technology: Before I buy something new, I’m going to TRY to learn about and use the stuff I already have!
- 12/14/10 12:41 AM
Like most real estate brokers, I am bombarded with daily phone calls from salespeople with the latest and greatest way for me to expand my business. If I have the time, I usually listen to the spiel.
As it turns out, in many cases I already have the capability in place that does a lot of things that the new product in question promises, yet I haven’t fully implemented all of the functionality of the systems that I already have at my disposal.
Many times, a would-be salesperson refers to specific features that I didn’t even know I had! In … (22 comments)
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technology: Taking control of our own destinies has more meaning today than ever before in history!
- 12/12/10 12:31 AM
We live in an age of marvels! The technological infrastructure that has infiltrated nearly every aspect of human intervention has freed us from the fetters of anonymity!
Notoriety is no longer a function of opportunity. The ability to seize the moment is open to anyone that chooses to take advantage of the universal soapbox!
The etymology of the word “broadcast” has evolved from tightly controlled programming to a virtual free-for-all in which anyone can instantaneously blast content through the digital realm.
We all have the ability to control our own destinies.
If we are ready and willing to do so!
… (16 comments)
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technology: The price of technology sometimes is paid in more than dollars.
- 10/27/10 01:31 AM
There is one particular spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway that I often revisit in the fall in order to take a photo.
I don’t find the exact spot year after year by using GPS coordinates or by reading a mile marker. Instead, I know I’m in the right place by noticing a specific sequence of trees sporting their Autumn colors!
Appropriately enough, the 2010 digital photo on the right has something in it that is missing from the 1990 film photo below.
If you look very closely, there is a cell phone tower in the most recent photo that wasn’t … (25 comments)
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technology: Dealing with obsolescence in a digital world!
- 10/14/10 01:18 AM
If there is one downside to the exponential growth of technology, it is the fact that many devices that we purchase for our business today will become obsolete in two or three years.
Computers, software, digital cameras and phones the are the latest and greatest today, will be relegated to the scrap heap of antiquity at just about the same time as the user become familiar with all of the operational features.
There are times when our “need for speed” collides with long hold times on tech support lines. The ever steepening learning curve is taking more … (43 comments)
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technology: Digital photographs and archeology. Will current technology pass the test of time?
- 07/01/10 12:48 AM
If there is one thing that has always troubled me about digital photography, it is that most of the trillions of virtual images in existence today are fettered by the electronic shackles of contemporary computer code.
And since technology changes faster than an unleashed puppy runs, it will only be a fewas years before many digital formats and protocols are abandoned, and the photographs associated with them will be orphaned.
Photographs that were meticulously fixed to glass plates over 150 years ago survive to this day as real images, needing no more interpretation than average eyesight and cognitive thought processes.
But … (20 comments)
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technology: There are some days when I wish that the Internet would just go away … for good!
- 05/24/10 01:01 AM
There is an ever-increasing segment of the population that has no concept of what life was life before the advent of the Internet. And my guess is that about half of the people in business today have never worked in an Internet-less environment.
They have never heard the words “Mimeograph” or “Carbon Paper” although the term “CC” lives on in email nomenclature if not in realty!
And for whatever reason, parents seem intent on getting their offspring wired and connected at the time of weaning, with an eye towards attaining a competitive edge over the other three year olds.
Gone … (34 comments)
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technology: Sometimes relying too much on technology can lead you down the wrong road!
- 03/21/10 11:45 AM
I went to photograph a HUD home today in an area that was not familiar to me. But I felt confident in my ability to locate the property, because I had my trusty GPS navigational device on board.
I knew that the house was in a remote area, but I was surprised when the pavement ended on the road that I was traveling for the first time and with seven miles remaining to the property.
Then, things took a horrible turn …literally! I was directed through an area that had just been logged, and the road was rutted, pitted, rocky, flooded … (28 comments)
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technology: Technology and the Olympics. A lot can happen in four years!
- 02/14/10 11:01 PM
There something special about a quadrennial event. There’s the constant aura of “it’s now or never” that drives participants to their highest level of performance. After all, four years is a relatively long time in a young person’s life.
What is even more interesting is the overall change in technology that coincides with these cyclical events. During the last Winter Games in Italy, the fabric of the World Wide Web was woven quite differently. Static web pages were the norm, and Facebook was not yet open to everyone and Twitter did not even exist.
Social networking was in its infancy in … (19 comments)
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technology: When is it time to "pull the plug?" It's hard to watch an old friend die slowly over a long period of time.
- 01/14/10 10:59 PM
It doesn't happen all at once. At some point, you start to notice that things are a little bit different and a lot less robust. It takes longer and longer to perform even the simplest of tasks.
Sometimes a loss of memory or a vital element leads to a sudden and catastrophic failure, but more likely the decline will be over a long period of time. It is painful to watch.
And despite our best efforts at resuscitation, the day comes when it's time to pull the plug on our old and dear friend. In the end, it's really the best … (34 comments)
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technology: In the early 1970’s, we had a dream. And now that it has come true, I wonder if it has become a nightmare.
- 12/14/09 11:07 PM
In 1971, at 4 A.M. in the morning, I was working on a keypunch machine in the bowels of the Computer Science Building at Carnegie-Mellon University. It was a tedious process to write a computer program, as each punch card carried only a single line of code.
After the finished cards were entered into the reader, there would be a long delay as the mammoth IBM 360 labored under the workload of jobs awaiting execution. During that idle time, discussions naturally ensued among the students watching the lone line printer and waiting to see the finished product of their efforts.
… (57 comments)
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technology: I purchased some new technology today with a new attitude towards price and longevity!
- 11/29/09 12:30 PM
I purchased a new computer today that basically has everything I need. Dual-core processor, large hard drive, 4 MB RAM, card readers and DVD writer. It even has a built in webcam and Windows 7.
And I paid $400 for it. This is a dramatic change for me. I typically purchase high end products with all of the bells and whistles and pay about two grand for the privilege.
But it seems that an expensive computer is as likely to fail as a value computer, so this time I opted to purchase a computer that by any standard is still head … (20 comments)
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technology: Is it possible in a technological age to really have a "day of rest?"
- 11/28/09 11:15 PM
Technology is both a blessing and a curse. Thanks to the Internet and a plethora of marvelous devices, we have the ability to "stay in touch" at all hours of the day and night.
And even though we may not have an appointment scheduled, there are still many tasks that have to be addressed on a daily basis. "Quiet time" generally involves working on the web, answering emails, or following up on leads.
And when we're not working, we are learning. We are reading and studying about new ways to increase our businesses or to make our jobs more efficient.
I … (30 comments)
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technology: There is an underlying simplicity to life that is often overlooked. Is more always better?
- 10/25/09 12:13 AM
You hear this all the time: “Life sure is complicated these days.” And quite frankly, it’s true. When I was a young lad growing up in the 1950’s, we weren’t bothered by anything more technological that the three channels of television that were available. Our “remote control” was mom or dad asking one of us to flip the “dial” to another station. I can still hear the click, click, click of the selector. One of the earliest “innovations” that I can remember is the transistor radio. It amazed people that you could actually hold a radio in your hands and take … (23 comments)
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technology: With apologies to Mark Twain, the reports of death of the real estate brokerage industry are highly exaggerated.
- 10/20/09 12:36 AM
No one will argue that the Internet has changed the way that consumers do business. The free flow of information has dramatically affected the way that properties are exposed to the buying public, as well as a plethora of advice about the nuts and bolts of a real estate transaction.
Anyone can sell their own property. They always could, there's nothing new about that. But there is one reality that will never change and that is this:
People often pay to have something done that they could do themselves. There are many times when it is more efficient, convenient, or even … (42 comments)
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technology: Sometimes old technology still works, but it has had its day and it isn't needed anymore.
- 06/03/09 11:50 AM
When I was a lad, I loved trains. My brothers and I would go to the park down the street that bordered the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. We would find a good spot to watch the trains go by.
We would wave to the engineer in the front, and then waited for the end of the train and the caboose. On a good day we would get a friendly wave from the conductor riding in the steel shanty at the rear of the train.
Every freight train ended with a caboose. It was always the last car, and it carried the conductor … (24 comments)
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technology: Being the go-to guy is a lot of responsibility, but it's kind of cool too. That is, as long as you remember to do EVERYTHING!
- 05/06/09 12:00 AM
A few days ago, I wrote a post about our office moving to a new location. And do be honest, and as probably expected by anyone in these circumstances, it did not happen without a few unexpected occurrences that made the relocation less than trouble free.
In the real estate business, you can step around boxes and cartons and mountains of excess paraphernalia with no place to go, and you can work around misplaced and oversized furniture.
But what you can't live without is technology! The real estate business depends on it in so many ways that sometimes; you can't even … (27 comments)
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technology: Technology can make a bad situation better, and that's a good thing!
- 02/01/09 01:14 PM
I'm sitting in the waiting room at the Piedmont Fayette Hospital, waiting for word on my mother-in-law's condition. We brought her to the emergency room because called and said that she wasn't feeling good, and when we got to her house, we decided that she needed to see a doctor.
So we drove her over to the emergency room, and as you might expect on a Sunday afternoon, the place is packed.
It used to be that you just sit around and waited and waited and waited. But no more!
With my laptop and public Wi-Fi, I can conduct "business as … (22 comments)
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technology: The metamorphosis of fantasy to reality ... but when is the reality check coming?
- 01/23/09 11:54 PM
When I was a lad, I read science fiction novels that were set in a future rife with marvelous technologies mined from the deepest recesses of creative artist's imaginations. The boundaries of space and time were not hindered by physical realities, but only by the reader's own limitations on what might actually be possible after given years to create and develop.
I remember showing my mother an advertisement in a magazine that claimed that an oven powered by microwaves could fry crisp bacon in ninety seconds. Mother laughed, and said it was just a gimmick to steal people's money, because such a … (64 comments)
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technology: Withstanding the test of time ... technology and longevity often collide.
- 01/04/09 10:48 PM
In a world rife with the demands of instant gratification and despite the fact that many are jumping on the latest bandwagon to possess each and every technological fad, there is one underlying principle that is over overlooked:
Will that new piece of technology withstand the test of time? For example, the covered bridge in this photo was built in the 1840's, and has survived at least two floods up to the roof level. It is still in daily use today, The photo was taken on Saturday, January 3 2009.
At the time it was constructed, the technology was state-of-the-art, and … (30 comments)
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technology: Kids and computers ... how smart are they ... really?
- 02/25/08 06:23 AM
"People try to put us down (Talkin' 'bout my Generation)
Just becuz we get around (Talkin' 'bout my Generation)" The Who
It really gripes me that you hear kids today talking about adults and their inability to master technology? And it maddens me when parents tell me how good their kids are with computers, and how smart they are. Well, some of it may be true. If you are having problems with any of the following, why not consult the nearest 13 year old!
1) Getting passwords to pornography sites.2) Finding license keys for pirated software.3) Obtaining credit card numbers and expiration … (4 comments)
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