It was a very modern way to announce a very old-fashioned death.
Shortly after midnight in the US state of Utah, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff picked up his Apple iPhone, opened up a Twitter "app" on his handset and began tweeting.
But Mr Shurtleff's 134-character composition was no ordinary post. This was not a piece of miscellany from the 53-year-old's home life, a link chosen to amuse or interest his followers, nor even a political prod at his Democratic rivals.
Instead, Mr Shurtleff used Twitter to announce that most important of all things: the death of a human being, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner.
