Realty World Northern California & Nevada

What a simple and straightforward idea and after testing one search query I find myself asking “how did we ever search before without this?”

I absolutely love Google’s newest features of their search engine. Now when you type in your search queries results will begin to appear below showing you interactive and immediate feedback.

There are many obvious benefits with probably the primary one being the time saved. Google claims that Google Instant will save the average searcher two to five seconds per search and although that doesn’t seem like much, it all adds up.

The new features include:

• Dynamic Results – Relevant search results are displayed as you type
• Predictions – Google Instant predicts the rest of the query (in light gray text) before you finish typing
• Scroll to search – Scroll through predictions and see results by pressing the down arrow key

Google Instant is currently available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and IE8 browsers and will be coming to mobile users later this Fall. You currently need to have a Google account and be logged in in order to see it. If for some reason you prefer to turn off Google Instant, you can go to your preferences page and disable Google Instant.

Google announced on Wednesday of an integration with Google Voice into Gmail. What exactly does this mean?

First it’s important that everyone be familiar with Google Voice and it’s features. Google Voice launched over a year ago as a beta program which was only available on an invitation only basis. On June 22, 2010 Google opened the doors for everyone to signup for Google Voice and provided a phone number which can be configured to ring all of your phones at once, whether it be your home, office, cell, etc. You can setup calls to forward to some or all of your phones and with restrictions given the time of day or day of week or groupings of contacts. You can even block calls from specific numbers.

The voicemail configuration is full featured and allows you setup and save multiple recordings for different contact groups. Think of the advantages and possibilities this enables. You can setup a greeting for your friends to hear that may be in a friendly or relaxed tone and a different greeting for family members, all while having a professional greeting for business contacts and unknown callers. In addition, you can have your voicemails sent to you email as an attachment and you can even have your voicemails transcribed to SMS text messages.

Google Voice offers call a screening feature which can require callers to announce their name and lets you listen as the caller leaves a message. There is also a “Do Not Disturb” feature where you can set the number of hours for the “Do Not Disturb” status it to last for.

Lastly, Google Voice offers a call widget that you can place on your website or blog. You can setup the widget to call you at any or all of your phones, have a custom greeting set and you can set call screening as well.

So far everything sounds great. You get a telephone number and a ton of options for inbound phone calls… but what about outbound calls?

Outbound calls can be made in several different ways. The first way is from your mobile phone. Android and BlackBerry phones can download an application from http://m.google.com/voice while iPhone, Palm WebOS, Nokia S60, and Windows phones will have to open a web browser and go to http://m.google.com/voice. I tested using my iPhone and after entering in my login information I was taken to a keypad dial as the main screen. Enter in a number and hit “Call” and I was prompted to accept the dialing of a different number. This different number is how Google connects my call to the number I originally dialed and sends my Google Voice number as the caller id to the person I am trying to get a hold of. After clicking the call “Call” button my call was connected and the person I called saw my Google Voice number as the caller id.

The next way to dial numbers using Google Voice is new with yesterday’s announcement of Google Voice integration with Gmail. As of yesterday, my Gmail now has an option labeled “Call phone” directly below my Google Chat status. After clicking this new item a phone keypad pops up and allows me to search for names or numbers in my contacts or the number directly. Using this method requires you to have on your laptop, or computer, a microphone and speakers. The call gets connected using your computer’s Internet connection. This is very similar to numerous other services, Skype being one of the largest names out there. However, Google Voice differs in that Google Voice is free to call not just other Google Voice subscribers but to any number in the US and Canada. In addition to free calls, Google Voice allows for text SMS messages to be sent and received at no cost as well.

How popular was Google Voice integration with Gmail on its first day of launch? According to a tweet from Google, users seem to love it and more than one millions calls were placed in the first day. Not too bad!

Following are some videos that go over the features. I hope you enjoy!

Facebook joins the so-called “location war” with the launch of Facebook Places. Places is currently available for Apple iPhone users (with the newest version of the Facebook App) and mobile users accessing touch.facebook.com and allows users to “check in” using their mobile phones to inform friends of where they are. In addition to checking in their own location, users will be able to “tag” friends that are with them as well. Users will also be able to see if any friends have chosen to check in nearby.

Places is currently rolling out to all US users. However, when I first downloaded the iPhone App it appeared as if this new “feature” was not fully ready and available. The new icon “Places” appeared in the app and after clicking on it only to display a message stating “This feature will be available in your region soon.”

By the time I was done writing this article it appears as if Places became available for me to access. Following are some screen shots of the iPhone App.

Places is looked to be picked up by younger and socially active individuals. Maybe someone is at a bar or restaurant and that person checks in with Places and views if anyone else is nearby. Communication can then ensue to meet up. You can also leave comments with your check ins. Maybe it is positive comments about a restaurants food or service. Places will also allow users to identify hot spots in their area and new area to check out.

With all of the geolocation services in the news recently and the rising concern of privacy, is Facebook Places something to be concerned with?

Facebook has made a solid attempt to alleviate concerns of privacy by adding privacy settings and setting up the default setting with a fairly conservative approach. By default, if you are a Facebook user, Places will have very minimal impact to you. First of all, a user would need to initiate an action of "check in" for Facebook (and users) to see where you are. So Facebook is not looking at where you are and posting it without your knowledge.

There are several several new privacy settings for Places. The first new privacy settings is under the section "Things I share" and it is called "Places I check in." By default this setting is set to "Friends Only" which means that only your "friends" will be able to check in and see where you are. If you would like to have more privacy, change that setting to "Customize" and either specify which of your friends or groups can, or can't, see where you check in.

The second new setting is "Include me in 'People Here Now' after I check in." This setting lets others at the same spot know that you are there. It is important to know that the people who see this may not necessarily be just your friends seeing this list. By default this setting is disabled which means that in order for your friends, and others, to see you in the list of people nearby to them you would need to enable this setting.

The third new setting is under the "Things others share" section and is called "Friends can check me in to Places." By default this setting is not set and displays "Select one" in the drop down list. It is important to know that the first time a friend tags you through Places, you will receive a notification on Facebook and you will be given the choice to allow your friends to check you in to places or not. When your friends check you in, it is as if you have checked in at that place yourself. You also will appear checked-in to your friends. If you don't allow friends to check you in, then when they tag you at a place, your name will appear in the same way it appears in a tagged status update. You will not appear checked in at that place. Similar to photo tagging, you have the ability to remove yourself from Places check-in or tag.

The last privacy option is a bit tucked away and is listed under the "Application and Websites" section under "Privacy Settings." Click on "Edit your settings" and click on "Edit Settings" next to "Info accessible through your friends." The new settings is labeled "Places I've Visited" and by default is checked. This means that the Places you have checked in will be available to applications, games and websites when your friends use them. To disable this setting uncheck the setting.

Creating friends lists and why it is recommended

One final topic regarding privacy that many Facebook users don’t know is that you can create a list to organize your friends. Some suggestions for lists would be one for family, one for friends, and one for business. I’ve heard from some users that they have two separate Facebook accounts setup, one for personal use and the other for business use. I feel that not only is that incredibly difficult to manage, it really isn’t necessary. After you have these lists setup, you can modify your privacy settings to allow certain lists to see some things and other lists not to see other things. So for example you can modify your privacy settings so that photos and video that you are tagged in (which sometimes can be a bit embarrassing!) are excluded from “friends” listed under your business list to view.

I hope this helps!

On a PC there is a key sometimes labeled “Print Scrn,” “Prt Src,” “Prt Scn,” “Prt Sc” or “Prtsc” and is usually located on the upper right hand side of the keyboard. Regardless to the various abbreviations PC manufacturers use, they all stand for “Print Screen.”

The two most common questions or comments about print screens are:

1. What is a “print screen” and what does it do?
2. Why is it when I push the key on the keyboard nothing happens?

A print screen is where the computer’s operating system captures (in an image format) all of the items and open windows that appear on the computer’s screen(s). In Microsoft Windows, pressing print screen will copy this image to the clipboard. This captured image in the clipboard can be pasted in an editing program such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, or an image editing software. The pasted image is known as a “screen shot.”

In cases where you have more than one monitor setup, a print screen will capture the contents from both screens. In Microsoft Windows, pressing the “alt” key in combination with the print screen key will capture only the currently selected, or active window. This is ideally done when you want to only take a screen shot of a particular application or window, as opposed to all of the windows and applications that you have open and visible desktop items.

On a Mac there is no print screen key on the keyboard. Mac users can do a print screen and create screen shots by pressing combinations of the “Command,” “Shift,” “Control,” and either the number “3″ or the number “4.”

For an operating system that is supposed to be more “user friendly” it sure sounds more complicated to me. However, after a short while multiple times looking up the sequences, it begins to become second nature. Following are the default keys required to do print screens or screen shots:

• Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screen shot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
• Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the clipboard
• Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screen shot of a window and save it as a file on the clipboard

On a Mac you can change and disable the ability to do any of the combinations listed above and change the default keys to creating print screens or screen shots. Additionally, I like the ability to create screen shots based on an area that you select using your mouse so it can be just a portion inside of a window. That particular feature comes in handy and is probably what I use the most.

Over the years, the cost for digital cameras have come down and the quality of digital cameras have gone up. An almost ideal scenario. I say “almost” because for those of you who have purchased a reasonably priced digital camera in the last year or two probably have a digital camera that takes nice pictures (which is great) but the image file sizes have become very large, which is not so great.

To put into perspective, you can find on buy.com a 7.2MP camera for $55.99 with free shipping. Most people believe that the higher the number next to “MP” or “megapixel” value, the higher the quality of the pictures taken and that is not always the case. The “quality” of a picture is primarily determined from the quality of the camera’s digital sensor and the optical quality of the camera lens. The megapixel count primarily determines how large you will be able to print the picture. In addition, printing of pictures is very different from how large a picture will look on a computer screen. On most peoples’ computers a 2MP image will fill their screen completely and can produce a 4″ x 6″ print. A 3MP image will be twice as large as their screen and can produce a 5″ x 7″ print. A 5MP image would be 2.5 times as large as their screen and can produce a 8″ x 10″ print. What this means is the 7.2MP camera I described above for $55.99 with free shipping can produce extremely large images on the screen and can produce a 11″ x 14″ print.
Please note: I have not reviewed this particular camera for quality, durability, functionality, warranty, or price.

Most of us never print pictures using specific high quality photo paper on a photo printer with the intention of framing it and hanging it on a wall. Most of us use our digital cameras and take pictures with the intention of viewing them on a computer screen, uploading to the MLS or to another website, sending to friends by email, or posting to Facebook. Since all of these are based on viewing on a computer screen a 2MP image would more than suffice for this and chances are when you email a handful of photos to someone they didn’t receive it because the pictures were too large or maybe they requested for you not to send such large photos because they have to scroll left to right and up and down to view the entire image.

There is an EASY way to resize multiples images at one time. Depending on which version of Microsoft Windows you have on your computer, there are two options for you to select from.

For Windows XP users, you will need to download and install the Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP which is located at the bottom of the page.

For Windows 2000, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 users, you will need to download and install the Image Resizer Powertoy Clone.

After downloading and installing the correct version for you, open up the folder where you have images that you would like to resize. Select as many images as you would like to resize and then right click with your mouse and select the option “Resize Pictures.”

You will be then prompted with options for various sizes. I suggest using the “Small” option which will almost completely fill most people’s computer screens, or the “Medium” option which would more than fill most peoples’ computer screens.

There are two additional options for “Make pictures smaller but not larger” which is a safe option to select. If for some reason your picture was smaller than the size you selected, you would not want to increase the image size because it would heavily degrade the image quality. The last option is “Resize the original pictures (don’t create copies)” which is pretty self-explanatory and purely your preference.

After you hit “OK” the images will either replace (if you selected to resize the originals) or will create duplicate images (with the name of the size selected added into the file name).

My actual testing of an image I took with my digital camera took an original file size of 3,162 KB down to 200 KB (using the Medium setting) and 109 KB (using the Small setting). Sending this photo to someone will be much faster and I will not have to worry about hitting an email attachment size limit. Additionally, some websites have size limitations for image uploading which also will not be a problem.

Verizon Wireless’ Droid 2 officially launches August 12th. It is currently available for pre-order today. This is a very exciting time for the cell phone market and especially for Droid fans out there. The Droid 2 ships out with Android 2.2, nicknamed “Froyo,” and comes with a rather large performance upgrade from the original Droid.

Following are a few of the performance updates compared to the Droid:

• Increased memory from 256MB to 512MB
• On-board storage increased from 256MB to 8GB, expandable to 32GB
• Updated processor from 550MHz to 1Ghz
• Video recording from 720×480, 24fps to 720×480, 30fps
• Battery life talk time extended from 6.4 hours to 9.6 hours
• Battery life standby extended from 11.3 days to 13.1 days

The Droid 2 has a 3.7″ TouchScreen with a display resolution of 854×480 and has a 5MP camera. The Droid 2, like the Droid X, includes support for Wi-Fi hotspot functionality. However, it requires an extra $20.00 per month. The Droid 2 sports revised QWERTY keyboard with raised keys that are designed to increase the speed of your typing. I am interested to hear if this does in fact help in typing speed.

If you have more thane one computer (including a smartphone) keeping track of all files can be a hassle with having to copy files across from one computer to another using any combination of USB flash drives, portable backup drives, burning data DVDs, iTunes, etc. Dropbox is a single secure place for all of your files to be organized, managed, shared, and synchronized.

With Dropbox anything you put in your “Dropbox” folder (including folder and file names) gets copied over to all computers. In addition you can go online from any computer’s website browser to access files using your email address and password for your Dropbox account.

Instead of having to email a bunch of photos of a property or multiple properties, you can create a folder for someone to view. You can email out the link and once they click on it they can view all of the images in a nice full screen viewer.

Sharing of documents is very easy to do. From your computer’s Dropbox folder you can right click on a particular folder and go to the Dropbox menu and click “Share this folder.” That will launch the specific sharing options for that folder in a browser where you can enter in recipient email addresses and optionally send a message. When the person receives the email it will contain a link and your message and will open up their web browser. Viewing the folder contents of private documents (non-public documents) does require them to create a Dropbox account (if they don’t have one already).

Once they have logged in or created their account they can view and download the documents in the folder. You can revoke anyone’s permission to view the contents of the folder by going to your Dropbox account online and clicking into the desired folder and click on “Shared folder options” where you will be displayed who has access and you will have the option to remove their access.

An optional way to share files with people who do not wish to create a Dropbox account is to add the files into your “Public” folder. Your “Public” folder is exactly like other folders only it will not require users to have or create a Dropbox account but it’s open to the world to view the contents so be careful what you put in there.

If you are interested in signing up for a Dropbox account Click Here and you and I will both receive a 250MB bonus of space, on top of the already free 2GB that comes free with a standard Dropbox account. Larger storage size is available at monthly fees.

We’ve all done our own Google searches and seen the mini-bubble that pops up with the “more info” link. After clicking on it you see just what you would want to see. Hours of operation, local transit, menus of restaurants, Street View previews, online reviews, etc. But how does this all get there?

Google Place Pages for Google Maps was launched in September of 2009 giving a webpage for more than 50 millions places around the world including, restaurants, businesses, points of interests, transit stations, neighborhoods, landmarks, and cities all over the world. By April of 2010 over 4 million businesses had already claimed their Place Page through the Google Local Business Center. In April 2010 Google renamed the Local Business Center to Google Places.

Claiming your listing on Google Places is a breeze. Start by going to http://www.google.com/places and fill out your business’ information including company name, address, phone numbers, etc. Google then checks their system if they already have your listing in their system and allows you to “claim” that existing listing or create a new one. So long as the name and address is the same, just claim the listing so you don’t create a duplicate listing.

Once you have claimed the listing you can correct anything that is not accurate as well as add detailed information including specifying hours of operation, adding of photos, adding of video, plus additional details that you want to add such as parking availability or specialties.

Google requires you to validate that the listing you claimed or added is in fact yours and requires validation by phone or by postcard which contains a unique identification number and activation instructions.

All of this is FREE for all business owners.

For $25 a month Google offers a way to make your listing stand out with Google Tags. Tags are yellow markers that allow you to promote important aspects of your business. Tags do not affect the rank of search results; they simply add more information when someone is searching. Google is also offering a 30 day trial of Google Tags as well.

So, have you claimed your listing in Google Places?

Apple released the Magic Trackpad which is utilizing a very similar design, shape, styling and technology as the new MacBook Pro trackpad. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology which supports a full set of gestures allowing more flexibility with interaction with of what is on your screen and swiping across the trackpad for picture, page, and browser control. The fluid, consistent, and ease of control for scrolling is one of the best features in my mind with the new trackpad.

The surface of the Magic Trackpad is 80% larger than the built-in trackpad on the MacBook Pro, which is already very large for a trackpad, giving a very smooth user experience. The surface is made with a smooth, wear-resistant glass that feels great to the touch. Because the entire surface of the Magic Trackpad is a button, you can click on objects just as you would using a traditional mouse.

For those of you out there that have the Apple Wireless Keyboard (click here for the review) the Apple Magic Trackpad is designed at the same height and angle so you can go from the keyboard to trackpad in one seamless motion.

Connectivity to the Apple Magic Trackpad is done using Bluetooth technology providing a cable-free and uncluttered environment. The Bluetooth connection provides a secure connection from your computer to the trackpad to upwards of 30 feet which is a huge plus, especially when in use during a presentation.

The Apple Magic Trackpad is designed for use with a Mac. A software update was released for a driver update to enable inertia scrolling and three-finger dragging. This three-finger dragging is a unique gesture which enables users to drag windows around quickly. Two-finger gestures are supported including two-finger scrolling, pinch to zoom, and rotate. Invoking of Expose and switching between applications as in the notebook multi-touch trackpads are also available.

When connecting the Apple Magic Trackpad to a Windows 7 laptop with Bluetooth, Windows 7 recognized the Apple Magic Trackpad as a mouse device instead of a trackpad so movement and button action of the trackpad was recognized. However, two-finger scrolling was not available.

In the wake of attending the Inman Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco this month, I have digested the wealth of discussions concerning the latest technologies, and the future expectation of the real estate industry.

The overall theme of the event focus was based on innovation, hyper-localism, and market recovery. With the newest buzz being placed on the infamous Developers Challenge boasting “geo-mapping” tools for mobile devices, one click data to video, and dynamic call routing provided by new comers like RealtyVoyager.com, and Stupeflix.com. They are never short of originality in naming their companies that’s for certain.

The common theme in every session I attended was certainly focused around the ability of an agent to leverage their knowledge within the community using all of these “viral” tools, and social media platforms to position the agent as the utmost local real estate expert. Encouraging today’s agents to focus their marketing efforts on the communities in which they live and work every day, as opposed to trying to capture a much larger audience.  With the advancement of the internet and the mass popularity of social media, there is still one thing that will always prevail…personal touch, professionalism, and knowing your community. There is no substitute for the personal interface you can have with clients to win their future business, and the referrals that will follow. Mastering the advantages of online marketing and social media is definitely a must in today’s market place. However, is entirely meant to compliment your best practices as a real estate professional.

There is a digital cornucopia of cool web tools, and widgets to convey an instant sense of credibility to your audience through your web presence. Although you must be able to put your media where your mouth is and provide the excellent customer service that you advertise through all of this great technology. The internet continues to provide a phenomenal vehicle to drive your message home,  and be the expert consumers all hope you are when you meet face to face.