RealtyTechBytes.com » Buying Technology Tools

How to REALLY know what cell phone carriers will work where you do!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:00:50 +0000

The biggest hurdle in purchasing a new cell phone has got to be determining which carrier has a strong signal in the areas that you intend to use the phone. If you get this one wrong you are going to be stuck with a phone that frustrates you at the least. And for a two year period at that!

In previous articles here I talked about the importance of carefully selecting your carrier before buying a phone. (http://realtytechbytes.com/what-cell-phone-should-i-buy and http://realtytechbytes.com/how-to-choose-the-cell-phone-that-is-right-for-you-2)

While the information in those articles was good then and still is now, there was a lot of room for interpretation…in other words, it is difficult to accurately determine whether or not a carrier had a good signal available at any given location.

A new website, http://opensignalmaps.com, uses the many Android phones that are out there to gather information about cell tower locations and signal strength to draw two maps. One map is of the location of cell towers and the other map is a heat map showing signal strength overlaid on geographical maps.

You simply plug in your zip code and you get a map back that shows you whether or not your carrier will work in the area you have chosen. You can plug in zip codes, one at a time, for every area that you think that you’ll be traveling to or through to compare carriers.

The site is easy to use and it is the best one that I have found for determining signal strength. The only better way would be to get phones on all the major carriers and drive around yourself and compare bars!

If you have an Android phone, and you want to contribute to the project, they have a free app that you can download and install. They claim to gather no personally identifying information in the process. And you don’t need an Android phone to make use of the site. Sounds like a good deal to me!

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.

How to REALLY know what cell phone carriers will work where you do!

The best external battery for your portable gadgets, ever!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:00:34 +0000

I will freely admit that I am addicted to my gadgets. My iPhone and my iPad have become so integrated with my life that they are never too far from me. I’ve even been known to drive back home from my office when I have gone off and forgotten one or the other. And that’s a 30 minute round trip!

Since having these devices ready to go when I need them is important to me, I have chargers at home, my office and my car. I don’t ever want them to be dead because they ran out of power.

So, when I was faced with a 14 and 1/2 hour flight to Australia in December I realized that I needed to come up with a portable battery solution. After much research, I found a little company in Fremont, CA (New Trent) that offered the perfect solution.

They offer a variety of batteries that will charge almost any phone or tablet. The one I chose was the most powerful they offered, the New Trent iCruiser IMP1000, as it would recharge my iPad completely one time, or recharge my phone 6 times.

Here is a partial list of what it is compatible with from their website:

New Trent iCruiser IMP1000 ~ 11000mAh External Battery Pack and Charger for iPad 2, iPad, iPhone (4S 4 3Gs 3G for both AT&T and Verizon phones), iPod Touch (1G 2G 3G 4G 5G), HTC Android EVO, Blackberry, Samsung Galaxy Tablet, Samsung Galaxy S, Droid, Nintendo, Sony PSP and much more!

I paid $99.95 for mine, but I see that it is currently being offered (as of 2-5-12) for $76.95. Here is the link: http://www.newtrent.com/Best-iPad-Battery-Pack-iPhone-Battery-Extender-p/imp1000.htm

This battery gets my highest endorsement as it performed flawlessly in my tests. After all, I was able to use my iPad on the plane for the entire trip!

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.

The best external battery for your portable gadgets, ever!

Best MacWorld/iWorld 2012 app!

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:22 +0000

I spent a very enjoyable day on Thursday at MacWorld/iWorld as two friends and I wandered the aisles of the Expo and took in a couple of classes on the second floor.

Last year’s MacWorld was renamed “iPad Case World” by another friend because it seemed that nearly every vendor was selling some sort of iPad case or accessory. Because of that he decided to not attend this year’s event. Big mistake my friend, because this year there was balance between iPad/iPhone/Mac hardware and software. Some pretty amazing products were on display in all categories.

The one that really captivated me though is an app for the iPhone (an iPad app was announced but as of this writing it hasn’t appeared in the app store) that claims to be the first full featured contact manager app for the IOS 5 platform.

It comes both as a “Lite” version (FREE!) limited to a maximum of 100 contacts, and a Pro version with no such limitation (I managed to load over 3500 contacts with no problems). The price is $4.99 for the Pro version but is expected to double by March 1st.

What makes this interesting to me is that you open the app into a dashboard that says:

“Hi! Today you have X Calls, X Meetings and X ToDo’s.

This may seem trivial until you realize that you’d have to open 3 different apps on the iPhone in order to accomplish the same thing!

Contacts can be organized into groups called “Orbits” and can be color coded so that you can see how they are organized at a glance. You can message the Orbit in a single or group emails, send them a Facebook or Twitter message or even start a Skype conversation. Every time that you use the app to initiate a conversation it get’s logged so that you have a record of what you have done. Contacts are imported from Address book when you set the app up and are kept updated as you make changes in Address book.

The Calendar function is imported from iCal and as with the Contacts, any changes or additions to a contact via the Calendar function get logged automatically. There are many other features that would be useful to a real estate agent, so head on over to http://www.viporbit.com/features to learn more.

In my opinion, this was the best app on the Expo floor by a long shot. I see it giving you the best contact and calendar management features of products like Top Producer, Act, Goldmine and Salesforce at a tiny price and on your phone at that!

How to choose the cell phone that is right for you

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:00:14 +0000

Buying a new smart phone these days has suddenly gotten very complicated. Not only do you have to decide on a carrier before getting started, you also have to to decide if you want an iPhone, a Blackberry, a Windows phone or an an Android. The iPhone part is easier than the others, you only have a few models to choose from. If you want one of the others though, the available choices can be mind boggling.

Lucky for you a relatively new website can help you make a smart choice that is customized specifically for your needs and budget.

Pop on over to GeekaPhone.com and start out by setting your budget. Then you can start adding the features that you want. As you add features, the site will tell you which make and model phone has what you want for the price that you want to pay.

You can look at the phone’s specs and features, read reviews and in some cases watch videos about the phone.

A look at their “About” page shows what they are trying to accomplish:

Aggregating all the data necessary to make informed decisions
Allowing users to discover the right product without being an expert
Making all the data understandable
Turing all the data into objective measurements
Personalizing the whole experience to the user

I’d say that they have done a good job of accomplishing their goals. What do you think?

And by the way, here is a link to an article I wrote a few years ago that will give you the links to two good resources to help you make that all important carrier decision…a decision that HAS to be made first before buying a phone. http://realtytechbytes.com/what-cell-phone-should-i-buy

Black Friday Deals

Jerry Kidd — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:10:56 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving!

I had time to kill before my brother and sister in law arrive from Southern California and the holiday begins, so I have spent the last hour or so looking for some on line “bargains”.

I have found a load of of somewhat dubious websites that look like they were just set up to rake in the holiday shoppers. And I found a few old reliables as well. But for me, the default, go to shopping site is Amazon. I’ve never been burned there, the customer service is great and they often seem to have just what I want at great prices.

So, I have created a few searches there and thought that I’d share them with you.

First up, if you need any computer related stuff, here is a page on Amazon that has quite a large selection of technology things, many at discounted prices:

Computers and Electronics search: http://realtytechbytes.com/AmazonComputers

Next up is something that Amazon runs all the time called the Gold Box. They run special deals around the clock and the deals are drawn from their entire catalog, so you really need to check frequently to make the most of this one. I created a bookmark in my browser so I only have to click on it to see what is currently available.

Gold box: http://realtytechbytes.com/AmazonGoldBox

The final Amazon search is their Black Friday page. You really need to go check this one out, and I’d definitely book mark this one too!

Black Friday Deals Page: http://realtytechbytes.com/AmazonBlackFridayDeals

That’s it! Happy shopping and Happy Thanksgiving!

Disclaimer: These are my affiliate links. This means that should you decide to buy something from Amazon after clicking on a link in this post I will earn a minuscule commission. If you buy a lot of stuff I might even earn enough to make me say “WOW!” But, if that offends you, don’t click on the links and just go to Amazon and run your own searches!

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?}

Here’s how to Decide what gadget to buy

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 02:00:04 +0000

I am often asked “what laptop should I buy?” The answer of course depends on the intended use and the budget the person asking the question has set aside.

But, after those two issues are decided, they want to know which specific brand and model is best. Essentially, I am being asked to do their research for them! Let me go on record and say that I am happy to set up a business that will shop for them, but my rate is $100.00 per hour, with a 3 hour minimum! Clearly that isn’t going to happen.

So, I snooped around the interwebs and found a new site that launched in June of 2011. They have a team of PhDs and computer programmers that have figured out a way to analyze all of the TVs, Cameras and Computers currently being offered sale. They strip out all of the marketing hype and apply scientific principles in the algorithm they have developed to allow you to make informed decisions. They also show you which store has the lowest price. But, even better, they can advise you to buy now, wait for a better price or not to buy a specific model at all!

Once you settle on a specific model, you can go to the store that has it buy now if that’s what they advise or you can set up an alert that will advise you when to buy according to their projections.

I took a spin around on it today because a friend just asked me about a laptop for her to buy. The screen shot will show you which model I chose for her. I was able to set filters that screened all the choices by price, processor and RAM. Once you see a model that you like, you can click on it to see the full specs.

There is no complicated set up process. You can set up alerts by simply connecting with your Facebook account or just by giving it your email address.

This has been needed for a long time and I think it will be helpful to many people. Even if you are not in the market, go check it out…you may need it sooner than you think! Here is the link: http://www.decide.com/

Work faster with your laptop

Jerry Kidd — Mon, 23 May 2011 02:00:01 +0000

Over the past few months I have been working one on one with real estate agents teaching them how to use Facebook to promote their businesses and themselves. I’ve also been teaching agents how to use various software products that are designed to improve their productivity.

Among other things, I have found that the biggest problem most of these agents face in operating their laptop computers is the simple fact they use the touch pads built into their laptops instead of a mouse!

You might ask why this would be a problem? I could give you a ton of answers (in fact here are over 5 million of them) but let me just settle on this one: they slow you down!

I’ve worked with well over 100 agents one on one in the past few months, and without exception, everyone one of them that used the touch pad struggled in navigating around a web page and inside of programs. The touch pad in the hands of a skilled operator is wonderful. But even when you are skilled, differences in body capacity among different people can cause erratic behavior.The touch pad for most of is a problem.

I have a simple suggestion. Get a mouse for your computer.

When I asked the agents why they didn’t use a mouse, some of them actually said that they were faster with the touch pad. As I stood there watching them overshoot the mark time after time (to say nothing of the times when the cursor would suddenly shoot off the page all by itself) I had to wonder if they had actually tried a mouse. Just because the laptop has a touch pad doesn’t mean that it has to be used!

Others told me that they didn’t know that they could use a mouse with their laptops. That’s understandable because most of the laptop documentation that I have seen doesn’t make mention of it.

All laptops have USB ports. That means that you can use the same kind of mouse on your laptop that you are using on your desktop. A mouse with a cord works just fine as long as the mouse cord ends in a USB plug. (If you have an old mouse with the round PS2 connector, you can purchase an adapter for $1.99 that will convert it to a USB mouse. Click here buy a PS2 to USB Adaptor )

You can also use a wireless mouse. Those mice have an transmit/receive adaptor that plugs into the USB port of your computer and allows you to use the mouse without the distraction of a cord. I use the Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse ($13.79 from Amazon) on both my Macbook Pro and my Windows XP and Windows 7 laptops. (Yes, it works with both PCs and Macs and also with desktop machines). It gets rave reviews on Amazon, it’s small, light and portable and it works well.

So, stop using the touch pad and watch your productivity go up and your frustrations go down.

Disclaimer: The 2 links to the Amazon products are what is known as affiliate links. That means if you buy them after clicking on my links I could earn a commission. If you don’t want me to earn a commission, don’t click on the links. You could just search for the products by their name on Amazon, Frys, Staples and other web sites to find them.

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!