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Category: Technology (page 9 of 60)

April 15, 2010

iPad observation #10: Is the iPad an unforced error? I say Google and MicroSoft can’t even copy genius.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Busy as anything, ever, as I’m sure you can guess from my absence hereabouts. How busy am I? I still have not lain my own hands on an iPad. Tried to make time a couple-three times, but I couldn’t squeeze out the seconds.

But I have been paying attention to the aghastrointestinal noises made by the sputtering pundidiot class about the iPad, to some amusement. Translated into a language ordinary people can understand, the main objection runs like this: “These beach socks will look terrible with my tuxedo!” Could not agree more. But if you’re clamming or gigging frogs, you might-could find them a good fit.

Whatever. The iPad’s day is but barely begun, and one of the revolutionary things it will do is wash away this entire cadre of washed-up technology “experts.” Here’s hoping they can find a job worth doing.

Meanwhile, Richard Riccelli passed along this catalog of Grave Portents published by that citadel of techspertise, Slate magazine. Richard’s question is this: With the iPad and its closed software universe, has Steve Jobs committed an unforced error — unnecessarily created an obvious opening for Google and MicroSoft to compete?

My answer is no to everything.

Every kvetch about the iPad comes from people who will not be its audience.

1. It’s not a laptop. Duh.

2. It’s a closed hardware/software universe. Thus does Apple piss off 40% of the INTJs — 2.8% of the buying public.

3. It fosters a market opening for losers who could have beaten Apple ten years ago — except they’re losers.

We’ll have to wait to see it — Alice in Wonderland is an early mover (that munches up all of Brad Inman’s stale Vookies) — but the software built to take advantage of the unique iPad hardware will be killingthing.

Jobs is not wrong. Jobs is early. As always. Why? Because the future doesn’t exist until he invents it. Not hero worship, just an awareness of the amazing things the man causes to be done.

The two big iPad stories, going forward: How cool this tool is, and how lame are the clones.

Don’t believe me? Go buy an Android. Go buy a Zune. Google Read more

April 11, 2010

9,999,999 iPads left to sell…

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

Well, I couldn’t help myself. I bought the iPad – the to-be-shipped-in-late-April, 3G & WiFi, 64 gig model.

I see significant work applications – for instance, keeping all client files available for court, creating eBooks of NC criminal code so I don’t need to lug around books, and, I hope, doing document signing on the fly.

I have not used DocuSign yet since, until now, I’ve been doing criminal law which doesn’t have a lot of documents that need to be signed, and, what’s more, they usually are signed in court.

But I’m starting to do bankruptcy and civil litigation work related to debt defense, and for that I think I’ll either subscribe to DocuSign or some similar service. DocuSign claims their service works with the iPad, although they haven’t created an App for that. As Greg mentioned, they need to Get On That.

I’ll post a review once I get the iPad in late April or early May.

UPDATE: I’ve been searching for a good list of productivity apps for professionals. I stumbled across this article in Forbes Woman which I found pretty irritating. Why? Second app listed is “Big Oven,” an app to help people find recipes so if you “[e]ver find yourself roaming grocery store aisles with little or no clue what to make for dinner.” Are you kidding me? Is this the second most important app for working professionals? No: it’s just obnoxious sexism.

March 30, 2010

Ten million iPads to be sold in 2010? It could happen…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

You heard that right. Morgan Stanley is predicting that as many as ten million iPads could be sold in 2010. A boatload of them have already been sold, and the iPad doesn’t even ship until April 3rd.

iPad news abounds, of course, and no one needs to be reminded about pudding and eating, all those caveats. But, as with the iPhone, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd. We’re going to see a paradigm shift in computing even if the iPad “bombs” by selling only five million units. My 88-year-old mother-in-law is texting on her iPhone, and, no-doubt, will soon be trolling Facebook for friends and grandchildren. A whole new population of punters is about to join the online world.

Not convinced? I can but smile. We haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet, because the insanely great iPad ideas will require a few months of hands-on time. Meanwhile, Apple has posted some guided tours to the iPad so you can see what you’re missing.

My posts on the iPad (so far):

March 17, 2010

No tilt; no fall real estate signs

by

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

Author website

This blog post is an informative blog post for people who purchase their own real estate signs; other’s need not read any further.  For years, Worthington Realty, Manitowoc have put up with under engineered, cheaply made real estate signs.  Looking high and low, nothing was on the market which needed to meet the following requirements.

1)      Guaranteed not to lean, tilt, or fall over

2)      Built to last

3)      Fashionable looking

4)      Easy to install

5)      Light in weight

6)      Reasonable cost

Fast forward two years and dozens of experiments, Worthington Realty has got it!  The first real estate sign guaranteed to stand straight up tall just like the day you put in the ground.   Worthington Realty consulted with visionary fabrication guru’s to create the ultimate in real estate sign technology.  We’ve perfected the anchor which attaches the post to the ground.  The anchor weighs approximately 20lbs which is extremely light compared to what was originally engineered.

Worthington Realty is looking for the industry public opinion.  Is there a demand for a real estate sign guaranteed to stand tall like the day you put it in the ground?  What would you pay for an item like this?  Can you imagine putting a sign in the ground and knowing you’ll come back to it standing tall?  What are your thoughts?  Worthington Realty would greatly appreciate your input.  In our office we are not perfectionist or genius by any means, however we shoot for the stars making every single day count.  Thank you in advance for you input and advice.

March 16, 2010

Storytelling through Real Estate Video. Take two.

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

It was 4 whole years ago that I was sitting in the back row at my first ever RE/Tech hoo-ha conference when I first heard that Video was the next big thing. This sentiment has been repeated ever since and as far as home tours are considered, I can’t say that I have seen anything as impressive as this.

Select HD on the onscreen menu for best viewing. Full screen is not too bad either.

Casa Estrella from Quentin Bacon media|creative on Vimeo.

The video is just a part of an entire media storytelling package called “The Living Property Brochure”. For more on the creative background on the director’s process, take a look at Quentin’s blog. It’s quite impressive, if not mind blowing to see boundaries pushed this far.

Tip of the hat to theFrontSteps

March 3, 2010

Computer “expert” insists, in 1995, that, “No online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Technology “expert” Clifford Stoll precisely 15 years ago in Newsweek:

After two decades online, I’m perplexed. It’s not that I haven’t had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I’ve met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I’m uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.

Baloney. Do our computer pundits lack all common sense? The truth in no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works.

Consider today’s online world. The Usenet, a worldwide bulletin board, allows anyone to post messages across the nation. Your word gets out, leapfrogging editors and publishers. Every voice can be heard cheaply and instantly. The result? Every voice is heard. The cacophony more closely resembles citizens band radio, complete with handles, harassment, and anonymous threats. When most everyone shouts, few listen. How about electronic publishing? Try reading a book on disc. At best, it’s an unpleasant chore: the myopic glow of a clunky computer replaces the friendly pages of a book. And you can’t tote that laptop to the beach. Yet Nicholas Negroponte, director of the MIT Media Lab, predicts that we’ll soon buy books and newspapers straight over the Internet. Uh, sure.

Wicked stupid, huh? It gets better:

Then there’s cyberbusiness. We’re promised instant catalog shopping—just point and click for great deals. We’ll order airline tickets over the network, make restaurant reservations and negotiate sales contracts. Stores will become obsolete. So how come my local mall does more business in an afternoon than the entire Internet handles in a month? Even if there were a trustworthy way to send money over the Internet—which there isn’t—the network is missing a most essential ingredient of capitalism: salespeople.

It’s interesting to me to note that the predictions Stoll is denouncing were Read more

February 27, 2010

Dawn In America Part Two

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

The American People will take Socialism but they won’t take the label  –Upton Sinclair

I believe that the American people will want the label of  “unfettered capitalism” but will not necessarily adopt the economic system.  Americans like government in small doses but they like (and mostly trust) their government.  The morality of the argument for voluntaryism, while sound, will be difficult to adopt.  Those of you, who believe that government is the problem rather than the solution, should never stop saying  “I told you so”  when Statist policies fail but you would do well to remain aware to the fact that Americans like a little bit of government. That is how we can thrive amidst chaos.

Let’s talk about how we might prepare ourselves for the next 20 years:

I don’t believe we’re in a depression nor even a recession nor do think the 1930’s were a depression.  Rather, I believe we’re in the middle of a huge economic shift like the one we experienced in the early part of the 20th century.  The economic decline of the 30s and the current economic decline was a fallout from a shift in technology.  The economic decline of the 1930s was some 25 years after the implementation of the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.  It took that long for the economy to absorb the shift from a mostly agrarian society to a manufacturing society.  It was no easy shift, either.

Critics in the 20’s and 30’s claimed that we couldn’t eat machines but crop yields increased “spectacularly” in the twentieth century.  Domestic food production was so efficient that, despite what Willie Nelson said 25 years ago, American farmers were quite prosperous.  The market rewarded those who improved our lives by moving us along roads, on top of the water, and through the air…faster and cheaper.  Americans wanted to travel because we were already well-fed.

Is it any surprise that the current economic decline happened some 25 years after IBM’s introduction of the PC?  Is this really a “failure of capitalism”, as Van Jones might have you believe, or an unexpected response to the Fed trying to prop Read more

February 25, 2010

Various thoughts on small business tools

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

1. Google Voice

I know there’s been some sporadic discussion here about Google Voice: whether it’s useful/wise to use as a business phone number, and about the quality of its transcriptions.

I’ve been very pleased with it in terms of the call routing functionality, and the integration with my Droid and Google Contacts.

The transcriptions, true, are sometimes hit or miss. Lately they’ve been more “hits”. I practice in Raleigh, NC, with its share of both southern and other accents. Yes, certain voicemails turn out to be gibberish when transcribed. Frankly, I don’t know that I’d be much better if I were personally transcribing the voicemail myself, let alone leaving it to the warm embrace of Google’s computer systems!

But here are four of the most recent voicemails I’ve gotten, unedited except for the removal of certain identifying information:

Voicemail 1: My name is [name]. My number is [accurate!]. Once I have a question regarding a limited driving privilege. If you can give me a call back. I’d appreciate it. Thank you.

Voicemail 2: Hey, This Is [name]. I’ll talk to my probation officer and he wants me to give you the number is that you can call him as name is [name]. His number is [accurate!] thanks bye.

Voicemail 3: Hi Damon, Damon, this is [NAME] I was just calling to get a confirmation that you had indeed received my [BADLY TRANSCRIBED NAME OF A FORM] from my insurance agent. If you could please return my call. At [NAME]. Thank you.

Obviously the names are not even transcribed properly, but the rest of it is pretty good. These are short voicemails. Longer voicemails where the subject matter is more complicated tend to be less accurate. But usually Google is able to accurately transcribe the name of the offense/crime the person is calling about. This is a big help in my line of work when you’re sitting in court and wondering whether you need to run out to return the call! A speeding ticket can probably wait. A drug trafficking case… that requires an immediately reply.

2. 1-800 numbers and Read more

February 24, 2010

Swanepoel’s Trends Report is not useless. It makes a dandy prop!

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Cathy’s listing Friday, a classic North Central Phoenix luxury home. I was shooting interiors for her today, and saw this as a part of her staging:

Building the single-property web site for the home, tonight, I realized that in six months or fewer, I’ll be repurposing content for single-property iPhone/iPad apps, as well. I doubt you will have read anything like that in any repackaged regurgitant from self-styled real estate experts, but it’s where we’re all headed.

February 15, 2010

Res ipsa loquitur — wirelessly: Mobile phone use soars.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Via LiveScience.com:

Separate reports out last week show that mobile phone use is soaring in the United States and globally, and data moving across mobile networks is expected to grow dramatically over the next four years.

One report by comScoreMobiLens shows that Americans want to do more than talk on their phones, and they’re willing to pay for it. A total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009. In the past year, smartphone ownership increased from 11 percent to 17 percent of mobile users, while 3G phone ownership increased from 32 percent to 43 percent and unlimited data plan subscriptions rose from 16 percent to 21 percent.

Every month, comScore measures how often people use their phones to send text messages, access the Internet, play games, use downloaded applications, or “apps,” check their Facebook profile, watch videos and listen to music.

In the latest comScore report, all of these activities showed an increase from the previous report period. Though most of the increases are modest because the survey was conducted over a short 90-day period, texting and visiting a social networking site or blog increased more than 2 percent.

The report also reveals users are shifting from the more utilitarian phone operating systems toward more media-focused operating systems that have more functionality. While RIM, the operating system for BlackBerry devices, remained the leading mobile smartphone operating system in the U.S at 41.6 percent, it saw its market share drop slightly along with Microsoft and Palm.

Meanwhile, Apple, which owns a quarter of the mobile market and is ranked second, saw a gain in popularity for its media friendly iPhone platform. Likewise, Google’s Android operating system surged in popularity with the launch of Motorola’s Droid in November, allowing the company to double its market share in just three months. Like the iPhone, the Droid is built for multimedia content.

Separate research released by Cisco estimates that global mobile data traffic has increased by 160 percent over the past year to 90 petabytes per month, or the equivalent of 23 million DVDs. The company projects that this figure will increase Read more

February 11, 2010

I wanted to say, “Let’s hear it for the dogs!” — but before I can, I need to say: “Let’s clean house for the dogs…”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Here’s a true fact of BloodhoundBlog life: This is a very busy place. It always has been, but this one site — BloodhoundBlog — has been a huge resource hog virtually from day one.

We started off on a shared account at GoDaddy.com, but our traffic and our RSS subscriptions were killing us, so we had to move to a semi-dedicated server at HostGator.com.

Not long after that we had to move again, this time to a dedicated server. We ran all our domains off of that one box, but it was BloodhoundBlog that created all the headaches.

Since we’ve been on the dedicated server, we’ve had to go into both the server software and our WordPress configuration again and again to try to squeeze more performance out of the hardware.

As you will recall, we had a huge crash last summer, losing days of data and hundreds of comments. At that time, we moved to a different dedicated server — having smoked the first box to death.

And guess what? Here we are again. We’ve been redlining this server for months. In the past few weeks, we’ve been running from 30% to 75% of capacity for twenty hours a day. Surely you’ve noticed the sluggishness of service while waiting for posts to display or for comments to post.

So we’re moving yet again. Sometime tonight (I hope), we will be upgrading to much more robust hardware, a much faster server with four times our current hard disk footprint. I wish I could say that this will be our last move, but I’m sure it won’t be.

Unlike the server swap last summer, we’ll be moving to new IP addresses, which will entail an update to all the Domain Name Servers in the world. What that means is that the BloodhoundBlog you see over the next few days may or may not be the new server. If you land here by way of a non-updated DNS server, you will be landing on the old server. When I can, I’ll post a note to the new server to distinguish the new one from the old one.

Practically speaking, a DNS Read more

February 10, 2010

Buzzing about Google Buzz

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

The kind of awe and admiration Greg has for Apple, I have for Google. Whereas Apple’s product launches are greeted with unending speculation, leaks, rumor-mongering and fanfare, Google quietly rolls out new features.

Some are great – Google Voice has turned out to be surprisingly useful in my business. Others are not – I still haven’t figured out what Google Wave is good for.

Yesterday Google rolled out a new product, Google Buzz.

Unlike the iPad, Buzz is not a category killer. But it takes an existing category – the Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn world of social electronic interaction – and makes it… better.

I love the idea of social networking. I hate some of its implementations. For instance, Facebook is a terrible service – slow, buggy, non-intuitive.

Twitter is fast and a neat idea, but obviously limited in its implementation.

I rarely use LinkedIn.

But Google Buzz is potentially a useful collaborative tool that I can use across a range of relationships – from close friends, to family, to distant friends, to network contacts, to potential clients.

It integrates into gmail, which allows me to use it in the same way I use email. It will connect with other legacy social network sites, such as twitter. And it will allow me to do social networking with a much richer range of tools – text, graphics, photos, and video.

February 10, 2010

Google releases a Buzz which may be a BuzzKill for others

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

I’m sure we can all agree that Google is big. Huge in fact. From what I understand they had a Super Bowl add this year. Who Dat? Google Dat! But everything they do is not always a hit. When was the last time you checked out Knol?

Moving along. This morning the buzz around the web is that Google has introduced the Twitter/Facebook killer with Google Buzz. Poor Twitter gets killed ever once and awhile and so is apparently a cat of nine lives on it’s final death bed. Just don’t tell that to the 14 bazillion users out there tweeting at this very moment.

One big part of this domination tool though is Geolocation.

At first look, Google Buzz reminds me of Pownce. A twitter-like social network that came along about the same time twitter became popular and allowed your to share files, photos and other media in your updates. Pownce, of course, with many of the others have fallen by the statusphere wayside or are still being populated with home listing updates via Ping.fm from Realtors trained by geniuses that tell them the more spam they have in their nature, the better their homes will sell.

Back to Google. Here’s a look at all the Buzz from the release video:

I have not been able to log into the Gmail inbox interface yet, but I did have a chance to take a look at the mobile version on my iPhone. Now here’s where it might get interesting despite what Google’s biggest competitors think.

My first look on the iPhone. The top two nav features are “Following”, which is who’s in your network and “Nearby”, anyone checking in around your given location. Which is great considering mobile home page is location aware and features “near me now” already. After giving Buzz approval to locate you via GPS what you find is something that looks like this… and where it gets interesting is in the layers:

Unlike Twitter it’s all about location when your take a look at what’s happening nearby. Comments to each update can be threaded.

Like Foursquare a drop down menu of nearby pinpoints will allow Read more

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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