Posts Tagged ‘real estate technology’

In the latest property blog technology news, we have learnt that switched on agents are taking their social networking platforms such as Facebook very seriously, according to RE/MAX WA property managing director Geoff Baldwin.

“Interestingly, over two thirds of Facebook users are over the age of 25 so it stands to reason that these people are also highly likely to be buying, selling or investing in property and hence, agents who ignore social media are doing so at their peril,” Mr Baldwin said.

“Many busy business owners scoff at Facebook labelling it as a passing fad however, any business that does not have a social media presence and awareness in today’s property market is existing in ignorant bliss of the audience they are excluding.”

According to Mr Baldwin, recent surveys have shown that companies with no social media presence are less likely to be considered by property buyers, under the age of 35, than those with a Facebook page or Twitter account.

“Whilst a business owner may choose not to establish a corporate Fan Page on facebook or to participate personally, there is little doubt that they are missing out on communicating with hundreds if not thousands of their potential customers,” he said.

All of the RE/MAX WA property staff is currently completing training courses in facebook, so as to remain on top of the growing trend.

Source: REB
Property Blog by Property Buzz

Several months ago when I was researching for content for our technology section of our property blog I discovered that Google made a move that long seemed inevitable when they announced the impending launch of their own operating system: Chrome OS.

Since then, details on the project have remained sparse, other than that it would be lightweight (like the Chrome web browser), open source, and initially focused on the emerging netbook market.

Today, I have learnt a bit more about Chrome OS, as Google is providing an update on the product and announced the open sourcing of the code, meaning developers will be able to keep up with developments and start contributing to it. Commercial availability of the OS, however, is still likely at least a year out.

However, what does this mean for the property sector? For me this basically could become the first major overall in how we operate with our computers. Up until now Windows has dominated the market with its operating system. But as we all know once Google takes on a market they tend to take over it.

The company did announce a few other interesting tidbits about Chrome (the web browser):

There are now more than 40 million users of Chrome

Chrome Extensions are nearly ready to launch.

Chrome for Mac will be ready by end of the year

For more property related technology news please visit our technology section

Property Blog by Property Buzz
Daniel Kanoon

Property Blog - LinkedIn logo

Today, Microsoft has revealed a stack load of new tools that all you property tycoons should be interested in; first they announced Internet Explorer 9 and launched the beta of Office 2010, just to name a few.

However, the most intriguing announcement for me today was the creation of the Outlook Social Connector, a new feature of Office 2010 that connects social networking feeds and information to the Outlook inbox. Appropriately, the first partner will be LinkedIn, whose business social networking information will be integrated throughout Outlook.

And if you are anything like me and are still a loyal Outlook users this is a welcome integration.

The new LinkedIn addition, which will be coming soon to the Office 2010 beta, offers a slew of interesting features. The first major integration is connections: the network updates of your LinkedIn contacts (status updates, new connections, etc.) will be accessible whenever you receive an email form one of them. Here’s what it will look like:

property blog - linkedin-outlook-preview

The second addition is the ability to emailed LinekdIn connections through Outlook. When you start tying in a contact’s name, he or she will start to appear just like any email address in your Outlook address book. It will also create a new folder for LinkedIn contacts with key profile information and their picture. Finally, you will be able to automatically invite anyone to join your LinkedIn network just by clicking a button next to the emails your receive.

By the way if you are a fan of this property blog and have a linkedin account please feel free to follow me @ Property Buzz Blog Group – For all the latest updates in property news.

Property Blog by Property Buzz
Daniel Kanoon

property real estate blog- relaxation tips

Are you constantly stressed by everyday life? It does not matter if you are involved in the property market or not, I am sure the majority of our readers are faced with stressfull situations each day. And if you are anything like me your iPhone is your baby.

However, I find that the iPhone generally adds to the stress in my busy life. Now anytime can be work time; there are always emails to respond to, the Twittersphere to catch up on, property prices to check and blogs to read. Instead of reaching the, perhaps obvious, conclusion of putting my iPhone away occasionally, I set out to see if the iPhone could actually help me relax. Here are the best apps out there to de-stress with your favorite mobile device — of course putting the iPhone away may actually be better for your mental health but for me this is not an option. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever tried to negotiate a property sale or property purchase with some who doesn’t speak your native tongue? Well if you haven’t let me tell you it is extremely difficult. However, today our property blog has stumbled upon another great tool for anyone trying to negotiate a deal in another language.

Google already existing tool for translating text between 51 languages, Google Translate, has just added some very nifty and very useful features, with the biggest change being the addition of instant, real-time translations.

While the company hasn’t removed the “translate” button from its service, it should because now the proper translation will appear in real-time below the text box. It’s actually quite amazing: you can type in complex words and see their roots as you type. It also allows you to craft sentences faster and more efficiently in other languages.

Google Translate’s two other additions are nearly as impressive. Another new feature helps English speakers pronounce and read non-roman languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean). Clicking “Show romanizaiton” will provide you a phonetic representation of the translation so you can read it off instantly. Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian aren’t supported yet. However, Arabic, Persian, and Hindi now have a feature that allows you to type out the words as they sound (in English) and convert them to native script.

Finally, Google’s added text-to-speech support for English translations: just click the speaker icon to hear your translation. Overall, these new features are a good upgrade to Google Translate, especially the real-time translations, which we think may change how people interact with the tool.

Check the video out and to stay on top of new property technologies please visit our technology section in our blog.

Read the rest of this entry »