Computer

Ryan Carter Police Lt. Kevin Krafft wears a wristwatch that delivers e-mail, but he still believes in old-fashioned police work -- with a modern twist. Through his 30 years of police work, Krafft has combined his reverence of old-school policing -- walking the street beat, beefing up patrols and making contacts in areas where crime is on the increase -- with his skill as the department's computer guru. Through fluency in computer language and the ability to customize software, Krafft has broadened the department's computerized crime analysis efforts, making police work more efficient from patrol to the detective unit.

Amber Willard BURBANK -- Police will contact 600 women whose Internet screen names and photos were on alleged rapist Daniel Zabuski's computer. Authorities believe some of the women may have been sexually assaulted by Zabuski, who was arrested April 12 on suspicion of raping a Burbank woman he met on the Internet. Since his arrest, five more women have come forward to say they were attacked by Zabuski, Police Det. Craig Ratliff said. Zabuski is being held on $1.2-million bail.

For E-Geniuses founder and owner Joey Mariano, fixing a computer and returning it to a customer in tip-top shape is only half of what an experience at his new computer repair store entails. Mariano, who founded E-Geniuses in 2004, recently moved to his Burbank location, 2718 W. Burbank Blvd., after doing business in a loft in downtown Los Angeles for five years. The repair shop will officially open Dec. 1. The 27-year-old computer technician has been repairing computers since he was 12. As the John Burroughs High School graduate sat in his spacious waiting room on a weekday afternoon, Mariano said he wants to provide ongoing support for his clients — something only available to large and mid-size companies with an integrated tech-support staff.

WEST BURBANK — Catherine Nicholls’ family has tried many ways to goad the 89-year-old into trying her hand at the personal computer. But each time she’s avoided lessons, despite pleas that it would serve as means to connect with 13 grandsons via e-mail and social networks. “To be honest, it seems a little scary,” said Nicholls while waiting for lunch at the Joslyn Adult Center, which serves those 55 and older. “They say, ‘Why don’t you join Facebook?

Molly Shore The book of knowledge just got easier to read at Burbank High School's year-old library. With $10,000 worth of furniture donated by IKEA of Burbank, students now have comfortable areas in the library's second-floor loft and first floor lounges to study or curl up with a book. At a Monday afternoon ribbon-cutting ceremony, the furniture was unveiled to an appreciative audience of district administrators, city officials, teachers and students.

Ben Godar Four Providence High School students were arrested Thursday on suspicion of tampering with school computer records in order to improve their grade-point averages, police said. The four boys allegedly used computers in a home or homes as well as computers at the school to change their grades in a variety of subjects. Police would not release any further details on how the grades were changed, but said the alleged crimes occurred within the last 30 to 40 days.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is often criticized for being too liberal. But the court proved it is not always liberal this summer, with what I deem to be a poor decision in July. The question here is if your roommate happens to be suspected of committing a crime and his computer then becomes the target of a search warrant, can the police who come in to execute the search warrant take your computer and read your e-mails? Well, believe it or not, by a unanimous 3-0 vote, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that federal agents serving a search warrant could search the roommate's computer and read her e-mails, etc. This case pertains to Christopher Adjani who was suspected of committing the crime of conspiracy to commit extortion.

CITY CENTER — Police today arrested a 45-year-old man suspected of raping an unconscious 24-year-old man this weekend in his Burbank apartment before fleeing with his laptop computer. Richard Scott Poland, of Burbank, was arrested Thursday somewhere within the Burbank Town Center on the 200 block of East Magnolia Boulevard and booked on charges of sodomy and grand theft. Police also recovered the stolen computer, Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada said. Poland is being held at the Burbank Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, Quesada said.

Nickelodeon recently donated more than 60 “gently used” computers and 40 monitors to the Burbank Unified School District Arts For All program. A number of the machines donated by the Burbank animation studio were used in the production of computer-generated shows, said Carson Smith, Nickelodeon Human Resources manager. The company made the donation for two reasons. “We at Nickelodeon think it is extremely important to partner with the community, and since our motto has always been 'Kids First,' we thought it was fitting that the machines would benefit children in the area,” Smith said.

A masseuse who was called to a Courtyard Marriott hotel room in Burbank on Sunday walked away with the client's iPad and Macbook Pro while he was in the restroom, police said. The client, a 24-year-old man from Florida, reported his Apple gear missing shortly after letting the masseuse into his room at the hotel in the 2100 block of Empire Avenue at about 4:10 a.m., according to police. The masseuse was described as a black woman with long dark hair, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and as wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt.

On Oct. 15, nine laptops valued at $18,000 were taken from a business on the 100 block of South First Street. The door was unlocked. Guns, electronics stolen by burglar A residential burglary in the 2700 block of North Buena Vista Street through an open rear window on Oct. 7 resulted in the theft of a camcorder, camera, Play Station 3 game console and two handguns, valued at about $2,000. Guns, money taken in theft Currency and five firearms, valued at roughly $7,000, were stolen Oct. 13 from a home in the 2700 block of North Kenneth Road when a sliding door reportedly was pried open.

BURBANK — A store employee was injured Saturday morning when four masked thieves forced their way into a computer store and robbed it at gunpoint, police said. The thieves forced their way into a rear entrance of the Melrose Mac computer store on the 2400 block of West Olive Avenue just as three employees were starting their shifts at about 10:10 a.m., according to the Burbank Police Department. The thieves ordered the employees to lay on the ground as they snatched several laptops, iPhones and an unknown amount of cash, police said.

After a library user complained about a man using a library computer to view pornography, Burbank officials say they plan to give librarians the power to eject offending patrons. The anonymous complaint letter, circulated around several city departments, alleged that a man was watching Internet pornography on a library computer, but after a complaint, the librarians on duty did nothing to stop it beyond informing the man that his behavior was offensive to other patrons. Although the claim was never verified, Library Services Director Sharon Cohen said officials were considering beefing up the current policy, while walking the fine line of not restricting 1st Amendment access.

After a library user complained about a man using a library computer to view pornography, Burbank officials say they plan to give librarians the power to eject offending patrons. The anonymous complaint letter, circulated around several city departments, alleged that a man was watching Internet pornography on a library computer, but after a complaint, the librarians on duty did nothing to stop it beyond informing the man that his behavior was offensive to other patrons. Although the claim was never verified, Library Services Director Sharon Cohen said officials were considering beefing up the current policy, while walking the fine line of not restricting 1st Amendment access.

For most computer users, a drop in system efficiency generally happens when the machine has been used for months or years. Disk fragmentation occurs. The bits of data on a hard drive can become disorganized, forcing the drive to work harder to find the information the user is looking for. This overheats the drive, consumes more electricity and decreases productivity. For the people at Burbank-based Diskeeper Corporation, which is celebrating its 30th year in business, defragmented drives are the cornerstone of their business.

For E-Geniuses founder and owner Joey Mariano, fixing a computer and returning it to a customer in tip-top shape is only half of what an experience at his new computer repair store entails. Mariano, who founded E-Geniuses in 2004, recently moved to his Burbank location, 2718 W. Burbank Blvd., after doing business in a loft in downtown Los Angeles for five years. The repair shop will officially open Dec. 1. The 27-year-old computer technician has been repairing computers since he was 12. As the John Burroughs High School graduate sat in his spacious waiting room on a weekday afternoon, Mariano said he wants to provide ongoing support for his clients — something only available to large and mid-size companies with an integrated tech-support staff.

WEST BURBANK — Catherine Nicholls’ family has tried many methods to goad the 89-year-old into trying her hand at the personal computer. But each time she’s avoided lessons, despite pleas that it would serve as a means to connect with 13 grandsons via e-mail and social networks. “To be honest, it seems a little scary,” Nicholls said while waiting for lunch at the Joslyn Adult Center, which serves those 55 and older. “They say, ‘Why don’t you join Facebook?

WEST BURBANK — Catherine Nicholls’ family has tried many ways to goad the 89-year-old into trying her hand at the personal computer. But each time she’s avoided lessons, despite pleas that it would serve as means to connect with 13 grandsons via e-mail and social networks. “To be honest, it seems a little scary,” said Nicholls while waiting for lunch at the Joslyn Adult Center, which serves those 55 and older. “They say, ‘Why don’t you join Facebook?