ESPN Announcer’s Family Stalked by Facebook, Texts, and Emails

I recently read an article about an ESPN announcer, named Steve Phillips, whose family was stalked by a crazy co-worker, Brooke Hundley, via texts, facebook, and emails. Phillips admitted to having a brief affair with Hundley over the past summer, but stated that it had ended months ago. Hundley not only sent texts to Phillip’s wife, Marni, but also contacted their 16-year old son, via facebook. She pretended to be in his Spanish class, and told him that she had overheard someone talking about his father’s affair at a football game. She said that she had gone through a similar situation with her parents, and encouraged him to talk to her. The son stated, “She initiated every conversation. She began to ask me very personal questions about my family including our whereabouts, family plans for the summer, if we were going on vacation brother including ages and birthdays and various facts about there athletic schedules and knowledge about my fathers affair, she also questioned me about some of my friends, would often times make comments of how lick my mom was to marry a guy with money and not have to work, she would ask how often my parents were out of the house. “ She even made flirtatious comments, that he described as very “awkward.” When he didn’t respond immediately, she would get impatient, and ask what was wrong. Eventually, she asked for their home phone number, because “her mother needed to contact her parents about the PTA.” He declined, but to her annoyance. Started making comments about his mother that seemed jealous, and almost angry. She even talked about his house. By August, he started to receive numerous friend requests from “Brooke Hundley,” but declined them all. Then he received a friend request from another classmate (actually Hundley), to which he accepted. Eventually, she asked for his home phone number, because, again, her parents need to contact his parents. He didn’t answer, and got concerned. On August 19th, Hundley showed up at the Phillip’s house, dropping off a letter for Marni Phillips, but when Marni and his younger son returned, Brooke Hundley panicked, drove into a stone pillar, and drove across the lawn, prompting Marni to call the police. After the incident, the 16-year old son received a message from riorgirr4life, saying that she went to his house, but when his mom came home, got scarred. This freaked home out. He checked the 2nd classmates profile, and found that he was her only friend. He checked his friends, and found that he was friends with the actual classmate, who had 580 friends. He showed him mother, who was also being harassed by Hundley. In her texts, she used information that she had found out from the son, to try to convince Marni that her relationship with his husband was real. She used specific events, and facts about the Philips family to rattle Marni. She was eventually caught, but Marni Phillips is now sure her husband.
This is an example of how technology can have a negative effect on the modern world. It makes it easier to commit crimes, and in this case, find out a lot of personal information about other people. It is always important to know that you never really know a person online.

Links to Police Reports and Statements:

Article

LETTER: MISTRESS TO THE WIFE

STATEMENT FROM STEVE PHILLIPS

STATEMENT FROM MARNI PHILLIPS

STATEMENT FROM THEIR TEENAGE SON

WILTON POLICE REPORT

(Image: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/espn_suspends_steve_phillips_after_BqI2i7uj46oLDZSWhxsGvK)

Wikipedia: A History

I recently learned about the history of Wikipedia, which was actually very interesting. Wikipedia is an online encyclopaedia that was officially created in 2001. It was launched on January 15, 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The original idea for an online encyclopaedia was actually developed by Richard Stallman. Wikipedia was originally created to be a feeder into the online encyclopaedia, "Nupedia." Nupedia incorporated the peer-review concept that Wikipedia is now famous for. Though Nupedia actually had many of the same ideas as Wikipedia, it started off very slow, with only 12 articles in the first year. When it was clear the Nupedia wasn't doing very well, Larry Sanger suggested that they start a separate online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, just to test what was going wrong with Nupedia. Wikipedia grew in every respect, and eventually Nupedia was terminated. By 2003, Wikipedia passed 100,000 articles. By 2005, hundreds of new languages were introduced. By 2007, more than 5 million peer-editors were participating. In my experience, I have found that Wikipedia can be very flawed, but it definitely is a very impressive feat of technology. Currently, Wikipedia has 14 million articles, in more than 100 languages, with more than 1,000,000 contributors.

(image: http://ccrjustice.org/spread-word)

NEW Nano Banned in Fitness Chain

I recently read that the new iPod nano is raising many privacy concerns within certain fitness chains, such as the YMCA and Life Time Fitness. The new model contains a camera, which would not be traditionally allowed in a gym. One could record a video within the gym, or in the locker rooms. This could raise serious problems for the chains, and other clients, but it is hard to regulate who has an old model and who has a new model. Other than the camera, and the slightly larger screen, it is hard to tell the difference, when in case. It is also difficult to ban a musical device, such as an iPod, when it has such a vital use to so many gym-goers. Life Time has officially put the ban on the nano, restricting the iPod from its 84 stores, across 19 states. The nano also has a special workout option, Nike+, to track workouts, but cannot be used if all gyms exclude it. This idea is spreading rapidly to many other chains, which could be a potential problem for Apple.


(image: http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/23/new-ipod-nano-raises-privacy-concerns-with-fitness-chain/)

An Apple Perspective Coming to Disney

I recently read that Disney stores are actually being modified and revised, based on the new-and-improved Apple stores. Built-in movie theaters will be added, similar to the ones currently in Apple stores; the outlets will not just be forums for selling Disney merchandise. More technical equipment will also be added; one example mentioned was "magic mirror" in which you would see a specific Disney character based on what Disney toy/ item you was holding at the time. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple is actually on the board of Disney, meaning that many of the ideas easily could have been influenced by his current advances at Apple. The new paying system at Apple, where one can purchase an item from a salesperson on a portable device, is also being adapted at Disney. These current advances are examples of our forever-changing and advancing world; maybe soon, all stores around the world will have similar formats.

http://www.topnews.in/regions/san-francisco

Goal of Blog

This blog is a combination of technology, and the way technology is applied in the world today. Some posts might have to do with new gadgets coming out, others about new advances in medicine, etc. The content will vary, but the goal will always stay the same; to share information about our ever-changing and modernizing world through technology and culture.