Trick #1: Get Briefed in 100 Words

Try to picture how Readers Digest often takes very lengthy books and condenses them way down for quick and easy reading? Or maybe your Grandpa remembers Classic Comics from his high school days - where the kids could read Hamlet in 10 minutes. The folks who deliver this service have come up with a big time saver for you. They condense lengthy articles from hundreds of major publishers down to 100 words. These articles cover just about any category you can imagine. For example you can check out the dozens of broad topic such as: business, politics, sports, science, technology, arts, entertainment, style, health, food, travel, home, business or sports.

Just a few of the publications covered include: The Atlantic, Barron's, Business Week, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Washington Post and Fortune Magazine-plus many, many others.

They take the long-form content and summarize it down to 100 words and then review and rate the material to make it easy for you to choose what to read, listen or watch.

Great time saver. And the cost is right - it's on the house.

Trick #2: Get Your Money Back

You've seen the many stores that offer price protection policies. When the price drops on an item you've purchased, they'll refund you the difference. But here's the gotcha -- it's up to you to catch the price change.

These folks make it easy to keep track of your purchases and get your money back. It's as simple as entering the URL for the product from the retailer's web site. From there on out this service monitors the product's price for you and notifies you by e-mail the moment you are entitled to a refund.

And, guess what? There's no cost for this great service.

Great Place #1: Type Like a Wizard

We'll bet that there is someone in your family who is still huntin' and peckin' on the keyboard. This great place can help move them from the Society of Typing Laggards to the Society of Typing Wiz's in no time - and it can even help the Wiz's too. This great place has an online typing tutor for "Qwerty" keyboards (the one most of us are familiar with) plus Dvorak - the US alternative ANSI standard keyboard.

You'll find most of the features here that you'd expect in a costly typing program - but completely complementary. You can learn hand positioning as you train with timed exercises and typing games.

And pretty quickly you'll be a wiz -- without breaking the bank.

Great Place #2: New Floor Plan in Your Future?

Big events in life include rearranging the way we live. This certainly includes buying a new home, rearranging an existing room or moving into a new office. Here's a great place where you can save time and have fun laying out your ideas ahead of the momentous occasion.

These folks give you the online tools to quickly and easily create and share good looking interactive floor plans. With their point-and-click, drag-and-drop tools, you can make your new floor plan in minutes, and then rearrange it as often as you want. Then you can save, send, and print your designs to share them, or place them on your own website.

It's easy - no downloads -- no heavy lifting -- and no cost.

Published: May 16, 2008

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John M. "Jack" Peckham is the Executive Director of REcyber.com (the Real Estate CyberSpace Society). In that capacity he oversees the development and delivery of the latest up to the minute Real Estate Cyberspace tools, strategies, networking structures and services that the Society provides its members to leverage their effectiveness, visibility, professionalism and earnings. As host of Real Estate CyberSpace Radio, he provides over 40 hours of programming to help listeners integrate the power of the Internet into their daily business lives. He is the author of several real estate books published by Prentice Hall and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich including his latest Master Guide to Income Property Brokerage from Wiley Publishing. A columnist for the Boston Herald for nine years, his syndicated columns have appeared in over 100 papers nationwide. Jack loves to sell real estate has been involved directly in the sale of over one billion dollars in Real Estate. Today he sells in his jeans and fuzzy slippers as a one-man shop and has closed over $40,000,000 in sales on the Internet recently in 20% of his working time. The balance he spends directing the affairs of the 10,000 member Real Estate CyberSpace Society. The Society awards the RECS (Real Estate CyberSpace Specialist) Designation to members based on the current criteria. He served as Chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee for the National Association of Realtors (NAR), is a Past President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and has been honored as the Massachusetts State Realtor of the Year. You can reach Jack at or by calling 617-523-4441.