Mobile Email Without a Magnifying Glass

By Chad A. Johnson · October 31, 2008 · 8 Comments 

A hole in the computer industry has been filled. The crazy thing is that no one saw the hole. Let me explain.

With laptops and smart phones, it would seem that the mobile real estate agent’s computing needs are fulfilled. When the laptop is too much to carry, you have the smart phone for email, internet and even document creation. What else would anyone need?

Unfortunately, the smart phone isn’t the perfect mobile companion for everyone. As eye sight goes, those tiny screens get tough to read. On top of that, the thumb-stroke keyboard is only suitable for short messages.

A new class of notebook, the “micro” or “mini”, has hit the market to fill the void between the laptop and smart phone. Equipped with 9-10″ LED screens, full keyboards, webcams, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and solid state hard drives, these mini notebooks make checking email and surfing the internet a real join.

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Attending NAR? Don’t Miss The Web 2.0/Social Media Panel

By Reggie · October 31, 2008 · 4 Comments 

If you’re attending NAR 2008 in Orlando, make sure you attend the Web 2.0/Social Media panel sponsored by Diamond Dwellings. [more at Diamond Dwellings]

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Free Seminar Tomorrow: Top Ten Money Making Tech Tools of Today’s Top Real Estate Agents

By Reggie · October 29, 2008 · 4 Comments 

I have another free opportunity to improve your technology skills in a webinar coming up tomorrow. The event is sponsored by Cyberhomes and presented by Allen Hainge of CyberStars. If you are an MTO fan, you may remember that Allen has recently become a guest contributor here at MTO. He has lots of industry knowledge and is a techno-fan too! See more on Allen here.

For those of you attending the webinar, you’ll leave this session with concrete, proven steps to increase your business today!  Here are a few of the topics Allen will cover:

+ Why old tools & strategies don’t work in today’s market
+ The Top 10 tools top agents use to build their businesses
+ 3 types of agents Web sites…and why only one really makes you money
+ 5 “must have” elements of a money making Web site
+ 5 things listings on your site must have

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now!

Join us for a Webinar on October 30th, from 10 am to 11 am PST
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/938348453

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Is a Mobile Smartphone Docking Station In Your Future?

By Reggie · October 26, 2008 · 2 Comments 

Hold on to your seat, Active Innovation Management (A.I.M.) is trying to turn mobile computing on its head. They’ve started with a vision of making an efficient and inexpensive alternative to Netbooks called the Olo. Their concept is a “mobile smartphone docking station” which would not include its own processor, memory, or wireless connection.  These specifics play into their concern of shrinking our “ecological footprint.”

A.I.M.’s goal is to make the Olo fully compatible with future versions of smartphones. So when it comes time to upgrade your mobile device, simply upgrade the phone and make any necessary updates to the Olo fitting module. Now the new smartphone could be applied. There is no need to replace components like monitor, speakers, keyboard on the Olo.

No physical prototype is available yet, but the patent process has begun to protect the Olo^TM concept. So for know well be waiting in anticipation for this great idea to surface.

What will this mean for Real Estate Agents?

In an industry where being mobile is an advantage, I suspect this idea will be warmly welcomed.  Don’t get me wrong, this device will surely have limitations. But what real estate agents need most while mobile is internet with email, access to MLS and contracts.  These activities could be carried out with the limited processing power of a next generation smartphone. Add a large screen and keyboard; I suspect the Olo will be a winner.

Free Seminar Today: Web site secrets and powerful social networking strategies

By Reggie · October 24, 2008 · 3 Comments 

Trying to build your online presence?  Cyberhomes has hired Randy Eagar, Search Engine Expert and leading technology trainer in the real estate industry to teach you the secrets of some of the most successful agents earning over six figures a year online.

In this seminar, Randy will share easy-to-implement web site secrets and powerful social networking strategies that work. He’ll also introduce a ton of other ideas you can use to dominate your real estate market online!

The Seminar is today Friday, October 24
1-2 pm PT / 2-3 pm MT / 3-4 pm CT / 4-5 pm ET

If you are interested, click this link to RSVP

Anyone Up For A Game Of USB Switch-A-Roo?

By Chad A. Johnson · October 16, 2008 · 2 Comments 

Two computers, a printer, scanner, external drive and a business card reader.

Sound like an inventory of the technology in your real estate office? How do you share those devices with both computers?

Playing the old USB cable switch-a-roo? While this game can burn extra calories and is entertaining to watch, it is a real pain.

Getting crafty with device sharing over a network? This is a better solution with 2 major shortcomings:

(1) The host computer needs to be on to use the devices. This is tough if all of your computers are laptops.
(2) If you work in a large office, your devices will probably be exposed to everyone on the network. Yikes!

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StudioNow: The Affordable Answer to High-Quality Video

By Reggie · October 16, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

For the last few months we’ve covered many different options for adding video into your business. Some of the methods were self produced, some originated from still photos…and today from a full service network. StudioNow has assembled a network of professional videographers, directors, editors, animators and voice over specialist available for your next video project.

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Blog Action Day: Using Social Media to Fight Poverty

By NikNik · October 15, 2008 · 6 Comments 

It’s MTO’s 2^nd annual Blog Action Day post! If you’re not familiar with Blog Action Day, it’s (1) a uniting of bloggers worldwide, (2) taking action on their blogs, (3) by voicing thoughts, opinions, concerns, etc. on an important issue affecting us all. Last year, the environment was the issue at hand. Click here to read MTO’s 1^st Annual Blog Action Day post on recycling.

This year, Blog Action Day asks us to take a closer look at poverty and how we can help those in need. It’s especially hard to understand poverty if you don’t see it in your own backyard. But, the current economic crisis is making all of us reassess our spending and savings. So if we’re hurting in one way or another, imagine how much more affected the impoverished will become if we stop giving our time and resources.

You may feel strapped which may make you feel less powerful to help. But there are plenty of ways you can reach out using tools and items on hand. So don’t let this economic crisis get you down…get inspired by a need and get motivated to provide what’s needed.

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Cyberhomes Here I Come!

By Reggie · October 14, 2008 · 8 Comments 

That’s right I’ve scored a new gig at Cyberhomes.com. It’s official. Actually my title is the official part: Director of Social Media. Very exciting given the fact that Cyberhomes is such a major player in the online real estate search.  If you don’t already know, they have extremely deep and rich data around more than 100 Million homes in the US. Also layered over the home ownership data you’ll find neighborhood stats, school info, home sales, and rental info.

If you are a fan of me or Cyberhomes I would appreciate you joining our newly created Cyberhomes Fan Page on Facebook. I’ll be using this page to highlight Cyberhomes events, conventions, meet-ups etc.

Also please follow me on Twitter: @cyberhomes.

Since I’m asking favors, I would also like you to investigate a program Cyberhomes has created to help real estate agents gain market advantage.

Cyberhomes Neighborhood Expert^TM - A bundle of exclusive tools for your zip codes.  The package includes your Local Ads on local home searches, current market data, offline marketing materials and slick co-branded property reports.

Cyberhomes Good Reading: Good reading includes writers from BusinessWeek, Money, Bankrate.com, Wall Street Journal and more. In good reading you’ll also notice a new Cyberhomes blog held down by Lauren Baier Kim & Janine Sieja.

See Sellsius coverage of my new gig.

All the agents in the crib…drop it like it’s hot!

By NikNik · October 12, 2008 · 17 Comments 

Turn up your mobile real estate bizzle with these 2 hot tools.

Dropcard - Send your business card from your phone to your new clients using SMS!

Dropcard lets you create a virtual business card that can be easily emailed to anyone you meet using your phone. Whether it’s a new client or friend, you can immediately send them your name, email address, phone number, LinkedIn profile, Twitter ID, blog address, website, or anything else you’d like to include. Your dropcard will arrive instantly in the recipient’s email with a vCard attached, so they can import your contact information into their address book.

Dropcard allows you to create 2 business card profiles for free (ex:  one for business and one for pleasure). However, the free version limits the number of contacts you can send to (only 15 per month). Perfect option for giving Dropcard a try.   Read more

Splashup: I can’t believe it’s not Photoshop

By Reggie · October 11, 2008 · 4 Comments 

With Web2.0 we’ve seen the introduction of many remarkable web applications that would not be possible just a few years ago. Microsoft has seen growth from competitor products like OpenOffice.org and Google Docs.

Now it’s time for Adobe Photoshop to start feeling the pressure from online competitors in their space. Introducing Splashup (formerly Fauxto).

Splashup is a 100% free web-based image editing application, and will run in all major browsers.  The tool makes grabbing and editing photos from sharing sites like Facebook, Flickr, or Picasa a snap.

Once you have your artwork open, you’ll feel like you’re running a desktop application. The menus drop down, tool palettes are in familiar locations, and the interface is very clean.
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SMS Widget Makes Connecting Immediate…No Superpowers Required

By Reggie · October 9, 2008 · 5 Comments 

Real estate technology blogger Matt Rains has created a new and useful SMS widget for your website or blog. The goal behind this widget is simple, allow visitors to connect with you quickly. And you’ll receive the phone number of the online individual reaching out.

Consumers move fast these days and they want immediate attention. The powerful element behind text messaging…is its immediacy. It’s also proving to be the way in which many communicate.

According to Nielsen, the average mobile subscriber in the US sent and received more SMS text messages than mobile telephone calls during Q2 2008.

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