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New Mexico School District Employee Sentenced For Part in Scheme Stealing Students' iPods

Charlotte Henry ·

A school district employee in New Mexico named Kristy Stock has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for being part of a scheme looking to steal and resell over 3,000 iPods. Engadget reported the devices were meant to go to Native American students.

While overseeing the program, Stock was supposed to use federal grant money to buy iPods to distribute to students. However, thanks to help from other conspirators including her friend James Bender and Saurabh Chawla, the group ended up shipping the stolen iPods to Maryland where they were listed on eBay before being sold at a “substantial” markup. Due to his own account having previously been suspended due to security concerns, Chawla was forced to use Bender’s eBay account to list the stolen devices for auction, with Bender serving as an intermediary. Later, between 2015 and 2018, Stock communicated directly with Chawla, providing info on the make, model, color and quantity of devices before agreeing on a price and putting them up for auction.

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New Venmo Gift Wrapping Feature Can Make Your Payments Fancy

Andrew Orr ·

Venmo gift wrapping is a new feature that adds eight new designs for sending and receiving payments.

Customers can send a gift-wrapped payment in just a few simple steps, at no additional cost. Simply tap the “Pay or Request” button on the home screen and add the recipient, payment note and payment amount. Customers can then tap the gift-wrap icon (next to the “Pay” button) and choose the gift-wrap they’d like to send along with their payment, where they will be able to preview the animation before confirming and sending the payment.

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What is Web3? Explaining the Technology Stack in This New Ecosystem

Andrew Orr ·

A recent report from Coinbase examines the web3 stack, or the various protocols and blockchain technologies that make up the ecosystem.

Where a third party like Facebook owns your identity and data in Web2, your identity in Web3 can move fluidly between platforms without your data being captured and monetized by service providers. While Web2 apps are centrally controlled, tokens in Web3 grant users the right to help govern the services they use, representing a form of ownership in the platforms themselves.