Good Morning Long Islanders

From time to time, I read about helpful online resources for your business and personal use.  Here are four cybertimes from the folks at RealtyTimes.com that I felt compelled to share with you whether you are a Long Island resident, seller of a property or interested in buying a North Shore Gold Coast home.   In fact, these tips are valuable to anyone and I encourage you to share them with your friends and family just as I have.   

Trick#1: Track Your Email: readnotify.com

Have you ever sent an email and wondered whether the recipient received it? If so here’s a great way to track your e-mails and not only find out if it was properly delivered, but also if it was read, how long it was read, if it was forwarded, and if an attachment was opened.

These folks have a neat system that allows you to add a few additional letters to the recipient’s e-address. That’s it. They take care of the rest. You can even set up a message to self-destruct after it has been read.

This system is a truly glorifies “return receipt” on steroids but it goes way beyond the old standard certified mail and provides you with valuable intelligence.

It’s a great way to find out what’s going on.

Trick #2: See Where That Short URL Is Taking You

Do you get nervous when an e-mail arrives with one of those funny little URLs to click on? You know, the ones that look like http://tinyurl.com/freestuff32. You can be sure that the link you are looking at is going to end up at a place that is masked in the shortened URL

These folks have come up with a neat little one trick Pony that will quickly show you where you will end up if you click the little suspect link – before you click. Just paste the shortened URL into the box – click – and Shazam – your eventual destination is revealed without exposing you to the possibly nefarious villains.

Most shortened links are legitimate, but if not, this little service could save your neck.

Great Place #1: Sell Your Junk At The Best Price

We’ll bet you have a bunch of old electronic gadgets and devices in a box or stored someplace around the house or office. We’ll bet, too, that sometimes you scratch your head and wonder why you’re keeping these old cell phones, iPods, calculators, camcorders, laptops, monitors, etc.

This great place will help you clear some space – and maybe add a few shekels to your bank account. You simply enter the name and model of the product and its general condition. When this neat program searches, quick as a wink, you’ll get a list of the companies that will buy your heirlooms and the price they’ll pay. And, if no one will pay you for your trash, they’ll give you a list of local places where you can have it recycled.

Clean up – either way.

Great Place #2: Convert Files — No New Software

Every once in a while you may want to convert a file to a different format. For example from a Word document to a PDF file. Here’s the hitch – often we need special (and sometimes costly) software to accomplish this.

To help you with this, these nice folks let us upload our file to their special on-line program where they automatically convert it to whatever file format you choose. Then they email it right back to using the format we requested. They will also provide you with web browser button so you can convert files from all your favorite websites with a click. The free version will handle all but the largest files.

Nice to know that service is there. It’s quick and easy and, unless you need to convert lots of files on a regular basis, you can save some big bucks. And, oh yes, it’s with their compliments.

by Jack Peckham
Copies of all previous “Real Estate CyberTips” columns complete with all direct links are available at REcyber.com