Useful Apps for iPhones, iPads & Androids (Spring 2012)

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Tara Christianson

One of my favorite classes I teach is about useful Apps for iPhones, iPads and Androids.  The reason I love it so much is because it is an ever-changing landscape ~ there is always something new being released, products being improved, new things that can make your life easier.

While THIS GOOGLE DOCUMENT isn’t by any means comprehensive, and is somewhat geared toward real estate agents, I bet you’ll find several things on there that can make your life easier and/or help you in your business, no matter what it is.

That’s why they’re useful apps – they’re meant to be more helpful than Words With Friends or Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds at improving your life.  Use your apps as a tool, don’t let your apps use you!

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Where Have I Been?!

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Tara Christianson

It’s been a while since my last post – where have I been?!

Well.

I attended the NAR Conference last November in Anaheim where I saw old friends & met new, including someone extremely smart who’s been helping me in all aspects of real estate business & social media.

I attended Inman Connect New York this past January, where I got to see the launch of some exciting products which I’ll discuss more in-depth in coming weeks.

I attended RETSO (which deserves it’s own post), and had the privilege to speak with Peter Brewer to the South Carolina Association Board members about online trends.

I watched as Keller Williams unveiled new products to their eEdge, and some great new internal systems, that have been making me think about how other businesses could use some of those same systems to optimize their performance.

I started training agents about optimizing their online strategy and utilizing technology effectively in other offices besides my own.

I’ve been digging deeper than ever into my own sites – resurrecting some old, and creating some new (no, they’re not quite ready to be linked to yet!)

I continued blogging about my training at McLean Tech Blog.

Yes, I even took another digital detox ~ this time with some different lessons than last.  Yet another post…oh my, my work is cut out for me…

I trained myself on cool tools, like MacBook Air, iPad2, iPhone 4S and Apple TV. [Oh, how the wind has shifted to Apple in my world.]

I submitted a “tech vision” for my real estate office for this coming year, which I’ve been working to help them realize.

I started working with outside businesses, arranging to do some training for them remotely and onsite as well as doing some “grunt work,” to help them better accomplish their online vision.

And last, but certainly not least, I continued working with some of the best real estate clients on the planet AND some of the best tech clients on the planet!

So.  That’s where I have been! And I look forward to continuing my work here now that things have settled a bit, so please stay tuned.

 

 

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Digital Detox – What I Learned

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Tara Christianson

Today is August 14th, which means it’s the end of my self-imposed “digital detox.” 

I took notes on Evernote during it, which I’ll share, as well as my overall insights & what it’ll mean for me and my approach to/interaction with social media from now on:

Day 1:  I felt very detached from everyone the first day, but was certainly more productive.  I had to go to CNN.com and BBC.com to know what was going on in the news (Twitter is usually my resource).  Massive perk?  My phone battery lasted all day.

Day 2: Day 2 was much easier than Day 1.  It was easier to not have to twitch any time I picked up my phone.  I was very productive again, and I found it easier to concentrate more fully on things.  While I missed people, I wasn’t so nervous about being in touch with them.

Day 5: Five days is a lot of time for introspection.  However, by Day 5 I felt completely isolated – almost like I’d been abandoned.  Except for clients, I was receiving no “friendly” phone calls, no emails, and few texts.

Day 9: By Day 9, I was on a brief vacation for a family reunion.  I didn’t miss my phone & social media at all!  I was 100% more engaged with people face-to-face than I would’ve been otherwise.  Except for joking about social media, I didn’t really miss it, except wondering what a few people were doing.

Day 14 Wrap-Up:

I’m finished with my detox for now.   I have a different attitude toward social media now – I realize how much time can be lost in it, especially in constantly waiting for something to happen, and how you can lose the world around you if you’re not careful.

I have a new approach as well: I’m not keeping my social media icons handy on my phone, I’m not checking in every 5 minutes, I’ve narrowed who I follow on Twitter to narrowed lists and I’m going to do the same for Facebook.  I have a more healthy respect for my time and what I can accomplish when I’m focused.  I care less what people think.  I appreciate face-to-face interaction so much more.

Finally, I’m so grateful for these past two weeks.

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Tech Tools for Real Estate

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Tara Christianson

This post is cross-posted with what I’ve posted on the McLean Tech Blog site, so for some of you this is a repeat.  For the rest of you – these are some of the free or almost-free tools I’ve found useful to use for real estate.  Of course, this list will be added to and changed, but for now these are the primaries:

 

 

Website What does it do?
www.LinkedIn.com Professional social network
www.Facebook.com Social network with 400 million members
www.Twitter.com Micro-blogging/messaging community
www.DropBox.com Online backup and storage system
www.SugarSync.com Online backup and storage system
www.Gmail.com Unlimited email with easy search
www.Google.com/Voice Voicemail w/ email forwarding & text translation
www.Google.com/Alerts Email alerts from Google search parameters
www.GoogleMaps.com Maps (computer and handheld)
https://Adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal Find keywords for your SEO
www.YouTube.com Record and share videos
www.Firefox.com or www.Google.com/Chrome Free alternatives to Internet Explorer
www.Wordpress.com Blogging platform (see also www.wordpress.org)
www.Posterous.com Blogging platform, ideal for photos

 
www.Flickr.com Photo-publishing and sharing site (look for Creative Commons Flickr)
www.picnik.com Free online photo-editing
www.pixlr.com Free online photo-editing
www.MailChimp.com Constant Contact, but free up to a point
www.EverNote.com Take notes from anywhere, store in one place
www.postlets.com Listing posting & syndication (great for CraigsList!)
http://vyoo.it/ Make your listing mobile-friendly
http://www.techsmith.com/jing/ Screen-capture, basic video capture
http://www.eyejot.com Send quick video emails
http://www.animoto.com Create easy virtual tours
http://join.me/ Free screen-sharing
http://bit.ly or http://goo.gl URL Shorteners/Trackers
http://bridgeurl.com Combine URLS for easy sharing
http://avg.com Free Anti-Virus Protection
http://www.vso-software.fr/products/image_resizer/ Free Image Resizing
www.cutepdf.com Create .pdf files for free
http://xpenser.com/ OR http://www.mint.com/ Free expense tracking
Posted in Apps, Google, Real Estate News, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

iPad For Fun! (And not just Angry Birds)

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Tara Christianson

 

Did you know an iPad can be fun???   And that it’s not just a giant Angry Birds playing device?

(I’m sure I lost some readers right there.)

Aside from using my iPad for Real Estate, I’ve also been exploring some awesome apps that I wanted to share with y’all.  (Yes, I say y’all.  I live in Virginia.)

SHOPPING – Anyone who’s seen my shoes, knows that (online) shopping could be considered a hobby of mine.  It’s easy to keep track of what’s on sale or new with apps like    Amazon.com, ShopStyle, Target and Zappos.

READING & MOVIES & MUSIC – Three of my favorite pastimes are going to movies, listening to music and reading.  I’m rarely without music (have iPod, will travel), but having NetFlix streaming on the iPad has increased my movie viewship ten-fold.  I also get to watch for upcoming movies and see reviews with MovieFone and Flixster.  The speakers on the iPad are actually pretty decent, and I’ve found that Pandora + iPad = heaven.  When I feel a little more adventurous and musical, I fire up GarageBand and have at it.   Finally, I have my Kindle synced to my iPad…but that’s because it’s synced on everything I own.  I’m a little obsessive when it comes to books.

GAMES – I have an addiction to mahjong, so I have several apps that I can use to play that.  I also have several crossword apps.  So far, I’ve resisted Words With Friends, but I don’t know how long I’ll hold out.

SPORTS – I’m a sports fan.  Pretty much any sport, short of cricket, is fascinating to me.  I haven’t delved into the wide world of Sports Apps, but so far have acquired NBC Sports Talk, NFL ’11, ScoreCenterXL and SportsTap to stay on top of things.

NEWS – I have difficulty watching TV news, so I usually rely on BBC News, Newsy and NPR for current events.  For fun, I love The Onion.  I also check out Mashable and Engadget for tech news, and check out the articles on the Entrepreneur magazine app.  By far, my favorite thing to do is watch the TED talks.  They’re amazing!

MISCELLANEOUS – My husband and I coordinate our grocery shopping (OK, his grocery shopping) with OurGroceries, which syncs across Apple & Android platforms, as well as gives you desktop access.  USAA, my bank, has one of the best (and easiest!) iPad apps I’ve ever seen.  They could teach other companies a thing or two.  While I haven’t integrated this fully into my business yet, I see a lot of promise with Qwiki which has transformed wikis.   Finally, there’s Planets.  If you have kids, or you’re a kid at heart, this is crazy-fascinating app ~ see the constellations/heavenly bodies  in 2D or 3D or check out the globe.  Amazing!

That’s what I’ve discovered so far.  Although I don’t really like the camera on the iPad, there are a few photo apps I’m playing with.  I haven’t used FaceTime yet and taking video hasn’t been too impressive, but maybe there’s something out there I don’t know about?  Let me know!

 

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iPad For Real Estate

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Tara Christianson

Earlier this year, I taught an “iPad for Real Estate” class for my office.  At the time, I didn’t even own an iPad! 

Two weeks later, I was in possession of my new iPad2, and eager to download the apps I’d talked about.  I’ve enjoyed owning an iPad for several months now, primarily because I can now say with more determination what I do and don’t use for real estate.  And then?  There’s the ones I use for fun too!

All of my email is Gmail, but my primary account (HomesWithTLC) is connected with most of my other email addresses, so that’s the first thing I hooked up.  Then, I made sure my Google Calendar was set up.  These can be done by going to the Settings App, and choosing “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” and integrating your accounts.  Next, I made sure to download my Google Voice app as it’s indispensable to me.  Sadly, Google Voice doesn’t have an iPad app yet, so mine renders for iPhone.   Now, I know there are apps like GV Connect and GV Mobile, but I haven’t explored those yet.

Next, I wanted to change my browser since I’m usually using Chrome or Firefox (and not Safari).  I’m sure Safari is wonderful, but I’ve been very happy with the Terra browser.  Perhaps I’m name-biased?

Now for the elephant in the room.  No, not Evernote.  (Though that’s downloaded too.)

FLASH.

Yes, I said it.  The word that all Apple users have come to fear.  Well, never fear, because there are ways around it, and one of those ways is called “iSwifter.”  This little app allows you to browse Flash video sites or play Flash games.  It used to be free, but as we all know, nothing is free forever.  It seems that iSwifter is now on a subscription basis – $2.99 per month for the Flash Web Browser & $4.99 per month for the Social & MMO Games Browser.  You’ll have to decide if it’s worth it to you, but I have found it to be a nifty workaround.

Once those were set up, I decided on the apps I would use for my Facebook and Twitter accounts.  So far, I’ve been very happy with the Friendly app for Facebook, and the Twitterrific app for Twitter.  From time to time, I also use Flipboard, but I consider it more fun than useful.

Finally, Real Estate and things I do/use for real estate:

  • Zillow – Great for seeing what’s around you, and how long it’s been on Zillow (so you know what buyers & sellers are seeing when you talk to them)
  • Trulia – Can’t have one without the other…see above
  • Realtor.com – My favorite!  You can find homes for sale, for rent and open houses around you based on your current location, save listings, and have one some of the BEST map search tools around.  This app is great to use with Buyers, especially if you’re in the car.
  • OpenHomePro – Great tool for lead capture at Open Houses.
  • DocuSign – I’m currently signed up with DocuSign, although I’m learning the DotLoop product in conjunction with KW’s eEdge system.  Allows me access to documents for quick eSignatures.  Imagine!  No paperwork!
  • Keynote & Prezi Viewer – Both of these are great for creating Listing Presentations & Buyer Presentations that are a little outside the box.  Be aware – Keynote is more traditional than Prezi
  • neu.Annotate – Allows you to mark up .pdf documents…helpful when you’re trying to decide about plans, room staging or even just the wording of a document
  • GoodReader – So far, I’ve used this the most to browse to websites with my listings on them and display the listings (or my websites) to potential listing clients
  • Notes Plus & 2Do – Task lists and note-taking on a whole new level.  2Do is a task list on steroids, and Notes Plus even allows you to write normally (using a stylus)
  • BlogPress – If you’re a blogger, this is a great way to access and manage your blogs in one place

So…that’s what I’m using so far for the business!  I’m sure there’s much more out there, and I’ll be happy to share it once I’ve delved a little deeper, but that’s what I’ve found I use the most.

Would love to hear what you’ve found that you use the most!

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Never Say Never

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Tara Christianson

I once said I’d NEVER HAVE PLASTIC SURGERY.  Never say never.

First step?  Facelift of this site.  It was once a once-in-a-while tech blog for me, while I figured the rest of my life out.

And then?  RAPTURE!

Kidding.

More like a revelation…I could be a full-time REALTOR (which I enjoy) and help guide other people in real estate through this crazy rabbit-hole we call technology.

So, skim the surface or delve deep.  More content will be added as the days progress.  In the meantime, thanks for stopping by as I venture forth on a new adventure!

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If I Could Only Remember…A Story about EverNote

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Tara Christianson

My friend Derek Massey already wrote about this, but he’s a left brainer & I’m a right brainer so I thought I’d talk about why I have grown to live and love Evernote.

Derek is very into systems and folders and files and being hyper-organized.

In short, I am not.

I have about 700 random thoughts in one day and would like to keep track of them instead of creating .txt after .txt or .doc after .doc and dropping them in my To Do folder in Dropbox.

I was very reluctantly coaxed into using Evernote after complaining that I lose emails in my Gmail inboxes (this was before my ascent and triumph over Mount Inboxes – 5 in all) that were my reminders to do “stuff,” and after I failed at Google Tasks.  (Remarkable insight – If you fail to add an email to the Task List, it won’t be there.)  Then I resorted to the tried-and-true method of affixing Post-It notes in my DayTimer, which only resulted in my DayTimer looking like an ugly, rainbow-colored quinceanera dress.  Also, I lost several of those notes, and am only now recovering their dirty, torn remains from the underside of my car’s floormats.  Clearly, I needed an intervention.

Enter Evernote.

First, I downloaded Evernote to my desktop.   This was fabulous for keeping track of random ideas when I have 18 tabs open on 3 browsers as I sometimes do.  [Side note: I've heard Mac users have even niftier features, which if true increases my Mac envy.]  However, even the most lazy of real estate agents has to escape their computer at some point.

So, yes.  I went mobile.  And yes, Virginia, there is an Evernote app for that.

With relative ease, I downloaded and enabled the Evernote app on my HTC Android Incredible.  What do I use it for?  Well, when I walk the dog, I think of random snippets of things or that really, super-important thing I was supposed to do ASAP and which I will most certainly forget in the next 30 minutes.  But now, I can leave myself voice reminders to do things.  This is also handy for when you’re in the car – especially when stuck in the infamous NoVA/DC traffic – and want to “write” a blog post or a reply letter to someone.  I can also take snapshots of things, or attach pictures/audio/video to notes as supplements to what I’m creating.  Finally, I take notes.  Lots and lots of notes.  Anything from grocery lists to “you MUST do this today to emailing myself really interesting blog posts that I want to read later.

The glory is I can search what I’ve recorded to my heart’s content, whether I’m on my home laptop, online remotely (using Evernote.com web login), on my work laptop or on my phone, because everything is synced.  I can even be more anal, like my friend Mr. Massey, and tag my notes and/or arrange them into different notebooks so the content is even easier to find.  (Note: I’m not there yet.)  So now I have no more excuses, at least when it comes to remembering things.

Evernote.  Electronic Post-Its on steroids, and I’m never looking back.

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Tantalizing Tech – 2010

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Tara Christianson

I’ve already talked about Dropbox and about my Droid, but there was other tantalizing tech that titillated in 2010.  A few of the most notable include:

(1) Evernote

(2) Floor Plan Online & Toor.me

(3) Postlets/Vyoo.it

(4) Even More Google Goodness (Goo.gl, Google Maps w/Foreclosures, Wonder Wheel)

(5) Posterous

Being the tease I am, however, I’ll address each one of these in-depth in separate blog posts, the first to arrive Jan 6th.

‘Til then, keep learning!

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