Google Giving away $10 Million – Android Developer Challenge

Now I know that the $10 Million that Google is giving away is what caught your eye, but you might be wondering what the whole Android Developer Challenge is.  Google is challenging the developers of the world to create the best mobile apps for their new mobile operating systems Android.  The challenge is actually half-way over, but there is still $5 million left for you.

Here is the officail Google site: http://code.google.com/android/adc.html
Check out the Android Developer blog: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/

Using Control+Enter – Saving time – Adds www. and .com

I recently taught a local Folsom Realtor a trick that I have been using for years.  We met again after I taught her this, and she remarked how she now uses this trick all the time.  And it saves so many key strokes!

When typing a website into your browser you only need to type in the actual domain name and not the “www.” or the “.com”  So for example if you wanted to go to google, you can type in your browser URL the word google and then hit control and enter at the same time.  This will automatically place the www. and the .com in for you.  Please note that this only works for the .com websites not the .net or other types of domains. 

I personally use this trick multiple times everyday and now I do it with out even noticing. Hopefully you can incorporate this into your bag of tricks and save some much needed time.

Here is a link to a video that goes over this: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/424335/save_time_using_ctrl_enter_keyboard_shortcut/

iPhone App to use Office Programs

Quickoffice, a company that specializes in mobile documents viewing, has recently demoed a new iPhone App that will allow iPhone users to view/change their Microsoft Office programs. This means that people will be able to take their Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with them.  The viewer should be made available in November as a free app.  Then each of the programs (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) will run$10 each.  

This is another step towards a totally mobile user.  I am sure that we are not too far from being able to be fully on the road.  I can’t wait for more and more tools to come out to help all of us. 

Here is a link to an article on this new tool:
http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10039533-12.html?tag=mncol;posts

Windows Vista and The Mojave Experiment

Maybe you have seen the commercial for the “new” Windows operating system Mojave.  If not take 2 minutes and watch the Youtube video below.  The preconceived notions that people have of Microsoft Vista is what I am hearing more and more.  I personally have Vista on my 2 home laptops and really like it.  I find it easier, faster and overall better than XP.  Don’t let the rumors you hear make you fearful of something new.

Click here to view more on the Mojave Experiment.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/discover/top-10-things-to-do.aspx

How do I create a PDF easily? Use CutePDF

I have been getting a lot of requests from people about how to put their files into the PDF format. So I thought I would share a little program that I use to create my PDF’s.  CutePDF is a freeware program that can be found at http://www.cutepdf.com/ or Download.com.

What CutePDF allows you to do is to take almost any Windows program and put it into a PDF.  Say you create a Word Document, a Publisher flyer, a Website using Google Chrome, a Photo, hopefully you get the point.  Really anything that you are able to print out you will be able to put into a PDF.  You actually hit the print button and choose the printer named CutePDF.  Nothing prints out of your printer, but you will be prompted to save your PDF document where you like.

Web 2.0 for Realtors – Visually

I am not sure how long this graphic has been around, but I recently came across it by reading my RSS feeds. The site http://1000wattconsulting.com calls this their “Real Estate 2.0 Mind Map.” I think that this is a great graphic that helps illustrate the tools that area available for Real Estate Professionals.  Don’t get overwhelmed by this though….learn a couple of tools and master them before adding a couple more.  Not all of these are going to be something that you will even want to use, but there will for sure be something that will help you increase your business!  If you have questions on any of the tools below please let me know.

Google’s Chrome Browser

I am so happy with the speed and tools that Chrome brings to the browsing world.  I have already set both of my personal laptops to have Chrome as the default browser.  If you have not yet downloaded Chrome, you really need to check it out.  

I really like the home page that they have.  It incorporates all of the sites that you visit the most. The speed to load sites, videos and everything online is amazingly faster than Firefox and IE.  I have not run into any issues yet, but would be interested to hear if you have found any bugs or had a problem.

Here is the link to get started on a faster internet life: http://www.google.com/chrome

Browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox

I have been meaning to write a post on the switch that I just made. I have fully made the dive into using the Firefox Browser. Then go figure; today I find out that Google has released their own browser: Chrome. Now that I have made the switch, I might have to change again.

Everything that I am reading on Chrome seems to place its speed faster. This will be a great thing as the internet and computers in general make their progression towards being fully integrated. I would think that in the not too distant future that all documents and applications will be web-based. Leaving your laptop to be a glorified internet viewer.

More info on Google’s Chrome: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10030717-2.htm
Speed Comparison between browsers (Chrome, IE, Firefox and Safari): http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10030888-92.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Download: Chrome or Firefox

What spyware removal tool should I be using? LavaSoft Ad-Aware, Trend Micro HijackThis, etc

Another one of my clients was infected with what the thought was a virus.  But after some searching around on their computer I found it to be totally full of Spyware and not viruses.    After installing a couple of different free software programs, we were off and scanning for the files that we needed to delete.  You can search all of the internet but you might find more spyware installing programs than removal ones.

Here are the programs that I currently have installed on my computer: (In the order that I prefer)
Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10844457
Trend Micro HijackThis: http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html
Windows Defender: http://www.download.com/Microsoft-Windows-Defender/3000-12771_4-10353597.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10598014

You might notice that all of the links are for the same site: www.download.com.  I am always using this site to download software.  You can easily search for software that is PC or Mac, Free or Free Trial, and my favorite is to see what everyone else has been downloading.

Microsoft’s new Photosynth – Blending Images

Microsoft’s Live Labs has come out with a new technology that blends like images together to give users/viewers the bigger picture.  Check out the website for Photosynth at http://photosynth.net.  I read an article on this from the Wall Street Journal online (yes one of my RSS feeds) giving a great description of what this new technology brings to the internet.  Part of the article’s title is what caught my eye….3-D Photo Tour.  I of course was thinking Real Estate before even reading the article.  Even though Real Estate was not mentioned, I could still see the benefits this tool could bring to agents.  Plus it is FREE!

You do have to install a little plug-in to view/create a synth.  But it was quick and painless.  After I did this I was off and running, viewing peoples photos.  I did a search on real estate (http://photosynth.net/Search.aspx?query=real%20estate) and up came a bunch of results.  If you start to use this new exciting tool please let me know.