Brilliant!

A website called PleaseRobMe claims to reveal the location of empty homes based on what people post online.

The Dutch developers told BBC News the site was designed to prove a point about the dangers of sharing precise location information on the internet.

The site scrutinises players of online game Foursquare, which is based on a person’s location in the real world.

PleaseRobMe extracts information from players who have chosen to post their whereabouts automatically onto Twitter.

“It started with me and a friend looking at our Twitter feeds and seeing more and more Foursquare posts,” said Boy Van Amstel, one of PleaseRobMe’s developers.

“People were checking in at their house, or their girlfriend’s or friend’s house, and sharing the address – I don’t think they were aware of how much they were sharing.”

Mr Van Amstel, Frank Groeneveld and Barry Borsboom realised that not only were people sharing detailed location information about themselves and their friends, they were also by default broadcasting when they were away from their own home.

The website took just four hours to create.

“It’s basically a Twitter search – nothing new,” said Mr Van Amstel. “Anyone who can do HTML and javascript can do this. You could almost laugh at how easy it is.”

He said that the site would remain live but stressed it was not created to encourage crime.

“The website is not a tool for burglary,” he said. “The point we’re getting at is that not long ago it was questionable to share your full name on the internet. We’ve gone past that point by 1000 miles.”

Mr Van Amstel added that in practice it would be “very difficult” to use the information on the website to carry out a burglary.

Charity Crimestoppers advises people to think carefully about the information they choose to share on the internet.

“We urge users of Twitter, Facebook or other social networks to stop and think before posting personal details online that could leave them vulnerable to crimes including burglary and identity theft,” said a spokesperson.

“Details posted online are available for the world to see; you wouldn’t hang a sign on your door saying you’re out, so why would you post it online?”

Mr Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million. He says his fortune is making him unhappy.

Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with its 17 hectares overlooking the arrière-pays, on the market for £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000.

Mr Rabeder has also sold the interior furnishings and accessories business – from vases to artificial flowers – that made his fortune.

“My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come.”

Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.

His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.

“For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness,” he said. “I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years,” said Mr Rabeder.

But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.

“More and more I heard the words: ‘Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life’,” he said. “I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.

I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing.”

However, for many years he said he was simply not “brave” enough to give up all the trappings of his comfortable existence.

The tipping point came while he was on a three-week holiday with his wife to islands of Hawaii.

“It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is,” he said. “In those three weeks, we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn’t met a single real person – that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real.”

He had similar feelings of guilt while on gliding trips in South America and Africa. “I increasingly got the sensation that there is a connection between our wealth and their poverty,” he said.

Suddenly, he realised that “if I don’t do it now I won’t do it for the rest of my life”.

Mr Rabeder decided to raffle his Alpine home, selling 21,999 lottery tickets priced at just £87 each. The Provence house in the village of Cruis is on sale at the local estate agent.

All the money will go into his microcredit charity, which offers small loans to Latin America and builds development aid strategies to self-employed people in El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.

Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt “free, the opposite of heavy”.

But he said he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. “I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul.”

Wow!

The voicemail-to-text service Spinvox has applied for two patents which describe the service as being operated by humans.

Spinvox has previously claimed that state-of-the-art speech recognition technology is the basis of its service.

However, its patent applications claim the approach is accurate precisely because it employs human operators.

Spinvox’s head of social media said that the patents were just two among many for which the firm had applied.

UKpreneur has also learned that an employee of a call centre in Pakistan tagged his own appeal onto a Spinvox message sent to a US customer, claiming that workers there had not been paid.

Spinvox has always maintained that humans only play a minor role in converting voice messages into text.

Both patent applications were lodged in the United States in the name of Daniel Doulton, the company’s co-founder. The first, which was filed originally in 2004, describes a “method of providing voicemails to a wireless information device”.

It says an operator “intelligently transcribes the actual message from the original voice message”, and concludes that “because human operators are used instead of machine transcription, voicemails are converted accurately, intelligently, appropriately and succinctly into text messages.”

The second application, which appears to be dated July 2nd 2009, describes a similar system, but goes into more detail .

It says “the task of constructing voice recognition software that can reliably and accurately recognise natural speech…remains a daunting one.” But it says Spinvox’s invention challenges the orthodoxy by using human operators.

When queried about one of these patents by a commentator on the firm’s blog, Spinvox’s head of social media James Whatley said it was just one among many.

“Spinvox has an entire family of over 70 patents currently residing at international patent offices and many of them have different purposes for their application/submission,” he said.

“The one you quote sits firmly under the umbrella of ‘the strategic patent’. Generic patents help us build different combinations – i.e.: Humans interacting with machines – to prevent any other companies doing similar things in the long term.”

Meanwhile Jason Lovell, a Spinvox customer from Virginia in the US, said he received an email from the service this March that included an audio file of a voicemail message for him.

The text read: “We are employees of Spinvox. Since voicemail to text message service has started by Spinvox we are converting your messages here in Pakistan.”

It invited him to ring a number in Pakistan and concluded “You can confirm please we are in real trouble. Please for God sake.”

Carole Bohanan beat 300 fellow applicants for the £50,000 a year post. She said her “witchy charisma” had helped her secure the role.

She will be required to teach magic and witchcraft in the site’s caves. The role also requires her to be able to cackle and not be allergic to cats.

The job came up after the previous witch retired from the role.

The annual salary of £50,000 is pro rata, and based on work done as required, mostly in the summer holidays, but also at Halloween and at Christmas.

Ms Bohanan, whose witch name is Carla Calamity, said her former career as an estate agent would stand her in good stead for the job.

“I think it’s a natural progression. You need to perform a little bit of magic to sell houses in the current market,” she said.

Benjamin Hewett owns 16% of London’s Fresh Wharf Estate, which specialises in renting business properties and boat moorings on the River Roding. It has recently constructed a £25m development called Muirhead Quay and built a 40,000sq ft police station for the Met.

But Mr Hewett, who lives in a modest £100,000 house near Laugharne and has a boat moored in London, spends Sunday nights scouring bins outside Marks and Spencer, Aldi and Spar for his dinner.

The professional sculptor, who works from Llanddowror, St Clears, opened his fridge to Wales on Sunday to reveal a treasure trove of fish, chicken, bacon and ready meals.

And he showed off basket on basket of dumped make-up. He even offered our photographer some bacon.

He insisted: “People like myself are always quite eccentric.”

He estimated he was worth half-a-million pounds but conceded he was “probably” a property millionaire – 16% of Muirhead Quay’s value alone is £4m.

Fresh Wharf has been in the hands of the Hewett family since the 19th century. The shipping dynasty had been movers and shakers in the fishing industry. In the 1760s Scrymgoeur Hewett founded his “short blue fleet” of ships and made his fortune when he discovered a way to store ice through the summer in the UK.

Mr Hewett has been surviving on thrown-out food for 12 years.

The 42-year old, whose family motto “Patientia Vinces” means “Let Patience Conquer”, admitted: “I don’t have to do this.”

He revealed his finds have included:

Dozens of steaks;

Finest lobster;

Pack after pack of prawns;

Hi-tech laptops;

MP3 players.

He has even persuaded a local car boot sale to give him a free pitch to sell his non-food finds.

He added: “Travellers taught me how to do it. I started on food and I just went onto everything else.

“I get a free stall for selling stuff out of the bins because the guy says that I’m recycling.”

He makes “a hundred quid every Sunday” from this.

Food he can’t use he gives away.

He said: “I’m a bit of a Robin Hood. You have to try and give as much of it away without breaking up your own lifestyle.”

He added: “I’ve found everything. Laptop computers, MP3 players that might have something wrong but an expert can take it apart (and fix) or replace the battery in and it works.

“Everything you can buy in the shop you can find outside the shop.”

Getting a free lunch is the main thing. He said: “Food products are what you go for really. I trade a lot of food for other services.

“My mechanic, I bring him food every Sunday, and if I can get a gas bottle that has been left outside half full (I’ll give him that), anything that’s useful for him.

“I’m a sculptor, and the guy that built my website I also trade food with him.

“You could feed 10 families for free on perfectly good food and that’s the tip of the iceberg.

“One supermarket wastes £1,000 a day of food. If you find 20 processed meals and 50 loaves of bread you only have to add up the cost.”

Marks and Spencer spokeswoman Claire Wilkes said it was up to people to decide how they lived, adding: “From a corporate point of view we have a duty to ensure our out-of-date food does not re-enter the food chain, so we take steps to make sure that does not happen.

“That would really be our attitude. We would not encourage anyone to eat out of date food for health and safety reasons. Our sell-by and use-by dates exist for a reason.”

She added: “Breaking into bins is often trespassing and we would hate to think anyone was willingly trespassing on Marks and Spencer property. Should they be doing that we would take efforts to stop that.”

Dyfed-Powys Police said the legality of freeganism would depend on a number of issues, including who owned the bin and whose property it was on.

Hundreds of jobseekers are expected to audition for a lucrative “witch” vacancy at tourist site Wookey Hole, in Somerset, on Tuesday.

The £50,000-a-year position, advertised earlier in July, is seeking a witch to live in the site’s caves to teach magic and witchcraft.

The post, open to both men and women, says the candidate must be able to cackle and cannot be allergic to cats.

Wookey Hole said it hopes the salary should help attract good candidates.

At the time Wookey Hole said it was advertising nationally and hoped to attract “a strong field of candidates with the £50,000 serving as a major incentive”.

The annual salary of £50,000 is pro rata, and based on work done as required, mostly in the summer holidays, but also at Halloween and at Christmas.

The job, which has come up after the previous witch retired from the role, was first advertised in the local press as well as job centres.

The tourist site said it wanted the appointee to go about [her] “everyday business as a hag, so that people passing through the caves can get a sense of what the place was like in the Dark Ages”.

It added: “This was when an old woman lived in the caves with some goats and a dog, causing a variety of social ills, including crop failures and disease.”

Interviews will include an on-site assessment incorporating a range of standard tasks, and are set for 1100 BST on 28 July.

Ian who as has been single for over 3 months used to write daily love letters including poetry to his long-term girlfriend while away with the marines. After he split from his long term girlfriend Ian still writes poetry and calls himself a true romance having penned over 3000 poems.

“I think it will be fun, see how many ladies bid on my auction. The auction is actually a ticket which when redeemed will give whoever completes the ticket the year’s supply of love and romantic attention from me via email, handwritten letters, handmade cards and advice. I will hopefully get to know the lady through regular letters and just really get behind her in every aspect of her life, praise her, tell her she looks amazing! I don’t think enough men make the effort with their ladies these days and hopefully this fun auction will highlight that”.

Ian who lives at home with his Mum hopes he generates female interest all over the world including a bidding war from a woman from every country!

The auction can be found http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320339857097 or search on item number Item number: 320339857097

MULTI-MILLIONAIRE DJ Chris Evans has always been one of showbiz’s most generous celebs.

But little did Welsh restaurateur Leighton Davy know that when he met him, the Radio 2 presenter would end up buying him a WHOLE pub.

The ginger broadcaster met Leighton, 30, while he was staying at Newport’s posh Celtic Manor Hotel as he took part in the Northern Rock All Star Cup.

Leighton managed the hotel’s gourmet restaurant Owens, where Chris used to dine every night with his Portuguese professional golfer wife Natasha Shishmanian – and the former Big Breakfast star took a shine to his silver service.

Leighton said: “Chris would always eat in the restaurant. After that we got to know him better because he would come down on personal visits with his wife, Natasha.

“One time Chris came in a week before I was due to leave for another job. I told him I was off, but he said he didn’t want me to leave and that he wanted to work something out.”

He met up with Leighton and the restaurant’s head chef Alan Milne, 27, for a coffee the next morning.

But little did they know what Chris had in store – because he ended up splashing out a whopping £1m on the Newbridge Inn at Tredunnock, near Usk.

He said: “While we were having coffee, we just mentioned we would like to run our own restaurant.

“Out of nowhere he offered to buy us one on the spot.

“I couldn’t believe what was happening, and I didn’t want to believe it in case it didn’t come through. It’s the most generous thing anyone’s done for me.

“Me and Alan were thinking: ‘This time next year we’ll be millionaires’.”

Not only did he promise to buy it for them – but he pledged to give each of them a 20% share of all profits and takings, including on any extra money he makes if they choose to sell it off.

The former TFI Friday presenter, already the owner of two pubs in Surrey, then sent the dumbstruck pair on the hunt for the perfect pub-come-restaurant.

Eventually, they tracked down the idyllic Monmouthshire eatery on the banks of the River Usk, which won Restaurant of the Year in Wales in 2004/5.

Leighton said: “We had a look at a few different places in Cardiff, but eventually found the Newbridge.

“Then two days later Chris put an offer in. He didn’t even visit before signing up to it, he just trusted that we made the right choice.”

A year on after they took over the pub, Chris regularly visits and adopts a hands-on approach.

He said: “Chris is so down to earth and has no airs and graces whatsoever. I usually speak to him on the phone every week, and when he visits he’s always collecting dishes and helping around the kitchen. The guests love that. At the start people were coming because Chris was involved, but now they’re coming back because they enjoy the food and ambiance.”

And while business is booming Chris, worth a reported £45m, said he couldn’t resist splashing out after taking an instant shine to Leighton and Alan.

He said: “They wanted to go on their own, so I said: ‘Well I’ve been a customer of yours, and a very happy one at that, for several years, let’s give it a go’.”

It could have been an inspiring article. But somehow, something seems to be lacking, as one comment describe it – like an “unfinished symphony” causing others to doubt the story and even the purpose of it being written

The story about Joey Magtibay, a Filipino entrepreneur who achieved financial freedom and became a millionaire at the age 21 could have inspired readers of Izah Morales. Unfortunately, the story lacks the details that are needed for the readers to emulate.

The blog, and the video embedded, only speaks of the importance of having financial literacy in order to achieve financial freedom, and that all it takes is just having the right mindset. That as the article rubs in the face of the readers that Magtibay is a millionaire and a successful entrepreneur at 21.

Yet, it really fails to tell the how. Aside from saying that Magtibay has a program that teaches those who want to learn financial literacy and achieve financial freedom, there is really nothing much that can stir the reader’s curiosity. That is why you can’t really blame some of the posts’ not-so-positive comments, doubting about the purpose and veracity of the story.

It could have stated who Magtibay when he was 18 years old, the year he said he started his journey towards financial literacy. Did he even experience a hand-to-mouth state of existence? Or was he after all born with silver in spoon in his mouth? That is why spending time learning financial literacy was easy for him he never really has to worry about providence.

Not everybody knows about Joey Magtibay. I don’t. So a little backgrounder might make readers like me more interested about him, and perhaps try to follow his tracks by enrolling in his programs, which I believe was really the main purpose of the story.

The infamous Brookside cul-de-sac that once saw its residents murdered, taken hostage and buried under a patio has sold for £735,000 at auction.

An unnamed Liverpool-based buyer has snapped up all 13 properties of Brookside Close, in Liverpool’s West Derby estate.

The Channel 4 soap was axed five years ago after a run of more than two decades.

A spokesman for auctioneer Allsop said the buyer was “local to Liverpool”.

Brookside Close was originally bought by Mersey Television in 1982 to try to cover the costs of the show and to provide a more realistic set than some of their rival soaps.

Six of the houses were on-screen as sets and the remaining seven were used to house the administration, post-production, canteen, make-up and technical facilities for cast and crew.

The 13 leasehold houses were bought in 2005 by developers, who refurbished all of them.

But they have remained vacant since and the street requires some work, Allsop said.