With a whole lot of charm and little bit of pluck, Mayor Gavin Newsom managed to get the much-needed passwords from former IT nerd Terry Childs during a jailhouse visit last night. If you recall, Childs, City Hall's former network administrator , has been incarcerated since July 13 after failing to handover the correct security codes to his bosses after getting the boot. Newsom, it seems, had a secret meeting with Child last night, one......

Terry Childs, 43, City Hall's computer network administrator, was arrested and charged with four counts of computer tampering this past weekend. Why? Well, according to the Chronicle, he "tampered with the city's new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), where records such as officials' e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail inmates' bookings are stored." That is to say, he created his eyes only a master password for the entire network. And after his......

Photo by Steve Rhodes from the SFist Flickr Pool. Wow, did you see the lines STILL growing outside the downtown AT&T and Apple stores this past weekend? The above shot was taken last night, proving that most of you ignored a few bad reviews, and wanted your very own Jobsian doodad. Now. The phone passed the 1 million sales mark after a mere three days on the market. Impressive, indeed. And after seeing this......

Eeeps, iPhone 3G fans! According to Jordan Golson over at the Industry Standard, today's iPhone 3G has turned into a disaster. A few snafus? Well, iTunes activations are "completely offline" due to a global server crash of sorts, most Apple store workers make you activate the new phone at home (for reals? boo!), some stores allegedly have no shipments yet, and harrowing reports of lackluster customer service. (In other news, the Industry Standard is alive......

Here are people waiting in line. For a phone. The Jobian gadget went on sale today, and Flickr users joe.moore and Steve Rhodes, and Valleywag's Jackson West managed to snap up a few images. Enjoy. Oh, and if you have the brand-spanking new 3G in your grubby little hands, how is it?......

(By Eyleen Tavy) If you're reading SFist, chances are you're familiar with local social media company Twitter (and if you're not, well, Eye on Blogs' Brittney Gilbert is more than happy to explain it to you in the video clip above.) Now, we like Twitter (maybe not as much as Brittney does -- we're really not expecting it to save us from slaughter any time soon), but if there's one thing the tragic loss......

Made by Toto (no, not this Toto, but a swank Japanese company) , Google employees at their California offices can release their urine and evacuate their bowels like space-age kings using this ultra-modern and terrible chic toilet. Not happy with merely wiping, Google employees have the option to wash the rear area, wash the front area (something people should really do more often), dry, perform something called "wand cleaning," and so much more. Sure, it's......

CrunchGear allegedly has the first photos on the Internet for the new 3G iPhone. According to Network World: From the TechGear description and looking at the pictures it's definitely thinner than the original iPhone and looks reminiscent of the MacBook Air. Gotta love the multiple colors and the "red" campaign branding. Looks like the "jesus phone" got an exterior upgrade to match it's new internals. Also, you can do video chat with your iPhone......

With a fresh banner outside CNET headquarters proclaiming it as one of the best places to work in the universe, ever--according to Business Week, anyway--CBS Corporation just made it a little better for the folks who work there. Well, hopefully. CBS decided to purchase the "premier destination for tech product reviews, tech news, daily videos, free downloads, and podcasts" for for $1.8 billion in cash. CNET--famous for tech reviews, news, and more--has hosts a......

Our sister site, LAist--which is a fantastic read, by the way, even if you live north of the Grapevine--came across this handy video explaining how Twitter is used. Check it out so you can follow SFist (or, you know, pathetic SFist staff members who tipsily tweet while watching King of Queens reruns), which will send out regular Twitter updates starting tomorrow.......

Thinking about going to the Maker Faire? You know, the adult science fair? You should. It's loads of fun. Don't believe us? Check out SFist's partner in binge drinking, the brilliant Nate Halverson over at the Press Democrat, who gives you a glimpse into the DIY science, technology, engineering, arts and crafts fun happening this weekend. So go. Now. The Makers Faire happens today and tomorrow at San Mateo Fairgrounds. Oh, and Mr. Beale......

Over at EB Games on Powell Street, people lined up this morning to plunk down $60 to commit heinous acts of vehicular manslaughter. You see, Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale today. ...

Gee, this is rich. At a sci-fi conference in Michigan recently, some gent kindly created a system that allowed women to easily express permission for men to fondle them -- what an altruist! And his remarkable, breathtaking, totally unforeseeable discovery: people feel uncomfortable when they are asked to publicly specify their preferred level of anonymous sexual contact. This is how the guy explained his project: I wish this was the kind of world where......

The west coast leg of the Web 2.0 Expo is here! Yay! Wait, just what is this Internet-y web 2.0 exposition, exactly? Aside from the open-bar fetes presumably laced with cocaine and boobs, that is. According to their site, Web 2.0 Expo is: Co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Media, [Web 2.0] is a conference and tradeshow for the rapidly growing ranks of designers and developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers, and business strategists who......

Christopher Burt Wiltsee, 57, of Morgan Hill pleaded guilty this week to a charge of child pornography possession. This makes him the third ex-NASA employee to get busted fo having kiddie porn on his government-owned computer. According to the Gate: Wiltsee admitted that while employed at NASA, he used his government computer to download child pornography from the Internet. He admitted to possessing more than 600 images, including ones depicting sadistic and masochistic conduct,......

After their American Idol hour was unforgivably interrupted by the San Francisco Police Department making an announcement last night, a reader writes to SFist asking: At about 8:55pm tonight, my viewing of American Idol was disrupted by the SFPD making an announcement in the middle of our street that there will be several rounds of LIVE AMMUNITION fired in the next few minutes as they test a new gun fire detection system. I live......

For the eight or so of you who don't have an iPod yet -- sadly, we would be one of those eight -- you can break your iPod hymen with the positively adorable iPod Shuffle (1GB), which is now going for a paltry $49. Pennies! The 2GB iPod Shuffle will be available later this month for $69. And the 18-karat gold iPod Shuffle from Xexoo of Germany, right, goes for a mere $19,343. No......

In the words of Scott Beal, "forget the MacBook Air, I’m holding out for the MacBook Nano." Word. Image credit: dadaev......

Ours was. And how. It would neither send nor receive email for hours. The horror. Hitting all carriers, it turns out the BlackBerry outage afflicted enterprise users across the United States and Canada today. And the "company has no estimate for when service will be restored." Read more about it here. (Our service seems to be working fine as of 5 p.m., btw.) You win, iPhone. You...you win.......

It looks like Sunnyvale-based Yahoo plans on rejecting the $44.6 billion rose Microsoft offered it earlier this month. A move that would have merged the two tech giants won't happen, it seems, and we were so sure this relationship would've worked out swimmingly. Sniff. But all is not lost. According the Gate: Yahoo's board, which met Friday, has determined that the $31 per share offer Microsoft made is inadequate. The Wall Street Journal reported......

Rainbow Skate: As if rollerskating couldn't get any gayer, Redwood Roller Rink has made Wednesday nights exclusive queer. So tonight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and even a smattering of straight folks come together to whirl around the rink. Starts at 8 p.m.; $7 covers both admission and skate rental.Benefit for the Metropolitan Arts and Technology's Drama Program: Help the kids won't you? Metropolitan High -- you know, that large school on Treat Street, targeting......

In an attempt to slow Google's fierce roll, Microsoft made an unsolicited bid to purchase Yahoo Inc. for a cool $44.6 billion today. Gulp. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says that his company has "great respect for Yahoo, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market." Although Yahoo would like to remain independent, recent layoffs and......

LA-based comedy troupe The Vacationeers fears Google Maps Street View Big Brother-ness. And ever since we saw a shot of our bedroom window on it, featuring our awful interior decor, so do we. [Source: Valleywag]......

The image from Centernetworks, above, could be either a new overall format, some sort of mobile version, or just a figment of someone's imagination as the next Wikipedia we know and love. According to Allen Stern:...

Easy and compact, check out Apple CEO Steve Jobs' 90-minute keynote speech in 60 seconds. It's like the Golden Globes, only not as pretty or deadly important. And as you all know--waking up this morning to realize that, no, it wasn't all just a beautiful dream--the MacBook Air is upon us. In a bizarre moment of Jobs' continuing Trumpification, just moments after his speech to his denizens, Steve Jobs chirped to the New York......

OMG! It's the Nicole Ritchie of laptops! (Ritchie before she got fat and pregnant, that is.) It seems that the new MacBook Air, just unveiled a few hours ago, features multi-touch ability on its oversized trackpad, similar to that of the iPhone; some sort of crazy wirelessness; recyclable aluminum case; a mercury and lead free display; and you can buy the thing in two weeks, starting at around $1799. Read more about it here.......

After EarthLink and Google gave up on high-speed networks that would have seen San Francisco gain access to free wireless service, Meraki Networks Inc. is now taking a stab at it. Financially backed up by Google, the Silicon Valley startup could make an even bigger name for itself if it follows through with its promise to "blanket San Francisco with free wireless Internet service." Although the specifics on their daunting plan will be released......

Rejoice, space believers! For there is finally - yes, finally! - someplace you can go on l'Internet to read about such sci-fi-ness (excuse us, "science fiction-ness" for all of you purists) ranging from Samuel R. Delany to Joss Whedon to Small Wonder. Io9, a Bay Area-based blog care of Gawker, launched yesterday, and we couldn't be more thrilled. That is, until we read about their editor, Annalee Newitz. Newitz seems like a fantastic piece......

Q.) What are theees "Queens Of The Stone Age?" A.) That'd be a band that makes hip-shakin' heavy rock 'n roll for adults....

While cruising over at ValleyWag -- their editors are kinda cute, yes? -- we came across an iPhone ad parody that is, in fact, an actual marriage proposal created by one "Claude M" for "Doris," his honeybunney. How entirely sterile and unromantic. We love it. Although if anyone ever offers us exceptionally large diamond ring (sigh), we hope it's done via a Jack In The Box or L'Oreal-Penelope Cruz commercial parody. We love those......