Since equipping its aircraft with in-flight WiFi, American Airlines has gotten "a lot of complaints" about passengers using the Internets to enjoy adult entertainment, presumably joining the Mile High Club with a little help from Rosy Palmer and Handjela . Ah, but ain't that American? The airline started offering the service in August for $12.95, but unlike Jet Blue, didn't install Internet filters to block porn. And despite pressure from flight attendants, they have no......

Today's NY Times Magazine has a long, intense piece on internet trolls, anonymous users of the internet where "nobody can see anybody, and everybody can claim to speak from the center." The piece follows "Fortuny," a troll who became famous for "The Craigslist Experiment" where he posted on his blog the pictures and identities of a hundred men who responded to his fake ad as woman seeking a “str8 brutal dom muscular male.” At one......

Has a Jimmy Fallon-hosted Late Night reality sunk in yet? Well, it's happening, and the ex-SNL cast member will be getting a head start by popping up at a URL near you sometime soon. The NY Times reports that "Lorne Michaels has decided to try to get a jump on things by starting NBC’s next edition of Late Night, with its new host Jimmy Fallon, as a nightly entry on the Internet." The web performances......

The legal travails of Room Eight, a blog dedicated to NY politics (its name refers to "Room 9," which is where the press corps are located in City Hall), are examined in today's NY Times. In a nutshell, Bronx DA Robert Johnson's office subpoenaed the blog's co-founders Ben Smith and Gur Tsabar, demanding the IP address of an anonymous contributor. And what's more, they were not allowed to even disclose the existence of the......

Making good on a campaign promise, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (pictured) has put pressure on three major Internet service providers to shut down online groups that share child pornography. Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner have each agreed to cut off access to websites and bulletin boards disseminating the illicit images, with a special emphasis on Usenet, one of the oldest computer network communications systems that uses no central server. According to the Times, the......

Grand Central Terminal will now feature its own Wi-Fi Internet access to those waiting in the Station Masters Office, one of the few places one is still allowed to sit down at the terminal without being told to get up and move along. The new wireless service will allow as many as 60 users online at a time and should prove an invaluable amenity for commuters to check or send off emails before and after......

For the first time, tickets for the Public Theater’s free Shakespeare in Central Park shows will be made available online. While most tickets will still be given to those who wait for hours (pictured) in Central Park, a limited number will be available to theatergoers who log on to the Public theater website at midnight before each day’s show and submit a request for up to two tickets. The online tickets will then be allocated......

UPDATE: It appears I may have been punk'd. Bwog is reporting that there was no vote to ban JuicyCampus by Columbia's student council. The university magazine talked to a student council VP of Policy who "claims that a mischievous tipster must have sent in a fake tip to Gothamist and the [New York] Post." No tip was received at Gothamist, but the Post was the source of this afternoon's item, along with background from The......

If there is no such thing as bad publicity, then we suppose yesterday's Cash Tomato promotion was a resounding success - if a melee as people tried to grab money works for you. The event, which involved giving away $29 to individuals in honor of Leap Year - wait, make that $29 attached to tomatoes, resulted in a Union Square riot with one person hospitalized and police and paramedics on the scene. From the......

Photos: AP/David Guttenfelder The New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s historic concert in North Korea concluded hours ago, marking the first performance by an American orchestra in the impoverished, totalitarian nation. The event also marked a first for much of the press, who are routinely denied access to North Korea and, once inside, usually find their movements tightly controlled. The Times has a stunning slideshow of photos snapped en route from the airport to the center of......

A former math teacher at MS 190 in Forest Hills was arrested for child endangerment after allegedly sending former and present male students lewd instant messages. Bradley Dieffenbacher, 33, of Long Island, had worked at MS 190 since 2000 until his resignation on February 14, when investigators confronted him. According to the Queens DA's office, between April 1, 2007 and February 20, 2008, Dieffenbacher instant messaged eight boys, ages 12-13, who were either current or......

The only way to save Harlem for the benefit of its longtime residents is to economically cripple the neighborhood. So says Dr. James Manning of the ATLAH World Ministry church. He's proposing an economic boycott of the area in Manhattan between 110th St. and 155th St., from the Harlem River to the Hudson River. The plan is that once interloper businesses have been driven out via bankruptcy, Harlem will become a less desirable place to......

Partial cover of the New York Post What would Norman Mailer make of a boxer cavorting in high heels, fishnet stockings, and a fur-trimmed tutu? "I respect most boxers because they're violent people who learned to discipline themselves," opined the late writer. Mailer may be dead, but it's doubtable whether the embarrassment that Oscar De La Hoya faces will ever die. The New York Times framed the situation ably, noting the media alert notifying......

A 16-year-old Staten Island girl faces up to a year in jail for sending Myspace friend requests to three people. Melissa Fernino is charged with second-degree criminal contempt, a misdemeanor, because she violated a Family Court order of protection that barred her from contacting a 43-year-old woman and her two adolescent daughters. The court order, prompted by Ferino's history of "extremely violent threats," has something to do with a soured relationship between Fernino’s father and......

Bronx snowfall, by Somebody Shouted McIntyre at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a train fatality at Lafayette and Classon Aves. in Brooklyn, another person under a train at 53rd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and yet another person under a train at Lincoln Ave. and N. Railroad on Staten Island. The giant apple will be popping up every time a Mets player hits a home run at the new Citi Field......

A con artist has been using Craigslist to scam gullible apartment seekers out of hundreds of dollars, according to the Daily News. Nothing new here, except this time the scheme so sketchy it’s hard to feel too sorry for the victims. Using the alias JoAnn Rinaggio, a compulsive check bouncer named JoAnne Smith has been posting listings for a fully furnished two-bedroom with a balcony in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This amazing place can be yours......

As we mentioned yesterday, the writers' strike may be coming to an end. Michael Eisner leaked that we'd be hearing news of it this weekend, and the former Disney CEO was right. Today Variety reports that "the WGA has finalized its tentative agreement with the majors and will present details of the pact to members today in meetings in Los Angeles and New York." The New York meeting is taking place at the Crowne Plaza......

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the WGA strike could be over with professional writers back to work as early as next week. Unnamed sources are saying that a tentative deal between the guild and Hollywood studios and producers has been reached. At issue was revenue sharing between writers and producers over content distributed over the Internet. Alternative distribution methods, like downloading and web-streaming, were leaving writers out in the cold and on the short......

2007 photograph of Yahoo billboard in front of a ticker mentioning Microsoft news by Mark Lennihan/AP Giving business analysts something to talk about besides the economy, Microsoft has made an unsolicited $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo!. The offer is at $31/share, which is 62% more than Yahoo's closing price. Microsoft hopes to create efficiencies by teaming up to compete with Google. However, Pioneer Investments fund manager Thomas Radinger told Bloomberg News, "Microsoft is under......

Before getting back to his grueling practice schedule* today, Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes stopped in to the Late Show last night. David Letterman and Tynes chat about his family and when he learned to kick (as a senior in high school). Tynes, the 29-year-old father of twins, who missed two 4th quarter field goals in the NFC Championship before kicking the game winner in overtime, was not able to escape ribbing from Letterman, "Everybody......

Uh oh - there's definitely a little drama for five well-known performers as the Albany DA's office continues its probe into steroid trafficking. The Times Union reported yesterday that Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and Tyler Perry were "among the thousands of customers of the pharmacies" DA David Soares' office has investigated. Oh. In other words, the celebrities are just the bold-faced names, and the sources say there isn't evidence that they......

Now we know why there are still people heading to The Garden. There aren't any Knicks’ fans left, they are all paid actors. At least that’s the conclusion one could draw from a story in the New York Press. It turns out that the people in the "fan ads" (like the one pictured above), are mostly paid actors and their stories are made up for the commercials. The surprising thing is that apparently the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Autumn and Liberty Aves. in Brooklyn, a suspicious fire on Wallace Ave. and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx,and a carjacking on 85th St. in the Bronx. Lawyers for Ted Corliss continue to argue for charges to be dismissed against their client, who attempted to jump off the Empire State Building, even after the State Supreme Court ruled that jumping off tall buildings was a form......

It's been quite some time since we hopped the virtual F train to the virtual Lower East Side (that's VLES, for those in the know), but it seems one NY Times scribe has been making some frequent visits to the online world. In fact, he may even prefer it to its real life counterpart.There were no imperious bouncers or foul odors to contend with, and no fluids of any kind expectorated on my shoes. Except......

The Broadway actor who faced sexual misconduct charges towards a minor has pleaded guilty to avoid being classified a sex offender. James Barbour, who has played swains like Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre and the Beast in Beauty & the Beast, now faces 60 days in prison, three years probation, and a number of requirements similar to those of registered sex offenders. Per the plea deal, Barbour confessed to the crimes in court yesterday. In......

2008 is almost here, the ball drop is turning 100, the 8 is going to make its big debut, the year's bad memories have been shredded...so there's just one thing left to do. This year messages, wishes, resolutions and probably some nonsense will flutter to the ground when the clock strikes midnight. And you can join in the fun. For the first year ever, people worldwide can write messages on the confetti that will fly......

Earlier this week, the NY Times had an article about how Apple's retail stores were uncommonly successful. The Apple Stores contribute to 20% of revenue, unlike other big brands whose brick-and-mortar offerings tend to be more about brand presence than actual ringing of cash registers (example: the Samsung Experience store at the Time Warner Center doesn't actually sell Samsung products). Experts credit Apple with creating stores that seem like a community gathering places, where......

As we previously mentioned, the late night heavyweights have been angling to make a return in early '08. Letterman has been leading the pack by working on a deal with the WGA through his own production company, WorldWide Pants Inc. Yesterday they reached an agreement which will allow his show to return to the air next week, writing staff and all. The independent agreement he made with the WGA "included provisions to pay writers for......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an industrial accident on 10th Ave. near 30th St. in Manhattan, a man down an elevator shaft at 50 West 15th St. in Manhattan, and a homicide at Neck Parkway and 42nd Ave. in Queens. Not only have investigators found hard drives scrubbed clean of potentially damaging e-mail messages related to Troopergate, the Spitzer administration is refusing to even identify the names of the Internet Service Providers that were......

Martial arts master and star of movies and television, Chuck Norris, is suing a New York publishing company along with a Brown University student who established an Internet site that passes along purported facts about him. The Norris-facts phenomena is a longtime Internet meme and the actor says that he doesn't mind when sites continue it as long as they are non-commercial. Ian Roberts, the Brown student who operates one Norris-facts site, teamed up with......