CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
February 27, 2007 | Larry Gordon and Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writers
No wonder YouTube is so popular. All the effort to boost children's self-esteem may have backfired and produced a generation of college students who are more narcissistic than their Gen X predecessors, according to a new study led by a San Diego State University psychologist. And the Internet, with all its MySpace and YouTube braggadocio, is letting that self-regard blossom even more, said the analysis, titled "Egos Inflating Over Time."
ENTERTAINMENT
October 25, 2007 | From the Associated Press
MySpace is getting into the book business. The online social network, an increasingly popular venue for authors, booksellers and publishers, is collaborating with a children's imprint of HarperCollins on an environmental handbook coming out April 22, Earth Day. The paperback original, to be called "MySpace/Our Planet: Change is Possible," will be written by freelance journalist Jeca Taudte with a foreword by Tom Anderson, co-founder and president of MySpace.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 3, 2009 | Alexandra Zavis
A federal judge in Los Angeles on Thursday tentatively threw out the conviction of a Missouri woman for her role in a cruel Internet hoax on a teenage girl who ended up committing suicide. The decision by U.S. District Judge George H. Wu, which will not become final until he files a written ruling, was a blow to prosecutors who had hoped to send the message that cyber-bullying is a crime. Wu had repeatedly delayed sentencing to consider a defense motion to dismiss the entire case. U.S. Atty.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 18, 2007 | Christine Hanley, Times Staff Writer
Kristin Helms was 14 when the ponytailed Texas man nearly twice her age began slipping through cyberspace and into the computer in her Lake Forest bedroom. When her parents found his picture on Kristin's computer, they shut down her MySpace account, pulled her Internet privileges for months and warned her about online predators. But Kiley Ryan Bowers had their daughter in his grip. Kristin, thinking this could be her first true love, used computers outside the house to stay in touch with him.
BUSINESS
February 7, 2008 | Thomas S. Mulligan, Times Staff Writer
new york -- Spin Magazine's print subscriptions jumped in January at least in part for a surprising reason: Its pages were posted on the Web for free. Spin Digital, a highly interactive online version of the magazine, quietly made its debut on MySpace three weeks ago. It feels more like the print edition of the rock-music monthly than its Internet cousin, Spin.com. In fact, the digital version is the print edition.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
May 20, 2006 | Jonathan Abrams, Times Staff Writer
Two Quartz Hill teenagers planned a Columbine-style attack on their old high school in February in meticulous detail, sheriff's deputies allege. Johnny Alvarez Casas, then 17, and his friend, then 15, stockpiled ammunition and bomb-making supplies in their homes, then practiced detonating improvised explosives in the Antelope Valley desert, deputies said. The younger suspect's name is being withheld because of his age.