Social Media, RSS, Twitter and the Future of the Real Estate Industry

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to the Chicagoland Women’s Council of RealtorsR on the power of Social Media in the marketplace. Originally titled, “Social Media – Do you Twitter?” I took a little creative liberty on myself and expaned the topic.

Why Scribd.com has moved to #1 on my Cool List for Blogging

So I’ve been playing around with a number of free online hosting sites as of late. Since we in Chicago have the ability to access some of the most complete and up-to-date real estate statistics via Agent Metrics by Terradatum, it’s really come down to a couple of things.

Google Street View to Include BFE by the Year 2011 – says The Onion

According to the really really smart people in charge of Google Maps (including Google Street View) they are in the works of covering every nook and cranny of the world by 2011. (Just kidding)

However, they have done a great job of increasing their overall view of the United States and the world by increasing their coverage map:

Turn Your Gmail Account into a Text Messaging Machine

Big shout out to Joel Burslem from FOREM for sending out a Tweet the other day discussing Google Labs’ new process for sending text messages from your Gmail account.  The full “How To” can be found on the Google Labs Official Gmail Blog here , but it’s easy enough.  I even put together a quick video [...]

Review of Jott: Speech to Email, Text and More

So, I have jumped on the Jott bandwagon. This free program for iPhone, Blackberry and Treo allows you the freedom of using your handheld to send Email or Text messages to your contact list with your voice. It has one of the most accurate voice recognition programs that I have seen in quite [...]

Google Alerts – Managing your Identity, Favorites, and Your Competition

Ok… Maybe I’m a Junkie, but I can’t write enough great things about Google.
So let’s say… hypothetically of course… that you like reading about all of the following things:

Real Estate Market Statistics
The latest technology for your Blackberry
Social Networking Media Developments
Indie Rock Bands playing in Chicago
Great Grilling Recipes
Barack Obama
Matt Dollinger I mean whatever your [...]

Google Reader Part 2: Recommended Industry and Technology Blogs

Since the Google Reader post got such good reviews, I thought that I would make it easy for you to get “plugged in” (or Turned On for you 1000Watt Readers) to some of what I feel to be the best blogs out there.
Where I believe that these represent many different types of elements that could [...]

Begin Your Blog Reading Behavior with Google Reader

Read any real estate magazine, talk to any coach, or read any literature, and they will most surely say the same thing… “GET BLOGGING!” 
Where I have recommended this to a number of the agents that I work with, my first recommendation is to take your time, find your voice, and read some to find out [...]

Simplify your Schedule with Google Calendar Mobile!

So, the problem that we often encounter with using an online calendar or Outlook (sans-exchange) is that slow bluetooth sync or awkaward cables to be able to view your calendar on your mobile phone or PDA. That’s until now when life-simpling giant Google released their latest version of Google Calendar for Mobile.
Great Things Come from [...]

What’s the Google-411?

This isn’t new by any stetch of the imagination, but I think it’s one of the most useful things that Google has put out for the layman in a long time.  Do away with 411 or Directory assistance (doesn’t it creep you out how their voices aren’t the same after “city and state please?”) and [...]