Nicholas Ciarelli was not even old enough to shave when he started getting under Apple Computer Inc.'s skin.
As a 13-year-old middle-schooler, the New Woodstock, N.Y., native built a Web site in 1998 and began publishing insider news and rumors about Apple, using the alias Nick dePlume.
Three years later, Ciarelli's Think Secret site was first to report that the company would introduce a G4 version of the PowerBook laptop series. The product was released soon thereafter, boosting Think Secret's reputation among Apple fans, generating millions of page views per month.
But after a series of letters warning the Web site to stop publishing proprietary information, Apple decided enough was enough. When Ciarelli scored yet another scoop late last month by predicting the arrival of a new software package and a $499 computer rolled out at this week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco, the Cupertino computer-maker filed a lawsuit accusing him of illegally misappropriating trade secrets.
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