Cut No Slak Construction, Salida, Colo. Brenda Warren primarily builds homes that blend perfectly into the Colorado mountainscape, and her clients want fireplaces that blend perfectly with their rustic homes. Warren likes Travis Industries’ Fireplace Xtrordinair 44-inch models, in both wood-burning and gas-insert configurations. “What I like about them is they have a really nice appeal for the Colorado home or other mountain or rustic home,” she says. The fireplaces come with several finish options, including basic black with gold trim, but Warren prefers the hammered charcoal, hammered copper, and hammered nickel finishes that are available on some models.
Courtesy Travis Industries Good looks are important, but Warren’s clients also want fireplaces that will heat their homes. Gas models range from 30,000- to 58,000-BTU outputs. “The units are so efficient and airtight and put out so much heat, you can run ductwork to rooms in the home, and heat the home.”
Travis Industries. 800.654.1177. www.fireplacextrordinair.com.
Spectrum Construction & Development Co., Succasunna, N.J. Custom builder Donald Dyrness says his company receives nearly 400 spam e-mails each day. The filter-based system the company was using to block these unwanted messages was not working any longer, Dyrness says. “The spammers have found ways to circumvent the filters,” he says.
He needed a better spam-blocking system, and he found it when he downloaded a free version of ChoiceMail One from Digiportal and tried it on his e-mail system. “ChoiceMail works based on a ‘white list/black list’ concept. If the sender is on the ‘white list’ their e-mail goes right through to the e-mail program. If the sender is on the ‘black list’ the e-mail is sent to a junk box,” says Dyrness.
Courtesy Digiportal ChoiceMail then sends unknown senders a message requesting verification of their identity. Real senders can click on a hot link to verify, but most spammers will not take the time to verify themselves. If the unknown spammer does not reply, the spam mail is moved to the junk box after several days.
Digiportal. 407.805.9582. www.digiportal.com.
