Clark Internet
Clark IP Web Log
It's easy to add a web log to your Sitemaker CMS site, or to build your site around your web log. We use this one as our company newsletter.
Directory Upgrade Features Stored Searches
When a user executes a search in the Sitemaker directory tool on any hosted website, the system remembers the search terms, so if the user exits the page and returns later, a simple click of the Search button will reexecute the last search, or the user can modify the search and execute a revised version without changing all the terms. The system also "remembers" the geography of the search and restrict searches to a city or state.
Clients Cut Atmospheric CO2 by Over 1 Billion Pounds
Using Clark Internet's "CIC" scheduling and routing tools, several US recycling firms have removed at least 1.154 billion pounds (577,000 tons) of carbon dioxide (CO2 from the world's atmosphere since 2008.

In this industry, the system collects historic data on collection of waste vegetable oil for conversion to diesel fuel. The substitution of this plant-based fuel for petroleum products means that the manufactured fuel adds no net CO2 to the air. Other recycling industries may apply task-specific modules to their own requirements.

Each pickup of waste oil is logged and becomes part of a mathematical model that predicts the date on which the location will need service. The system exhibits above 93 percent accuracy, as measured by the number of pickups that are completed without a request by the source (2008-2019 data). The system has supported 60 depots operated by 26 recycling firms (collectors) in 46 USA states serving over 35,900 accounts with 40,00 source locations, primarily restaurants.

A user-friendly interface allows each collector's dispatchers to communicate with customers and to schedule, route and dispatch vehicles and technicians. Each dispatcher or manager has a dashboard that summarizes the state of the system and highlights actual and upcoming requests. Current and future sorties may repeat prior routes or be created ad hoc in response to requests; requests can be added to routes dynamically even after departure while the request does not require backtracking.

System performance is robust and prompt, 24 hours daily. Uptime is over 99%, and there have been no unplanned outages for over five years. Technical support is normally available during business hours nationwide.

More information from Clark Internet

Mail forms adapted for small screens
Sitemaker's automated forms have been made responsive to small screens. They now adapt automatically to the widths of many telephones and similar mobile devices. Some legacy forms have pre-existing content such as long labels or popup menu options and are best viewed in landscape orientation.
Server Reboot
Our web server was rebooted at 10:47 PM with a software upgrade. (UPDATE: Note the date. We have not had an UNscheduled outage for over ten years.)
Email Delay Resolved
A mysterious bug (we're blaming the swine flu) hit our mail servers for about six hours today, delaying deliveries to most users. The problem appears to have been resolved. While we have your attention, you can improve service to all by reducing the frequency with which you check your mail. If you receive just a few messages each day, why not set the frequency to hourly or even daily? Thanks!

UPDATE: Of course this is old news. We leave it here to show visitors how rarely we've had technical issues with our web and mail servers.
History Museum in Johnstone Scotland on our Platform
Clark Internet supporting an online history museum in Johnstone, Scotland, whence came my maternal grandmother's parents in the early 1880s. The local history society sent us this kind acknowledgement. We happily work with local history societies, alumni associations and other groups to develop museum sites and social networks.

Johnstone History Museum

Avoid this malicious spam
We've received a particularly malicious spam message. You should watch for it and NOT open the attachment, which in all probability contains malware of some sort.

From: "customersupport@clarkinternet.com"
Date: November 16, 2009 9:00:48 AM PST
To:
Subject: your mailbox has been deactivated

We are contacting you in regards to an unusual activity that was identified in your mailbox. As a result, your mailbox has been deactivated. To restore your mailbox, you are required to extract and run the attached mailbox utility.

Best regards, clarkinternet.com technical support.

THIS RETURN ADDRESS DOES NOT EXIST. A .zip file was attached. If you receive such a mailing, do not open or click anything.
Email Account Manager Updated
We have recently installed an upgrade to our email account manager. We suggest all domain administrators sign in and familiarize themselves with it, as there are some major differences. (If you are not an email administrator this article will seem rather meaningless.)

Administrators can now edit which services are available to each user. If your domain is so enabled, you can turn off/on IMAP, POP, vacation messages and other features. If you do not understand the options we suggest you create a test account and modify it to experiment, rather than applying changes to real mailboxes, until you are familiar with the new techniques.

Continues...

Upline Provider Outage
One of our key upline providers was out of service for about two hours this morning, which affected access to several of our main systems. Web and mail service was briefly unavailable and was restored by about 9 a.m. This was our first interruption of service in several years; we continue to experience "up time" well in excess of 99 percent.
July Poltergeist
Saturday 7/2 we were experiencing some technical issues with one of our key servers. We are working on the problem. Murphy's Law strikes again; it's a holiday weekend.

Good news; resolved about 2 p.m.
Upgrades to Gallery Clarify, Simplify
We've updated the Gallery system, including the Paypal-oriented catalog option, to make editing easier and navigation clearer. Both editors and end users will find these improvements available from 8 February, 2012. For more information, contact your Clark IP representative. We welcome your feedback.
Security Tip from The Onion
The Onion, an online news parody site, was recently invaded by hackers. The tech team posted the following linked article. It describes how the deed was done and gives some tips your organization might use. Note the references to Twitter, which was a point of vulnerability.

Go There

Capacity Expansion
We have added capacity to CPU, memory and storage to accommodate increasing traffic.
Servers Upgraded
On January 14, 2013, we added server capacity restarted web and mail servers at about 8 p.m. Total timeout was about 12 minutes. Thanks for your continued support!