RealtyTechBytes.com » Product Reviews

San Francisco startup is poised to revolutionize broker tours

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:00:44 +0000

I’ve been writing this blog for nearly 4 years now and I have tried to keep it focused on technology tools that are available now for real estate professionals no matter where they may live. And aside from a few excursions into sales techniques (and the occasional rant) I have been pretty good about staying focused.

Today’s post is a definite departure though. For two reasons. First, the tool is not quite available yet, and when it does become available, it will only be for San Francisco agents, and more specifically, members of the San Francisco Association of REALTORS®.

So why am I talking about it here? For a couple of reasons. To start with, I know the principals behind the idea and the product. We worked at the same real estate company (different offices) together for a couple of years, so I know that they are all agents who have been in the trenches and know what they are doing…and more importantly, they know what active agents need in the way of technology tools.

And that brings me to my second reason for writing about the tool. This is an IOS app developed by practicing agents for practicing agents. Gil Fleitas and his team took a look at the way that they were doing business and asked themselves “what do we need in the way of tech tools that aren’t commercially available”, and then went and built the tools.

First out of the gate is Theo Tour (or tTour as it is known). tTour is an app for the iPhone (it will also run on the iPad) that organizes and makes sense of the San Francisco Broker Tour on an agent’s iPhone. (Although I am not a member of SFAR, I have been a beta tester for this app and will attest to it’s usefulness). Next up is ProtoTheo for the iPad (still in beta) which is a suite of integrated applications and services that dramatically improves the ability of Agents – indeed any real estate professional – to deliver an enhanced value-add service and experience to Buyers and Sellers.

tTour has been approved by Apple to be added as an AppStore download and Theo is finalizing details with SFAR as I write this, so it should be available to SFAR members in the near future. ProtoTheo is still in development and is expected to arrive sometime in 2012.

More information on both products is available in a brochure that Theo made available to me and which you can get by clicking on this link: http://RealtyTechBytes.com/theo.pdf.

For those of you who are interested in getting your hands on these products, go ahead and download the brochure…all of the contact info that you need will be there. Feel free to let Gil and his team know of your interest. Who knows, you may get to be a beta tester! And if you are not a member of SFAR, let them know that you’d like this tool to be made available in your area.

It’s refreshing to see tools created by the very people who use them every day! Hat’s off to the Theo team!

Realtytechbytes.com by Jerry Kidd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.Realtytechbytes.com. Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

San Francisco startup is poised to revolutionize broker tours

Dynamic duo of keyboard and case protect and serve my iPad in one device

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 02:00:27 +0000

As much as I love my iPad 2, I haven’t really adapted to the on screen “keyboard” that Apple thinks we should use to enter data! Even though I am a two fingered typist, and shouldn’t be bothered by the lack of tactile feedback, I am.

I really like the idea of using a keyboard when I send email, or type a letter or do any sort of text data entry, so the lack of a keyboard was a real bummer for me (cue cheesy 60s music here).

My track record on gadget abuse is also really high. I am just plain rough on my gear. Dropping things or banging things around is just part of the process for me.

So, you can imagine my delight when I happened upon the Logitech Keyboard Case by ZAGG. I first ran into ZAGG when I installed one of their screen protectors on my iPhone. That got me on their mailing list and it was one of their emails that brought the device to my attention.

At $99.00 plus tax and shipping, it’s definitely spendy, but it has paid for itself any number of times! The keyboard connects to the iPad via Bluetooth and the pairing process is very simple and straightforward. The iPad remembers the settings so all you have to do is set it up once and it auto connects each time you turn it on going forward. There is a little plastic angled rest that holds the iPad against the walls of a small channel so that it is tilted at just the right angle. It works in portrait or landscape mode and works up to a few feet away from the iPad.

The keys feel good, but the pitch is slightly less than a full sized keyboard, so you high speed touch typists will probably have to spend some time getting used to it. For two finger typists like me it’s a dream to use.

Your iPad fits snuggly in the case and is protected by the sturdy aluminum base that the keyboard is made from. It adds very little weight to the iPad, but it does increase the thickness to about that of the original iPad. The keyboard holds a charge for an amazingly long time…even longer if you remember to turn it off in between uses!

So, the combination of a Bluetooth keyboard coupled with a sturdy aluminum case to protect the glass of the iPad is an unbeatable system in my book. They also make a version for the original iPad in case you have one of them So, if you have an iPad you NEED this. Here is the page on their site to learn more: http://www.zagg.com/accessories/logitech-ipad-2-keyboard-case

Realtytechbytes.com by Jerry Kidd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.Realtytechbytes.com. Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

Dynamic duo of keyboard and case protect and serve my iPad in one device

7 Must have iPad apps for real estate agents

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:00:46 +0000

^{When the iPad 1 came out I picked one up to evaluate. I returned it to the Apple store 14 days later because it wasn’t capable of doing some of the things that I needed it to do. You can imagine the surprise on the faces of the Apple Store employees when they got my request for a refund! This was shortly after it’s launch and people were having a hard time getting their hands on an iPad.}

Even though I returned it, I still wanted one. So, when the iPad 2 came out I again purchased one. This time it didn’t go back. In fact it gets more daily use that my MacBook Pro which I dearly love.

I am often asked by the real estate agents that I work with my opinion as to whether they should get one. My answer is always “it depends”. The dependency is the agent’s Multiple Listing Service. If their MLS could not be properly displayed on the iPad’s Safari browser, the iPad was not for them. The MLS that I used to belong to FINALLY got it right when they brought out Paragon 5 a few weeks ago. So, for agents in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, the dawning of the age of iPad has finally come to you. (The rest of the San Francisco Bay Are has long had that capability!)

But MLS is not the only thing that an agent could use the iPad for in their business. The ability to send email, browse the web, schedule things in a calendar app and manage contacts are all native to the iPad with the Mail, Safari, Calendar and Contacts apps that come with the iPad. And these are daily activities for all busy agents.

But, the iPad is capable of much more than that. Here is a list of the 7 non-native apps that I have on my iPad that I find indispensable.

These are the iPad (and iPhone) version of Apple’s very popular office suite of products. Keynote is an extremely easy to use app that creates stunning PowerPoint like presentations. Pages can create word processing documents, flyers, brochures and almost any kind of publishing document. Numbers is spreadsheet program.

They are $9.99 each, can be bought separately and you DO need at least Keynote and Pages. If you have a Mac you can create files on the Mac and show them on the iPad and vice versa. They are not 100% compatible with each other depending on the fonts used and a few other issues. This is not a deal killer though.

^{Here are the links:}http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/keynote/id361285480?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pages/id361309726?mt=8

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/numbers/id361304891?mt=8

Dropbox is a free service that allows you to bring all of your photos, docs and videos anywhere. After you install it on your computer and iPad, any files saved to Dropbox will automatically be synchronized between the devices and will also be stored on the Dropbox website. You can have everything with you for free up to 2 GB total!

Here is the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330?mt=8

Call, video call or instant message any one on Skype for free! Plus call anyone at Skype’s low rates if they are not a member.

Here is the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/skype/id304878510?mt=8

^{Dragon Dictation is a free and easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.}

^{Here is the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8}

GoodReader is a super-robust PDF reader for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. (It costs $4.99) With GoodReader on your iPad, you can read virtually anything, anywhere: books, movies, maps, pictures. It can read doc, ppt, xls, keynote, pages, numbers, pdf, images, audio, video and Safari archives as well as html. It syncs with DropBox, Google Docs, SugarSync, iDisk and WebDav and FTP servers. But maybe the most important feature is that it will let you annotate PDF files. Can you say “Sign here”? Yes, you can pull up a PDF of a contract and have some one sign right on the iPad. From there the pdf could be saved back to Dropbox and emailed on to who ever needs to get it!

^{Here is the link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/goodreader-for-ipad/id363448914?mt=8}

As real estate agents, you might also want to have the Realtor.com, Trulia and Zillow apps installed. They are all free and they all give you different views of real estate that is for sale or that has sold.

^{Here are those links:}

^{http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtor.com-real-estate-search/id336698281?mt=8}
^{http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/trulia-real-estate-search/id425585109?mt=8}^{http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id310738695?mt=8}

Don’t forget to check with your association or MLS to see if they have iPad apps that you could get as well.

^{A quick search of the app store on iTunes showed 60 results for the word Realtor, so this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but it does comprise my favorite apps … the ones that I use nearly every day! What are your favorite iPad apps?}

10 Ways to learn about and put Google+ to work for you!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 02:00:17 +0000

By now you have heard of Google+. If you haven’t, it must mean that you have been under a rock since June 28th when Google announced its new social network. It’s been on the evening news, been in the newspapers and has even been the butt of parodies.

It seem like everyone and their brother is talking about it online and it’s truly surprising how many ”experts” have surfaced in the few short weeks since it launched!

Dubbed the “Facebook killer” by some, and called “Trojan Horse” by others, it’s the latest “new thing” to be coming down the pike.

What exactly is Google+? According to Google it’s Real-life sharing, rethought for the web.

That tells us a lot doesn’t it? Because I am not altogether certain what it is and how to use it, I went on a search for the best info that I could find.

Here are 10 articles, lists and essays on Google+ that I found to be helpful and I hope that you will too. If you know of a great Google+ resource that I missed, please share it in the comments below so that we can all learn.

In the meantime, I am going to wait for Google to bring out their business version. I am quite happy with my social interaction on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, so I really don’t need yet another place to spend my time.

What is your take on Google+?

Website Magazine on what others are saying
http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2011/07/15/what-the-web-s-saying-about-google-plus.aspx

Vertical Response Marketing blog on what is it and what does it mean for my business?
http://blog.verticalresponse.com/verticalresponse_blog/

Mashable on 19 Essential resources for Google+
http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-resources/

TechCrunch with a warning!
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/15/google-one-hell-of-a-trojan-horse/

ReadWriteWeb on how to use Google+
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_start_with_google_plus.php

All things Digital on how this may be the biggest social media launch … evah!
http://allthingsd.com/20110715/by-the-numbers-google-the-biggest-social-network-launch-ever/

Google on getting started!
http://www.google.com/support/profiles/?p=help_center&hl=en

Chris Brogan on 50 ways that you might want to use Google+
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ad-free-google-plus-50/

Lifehacker with a cheat sheet
http://lifehacker.com/5820794/the-google%252B-cheatsheet-is-a-quick-reference-to-using-google%252B

Mashable with a “complete guide” to using Google+
http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/

Realtytechbytes.com by Jerry Kidd is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.Realtytechbytes.com. Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

10 Ways to learn about and put Google+ to work for you!

The iPad 2 changed my mind

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:00:34 +0000

Last Friday (March 11th) I was in front of my computer a few minutes past midnight. Even though I am usually up fairly late, that was a new level in “lateness” for me.

I was up that late so that I could go online to apple.com and order an iPad 2. Having stood in line at the Pleasanton Apple store when the iPhone 3G came out, I was determined to never stand in line in line again for a piece of gear. I was in line for 6 hours then … met some nice people, and decided that the iPhone 3G was the best phone that I have ever owned. But, no more lines, ever. Sorry Mr. Jobs.

Apple initially said that online ordering would begin at Midnight, but later moved it to 1 AM. Ever the eternal optimist, I was online at midnight trying it out. I got through at 12:15 and placed my order. I was promised delivery within a week and thought that was a good deal. While I was online I also ordered the HDMI video adapter as well as the VGA Video adapter and one of the cool new magnetic covers.

The VGA adapter arrived on the 14th, the HDMI adapter arrived on the 15th and the iPad arrived on the 16th. I am still waiting for the cover, which should arrive on the 21st.

Longtime readers will know that I did purchase an iPad last August, but returned it 14 days later because it did not fit my needs. Since my business has me making presentations and teaching classes that require the use of a LCD projector, I really needed the ability to have the iPad output whatever was happening on its screen to the external projector. The original iPad could not do this, it was only capable of outputting Keynote presentations and Photo slide shows. This wasn’t the fault of the hardware, it was a limitation of its operating system, IOS. There were a few other issues for me as well, mainly revolving around the fact that Keynote presentations created on my Mac did not render properly on the iPad. Transitions didn’t work the same and some fonts were replaced with others. All of these issues combined created a deal killer for me, so I took advantage of the 14 day return policy and took it back.

I doubt that I’ll be returning the iPad 2 though. For one, the IOS now permits me to show everything on its screen, no matter what app I am running, on my flat panel TV using the HDMI adapter, and I can use the VGA adapter with my LCD projector to give my presentations and classes.

One small gripe remains for me though, Keynote still does not recognize the full panoply of desktop Keynote transitions and builds, nor does it recognize my favorite font.

The prospects of leaving my Macbook Pro at home when I do my next presentation is exhilarating though! As good as the MBP is, it’s heavy and I’m not getting any younger. I am leaving for a one day business trip this week and will NOT be taking the laptop. Instead the iPad 2 will be going, because it now can do everything that I would have needed my laptop to do…search websites, build Facebook Custom Fan Pages, read and send email, read my RSS feeds, and of course show my Keynote presentations!

Got to run now as I have quite a few Keynote presentations to convert for iPad use!

Easy way to print any blog article

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 03:00:05 +0000

I have a confession to make. I like to print things. I enjoy reading things on line, but when something really gets to me (both in a good way and in a not so good way) I want a hard copy of it. Consequently, I am often found doing copy and paste from websites and blogs to a blank word processing document. Since I am Mac user, I copy from Firefox or Safari to Pages (the Mac word processor similar to Microsoft Word).

This works, but occasionally it doesn’t bring the graphics over very well, so if I want them I end up messing around with the document to get it the way I want. Then I can print it to PDF using Pages built in print to PDF ability (score one for Mac) or I can print a hard copy.

I just discovered something that is going to make my life a whole lot easier. It’s called Joliprint and it can take an article form a web site and turn it into a nicely formatted PDF. Complete with images. I can save the PDF, I can email it or I can print it on paper, just as I could with any PDF document. No more copy and paste to Pages!

I can install a button on my browser bar so that I can print any page that I happen to be looking at or I can copy the URL and go to the Joliprint site and enter the URL there. Either way, within a few seconds a window opens up with the PDF download info. And everything you need to know or do is on the very simple Joliprint website.

As the owner of this web site/blog I can also install a button after every post that allows the readers of my blog to get a PDF of my article. So, I have decided to do that. You’ll find it at the end of the post.

I like this and I think that you will too. If you aren’t the kind of person that has to print keepsakes, this might not be that cool to you. But, if you write a blog, I can pretty much tell you with great assurance that you have some readers who do like to print some of your article…why not make it easy on them and install Joliprint on your blog?

Go ahead and give it a try by looking for the Joliprint button at the top of this post. If you are reading this on Facebook, email or in your RSS reader, click here to go to the actual blog post.

Oh, by the way, it’s free and works with both Mac and PCs!

Join me … and share my screen … for free!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 03:00:31 +0000

I’ve recently been running some hands on classes that required the attendees to do some preparation work before coming to the class. One of the students was struggling with a few of the assignments and I knew that if I could just show him the proper things to do, that he could get back on track.

The trouble was that we are about 90 miles apart! I needed a method that would allow us to quickly and easily establish a link between our computers that would allow me to demonstrate what I needed him to do. And, I needed it to be free, too!

I’d heard of http://join.me an offering from LogMeIn, but hadn’t had a chance to try it. So, figuring that there was nothing to lose by trying it in this situation, I gave it a go.

It worked flawlessly. All I had to do was to go to http://Join.me and click “Share”. That gave me a code that I emailed to my student. He clicked on the link the email contained and just that quick he could see my screen! We both dialed in to the FREE conference call line and now we were both talking as I demonstrated what needed to be done. In less than 30 minutes he was up to speed and when he attended the class a few days later he was totally prepared.

The service is free, you can have up to 250 people sharing your screen and you can pass control back and forth if necessary. You can even have group or private “chats”. Files can be sent back and forth to one participant at a time if you want. There is no facility to record the sessions, but if you are on a Mac you could use ScreenFlow to record the screen activities (For PC users I think that Camtasia will do this too, but I haven’t checked). You’d have to have some other method to record the audio portion as the audio is on the phone lines only.

But even with those limitations, this is an excellent way to quickly set up a conference with a client to go over a contract or to present a CMA.

Did I mention that this was totally free? Go give it a try and then tell us how you are using it in your business!

Review: Gorillamobile for iPhone 4

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:00:25 +0000

Regular readers will know that I am completely enamored of my iPhone 4. I have yet to have it let me down when I need it to do something for me. Even on AT&T’s reviled network it still performs well. (When AT&T is absent I just fire up my Sprint MiFi and connect via wifi).

The inclusion of two video cameras (a front facing VGA camera and a rear facing HD camera) coupled with iMovie on the phone was icing on the cake to me. But, i have been frustrated with finding a way to mount the phone on a tripod. Apple did not engineer in an elegant way to mount the phone on a tripod.

A few weeks back I found out that Joby, the San Francisco based manufacturer of the famous Gorillapod camera accessories had released a Gorillapod especially for the iPhone 4. Of course I ordered one right away!

Watch the short video below to get an idea of what it can do. After the break, I’ll give you my impression of the Gorillamobile.

I think this is a great device for when you are shooting movies, with either camera and in landscape or portrait modes. But, I am not too impressed with it as a tripod for taking still pictures. That’s because there is a bit of wobble in the head that is noticeable when you press the “shutter” button on the screen to take a still. It’s not a big deal in movie mode because you can always edit that part out with iMovie.

Other than that, this is a keeper! Well worth the $39.95 I paid for it. And they shipped it for free to boot!

The perfect business tool

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:00:18 +0000

As I write thus, I am at about 30,000 feet above the Pacific and about 90 minutes from landing at SFO. I just spent 15 wonderful days in Maui. Nothing too remarkable about that except for the fact that this was the first such trip that didn’t see me hauling along my complete portable office. I did bring my MacBook Pro and an Asus EeePC Netbook. The portable printer and the portable scanner stayed home.

I also brought my iPhone 4 and my wife brought hers. And for much of the trip the iPhones were all that we needed to stay in touch. In fact, Diane was able to complete some very complex negotiations on a high end lease, and also place one of her listings in escrow.

Although she could have used her iPhone exclusively for both transactions, she found it easier to use the netbook for the actual contract work. The magic of Docusign allowed her to get the contracts done without the printer and scanner. There is a Docusign iPhone app, but neither of us has it on our phones. I suspect that if it had been on Dian’e phone that she would not have needed the netbook at all.

I put finishing touches on one custom Facebook business page tab for one client and also built another custom Facebook business page tab from scratch for another client using the MacBook Pro.

But, the real workhorse was the iPhone for both of us. We made reservations at restaurants, took fabulous pictures and videos with the built in camera and I even recorded the soothing sounds of the ocean waves with the iPhone.

My mornings were spent walking the entire length of Ka’anapali beach from before the Hyatt Regency on the south end to well past the former Embassy Suites on the north end. That’s about a two ~ three hour walk round trip. I’ve done it every day on every trip to Maui for the past 4 years and I was pretty confident that it was 10 miles round trip based on my pedometer. But, with the built in GPS and the MotionX app I found out that my roundtrip is just shy of 7 miles…I’ve been deluding myself these past few years about my walking stamina!

The afternoons were spent lying out by the pool or on the lawn near the beach listening to the iPhone’s built in iPod and reading books on it by using the iPhone Kindle app. I merged my Amazon account with Diane’s so that I could read her collection of Kindle books!

I used my bank’s app to transfer money from one account to another to avoid some bank charges, used the built in Notes app to make a packing list for next year (I am slowly working my way to taking a 15 day trip to Maui in a carryon bag!), used the built in Weather app to plan some activities, stayed on top of the ALDS and NLDS scores via Safari and the ESPN MLB Baseball web site and approved some comments on my blog with the WordPress app. I even played a few games of Solitaire while idling in the husband parking areas of local shopping sites.

Oh yes, I almost forgot…I made some phone calls as well. Contrary to what some say, AT&T and the iPhone make perfectly good calls!

So. when someone asks me what phone should I buy, my answer is very simple…get an iPhone…I think that it’s the perfect business tool!

Why I returned my iPad

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:00:17 +0000

According to a good friend, and fellow technology aficionado, I caused hell to freeze over a few weeks ago when I bought a 64 GB 3G iPad after publicly stating that I was going to sit this one out, (http://realtytechbytes.com/why-i-am-not-buying-a-ipad/).

There were a couple of really good reasons for doing this, not the least of which was that I was asked to teach a class on the iPhone and the iPad! I have owned iPhones for the past 2 plus years and and know that platform inside and out. But, my knowledge of the iPad was limited to what I had read on blogs, the mainstream press and from lurking on a real estate apple products user forum. In order to deliver a good presentation I figured that I really needed to get my hands on one.

I looked into renting one for two weeks and was quoted a price of $500.00! Seriously? I don’t think so. Then I remembered that Apple has a 14 day return policy, subject to a 10% restocking fee.

So, I found myself at the Apple store at the Stoneridge Mall one day, and before I knew it, I was out the door with one! I have to tell you that it is one sexy and seductive piece of technology! I can see why people rave about it. What I can’t see is why people put up with it’s considerable shortcomings.

The device is designed to “fit” into the space between laptop and smart phone. And for some people there is a genuine need for such a device. But, after using it for two weeks, I can honestly say that my iPhone 4 got more use and was able to handle more business situations than the iPad!

The iPad does have the gorgeous display going for it. The size is nearly perfect for reading, viewing pictures and watching videos. And, if you get the Flipboard App (If you have an iPad you REAL, REALLY want this app) you’ll spend hours staying up with your social graph using the astonishing magazine style interface. The app is free in the App Store, just search for it by name. (Or click here to go to http://www.flipboard.com/)

But, here is the main gripe I have with it. I wanted to use it to do presentations in a class environment. I use an iMac or a MacBook Pro to create my classroom materials by running Keynote, Apples PowerPoint killer. I bought the Keynote App for $9.99 from the App Store and figured that I could easily transfer my existing Keynote presentations to the iPad. Not so fast! You can transfer files via iTunes when the iPad is connected, or you can email them to yourself and then open with Mobile Keynote. But, for some reason known only to Apple (Steve Jobs’ reality distortion field strikes again) the mobile version of Keynote and the Desktop version are not completely compatible! Fonts, themes and more just don’t come across very well, unless your presentation uses the basic ones that are common to both platforms.

Another gripe is that Apple has locked down the platform so that I cannot take video out of the iPad (Even using the iPad video to VGA adaptor) and display it via a projector. That was a real killer for me. It turns out that the video to VGA adapter just shows videos or pictures, not the screen of the iPad.

Other small annoyances like no camera (my iPhone 4 has two), no ability to actually access the file system via USB, ties to AT&T and the fact it is too big to easily carry around (it won’t clip on my belt like my phone) just finalized the decision to return it.

My final conclusion, echoed by others, is that this game changing device is perfect for personal consumption of information, and not so good for content creation, unless you are willing and able to live within the narrow box that Apple has defined.

So, on Wednesday it went back to Stoneridge. The blue shirted Apple minion at the door was astonished! “What, you dare to break the reality distortion field?” “Ummm, yes, I do. Gimme my money back.” And so it went.

You’ll be happy to know that all is well in Hell these days, the freeze is over.

But that Flipboard app keeps singing it’s siren song to me…and I hope that the wizards at Apple are listening to all the complaints and are building the v2 model as we speak.