Results tagged “online”

It's common for boring female grownups to dress up as slutty nurses/schoolgirls/nuns or whatever on Halloween, but now pre-teens are mimicking their airhead elders, and there's a whole range of sexually provocative costumes on sale for pre-pubescent girls. The retail chain Party City is well-stocked with everything to make this Halloween a happy one for pedophiles, from a pirate costume for 8-year-olds dubbed the "High Seas Hottie" to a "Devil Grrrl" costume that comes with a red miniskirt, fishnets, a tiny pitchfork, and the sales pitch: "This grrrl devil likes to get things heating up!" It gets creepier...

Investigators tell the Daily News that the man found stabbed to death in his Queens apartment probably met his killer online. The News reports that Michael Pecora's sister had called his cell phone, only for a stranger to answer: "The man with Pecora's cell phone was a cab driver, who told the sister he was given the phone earlier in the week by a passenger who said he didn't have any money to pay the fare, sources said. The passenger gave the cab driver the phone and a watch as payment when he was dropped off in the Bronx." The sister contacted the police, who then questioned the cabbie. The cabbie recalled the fare was carrying a laptop—and Pecora's laptop was missing from his Forest Hills home—leading police to suspect the killer stole the computer to cover his tracks.

The other week, Cablevision revealed that it would shift Newsday.com from a free website to one that charges for its content, given the declining fortunes of newspaper industry. Now the NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger says he is considering "incremental" charges at the NYTimes.com website. At an event at SUNY Stony Brook, Sulzberger discussed the print industry, “The immediate future looks, at a minimum, grim. Traditional revenue streams are anemic and getting worse." The NY Times has had various approaches for web revenue: Charging non-subscribers, charging international visitors, charging for editorials and opinion pieces... An analyst tells Crain's, “The Times has taken this position of ‘we’re free, we’re the biggest news site on the Web' If they make a mistake and confuse people again, the Times will have pulled defeat from the jaws of potential victory.”

Yesterday, Cablevision executives had a conference call with analysts and let it drop that they are going to put Newsday.com in the paid subscription business model. COO Tom Rutledge of the cable company, which bought the Long Island newspaper last year, said, "Our goal was and is to use our electronic network assets and subscriber relationships to transform the way news is distributed. We plan to end the distribution of free Web content."

The MTA has some good news: they're going to help you find those things you leave behind on the subway or bus (if no one steals them first). The NY Post notes that last year "riders lost about 19,000 items on subways and buses - including the fake limb, a used cooking pot, and a trumpet - and about 7,980 items were returned."

The AMTMoA (that's the Art Museum Toilet Museum of Art, for you philistines) is holding their first-ever call for submissions! Before you go trying to steal the royal throne at the Louvre, read on. The museum (which is online-only) holds "the world’s largest collection of images of art museum toilets taken at various art museums around the world," and they're currently seeking to build up their collection. "The site currently houses exclusive images ranging from the prestigious marble lavatory at the Metropolitan Museum of New York" to art toilets spanning the world. Interested parties can find more information about submitting an image here. And hey, Guggenheim (pictured), step up your game, alright. What a disgrace.

Hey ambitious young (or old!) strivers looking for internet media experience here in New York City: Gothamist is seeking interns to work out of our Brooklyn office. Responsibilities vary widely, hours are flexible. We're particularly interested in applicants with speedy typing skills, an eye for photography, Photoshop skills and a familiarity with blogs. No pay but college internship credit is possible. Please email your resume and any other relevant information to info (AT) gothamist (DOT) com, subject "internship." (No attachments, please.)

A White Plains man used a remote access program on his laptop to monitor the suspect who stole it, resulting in his arrest last week. The laptop was stolen on September 4th after Jose Caceres left it on top of his car while he carried stuff into his home. Using the remote tracking, Caceres was able to monitor the suspect's internet use, which he says primarily consisted of studying the remarkable migratory patterns of the Black-tailed Godwit. Kidding—it was porn, all porn. When the suspect, 34-year-old Gabriel Mejia of White Plains, typed in his home address to replenish his porn supply, Caceres tipped off police, who arrested Mejia just hours later. The sting is reminiscent of last May's bust of two thieves in Westchester, which took place after the owner remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the suspects.

Has a Jimmy Fallon-hosted Late Night reality sunk in yet? Well, it's happening, and the ex-SNL cast member will be getting a head start by popping up at a URL near you sometime soon. The NY Times reports that "Lorne Michaels has decided to try to get a jump on things by starting NBC’s next edition of Late Night, with its new host Jimmy Fallon, as a nightly entry on the Internet."

The European Cup soccer tournament heads into the quarterfinals this weekend and it's shaping up to be one of the most exciting and highest-rated international tournaments in some time. For those who contend that soccer is too boring to watch, one should try watching it surrounded by football fanatics who can not only clue you in on the finer parts of the game, but whose enthusiasm is infectious. Turkey scored a stunning last-second goal yesterday to tie its game against Croatia and advance.

A Westchester woman who had her laptop stolen didn’t even bother with old fashioned signs like the one pictured here – instead she remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the culprits. The laptop was stolen from her apartment on April 27th along with $5,000 worth of other electronics.

Last week Governor Paterson signed off on a new tax law requiring out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax from consumers in New York State. Like other states, New York requires residents to pay tax on out-of-state purchases for which sales tax wasn’t collected. The big argument is over who’s responsible for collecting; the new law puts that onus vendors like Amazon, which is now fighting the bill in State Supreme Court.

For the first time, tickets for the Public Theater’s free Shakespeare in Central Park shows will be made available online. While most tickets will still be given to those who wait for hours (pictured) in Central Park, a limited number will be available to theatergoers who log on to the Public theater website at midnight before each day’s show and submit a request for up to two tickets.

Momofuku Ko, the trendy new 12 seat restaurant by acclaimed chef David Chang, is getting more attention for its maddening reservation system than for its food. That’s partly due to the fact that no critic has been able to get into the place and review it, not even the top dog in town, Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni.

Online dating is never easy, no matter what culture you're in. At least that's what is suggested by a woman's $50 million lawsuit against a Brooklyn imam involving name calling, damaged laptops and a relative in al Qaeda.

There's been talk of what will happen to the Hotel Pennsylvania for a while now, and today the NY Observer reports that the skyscraper planned to take over the 401 Seventh Avenue address could be stopped by preservationists. Since the demolition project needs to be met with public approval it might not bode well that the construction "would entail building over the railroad tracks that run beneath the hotel and pose engineering and security challenges." However it seems like a done deal, as the NY Times reported today that "Merrill Lynch has been negotiating with Vornado over the terms of a billion-dollar 65-year lease that would give the company control of the half-block hotel site."

BAM Cinématek

Students of all ages are headed back to classes this morning. The NYC public school system is opening its doors this morning all over the city. Insideschools reminds us there are 1.1 million students and 150,000 educators in the system - and that quite a few charter schools have been open since last week!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA/Fall Victim at 1 Hogan Place in Manhattan (that's the Manhattan DA's office), a double stabbing on East 171st St. in the Bronx, and an overturned ambulance at Broadway and Delafield Ave. on Staten Island.
• Opening day sales for tickets to The Metropolitan Opera set a record this Sunday after increasing 25% year over year, to $2.08 million. Online sales to performances were 50% higher than 2006's opening.
• New York apple growers are concerned despite what is shaping up to be an excellent harvest this year. Recent moves to crack down on illegal immigration means that orchard owners may not be able to fill the demand for seasonal agricultural workers to pick all of the apples.
• Cops arrested the surgical scrubs-wearing bank robber who darted into a hospital where he blended with facility personnel to evade capture. 50-year-old Robert Britt actually works at the VA hospital near the bank he robbed and already served seven years in prison during the 1980s for another bank robbery.
• An unauthorized biography of Katie Couric paints an unflattering portrait of the CBS News anchor, including allegations that the only reason she didn't file for divorce from her cancer-stricken husband was a fear of bad publicity.
• Bobby's Happy House, a Harlem music store opened in 1946, is being asked to leave its present location by new building owners, and 90-year-old owner Bobby Robinson is unsure if he will be able to find a new space to open.
• Curbed looks at the mysterious "Pine Tree Building" on 2nd Place between Hoyt and Boyd Sts. in Carroll Gardens.
• A class action suit has been filed on behalf of the approximately 100 men and women who hand out copies of AMNewYork newspapers in front of subway stations. The suit against the Tribune Co. alleges that the $20 a day workers are paid to distribute the papers is below New York's minimum wage when one takes into account how long employees work.

In his latest installment, Jordan headed to Wi-Fi hotzone Bryant Park to see what people were using the Internet for in a completely public place. The results are interesting: a religious study group, marketing Mandy Moore's new album, yoga, an online opera audition, and managing a business where giant rats are used to detect explosive land mines. We'll have to pay more attention to what people are working on the next time we're in Bryant Park.

British tabloid mainstay, fashion icon, and fabled footballer David Beckham will make his first appearance in New York City today since the former captain of England's national team started playing with the Los Angeles Galaxy. He is spending the afternoon in Harlem coaching the 33 teenage members of the FC Harlem Lions, intending to highlight the need for more soccer fields in the neighborhood.

THEATER: Continuing through the 29th, the East to Edinburgh Festival is showcasing some of the most adventurous American theater productions before they blast off for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Tonight’s your chance to witness one of the more colorful and timely selections: LA FEMME EST MORTE or Why I Should Not F%!# My Son. It’s a contemporary Phaedra adaptation that satirizes America’s celebrity obsession in the midst of war, featuring live music, “frenetic dance, fierce boxing, raw meat. Flash photography is encouraged. Be careful of blood splatter.” - John Del Signore

Just when we thought we couldn't possibly hear about more troubles for Busta Rhymes, he's now facing four separate trials in New York for past incidents. E Online recaps the rapper's rap sheet: "The first assault complaint was filed last summer by a 19-year-old man, who claims he was roughed up by the entertainer after spitting on Rhymes' SUV. The second complaint came from a 39-year-old man, reportedly Busta's former driver, who says he was beaten up by Rhymes last Christmas in a beef over money." The third and fourth charges are for driving drunk and driving with a suspended license.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Canal St. between Baxter and Perry Sts. in Manhattan, a separate bank robbery on West 6th St. and Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn, and yet another amputation (that's the third reported this week!) on Gardener Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The Queens man, who drove his known-suicidal wife to the edge of an upstate cliff and then watched as she drove the minivan containing their two children over the precipice, received three years probation. His lawyer called it "a bad judgement call."
• Online feminism for the 21st century at Feministing.com.
• Gambino mob associate Robert DeCicco was shot four times while exiting a pharmacy in Brooklyn Tuesday.
• JFK's AirTrain broke down this morning, trapping 30 passengers inside the shuttle for an hour before they could be walked along a platform to safety.
• The New York Times has Pac-Man Fever, as did ten contestants competing in Times Square at the Pac-Man World Championship. The paper sardonically notes that no women were involved.
• On the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the USS Intrepid moved from dry-dock to Staten Island, with much enthusiasm elicited from veterans and fans of the aircraft carrier.
• The Boston Globe thinks NYC is the place to be for anyone interested in good olive oil.

Everyday at 5 PM EST, Peabody award winning journalist Gary Baumgarten sits down with the likes of Arianna Huffington, Dr. Keith Ablow, and Mia Farrow for a one on one discussion. But this isn't for TV or the Radio, it's for Paltalk's News Talk Online , a web based talk show that allows listeners from all over the world to get the answers they want by asking the questions themselves.

Do you know the Latin root of the word 'solipsism'? Well, Robert Marsland from Madison, Wisconsin did. Marsland, who is 18, won the inaugural National Vocabulary Championship yesterday when he beat 49 other word-whizzes (warning, we got a headache reading the linked article) and had the correct answer for the word's root. For his mastery of the vocabulary universe, Marsland won $40,000 towards his college tuition. That isn't even enough for one year at Princeton, where Marsland hopes to attend and study physics and philosophy. Micah Jordan, the New York Citywide Champion, was eliminated in the first round, the lightning round. Jordan told The Daily News, "I felt like a lot of people were counting on me. I felt like I let them down. Then again, I did the best I could."

Judge Larry Seidlin wept when he gave custody of Anna Nicole Smith's body would go to her baby Danielynn Smith. Well, make that Danielynn's legal guardian, Richard Milstein. Five-month-old Danielynn was practically the only person who wasn't fighting for her mother's body, and the AP called it a "surprise middle course" decision. However, Newsday's Star Struck blog called Seidiln's sobbing "possibly the most embarrassing thing on television since 'The Magic Hour.'" E! Online has the Seidlin quotes

"I want you to understand that I reviewed absolutely everything," Seidlin said before issuing the ruling. "I have struggled with this. I have shed tears.

Continue reading "Bronx Blubber: Crying Judge Gives Anna Nicole to Baby"

Although we haven't heard the old "urban jungle" metaphor applied to New York lately, preservationists continue to churn out new lists of "endangered" architectural species. The newest, Ten to Save: Endangered NYC comes from an editor at amNewYork, Rolando Pujol. It is derived in part from the New York Landmark Conservancy's Endangered Buildings Online, which was unveiled last summer July.

Ever since the Saturday police shooting outside a Queens club that killed one man and injured two others, there has been talk of a fourth man in the group. Police have claimed that the undercover officers shot at them because they feared the men were armed, but no weapons were found on the men or in their car. The officers on the scene have insisted a fourth man in a beige jacket was near the car, and the Daily News reported that witnesses picked him out from two lineups. The police hope to speak to him, as they have been looking in the drains near the Kalua Lounge for a dumped gun. But a resident nearby told NY1, "If they find a gun, then none of the kids fingerprints is going to be on it. So that's just a waste of taxpayers' time."

Tired of reading Pride & Prejudice? Instead of placing the book on a shelf, the book can be turned into a shelf itself. The creatively designed bookshelves for sale only at the Park Slope art, accessories, and gift store Cog and Pearl and soon-to-be launched retailer Curiosity Shoppe Online, can hold approximately five pounds.