Thursday, March 12, 2009

Quick Takes:

For Mac Users
If you’ve got a G5 or better, and have experimented with past versions of iLife for building/managing a Website via iWeb, or creating video tours with iMovie I’d highly recommend the latest version of the suite, iLife 09.

Both simple to use, but they’ve opened up on the creative end to deliver that combination of ease of use and sophistication that is the Mac experience. New version of iPhoto can geo-tag your photos too, and post them on a map, if you’ve got one of the few GPS-enabled cameras like the Nikon Coolpix P6000. If not, you can enter addresses as you upload them to take advantage of the mapping feature.

Netbook?
Rumor of the week : Apple is prepping its version of a Netbook, with speculation based on orders for 10 inch-touchscreen panels placed with Taiwanese manufacturer. A hybrid iPhone/iPod Touch/tablet for the netbook class? We’ll have to wait and see

Regardless of Apple’s plans, a netbook is something t to consider. Just got one of the Dell netbooks in my house...for one of our kids who wants nothing but quick on for Facebook, IM, etc. First hands-on impression are these could be great solutions for the mobile Realtor who wantsmore from the Web than a smartphone can deliver but finds a full-sized notebook a little cumbersome to haul around. Keyboard a bit cramped, but more than enough screen. And the price: under $300.

But is any netbook a good choice for you? Think about what you need in the field. If it’s mostly Web, comfortably viewed, they make sense. And you don’t have to worry about loading it with all your software. With Web based-apps like Google Apps, Top Producer and the like, as long as you can connect, you’re in business.

Design Center
Here’s how practical and productive Web-based apps can be.

For a mailing , I didn’t have the right template for the labels. No problem. With the Avery Design and Print Online center you can build then print whatever you need to print on Avery’s paper products--labels, business cards, postcards, etc. All done right there, via your Web browser, perfectly formatted for your printer in a few steps--even addressed using your mailing list.

Create a free account you can save your projects, return revise and edit as needed. Just another example of potential for Web-based apps.