0000

Justin Stangel, Head Writer/Producer of CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman was innocently writing hilarious comedy in his New York office, when an ominous odor wafted from the adaptor of his Powerbook. You can actually see sparks and smoke coming out of it. Thank goodness cooler heads prevailed! Somebody open a window.

Video Proof of Geek Squad Stealing Porn

Seamus Byrne — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:20:00 +0000

The Geek Squad, Best Buy’s tie-wearing, Beetle-driving, and now porn-stealing tech group, was caught transferring pornographic images from a customer’s machine. The sting was orchestrated by The Consumerist, who give a play-by-play of how they set it up. Check it out, it’s work safe. Be sure to give it a Digg while you’re at it, each one here goes straight to the Consumerist. For shame, Geek Squad! (You’re not supposed to get caught!) [The Consumerist]

Macbook smasher gets replacement

Seamus Byrne — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 05:13:02 +0000

The MacBook Smasher finally recieved a new computer from Apple. [Consumerist]