Paradigm Realty Solutions Blog

Review of EasyWakeup for iPhone

Joshua Vida (Paradigm Realty Solutions) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:11:17 -0600

For all those who have an iPhone and know anything about sleep cycles, this post could help you feel more rested when you awake, which would carry with it other obvious benefits in the productiveness of your day. You must, however, have a jailbroken iPhone, which I highly recommend anyway. So, if you're jailbroken, then you'll find an app in Cydia called EasyWakeup. If you've ever heard of the Sleep Tracker watch, it is supposed to work in the same way (except it doesn't cost you $150). Here's a clip from the developer's website explaining what it's designed to do in more detail:

EasyWakeup is a much better alternative to a traditional alarm clock. How often do you wake up each morning feeling tired? How often do you have to drag yourself out of a deep sleep to the sound of your annoying alarm clock? How often do you actually wake up feeling fully awake, alert and ready for your day? The reason you would wake up feeling tired is that there are several stages of sleep. The way you feel when you wake up each morning is completely dependent on which phase of sleep you wake up during. If you are in a heavy phase of sleep, then you wake up feeling sleepy and unrested. If you wake up in a lighter phase of sleep then you are alert and ready to begin your day. Our new clever alarm clock "Easy Wakeup" awakes you during one of your light phases of sleep using a scientific process. In order for this to work, the sleeper must attatch a part of the iPhone to their hand at night. Thanks to a special sensor on the phone, the program Easy Wakeup will wake you during one of your lightest phases of sleep. You will simply set a guide time in which your alarm must wake you, and the alarm will wake you up at the opportune time in your given time period.

I plan to write a review of the app once I have tested it a few times to see if it works. You can get free activation keys from this offer: http://easywakeup.net/en/content/special-offer

How to kick Verizon without paying Early Termination Fees

Joshua Vida (Paradigm Realty Solutions) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 22:15:44 -0500

For those of you with Verizon Wireless service who are drooling over the new iPhone 3G, like me, I have found a way to ditch Verizon for AT&T, or any other company for that matter, without being subjected to their Early Termination fee. Here's how:

The Verizon Wireless Customer Agreement, there is a clause that states this: "Your service is subject to our business policies, practices and procedures, which we can change without notice. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE PRICES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT. IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE YOUR SERVICE AFTER THAT POINT, YOU’RE ACCEPTING THE CHANGES. IF THE CHANGES HAVE A MATERIAL ADVERSE EFFECT ON YOU, HOWEVER, YOU CAN END THE AFFECTED SERVICE, WITHOUT ANY EARLY TERMINATION FEE, JUST BY CALLING US WITHIN 60 DAYS AFTER WE SEND NOTICE OF THE CHANGE."

Adverse effect? Well how about this...

"Beginning May 1, 2008, the monthly Verizon Wireless Administrative Charge for voice and email plans will increase from $.70 to $.85 per line."

You will find this on the very last page of your May statement.

Now just call Verizon, reference the change to your bill, tell them you're not willing to accept it and based on the clause above from the Customer Agreement, you'd like them to notate your account that you'll not be required to pay any Early Temination fees when you cancel your account. Don't cancel it yet, however, or there's a chance you might lose your number.

It worked for me. Saved me $160. Now on July 11, when the iPhone comes out, I'll have AT&T port my number over from Verizon, which will automatically terminate my service with Verizon. And that's it. If they try to charge you the ET fees on the Final Statement, just call and have them look at the notation that was made and take off the charges.

Good luck!

Best Point & Shoot Camera for Realtors

Joshua Vida (Paradigm Realty Solutions) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:42:39 -0500

After reading many reviews and doing a lot of research, I've found a handful of cameras that are the best choices for Realtors. As many have probably experienced, when your snapping interior shots of a home, sometimes it's very difficult, if not impossible, to accurately portray the size and spaciousness of rooms, especially smaller bedrooms. And forget about bathrooms! Sometimes, you just can't back up any further. Well, this is because most of the compact digital cameras on the market, which is what we need, have their widest zoom equivalent to 35-38mm. This will NOT give you the results you're looking for. For our profession, we need to have AT LEAST 28mm wide-angle, preferably lower. In the past, compacts didn't offer anything that wide, but that's starting to change. The first camera to break the rules was the Kodak V570, which offered an impressive 23mm wide angle zoom! They then bettered themselves with the Kodak V705 (though still at 23mm). These were THE cameras to use for Realtors, however, Kodak has mysteriously discontinued them, and has not given any inclination that they plan to offer a replacement. You can still snatch them on eBay or Craigslist, but be prepared to shell out the $. In my research I have found a few cameras that, in my opinion, are even better options than either of the Kodak's models. They are (in order of my preference):

1. Samsung NV24HD

2. Panasonic DMC-FX500

3. Panasonic DMC-FX35

So who wins in what department?

Wide Angle: Samsung NV24HD, boasting 24mm ulta-wide angle vs. Panasonic's 25mm for both models

Picture Quality: This one, according to the very few reviews out there for the Samsung, will most likely go to Panasonic, which has received great reviews in this department.

Manual Controls: Although this is very rarely found in any point & shoot, both the Samsung and the FX500 include it in their models! This is great news for those of who are used to Digital SLR control.

HD Video: All 3 have HD video recording capability, however the Samsung does a better job of compression using H.264. This means you won't bog down your SD cards nearly as fast.

Features: Gotta give this one to Samsung. In addition to the now standard features such as face detection and image stabilization, Samsung has a few really cool tricks up its sleeves, such as blink detection, smile detection, HDMI output to HD TV's, among others.

Megapixels: They're all pretty even here, Samsung with 10.2 megapixels and both Panasonics at 10.1.

Zoom: Panasonic's FX500 wins here at a 5x optical zoom. The FX35 offers a 4x, and the Samsung a 3.6x.

Value: Last but definitely not least... for the features it offers, the Samsung is the winner in my book. Its list price is $350, compared to the FX500's $400 list and the FX35's $350. If you shop around you can find each of them for significantly less. At the time of this blog, I had found (and purchased) the Samsung NV24HD for $215 (brand new) at Electronics Expo (www.exponj.com). Their website lists it for $299, but call them at 1-800-252-8841, enter ext. 126 for Richard Harren, and ask him to give you his best price. I didn't even have to ask him. He offered it. If you prefer the FX500, which I actually ordered first but it was not in stock, I'd go to Buy.com or Buydig.com, as they had prices around $320-$330 last I checked. You can probably get the FX35 for the least of all, but I opted to go with something that had more features.

I hope this blog/review (which is actually my first ever) has been informative. Feel free to contact me with any questions about any of these cameras. I'd be more than happy to go into more detail. A great site featuring the absolute BEST reviews for both Panasonics, and many others is www.cameralabs.com.