On That Thing That You’ve Probably Heard About

So, um, a lot has been made about this whole Gizmodo/iPhone/search warrant thing. I’ve  put off weighing in (which has been extremely difficult for someone who, like me, is fascinated by issues like media ethics and criminal law), but so much of the commentary thus far has seemed so incredibly off-base (especially regarding the legal, procedural elements of the case) I felt compelled to add my two cents.

But first, standard disclaimer: I’ve been an intern at Gawker Media, which owns Gizmodo, since last July. That said, I learned about this story the same way (and at the same time) everyone else did. I haven’t discussed the story with anyone at the company, I don’t have any insidery details, I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know anything about what the lawyers are actually thinking, and my take on this whole situation is a complete armchair analysis that in no way reflects or represents the position of my colleagues or employers. In fact, my opinion is based almost entirely on too many Law & Order re-runs and a handful of journalism and law classes (including First Amendment and criminal procedure). We all know what educations in those fields are worth these days, so take it with a proverbial grain of salt. More »

Robot (yes, robot) VS Volkswagon beetle

Weird story out of Los Angeles today…

A police stand-off in Westwood, Calif. has pitched an armored truck, the U.S. Secret Service, Homeland Security, FBI, and an LAPD bomb squad robot against a red Volkswagon beetle.

It’s been going on all day long (like, seriously, since at least 12 pm, EST). Apparently this began as a police chase over some kind of traffic infraction, but they’re now after this guy for making threats to blow up the White House.

Jalopnik’s Matt Hardigree has my original clip, via FOX News, here.

Judge orders injunction against Microsoft; paperclip dismayed

Wow, over 17,000 pageviews so far, making this the sixth most popular item on Gizmodo today (and three of the top five were posted between 12 a.m. and 3 a.m. this morning, so I’m counting them as “last night’s posts” to further stroke my ego)

Anyway, Conan O’Brien gave a little shoutout to the Clippy, the Office Assistant from MS Word, and his response to Monday’s court injunction that has temporarily prohibited Microsoft from selling copies of Word.

Gizmodo’s Sean Fallon has the clip, edited and pitched by yours truly, here.

Poor Clippy. :(