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technology: I Finally Made It To The Dance! - 11/06/11 12:01 PM
We all remember that feeling from middle school: everyone knows something that we don't. Either that or, 'everyone is allowed to do something that I am not.' It is an uncomfortable feeling when you think are missing out on something that everyone else isn't. You feel a little bit alone and isolated. But, no more...I finally have an iPhone (4S)!  Never one to worry too much about peer pressure, I have to say, I am enjoying the attention from my earlier-to-the-dance iPhone friends. Since I went live with my iPhone (and innocently, forgot to change the signature that says, 'sent from … (3 comments)

technology: Is Virtual Texting Still Texting? Is It The Answer? - 10/25/11 07:18 AM
One of my most popular blogs ever was about texting,  A Very Sad Last Tweet.
Since I wrote this blog, texting has become even more prevalent.   Distracted driving, of which texting is a major contributor, is a huge safety problem. Car manufacturers have come up with a system to help minimized distracted driving from texting, according to the article in today's Washington Post, Automakers embrace hands-free text-messaging technology. The question becomes, however, does this simply endorse a bad habit and make it easier to drive while distracted, or does it serve the public by making it less likely that drivers will text while driving? Personally, I … (15 comments)

technology: What are Your Thougths on the 'New' Facebook? - 09/24/11 09:36 AM
This week, Facebook introduced some major changes to its layout and features. These changes were not universally accepted by my peer group--a lot of complaining showed up in people's statuses, mine included. My kids (21, 19 and 15) have not even mentioned them.
 
I think this kind of thing is where the age and generational differences become very apparent. For me, Facebook is like a really easy, enhanced, email network. I can find people without much effort (who want to be found) and give them brief updates about my life. If they care to find out more, they can. If they don't really care, they can choose to … (9 comments)

technology: Tips and Tools: Using Evernote in Your Business - 09/21/11 02:58 PM
I read an article last week, 6 Things You Should Be Using Evernote For Every Single Day byMichael McClure , that prompted me to take a second look at an application I had downloaded a couple of months back, Evernote. It just so happened that the very next day, I had a website training class.  In an attempt to force myself  to really try out Evernote, I did not take any pen or paper to my class, only my laptop. I took all my notes on the laptop in Evernote. It was good, but certainly, I could have done that in … (6 comments)

technology: My Top 10 Real Estate Tools - 09/02/11 09:30 AM
In 2005, my partner, Carol Kearney, and I started our own firm, Momentum Realty. We embraced the decentralized model that so many other practitioners have selected and created good, solid home offices and no commercial presence (we have an office of record, as required by state law).Technology has made this vision easier and easier to implement. Rarely is there anything at all that I can't do from my home office.So what are my top 10 tools (technical and not), in no particular order?
Smart Phone (currently a Blackberry, but considering an iPhone) HP All-in-one Printer/scanner/copier Docusign efax bluetooth Closing office doors and … (20 comments)

technology: Why You Should Be On Facebook - 08/03/11 10:32 AM
The paradigm for communications in our culture has changed. Facebook, or some derivative, is here to stay. Reaching in for information versus reaching out to provide it is the way many of us will communicate going forward. Remember when there used to be people who refused to get email?  Our kids were heavily involved in sports and scouting back then and there used to be two lists for communications; the people who you could email and those you had to call. I am pretty sure there are people on the call list who missed things (didn't check voicemail--or didn't even have … (6 comments)

technology: Losing the 'Ball and Chain' that is my SmartPhone - 08/01/11 02:18 PM
I just returned from a wonderful week at one of my favorite get-aways, the Outer Banks of North Carolina (Corolla). We have a house there that we rent out, so some years we have been fortunate enough to take several weeks. This year, with college girls working and my son equally busy, we decided that we would go all-in for a single week and hope that our demands for mandatory attendance were met--and they were!Work-wise, it fell at a really good time. Several things had finished up and I only had one case that would likely require some minimal attention.So for … (3 comments)

technology: Client Travels the World and Sells His House at the Same Time - 07/18/11 02:38 PM
Several years ago, I got a call from an old friend. He said his brother was ready to sell his home and would like to speak to me. Great address and great location...I was really excited. I met both brothers over there one afternoon. There was a quite a lot of prep work to do on the house. The wife had died fairly recently and the husband had taken a teaching position overseas. He was spending his time in the states at a summer house they had in another state and traveling overseas to teach. He was not using the house … (7 comments)

technology: Have you heard of 'ST&D?' - 07/14/11 09:01 AM
Have you heard of 'ST&D?' And no, it is not some sort of unmentionable condtion... I read today that New York has passed a new anti-texting law called 'ST&D' (Stop Texting and Drive). It is now considered a primary offense to be texting and driving, and if an officer suspects you doing it, you will be stopped and ticketed. No other violation has to occur; suspicion of texting and driving can get you pulled over and ticketed. You can find a brief overview of the new legislation in, New York ban on texting and driving gets tougher with new law. Texting … (6 comments)

technology: Back when we could actually get away... - 02/01/11 09:47 AM
Once upon a time, we used to leave the office and leave our work behind.Yes, there were occasional late-night phone calls, and the occasional assignment that required a beeper, but for the most part, we were either at home, or at work.
If you haven't already seen this clip from The Today Show, it is worth watching. In 1994, there was still wide-spread confusion about the internet. Fast forward 17 years, and we cannot go to the grocery store without our email--and everyone we know--coming along on our Smartphones. Only yesterday, I took my son skiing and we were very … (6 comments)

technology: Reading Soci@l is Definitely Worth Your Time! - 06/15/10 06:10 PM
I  had some extra time today and as I often do when the opportunity presents, I started flipping through a variety of  blog posts.
I came upon this post, Let's get Soci@l - Win a FREE IPAD,  (an iPad is something I have been coveting, but so far, have not bought myself). In order to win, you needed to download and read  Soci@l and then do a chapter review. Soci@l is a free download written by Ben Kinney in conjunction with ActiveRain and Jay Papasan.
I decided to download the book, read it, write the blog post and give the contest … (6 comments)

technology: Don't Tell Us What We Want to Watch... - 05/18/10 07:53 AM
It kind of caught us all by surprise, but YouTube--that upstart little website--now has as many daily viewers as  the prime time viewership of the 3 television networks  combined.
Turns out that we would rather watch a 3 year old who is on meds after going to the dentist or a local acapella group perform than a mindless sitcom or old stars dancing (last week I watched my daughter's College Final's Week Library 'Rave').
The technology paradigm continues to shift like quicksand below our feet. I don't think anyone is surprised that the networks have been 'beaten;' that has been a … (7 comments)

technology: Have You Heard of CHATROULETTE!? Your Teenager Has! - 03/12/10 07:43 AM
I have 3 teenagers (ooops, one is now 20) and I have watched for years how easily they move from one technical 'toy' to the next. There seems to be no learning curve...they find out about it, try it and it either sticks or it doesn't. Often, I don't even hear about these things until they are either rejected or so integrated in to their lives as to have become an everyday thing (think Facebook and Skype). I thought I would share what I learned about last night so that we 'older folks' can at least understand some of what they … (10 comments)

technology: Facebook Changing our Business Paradigm - 01/10/10 09:49 AM
Blue, Black ,Nude...all of these colors posted as Status Updates on Facebook; What did they mean? Someone, somewhere got the idea to send an email around to their female Facebook friends asking them to post their bra color in their Facebook Status field as a way of creating awareness of Breast Cancer.  Anyone who is a Facebook user can scroll back through last week's updates and see colors posted like crazy in the status field.  Even the Washington Post got in to the fray, publishing the following story on Saturday, 1/09/10, Breast Cancer Awareness goes Viral on Facebook...with Bra Color Updates. … (10 comments)

technology: My New Kindle...I think I am in Love! - 01/05/10 12:24 PM
Under the tree this year, Santa left me a Kindle.  I received this gift just in the nick of time as we were heading out of the country between Christmas and New Years (yeah, okay, I knew about it ahead of time--and even pre-loaded it with some pre-selected books). Fellow book-worms will understand that a weeks worth of travel, particularly if it involves Plane/Airport time, generally demands a significant number of books.  This year I was able to travel with one paperback (just in case of technical difficulties) and my Kindle--loaded with 10 books I wanted to read. I never opened … (13 comments)

technology: My Twitter Challenge to Myself - 09/14/09 02:42 PM
I was an early registrant of Twitter.  I got it.  I did not, however, jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Frankly, I was focused on ActiveRain and did not want to get distracted. I really never cared what Ashton Kutcher was doing and I get my news soundbites  from TV, Radio or computer.
THEN ActiveRain added the Twitter feed.  Soon I was Tweeting with the best of them--only not really.  Yes, I was sending out Tweets with  links to my blog, but I was not using Twitter the way others were. I wasn't sending out Tweets.  I felt good though; when people … (14 comments)

technology: Tweeting for Trouble - 07/30/09 10:03 AM
Here is the scenario: Large rental company, unhappy tenant.  Tenant Tweets that the rental company does not have a problem with its tenants sleeping in moldy apartments. Large  company sues because the tenant has made defamatory statements and permanently injured its reputation by passing this statement around the internet. This is exactly the kind of statement that can get you/us/me into a whole host of trouble.  The Tweet (with the name removed to protect me from similar trouble) read, "Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? XXXX XXX thinks it's okay." In the days before social media, … (56 comments)

technology: How to Become a 'Tweeter'...The Easy Way - 07/30/09 08:57 AM
If you are already 'tweeting' on Twitter, you can skip this post, but if you are not, there is a really easy way to become a 'Tweeter.' ActiveRain makes it very simple to send notification of your new posts to Twitter.  It is amazing how quickly you will develop a following on Twitter simply by allowing AR to update your Twitter with notification of your new posts. How do you do this?
Set up a Twitter Profile. Go in to your Settings in Active Rain (left hand side of your profile). That will bring you to a screen that says … (11 comments)

technology: A Friendly Reminder--Select Your Posting Groups Carefully - 07/07/09 11:04 AM
I belong to a number of general groups (groups to which you can post anything) and I belong to some really specific groups (listings, books, staging).
Please, please, please be sure you understand the group before you post to it.  It degrades the experience for all of us if we go to look through a group's postings and half of them are off topic. I just went to look at some listings and found a bunch of posts that had nothing to do with listings...and these kicked the legitimate posts off of the front page.
I know these groups all have … (8 comments)

technology: Can Anyone Recommend a Business Card Scanner? - 10/04/08 09:23 AM
My husband, a builder, and I have decided to jointly purchase a business card scanner.  I volunteered to do the research and, of course, came right to ActiveRain where I can always get solid advice.
Do any of you use one on a regular basis?  We are looking for 1) easy to configure, 2) easy to use, 3) feed in  to Outlook (and Access as an added bonus).
I am all about technology, but sometimes things that make it to market are 'not ready for primetime.' If you have one that you like--or one that you don't--would you mind sharing?
Thanks!
… (8 comments)

 


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