Laptop

School bells are chiming again. Is your student ready with cool tech tools to help get the job done? BUY A VIDEO GAME SYSTEM, GET A FREE COMPUTER: OK, so maybe I have this current offer (as advertised on TV!) backward. But one might argue that Xbox 360 game systems are more appealing to students than a new Windows PC laptop. Here's how the deal works. Buy a student a Windows 7 laptop priced at $699 or more at participating retailers and get a free Xbox 360 console. The latter, a basic, $199 model with 4GB flash drive, is good for more than playing games, ya know.

A group of Lower Merion and Harriton High School parents will meet tonight to discuss ways to derail the possibility that a federal lawsuit over laptop spying could lead to a lengthy and expensive class-action case against their district. Bryn Mawr resident Michael Boni, one of the organizers, said yesterday: "We have spoken to our neighbors and friends, and it seemed that there was a groundswell of opposition to one family with one lawyer bringing this action on behalf of the community.

MINNEAPOLIS - The stolen laptop sent its owner a hopeful message just hours after it had been spirited out of his south Minneapolis home. The message included the exact spot where the laptop had been taken and, conveniently, a photo covertly shot by the MacBook's webcam of the man now using the computer. Antitheft software on the laptop kicked into gear when the owner reported his computer stolen. Now the police would simply go get it back, thought the man, a Web developer. Instead, he watched online as his laptop traveled from an apartment complex in Coon Rapids, Minn., to an apartment in Mounds View, Minn., and then, weeks later, to the University of Ghana, in Africa.

NEW ORLEANS - A BP employee lost a laptop containing personal data belonging to thousands of Louisiana residents who filed claims for compensation after last year's gulf oil spill, a spokesman for the oil giant said Tuesday. Spokesman Curtis Thomas said BP mailed out letters Monday to roughly 13,000 people whose data were stored on the computer, notifying them about the potential security breach and offering to pay for monitoring their credit. The company also reported the missing laptop to law enforcement, he said.

A security officer for the Transportation Security Administration surrendered to authorities Friday to face charges that she stole laptop computers from a TSA facility. Jennifer Steplight, 40, of Bayonne, maintained records for the TSA's lost and found office at Newark Liberty International Airport. Federal prosecutors said Steplight stole four laptops from the office in December 2009 and January 2010 and concealed the thefts by faking claim forms. Steplight, who appeared in Newark federal court this afternoon, was charged with embezzlement and making false statements.

Superintendent Christopher McGinley, whose Lower Merion School District was accused in a federal lawsuit last week of spying on students in their homes, faced about 75 district residents last night and said little about the controversy. McGinley had no choice; he is barred by a court order, filed Monday, from talking about the allegations, unless he first clears his statements with attorneys for 15-year-old Blake Robbins and his family. So he had nothing of substance to say about the lawsuit over district-issued laptop computers at the meeting at Narberth Borough Hall.

Did the union led by state Senate candidate John J. Dougherty pay to place more than 100,000 anonymous attack flyers targeting Mayor Nutter during last year's Democratic mayoral primary campaign? Believing that a laptop computer owned by local political consultant Tommie St. Hill might provide an answer, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics persuaded a city judge two days ago to allow it to conduct a search to find out. But it seems no search will occur because the laptop is missing.

Although police sought the public's help on Tuesday to identify a vehicle linked to a suburban theft - one of dozens in recent weeks - it was one of their own who cracked the case, said a Friday news release from Westtown-East Goshen police. A detective on patrol observed a matching Mazda 3 sedan and made contact with the driver, the release said. An investigation followed and resulted in the arrest of Robert B. Siter, 22, of Media, who was charged with criminal conspiracy, burglary and related offenses.

Many of the Lower Merion district high school parents who met last night to figure out how to respond to a lawsuit over alleged laptop spying agreed they want a say in the process. About 150 people gathered at Narberth Borough Hall to discuss whether they could and should join together to influence the litigation and oppose its becoming a class action. Bryn Mawr resident Michael Boni, a group founder and a lawyer, said that unless a way was found to resolve the laptop lawsuit without lengthy legal proceedings, the cost to the district could run "into the millions.

A Seattle-based security firm says it needed just hours to hack into a version of the laptop tracking system that the Lower Merion School District used, suggesting that tech-savvy outsiders could have commandeered the computers and watched students through their webcams. The company, Leviathan Security Group, said it launched the review after realizing that some of its clients were using the same system, LANrev, that drew an international spotlight to Lower Merion. Leviathan executives said they had no reason to believe anyone had breached Lower Merion's system.

MINNEAPOLIS - The stolen laptop sent its owner a hopeful message just hours after it had been spirited out of his south Minneapolis home. The message included the exact spot where the laptop had been taken and, conveniently, a photo covertly shot by the MacBook's webcam of the man now using the computer. Antitheft software on the laptop kicked into gear when the owner reported his computer stolen. Now the police would simply go get it back, thought the man, a Web developer. Instead, he watched online as his laptop traveled from an apartment complex in Coon Rapids, Minn., to an apartment in Mounds View, Minn., and then, weeks later, to the University of Ghana, in Africa.

A former teacher who trespassed Friday morning at Cardinal O'Hara High School, triggering an hour-long lockdown, had been dismissed in 2008 for having pornographic material on his laptop, a school official said. Kenneth Gavin, associate communications director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said the man had been dismissed on a morals clause. Police in Marple Township identified the intruder as Walter Lion, 61, of Pennsbury Township, Chester County. Late Friday afternoon, charges against Lion on defiant trespass and related offenses were pending, police said.

Regina Lee Blaszczyk, a professor of consumer culture and design history, says her neighborhood coffee shop is a perfect example of how the laptop experience has become the accessory of the age, and she's not kidding. At Chapterhouse on Ninth near Bainbridge, there is a shelf of books available for customers, but on nearly every table, most occupied by a person and a latte, is a laptop. Most feature a shiny apple on the cover. "May I share your outlet?" is about all that passes for conversation between tables.

One of Lower Merion's unforgettable families has a message: Forget about us. "We're done," Michael Robbins said Wednesday. Robbins spoke minutes after his daughter Paige, 20, dropped her invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, the same district that last year paid his son Blake $175,000 to resolve allegations that it had spied on him through a school-issued laptop. But like Blake Robbins' case, which drew an international spotlight to the district and stirred finger-pointing and contempt from parents and officials inside it, this one didn't end without a dose of theater.

One of Lower Merion's unforgettable families has a message: Forget about us. "We're done," Michael Robbins said Wednesday. Robbins spoke minutes after his 20-year-old daughter Paige dropped her invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District, the same district that last year paid his son Blake $175,000 to resolve allegations it spied on him through a school-issued laptop. But like Blake Robbins' case, which drew an international spotlight to the school district and stirred finger-pointing and contempt from parents and officials inside it, this one didn't end without a dose of theater.

Here's a welcome way to make use of your wheel-aboard bag while waiting at the airport gate. Attach the TRIPAD Traveler "desk" to the bag's extended pull arms and you have a handy little work space or eating surface. The slim 15-inch-by-123/4-inch plastic "desk" has two slide-out extensions (one with a cup holder), and fits in most standard-size laptop bags. It may even stash in the large external compartment built into many wheel-aboard bags. Designed to hold up to 10 pounds, the Traveler is sturdy enough to support a hefty laptop computer.

The Lower Merion School District has resolved another lawsuit with a former student over its secret monitoring of student laptops. The district reached a settlement last week with Joshua Levin, a 2009 graduate of Harriton High School. In a lawsuit filed in June in federal court, Levin contended the district violated his civil rights by capturing nearly 8,000 webcam photos and screen shots from his school-issued laptop between September 2008 and March 2009. Levin's lawyer said Wednesday the settlement proposal was larger than the $10,000 payments offered to other affected students but he would not discuss details.

The attorney for a former Lower Merion student who accused the district of spying on her via a laptop camera - the same accusation that won her brother a big settlement from the district - has asked a judge for permission to leave the case. Mary Elizabeth Bogan stated in her U.S. District Court filing Tuesday "that counsel has irreconcilable conflict with the client. " Last week, Bogan filed a complaint on behalf of Paige Robbins, 19, asserting that, according to a 2010 deposition given by Lindy Matsko, Harriton High School's assistant vice principal, the school district "remotely accessed the webcam feature on the laptop issued to the plaintiff while she was in the bathroom, or in the nude, or partially dressed or sleeping or in her bedroom in a compromised state.

The sister of the student who brought the first webcam lawsuit against the Lower Merion School District two years ago has filed her own federal lawsuit, which administrators have slammed as "an attempted money-grab and a complete waste of tax dollars. " Paige Robbins, 19, of Penn Valley, alleges the district invaded her privacy when it remotely snapped pictures via a laptop in her home while she was undressed. She is the sister of Blake Robbins, 17, who as a sophomore at Harriton High School sued the Lower Merion district for invasion of privacy and agreed to a $175,000 settlement.