Today is the first day of school for the Tahoe Truckee School District. Do you remember what it was like on your first day of school? Would the other kids like me? Would the teacher like me? All of those questions. You know what question you probably never asked yourself? Will the teacher have enough crayons? Enough paper? Enough pencils? We have heard that these can be real questions that teachers are asking themselves, will they have enough supplies for the school year. So, why don't we all try this? Let us all skip that morning cup of coffee every other day for a month, no Starbucks, no Wild Cherries, Joes, whatever and that money that we are saving we take it into the teacher of your choice and go online say at Office Depot and purchase 50.00 worth of school supplies, a ream of paper, glue, scissors.....if we all gave up that morning stop for just 1 month that is around 100.00 so that is why I'm suggesting the every other day, I am sure that the coffee houses would understand, and what better use can we put the money then to the kids in our schools?? Plus? if you spend 50.00 at Office Depot? They deliver it free to the teacher, so you're just using your computer to shop, or going into the teacher's classroom and she or he are ordering.....and let us face it? We are doing this for all the kids and what could be more important then THAT?

We have just learned from one of our ISDN customers that AT&T has raised their rates on unlimited ISDN usage. Why? Who knows. They are the phone company so I can't accept a reason that it is now costing them more to give phone service, they're the phone company!
It's a 50.00 a month charge, that is a lot of money to just start suddenly charging people without any real reason. Yes the customer that called us said that there was no real reason given just hello, your bill is now 50.00 a month more.

We at LTOL think this is unfair and something should be done, but that is hard to do since the phone company, AT&T that is gets subsidies from the Govt. Yes, our govt your govt. gives the phone company money because......... actually we don't know why but a portion of our taxes each year goes to the phone company to assist them in running their business. We'd love to know why, no one ever seems to be able to give us a real reason. Our favorite to date is to help offset the price of putting high speed in areas that normally wouldn't get it, it is just hard to find on a map any of these places that have gotten this high speed, we wonder at times if some of these places are on the Moon or something? We will keep checking and keep you updated.

Something to think about:

One of the MANY tech magazines/journals that we subscribe to here at LTOL, Networking Computing, is reporting that 1 in 4 business computer has instances and or infections of Porn on the machine AND that it got it there by that employee downloading it to their machine.

We ourselves are somewhat curious having more then 4 computers in the shop and wondering which one or ones have the porn on it and is it any good and lastly are we in it??

This will be a short entry. Thank you very much those firefighters that participated in putting out the fire at the Donner Lake Interchange, or the I 80 Fire, or the Ski Slope fire, they all are the same thing but those rescue workers, helicopter pilots, plane pilots, police dept, and whomever we are forgetting. You ladies and gentlemen did a great job in saving our area and we heartily thank you. Great Job.

Also we understand that the Tahoe Donner Home Owners Association did a lot of yard clean up, defensible space work, thank you too.

Help Wanted!
Lake Tahoe On Line is looking for an individual to fill an entry level position with the company. No, NO previous experience is required but willingness to learn and adapt to a very changing office atmosphere a must. A pleasant phone voice, disposition and the ability to work in a busy office.
This is an entry level position, pay is equal with an entry level position but the possibility for advancement is all but limitless. LTOL is willing to pay for training to increase the applicant’s knowledge. Spanish as a second or first language would be a plus.
This is perfect for a person that is willing to work Saturdays, along with 4 weekdays. Nights at this time are not needed but could become an opening in the near future, be flexible. LTOL is a GREAT place to work so come find out if YOU have what it takes to be with an exciting Internet Company!

www.ltol.com
530-582-2080

Not a lot to talk about at the moment so I thought I'd bring you just something nifty. There is a webcam set up at a watering hole in Africa where a BUNCH of different animals come to drink. You do have to put up with a little advertising to get there but be patient. Here is the link:

http://www.africam.com/wildlife/index.php

Just paste it into your web browser, click when you have too, you might even need a quick time player update or something but it is a nifty thing to watch when you have 15 minutes with nothing to do. Enjoy, Plums Defy!!

Something new I just found. Every time that you have a conversation using Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft donates to the Sierra Club. Cool Eh??? Not every time you download it, not every time that you tell a friend about it but every time you have a conversation with someone, Microsoft donates to the Sierra Club. I guess we can put this down to one more reason we at LTOL think Open Source Sucks!! You may not like Microsoft, or say nasty things about them, but I can't think of a better way to help out the Sierra Club by just chatting with someone, sheesh!!

All you have to do is choose the Sierra Club as your non-profit and you can do this at: http://im.live.com.

Let's be clear too, no catch, no hidden fees, no spam mail, no crap downloaded to your machine that you already weren't using or whatever....so let us all get on the bus and make the Sierra Club our non-profit for IM Messenger services.

THere is a computer called a "Zonbu" which costs 99.00. Sounds great doesn't it? I mean 99.00 for a desktop and it comes with 20 popular types of software. This computer comes with free and online back of your files and it's EVEN automatic. Wow, and free updates to the operating system. Double Wow/Whammy!

Ok, now the downside, it is running Linux. That open source, free, doesn't cost you anything operating system. Linux is pretty much a lot like Windows, not like in that they look the same, more in alike that they do the same thing. Alike as in a Chevy and a Ferrari are both cars, they both get you from point A to point B just not really in the same way.

Now the downside to this 99.00 desktop, drivers. With this type of computer you can't go to your local LTOL store or even that Best Buy place and purchase a printer or a wireless card or a USB external drive and know with any certainty that it will work because Linux doesn't have a lot of drivers that come with it, nor are you going to be sure that even if it says it is the driver it will work because the drivers are created for free by computer enthusasists, just like us, would you trust a driver I made? I know I wouldn't. :)

So, short version, be careful of what you buy, cause you should always be careful of thinking something is too good to be true, it probably is.

This is a two parter, first thank you all for those of you that came to last nights class on "Buying a new computer" It was nice to see some old faces with all the new ones and it makes it doubley 'feel good' to know how much you appreciate the free classes we sponsor for the community. Again thank you. For those of you that didn't make it, you missed out on a GREAT DESSERT. Not even going to say what it was cause YOU weren't here to enjoy it you will just have to come next time and see taste it yourself.

Ok, here is another thought on Spam not written by me.


Title "What is spam?"


We all use the term spam to categorize email that we don't want. But what is spam? Officially, spam is "bulk, unsolicited email". In other words, email that is sent out to a bunch of people without their permission.


Spam email is not just annoying.. it's becoming dangerous. Here are some of the types of spam you have encountered, the list provided by MacWorld, June 2007:


Advertising spam
This is the most common form of spam and generally take the form of a come-on for watches, prescription drugs, mortgages, stocks or sexual-enhancement potions.


Advance-fee Fraud
You have have seen an email from a Nigerian business man who is just looking for someone in the U.S. to help him recover $6 million dollars. These scams promise a large sum of money if you pass on information about how to get the money deposited. Your personal information is at risk if you try to help. Simply ignore these scams.


Phishing
Pronounced 'fishing', these emails look authentic and pretend to come from your bank or other financial institution. They ask for some confirmation information from you to protect or update your account and in fact, they are stealing your personal information for the purposes of identify theft. Never update any personal information from an email link.


Virus Spam
These messages usually contain some type of attachment that carries the virus or malware. Good antivirus software will protect you from these types of spam attacks.


Web Bugs
This is a new type of data collection ploy. Spammers create an email that invisible HTML tags that report if their email has been read, your IP address and other access information. It also confirms that your email address is valid and then your email address is sold to other spammers. You can block this attack by not automatically turning on images from email you are not expecting.


The old advice is still good... don't open email from people you don't know and keep your updates and antivirus software current.

Ok, as you can tell this is NOT written by me but one of the fine folks here AT LTOL. Little dry for me but, it does get the point across about spam. Enjoy!!

Title "Why Am I Not Receiving Email from My Friends?"


Occasionally, we receive a support call from a customer who is not receiving email from a friend of theirs. We know how frustrating that can be and wanted to explain a little about why that happens.


Like most email providers, LTOL works hard to protect our customers from spam. We have adopted spam blocking practices that are shared by other ISPs such as MSN, AOL and Earthlink.


1.) We expect email servers to identify themselves properly.
You can imagine that an email provider is like a delivery service. Imagine that an email server is like FedEx or UPS. If they showed up for a delivery, you'd expect them to be in uniform, have a marked truck and proper ID. If your friend is using an email server that doesn't identify themselves according to industry standards, their email will be blocked.


2.) We reject email that is infected.
If email from your friend is infected with a virus or we are unable to scan it to see if it is infected, we reject it. We don't want your computer to become infected and turn into a spam zombie and send out infected email to other people!


3.) We reject email that is too big.
Our limit for an individual email is 40MB. That's quite big. It is roughly equivalent to 40 pictures from a digital camera. If you need to receive email larger than 40MB please contact us for alternative solutions.


4.) We reject email from known spam sources.
Many times, an email server is used by spammers to send out spam. When this happens, that email server gets blocked and we do not accept email from anyone on that server. If your friend uses one of these blocked servers, their email will not get through.


If you believe that you haven't received email that was sent to you, check your web mail spam filter. Go to our web page, www.ltol.com, select Web Mail from the menu on the top right hand side. Enter your email address and password. On the left side of the web mail page, click on the spam folder. If you find an email there that you'd like, click on Allow Sender to ensure that email from that person will always get through.


Call us if you'd like some help. Add a comment if you have a thought or question you'd like to share. Thank you for your business.

Is it time to buy a new computer? Kids going back to school, first year of college for them? For You? What computer is right for you? Should you get a Dell with XP, or an HP with Vista, how about an Apple? Can I get an Apple and run my Windows programs on it? Should I just keep the old computer my brother's sister in law, Uncles, Barber's, nephew gave to me last year after his kids got done with it?

Well come to the class tomorrow night on "Purchasing a New Computer" at the LTOL office at the Truckee Business Park and get those questions answered. The class is at 7pm and is absolutely, positively FREE, with your paid su......wait, no it's free. Do call up though to reserve your seat.

Upcoming classes do include Camera's, Make your own Website, and of course out Open House will be in October, in fact it will be October 16,17,and 18th. We of course hope to see you at all of our classes but do try and write those dates down so you can come in, enjoy some wine and relax for a moment.

Ok let us talk about cool websites:

Cabona's and Cabonas.com are two great places to shop. At Cabona's and Cabonas.com you can find Brighton jewelry as well as Tommy Bahama shirts. Cabona's gives great service whether it is in the shop or on the web, you really can't find a better shopping experience if you're looking for clothing, jewelry, purses and the like. Let us face a small fact, I don't know a lot about shopping for things women like but I do know that there are a lot of men and women shopping at Cabona's and cabonas.com and that everyone leaves happy. So, go check it out yourself either in Down Town Truckee or at cabonas.com I doubt you will be disappointed.

Tonight the Tahoe Music Festival will be hosting David Sanborn at the West End of Donner Lake. What a great time to see such a talented musician. Also Cabona's and Plumas Bank are hosting this event so why not come out and support some local business doing some great local work with the benefit of hearing some great music. Members of LTOL's staff will in attendance and well those of us that can't make it are quite jealous. So, make it up to us and go listen to the music.

What a great idea!

The Truckee Downtown Merchant's Association is sponsoring: "Truckee Tuesdays" This is where the local merchants, in the evening hours are hosting locals and visitors to some great food, entertainment, speicals, deals, you name it. These great shops are going to be doing this through the summer and what a great way to see what the down town has to offer and guess what? YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO PAY FOR PARKING. WOW!
We at LTOL think this is a great way to see what you have been missing out on, have some wine with friends, meet old and or new friends and just have a great time. See YOU there!