More Geek Posts…Now at the New Official C.A.R. Blog Site

Posted on March 3, 2011 by

Love my blog posts? Love the information I share? Looking for more?

Look no further than the official blog site of the California Association of REALTORS®!

No, it won’t be duplications of the blog posts here. It’ll be fresh, new content.
It will be content that’s “EXCLUSIVE” to the C.A.R. Blog!

It won’t be as often as here, but when one is posted it’ll be worth it.

The cool thing is, there’s lots of other great content that’s getting posted to the C.A.R. blog from my various colleagues.

You’ve got the master of words, Josh Sharfman who is bringing all kinds of great tech stuff.

Then you’ve got the queen of numbers, Sara Sutachan keeping you up to date with the latest market data.

Of course there’s going to also be posts from our C.A.R. social media organizer/maven/princess, the always charming Lindsey Moss.

In addition to these three fine folks, there’s also great posts from our communications, legal and legislative departments.

So what are you waiting for?

Go and check it out, and check out my first post on speeding up your iPad and iPhone!

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Another Oscar Ceremony Goes Into The History Books…

Posted on February 28, 2011 by

Another Oscar Sunday has come and gone and now comes the post-Oscar analysis.

I managed to correctly pick 17 of the 24 awards. Amazingly two of my wild guesses for Animated Short (Lost Things) and Short Film (God of Love) were right. Not bad but still under my highest of 20 of 24.

A few thoughts on last night’s show…

* While I liked the show and was impressed by how tight they kept it, it was altogether just ho-hum. Loved the stage and and the arches of video though. Very cool!

* James Franco, great actor but horrible award show host.

* Anne Hathaway, great energy which frequently got sucked away by James.

* Kirk Douglas, you’re still the man!

* Best Picture montage  – Could watch that a few times.

* Best speeches – Melissa Leo, Tom Hooper, David Seidler, Natalie Portman and Colin Firth

* The closing with the kids from PS 22 was heart warming to begin with, it went to absolutely unbelievable when the winners from the night came out on the stage behind the kids. 24 statues that prove that dreams do come true.

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And the Academy Award Goes To – Chris’ Oscar Picks

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

I love the movies. It’s as much a part of me as is technology. As I told a friend the Academy Awards is like my Superbowl.  It’s the one event where you better not call or e-mail cause you’re not … Continue reading →

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STS-133, Discovery’s Final Voyage

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

Many that know me, know of my love for the Space Shuttle program. It’s something that’s always had a special place in my heart and something that I am going to be sad to see end.

God willing, and weather permitting the Space Shuttle Discovery and the crew of STS-133 will launch today at 4:50pm EST/1:50pm PST. Its mission that was originally scheduled to launch back in December.

I was fortunate enough to see the Space Shuttle Challenger land on it’s maiden voyage, and managed to see a shuttle launch from afar in Orlando. I’m still trying to figure out a way to see the launch a little closer for the final mission in April CORRECTION – The final mission will be the Shuttle Atlantis in June. Still, crossing fingers.

No matter what though, today I’ll be glued to the computer watching the shuttle and its crew fly into history. While the Discovery rockets into space to take components to the International Space Station, it will as it always has also take the pride, hopes, dreams and inspirations of a little kid who continues to believe in the space program and our human desires to explore the beauties of space.

Good luck, and Godspeed Discovery.

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Seriously? More Than Meets The Eye…

Posted on February 23, 2011 by

Get your full nerd/geek on in the theater with these Transformer 3-D glasses that you can use while you watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon this July.

Read more about these here at www.electronichouse.com.

While I am generally mocking them, there’s a good chance my 14 year old will be sitting next to me wearing one of these when we go to see the movie. Only way you’re getting these on me is for a large chunk of money.

Posted in Day-To-Day Geek Stuff, Entertainment, Humor, Internet Finds, Seriously?, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some Apps For Your New Verizon iPhone

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

In my previous post I gave you some tips for getting the most out of your Verizon iPhone. Now I’d like to give you a list of some of my top recommended apps. These aren’t just apps I’ve heard of, these are apps I use on a regular basis.

Productivity – GoodReader, Dropbox (BEST APP AND SERVICE, EVER!), Mobile Mouse, Bump, Evernote, Dragon Dictation

Social Networking – Facebook, TweetDeck, WordPress, Posterous, Foursquare

Photo/Video – ReelDirector, 360, AutoStitch, Lo-Mob, Camera+, Instagram, PS Express

Real Estate – My C.A.R., Walk score, Foreclosure Radar, WelcomeMat, Realtor.com, Sawbuck, Trulia, Zillow

Travel – Inrix Traffic, Southwest Airlines, WeatherBug, GateGuru, My TSA, Goby, UrbanSpoon, Kayak

Entertainment – Netflix, Hulu, Shazam, Kindle, iBooks, TED

Utilities – Sleep (alarm clock), Ringtone Pro, FindiPhone

Fitness – Lose It!, iMapMyWalk, RunKeeper

Games – Angry Birds, FlightControl, Cut the Rope, Madden NFL, AirportMania: First Flight

For all of my REALTOR® readers…

Don’t forget to check out AgentNTouch. It’s not an app for you to use, it’s one that you give to your clients and enables you to stay in front of them on the devices they use the most (also runs on Blackberries and Androids). In it you can provide your clients with access to all of your resources as well as helpful information they’ll need throughout the transaction!

Those of you who use zipForms, don’t forget you can now get access to zipForms online through your iPhone – check out this site for more information!

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Tips For Those New Verizon iPhone Users…

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

After many years of waiting iPhones are finally landing in the hands of Verizon customers who have been patiently waiting and Apple starts its march towards what they hope will be smart phone market dominance.

Analysts estimate  that on the first day of pre-orders Verizon moved over 500,000 units which broke Verizon sales records, and then the survey which is indicating that half of the 70.8 million Verizon customers (66% Blackberry/44% Android) will be moving to the iPhone at some point in time this year.

So for those that are jumping on the new Verizon iPhone train this week I thought I’d post a  some tips/recommendations that I’ve shared in the past with my fellow AT&T iPhone users.

  • Turn off the Wi-Fi connection unless you’re actually using it.
    (Settings –> Wi-Fi –> Off)
  • Don’t fully shut-off and start back up your iPhone – the whole process drains the battery
  • At least once a week let the iPhone’s battery totally drain down to the point it shuts off. Then let it run through a full re-charge cycle. You’ll find that the battery will tend to last longer as opposed to just doing short, sporadic charges. To help drain it, start a long video or stream content from Netflix if you have an account with that service.
  • Unless you absolutely HAVE TO GET EVERY E-MAIL THE INSTANT IT’S SENT, set your e-mail to pull down only when you open up the mail app.
  • If your apps start doing strange things, shut down the phone by holding the top button, until it says SLIDE TO POWER OFF. Move the slider and let it shut down. Once it’s fully shut down turn it back on by holding the top button again until it starts up.
  • iPhone not responding at all? Hold down the top button and the Home button (Circle with the square) until the iPhone does a restart sequence.
  • Can’t get a signal? Try turning off the 3G antenna. Sometimes you can get a better signal by switching to non-3G mode. (Note – This especially works in Disneyland!)

For all of my REALTOR® readers…

Now that you’ve got an iPhone check out AgentNTouch. It’s not an app for you to use, it’s one that you give to your clients and enables you to stay in front of them on the devices they use the most (also runs on Blackberries and Androids). In it you can provide your clients with access to all of your resources as well as helpful information they’ll need throughout the transaction!

Those of you who use zipForms, don’t forget you can now get access to zipForms online through your iPhone – check out this site for more information!

Tune in Thursday and I’ll share a list of some of my recommended apps!

Posted in Day-To-Day Geek Stuff, Real Estate Related, Realtor Technology, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment