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Larry has a reputation for insisting on old-fashioned service (for instance, he doesn’t permit callers to be put into voicemail; rather mandating that he be immediately contacted for a prompt return phone call) and hard work. Apparently, this resonates with a number of home buyers and sellers considering that he has been awarded the #1 Residential Agent for the entire company for the second year in a row.

You can see Larry receiving that award in this video. Congratulations Larry!

After months of speculation about the introduction of Apple’s “tablet,” the iPad

After subsequent variations and “tweaks,” Apple continued to innovate and now the App Store is one of the MOST differentiating components of the iPhone’s success.

So, what will this mean for the iPad?

I believe that the successful iPhone apps developers will REALLY embrace this new BIG-SCREEN tool and that textbook publishing, regular book reading, medical integration, newspaper publishing, rich media integration and applications that we haven’t yet imagined will cause the iPad to be another re-defining tool in  the next few years.

And don’t forget the millions of grandparents out there who are just frightened away by the “traditional” computer but who would love to stay connected with distant grandkids and adult kids and who would find the iPad non-threatening, easy and just plain fun!

Since the iPad hasn’t even been released yet, don’t count it out now. One final “arrow” that Apple has in its quiver is an international presence in over 250 Apple stores that currently have the highest per-square-foot profit of any retail outlet on the planet. Who knows what will happen when they are all able to expose this new concept IN PERSON to millions of Apple shoppers?

Hide and watch!

I work with a number of real estate agents. While they may have a large megapixel camera to shoot their listings, increasingly the value of an agent is reflected in how quickly they can get their photos to potential buyers AND how high the quality of the photos is.

Without special lighting (and most agents don’t have that), the photos often end up being either very underexposed or overexposed. However, with this under-$2 iPhone app, just about anyone can get quality photos and quickly e-mail them right to a prospective buyer. See the sample photos below and the link to the iPhone app called PRO HDR. One note: This will only work with the iPhone 3GS and the better camera that it has. Check it out!

Get the app HERE.

UNDEREXPOSED PHOTO

OVEREXPOSED PHOTO

PRO-HDR ADJUSTED PHOTO

In any event, I have been surprised at how many of them (and other businesspeople I work with) don’t have a Password Manager to help them remember the multitude of passwords required to maneuver the web easily. I recently ran across one that PC users might find very helpful. Give yourself a New Year’s gift and get something like RoboForm. Click the link below to watch the video.

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So, how does someone with this kind of business and marketing savvy who can surround himself with the best and brightest advisors, PR and legal people and personal “handlers” permit a slight car accident to mushroom into a full-blown personal scandal?

Well, it’s possible that someone in the Woods camp didn’t understand the 2.0 world of marketing. In an age of saved text messages, voicemail, cell phone cameras, TMZ-type video-equipped “reporters” hunting down every celebrity tip they can find and instant “everything,” the truth is often (not always, but often) not far behind the rumor.

And that’s where Tiger Woods may have been ill-advised. After all, he’s not the first sports hero, celebrity, actor or religious person of influence to have gone astray. But, not coming clean SOON, repenting of his transgressions EARLY ON and moving forward with a new direction and conviction probably hurt him more than necessary. Stonewalling, hiding from the truth, leaking out bits and pieces of apology on your web site while in seclusion doesn’t contribute to the openness and transparency that most people admire in their “stars.”

While it appears that Tiger is moving in that direction now, he has perhaps lost a lot of “face” with those who once found him so irresistible including the fans, the media and his sponsors.

So, will Tiger Woods be able to repair his damaged image and come back? Probably! After all, by and large, we have a cultural history of offering second chances. Most of us have been given a second or third chance in life at some point, so we are generally willing to extend that to someone else…especially someone with Tiger’s star power. Don’t forget for a moment that his sponsors have embraced him not only for his personal “style,” but also for his ability to expose their “brand” as often as possible. Have the sponsors’ brands been tarnished by this incident? Perhaps. But with the appropriate restoration of his personal life, the sponsors may be only too thrilled to have had their names mentioned in more news stories than planned…often with a “the sponsors are standing by him” reference.

I would imagine that the marketing stars will align again the moment that Tiger returns to the golf course “stage” and dazzles the world again with his stunning golfing prowess.

Don’t count the Tiger Woods brand out just yet. He just may have a new marketing department.