Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nick Kellet said 12:53PM on 7-28-2008
I publish a board game GiftTRAP ( http://www.gifttrap.com/ ) and I'd be happy if someone was creating half a million conversations about my brand every day.
Hasbro and Mattel have benefited from sales increases due to the born again popularity of their cash-cow game. They sell over a million copies a year when really nobody really needs another copy.
I'm sure word games are seeing a resurgence. I know Bananagrams is selling well in stores and they are about to release a Facebook app, no doubt to try and grab a bunch of Scrabulous users before the get zapped.
Creating a loyal following like Scrabulous is an impressive achievement, I have total respect for the Scrabulous guys.
We created a Facebook app in the vein of Free Gifts to help promote our game but getting your social app moving is no mean feat. Translating a board game to an online game is far from obvious.
The Free Gifts apps get 100k daily active users on Facebook, which is pretty cool. Our board game precedes the whole virtual gift trend, but it's all about timing and reach.
Check out our app here; http://apps.new.facebook.com/gifttrap/
Unlike the Free Gifts app your friend gets to choose their own gift, the question is will you match. We have turned virtual gifts into a game a bit like Secret Santa.
The GiftTRAP board game is on sale in Barnes and Noble right now which is pretty cool (no doubt next to Scrabble and Bananagrams).
I hope Facebook doesn't drop Scrabulous. My sense is they will, but it's hard to call. They could lose a lot of traffic.
It will be interesting to see what people do over time.
Stuff that takes off on the web seems to have an edge to it and a legal copy of Scrabble might not have that. The whole thing could have peaked, but I'm guessing not.
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