The “Godfather of Spam” named Alan Ralsky, 64, and others have been convicted in a spam-based stock swindle. They belong to the Thet gang which used e-mail pitches to create a market for essentially worthless stock. Ralsky and other members sold the unsuspecting investors for huge profits before the stock price tanked.

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sentenced Ralsky to four years in prison, five years’ probation, and a $250,000 fine while the cases remain pending against two others. Ralsky is guilty of wire fraud, mail fraud, illegal use of e-mails and computer networks, and violating the CAN-SPAM act. Their gang was not only convicted for stealing millions from investors but they also help creating the market for otherwise unnecessary anti-spam software, infect other computers using bots and wasting a lot of our time.

Spamhaus, an antispam organization, has been pointing on Ralsky for sending spam using hacked computers. Verizon also sued him for sending unauthorized bulk mail on its network. He was also convicted in 1995 for felony bank fraud. In the latest case, their gang is accused because they were sending spam convincing people to buy thinly traded stocks to get the stock prices to rise. Also known as a pump-and-dump scam. He pushed spam mostly for U.S. companies owned and controlled by people in Hong Kong and China. The spam itself has fake header information sent by them using proxy computers. The other gang members were accused of running a botnet to send spam, wire and mail fraud, and money laundering.

How Can Techie Now Help?

With so many spammers and cybercriminals widespread over the web, computer users are not safe from them and can be victimized if they are not being careful when dealing with e-mails from unknown source. If you also want to protect your computer, Techie Now is here at your service. We offer PC support services: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair, which you need. Contact Techie Now, and worry no more!

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Facebook, a social networking site, has formed a Safety Advisory Board consulting on any issues related to online safety to better protect its 350 million users worldwide. It is consists of five (5) Internet safety organizations: Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute, from North America and Europe.

Facebook is planning to meet the board members regularly to:

• review existing safety resources it provides its users
• develop new materials
• seek advice on general safety best practices

For the first task, the board needs to oversee an overhaul of safety content in Facebook’s Help Center. The main goal of the overhaul: to create a comprehensive resource with specific educational content for parents, teachers and teens.

According to Facebook’s director of European public policy, Richard Allan, we need group effort to improve safety online. We need to work together. Everyone who’s online or on Facebook should be diligent enough to report abusive behavior or make sure that the passwords for the accounts are kept secured. Safety issues for Facebook users include cyberbullying and phishing.

Facebook and its rival MySpace, owned by News Corp, wanted to increase their efforts for them to protect their youngest members from any kind of abuse.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Facebook is one of the biggest social networking sites being used by many today. It’s good to know that Facebook formed this Advisory Board for the safety of its millions of users online. If you also want to ensure online safety in your computer, Techie Now can do that for you. Contact us now and avail our PC support services: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. Techie Now has everything you need with better services at better prices.

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Primary schools will be teaching children as young as 5 to “zip it, block it, flag it” as part of the new internet safety campaign. This new strategy targets children directly, rather than their parents. The same situation happened when the Green Cross Code clearly instructed the children on how to cross the road safely in the 1970s.

Experts are afraid that parents are not being strict when it comes to internet that they are not helping their children themselves to be aware of internet safety. According to the campaign:

• “Zip it” – tells not to give out personal details online.
• “Block it” – informs children not to open e-mails or attachments from people or companies they are not familiar of or block off anyone who sends hurtful messages.
• “Flag it” – asks them to tell an adult if they find something alarming or frightening them online.

Starting September 2011, internet safety will become a compulsory part of the national curriculum. Research showed that one in the five of the 99 percent of the children (ages 8 to 17 years) had encounter inappropriate content while using the internet. Some children said that their parents were not monitoring their online activity. The industry has offered parents more careful privacy settings like including a secret password to their computer.

Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of the United kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party, revealed that he and his wife, Sarah, had experienced a big problem on internet safety after leaving their younger son Fraser unsupervised with the home computer switched on, in a breach of the safety advice. Last week, Frasier had typed out a message in gobbledegook and then pressed “send” while Sarah was out of the room, sending the message to all Sarah’s followers in Twitter. Calls flooded Downing Street asking if someone hacked into their private account. Mr. Brown admitted that it was their mistake that they were not able to supervise the internet and they have learned their lessons from that. According to Dr. Byron, leaving a child unsupervised on the internet is like leaving a child at the deep end of a swimming pool without proper supervision.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Since inappropriate content are everywhere in the internet, parents must be responsible enough to supervise their children while using the computer or face the worst consequence. It’s a good thing that primary schools will be teaching children to be careful online as part of the new internet safety campaign. If you want to keep your computer in good shape, contact Techie Now. We have available PC support services that you need: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. With, Techie Now, you and your PC is safe and protected.

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Six months after Bing search engine was first shown as a beta, Microsoft officially launched the UK localized of Bing last November 13, 2009. The time has come for Bing to be taken out of beta because UK was really happy on its performance.

Microsoft’s search engine changes over the years, from MSN Search, Windows Live Search, Live Search and lastly Bing. Google was persistently creating a name of its own during the time that Bing is coming up with a name. Google really become part of the people’s everyday lives. Microsoft know that Bing is not going to overthrow Google search engine but they want to try the chance of putting itself in there because any percentage increase in search margin is worth a huge amount in advertising revenue. And then it is better if Bing will help to slow down Google.

Marie Thirlwall, one of Bing’s UK product managers, told IT PRO that it would be great if Bing could get to number two. Bing may not reach its verb status but at least many are aware now of the word “Bing”.

So, Bing is out of beta now. Most people use Google as their default engine in the search bar located at the top right of their browser. If you want to add Bing to Firefox, it’s easy to do. You just have to install this add-on.

Many people like Bing because of its homepage design. You can choose an image from its archive of images via arrows at the bottom right. These images overlays with hotspots which when clicked will redirect you to interesting links, images and videos about the subject of the picture. According to Microsoft, they refer Bing as more of a decision engine than a search engine. You will see an explorer bar down the side of all searches where you’ll find related searches or search refinements making things more convenient to you.

Bing’s image search remains a highlight since its first release. It has larger default images compared to Google showing further details when you roll over an image. The filters for the images, such as large and small can be seen on the lower side. In fact, Google also has the same options where you need to click the “Show options” at the top to filter the image it’s more clearly shown in Bing. With Bing, you can use infinite scroll features to see more choices of images compared to Google that you still need to click the “Next” button to see more results. Bing videos is modernized with videos that play automatically when you scroll over them. It is really impressive because videos don’t lag. Videos are filtered according to length, aspect ratio, resolution and size.

Bing maps have undergone some changes. All its data is co-located around the world. There are some changes made in the Bing maps interface. It’s now easier to reorder saved push pins and different points on a plotted route could now be grabbed and moved which is also available in Google maps. Users can now embed Bing maps in web pages. Educational institutions and non-profit organizations could now use it for free but limited to 125,000 sessions. Business and location searches in here are separated out. Bing maps also offers another feature, a “Bird’s Eye” view, which is actually an angled, ‘isometric’ view. Compared to Google’s Street View, it looks nice but it isn’t that helpful in identifying where you’re going unless you plan to travel by micro-light.

Bing shopping is an area that Microsoft worked for to make it perfect for the UK. It has it has now fully included the “Ciao!” comparison engine into Bing itself. The layout is still confusing. You will appreciate “Reviews” tab on the left as this is something we often want when looking for products. With Bing, much of the promised UK localization works well. It is nice to know that it gives slightly more detail than Google. It also deals with businesses. Another great feature is visual search. It is designed to know exactly what you’re looking for by name. Just type the word you are searching and it will display a gallery of images for you to browse. It is a helpful feature although it’s only limited to what Bing can provide with only five options available.

Bing also has other primary features: the Twitter and Wolfram Alpha integration. Visit Open www.bing.com/twitter where you will find topics with some Tweets. You can also search anyone’s Tweets by typing the person’s Twitter name. Wolfram Alpha searches are also now live in the UK and will only work on calculations that it knows to explicitly send to the Wolfram Alpha database, but at least Bing can now keep pace with Google for integrated calculations.

Microsoft has created Bing on usability, accuracy and speed, and taken it out of beta. It knows that Bing does as well as Google. Others might find it easier and more satisfying to use compared to Google.

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Wireless Power Charging

A laptop, being a small and light personal computer, is widely used by people nowadays. They are very handy compared to PCs because people can take them anywhere. However, on of the issues with laptops is the need for battery charging.  Dell introduces and produces an expensive laptop, Latitude^TM Z which solves part of the problem.

Latitude^TM Z is the world’s thinnest and lightest 16” laptop which has a premium design and features that will help you empower your mobile business. It is .57 inches thin and weighs 4.5 pounds. No wonder it is considered the lightest and thinnest 16-inches notebook. Regardless of its size, it still works as a full-sized machine. Because of its exquisite finish and lean, eye-catching design, Latitude^TM Z will definitely catch your attention.

If you are into advance wireless capabilities, Latitude^TM Z is the right laptop for you. Wireless charging? It’s for real! As part of Dell’s “wireless ecosystem”, it has power coils built in the base of the notebook so that it charges wirelessly using a magnetic inductive stand, which can cost you an extra $200. The amount of time to recharge using this laptop is the same as the notebook power cord. It also includes the wireless dock for $200 which you can also connect to all your other peripherals like mouse, monitor, printer, etc. You don’t need to add an extra dongle because it has Ultra Wide Band technology built-in.

Latitude^TM Z is different from an average laptop. One of its features, Dell’s Latitude-On, allows you to have access to your e-mail and a browser before you decide to boot into Windows running on a different processor. Also add the Intel ULV processor. It also has an ARM processor responsible in booting up the instant-on mode faster and increasing the battery life. When it comes to touch capability, Latitude^TM Z has Edge Touch. An LCD sensor can be found in the right screen bezel where the shortcuts will appear when tapped.

With its industry-first innovation and intuitive technology, Latitude^TM Z will make it easier for you to finish everything efficiently. Other services include business-proven security, and service and support options of the Dell Latitude family. You can buy the Latitude^TM Z for $2,000.

How Techie Now Can Help?

Any laptop (even the fancy Latitude^TM Z) can be harmed with virus and other Malware. So, if you have technical issues with your laptop, feel free to contact us. Techie Now is ready to provide you flexible, quick and safe services when it comes to virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, software installation and configuration, and other general repair.

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