Cruzio/The Internet Store Newsletter - Number 47, July 2, 2001
1. Fight spam now
2. 4th of July schedule
3. Beyond ".com": news about ".biz", ".info", and others
4. Hot tech awards: nominate your favorite local tech company
5. Static IP addresses for dialup accounts
6. Watsonville event
7. South County special
8. About this newsletter
9. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Fight spam now
Many e-mail users are troubled by the sheer volume and often offensive
content of junk e-mail or "spam" arriving in mailboxes every day.
Cruzio is proud to announce that our spam filtering program is
ready for many Cruzio members to use. Filters are now available
to customers whose e-mail addresses end in "cruzio.com" (but not
yet for custom domain names or extra mailboxes such as "ebold.com"
or "rattlebrain.com".) We plan to work on other mailboxes over
the summer and hope to have progress by this fall.
Our testers found that filtering generally catches over 95% of incoming
spam. The filter puts all rejected email into a special mailbox, which
you can examine for anything valuable before tossing out. For example,
even though Grandma Josephine sends her joke list using the same methods
spammers use, her mail is not spam. But the filter can't tell the
difference unless you point it out. So if you are on mailing lists or
get mail forwarded to you from other addresses, you'll want to take some
time adjusting your filter to get it just right.
No filtering at all will occur unless you choose to turn it on, and
you can turn filtering off any time.
Your spam filter is available on your Cruzio Control Panel. To reach
the Control Panel, point your Web browser at Cruzio's Support Center:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
and put your login and password in the fields at the top of the page.
A last note. Who pays for spam? You do. When you get paper junk mail in
your postal box, the sender paid the postage. When you get spam in
your e-mail box, you and your Internet Provider (ISP) pay the postage.
About half of a typical ISP's e-mail load is due to spam. That means
extra money is spent for equipment and bandwidth just to handle spam.
Our upstream carriers on the "Internet Backbone" have the same
statistics. They must pass costs along too. The result: higher prices
for all of us to pay for a practice we (often) loathe. Stomp out spam!
2. 4th of July schedule
Cruzio will be closed on Wednesday, July 4th. We'll be open again
on Thursday the 5th. Happy 4th!
3. Beyond ".com": news about ".biz", ".info", and others
Right now, most commercial domains end in .com or .net. But new
Top Level Domains (TLD's) will soon join those: .biz and .info
are just two of the many expected within the next few years.
That means paying more attention to Web addresses, also known
as URL's. Just as you have to remember whether a friend lives on
Maple Avenue or Maple Street, you'll need to note more carefully
whether a Web site is .com, .info, or .biz -- and there will be
ever more choices as time goes on.
More TLD's means a better chance to find a domain that suits
your business or hobby. "yourname.com" may be long gone, but
"yourname.info" might not. Cruzio will be helping customers register
the new TLD's as soon as they become available (and of course we
continue to process registrations for .com, .net, and .org as
always.)
Cruzio has made a Web page with plenty of information on the subject.
Please point your Web browser here for details:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/tld/
4. Hot tech awards: nominate your favorite tech company
Not all local high-tech companies perished in the last year's
dot-com-to-not-com disaster. Santa Cruz is a source of technical
creativity and innovation. All sorts of things get started here.
You are invited to submit nominations for the following awards,
for local businesses only:
1) Bold Venture: Most innovative high tech venture
2) Bricks to Clicks: Best use of technology in a traditional
business.
3) VillageTech: Most innovative technology contribution to the
community.
4) Visioneer: The organization or individual creating the most
visionary technology
Anyone may submit a nomination for each category. The deadline for
nominations is July 19th, 2001.
Then there will be the award event:
Hot Tech 2001 Recognition Reception
Thursday, July 26, 2001 6:00 - 9:00 pm
Kuumbwa Jazz Center 320-2 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, CA
Entertainment, finger foods, no host bar
Tickets: $20 pre-registered, $25 at the door
For more info:
http://hottech.igneous.com/
The event is sponsored by BGI Associates, Igneous Group and ZNA
Communications, in-cooperation with Cruzio and the Santa Cruz Technology
Alliance. Proceeds will benefit the Automated Online Cultural Calendar and
Online Artist Directory for the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County.
5. Static IP Addresses for dialup accounts
If you don't know what these are, you probably don't want one and
'nuff said. But sometimes a static (unchanging) IP address (computer
location on the Internet) helps if you are a telecommuter and need
to get through a firewall or if your computer is just too funky to
deal with anything else. Cruzio now offers static IP addresses as
add-ons to dialup or ISDN service for a small additional fee: $6 per
month. We don't currently offer static DSL accounts. Please do sign
up online or call us (459-6301, press 2), if you'd like a static address.
6. Watsonville event
On Wednesday, June 27th, Cruzio held an "Intro to the Internet" event
in Spanish at the CareerWorks facility in downtown Watsonville.
Four bilingual Cruzio employees conducted a workshop about the Internet,
answering questions and providing resources to attendees. Cruzio
has many Spanish resources and instructions available as well -- please
let us know if you need them.
Cruzio is planning further events in Watsonville, too. If you live
in the area, please watch for more news.
7. South County special
In honor of Cruzio's Watsonville and other South County events, we are
offering $20 off any new dialup services for South County customers.
The special goes until July 31st, 2001. Come to our office, present
letterhead or ID that says you are from Watsonville, Corralitos,
Aromas, Freedom or La Selva Beach and tell us you'd like the discount.
Oh, wait a minute. You already have a Cruzio account if you are
reading this. But perhaps you need another account, or perhaps a
friend needs one. Spread the word: it's a good time to sign up.
8. About this newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra e-mail, but we sometimes
have events and announcements that users need to know about. This seems
like the most efficient way to let people know what's happening. Hope
it's helpful. Please e-mail support@cruzio.com with any comments or questions.
By the way, we would love to have a regular, predictable schedule
for this newsletter...but we simply do not send it unless there is real
news enclosed. Thus the haphazard datelines.
9. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
To reach the Cruzio Information Center, for online technical and
sales information:
http://www.cruzio.com/support
To dial in to Cruzio, set your software to dial one of the numbers
below (note: we've expanded and joined modem pools, so you may be
using another number. If so, don't worry, it still works just fine).
56k: 459-9408
33.6 kbps and under: 459-6230
To call Cruzio:
459-6301............Use this number to check Cruzio's system status,
pay your Cruzio bill, find out more about our hours and location,
or to reach someone in customer service and technical support.
To send email to Cruzio, use one of these addresses:
support@cruzio.com ......for technical support
office@cruzio.com .......for billing and ordering information
Cruzio's location:
903 Pacific Avenue, Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Cruzio's hours:
Sales hours: 10am-6pm, Monday through Friday; 10 am - 2 pm Saturday
Technical support: 10-6 pm, Monday through Friday, 10am - 2pm Saturday
System monitoring, including customer-alerted emergencies, 24 hours
per day, 365 days per year (leap years, 366 days)
Thanks very much from Cruzio:
Chris, Peggy, John, Julianne, Patton, Kathy, Mark, Martin,
Georgette, Tapati, Pedro, Brittany, Alec, Rachael, Barbara,
Stephen, Paul, Gershom, Kelly, Laura, another Chris, Jessi,
Michelle, Ben and Carlyle (the grownups);
Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
Annika, age 6, was working with Carly, age 3, on "cooking". They filled
a cup with water and dirt, mixed in some orange peels, then sprinkled
sourgrass on top. "Mommy will like it," Annika told Carly, "Mommy
likes yucky things." Carly agreed. "It's coffee," she explained.
