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Now the distressed properties tool that is loved by REALTORS® is available anywhere you go.

The ForeclosureRadar™ iPhone™ app will allow you to review the status of a foreclosure property and update your distressed-property tracking analysis from your mobile device.

Features Include:

• Nearby Foreclosures
  
  • Show all foreclosures near your current location
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  • View all property details, including phots, notes and transaction history
• Daily Auction Schedule
  • View all properties going to sale that day
• Monitor Auction Activity
  • Find properties as they are announced and check for opening bids
• View My Saved Properties
  • See your saved information and easily email from your phone

The ForeclosureRadar™ iPhone™ app is free if you already subscribe to ForeclosureRadar™ and is available for download through the Apple® iTunes store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/foreclosureradar/id379791441. Please note: you will need an active subscription to login.

If you are not a subscriber of ForeclosureRadar™ you may receive a 10% discount and an extended trial period of 7 days. To receive the discount, visit www.foreclosureradar.com/car and use coupon code “RADAR99.”

First video segment – opening the iPad and launching the CCAR Mobile portal, which we have conveniently added to our home page. The CCAR mobile portal at m.ccartoday.com is a mobile optimized replica of ccartoday.com’s key services designed specifically for mobile devices like the blackberry, iPhone, iPad, etc.

Once we are in the mobile portal, we head into the free ‘Area Demographics’ tool that we offer.

A few notes on the videos in this post. We are using a wireless connection to stream the iPad screen to the laptop this is being written on. At the moment this is the most effective way to capture what you see on the iPad screen. We can’t wait for ‘an app for that!’

As a result of that wireless connection, you will see some ‘lag’ or jerkiness in the screen as it refreshes the content.

Since we are on an iPad, flash will not work. CCAR employs flash on several websites, most noticeably in our listing galleries. While the websites will work, there will be an empty space where the flash content should be. Certain other scripts will not display properly on web pages as well.

Finally, we also see a normal computer mouse cursor on the screen. This is not visible on the iPad normally, it is simply a side effect of displaying the iPad on the computer screen. It does help a bit to show you what we are about to click on as we move around the iPad interface.

Second video clip… Lets take a quick peek at how ccartoday.com (NOT the mobile version) loads on the iPad, as well as a few other services like HOT – HomesOpenToday.com. Note that we are focusing on a listing from volunteer leader and President-Elect Fred Weston, who has taken advantage of the opportunity to augment his listing with an additional 18 property photos. The ability to add as many as 25 additional property pics to your listings is one of CCAR’s latest members only benefits!

More real estate related demonstrations are on the way. Up next… a peek at how to use ccar tools with the cooliris app on the ipad, a more in-depth look at the CCAR Mobile Portal at m.ccartoday.com, and much more.

The ipad is basically a big iphone.  Guess what, sometimes bigger technology is better. After an intense decade of competition in the emerging smartphone space, where miniaturization was the rule of thumb, we are starting to see a push for ‘bigger.’ This is of course driven by the screen. The iphone screen is beautiful, but you can bet that virtually everyone who first turned on their iphone and started gesturing at the surface said to themselves, ‘wow, it would be great if this thing was 6 times the size!’

In reality, the original protoype that led to the iphone was in fact the surface tablet that eventually became the ipad, only well after the iphone enjoyed its amazing release.

The ipad is a surface computing device.  That just means that it is a computer that employs a special graphical user interface, or GUI. That interface, for the ipad and other surface devices like it, is the screen itself.  Since surface computing and the iphone both already exist, how can anyone call the ipad a revolutionary device?

Well, do you remember when the rubiks cube rolled out?  Big deal, another multicolor plastic puzzle with moving pieces.  Wrong…  the cube just ‘got it right.’  A 2 year old could immediately pick it up and start working the cube.  It was intuitive, but it also challenged you. It felt good, it looked good, and it swept the world. In the process, it absolutely changed the way that we looked at a few things.

Enter the ipad.  Yes, just a slate tablet.  Yes, just a surface device.  Yes, just a reinvention of the pda.  But oh my.

This is what Apple does so well.  Take established concepts and technologies, and create the ‘perfect’ version of them.

So what do you get for your money?

Well the ipad comes in white or black, in 16, 32, and 64 gigabyte models.  For reference, the 16 gb model could hold about 10-12 high full length movies like Avatar (no perceptible difference from the dvd), and still have room for lots of apps and a bit of user data (stored app sessions, pictures, etc).  The 64 gb version can easily hold 45 such movies and still have a lot of space to grow.

Beyond that, there are now 3g variants of these models.  That basically just means that you can now get the device with a cellular card installed, pretty much like the iphone.  It is not meant to make calls (though i am sure there is an app for that), but rather for data access.  Browsing on the go – access to mobile MLS, email, mapping, etc.  As I noted in the first post, for many agents the data access on the fly is a must, but you may want to strongly consider a Verizon or Sprint mifi card for basically the same cost.  This mobile hot spot will practically fit in your wallet, and offers as good or better data access, with more flexibility.  Of course, if you leave it at home…

For many of us, the 3g option is not needed, as we are constantly in a wifi hotspot.

As discussed in the first review post, the box also comes with a power adapter and cable.  Beyond that, you will almost certainly want a protective case, bag, or something to accessorize your ipad and protect it from damage (including a film overlay to protect the screen)

Beyond the hardware, you get an:

• amazing listing presentation tool. The screen is just so pleasing to look at, the gesture based interface so appealing, that listing presentations, and listing review with buyers, are obvious ways to take advantage of the device.   Whether you are reviewing a powerpoint type presentation, a series of images, or websites (or all of the above), the ipad is a great way to get your message across when sitting with a client.
  
• a powerful mobile productivity tool.  Example: with a $10 app or two you could rapidly create a visually stunning listing presentation on the fly at the home in question, not that you want to.  The ability to be truly productive on the ipad, compared with sitting at a desktop pc with an suite of office software, etc. , will depend on the apps.  As more and more apps are built and perfected for the ipad experience, things might get interesting.
• a potent tool for bonding; bonding with clients, with family and with friends will be a natural result of using the device.  Unlike a laptop, passing the pad back and forth between users is very comfortable. Tthe ipad has an xfactor that is also shared by the Nintendo wii systems here… Put a 73 year old technophobe across the ipad from a 3 year old child, and they will both have a phenomenal experience. It is the simplicity of the gestures and the intuitive interface that makes the tool appealing to just about anyone.
• a sublime gaming platform for certain types of games

So while we have touched on it, we haven’t really focused yet on what makes the ipad, and its smaller cousins the ipod touch and iphone so ‘cool.’  In a nutshell, they are simple, but sophisticated.  I am repeatedly amazed at how many intuitive functions there are.

For example, if you scribble something on your screen, but don’t like the results, just shake your device gently, and it will erase (a 4 year old actually showed this to me)…  just like the etch-a-sketch many of us grew up with.  Looking at a photo?  Want to see the next one?  Just swipe your finger.  This is called ‘inertial scrolling’ and is a big part of what makes the devices so useful.  When you take a phone call and hold the iphone to your ear, the screen automatically dims to conserve battery…  pull it away from your ear a few inches to look at the screen, and it automatically lights the screen.

How is that possible?  Well, the idevices are all leveraging accelerometer technology.  That just means that the device can tell when you are tipping it, rotating it, and shaking it… and it can tell how fast.

Also, obviously, the devices are taking advantage of ‘multi-touch surface computing.’  That just means that you can touch the screen to do things, drag them, etc…  but you can do so with multiple fingers.  So if there is a bit of text that you want to grab, you can just ‘pinch’ the screen at both ends of the text blob, and it instantly highlights just that portion.  This screen technology (which again Apple certainly did not invent, but definitely has ‘perfected’) is now sophisticated enough that well made apps are now using ‘wrist protection’ to ignore your wrist resting comfortably on the surface while giving ‘focus’ to your finger doing the drawing.

Finally, the speed of the system makes it ‘cool.’  Granted, this is a bit of a ploy.  The idevices do not allow genuine multitasking.  So, while I can watch a movie on our recent rebareastbay.com event on my laptop in one corner of my screen, have three or four browser windows open, and still be typing on this post all at once, I cannot do this on the ipad.  The ipad runs one app at a time, and does so very effectively.  The ploy is that it is not that hard to run one app at a time.  But in practical use, the ability to be working in about 2 seconds after picking up the ipad, and the ability to  switch between apps in that same 2 seconds and be working in the new app, make multitasking somewhat irrelevant.  We all do too much multitasking these days anyways.  I do not feel limited by the one app at a time approach, I feel like I focus more on what I am doing, and have a better experience over all as a result.

So enough about what it is and why it is cool.   Lets take a first look at what you can do right out of the box with an ipad, and some of the tools that CCAR puts at your disposal for free!

Some immediate, practical examples.

The CCAR mobile portal

• mobile MLS access
• mobile HOT access
• mobile ccar contacts
• mobile find a realtor
• mobile reverse MLS lookup (find a REALTOR® by their property, etc)
• much more that we will demonstrate visually in the next post

CCAR HOT – HomesOpenToday.com – while you can access HOT through the mobile portal, since HOT is simply a website, you can also of course browse there from the built in browser.

CCAR Single property websites – CCAR creates a few different views of your listing as soon as the listing is entered into the MLS.  These are essentially single property websites that you can frame onto your website, link to from any number of venues where you might want to share listing information, etc.

CCAR Cooliris galleries – CCAR also creates some flash driven ‘cooliris’ listing galleries – for your agent inventory, your office inventory, and for all upcoming open homes.  But wait, you say.  If these engaging galleries are flash driven, how can you take advantage of them on the ipad which does not support flash?

Well, there is of course an app for that!  Cooliris recently put out an app that works well on both the iphone and the ipad.  I suspect that the next revision will improve the quality of the images, which do seem more geared to the smaller screen of the iphone.  We will demonstrate this app visually in our next post, as well as most of the tools we reference here, and beyond.

One of the really interesting and fun things you can do for free with the ipad is display its interface on your pc.  So, for example, I can project an image on a screen from my laptop.  We have all seen this a thousand times in presentations.  Well, add one little step, which is a piece of free client software on my pc, and a corresponding app running on the ipad, and I am now able to be holding the tablet in my hand, driving that wonderful interface, and watching the results on my laptop screen (and/or a projector).  See a printscreen below.  Now that we have that bit of functionality, we will be recording some demonstrations for future reviews.

This concludes part 2 of our series of reviews on the ipad.  We could go on and on describing uses for the ipad using CCAR and third party tools, but it will be much more effective to show you rather than tell you.
Now that the unboxing, and the basics are behind us, we can focus on advanced practical uses in future posts, including video demonstrations of the device in action.

Since that question has been posed, I thought I would begin a series of iPad reviews by providing my opinion on the subject. Before we delve in, let me answer the immediate question a number of members have asked.
Q. Will the ipad work on the MLS?
A. No – not yet, not perfectly. Don’t despair, however, read on for a more complete answer – it gets better!

Now, let me weigh in on the device itself. Future posts will review more in depth.

Cost – ~$800: I was ‘out the door’ for $670 for the 64 gb version.  Another $50 on the excellent Belkin rubberized bump sleeve to protect it from falls, and I am now spending money on apps.  Budget for at least $100 on apps, and your total startup cost is around $800.

Unboxing: Getting started with the ipad is a snap. I was adding apps in about 3 minutes from sitting down with the wrapped package. The ipad ships with the device itself, a standard ‘idevice’ USB power brick (works for ipod/iphone as well, feel free to charge those devices from the brick), and a standard idevice USB connection cable (same cable as ipod/iphone, feel free to interchange).’

The good news there is that a fully charged ipad will give you a solid 8-10 hours of fairly continual use, depending on what you are doing. That is truly amazing. I am generally able to start using it in the am, use it heavily throughout the day, and then just set it to charge overnight.

One flaw to the ‘universal’ charging/cable situation. Unlike the ipod/iphone, the ipad cannot be properly charged from most computers. With the ipod/iphone, you can just plug the USB cable into a desktop or laptop and you are charging. With the ipad, you really need to use the power brick.

There is a decent ‘unboxing’ video here.

The reported problems: Some early critiques of the ipad have included:

• High glare from the glossy screen
• poor wifi reception
• expensive apps
• tough to type
• missing hardware
• missing software

High glare - This just in, if you stare at the sun you will go blind (please don’t test that).  Sorry, but this critique seems really to be more a fact of life than a critique.  The screen looks like gorgeous crystal.  Of course it reflects light.  So I have to disagree with this one.  Sure, if you hold it at the right (wrong) angle outdoors in full sun, you can probably start a campfire if you wait a bit. But in practical use, indoors and out, i have never had really bad experiences with glare. I used the device for 6 hours on a cross country flight above the clouds, from the window seat, and had no issues.  The iphone/ipod had the same challenge, and the matte surface screen protectors work great if it really bothers you in daily use.

Poor wifi – Here again I must disagree. The word was that the placement of the wifi adapter behind the metallic apple logo was causing poor connectivity. My experience with connecting to wifi has been very positive. I have not tested range of connection on a wide variety of wifi hotspots, but on my home wifi, at the CCAR offices, and on the mifi mobile hotspot adapter I have tested, I have good and immediate connectivity from very reasonable distances. Throughput, or the speed of data transfer is not phenomenal, but not bad.

From what i have read, there does seem to be a real issue here for some users, but it sounds as though Apple has been trying to address them quietly in the background. Believe it or not, according to an official Apple knowledge base post, having the LED screen of the ipad on ‘dim’ screen brightness settings can cause wifi interference. If that is true, i am not concerned, because i like the screen bright, LED’s last a long time, and the battery still lasts 10 hours on full brightness. Apple states they will address any outstanding issues with a software update.

Expensive apps - I have to agree here. Whereas apps for the iphone and ipod were typically .99-1.99 apiece, most ipad apps are between 4.99 and 9.99. Many are over 10 dollars. Still, this is understandable, as a good ipad app is not simply a ‘big’ version of the ipod/iphone apps. The much larger screen is allowing for a range of options in creating the app interface that were simply not possible on the smaller screens of the ipod/iphone. Pinching, stretching, and a whole host of other ‘gesture’ based interactions with the device present a new world of possibilities on this beautiful surface.

Also, the ‘lite’ version of apps are often still applicable, so you can try before you buy, or sometimes even just enjoy the free ‘lite’ trial long term. Finally, and related to the first point, the apps I buy are just better. Sure, I take more time to review before I buy; no more ‘well, it is just 99c impulse buys. But that just means that I am buying less garbage apps that were made just to snag my 99c. I would much rather pay $5.99 for a quality app that will get more robust over time, and therefore get used, than pay 99 cents apiece for 6 ’shovelware’ apps that were just shoveled together to make a quick buck.

Tough to type – For the most part I have to disagree with this critique as well. I am a pretty solid touch typist.  I can do a solid 80 words a minute, and productivity at a keyboard is a big part of my day.  So I think I am a good test case here.

For my part, I find the keyboard overlay fairly convenient. The word recognition and learning are quite sophisticated. True, it cannot compete with the genuine keyboard experience just yet, but I actually enjoy typing on the ipad for most uses.  NOTE: this only applies when sitting in a good position with the ipad supported on your lap, or at a desk using the right type of stand.  Laying flat on a surface, or at odd angles, the onscreen keyboard puts you back into a ‘hunt and peck’ mentality.  Is it a real typing experience?  Almost, but not quite.  Still, this post was entirely written on the ipad.  It probably took me an extra 35% of the time it would have taken on a pc.  As a mobile blogging tool alone, with all the other perks aside, it is worth the price of admission for me.

Missing hardware - I was honestly shocked when I saw the first production ipad reviews. There is no integrated camera, and no USB ports. I think this is a bit annoying and limiting. First, the camera. One of the things that I saw Apple doing with the ipad was creating a drop dead simple video chat built in tool. Instead, they have apparently relegated this to third party app developers (requiring you to buy a bluetooth connected external camera).

This may be just a ploy, and future hardware versions of the ipad will likely include an integrated camera. Video chat is a great tool to connect people over distances, but on a pc it is a bit annoying. Most chat engines (yahoo IM, Gmail chat) have video chat software, but it is hardly ’simple.’ When technology is difficult to use, it doesn’t get used. This has been Apples forte; take an existing technology and make it perfect – feng shui for technology. I was really hoping the ipad would address this. Even the still camera only hardware of the original iphones would have been better than nothing.

As for no USB ports… again, this feels like a bit of a ploy to force a new round of device creation and purchase. USB is a wildly successful standard with broad adoption. Why force users to buy a new round of wireless devices if they don’t want to?

Also, a kensington lock mount would be nice…  There are times when I would want to be able to lock the device to a table during event registrations, etc.  I personally love the ipad so much, I would wear it as a necklace, if there was a decent way to support the device (but with apples typical smooth stylings, there is simply nothing to grab on to).

Missing software – No Flash??? Are you kidding me? Forgive me while I rant for a moment. Apple/Steve Jobs, please stop forcing your technology morals on users. Enable Flash now. Give me a toggle on my settings page just like the one for airplane mode to turn flash on and off.

For those of you who don’t know the full story, you can read a sanitized, somewhat revisionist history of it here on Apples website. Apple’s logic falls short for me. Yes, flash is a cpu hog (and therefore a battery drain), but it makes up for it in the most elegant use of bandwidth around. And frankly we are all suffering under the strain that the idevice revolution is placing on AT&T’s network, and the internet in general. A little efficiency there might be a nice thing. At the end of the day, if you follow Apples own logic, the worst case scenario of enabling flash for users of idevices is that the end users experience might suffer – not the platform, not the network, the user experience. So give me the choice. If flash sites and flash enabled apps don’t work well for me, I likely won’t use them.

I am looking forward to watching the Android based devices challenge this logic. Android based smartphones are starting to make a convincing case that they are in some ways superior to the iphone. The HTC Droid Incredible is a good example. Up next are ipad like competitors running Android, unencumbered by the Apple politics on this issue. If the end user experience is as rich as I expect, then Apple may have to follow suit.

So, is it a tool, or a toy?

The simple beauty of the device may elevate it to the level of ‘tool’ if used properly. Listings look great shown on an ipad, period.  Similarly, the amazing variety of niche ways to take advantage of the device; as an email client, as a notepad, as a movie player, as an artpad (and on and on), may elevate it to a real estate ‘tool’ for some.

But to understand the real answer to the tool/toy question, we need to recognize that while we are asking the right question, we are doing so at the wrong time.

The reality is simple; while the ipad is a beautiful, incredibly intuitive device, the toy vs tool question does not really depend on the device. We need to see what a new generation of surface apps will look and feel like, and what may be in store with the new ‘i-OS.’ Access to an exploding variety of apps is what made the ipod/iphone less a device than ‘a lifestyle.’ The same will be true of the ipad. At the time of this writing, there are only a few apps that i would say are a must have. In a few months, that number will grow by a factor of ten. And then again in a year.

By spring of next year, I suspect I will crave at least 100 very solid applications. Probably a dozen of these will be directly related to real estate, and another 2 dozen will augment the real estate experience (imagine, for example, a drop dead simple paint/drawing app to let you import a listing photo and quickly change paint schemes, furniture layouts, etc.). Note: read reviews before purchasing apps! There is still a lot of ’shovel-ware,’ apps shoveled together to get a quick buck.

Real Estate Applications:

Very briefly, if you are hoping to convert to the ipad exclusively on the go (no laptop, no stops at a desktop computer), prepare to be frustrated.  If I was buying and selling real estate, I would probably allocate ~$1200 to hardware…  $400 for a ‘netbook’ laptop, and $800 for an 64gb ipad with about $100 in apps.

The netbook would be for logging into the MLS and other core real estate applications on the road, at least until they catch up and offer a robust mobile experience.  The ipad would be for receiving emails with the results of my netbook searching; data (stats for example), and links to listings, etc.  It would also of course be the ‘go to’ way to view virtually any type of visual information, especially with a client.  But for now, it may not be the best way to gather that info.

For example, our current MLS platform cannot be viewed properly using the ipad.  Not even close.  Late this year we will upgrade that experience, but after testing it myself, the system is not quite right yet, and may not be ipad perfected when the platform goes live.  This market, the advanced mobile experience, is still a niche, and optimization and bug fixes for that niche will likely be addressed after the core desktop/laptop experience.

Purchasing tips:
UPDATED 6/1/10 10:27am: Asus announces new Android based competitor in early 2011, the eeePad.
Consider waiting.  As competition in this space increases, costs will come down.  Hopefully we will see some of that late this year.  Certainly by next year.  Similarly, you will likely get more bang for your buck in 9-12 months when ipad v2 is released, hopefully addressing some of the hardware issues.  Finally, hopefully software will also adapt and improve.

What we are starting to see is the appearance of a whole new niche of robust mobile devices.  They are creating a demand for a ‘lite’ version of applications like the MLS.  I am not talking about the common approach which is to offer a simple, cell phone optimized search.  I am talking about a genuine MLS experience made for devices like the ipad, whether we are talking about an ‘app’ in the apple store, or just a browser based search.

If you absolutely have to have it, feel good about it, because it is an amazing experience.  Don’t buy the 3G version, buy a mifi instead. A number of real estate practitioners will want the ability to connect on the go, and the ipad data enabled version certainly allows for that. But given the cost of the data plan, you should strongly consider getting a ‘mifi’ device from Sprint or Verizon instead. This will enable you, and 5-10 other users to connect just as seamlessly. It has the added advantage of servicing your or other users laptops on the go, not just the ipad. True, you then need two decices, but the sleek little ‘mifi’ devices fit anywhere, keep a 4 hour working charge, and are simple to use.

Get the 64gb version (or larger when available), if you are going to use the device, you will want it. Apple does a phenomenal job updating its software (the devices operation system) and firmware (the devices basic hardware level programming). But they cannot remote upgrade your hardware. Apps are growing larger and richer every day. Trust me, you will want the space.

Now that we have done a brief introduction to the ipad, future posts will focus on detailed practical uses for real estate, configuration tips, must have apps, and more.

Rapattoni released the new version to its customers on April 28, giving their users the ability to access the Rapattoni MLS from the Firefox® web browser on PCs and Macs®. Rapattoni’s initiative to become cross-browser and cross-platform compatible began in 2009 and will continue throughout 2010, as additional browsers are added.

Nick Rapattoni, president of Rapattoni, said, “Over the past two years, the popularity of the Mac® has increased significantly among real estate professionals. As the numbers increased, Rapattoni recognized the importance of cross-platform compatibility and invested in making its robust Rapattoni MLS software work natively on both PCs and Apple® computers. Our new version provides our customers with a faster end product capable of running on Internet Explorer® and Firefox®.”

About Rapattoni MLS
Rapattoni MLS is setting the standard with advanced features such as integrated GIS parcel mapping, an integrated member management and billing system, the most advanced RETS data exchange system, integrated aerial photography, a robust statistics and trends analysis package, language translation, the Rapattoni Secure Logon system featuring Adaptive Authentication technology, and the ability to operate a convenient Single Sign-On (SSO) identity portal. The Rapattoni MLS is compatible with the Internet Explorer® and Firefox® web browsers and can be operated natively on PCs and Mac® computers.

Download here :  http://m.opera.com (on your mobile device)

January 28, 2010

Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed yesterday at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco that the iPad, the company’s new tablet, is the middle ground between a laptop and an iPhone.

This means that the hundreds of thousands of applications for the iPhone are now available to iPad users, changing the mobile marketing and application development landscape forever.

“If nothing else, Apple is a master at creating hype that reaches well beyond the techies and all the way to the masses,” said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer at HipCricket, Kirkland, WA.  Read More…

January 27, 2010

If Apple is able to replicate the success it has had with the iPhone, then its tablet computer will have a huge impact on mobile advertising, branded applications and content distribution.

Today Apple is expected to announce its plans to release a tablet computer, which is rumored to feature a 10-inch touch screen and run applications designed for the iPhone. The tablet’s larger screen and iTunes payments platform could be a boon for brand advertisers, software developers, large content providers and media companies looking for alternative revenue streams.

“In terms of branded applications, we’ve been contacted by all of the big brands for which we’ve developed iPhone apps seeing what they can develop for the tablet,” said Scott Michaels, vice president at Atimi Software, Vancouver, BC. “The desire and the budgets are there, so brands will enter the tablet space.  Read More…