The Voice of Orange County...Michael A. Caruso's Blog

Real Estate requires us to log many miles in our own vehicles. With high fuel costs and the initiative to go green, we are always looking for strategies on how to reduce mileage. Every little bit can help make a difference. Here are some tips:

•Pre-plan your appointments. Combine showings if the properties are fairly close to one another.

• Carpool to previews and open houses and work if possible.

•Walk or take public transit if your destination is close enough to your office and it isn't too warm out. Your clients might have a better first impression of you if they see you are supporting the "green" imitative.

•If you must drive to an appointment, schedule other tasks in the vicinity for the same day so you don't have to make another trip.

•Combine non-work errands into your commute to and from home to save individual trips.

•If you can get work done from home in the morning, leave work an hour later. You will beat the morning rush hour and technology allows us to work out-of-office. Maybe you can do your AR blogging.

•Pack a lunch so you won't have to drive to lunch. Otherwise, go before or after peak times to avoid lines and traffic.

•Avoid driving through the bank. As you idle you use fuel.

•Don't speed. You will reduce wear and tear on your car and improve fuel efficiency.

•Check your tire pressure about once a month to ensure you're getting the best performance and mileage out of your vehicle. Make sure to go to all your routine/scheduled maintenance visits at the mechanic

•Clean out your car. Extra "for sale" signs, boxes, and your golf bag can way down your vehicle and decrease fuel efficiency.

Compiled with help from American Home Shield.

And thank you for making me Your Orange County Real Estate Connection.     

www.MichaelCarusoRealEstate.com

Best regards.                                                                                                               

Michael Caruso, Broker ABR ABRM CRB CRS GREEN GRI                                   

2007 President, Orange County Association of Realtors  

(949) 753-7900

The newest tool on Facebook is coming....voice chat. In the next few weeks this application will allow users to have high-quality voice conversations.

This technology comes from Vivox, a Boston-based company which currently has over 15 million users worldwide. To access the voice chat, Facebookers will simply have to download Vivox and it will work seamlessly with Facebook.

These conversations can be held one to one or a group discussion. This is evolution for you! I'm not sure how quickly I will be using Facebook's voice chat, but I will be very interested to see the popularity of it and how it competes with Skype.

What do you think?

And thank you for making me Your Orange County Real Estate Connection.     

www.MichaelCarusoRealEstate.com

Best regards.                                                                                                               

Michael Caruso, Broker ABR ABRM CRB CRS GREEN GRI                                   

2007 President, Orange County Association of Realtors  

(949) 753-7900

Do you use widgets on your blogs? Widgets are anything able to be embedded within a web page. They add content to your page that is not static. Many are in the form of on-screen tools, i.e. weather.

I currently have a twitter widget that posts my last 3 tweets, a blog archive, a link page, and embed my listings on my blogs.

I wonder what else would be useful to use. Any tips or suggestions?

And thank you for making me Your Orange County Real Estate Connection.     

www.MichaelCarusoRealEstate.com

Best regards.                                                                                                               

Michael Caruso, Broker ABR ABRM CRB CRS GREEN GRI                                   

2007 President, Orange County Association of Realtors  

1-949-753-7900

The web has changed our world, how we do business and how we connect with people. We now have information at our finger tips, can explore any topic with a quick search, and increase our productivity and communication.

10. TiddlyWiki

Everyone knows Wikipedia, the wiki anyone can edit. But wouldn't it be great if you had your own wiki that only you could edit? Anytime you had some new information, just go on it and enter a topic and write about it. It's like your brain in a webpage. Well that's where TiddlyWiki comes in. It lets you do just that. You have full control over what it looks like and how it behaves. Best of all, it's a single file. Save it as a document and share your knowledge with other people. Put it on a flash drive and record on-the-go. TiddlyWiki can change your life if you'd only utilize its potential. Best of all, it's free. Visit http://www.tiddlywiki.com

9. Netvibes

Meet your new homepage. Netvibes will bring you all your favorite RSS feeds, blog posts, news, weather, music, videos, e-mails, anything you name, and all in one page. It even updates in real-time, so every time you visit the page you'll get a whole new dose of information. Very customizable and visually attractive, Netvibes is definitely a home page worth having. Take a look for yourself. Visit http://www.netvibes.com

8. Jott

Have trouble remembering appointments or dates? Just jott it! Or maybe you lose all your sticky notes and index cards and forget to write things down in your planner. But if you're like most people, you have a cell phone, and that's always turned on. This is where Jott works its magic. You can program it to send you a text message, or call you and tell you, or even leave you a voice mail. Tell it whatever message you want. It's your own personal transcription service. Visit http://jott.com

7. Peepel

The Peepel Online Office Suite is truly something worth checking out. There's no need to shell out hundreds of dollars for Microsoft Office, or spend hours trying to desperately find a cheaper alternative. Just go on the site. Or maybe you're tired of spending money upgrading your office suite software every few months. Maybe Microsoft programs just take too long to start, and you spent all your money on expensive software so you can't afford a faster computer. Just go to Peepel. With enough features to rival even the most expensive software, you can easily accomplish whatever writing needs you may have on-the-go with Peepel's word processor. Or maybe you need to make a spreadsheet. Peepel has that too. The best apart of Peepel, besides the fact that it's free, is that you can open multiple applications and multi-task all in one browser window. Now that's innovation. Visit http://www.peepel.com

6. Youconvertit

What if you have a major presentation saved on your flash drive and you desperately try to open it to a team of impatient and grumpy executives? What if the software you used to create it at home isn't friendly with their fancy, corporate software? What do you do? Just go to Youconvertit. It easily allows you to convert any image, video, document, and even units to virtually any format / type. Fast, easy, and free, Youconvertit is worthy of a bookmark. Visit http://www.youconvertit.com

5. Facebook

If you haven't heard of Facebook, well that's just pathetic. Facebook is the number one social networking site and probably the best. First of all, millions of people use it; odds are that everyone you know is probably on it. Facebook makes it easy to find people and connect with them whether it be your best friend or some kid you knew in the third grade. With an extensive and often updated list of applications, Facebook embeds thousands of web apps in itself. Fun, easy-to-use, and practical as well, Facebook may be a time-drainer, but if you absolutely must know what's going on in all your friends' lives, it's a must. Visit htpp://www.facebook.com

4. Cooliris

Cooliris is a browser extension that will make your normal, boring web surfing experience into something fully interactive and cinematic. It turns the pages into an extensive "3D Wall." You can easily browse thousands of images, videos, and other media quickly and easily. It's very customizable too- you can change the theme, background, and number of rows, angles, slideshow speed, and more. Instead of manually clicking and searching through webpage after webpage, you can simply browse the never-ending wall with total ease and comfort. All you need to do is download, and the download's free. Visit http://www.cooliris.com

3. Meebo

Meebo is great because it's a universal messenger that you can access on the web. Meebo basically pioneered web messenging. It's compatible with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Myspace, and even its own instant messenging platform: Meebo! Absolutely no installation or downloads are required; just log-in and go. It's totally secure so you don't have to worry about any security issues; and plus, it's free. Visit http://www.meebo.com/

2. Hulu

Hulu has the ability to completely replace your television set. You don't even have to install any software or make an account. Just go to the website and you'll instantly see video clips, full TV episodes and seasons, and even feature-length films. It is very easy to use its methodical service; you can either search or browse for your media. They make money off of tiny commercials and sponsored video clips embedded in your viewing. A very small price to pay. You may think of streaming video like youtube-quality, which is nearly unwatchable. But Hulu is nothing like that. In fact, they even have HD channels. All you need is an internet connection. Oh, and it's free. Visit http://www.hulu.com

1. Pandora

Pandora is your revolutionary radio station. It only plays the music you like. Type in the name of a song and it'll play it, or if it can't find it, it'll play songs similar to it. Type in the name of an artist and it'll play one of their songs, or bands similar to them. Using an advanced system, it'll play songs with similar rhythms, beats, and music to whatever you type in. It's not only a great way to listen to music, but to find music. You can create an account so it'll keep track of all your personal radio stations. Best of all? It's free. Visit http://www.pandora.com

Check some of these websites out while their hot, because as we know, there will be bigger and better things right around the corner!

And thank you for making me Your Orange County Real Estate Connection.     

www.MichaelCarusoRealEstate.com

Best regards.                                                                                                               

Michael Caruso, Broker ABR ABRM CRB CRS GREEN GRI                                   

2007 President, Orange County Association of Realtors  

(949) 753-7900