PSPINC Official Company Blog

PSPinc What's New Vol. 3

Jan

28

NEWSMAIL- EMAIL BROADCASTING SERVICE FOR FREE
Hello, this is Ken Uchikura again from Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. in Bellevue, Washington. Thank you all for being our loyal customers. I am in charge and responsible for things happening within our company … good or bad. No, all the good things are a result of our dedicated and capable staff and all of the bad things are my fault. I guess that is what my job title suggests. Though personally, I like to spend time designing and developing services. That is the reason why I sit (live is the better word) in the R&D building.

One of the things that we are working on is called NewsMAIL. This is a service that is designed to allow you to broadcast email to customers, vendors, friends and family members. You can find the website at https://www.newsmail.com and it is a paid service … until now. We are making this email broadcasting system a part of Dreamersi web hosting without any additional fees. Yes, as a Dreamersi domain/web/email hosting customer, you will soon have access to NewsMAIL at no additional charge.

This is one way to have you use our services and our way of saying thank you for being our customer. We know you have many choices when it comes to domain/web/email hosting. If you are a Parcom, YourHost, or Fazewire hosting customer, the Dreamersi domain/web/email hosting service starts at only $250 per year and is an upgrade to your current service. We will be happy to move you to Dreamersi if you are interested. Please contact our support staff at 1-800-232-3989 or 425-957-0808.

We love talking with you. Thank you for reading my newsletter. Your comments are always welcome, especially when you have something to complain about.

Kenichi Uchikura
President / CEO
Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

#blog #businesstips #dreamersi #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #technology

PSPinc What's New Vol. 2

Jan

21

WHAT IS ML-5?

Hello, this is Ken Uchikura again from Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. We are very privileged to be chosen to take care of your Domain, Web and Email needs. We have been working very hard to make sure the services that you use are secure and stable. You probably did not feel it, but we had a massive DDoS attack to our servers lasting an entire week. We were able to reroute all DDoS traffic to the abyss and run the entire service on one side of our network without causing any service outage. This took place from January 5th - 11th this year. We are now redesigning our network to mitigate more incidents like this. I will keep you posted.

Note: What is DDoS attack?

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.

Here is what we are working on.

When we started our Internet service back in 1996 (23 years ago), there was no email software we could use to provide reliable service with. So we created our own POP email server system called ST Mail. It was designed to run on a Windows Server. We have upgraded ST Mail and it is currently on version 4.0 supporting POP and IMAP.

2 years ago, we started to design and build a new email server based completely on a new codebase running on a Linux server. We are happy to say that we will be starting internal tests of this new email server (codename PSP ML-5) this quarter. We are hoping to start using this new server to provide Dreamersi email service by this Summer.

ST Mail, running on Windows servers, is still one of the most stable and fastest email servers in the industry. However, ML-5 is going to be even faster and more stable. Plus, ML-5 will have one more feature that no other email server has. With ML-5 you will be able to host your email server at your own facility and it will be backed up by our datacenter. You will be able to install and run your email from your office with no limitations. When the server in your office is offline, your email service will automatically be handled by PSPinc - there will be no down time.

This is one of the products we are currently creating. I will continue to write about other exciting things that we are working on. Please let me know what you think.

Kenichi Uchikura
President / CEO
Pacific Software Publishing, Inc.

#PSPWhatsNew #PSPWhatsNewNewsletter #businesstips #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #technology

Does your Business Need Opinion Stand?

Jan

16

image source: pixabay.com

Have you ever wanted to give a review (bad or good) of a company on the spot? Perhaps you just finished dining at a restaurant and you’d like to recognize the top notch service you received. On the contrary, maybe you experienced long wait times and unfriendly service at a retail store or a sporting event.

These are often the moments where you feel a strong desire to give some feedback to management, but you don’t have time to wait for a manager, and once you get home, you’re too busy (or forget) to send an email with your complaints or accolades.

Good, constructive feedback for a business is often lost because that instant review hasn’t been available. Until now. PSP offers a service called Opinion Stand. It’s designed for your customers to give instant feedback about their experience at the time of service. It’s extremely simple, easy-to-use for customers and customizable to your business’ needs.

Opinion Stand comes in a physical kiosk for your brick and mortar location as well as digital formats for your online store. It’s a great way to monitor activity and view customer satisfaction trends, so you know what’s working and what needs to change.

Get all the details, options and pricing on Opinion Stand here: https://www.opinionstand.com/eng/.

#Blog #BusinessTips #CustomerReviews #ENnews #OpinionStand #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology

Update your Website's Copyright Date, Among Other Things

Jan

9

image source: pixabay.com

It’s a new year and most of us have a new set of goals. One business goal you should consider this year is giving your website an update. At the very least, make sure the copyright year is updated to 2020 on your homepage (usually in the footer).

As important as it is for your website’s content and graphics to be refreshed, it’s equally as important you keep up with the security upgrades to your servers and backend tools on programs such as WordPress. Not all content management systems have automatic updates, and your site can get infected without you knowing if you don’t keep up with security updates. Unfortunately, there is no perfect software protection and those open source programs such as WordPress are often the primary target of hackers.

When a hacker searches and finds vulnerability in old WordPress installs, they can hack the site and “inject” malicious code in the SQL Database used for WordPress. The hackers’ goal is to steal important data, so most commonly seen cyber-attacks involve the hacker redirecting links on your site to links on the hacker’s fake site. It’s hard for a business to know they’ve been cyber-attacked unless they have a trusted web hosting company or developer who will scan their data and maintain their latest WordPress security upgrades.

PSP offers a WordPress option of Dreamersi.com, our popular website building tool. With our program, every three months the latest security version of WordPress is installed, and all the major plugins are automatically updated. Even then, we advise customers to login to their content management systems and check for any security updates.

Start fresh in the New Year. Make sure you’ve updated your website’s copyright year, update outdated content and banners, as well as login and make sure you don’t have any strange activity going on without your knowledge! If you have no idea where to start, you can always contact us at PSP for help.

#2020 #Blog #BusinessTips #Dreamersi #ENnews #NewYear #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebsiteCopyright #WordPress

Presenting at the first SEA Luncheon of 2020

Jan

8

Today Mayumi Nakamura, Director of Business Development, was one of the chosen presenters for the first Seattle Executives Association meeting of 2020.

She spoke about some of our successful deployments of websites, web servers and mobile applications we have made recently.

As a part of her presentation she also discussed and credited other Seattle Executives Companies that have, and continue to contribute to PSPinc’s success.

We are excited for what 2020 has in store - stay tuned!

#PSPinc #PacificSoftwarePublishingInc #Technology #WebApplications #Websites

What is TLS 1.2 and what does it mean to be compliant?

Dec

26

Lately there is a lot of talk going on around Internet Security. Much of the talk are about supporting TLS 1.2, but you are asked to buy an SSL Certificate. You must be confused like I am. You need to support TLS 1.2 to be considered secure, and soon the newer browsers will enforce that. Starting sometime in March of next year, new browsers will not even display the content if your website is not TLS 1.2 or later.

When you read up on the Internet, you'll learn that TLS is a successor to SSL. So, what is a TLS certificate? Why are you still asked to buy SSL when SSL is replaced by TLS. What is going on?

It is really confusing and stupid. I learned there are two meanings to SSL. (1) SSL is a certificate you buy to verify your company's security. “SSL Certificate”, (2) is the encryption method called SSL. The encryption method SSL is the one that is succeeded by TLS. The versions that are available for TLS are 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3. And starting March 2020, anything below TLS 1.2 will not be considered safe. Of course, all SSL excretions are obsolete.

Here is the confusing part: To use TLS, you need to be verified by a third party as an existing business or organization. That certificate is still called SSL. So you need to purchase an SSL certificate to activate TLS. Was I able to clear up this confusion? I hope I did. If you are not SSL certified or using anything less than TLS 1.2, or if you do not know which version you are using, please give us a call. We will be happy to look it up.

#pacificsoftwarepublishing #technology #webhosting

Office New Year’s Resolutions

Dec

26

image source: pexels.com

Another year down, another set of resolutions is forthcoming for 2020. While you may already be thinking of some personal goals for the New Year, why not consider making some resolutions for your work life as well? We’ve come up with some ideas for office New Year’s resolutions that you can customize to your level of comfort:

For Management:

If you’re in management, consider designating a monthly or quarterly staff appreciation event. This can look like surprise donuts showing up in the breakroom all the way up to a full-blown catered lunch event. It can be setting up an employee of the month program or department of the month program to recognize individuals who have gone above and beyond. Decide what works for your company as far as frequency and budget.

Is it time for a website overhaul in 2020? Need a responsive-design site your customers can view on all devices? Maybe it’s time to start some email marketing in the New Year and extend your reach? Contact us at PSP (800-232-3989) for all your web hosting, design and marketing needs.

For the Individual:

A cluttered workspace makes for a cluttered mind. Start the New Year off fresh by cleaning and organizing, not only your physical desktop but also your PC desktop as well. Then move onto emails, sorting, filing and deleting as you go.

Make an in-office health goal. This could mean walking on your lunch break or drinking a certain amount of water per day. Maybe you want to cut back on cola or coffee. Maybe it involves some personalization, bringing in framed pictures of your loved ones and a potted plant to bring your workspace to life.

For the Company:

Come up with an annual company volunteer day and give your staff the option to devote a workday to giving back to your community. This might involve picking up litter at a park or volunteering to organize shelves at the food bank. It may be volunteering at a career day in school. Determine what kind of charity work aligns with your company values and take lots of pictures of your staff in action for the social media campaign to follow.

#2020 #Blog #BusinessTips #ENnews #NYE2019 #NewYearsResolutions #OfficeGoals #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology

Wordpress Web Hosting by PSPinc

Dec

23

Did you know you can order our 10GB Wordpress Hosting with 3 Databases for only $99 per year. That includes .COM or .NET domain for one year as well.

https://www.dreamersi.com

#blog #businesstips #com #databases #domain #ennews #marketing #net #opinionstand #pacificsoftwarepublishing #pspinc #smallbusiness #technology #webdev #webdevelopment #webhosting #websitedevelopment #wordpress #wordpresshosting

5 Questions to Assess your Website's Quality

Dec

19

image source: pexels.com

When was the last time you updated your homepage? December is a great month to review your website, making sure the content and the copyright year are up to date.

Consider the following questions when reviewing your website, particularly your homepage:

1) Is the copyright year up to date in your footer?
2) When was the last time you updated any content?
3) Are your products/services still relevant today?
4) Can you adequately view your website on your phone?
5) Do you have SSL installed (does a lock icon show up on the browser address bar for your homepage URL)?

If any or all of the above does not make sense, you should have a professional check over your website. PSP has a dedicated team who can evaluate your business website and give you feedback and guidance about any updates and upgrades it needs.

Do you know how many visitors land on your site? Our professional staff can also set you up with Google Analytics, a web traffic tool, as well as give you some training on how to read your important statistics. Analytics allows you to set and measure goals for your homepage in 2020.

Get a fresh start in the New Year. Contact us at PSP (800-232-3989) with your questions and to seek professional web development and online marketing advice.

#Blog #BusinessTips #BusinessWebsite #ENnews #Marketing #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebDevelopment #WebHosting #WebTools

What Happens During an Online Transaction?

Dec

12

image source: pexels.com

When it comes to ecommerce, understanding all the elements of an online transaction can be confusing. Unlike physical stores, it takes more than just a bank and a credit card processing company to complete a transaction.

There are four layers to an online transaction between a consumer and a merchant:

1) Gateway Service
2) Credit Card Processors
3) Associations
4) Issuers

When a customer pays for a product or service online with their credit card, their information gets submitted to a gateway service. Some of the well-known gateway services are PayPal, Cyber Source and authorize.net. They literally act as a gateway between your ecommerce site and the institutions in cyber space.

Once the securely packaged information passes through the gateway service, then it will go through credit card processors. Credit card processors are banks (not necessarily yours) and other credit card payment processing companies who charge you the transaction fees and send you the statement.

Then the information is processed to your credit card association, such as VISA or MasterCard, to get through to the bank that issued the card (Issuer) to get the transaction approved. Once your transactions are approved, you will get your money from your processors into the bank you specify.

Yes, it’s complicated and yes, you can get a headache from trying to understand how it all works. But PSP can help you navigate the inner workings of ecommerce and help you make the right choices for your business. Contact us at PSP (800-232-3989). We can make it simple to understand and help you build the ecommerce site that’s right for your company.

#Blog #BusinessTips #ENnews #OnlinePayments #PSPinc #SmallBusiness #Technology #WebDev #WebHosting #eCommerce