Magazine back on the scene, house hunting by PC screen in Net Notes
Life after Life magazine, hi-tech house-hunting and elementary students casting ballots fill today's version of Net Notes.
• Life magazine
It isn't often that I'll feature a site that hasn't launched, but this is one I'm excited to share. More than 10 million photos from the archives of Life magazine, with approximately 3,000 new images daily, will create the ultimate photo Web site, scheduled to launch in early 2009. Time Inc. and Getty Images announced the revival of the Life brand online, and they're promoting it as "the most amazing collection of professional photography on the Web."
If you visit the site today, you can enter your e-mail address for alerts on site updates. A press release says visitors will be able to make their own collections, print photos and send photos to other users. As a former photojournalist, this is akin to a lifetime of Christmases and birthdays.
• The Jenson Group
House hunters looking for virtual tours don't need to be tethered to their desktop or laptop computers any more. They can now download high-definition video home tours to portable media players, including iPods, iPhones and other devices capable of playing QuickTime video.
Start on the home page and look for the iPod image. A click on the first link inserts updated video tours to your really simple syndication (RSS) reader. I use MyYahoo, and was able to add the feed with only two clicks. A click on the address of a real estate listing launches a video player to see the tour in your Web browser.
The second option adds the virtual tours to your iTunes player, which you can sync to your iPod or iPhone for viewing whenever and wherever you choose.
The free, narrated video tours run between two and three minutes.
"Our new high-def(inition) home tour podcasts are not only a boon for home buyers who want details of newly listed property as quickly as possible, but also for early technology adopters, marketing-savvy realtors who seek any and every competitive edge," said Robert Jenson, CEO of The Jenson Group.
• Every Kid Votes
While their ballots won't count in the official results, children between the ages of 6 and 12 have the opportunity to participate in the excitement of the presidential election. The site introduces the concepts of voting, rights and responsibilities and gives registered students the chance to communicate directly with candidates and have their questions answered.
The program will be launched in 30,000 schools nationwide and is collaborating with Studies Weekly magazine.
• Correction
The correct URL for The Daily Me site I recently wrote about is www.dailyme.com.
Share your Internet story with me at agibes@reviewjournal.com.
TIP OF THE WEEK Mobile use study It's not surprising to learn that the majority of U.S. mobile phone users do more short messaging service text messaging than calling. This is according to a report by the folks at Nielsen Mobile. "During the second quarter of 2008, a typical U.S. mobile subscriber placed or received 204 phone calls each month. In comparison, the average mobile customer sent or received 357 text messages per month — a 450 percent increase over the number of text messages circulated monthly during the same period in 2006," according to the site.
