Free Republic

Federal and California law both protect reporters against police searches aimed at uncovering confidential sources or seizing other information developed during newsgathering activities. Yet on Friday, agents with the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) executed a search warrant at Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home, searching for evidence related to Gizmodo's scoop on what appears to be a pre-release version of Apple's next iPhone model. The warrant does not reveal whether Chen himself is considered a criminal suspect, or what alleged crime the police are investigating, but Chen was not arrested. All of his computers and hard drives (among other...

Police have seized computers and servers belonging to an editor of Gizmodo in an investigation that appears to stem from the gadget blog's purchase of a lost Apple iPhone prototype. Deputies from the San Mateo County Sheriff's office obtained a warrant on Friday and searched Jason Chen's Fremont, Calif., home later that evening, Gizmodo acknowledged on Monday. In an article on Friday, CNET was the first to report on the criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the iPhone prototype and Gizmodo's acquisition of it, including that Apple had contacted local police. A San Mateo County judge signed the search warrant,...

Cops break open front door and seize computers in investigation of lost iPhone prototype. It looks like the police are taking this pretty seriously. Armed with a search warrant, members of California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team broke into a private home Friday night and seized computers and other electronic equipment, according to a report posted Monday on Gizmodo. The home belonged to Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor who published photographs and videos of a top secret prototype iPhone left at a bar by a young Apple engineer. Gizmodo has admitted paying $5,000 for the device, which it turned over...

Was that headline mean? I'm sorry, but the silliness of this story, which centers around one couple's quest to annoy/sue the hell out of their entire apartment building, warranted it. The ridiculous story unfolds like this:On Saturdays, Dr. Dena Coleman and her husband Gordon claim they are imprisoned in their condo because the landlord went and installed a motion-sensing security light to save energy and money. As Orthodox Jews, they say triggering the light violates a Sabbath rule, so they sued. Which rule? The Promethean one: [The couple] claim they cannot leave their holiday flat on the Sabbath because...

Joe Pappalardo got some crisp, high quality military close-ups of the Spirit of Kansas, the $1.2 billion stealth B-2 bomber that crashed in Guam last February. We published other images of the crash scene before.  Head to Popular Mechanics to see the official timeline of the crash. [Popular Mechanics]

You've been waiting for this, I know you have. So here's the first Rocket Bike with a 200-pound-thrust engine capable of blasting from 0 to 60 miles an hour in five seconds. Built by Tim Pickens, president of rocket-design firm Orion Propulsion, this power bike uses roofing tar instead of synthetic rubber fuel. A button on the handlebar fires the model-rocket motor inside the engine—which then sets off the larger motor by lighting the roof-tar fuel. Wowwee. Hope he had a helmet handy. Look for a pickup truck with removable 2,000-pound-thrust rocket strapped into the bed as Pickens's next pet...