First Can-Spam Charges Filed
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has arrested its first violators of the Can-Spam law. Two men from Michigan were arrested and two others charged for violating anti-spam laws and committing mail fraud. The accused men allegedly used spam mail to sell a phony weight-loss product for $59.95. The FTC purchased the product, then found the source of the credit card charge and issued the arrest warrants. The men face up to five years in prison for the spam charge and up to 20 years in prison for violating U.S. mail fraud statutes.

Google Announces IPO
Google has finally announced its much-anticipated public offering in a long and idealistic "S-1" document. The company, which started in a garage in 1998, declared its intentions to sell $2.7 billion in stock to the public. The 30 and 31-year-old co-founders hope to maintain the company's laid-back culture, along with the company's motto: Don't be evil.

Microsoft's Announces New Music Subscription Service Technology
Microsoft has created a technology that it hopes will bridge the gap between the two primary methods of downloading Internet music. At some music sites, you purchase the songs individually and can use them on multiple devices (your computer, your MP3 player). At other music sites, you pay per month for unlimited access to the available music, but you generally can't download this music to your MP3 player. Microsoft's new technology will allow you to download and transfer music to multiple devices, because the time and ways in which you use the music would be pre-determined. Whether the public will buy into this model is yet to be determined; Microsoft expects products with this technology built in to hit the market in a few months.

Sasser Worm Affects Computers Worldwide
The latest virus, dubbed Sasser, has affected an estimated 500,000 computers worldwide. Makers of the virus were able to create it based on security issues that were patched last month in a security release by Microsoft. The virus is not activated by opening an email, but instead works from a weakness in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Fixes are available.

Sony Launches Online Music Site
Sony launched its new music site, called Connect, on Tuesday. The site is targeted toward loading content onto Sony Mini-disks, a 13-year-old technology that never achieved wide-ranging popularity.

Phishing Scams Grow More Complex
"Phishing" scams are growing more complex and harder for the average user to discover. Traditionally, these scams acquire users' confidential information by using social engineering: making users think the information request is from a legitimate source. In the latest round of attacks, just opening an email can install a Trojan or other keyboard-capturing software on your PC, making it nearly impossible to tell when your security has been compromised.

Congress Again Proposes Spyware Legislation
Another bill to prevent spyware has been proposed in Congress. While this is the third proposal this year, legislators continue to question the Federal Trade Commission on its stance on the issue. The FTC says that legislation is premature. Executives at technology companies, such as Microsoft, have also expressed concern that legislation may go too far and criminalize legitimate software. To date, Utah is the only state to pass laws banning spyware.

Use the On-screen Keyboard When Your Keyboard Isn't Available
If you spill coffee on your keyboard and don't have a spare, you can get by with your mouse and the built-in on-screen keyboard that's built into Windows XP. TO access this keyboard, choose Start, Run, and type osk. Then you can use the mouse to choose the characters you want. You can also create a shortcut for this keyboard on your desktop by right-clicking anywhere on your desktop, choosing New, then choosing Shortcut. Type osk and then choose Next. Finally, choose a name for this shortcut and choose Finish.

Record Sounds to Amuse Family and Friends
Windows XP comes with a sound recorder that's easy to use if you have a microphone available. (Note: some of today's home PCs have microphones built into the monitor). To use the sound recorder, choose Start, All Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, and Sound Recorder. From the File menu, choose New. To begin recording, choose the Record button and when you're done, choose the Stop button. When you're satisfied with your recording, choose File, Save As, and save it as a .wav file. You can then play it as many times as you'd like, or send it as an email attachment.

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