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Microsoft is currently building a new Spotlight-like launcher app for Windows 10. Designed to replace the existing Win + R shortcut, the new launcher will include options to quickly search apps and files across Windows and support for plugins like calculators, dictionaries, and search engines.

The software giant has been working on the launcher since January, and an initial public beta is planned for May. An early version of the launcher will support basic search tasks that are typically handled by the built-in Windows Start menu search functionality. But there are plans to make this a more powerful launcher thats similar to Alfred on macOS and more functional than Apples Spotlight search.

For most Windows users the Start menu search will be enough, as it acts as a basic launcher of sorts. Power users demand more, and the built-in search doesnt include plugins or the ability to add custom web searches, snippets, and more. The Start menu search also forces you into Bing search results and opens the Edge browser for any web queries.

Microsoft is working with the open-source community and apps like Wox to integrate plugins. UX designer Niels Laute created a concept design for the launcher back in February, and Microsoft is adopting some of Lautes code so the launcher has a modern design.

Its one of many PowerToys that Microsoft is actively developing, and Microsoft is looking for help naming the app. Microsoft originally brought back PowerToys last year to allow anyone to improve Windows 10 for power users, and the first set arrived in September. Microsoft originally introduced the concept of PowerToys back in Windows 95. The apps were a quick way for Windows engineers to test prototype features, and Microsoft soon packaged some of the best ones into PowerToys bundles.

The current Win + R functionality is outdated and used by Windows power users to launch cmd prompts, regedit, powershell instances, and even shortcuts to areas in Windows like the Control Panel. This new launcher will support all of the same commands that Run does currently in Windows, but the hope is that it will be a powerful alternative that the community of Windows power users can build on.

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Microsofts new Spotlight-like launcher for Windows 10 will arrive in May - The Verge

Old-school PC users will fondly remember PowerToys for Windows 95 and XP a set of semi-official utilities that let you tweak operating system features and behaviours that werent normally customisable. Now, Windows 10 has its own set of PowerToys. There are currently just three toys available, compared to the 15 that launched for Windows 95, but the collection is growing over time and rather than developing PowerToys as an in-house project, Microsoft is hosting them on GitHub and allowing third-party contributors to develop and contribute their own. Heres our guide to the first tranche of Windows 10 PowerToys, with a look ahead to whats coming soon.

To run PowerToys, youll need to be using Windows 10 build 17134 or later. This was released back in early 2018, so as long as youve kept up to date with your patches, that shouldnt be an issue. At the moment, PowerToys only supports Intel processors, but a revision for versions of Windows running on ARM is in development. Note that youll need a 64-bit version of the OS, too: recent posts in the PowerToys support forums suggest that there are no plans for 32-bit support.

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If youre ready to install PowerToys, you can download the installer here: look in the uppermost Assets section for the latest installer file. At the time of writing, the current version is called PowerToysSetup-0.16.1-x64.msi, although the version number may have gone up by the time you download it.

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You can also install PowerToys from either the Command Prompt or PowerShell, using the Chocolatey package manager. Simply run the command choco install powertoys to fetch the code and as new builds are released, you can upgrade with choco upgrade powertoys.

Once youve installed PowerToys, an icon will appear at the right of the taskbar (and then disappear into the hidden icons stack after a few seconds of idleness). Click it to open the PowerToys Settings UI, in which you can switch the individual PowerToys on and off.

Of the three currently available PowerToys, FancyZones is our favourite: the other two are useful utilities that you might use a few times a month, but for us this one is a daily must-have.

What does it do? Well, youll already know that holding down the Windows key while pressing the cursor keys causes your active window to snap to one edge of the screen, making it easy to organise multiple apps side by side. FancyZones takes this idea much further, underpinning the default layouts with a more finely grained grid, a range of preset arrangements and the option to create custom layouts to suit your needs.

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You can switch between five predefined layouts from the FancyZones overlay; the documentation claims that you can bring this up by pressing Windows+`, but this didnt work for us. However, you can pick any key combination you like by opening FancyZones from the PowerTools sidebar, clicking in the Configure the zone editor hotkey box and pressing your chosen shortcut.

Once youve picked a layout, try holding down Shift and dragging a window around your screen: youll see multiple zones overlaid on your desktop, with each one highlighted as the mouse pointer reaches it. Dropping the window over a highlighted zone instantly resizes it to fill that region. If you prefer to use the keyboard, you can override Windows existing shortcuts for snapping apps by clicking the switch to activate Override Windows Snap hotkeys to move windows between zones in the FancyZones settings.

These predefined layouts make FancyZones useful straight out of the box, but it really comes into its own when you create your own layouts. To do this, click Edit zones and Custom, followed by Edit selected layout (at present, you wont have any custom layouts configured so this will create a new one).

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Now enter a name for your new layout: weve called ours Writing and research, as its intended for writing articles, but almost any task where you need to have multiple apps in view simultaneously can benefit from a custom configuration. Next, click the Add new zone button above and drag the edges of the grey frame that appears below the zone-editing dialog until it occupies the part of the screen you want to use. Then click Add new zone again and repeat the process to define the next snapping zone. Carry on until youve created your desired layout, remembering that you dont have to use every available pixel. Nor do your zones have to be completely separate from one another: you can overlap sections if you want windows to sit in front of each other when in use.

Finally, click Save and apply, and try Shift-dragging your windows around the screen again. As you can see from the screengrab to the left, our custom grid comprises a large window to the left and a smaller window to the right. The idea is to have a full-width word processor and a smaller browser window for reference, but if the mood takes us were free to switch them around or to use a completely different pair of programs, such as Excel in the smaller window and Mahjong in the larger.

Using the Windows File Explorer to rename a folder full of files means clicking and typing a new name for each one in turn a slow and tiresome process. The Command Prompt is much faster, letting you rename multiple files with a single command, but the syntax can be complex, and getting it wrong could have frustrating consequences.

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PowerRename combines the efficiency of batch processing with a user-friendly front-end. To use it, you simply navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to rename, select the ones you want to work with, then right-click and select PowerRename from the context menu.

The PowerRename window will now open, prompting you to enter text in the Search for field, and specify what you want to replace it with in the Replace box. As an example, lets consider a folder full of Windows screengrabs, which are automatically named with the date and time of their capture. If we want (for whatever reason) to make it look like all of the grabs wed taken in December 2019 were actually captured in March 2020, we can search for 2019-12- and replace it with 2020-03-.

Just as if you were using the find and replace function in a word processor, the rest of each filename is left the same. And to reassure you that youve entered the right terms, PowerRename includes a terrifically helpful Preview pane, so you can see exactly what the effect of your input will be before you hit the Rename button.

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Thats a powerful capability on its own, but its just the start of PowerRenames potential. Lets suppose we want to change the day as well as the month: if you just used the Search and Replace fields, youd need to run the process 31 times to catch all the different dates. Thankfully, thats not necessary as PowerRename also supports regular expressions, better known as regex.

Regular expressions are a sophisticated system of wildcards. You probably already know that the asterisk character, when used in a search term, matches everything so searching for *.png will return all files with the appropriate extension. Regex takes this idea much further, with a wide range of operators to differentiate between letters, numbers and special characters, as well as specifying things such as maximum string lengths. This means you can use it to build complex search equations that precisely match specific criteria.

If youre feeling daunted, dont worry. As weve mentioned, the Preview pane takes the guesswork out of using wildcards and you dont need to master the whole regex system to take advantage of it. You can use as many or as few of the regex features as you want for each search.

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This is best illustrated with a couple of examples, starting with our idea of changing the day component of each filename. We can do this using the regex operator d, which stands in for any single digit. First, we need to click the Use Regular Expressions and Match All Occurences [sic] boxes below the search and replace fields; then we can set our search term to 2019-12-dd, and set the Replace text to (for example) 2020-03-01. This will change the filename on every screenshot captured during December 2019 to indicate that it was in fact taken on 1 March 2020.

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What if you wanted to replace the numerical month with the word March? In this case, you could search for 2019-dd-dd, then put 1 March 2020 in the Replace box. And to include files created in November as well as December, you could use the syntax [x|y], which means either x or y. Search for 2019-[11|12]-dd and all files from either November or December 2019 will be returned.

Clearly, regex is a wildly powerful tool, with more potential than we can fully go into here. Its something thats well worth learning if youre frequently going to use PowerRename or the Windows Subsystem for Linux, which includes full support for regular expressions. As a starting point, check out the primer that Microsoft itself recommends at pcpro.link/307regex.

After the powerful, practical potential of the first two PowerToys, the third may seem like something of a damp squib. Shortcut Guide brings up a desktop overlay when you hold down the Windows key for a second, showing a list of keyboard shortcuts you can use to access specific Windows functions such as Windows+H for dictation, Windows+S for search and so on. Let go of the key and it instantly vanishes again.

Shortcut Guide has no further function of its own, but if youre the sort of person who likes to use Windows in the quickest and most efficient way, its a handy reference and could well introduce you to some speedy desktop shortcuts you never knew about.

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Google is beginning to replace some Android apps on the Play Store for Chrome OS users with their Progressive Web App (PWA) counterparts. The first of the apps to be replaced was the Twitter app earlier this month, with the Youtube TV app also following suit. This change is a somewhat major transition and is a welcome addition for users of Chromebooks.

While the ability to install Android apps on a Chromebook is a nifty feature, those apps tend to be more resource-hungry adversely affecting Chrome OS devices in terms of performance and battery life. PWAs are nothing but websites that run through the browser on almost any platform, that also contain added capabilities, such as the ability to serve notifications through service workers mimicking the capabilities of native apps. The Twitter PWA is the default app on platforms like Windows 10.

When Chrome OS users install Twitter or YouTube TV from the Play Store, the Store installs the PWA as default. However, users will not see a difference in behavior in comparison to native apps since the PWA will act like a native app that can be opened from the shelf or even uninstalled. Another advantage of using PWAs is that of seamless updates, as any server-side updates to these services will automatically apply to the apps, without needing a store update.

With Chromebooks ranging from premium, performant devices to affordable, moderately powerful options for education, the ability to run PWAs as the default solution for some apps makes sense. It will be interesting to see what apps see this change and if Google officially announces the efforts in the future.

Source: Chrome Unboxed via 9to5Google

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Google is replacing some Android apps with PWAs in the Play Store for Chrome OS - Neowin

Mount Lemmon serves as an important place for many University of Arizona students; a place for solitude, for getting away and for experiencing the outlandishly diverse Southwest landscape. For alumni Andrea and Justin Hafner, however, it served as a place for blasting through the winter snow on makeshift pool toy sleds.

What was once fun and games up in the pines has now turned into a significant business venture for Andrea and Justin Hafner: the first Mount Lemmon hotel since the Aspen Fire of 2003.

Now that Mount Lemmon is nearing the end of 2020's snow days, construction has begun for the new cabin-style hotel. The hotel has sparked plenty of positive feedback and is projected by many to benefit the Summerhaven community and cause an influx of visitors to the mountain.

The couple behind the venture both attended UA and shared a meaningful relationship with the hub of the Santa Catalina Mountains, both during and after college.

It has always been our getaway, Justin Hafner said. There is nowhere in the world where you can be in a major city in the desert and 105 degree heat and drive 40 minutes to be in 70 degrees and pine trees.

Justin Hafner completed a double major in political science and history at the university after being based in Tucson during his time in the army.

His wife Andrea Hafner, a Tucson native, completed an undergraduate degree in physiology and a master of science in nursing at the UA.

The couple met at a party in 2005, the first year that both of them attended the university. According to Justin, the two spent time in college participating in intramural soccer, going to the football games and enjoying the nice, cool air while climbing elevation on the scenic Catalina Highway.

During the winters, when it was too cold to swim, we would bring tire tube pool toys up to the mountain and use them as sleds, Justin remembers.

The relationship that Andrea and Justin Hafner shared with Mount Lemmon is all too familiar to the students of UA. Peter Vollmer, the president of the UA Ramblers Hiking Club, described the importance of Mount Lemmon to many students.

A big part of dealing with the stress of school and handling these four years of change is creating time in our lives to get off campus and get outside to find some quiet and peace, and Mount Lemmon is the first exposure for a lot of people to find that, Vollmer said.

Since graduating from the UA, Andrea and Justin Hafner have started a family in Tucson. The two have held onto their love for the hub of the Santa Catalina Mountains, visiting frequently and turning it into their go-to family getaway.

The Hafners came up with the idea to start a hotel on Mount Lemmon while eating at a Summerhaven favorite: the Sawmill Run Restaurant.

We witnessed back-to-back people ask the restaurant owner where a good place to stay is. It was difficult for him to give them an answer, Justin Hafner said.

For almost two decades, cabin rentals have been the only option for people looking for an overnight stay in Summerhaven. The Mount Lemmon Inn was a home for visitors until it was burnt down in the devastating 2003 fire, a month-long fire that burned almost 85,000 acres on Mount Lemmon.

Jenni Zimmerman, a Summerhaven local and agent for Mount Lemmon Realty, remembers what it was like when there was a hotel in the town of Summerhaven.

It was nice because people who would go up for the day to hike and ski could actually go and rent a place for the night, Jenni said. Now you have to make a reservation ahead of time.

Now, 17 years later, with a small business loan, county approval and a long-lasting love for Mount Lemmon, Andrea and Justin Hafners plans for a present-day home for Summerhaven visitors are unfolding.

The Hafners plan on creating a self-managed, pet-friendly atmosphere and a physical aesthetic in-line with the rustic setting of Summerhaven.

They also plan on implementing a fully digital check-in system. Customers will be given a code for their rooms online and when they check out, the code will automatically be reset.

Even though details are limited in this stage of the hotels development, Andrea and Justin Hafner plan on taking environmental conservation into account.

We anticipate putting a conservation fund together that comes from bookings, Justin said. Also, we are planning to plant at least four trees for every cabin on a lot that is treeless.

The hotel will be built upon a piece of land in the heart of Summerhaven located about 50 feet from the Sawmill Run Restaurant and 100 feet from the general store. Once the site of a lodge that was burnt down in the 2003 fire, the land has been a vacant dirt lot that has mainly been used for extra parking.

Members of the community seem to be very open to it and excited for it to happen, said Leanne Mack, the manager of the Mount Lemmon General Store. It has been a long time coming and we are excited that somebody is actually going to take the land and do something with it.

Because of the lots vacancy and the ability to build the hotel without invading any natural spaces, the Hafners do not foresee any environmental concerns associated with the development.

Justin acknowledges that the COVID-19 pandemic could slow down the process of starting the hotel. Every step of the way, they must seek out a county inspectors approval, so the speed of the process depends on county availability. Current circumstances could make this more difficult.

Members of the Summerhaven community have shown their support and excitement for the Mount Lemmon hotel, praising its practicality and its potential for economic benefits.

Overall it will be a great stimulant for all of our business, Mack said. "Just having people spend 24 hours up here and seeing how our little town operates will have a different effect than when people just come up for a few hours.

Mack describes that with the introduction of the hotel, some improvements to areas such as parking and waste disposal will have to be implemented in Summerhaven. An influx in tourism is making it difficult for the town to provide enough trash cans and enough parking.

With new business coming, we need help from Pima County with these services, said Mack.

Despite the changes that may need to occur with the introduction of the hotel, support from the city of Tucson and the Summerhaven community is high.

We have gotten a very, very small amount of criticism on social media and some bad reviews before we have even started the hotel, but 99 percent of people have been in support, Justin Hafner said.

When all is said and done, Justin Hafner stresses that family will be a central part of the Hafners hotel journey.

We are a family business," Justin Hafner said, "looking to leave behind a legacy for our kids."

For more information on the hotel, contact the Hafners through their hotel website. For information on Mount Lemmon activities, visit http://visitmountlemmon.com/.

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Hotel at 8000 feet in the works for two UA alum - Arizona Daily Wildcat

Fans of Aaron Carter are trying to figure out if he is now back together with Melanie Martin. They had a very messy and public falling out last month, but shes appearing on his Instagram page once again and making us wonder whats really going on.

On Sunday, March 29, Melanie Martin was arrested at Carters home in Los Angeles on a felony domestic violence charge. TMZ reports that the situation occurred at about 11 p.m. The L.A. County Sheriffs Department was called when a verbal altercation became physical. Carter shared images with TMZ allegedly showing marks where he says Martin scratched him. Martin was being held on a $50,000 bond until she posted bail and was released.

Carter stayed a step ahead of it all when he wrote about it on Twitter. He shared the TMZ story about the arrest and he also added a comment: So sad, ;( I hope she gets the help she needs. No one deserves domestic abuse female OR MALE #DomesticAbuse #Cheater she literally chocked me out. Im devastated.

Fans have been speculating about whether or not the two are now back together. Martin has since re-added images of herself and Carter to her Instagram page. They are also both following each other again on social media, whereas they werent before. In a recent Instagram Live post, you can hear Martin in the background and in another Live post, fans actually saw a glimpse of her.

Carter posted a video recently of some home renovation projects involving his pool. Home renovations! New pool pumps, hot tubs all new plumbing, landscape, studio and prepping for some big news. So excited for the future and happy to be in the place I am. Xo, Carter captioned the post.

Martin commented on the photo twice with heart emojis,making many fans question whats really going on. What does Carter mean by somebig news? The facts arent clear just yet, but it looks like they may be backtogether if social media can be believed.

A number of fans commented on the post and some even replieddirectly to Martins comment. Some fans think Martin could be pregnant withCarters child and theres a lot of opinions about it on social media.

People arent happy with Martin commenting on Carters postlike nothing happened. When he goes in on you again and degrades you publicly,that humiliation you feel Just know that you dont deserve it. Hope you getthe strength to get out of that situation one day, someone commented.

Fans are confused about whats really going on between thetwo. Werent you just arrested for supposedly beating him up? You both needserious help. For real, another follower wrote.

Fans have a lot of questions about Aaron Carter and whetheror not hes back in a relationship with Melanie Martin. Some fans suspect shespregnant with his child. We will keep you updated on the latest as we hearabout it.

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Are Aaron Carter and Melanie Martin Back Together? - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

A recent market study on the global Swimming Pool Heaters market reveals that the global Swimming Pool Heaters market is expected to reach a value of ~US$ XX by the end of 2029 growing at a CAGR of ~XX% during the forecast period (2019-2029).

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COVID-19: Responding to the business impacts of Swimming Pool Heaters Market 2019 By Demand Services, Developments, Advancements, Application,...

Ash trees are widespread throughout the U.S. and are common in the Dayton, OH, area. These trees make a beautiful addition to your yard and are an important part of our ecosystem. Unfortunately, Emerald Ash Borers (EAB) are ravaging the ash tree population throughout the country, and the only way to prevent the destruction of your trees is through vigilant EAB treatments. Contact the experienced crew at Lawn Plus LLC to help protect your ash trees today.

EAB is an Asian, wood-boring beetle that was first discovered in Michigan in 2002. Since then, EAB has destroyed tens of millions of trees in more than 25 states. Adults are green beetles roughly the size of a penny, and have long slender bodies.

EAB larvae tend to cause more damage than adults. Females lay eggs inside the tissue of the tree. Upon hatching, the larvae chew through the underside of the bark, essentially starving the tree of nutrients. Adults feed on and destroy the leaves. Signs of infestation include:

To date, EAB has primarily spread through human-assisted movement. This is why many states and municipalities prohibit the movement of firewood across county lines. To help prevent the spread of EAB, collect or buy firewood where you plan to burn it. Do not bring firewood with you when you travel, and leave unburned wood at the campsite.

Because EAB is so prevalent in Ohio, we recommend treating all ash trees that are of value to you. EAB is fatal to an infested tree within three to five years, so time is of the essence. At Lawn Plus, we utilize the Arborjet System to directly inject our EAB treatment into the tree. This form of treatment is 98% effective and only requires biennial application, saving your tree and your wallet.

Lawn Plus has provided Miami Valley with EAB treatment and other lawn care services since 2005. If you have ash trees in your yard, contact us at (937) 839-5296to schedule service. We also offer pest control services for moles, mosquitos, and other insects. We look forward to serving you!

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Bruce Kreitler, Special to the Reporter-News Published 5:00 p.m. CT April 12, 2020

Having been in a lot of yards lately, and also having observed the effects of our very plentiful rainfall, I notice that weeds are doing very well this year.

Just a couple of things I want to point out about big broadleaf weeds in a yard, before I move on.

First of all, if you do any kind of post-emergent treatment, do those as spot applications, directly on the weeds.

Secondly, don't use anything with Dicamba as one of the active ingredients. You can check the front of the product container, be it bag, bottle,= or box, and somewhere (albeit in small print), it will say active ingredients, with a listing of them below that heading. If you have trees and shrubs, and one of those active ingredients is Dicamba, use something else.

I do feel obligated to mention that my recommendation against Dicamba in a landscape is not based on any industry-wide information or research. Also, I get a lot of pushback from other people in the industry concerning my dislike for Dicamba.

Many professional applicators are using it, and they consider their use as successful, so my opinion is not too popular. I will say that I know of a couple of pros, who are using limited amounts of Dicamba, and do seem to be doing OKwith it.

Bruce Kreitler(Photo: .)

However, that is much different from the over-the-counter formulations available to the general public. Having been in a lot of yards where trees and shrubs are not doing well, and finding out that the one thing in common those yards have is some kind of use of Dicamba, I have decided it's just best to keep Dicamba, in any form, out of those yards.

Anyway, what I wanted to mention this week is shade, and plants in shade. Since one of the things that I spend a lot of time on is helping people grow large shade trees, I get to talk to a lot of people about the effects of that shade (other than making things cooler and more tolerable in the summer).

Generally, when trees, such as live oaks and cedar elms, are planted asshade trees, there are other plants in the same area that require full sun, or at least a fair amount of sunshine. As time goes by, and we move into the future, those trees grow, and one big result of that is that they slowly extend their shade umbrella (which is the goal), and that area of shade slowly consumes the sunlight that other, smaller plants need.

More: Bruce Kreitler: How much wood could woodcutters cut if cutting wood in today's woods

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A typical example would be crape myrtles. Crape myrtles are easy to establish, easy to grow, colorful plants, that happen to need full sun. A crape myrtle that is slowly overtaken by a larger plant, such as a tree, will just as slowly, do worse and worse.

When that happens, people, who are used to having an attractive plant there, will want something to replace it. Of course they will want something just as colorful, but there aren't a lot of "color" plants that can produce their color without plenty of sunlight.

What I would like to recommend for shaded areas, where some kind of bush or shrub is desired, or needed as a replacement, are hollies. There are lots of different kinds of holly bushes, and in my experience, most of them do OK in the shade.

Granted, they do better in full sun, but most of them do passably well, even in fairly heavy shade.

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Bruce Kreitler: Surviving in the shade and skip the Dicamba - Abilene Reporter-News

By Guest Writer RALPH FOLDS

With reports of high staffing numbers at the Alice Springs Town Council Im writing to share an insight into how some of them are spending their time (and our rates).

This little tree (1.2m) and recently denuded by processional caterpillars is the subject of an extraordinary and costly campaign by the council to remove it.

Its a small tree, no worries. Check the paint tin put there for a size comparison.

Ive planted many of the trees on the nature strip in my street and I planted this tree about 18 months ago.

When a new neighbour moved in next door she wanted the tree removed so she could use the space for a car park.

A Ranger called me and said the tree needed a permit or it would have to go.

I got the permit.

On March 10 two ASTC staff, one a manager, visited me.

The tree permit was a mistake they said, my tree needed a Verge Development Permit and I had two weeks to get one.

This permit is for a major development and requires an Aboriginal Authority approval.

My little tree needs a sacred site clearance?

I wrote to CEO Jennings querying this requirement.

No response with the clock ticking on tree removal.

I complained to the NT Ombudsman, challenging the permit requirement.

I wrote to CEO Jennings asking him not to remove the tree while my complaint to the Ombudsman was underway.

No response.

The Council has not responded to the Ombudsman.

I called ASTC manager Chris Gosling.

He didnt know about the Verge Permit: Thats a different department.

But he raised a new problem.

Will my little tree eventually exceed the height limitation for street trees?

I remembered it was a small tree but couldnt recall the species.

An arborist will need to establish the species and report to him.

The Council arborist called and examined the tree.

So ASTC Rangers, ASTC manager visit, CEO, Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, the NT Ombudsman, arborist, and no final decision yet on this little tree on the nature strip in front of my house.

What is this all costing?

I think I will remove the tree to avoid more waste of rate-payers money.

But I do get the impression the Council have too many staff with not enough to do.

The News invited a comment from the council at 11.57am today. None had been provided by the time of publication of this report.

CORRECTION 5am April 17: Chris Gosford changed to Chris Gosling.

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Lucky the Town Council isn't in the forestry business - Alice Springs News Online

San Diego Estates Real Estate Broker Jeff Campbell sounds excited and says he was well placed to work from home since his business prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was already about 60% online with digital signatures, electronic documents, and video marketing already well-established practices.

Weve had to reinvent the other 40% of our business and that has come down to modifying onsite business: agent inspection, home inspections, appraisals weve had to consolidate those on site visits into one displacement of the homeowner. Now, I arrange one morning or afternoon for the family to take the dog on a long walk, then orchestrate everyone to come in within that three hour period, have all the onsite work done, Campbell said.

He says it is feasible to compress what usually requires multiple visits into one modified session and if everything goes according to plan, that is the single time a homeowner needs to leave their house to get their property sale completed.

Campbell acknowledged social distancing has challenged the real estate industry, but said there is an abundance of caution being executed to protect consumers.

Right now, we have six brand new contract forms dealing with COVID that are designed to protect the clients and give them ample notice reiterating the state of affairs that are going on right now, but also asking them if they have any symptoms or if anyone has been in their home has had symptoms. Were not recklessly pulling them in; there are no open houses right now, there are only virtual open houses, Campbell said.

Meanwhile, agent Ryan DePrizio of Ryans Real Estate said he is taking steps to have homes as ready for sale as possible before they are put on the market at all, ensuring that tasks are completed earlier than they would have been without social distancing in place.

My listings include professional photos, drone video, video walk thru and matterport (a 3D virtual tour). I am also having termite and home inspections done before going on the market. All this gives buyers all the info they need without having to leave their home, DePrizio said.

However, California Options Real Estate agent Greg Fox said while it is indeed feasible to complete many practical tasks online, he believes the relationship between agent and consumer is being somewhat sacrificed along the way.

Many agents werent set up to be tech gurus, we built our business on relationships and this is a challenge. Im the type of agent who is more for the type of seller who wants someone to walk them through every part of the sale. I like the service end, I like connecting with clients and that isnt completely possible right now, Fox said.

He also said that with so much about the industry shifting online, it might just permanently change how agents do business, possibly with some gravitating toward virtual caravans and as-yet unseen properties that have not yet hit the market.

It definitely creates some challenges for our industry and how we handle our business open houses and virtual caravans (networking meetings with home services like pest control companies) have moved online so youre still putting your property out there for other agents to see but it is with virtual photos and you talking about your property, like a Zoom meeting with agents pitching properties that are new to the market. Youre going to see agents gravitating toward these online meetings to check if there is anything their clients are looking for, including properties that are just coming to the market, Fox said.

DePrizio said the market itself is changing as well as social distancing affects employment.

Ive had a couple sellers decide to hold off on listing their homes. Ive also had a handful buyers put their search on hold as theyre concerned with the unknown of when they will be able to go back to work or open their businesses, DePrizio said.

Acknowledging there is increased vulnerability right now, Campbell is assembling anti-fraud information related to the real estate market.

One of the things that my business is doing is putting together an anti-fraud campaign. We had a meeting last night where we drafted ten tips to avoid mortgage payment fraud which is so important because some people out there right now are vulnerable, their jobs are iffy and we want to make sure they dont fall for some of this bologna. We compiled tips from the Federal Communications Commission and others into one list that is going to be on our website. Were not collecting information or anything like that, we just think it is important information, Campbell said.

He added: It compels us to streamline, and I think that could be said by so many businesses right now.

Fox asked members of the community to be patient with each other as the industry embraces doing business online.

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Homebuying in old and new ways - Alpine Sun