Ideal for small places like a car, the $55 machine claims to sterilize the air with its environmental Ion Oxygen Hydronium function. Haha, OK. But it'll still kill you. [Product Page via Red Ferret]

According to a confession he gave police, Sanford captured a 7th grade girl on her way home from Wal-mart and brought her to an abandoned home. After failing to rape her, he beat the girl to death.

Sanford was a registered Level 3 sex offender, the category deemed most likely to reoffend. So he was fitted with GPS, but why didn't the GPS precaution prevent this tragedy?

A few reasons. First, it was a passive GPS, in which parole officers merely check coordinates after the fact. That GPS data successfully led to Sanford's eventual police confession, but it didn't prevent anything. And even active GPS, one read in realtime, would require someone actually checking the data and reasoning what a registered sex offender hanging around in an abandoned building might imply.

A million things could probably have occurred differently to prevent this tragedy, but I can't help but worry that technological catch phrases like "GPS" lull us into a false sense of security, while computers gather meaningless data of infinitely meaningful events. [CNN]

The unemployed, depressed 24-year-old left his roommate a suicide note containing hazy details of his location along with personal information (like his SSN and bank account). And then he went into a meticulous set of instructions regarding his PS3.

You know my ps3 is special. Similar USED ps3's go for AT LEAST $450-$500. Our landlord guy wants a ps3 like mine. Let him know that $400 would be a GOOD deal. If he doesn't want it, format the drive by going to Settings>System>Format Utility. You can say it "comes with the latest firmware software" to help market it on the internet. In case you don't know, it's the special "100% backwards compatible" (60 GB) ps3.

An awkward moment of kindness preceding the most selfish act of murder. It's hard to understand, but that's probably a good thing. [KATU via Kotaku]

Richardson received a life sentence for stabbing his estranged wife to death last May. She was living at her parent's home at the time following a falling out. When she later changed her status to "single," Richardson broke in and killed her. Later, he tried and failed to kill himself.

This is the third U.K.-based Facebook murder story to happen in the past year.

As ComputerWeekly reports, last year in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, "a man murdered his wife and then killed himself after she told visitors to her Facebook page that she was splitting up with him." In October, a Croydon, Surrey, man murdered his wife when she also changed her status to single. Somehow I don't think it's Facebook that's to blame in these cases, as they'd probably play out the same way, sadly, regardless of the method use to break off the marriage. [ComputerWeekly - Thanks, Matt!]

The news stunned a student population still reeling from the mass shootings that happened in 2007, perhaps the most famous modern geek tragedy.

Xin Yang, a Beijing native, had met her accused attacker, 25-year-old Haiyang Zhu, through the 500-strong Chinese community at VTech. The two attended several functions together, and he was listed on her emergency contacts. But on Wednesday, seemingly apropos of nothing, he pulled out a kitchen knife in a cafe at the Graduate Life Center.

Witnesses said the two had not been arguing before the attack, and that there hadn't been previous signs of trouble between them.

Zhu has been charged with first-degree murder. After the arrest, the campus alert system put in place after Seung-Hui Cho's shootings sent out a notice to about 30,000 subscribers. [AP]

Testimony continued today in the trial of David Lin, who allegedly mailed a bomb [on behalf of Anthony Chang] in a toy robot dog that resulted in the death of 18-year-old Patrick Hsu in 2001...When Patrick came home for a weekend visit from the University of California-Santa Barbara, he placed batteries in the toy, detonating the bombing device.

Anthony's woman had left him for Patrick. Geek love, gone tragic. –Brian Lam

Toy robot dog is star exhibit in S.J. murder trial [via Core77]

Toy robot dog is star exhibit in S.J. murder trial
By Howard Mintz
Mercury News

The metallic toy robot dog sits on the prosecution table, perched a few feet from the jury and not looking particularly lethal.

But inside a federal courtroom in San Jose, the toy has been an eerie, star exhibit — a replica of the murder weapon in a trial that began unfolding this week against a former Milpitas engineer charged in a revenge plot that killed a local college student six years ago.

Testimony continued today in the trial of David Lin, who allegedly mailed a bomb in a toy robot dog that resulted in the death of 18-year-old Patrick Hsu in 2001. Prosecutors allege that Lin, 39, mailed the device on behalf of Anthony Chang, who is accused of masterminding a plot against the family of Wendy Hsu, his estranged wife and Patrick's sister.

Now in its fourth day, testimony in Lin's trial has for the most part focused on Chang, a phantom in the courtroom who remains a fugitive suspected of living in Venezuela. Wendy Hsu testified earlier this week of her abusive, rocky relationship with Chang, who vowed retaliation against her and her family for leaving him.

Lin's lawyers maintain he never knew there was a bomb in the package he mailed for Chang, and the outcome of the trial may well hinge on prosecutors' ability to prove otherwise. Lin faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Patrick Hsu.

Today, the prosecution provided what may be its key testimony linking Lin to the bomb plot. Jenny Barrera, Chang's former girlfriend, testified in detail how she watched Chang assemble the lethal device in their Las Vegas apartment weeks before Patrick Hsu's death, taking apart the toy and inserting a pipe bomb inside.

Speaking softly through a Spanish interpreter, Barrera, who has been placed in a government witness protection program, testified that Chang told her he was sending the bomb to Wendy's San Jose home because ``she had ruined his life.''

Under questioning from Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Shoemaker, Barrera then described numerous conversations in which Chang told her that he mailed a box with the robot dog to Lin, who allegedly was responsible for sending it to the Hsu household. Police linked Lin to the package through a Milpitas post office.

``He said he'd asked David whether he could send the package to Wendy,'' Barrera testified, looking forlorn on the witness stand. ``That he had told him there was a bomb inside. That he should be careful when he held it, that he should wear gloves.''

Barrera admitted lying to police and federal agents at various times when questioned about Chang's role in the bombing early in the investigation. She then broke down and cried on the stand when she recounted changing her story and admitting her firsthand knowledge because she felt guilt when agents told her about the victim, Patrick Hsu.

Daniel Blank, a federal public defender representing Lin, plans to present testimony showing that Chang told conflicting stories about whether Lin was aware he was mailing a package containing a bomb. Blank will cross-examine Barrera when the trial resumes Monday.

During opening statements earlier this week, Blank told jurors Lin is a ``non-violent, peaceful person'' who was duped into mailing the package on Chang's behalf.

``David did not know Patrick and he did not know what was in the package,'' Blank told a packed courtroom that included Hsu's mother and father.

Chen Hsu, Patrick's father, received the package in January 2001, but left the robot dog for his son when he could not locate batteries to make it work. When Patrick came home for a weekend visit from the University of California-Santa Barbara, he placed batteries in the toy, detonating the bombing device implanted by Chang.

Chang also faces murder charges if he is returned to the U.S. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty against him.

The real fun when they strap a fricking broadsword to the thing and create the ultimate Final Fantasy opponent. It's a wonder nobody lost their genitals with this thing. – Jason Chen

WiiBot [USMechatronics via Hackaday via Slashgear]