Suspected Hostage Taker Updates Facebook As Event Unfolds

September 21, 2012, 12:42 pm

By CHRISTINE HAUSER

A man suspected of holding at least one hostage in a Pittsburgh office tower has been apparently updating his Facebook account as the drama unfolds.

The man, identified by the police as Klein Michael Thaxton, 22, went into the office tower at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh just after 8 a.m. There, at CW Breitsman Associates, a company that administers pension plans on the 16th floor of the high-rise, he took at least one person hostage. The police said that they had sent teams to the location to try to negotiate with him.

Nate Harper, Pittsburgh's police chief, said that Mr. Thaxton might be armed with a gun and a bomb. “No one has been hurt at this time,” he said. “There were no shots fired.”

A profile page in Mr. Thaxaton's name on Facebook shows a self-made photograph of a man's muscular torso, super-imposed on a backdrop of images of the faces of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Israel's prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu flanking that of President Barack Obama.

At around 9 a.m., one status update read: “welln pops youll never have to woryy about me again you'll nevr need to by me anything no need to ever waste ur hard earned money on me. i'll live n jail you dnt want me around anymore thats kool bye…i love u assata sis

Another said: “i cant take it no more im done bro.”

Chief Harper said Mr. Thaxton had walked into the office and “started asking questions about an individual.” He added that it was not clear who the individual was or what the person's relationship was with the suspect.

Some readers of the Facebook page, which had about 566 friends, posted ba ck, some of them mocking, while a few were trying to help.

“there's always a storm before a blessing baby its never as bad as it seems if u didn't have a purpose n life then u wouldn't b here your mom loves u and I'm sure it'll kill her to lose her baby.”

Speaking to reporters, the police chief said: “We're willing to talk as long as it will take to resolve this in a safe and orderly fashion.”

How to Fix a Glitch in Apple\'s Passbook

September 21, 2012, 12:05 pm

By ROY FURCHGOTT

The new Apple software upgrades have resulted in some strange glitches â€" in my case many of my mail settings spontaneously changed so I couldn't get or send e-mail.

But a problem that seems more common appears when trying to start Passbook, the new iOS 6 rewards card and ticket management program. Here is how to fix it.

Passbook, if you are unfamiliar, is intended store compatible rewards cards and tickets, so when you go to an airport, your boarding pass appears as a scanable bar code on your phone, or when you make a purchase at an allied store, your discount card bar code automatically shows on the screen for scanning.

For it to work, you need to download the compatible apps, from comp anies like Starbucks, Walgreens and American Airlines. When you first open Passbook, there is a button that will take you to a special app store for Passbook compatible apps.

The problem for many people is they get a message that reads “Cannot connect to the iTunes Store.”

I thought I was blocked by heavy traffic, but no, there is a glitch. Here is the fix:

Go to settings, and tap on “General,” scroll down and tap on “Date & Time.”

If it is on “Set Automatically,” turn that off. When “Set Date & Time” appears below, tap it. Set the date ahead one year, to 2013.

Then double tap the home button on the face of the phone and open Passbook again. Press the apps button and it should work.

Then go back into settings, find your way back to “Date & Time,” and return the setting to automatic.

I don't know why it works, but it does.