Burglars Picked Houses Based on Facebook Updates

If you plan to log into your Facebook account and announce to the world that you’re heading to the beach for the weekend, you might want to append the status update with a warning that your home is under 24-hour surveillance, you have a 140-pound Rottweiler who hasn’t eaten in a week and that you own a really good alarm system.

If you don’t, you personal belongings could be fodder for some tech-savvy burglars.

From left to right, Mario Rojas, Leonardo Barroso, Victor Rodriguez.According to New Hampshire’s WMUR Channel 9 News, three local men, Mario Rojas, Leonardo Barroso and Victor Rodriguez, have burglarized more than 18 homes in the Nashua area of New Hampshire simply by checking status updates on Facebook and then pillaging houses of victims who announced on the social network that they were not home.

Police told the news outlet that they recovered between $100,000 and $200,000 worth of stolen property as a result of the investigation.

According to local police, investigators tracked down the burglars by listeningd for the sound of a specific kind of fireworks stolen from a home. When they heard it, they apprehended the suspects and their loot.

A Web site called Please Rob Me had noted when people informed the world they weren’t home by their status updates and check-ins on some location-based social networks. But the site has since shut down, noting that the site’s founders are “satisfied with the attention we’ve gotten for an issue that we deeply care about.”

Ron Dickerson, captain of Nashua’s Police Department, told the local news that people need to “Be careful of what you post on these social networking sites.”

Pranks aren't always funny! But LOL! LOL!

Lindsay Lohan at the VMA's - Can this be the beginning of a comeback?

Did you get that heartwarming feeling that you’re about to start cheering for a comeback, even against your better judgment, when you saw Lindsay Lohan pop up in Chelsea Handler’s taped VMA opening? I’ll admit it: I did. There’s nothing like a Hollywood recovery story, and Linds took the first of those other 12 Steps — the steps toward pop cultural redemption — with her cameo.

That is, she got to step in and save Handler’s opening from awkwardness — and when’s the last time Lohan actually got to save something? Maybe Handler tried to suck a little at the beginning just for this purpose? Is she that sneakily benevolent?
Lohan even got to take a self-aware jab at herself — a critical requirement for this particular kind of Step 1 — when she asked Handler why her ankle bracelet was going off. (“That just means my table’s ready at the Cheesecake Factory.”) Lindsay’s response?

“Do you think anyone wants to work with a drunk? Take it from me, they don’t.”

Did you like Lindsay’s VMA appearance? Could this be the beginning of a beautiful comeback?

Kanye West admits to being a douchebag... but no one can deny his sheer Talent

Say what you want about Kanye and heck he considers himself to be a douchebag at times but this man is talented.

Okay, to say it’s been a rough year for Kanye West would be an understatement. Granted, he’s the reason he’s had it so bad. After interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at last year’s VMAs, the rapper and sometime singer spent the end of 2009 and majority of 2010 in pop culture exile. But at the top of this summer, he returned with his rebellious “Power.” Though his skills as an artist haven’t diminished, his ego apparently has– a little. On Twitter, he’s frequently apologized for his prior antics, and tonight he made another huge step back into the land of popularity at the VMAs.

After surviving Taylor Swift’s performance, which was (kind of) about him, West closed the show debuting his new single “Runaway.” Introduced by comedian and friend Aziz Ansari, West walked out in a red suit and black tee.

Kanye started off singing the track’s hook. “You’ve been putting up with my s— for way too long…/ Let’s have a toast for the douchebags/Let’s have a toast for the a–holes…/Baby, I’ve got a plan/Run away as fast as you can.” On stage with ballerinas and his drum pad, he delivered one of his most earnest, but also somehow tongue-in-cheek, performances ever.

It was a complete victory, addressing his character flaws and acknowledging public opinion without relinquishing any of his power. After a witty verse from his label mate, Pusha T of the Clipse, West returned for some Auto-Tune-assisted singing on the bridge.
“Kanye! Kanye! Kanye,” the crowd chanted after he was done. It was the night’s only standing ovation. Strategically, if this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will. But based on the crowd’s reaction, it appears to have done the trick. It was a Kanye lovefest.

Lady Gaga Announces New Album Title At VMA's; 'Born This Way'

I have to admit I was definitely on Team Gaga last night. I mean this girl is talented and I really hope that she remains as humble as she appeared last night as she moves forward in her career. Lady Gaga made good on a promise to fans to announce the name of her next album in her speech if she won Video of the Year: In accepting the award for “Bad Romance” (from Cher! who was wearing her “If I Could Turn Back Time” spiderweb/thong getup! gays, rejoice!) she not only dropped the title — Born This Way – but also sang a few bars. And between her amazing non-Auto-Tuned voice (sorry, Kanye) and her great throwaway line (“I never thought I’d be asking Cher to hold my meat purse”), she calmly, classily stole the show, just by being Gaga. No actual speech-stealing required. (Again, sorry, Kanye.)

Taylor Swift - Song About Kanye; Really?

Taylor Swift “surprised” the audience at the VMAs (though word of the performance leaked last night) with a song “about” Kanye West’s now-all-too-infamous stage-crashing incident at last year’s ceremony. And a good thing word leaked yesterday, or we’d barely know this song she sang was vaguely, possibly, inspired-ish by said lapse in manners. The replay of the incident at the beginning of her appearance helped make it clearer, but then it was all moody lighting and red lipstick and sparkles. She looked gorgeous, as she is wont to do, but, um, the actual song was a pretty opaque: She seems to be saying Kanye “lost [his] balance on a tightrope” and “lost [his] mind trying to get it back” and also “who you are is not where you’ve been,” thus he is “still an innocent.” Perhaps the clearest reference to the rapper was when she said “32 is still growing up now” — lo and behold, he was that very age when he crashed the stage.

At any rate, she seems to have forgiven him: “Time turns flames to embers,” and “minds change like the weather — I hope you remember today is never late to be brand new.” So, yay. Let’s all toast to the (hopefully) final note in that moment that launched a thousand blog posts, apologies, and replays on YouTube. Everyone’s been wondering if her new album full of confessional tunes, Speak Now, would address the debacle — and now we have our answer! And she’s had the last word. There, don’t we all feel better now?