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Joe Francis, the creator of “Girls Gone Wild”, was recently interviewed about his court case, in which charges were leveled against him by three women who say he imprisoned them in his home and threatened them after getting into a violent altercation with one of them. In the interview, he calls the jurors who found him guilty “retarded” and says they should be put in jail. “I want that jury to know that each and every one of you are mentally f–ing retarded and you should be euthanized because, as Darwin said, you have naturally selected yourself,” he said. “You are the weakest members of the herd. Goodbye! And if that jury wants to convict me because I didn’t show up, which is the only reason why they did, then, you know, they should all be lined up and shot!” While Francis is no stranger to controversy, many thought he’d gone too far…including one of the jurors, who responded to Francis’ rant with a letter to Gawker. It’s a little bizarre to have someone looking into a camera and suggesting you be shot, even if he has no idea what I look like since he never showed up at the trial. If anything, it reaffirms the decision we came to — unanimously, of course, after only about a day and half of deliberations — as one of the charges was directly related to the vague (and no so vague) threats he made against the victim he assaulted to keep her from filing a police report. I’m just thinking about all the nice, salt-of-the-earth people on that jury that Joe Francis is suggesting be shot. There were some older, middle-aged, retired women. There were four middle-aged men. Some women were in their 30?s. All different races. I was the youngest. I’m sorry Joe Francis didn’t like our decision, but I genuinely hope he takes this as a lesson that his actions do carry actual consequences—for him, for us, and most of all for the woman he assaulted. He could have caused a concussion, and they checked for one at the hospital. I don’t expend much energy thinking about Joe Francis either way, although I do believe he’s guilty of the crimes we convicted him of and I could live without the whole lined up and shot thing. Honestly, Joe, I wish you the best. Now please stop talking about me. As for Francis, he backtracked and issued an apology after the juror’s letter was made public. “I deeply regret the remarks attributed to me in the interview with the Hollywood Reporter. They were hurtful and do not reflect my true feelings. While I disagree with the jury’s verdict as I am completely innocent of the charges and intend to appeal, I was afforded a fair trial, and if I lose at the appellate level, I will reluctantly but fully accept the jury’s verdict. This was a 6 hour interview with the Hollywood reporter where I detailed to the reporter all of the evidence and why I believed the evidence showed I am 100% innocent. The reporter also interviewed my attorney David Houston for over 3 hours, but failed to include one shred of evidence from the trial that proved beyond a reasonable doubt my innocence. I did NOT commit a crime at all whatsoever. All that was publicized were my most intemperate remarks that were borne out of frustration but with no intent to cause anyone harm. I am not, nor have I ever been a violent person. My comments are appalling, but anyone who has ever been wrongfully convicted of a crime that they did NOT commit would be as frustrated as I am. I want to apologize to all the jurors, the court, the City Attorney and my attorneys for my comments that were manipulated by the media, and please know I am truly ashamed of my conduct. I am truly, truly sorry. I hope everyone will understand I was not being serious and that I fully and deeply apologize for my remarks.”

Steve Forrest, who played Lt. Dan “Hondo” Harrelson on the popular ’70s television show “S.W.A.T.”, has died of natural causes in California. He was 87 years old. Forrest began his career in the ’50s and made a name for himself almost immediately, winning “New Star Of The Year” at the 1953 Golden Globes for the film “So Big”. He went on to build a name for himself on television, starring in roles for “Gunsmoke”, “Bonanaza”, and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”. He also starred in “The Baron”, which was Britain’s first color television series, and hit Broadway in a 1958 production of “The Body Beautiful” as a trained vocalist. But it was his role as “Hondo” that gained a wider audience; as a military man, he brought his experiences to the character, endearing him to fans with his signature life, “Let’s roll!” Forrest is survived by his wife Christine, their three sons, and four grandchildren.

Bing announced the launch of a new feature in Bing News called the News Carousel. When a user searches for a person of note (i.e. a celebrity or politician), they will see a visual carousel with current topics related to that person. On the right-hand side of the page, they will also see related people. A Bing spokesperson explains, “Say you’re searching for Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber, you’ll see in the News Carousel images of stories related to them, such as Bieber losing custody of his Capuchin monkey to the German government. On the right-hand side of the page you’ll also see related people that might be of interest because they have some sort of relationship to your query. “To do this Bing is leveraging the Satori technology that brings a deep understanding of the relationships between people, places and things to power the visual carousel that makes it easy to explore current events and other people related to the person you are searching for,” he adds. Satori, which means “Understanding” in Japanese, is basically Bing’s version of Google’s Knowledge Graph, and powers Bing’s Snapshot experience, as described here. “And that’s not the only progress we’ve made over at Bing News. We recently extended our news articles index beyond two weeks,” says Bing’s Tim Leung on the Bing blog. “This means when there’s no fresh news related to a given query, we can look back over several years to bring you any relevant articles. This is a pretty significant update and is just the start as we work to make Bing News even more comprehensive. While there’s still more to do, we believe these updates provide you with a deeper understanding of the world and an opportunity to explore the connections we’re able to make over here at Bing.” More on the blog.

Amazon hasn’t been able to effectively compete with Apple just yet as its Kindle Fire devices are only available in a select few countries. That’s all going to change next month. Amazon announced today that the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ will start shipping to over 170 countries in June. If you don’t believe them, pre-orders are open now in all those countries. “Kindle Fire HD is the #1 best-selling item in the world for Amazon since its launch, and we’re thrilled to make it available to even more customers around the globe today,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “Not only does Kindle Fire feature advanced hardware, it’s also a service. When combined with our content ecosystem, great email and browsing and top-rated customer service, we hope people around the world will agree that Kindle Fire HD is the best tablet for an incredible price.” Coinciding with the announcement, Amazon also announced that its Appstore for Android is now open for business in over 200 countries. Those getting a Kindle Fire next month can start downloading the very best Kindle has to offer while those who already own Android devices can start taking advantage of Amazon’s free app of the day, among other promotions. Speaking of which, Amazon will be making Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope: Experiments available as free downloads on its Appstore on May 23 and May 24 respectively to celebrate the launch. The offer is available to everybody who has access to Amazon’s Appstore for Android. “We are thrilled to be expanding the reach of our global app distribution to nearly 200 countries. We think our customers will love the app selection we have to offer and also find features such as Free App of the Day and personalized recommendations very helpful as they discover and explore new apps and games,” said Mike George, Vice President of Apps and Games at Amazon. “By further expanding the distribution of apps to millions of customers around the world, we are continuing to make it easy for customers to enjoy their Amazon apps on Kindle Fire and any Android device.” This is a pretty big deal for Amazon. It can now compete on a global level with other device manufacturers, like Apple, who have been selling tablets for years now. The cheap price of the Kindle Fire HD has the potential to undercut Apple, Samsung and more around the world. Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see how the global tablet market reacts to this news.

Now you’ve really done it. Your big, dumb hands have fumbled your iPhone and it falls, in slow-motion, straight into the pool, toilet, puddle – whatever. Panic turns to helplessness. Your phone is waterlogged. What do you do? Surround the device with silica gel packets? Throw it in a bag with some rice? HALP. DryBox says they have the solution. Their patent-pending hyper-drying chamber can completely dry your soaked device in less than thirty minutes, and apparently there’s an 80% success rate in restoring phones to their former glory – as long as the wet phones get inside the DryBox within 36 hours of initial exposure. “The DryBox Rescue system utilizes a patent-pending drying chamber as part of a process that rapidly removes moisture at the molecular level from small electronic devices…DryBox saves time, money, and frustration.” As of now, there are only a few DryBox locations where you can take your device – one in Austin, Texas and two in San Antonio. But DryBox wants to rent their devices to stores across the country, in a profit-sharing deal. [Drybox via Engadget]

Actress Eva Longoria is best-known for her roles in The Young and the Restless and Desperate Housewives, as well as for her good looks. What her fans might not know, however, is that the star has been attending graduate school at Cal State Northridge. The 38-year-old Longoria graduated this week with a Master’s degree in Chicano Studies. She attended the graduation in full cap and gown, flaunting the costume for the paparazzi. Longoria also uploaded her own photos to Twitter, depicting her with everyone from her mother and father to her fellow classmates. She started out the day with encouraging words to those who might think about going back to school: Big day today!!! Very excited to graduate for my Master’s degree in Chicano Studies! You’re never too old or too busy to continue your education! div.twitterditto337359332222062592 { background: #FF6699 url(http://a0.twimg.com/profile_background_images/413841520/eva-twitter.jpg) no-repeat; padding: 20px; } div.twitterditto337359332222062592 a { color: #B40B43; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 { background: #fff; padding: 10px 12px 10px 30px; margin: 0; min-height: 48px; color: #000; font-size: 22px !important; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; line-height: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 5px; -webkit-border-radius: 5px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.metadata { display: block; width: 100%; clear: both; margin-top: 8px; padding: 12px 0px; height: 55px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.follow-button { float: right; padding: 0 30px 0 0; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.metadata div.author { line-height: 20px; color: #333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 span.tweet { font-size: 22px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.metadata div.author img { float: left; margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 a:hover { text-decoration: underline; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; display: block; color: #999; margin: 10px 0 0 0; line-height: 25px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a { color: #999; text-decoration: none; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a > span { display: inline-block; width: 16px; height: 16px; background-image: url("http://images.ientrymail.com/socialditto/everything-spritev2.png"); background-repeat: no-repeat; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.twitreply > span { background-position: 0px 3px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.twitreply:hover > span { background-position: -16px 3px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.favorite > span { background-position: -32px 2px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.favorite:hover > span { background-position: -48px 2px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.retweet > span { background-position: -80px 3px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 div.timestamp a.retweet:hover > span { background-position: -96px 3px; } p.indent { margin-left: 20px; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 span.name { font-weight: bold; } div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 span.at-name a,div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 span.at-name a:visited, div.twitter-inner-ditto337359332222062592 span.at-name a:hover { color: #999; text-decoration: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; } Follow @EvaLongoria Eva Longoria @EvaLongoria In my cap and gown with mom and dad! I look like Harry Potter! http://t.co/ggqB8ynM12 Reply · Retweet · Favorite16 hours ago via WhoSay · powered by @socialditto div.twitterditto337361024825061377 { background: #FF6699 url(http://a0.twimg.com/profile_background_images/413841520/eva-twitter.jpg) no-repeat; padding: 20px; } div.twitterdi

Google has partnered with the Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Parks Directorate to collect panoramic imagery of the islands with the Street View Trekker. As a result, Google will be adding the “stunning” images to Google Maps later this year. Here’s an early preview of what to expect: “The Galapagos Islands are some of the most biologically unique ecosystems in the world. Explorers and scientists alike have long studied and marveled at these islands—made famous by Charles Darwin,” says Google Maps Project Lead Raleigh Seamster. “The Ecuadorean Government, local conservation groups and scientists are working to protect the Galapagos from threats posed by invasive species, climate change and other human impacts.” “It’s critical that we share images with the world of this place in order to continue to study and preserve the islands’ unique biodiversity,” Seamster adds. The imagery should make a fine complement to Google’s other underwater “Street View” imagery. In fact, Google once again teamed up with the Catlin Seaview Survey (who it teamed up with last time) to capture the new underwater imagery. This should all also go well with the new, more visual Google Maps experience.

In a surprising move, Pope Francis has come out in defense of atheists. Reuters reports that the Pope recently spoke on atheists and said that those who do good, regardless of their beliefs, are good. Here are his remarks via Vatican Radio: “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.” The new Pope’s comments are a stark contrast to a lot of religious leaders that equate atheism with a lack of morals. In this case, the pope is stating that morality is not mutually exclusive to Christianity, or religion, at large. He argues that everybody has the potential for good and that people of all beliefs should come together under the common goal of doing good. Pope Francis may elaborate on his comments in the coming days via his official Twitter account. It will be interesting to see if he responds to the criticism from some evangelicals who say he went too far.

While we don’t expect it to attract as much attention as the Tumblr acquisition, Yahoo announced that it has acquired gaming platform PlayerScale. That’s not to say it isn’t a big one. “The team has built an incredible gaming platform that is used by over 150 million players worldwide,” a Yahoo spokesperson tells WebProNews. “We intend to continue to support and grow PlayerScale’s technology, and we look forward to building great new experiences on Yahoo! using the PlayerScale platform.” PlayerScale’s Jesper Jensen had the following to say to customers, partners and friends (on its homepage): Today is a great day — both in our journey with PlayerScale and for users of our Player.IO product. We are happy to announce the next big step toward our goal of building the best possible gaming infrastructure platform: we have been acquired by Yahoo!. And don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. Our platform will continue to support the same great games that you love playing today … and in fact, it will only get better from here! Our goal has always been to help developers build the best possible games, without having to worry about building and scaling the infrastructure required to operate today’s biggest successes. In working with the folks at Yahoo!, it has become clear that we share this passion. We have spent the past four years growing a three-person startup into a product that powers games played by over 150 million people worldwide and we are adding over 400,000 new users every day. In the last four months alone, we have increased our daily user growth rate by almost sixty percent. With Yahoo!’s backing, we can crank out awesome products and improvements to our platform faster than ever before. We will continue to support our existing product and deliver new services to help you grow and manage your success in cross-platform gaming — whether it’s casual, social or mobile. Today marks a milestone for PlayerScale and I want to sincerely thank the team, our developers and millions of users for the adventure so far and can promise there will be more to come. This would be, I believe, the twelfth acquisition (or announcement) for Yahoo since October. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. So, is Yahoo cool yet?

Earlier this month, the New York Post published a story on a New York City tour company called Real Bronx Tours. One of the tours offered by the company took tourists on a trip through the poorer areas of the city, showing them housing projects, food banks, and dangerous parks. The so-called ghetto tours have now provoked a backlash from Bronx residents. Once word of the tour reached Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., he and New York City Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito sent the tour company a letter, stating that they are “sickened” by the borough’s “despicable” portrayal in the tours. The letter urged Real Bronx Tours to modify the way the tour is marketed and presented. From the letter: We are more than happy to welcome tours to our community that celebrate the rich culture and history of our neighborhoods, treat Bronx residents with dignity and encourage visits to our wonderful landmarks and beautiful parks. However, using the Bronx to sell a so-called “ghetto” experience to tourists is completely unacceptable and the highest insult to the communities we represent. Now, Real Bronx Tours has caved to public pressure, and will no longer offer the ghetto tours. The company’s website has now disappeared, though the company has not issued a statement. “I am happy to hear that Real Bronx Tours has decided to end its inaccurate and disrespectful tours of our beautiful borough,” said Diaz. “The Bronx has come a long way in the past few years, and we will not accept such a despicable and irresponsible depiction of our borough.” (Image courtesy Gryffindor/Wikimedia Commons)