Cruzio/The Internet Store Newsletter - Number 56, June 13, 2002
1. Cruzio Upgrading Equipment
2. Internet Interference
3. Cruzio DSL Sale Successful, Another One Coming
4. Buddy Bucks
5. Cruzio Upgrades E-commerce Software
6. ShopSite Brown Bag June 20th
7. Spam Filters
8. Yes You "CAN" Donate to 2nd Harvest Food Bank
9. Pajaro Chamber Business Expo Today
10. Of Political Interest: Monopolies and the Internet
11. Please Use Cruzio's New Suite #
12. About This Newsletter
13. How to Reach Cruzio (dial-in or tech support)
1. Cruzio Upgrading Equipment
Today's shiniest, newest computer becomes obsolete quickly in the
Internet industry, and replacing equipment is a constant process
here at Cruzio. Our members may not see the hardware, but you
experience the speed and reliability.
When we replace equipment, we make any required outages short
(we don't like to cause any interruption at all, but sometimes we
have to remove one machine and plug in another.) Affected customers
are informed in advance, and we make most replacements after midnight,
when traffic is low.
We cycle quickly through equipment. Recently Cruzio upgraded most
of our Web servers and swapped out a main e-mail server to handle
the huge job of spam filtering -- it takes a mighty effort to block
all that spam! We've also improved performance by upgrading our
routers. We keep our engineers busy around here: many thanks to the
inimitable Chris, Mark, and Julianne!
2. Internet Interference
On June 8, 9, 10 and 11, Cruzio was subjected to a Denial of Service
(DoS) attack from persons unknown over the Internet. As the name
implies, a DoS attack is a barrage of data aimed at a network or server
with the intention of drowning the device with so many packets that
it is unable to process normal Internet traffic.
The attacks were launched from dozens of points on the Internet, our
engineers were able to backtrack the attacks to systems in Italy, Japan,
Germany and Australia.
Fortunately, Cruzio engineers were able to implement defensive
countermeasures. Our service was slowed several times, but never
halted and never lost data.
The way DoS attacks work is that hackers have programmed viruses and
worms which have infected millions (yes, _millions_) of systems on the
Internet with malicious programs known as "trojan horses". These programs
enable hackers to take control of the infected systems and launch DoS
attacks on other devices over the network. The computer's owner may not
notice or suspect the computer's activity! Anti-virus programs can detect
and remove these malicious programs from infected systems.
Cruzio recommends that people using computers connected to the
Internet (that would be all of us members at Cruzio) acquire
anti-virus software and regularly scan their computers for
malicious programs. It's part of being a responsible Internet
user. Virus software is cheap and easy to use. It doesn't harm
systems and can be helpful in many ways to prevent damage to your
own files as well as the Greater Internet.
For more information about anti-virus programs, please refer to the
following web page:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/security/virusinfo.html
3. Cruzio DSL Sale Successful, Another One Coming
We know some of you with dialup service are thinking of
making the switch to high-speed Internet. Cruzio is one of
the top providers of high-speed DSL in Northern California,
and we recommend Cruzio DSL to you as an economical, reliable
upgrade. Oh, and it's super-fast!
Normally, we recommend (and sell) DSL equipment for a reasonable
price. But for those of you who are extra price-sensitive, we want
to let you know that Cruzio's DSL equipment blowout sale in April was
a big success and will be repeated, probably in August. So if price
is a major issue for you, check our newsletters and ads this summer.
We are planning to have equipment sales on a fairly regular basis.
Wish we could lower the price all the time: the way technology
progresses, that will probably be possible in the not-too-distant
future. Right now we think Cruzio DSL is well worth regular price,
and when there is a sale it's an extremely good deal.
4. Buddy Bucks
Would you like $10 credit on your Cruzio account?
Tell a friend, family member or acquaintance about Cruzio.
If they give us your name, email address, or account number when
they sign up (as a new customer), we'll credit your account $10.
Would you like $20, $30, $40, or more credit on your account?
Just recommend us more than once.
5. Cruzio Upgrades E-commerce Software
Business on the Web is a low-cost way to reach a big market, or
a specialized one. We have customers who sell everything online
from fresh flowers, organic produce and veggies, clothing, gifts
and cds to tickets for live concerts, books, auto parts, art and
software.
Cruzio provides nifty software, called ShopSite, to help folks
set up stores online. Recently, we've upgraded to ShopSite 6.0
which has tons of new features, including:
1. Real-time UPS shipping integration & address validation
2. Digital coupons--use a discount to generate sales
3. Downloads--allow customers to download software,
art or music after payment
4. Direct downloads of your secure orders into your Quickbooks
5. Automated inventory tracking and e-mail notifications
One new service we're pleased to offer is ShopSite Starter. For
just $15.95 per month (please compare that with renting a
brick-and- mortar store location!), you can start up a small
online store and do realtime credit card transactions, too.
The whole process has become easier.
To learn more about ShopSite itself, please visit
http://www.cruzio.com/support/shopsite/
And to see lots of local stores using ShopSite, check out our
Online Mall at the bottom of Cruzio's home page. Many stores
use ShopSite:
http://www.cruzio.com
6. ShopSite Brown Bag June 20th
Next Thursday, June 20th, from 12-1:30 pm, Cruzio will hold
a FREE Brown Bag Workshop on
"E-commerce: Easy and Inexpensive with ShopSite."
As usual, the Brown Bag is at Cruzio's downtown Santa Cruz location,
903 Pacific Avenue.
Reserve your seat by going to:
http://www.cruzio.com/support/business/brownbags.html
This Brown Bag will be led by our own Director of Marketing, the
personable Kathy Bisbee, who's set up several stores and knows
the ins and outs of the program. She does an excellent presentation
and is in big demand from our ShopSite customers, so it's a good
opportunity to learn -- and bring questions.
7. Spam Filters
Some Cruzio customers have not yet turned on their spam filters,
which block out junk e-mail. Since many customers are getting
unfiltered mail, I decided to leave my mail unfiltered, too,
so I can experience what it's like.
The spam out there is awful.
When you decide to take action against spam, Cruzio provides
free, effective relief. We really recommend using this popular
service. Over 2,000 Cruzio members are blocking spam already!
Our engineers estimate the filters block more than 95% of junk
e-mail. And the filters can block out viruses, too. And did we
mention it's free?
It's easy to use filtering: just go to your Cruzio Account Control
Panel (it's listed at the top of Cruzio's home page,
http://www.cruzio.com )
and push the "Junk Mail Filtering" button. If you've already
got some filtering on, but want to use our improved filters (we
strengthened them two months ago), click "Enable Features" in the
Advanced Features box.
Thus far, the filters are provided just for addresses ending
in "cruzio.com". But more is on the way. We're currently
upgrading all our servers to handle the heavy workload of filtering
and expect to have filtering on ALL our accounts by the end
of the summer. Hang on, we know it's spammy out there.
8. Yes You "CAN" Donate to 2nd Harvest Food Bank
If you are late on a payment to Cruzio, you can avoid paying
the late fee by donating 3 cans of food to Second Harvest Food
Bank. Just bring the cans in to our storefront. If you want
to donate a few extra while you are at it, or want to drop off
some cans for no reason but kindness of heart, please feel free
to do so any time. Kudos to our community-oriented General
Manager Barbara, who won Cruzio an award for the cans-for-late-fee
innovation. By the way, sorry about the pun, couldn't help it.
9. Pajaro Chamber Business Expo Today
3-7 pm on Thursday, June 13th
at Watsonville Community Hospital
Cruzio will be in Watsonville today, Thursday June 13th,
from 3 to 7 pm at a Business Exposition at the Watsonville
Community Hospital. Cruzio's President and co-founder, Peggy
Dolgenos, will be speaking about Women in Business. Since she
has been operating for many years in the male-dominated
Tech industry, this promises to be an interesting talk. Other
speakers include Annie Morhauser from from Annieglass and
Carol Schmidt from Quail Mountain Herbs.
10. Of Political Interest: Monopolies and the Internet
Cruzio, in providing Internet service locally, has to be
a major customer of the local phone company. Since we do
so much business with them, we're very aware of their political
maneuvering.
Pacific Bell, our regional phone company, was bought a few
years back by Southwestern Bell Corporation (SBC), based in Texas.
SBC is a rich and powerful influence in Washington and Sacramento
and frankly manages to manipulate the political climate greatly
to its advantage. To a normal consumer the effects don't look
that large, at first. But the changes are similar to what
happened to the energy industry few years ago, as regulated
monopoly morphed into ... unregulated monopoly. Unregulated
monopolies don't have natural motivation toward creativity,
choice, or low prices, and can't often be forced to behave
in consumers' interests (they are "unregulated" and can't be
forced to do much.)
We'd like to commend Congressman Sam Farr for voting against the
heavily-lobbied-for Tauzin Dingell bill earlier this year. That
bill, which passed by a wide margin and is now in the Senate,
would remove requirements for the Bells to allow other companies'
service over Bell lines. In other words, the assets they acquired
as regulated monopolies would not be available for free market
use or for regulation to ensure fair use. That's anti-competitive.
Let's fight it in the Senate.
Another bill is in the California State Senate right now. The State
legislature passed it as AB 2958. Until now, when Pacific Bell
was found to overcharge customers, it was required to pay them
back. The bill removes that requirement: they can keep the
money. No one will be checking.
Pacific Bell has served us, and our customers, well. We wish them
the best of luck in their business and enjoy fine relationships
with their employees on a personal level. We want to continue
having a great relationship with them. But it's hard to work
with a monopoly, and we are hoping that some sane examination
of deregulation pressures will help build a better system overall.
11. Please Use Cruzio's New Suite #
Cruzio's address has changed from Suite 204 to Suite 101, still at
903 Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz. The post office has been forwarding
our mail but won't much longer. The correct address is on all of our
bills and newsletters, in case you forget.
12. 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.
13. 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, Julianne, Kathy, Mark, Martin, Georgette,
Tapati, Pedro, Brittany, Alec, Barbara, Stephen, Paul,
Gershom, Phil, Laura, Jessi, Alice, Edgar, Alex, Michael,
another Kathy, Bhag, and another Chris (the grownups);
Jake, Annika, and Carly (the kids)
Jake, age 10, who takes a dim view of his mother's desire to
walk rather than take the car: "Mom, if we go any farther this
walk will turn into a hike!"
