Home Computer

Where's the first place you could have heard a track from the forthcoming Guns N' Roses album "The Spaghetti Incident"? Not on MTV. Not on your fave college alternative radio station. The answer: Your home computer. A 30-second sound bite of the tune "Ain't It Fun" recently debuted on CompuServe, the country's largest electronic information service for computer users, with 1.4 million subscribers. Previews of two dozen albums can be accessed from CompuServe's newly-opened Music Vendors Forum, a cyber space for labels to promote products and answer questions from consumers.

Once upon a time, counterfeiters had to learn their trade. Find the right paper. Etch the plates to perfection. Re-create those green and gray hues. Operate a press. It took time, and unquestionably some maturity. There is a 14-year-old boy living in this community, authorities said, who bypassed the need for age-old counterfeiting know-how with a few clicks on his computer mouse. After creating a few hundred dollars worth of bogus $20s with his family's computer scanner, police said, the boy gave a couple to two friends - who then tried to pass them off in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

Craig Pliskin, 3, frowned, pausing a moment to think about the correct answer. Then with a shrill of sheer delight, he pressed a tiny finger to the computer keyboard and chose the appropriate key. The screen lit up, flashing a bright, multicolored design that, along with an upbeat tune of congratulations, confirmed his success. The young boy scored 100 percent on a 10-part exercise that tested his ability to distinguish shapes and colors. "How about letters next?" he asked his teacher eagerly.

MOTHER'S DAY For Mother's Day, maybe it's time to stop blaming mother for everything that's gone wrong with you. So says University of Southern California psychologist Carol Nagy Jacklin. "For much of the 20th century, the blame- the-mother school of thought has prevailed in one form or another," including studies of the effects of maternal employment on children that seem to presume a negative effect, she says. But, she adds, recent research has found that "girls whose mothers work outside the home tend to have higher self-esteem than girls whose mothers don't hold outside jobs.

More and more, the glows coming from windows in some neighborhoods aren't from television sets. Rather than watching Cheers or Roseanne, people in millions of households are poking away at keyboards and poring over spreadsheets, writing term papers, communicating electronically with others or simply playing games on their home computers. The proportion of households in the nation owning computers nearly doubled in the 1980s - from about 8 percent in 1984 to 15 percent in 1989, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week.

COMBING FOR CLUES. Bad guys, beware - scientists can now detect genetic characteristics by analyzing a single hair. Such tests can help show that a suspect was at a crime scene where a hair has been found, researchers write in today's issue of the British journal Nature. UNUSED COMPUTERS. Millions of Americans have home computers, but only about half of adults who have them use them. However, nearly three-quarters of children with access to a home computer do use them, the Census Bureau reported yesterday.

U.S. REP. ANTHONY WEINER  finally came clean yesterday about the underwear picture - and many others - sent through his Twitter account. What he said: "I have made some terrible mistakes. I have not been honest. " What he meant: "Let me be honest: I am so glad I didn't record any videos. You guys haven't found any nude videos of me, right?" What he said: "To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. " What he meant: "The only way I can make this clearer is if I sent a picture of myself holding a sign that read 'Me' with a freaking arrow pointing at my face.

A state grand jury indicted a Sicklerville man yesterday on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography over the Internet, the New Jersey attorney general's office said. John A. Lanzillo, 67, of Fox Meadow Drive, was charged with second- and fourth-degree counts of child endangerment. He is accused of sending 39 pornographic photos of young children to an undercover investigator from the New York attorney general's office. Between Jan. 13 and 29, Lanzillo allegedly engaged the investigator in online chat sessions during which he said he was from New Jersey.

Let's say you want to do a little business in your bathrobe. Maybe you want to sell insurance over the telephone or set up meetings with customers or balance the books for the local hardware store. Under a township ordinance far older than the fax machine or the home computer, it would probably be tougher than you first thought. If you do any work from home - even if you don't bother the neighbors - you need approval from the Planning Board, a time-consuming, expensive process.

With a soft, steady voice, the 26-year-old man who had videotaped children at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant tried to explain his conduct yesterday during a federal sentencing hearing. Jason M. Kammerer of Washington Township, who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, blamed his physical desire for children at the time on feelings of loneliness, emptiness and anxiety. But after a few minutes, U.S. District Judge Joseph Irenas interrupted and suggested that Kammerer cease with what he called "psychobabble.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court yesterday turned down appeals from two Pennsylvania school districts that were successfully sued by students who posted on the Internet malicious mockeries of their school principals. The court's action puts school officials on notice that they may violate the First Amendment if they try to discipline students for online posts made from their home computers. Last year, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school officials cannot police "off-campus speech" by students unless they can show that it caused a major disruption at school.

Two Pennsylvania teens cannot be disciplined at school for MySpace parodies of their principals created on home computers, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday in a high-profile case involving students and free speech. The postings, however lewd or offensive, were not likely to cause significant disruptions at school and are therefore protected under prior Supreme Court case law, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found. "Today's court decision states that you cannot punish students for off-campus speech simply because it offends or criticizes [school officials]

U.S. REP. ANTHONY WEINER  finally came clean yesterday about the underwear picture - and many others - sent through his Twitter account. What he said: "I have made some terrible mistakes. I have not been honest. " What he meant: "Let me be honest: I am so glad I didn't record any videos. You guys haven't found any nude videos of me, right?" What he said: "To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. " What he meant: "The only way I can make this clearer is if I sent a picture of myself holding a sign that read 'Me' with a freaking arrow pointing at my face.

With about 10 percent of the tens of millions of its customer service calls having nothing, or very little, to do with Comcast Corp. itself, the cable giant on Wednesday launched a Geek Squad-like help service for residential customers. For a fee, customers can get help with problematic wireless gaming consoles, personal computers, tablets, WiFi-enabled smartphones, and networking equipment. The new service intends to relieve the frustration of consumers who can't resolve an issue through the company's customer service department and could open a source of revenue for Comcast.

WHO KNEW that computers would actually widen the achievement gap in math and reading scores? A recent study of students in grades five through eight showed that those from disadvantaged families got lower scores once the Internet arrived at home. Testing more than 150,000 students in North Carolina, Duke University researchers compared children's reading and math scores before and after they acquired a home computer and compared those scores to those of kids who never acquire a home computer.

A Lower Merion school administrator who had the ability to activate cameras on students' laptops has agreed to answer questions under oath about her role in the tracking system and to let investigators inspect her home computer, her attorney said Friday. Carol Cafiero had previously refused to give a deposition in the lawsuit spawned by the Web-cam system, asserting her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney, Charles Mandracchia, said he wanted his client to answer questions from FBI agents before submitting to lawyers' queries in the civil suit.

The system that Lower Merion school officials used to track lost and stolen laptops wound up secretly capturing thousands of images, including photographs of students in their homes, Web sites they visited, and excerpts of their online chats, says a new motion filed in a suit against the district. More than once, the motion asserts, a laptop camera took photos of Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins as he slept in his bed. The motion, filed in federal court late Thursday by his lawyers, says that each time the camera took Robbins' picture, it fired the image off to network servers at the School District.

A former Delaware County sheriff who had more than 60 child-pornography videos on his home computer was sentenced yesterday to more than six months in jail. Joseph Swett, 43, of Linwood, will serve at least six and up to 23 months in jail, followed by four years' probation. He must also participate in a sexual-offenders program, forfeit his computers and firearms, and register with the state under Megan's Law for 10 years. Swett was sentenced by Commons Pleas Judge Joseph P. Cronin Jr. Swett pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to possession of child pornography and other related charges.

A convicted child molester and part-time school bus driver pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to receiving child pornography. U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond accepted the plea from Charles W. Rice, 43, of Coatesville, described by prosecutors as a "sexual predator who targets vulnerable prepubescent boys. " Rice, an employee of Krapf's Coaches Inc. at the time of his arrest in February, remains in federal custody to await his sentencing. For two years, Rice had been driving Bus 13 in the afternoon for the West Chester Area School District.

Only after Ryan Halligan hanged himself did his father realize what the 13-year-old had been doing online. Through three months' worth of links and instant messages saved on his home computer, Ryan's growing pain - and the callousness of his online tormentors - became clear. "You're a loser," one message jabbed. There were other taunts, Web searches on suicide, and, ultimately, threats to kill himself to get back at school bullies. "Tonight's the night," Ryan finally typed.