Cruzio/The Internet Store Newsletter - Number 49, September 17, 2001
1. Third annual Small Business Event
2. .info and .biz soon available
3. Static IP's for dialup and DSL
4. Recommend us and get Cruzio credit: "Buddy Bucks"
5. Terrorist tragedy - watch out for scams
6. Filter out junk e-mail!
7. Changes in the Internet
8. Cruzio's mailing address: Suite 101
9. About this newsletter
10. How to reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Third annual Small Business Event
http://www.smallbusinessfair.com
Every year Cruzio holds a Fair for small businesses who want to
look at and discuss technology in a non-intimidating environment
(our specialty at Cruzio is non-intimidation). In addition, Cruzio
is a local business, too. We recognize the need to gather together
frequently-used small business resources and experts from the
community. It can be much more useful to see and meet people than to
try to find information from a phone book!
The format for this year's Small Business Fair is a series of
workshops, discussions, and refreshments on each of the first
four Wednesday evenings of October. We are calling it the "Small
Business Series". Each evening has a focused theme, and different
speakers. You can attend one or all.
The details:
Where: The Museum of Art and History, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz
When: The first four Wednesdays of October, 4:30 to 7 pm
What: Each evening contains a panel discussion by local experts,
followed by a workshop where participants ask questions and
continue the discussion. Lastly, there is a reception where
delicious snacks are served along with a chance to chat with
other members of the local small business community.
Topics:
Oct 3rd: Growing your business
Oct 10th: Working with technology and consultants
Oct 17th: Small Business marketing and public relations
Oct 24th: Building an online presence
Price: $25/evening, $80/whole series, if you pre-register
or $30/evening, $100/whole series at the door.
Register, or find more details at: http://www.smallbusinessfair.com
All pre-registrants receive a limited-edition Cruzio kitty
baseball hat!
The Series promises to be interesting and useful for small
businesses and their vendors. Places are limited, so register
early.
2. .info and .biz soon available
After October 1st, Cruzio will start helping customers to register
the newest Top Level Domains (TLD's). The two new TLD's are
".info" and ".biz", and if you have been wanting a particular
domain name (let's call it "myname.com") but it was already taken,
you'll soon have a chance to register a similar name: "myname.info"
or "myname.biz". These are the first new TLD's to be released for
many years, and we expect demand to be high. For more details,
please see our TLD Web page:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/tld/
(Note: the release date has changed before, and may change again.
Stay tuned to the page above for current information.)
3. Static IP's for dialup and DSL
Cruzio has offered dialup static IP addresses for many months, and
now static IP addresses are available for Cruzio DSL, too. What is
a static IP address? An IP address is how Internet traffic finds
you, and when you are on the Internet your computer always has an
IP address. With most accounts, Cruzio just issues you a new address
each time you connect. (With DSL, since disconnects are rare, you hold
the same IP address for a long time.) Sometimes -- if you need to get
through a firewall to telecommute, for example -- you need an IP
address which never, ever changes. That is a static IP address.
A normal, "server-assigned" IP address comes free with every access
account at Cruzio. A static address costs an extra $6.00 per month.
If it sounds like just what you've always wanted, please e-mail
office@cruzio.com. Or fill out our online app at
http://www.cruzio.com/app
4. Recommend us and get Cruzio credit: "Buddy Bucks"
Spread the word about Cruzio and get $10 credit on your account!
We appreciate customer recommendations, and we'd like to make sure
you are rewarded when you send a new customer our way. When a friend,
colleague, or even someone you meet at a bus stop gets an account
at Cruzio based on your recommendation, be sure they bring in the
"Buddy Bucks" coupon that directs us to credit your account. Either
you or your friend can print out the coupon at
http://www.cruzio.com/support/specials/buddybucks.html
(or fill out a coupon right at our office, at 903 Pacific Avenue,
Santa Cruz.)
Be sure to include your name (and better yet, your e-mail address),
and when your friends bring the coupon in to Cruzio when signing up,
you'll receive $10 credit for each signup. The offer lasts until
December 31st, 2001.
5. Terrorist tragedy - watch out for scams
We've been alerted by our ISP association that some incredibly
unethical sleazebags out there in the world are taking advantage
of the terrorist attacks on September 11 to try to get unsuspecting
folks to send them money. Please beware of any unsolicited e-mail
you get asking for contributions to help the victims or the rescue
teams. Always check that kind of stuff out. Here is what CAUCE
(the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email) has warned:
"SAN FRANCISCO -- September 12, 2001 -- Email protection and consumer
advocacy groups warned today of online attempts to fraudulently
profit from yesterday's attacks on the USA. These attempts are taking
the form of unsolicited e-mail ("spam") and postings in community
forums, soliciting "donations" in the name of victims of the attacks.
"A typical message claims to be part of an "Express Relief Fund" or
"Victims Survivor Fund". One message claims that donations will go to
the Red Cross, but the donation link leads to a Web site unconnected
with that organization.
"The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) and
SpamCon Foundation offer these tips to help determine whether a
request is valid:
"* If you don't know the organization or person who sent the request,
it's probably fraudulent.
"* Virtually no bona-fide relief agencies request funds by sending
email to people who are not already involved in that agency.
Solicitations made in this way may also violate laws in the United
States and Europe. (See http://law.spamcon.org.)
"* If you click on a link to donate, examine the URL shown in your
browser. If the domain name of the URL is hidden, unfamiliar, or
doesn't match the link's text, the request is probably fraudulent.
"* Verify the solicitor's identity through another medium (such as
phone) before giving money. Spammers frequently forge the identity
and style of well-known entities to gain credibility...
The Red Cross is a legitimate organization active in supporting
victims of the tragedy and their families. To donate, visit their
official Web site (http://www.redcross.org) or call 1-800-HELP-NOW."
Cruzio has made donations to the Red Cross and the New York Firefighters
Disaster Relief Fund.
We at Cruzio mourn the loss of so many lives and resolve to do
whatever we can to reduce the amount of hate and violence
in this world.
6. Filter out junk e-mail!
Every so often, we get a call or hear from a customer who just
hates spam (junk e-mail). Or even when we Cruzio staff people
are off duty, a friend will bend our ear. "I hate junk email!"
"How can I make it stop?!"
Luckily at Cruzio you do have a choice. If you have an e-mail
address ending in "cruzio.com", you can filter spam out of your
mail before it gets to your mailbox. The service is free of charge.
We estimate it removes over 95% of spam before you ever see it.
To use our spam filters, just go to
http://www.cruzio.com/support
and put your e-mail login and password in the fields on the top of
the page. That will take you to your Cruzio Control Panel where you
can use it right away.
7. Changes in the Internet
In the Internet world, the dot-com meltdown has lately led to the
combination, shrinkage, or even disappearance of many telecommunications
firms. In the last few months Cruzio has seen some big changes in the
environment. We are careful to select the most reliable vendors we
can find, but every now and then, even the best preparations don't prevent
a temporary slowdown, change, or even a short halt in some service
as we switch to a new vendor. (We keep such interruptions to a minimum.)
We know some of you have endured busy signals and other temporary
situations which are unheard of during Cruzio's normal business times.
We thank you for putting up with service that has occasionally fallen
short of our usual quality. Please be assured that we are almost back to
normal! In fact, we've made changes that will mean faster access to
Cruzio customer Web pages and other benefits.
In addition, customers have been rushing to us from other now-defunct
Internet providers, so our sales office recently has been quite busy.
We are happy to see our policy of fair prices and reliable service win
out, and we are not having any problems integrating new customers; but
everyone on staff is working very hard.
If you find that our support and customer service departments
have been busier than usual, or if you notice some brief "hiccups"
in your service as we deal with all the changes, please have patience.
We have added extra resources and are working hard to minimize
inconvenience to current and future customers. We expect our busiest
time to end in the next few weeks, after which all our departments
will take a deep breath, and get back to normal.
8. Cruzio's mailing address: Suite 101
Please note that the mailing address for Cruzio is 903 Pacific Avenue,
Suite 101, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060. Note the "Suite 101". We've occupied
the downstairs storefront for four years now, but some customers haven't
changed the address on their snail-mail to Suite 101, which causes some
confusion to the post office. (If you remember when we were upstairs,
you qualify as an "old-timer", congratulations!) Thanks for making
the change.
9. About This Newsletter
Cruzio doesn't like to waste bandwidth with extra email, 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 email 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.
10. 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, Phil, Allyson, Laura, Jessi, Michelle,
Alice, Edgar, Alex, Michael, and another Kathy (the grownups);
Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
My husband drove the kids to downtown Santa Cruz to meet me.
He must have been using some salty language...
Annika, age 6: "We couldn't find a parking space and guess
what Daddy said! He said ****!"
Carly, age 4: "****! ****! ****! ****!"
Annika: "**** is a bad word, isn't it Mommy!"
Carly: "****! ****! ****! ****!"
I had a little talk with my husband that night. We decided we
simply won't refer to the incident and hope that it's soon
forgotten, since generally we don't let swear words slip out.
Then, a few days ago, they came down to meet me again.
Annika: "Mommy, today Daddy didn't say ****!"
Carly: "****!"
