Mike, a long-time PC user, has finally made the switch. Last month he joined the legions of Mac users around the world when he purchased a shiny new MacBook Pro. What made him switch? No one really knows but he discusses his experience in this article and provides some helpful tips to anyone who’s thinking about making the transition.

If you followed my tips in the June 2007 issue of the StyleSheet, you’re well on your way to building a professional network in LinkedIn. Now, to make it even easier to stay connected, there’s another great resource you can tap into.

This LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar can be downloaded into your MS Outlook window. Once installed*, you have buttons which will take you to various places:

• LinkedIn Icon:Will take you to your LinkedIn Profile all within your Outlook Email window, so you can keep track of your connections without ever leaving your inbox!
• Dashboard: This shows you information on contacts you already have, email reply reminders, notifications of contact profile changes and updates in LinkedIn and an option to review these.
• Grab: This button allows you to highlight information from the body of an email and add it to your LinkedIn Contact database. This is convenient for quickly capturing contact information.
• Search: Find people by keyword search within LinkedIn.

The LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar keeps you connected to all your contacts without ever leaving your inbox!

*To install, simply go to the LinkedIn home page, log into your account and click on the button in the top right hand corner that says, “Get the New Outlook Toolbar.” From there, the program will walk you through a few easy steps to complete the installation.

The Internet is crawling with social media sites like Digg, YouTube and Flickr, which integrate systems that members can use to rank their favorite articles, videos, pictures and much more. XTimeline introduces another community-based ratings site by allowing users to explore, create, share and discuss timelines dealing with just about anything. With XTimeline, you can follow your progress on something over a period of time and even add descriptions, keywords and images to better visualize your track record. Keep it private or share your timeline with friends, family or co-workers – it’s an excellent way to organize events and follow performance!