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Posts Tagged ‘Cool Apps’

Cool Apps: Top 10 Cool Apps of 2011

By John Thompson | December 30th, 2011 0 Comments

The Intero Cool Apps feature has offered up a neat little app each week that we find useful for real estate professionals. Here’s a recap of the best 10 of the year:

Sign-N-Send: It’s a program for use with iPhones and iPads that enables you to open documents and sign them right from your phone’s touch screen (or iPad’s touch screen), then send them out to wherever they need to go.
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Pagemodo: A marketing tool that enables small business owners to design their own custom Facebook pages using the company’s Pagebuilder product, free of charge.
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AwayFind: An app that offers a solution for pretty much everyone with inbox ailments. It’s an email alerts service that helps you deal with the information overload that has become daily life.
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MyAssist: A mobile app that gives you access to a team of virtual assistants who can help you with things like travel arrangements, dinner reservations, directions and finding the best deal on a new suit.
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PhotoGrid: An Android app that’s currently free that allows you to take multiple pictures with your phone, edit and arrange them in a nifty-looking collage. And it’s fun.
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GooglePlus: The short answer for why Google Plus is worth your time is this: It’s easy to use, takes seconds to set up and gives you the flexibility you’ve been longing for to segment your professional and personal social networking in a meaningful way.
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FollowUp.cc: Once it’s all hooked up (really, there’s no wizardry beyond providing your email address, password and agreeing to a few things), the plug-in allows you to add a specific email address to an email’s CC field to determine how long to wait to send a follow-up email to anyone who is copied on the email.
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GroupMe: An app that enables you to group text, conference call, share online pictures, share locations, and more. You can create groups of up to 25 people – taken from your contacts list or Facebook or Twitter accounts.
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RepliGo Reader: Enables you to view and annotate Adobe PDF files from your Android or Blackberry device. The app integrates with Gmail, Dropbox, Evernote and other apps. View and annotate PDF files from your email, memory car, Dropbox, Evernote or the Web.
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BrowserTexting: This feature is a “cool to have in case you lose or simply forget your phone at home someday” app: It enables Android users to send and receive text messages right through their Web browsers.
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There you have it! We hope you’ve enjoyed Cool Apps this year and will continue to follow us for more great technology reviews in 2012.

Happy New Year!

Cool Apps: Save It for Later

By John Thompson | December 23rd, 2011 0 Comments

The business world changes quickly these days, and while we try to stay on top of what’s happening in our local market as well as innovate in how we find, cultivate and nurture our client leads, our daily lives can get in the way. You know – our jobs and such.

That’s why I recently tried a bookmarklet called cc:to me. It seems that some days, I only have small segments of time to catch up on news, new apps and websites. CC: to me enables me to send bookmark reminders to myself on the fly.

The app’s purpose is similar to Instapaper and Read It Later, but it also allows you to just pull snippets like text, images or entire articles. This is more than just emailing yourself a URL.

To get started, go to cc: to me’s website and sign up with your email address. The service will then send you a link to your account page so you can either change your email address later or add multiple addresses (like if you want to also be able to send things to your team members, clients, etc.).

Once set up, you simply drag the bookmarklet to your web browser’s bookmarks bar. Now to use it, all you have to do is drag and drop whatever it is you want to send to yourself or others on your account to read later right into the bookmarklet form. It will preserve the content in its original format and include the website link in the email in case you need to reference the full article later.

In an age of information overload, apps like this can go a long way to keeping us sane so we’re not always sitting around thinking, “Now where did I read that interesting statistic?” or “What publication had that great perspective on the housing market forecast I wanted to share with my clients?” This way, you can use your spare time efficiently, and get the golden nugget of knowledge you discovered right at your fingertips later.

Cool Apps: Make Your Mobile Google Calendar Even Better

By John Thompson | December 9th, 2011 0 Comments

Schedules rule your life in the real estate business. Time is often of the essence – even when it’s sometimes a hurry-up-and-wait situation. Keep yours in check by streamlining and taking the beauty and depth of features of Google Calendar online with an easy app on your mobile.

CalenGoo takes your Google Calendar on mobile to a much more sophisticated level.

The calendar app gives you a fast, like-the-real-thing interface that syncs your Google Calendar with your Android or iOS device.

Easily add appointments and move meetings around with a drag-and-drop interface. Set reminders, copy and send appointment dates and times via email or text, and search your calendar by keyword. CalenGoo puts it all at your fingertips.

You can even work on your calendar offline – it will sync back up when your reunite with your Internet connection.

The best part, though, is that it’s still Google Calendar. No learning a new system, sacrificing formatting or risking synching mistakes that can occur between two different calendars. And you can invite people to meetings right from the app.

Sync CalenGoo with Google Tasks to read and manage your task lists from your smartphone or tablet. Choose whether reminders come to you as pop-ups, email or text messages.

If you’re a Google Calendar fan, try CalenGoo for even more awesomeness.

Check out CalenGoo for Android here, and iOS here.

Cool Apps: Organize Business Receipts From Your iPhone with Shoeboxed

By John Thompson | December 2nd, 2011 0 Comments

For most people, the end of the year means holiday shopping, decorating, parties and eating. But for real estate agents who are independent contractors, the end of the year also means there are some scary bookkeeping chores coming up quickly.

One of the oldest tips in the book is to track your expenses and receipts throughout the year for easier end-of-year reconciliation and tax time drama avoidance. But it’s one of those things we all know is easier said than done. When the going gets tough throughout the year, business gets busy and we have to let things go – all this record-keeping can easily get assigned to a shoebox (as in, we simply shove it in a shoebox and figure we’ll deal with it later).

That’s why I like the Shoeboxed receipt tracker and reader. It’s an app available for iPhone and iPad that puts a lot more organization into your receipt-tracking efforts without much work required from you. You can test it out for free with five documents (receipts) scanned per month, and sign on to a monthly plan that matches your volume needs if you like it.

It’s fairly simple to use the app: Just snap a picture of your receipt and it will extract the data and store it into a searchable online archive one day later.

What can you do with this data? You can export it to any type of file you may have for tracking your expenses: PDF, XLS, CSV. You can generate expense reports if you need to be reimbursed for anything. The app also integrates with Freshbooks, Evernote, Salesforce and many other tools for easy plug-in to organizational systems and apps you may already be using.

Check out Shoeboxed’s monthly rates at this link. And check out the free app and free trial period by downloading the app from the app store.

Tax time will be here before you know it. Make this the year you get it together ahead of time without sacrificing precious time in the process.

Cool Apps: Sincerely Ink Makes Business Holiday Cards a Snap

By John Thompson | November 25th, 2011 0 Comments

It’s that time of year when things get super hectic because in addition to our normal responsibilities and deadlines, we’re trying really hard to reach out to friends, family, clients and colleagues to show them we’re thinking about them. Why not make your holiday cards a process so easy this year that you’ll actually get it done early?

That’s the gist of Sincerely Ink, an app for iPhone and Android that lets you create and send cards right from your iPhone, Android or iPad. How it works:

Download the app from iTunes or the Android App store.
Browse through the library of photo cards and illustrated designs.
Customize your cards with photos and/or text on the front and back.
Import addresses right from your phone’s contact list.
Once you’re finished, Simply Ink sends your cards for you.

The app is free to download and use, and the cards cost $1.69 each, including postage. Simply Ink prints on a thick 5X7 postcard.

The app takes on a lot of the heavy lifting of sending holiday cards to clients. It removes your trip to the store to find cards, time printing addresses on envelopes, buying stamps and a trip back to the post office to drop them off.

Holiday cards are a good old-fashioned business technique. Clients like to hear from you, and it can help to keep you in their memories and lead to word-of-mouth referrals. If business holiday cards are something you already do, you can give yourself back some time and try it out with a dozen or so clients using this cool app.

It’s all about referrals in real estate. And in a world in which most of our correspondence is digital, a tangible card tends to stand out. This year, you can create and send your cards right from your phone or iPad. Happy Holidays!

Cool Apps: Share Your To-Do List and Get Things Done

By John Thompson | November 18th, 2011 0 Comments

To-do list apps are a dime a dozen in the Android and iTunes app stores – but I’ve discovered one that has a particular great use in real estate transactions: Any.DO.

Any.DO currently is available only for Android devices, but will soon be available for iPhone and as a Web app. What makes it unique is that it takes the to-do list and makes it social. Why would you want to share your to-do list? Because in a real estate transaction, we all must do our part to ensure things get done on time.

Many agents may already be using a transaction management system, which can offer similar features to Any.DO. But Any.DO is great at just being a social to-do list – no more, no less. It’s not meant to manage the entire transaction (and frankly, shouldn’t be used like that). That is its beauty. Life is a series of tasks, and this helps you cross them off your list each day.

Any.DO could work well for keeping clients on task in what they need to do, and it could also work well for agent teams who split the work on several different transactions. Teams can enjoy a simple way to divide and conquer, and always know what’s been done, and what’s pending.

Cool features:

Type or use voice recognition to dictate your tasks into Any.DO
Drag and drop tasks right into your agenda
Organize tasks by date, folder or priority
Sync with Google to see all of your tasks in email
See to-do’s right from your home screen
Set reminders
Share to-do’s with clients, colleagues and vendors
Get notified when shared tasks are updated

Any.DO is easy to use and simple because it lives right on your phone, but also syncs to your inbox if you’re using Gmail. There’s never an excuse for not getting things done anymore when it’s all right there in your pocket – and sending you reminders of what’s due.

Any.DO is available for free in the Android App Store.

Cool Apps: Google+ Rolls Out Pages for Businesses

By John Thompson | November 11th, 2011 0 Comments

The long-awaited “business” version of Google+ is now here! Google launched “Pages” for Google+ this week to extend the connections we make on the company’s social network beyond people to now places and also things.

I know what you’re thinking: Gee, I already have a blog, a Twitter handle, a Facebook profile and a Facebook page for my business. Do I really need yet another page for my business to plug into yet another social network?

It’s a fair question.

It’s worth pursuing a new page on Google+ for your real estate business because:

This is Google we’re talking about, a 500-pound gorilla when it comes to the web. Google has shown this year that it’s pretty serious about social networking and seems to be determined to invest heavily in Google+ to keep it relevant, innovative and essential to the social web experience of the future.
Google also announced “Direct Connect” from Google search as part of the unveiling. That means that Pages in Google+ will now be found in Google search results, allowing people to connect directly to businesses.
Google is a beast when it comes to search. The majority of the world now searches on Google, which means you want to be there to be seen by folks seeking out the services you offer. Some say the business opportunity is far greater here than with Facebook because people searching on Google are in the frame of mind to research and buy things or services. People on Facebook, on the other hand, tend to be there to socialize with other people, which is a totally different motivation and much harder to connect to from a business perspective.

Convinced? Google has a page set up for creating Pages at https://plus.google.com/pages/create. If you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll have to set one up first. The page will then walk you through the process of locating your business and building its page.

For a little inspiration, check out these pages that are already up and running:

The Phoenix Suns
Burberry
Toyota

Google+ Pages presents a great opportunity to connect with consumers who are searching for real estate information in your neighborhood online.

Cool Apps: Help Your Clients Remember You with Calendagram

By John Thompson | October 28th, 2011 0 Comments

If you’re looking to break from the traditional tchotchkes that many agents use for personal branding or the typical housewarming gifts you give to happy new homeowners, look no further than Calendagram, a new free app available in the iTunes app store.

Calendagram melds the Instagram photo-sharing app with a real-world product that you can give to clients, friends or family. It uses photos from your Instagram stream and enables you to create a unique wall calendar with them.

For a quick recap for those who may never have used Instagram – it’s a fun photo app that enables you to snap photos with your iPhone, add a cool mood-changing filter and share it in your Instagram stream. I wrote about it here last year when it came out because I see it as a unique way for agents to share their neighborhood street smarts. Photos are probably the best way on earth to share neighborhood happenings, and Instagram lets you share your stream with Twitter and Facebook, which makes it an easy add-on to your social media marketing activities.

Now, imagine taking a picture collection of a dozen of the hottest or most interesting spots in the neighborhood where you just sold a house, putting them together via Calendagram, and giving your clients a beautiful calendar as a housewarming gift. The chances are really high that it will stand out among their gifts and even earn a spot on their wall. (And hey, that could potentially spark a lot of conversations about where it came from, who made it, etc. This is a referral business, after all!)

How to create your Calendagram:

Download the Calendagram app from iTunes.
Connect it with your Instagram account. (If you don’t have one of those, you’ll need to download that app and set one up – it’s all free.)
Choose 12 photos you want to use in your calendar.
Choose a background color – black, white or brown.
Preview your calendar.
Enter the address you want it sent to, and it ships within 3 business days.

Granted, the app just came out this week so I’ve not had a chance to feel one of the calendars in my own hands, but the preview online looks amazing and it’s printed on heavy cardstock so the quality should be better than your average do-it-yourself desktop publishing calendar.

Calendagram is available for iPad and iPhone in the iTunes app store. The app itself is free and simple to use. But, those wall calendars will cost you $24.99 each.

Cool Apps: Is Your Email Address on a List of Recently Stolen Data?

By John Thompson | October 7th, 2011 0 Comments

Data security is right up there with accounting and record-keeping on the modern professional’s priorities list. Think of how easy it would be to find out anything about you and your business by simply opening your smartphone, launching email and performing a couple of searches. Now think of all the data breach stories over the last few years: Banks, medical centers, and government agencies are among the types of institutions that have been in the news for having thousands of people’s information stolen. Just last week, records of 4.9 million active and retired military personnel were compromised when a laptop was stolen out of a car in Texas.

Point taken: Our data is sensitive, and it requires a little effort to remain protected – especially when we lead businesses in which clients entrust us with a lot of their personal information and preferences.

Enter HackNotifier, where you can type in your email address and see whether it’s been stolen in any of the reported data breaches at major institutions. It’s that simple: Visit HackNotifier.com, enter your email address, and get results in seconds.

HackNotifier searches for your email address in publicly available hacked databases to cross-reference whether your information was taken in a breach. There’s no sign-up or payment for this service, but the site does offer two plans if you want 24-hour security: $5 and $7 per year for constant monitoring and notification.

Data security is a serious issue – not only for your personal peace of mind, but also for your professional reputation and integrity. In fact, you may even want to let your clients know about this free service in your next email newsletter, blog post or Facebook and Twitter update.

Cool Apps: Penultimate Offers Easier Note Taking on iPad

By John Thompson | September 30th, 2011 0 Comments

Probably the greatest thing about an iPad is the direct hand-to-screen interaction it allows you. It’s why I love stumbling across great apps that really take this ability to the next level and allow me to be more productive.

Enter Penultimate, an app built for iPad that essentially gives your finger the same power as pen and paper, with a few more perks.

For instance, you can import photos and images onto your notebook pages, from your photo library or from your iPad’s camera (if you have an iPad 2). You can move, resize and write on the images.

I see a few great uses for this in real estate:

Take notes while touring properties with your clients. Remember the details that your client’s really liked simply by taking a picture and adding a notation. Careful note taking and observation can often help you better figure out how to help your clients find the home they’ve been looking for, rather than continue to see properties that don’t quite match – wasting your time and theirs.
Take notes while on broker tour. A picture can capture a home much better than simple notes on a scratch pad. Now imagine being able to take a picture and write down a few details to remember, all in one place.
Take notes while on inspection. This is a definite potential wow moment for your client too when you come back and show them pictures and notes to help remember details of specific inspection items that need follow-up.

All this and it’s as an organic experience as using pen and paper to capture your thoughts – except that your odds of losing it are much lower.

Penultimate costs $1.99, and can be downloaded from the iTunes app store.

Posts Tagged ‘Cool Apps’

Cool Apps: Top 10 Cool Apps of 2011

Cool Apps: Save It for Later

Cool Apps: Make Your Mobile Google Calendar Even Better

Cool Apps: Organize Business Receipts From Your iPhone with Shoeboxed

Cool Apps: Sincerely Ink Makes Business Holiday Cards a Snap

Cool Apps: Google+ Rolls Out Pages for Businesses

Cool Apps: Is Your Email Address on a List of Recently Stolen Data?

Cool Apps: Penultimate Offers Easier Note Taking on iPad

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