Archive for April, 2006

Welcome - NAR’s new blog

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on April 25, 2006
in Internet
. 0 Comments

We at CRT have been publishing this blog for almost a year now. It has given CRT a broader voice, been fun and hopefully, for you, informative. We want to take the opportunity to acquaint you with another blog now being published by NAR. We think you’ll find it useful and informative.

NAR in the News is a new blog that provides a look at how the media covers NAR and our top issues. 

I say ‘ours’ because we at CRT are a part of the National Association of REALTORS and we too are dedicated to NAR’s mission and vision.

We welcome this new blog and its addition to the blogosphere.

[Update by Mark 4/26:The "NAR in the News" blog is an example of using the Movable Type package and the CRT blog uses Wordpress . Movable Type is excellent for running multiple blogs with a common set of contributors.  If you want to run a single blog, Wordpress is an excellent choice because it is easy to configure.] 

Switch different

Published
by
Keith Garner
on April 25, 2006
in Articles and Gadgets
. 1 Comment

After 12 years of running Linux as my desktop and 8 years of running Linux on my laptop, I’m making a switch.  This is a pretty big event for me.

I wouldn’t leave the comfort of Linux for just anything.  It would have to be unix based.  Having done a bunch of Windows development in the past year, I knew I would just not be comfortable there.  Linux still gave me everything windows would, and then some.  The powerful unix command-line made up for wireless and multi-headed operation being slightly more difficult.  So I was fairly happy until…  Well, lets backtrack a bit.

When Apple first released OS X in 2001, I started tracking OS X and keeping an eye on it.  When Dave got a Powerbook a year or two ago and loved it so I continued to pay attention.  With each release OS X has fixed or added items to the unix level as well as the GUI level that made it more and more attractive.  Last year, things were good enough that I made the statement that if Intel Powerbooks come out, I’d switch.  Then it happened, it snowed in hell, and Apple made me have to put my money where my mouth is.  :)

Last Monday my linux-running Thinkpad A31p was replaced with a 15" 2Ghz MacBook Pro.  I’ve been slowly getting up to speed.  Moving on to the new laptop is taking a bit longer then I expected.  As of last Friday I’m at the point where I have most of apps I use every day, or their OS X equivalent.

From the unix to unix perspective stuff has just worked.  I’ve rsynced my files from my old laptop over.  I’ve resorting things to fit into some of the OS X default folders.

One thing i have been surprised by is the number of open source apps that I’ve been able to use.  The open source community has welcomed OS X with open arms, for the most part.  I was already using Firefox and Thunderbird on Linux, so I was able to use those exact same programs on OS X.  For instant messaging, I’m using Adium, which supposedly uses code from GAIM.  For an RSS reader, to replace liferea, I’ve gone with Vienna.   All the X applications and other unix command line tools that I use often, such as a2ps, ethereal, nmap, and others have been contained within DarwinPorts.  For coding, OS X uses the GNU toolset, so everything I need for building is there.  Command-line Emacs is already there, but I’m playing around with Aquaemacs for my emacs needs.  My biggest problem with this switch is that I’m switching from XEmacs to straight emacs.  Since XEmacs is a fork of Emacs, most stuff works but the little bit where the configuration is different is slowing me down as I recreate the equivalent configuration.

iTunes has become a pretty good replacement for how I used xmms to listening to mp3 streams and music files.  As an added bonus, I’m actually using my iPod with iTunes instead of gtkpod.  Its not making any difference in how i’m doing things, but I’m finally doing what everyone else who has an iPod does.

Microsoft doesn’t have an Intel native version of Office out for the Mac yet, and I could run it under Rosetta , but I’m on a quest to not run anything under emulation.  Fortunately, most of what I would need Office for is contained in Apple’s iWork suite: presentation software and a word processor. When I need a spreadsheet, I’ll turn to OpenOffice.org.  Unfortunately, OpenOffice.org does not have a native GUI port, but they do have an Intel build that will run under the X11.  For my meager spreadsheet needs, that should be fine.

One thing I’m not entirely happy yet is virtual desktop support.  I generally like DesktopManager, but its not running happily on Intel yet.  For now I’ve settled on VirtueDesktops, which gets the job done, but is definately not my favorite.  At least I have virtual desktops, though.

All in all I’m extremely happy I made the switch.  On a server, I’m sticking with Linux.  On a desktop I could still very happily use Linux, but OS X is great there as well.  But for a laptop, OS X is the winner hands down.  Everything that I listed above that I could do, but not easily on Linux, just works on OS X.

Of course, the side benefit of this is that ezRETS will soon work on OS X.  :) 

Real Estate blogosphere expands

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on April 20, 2006
in Announcements and Internet
. 3 Comments

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome RealBlogging to the industry blogosphere .  The site was registered by Stefan Swanepoel and has an impressive list of contributors. It also has a handy listing of industry conferences and definitions supplied by RealtyU .  While you are at it you can view advertising from promiment industry players too.

I guess this site is the "Official Real Estate Industry Blog" or the "Official Blog Site for the Real Estate Industry" as long as you don’t tell the contributors to the other blogs out thereWink.  I think there is room for more than one blog because blogging is part of the Internet community.

Kudos to RealBlogging and good luck! 

CRT and Clareity

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on April 13, 2006
in Announcements, Conferences, Internet, MLS, Projects, Security and Tools
. 0 Comments

CRT and Clareity Security will be working together on Single Sign-On approaches within RETS (Real Estate Transaction Standard). We are targeting a deliverable for the RETS Group that can be discussed at their next meeting. 

Single Sign-on allows you to access several secure applications, but only requires you to "login" once.  This capability will be important for bridging MLS Systems and TMS (Transaction Management Systems).

Phone calls will be scheduled for the community throughout the summer and I’ll let you know how you can keep up with this important step forward.

RETS meeting live blogging

Published
by
Keith Garner
on April 12, 2006
in Conferences and Projects
. 0 Comments

A few of us from CRT are off at the RETS meeting in Washington, DC.  Things are really ramping up towards RETS 2.0 and there have been other exciting developments such as a proposal for the RETS committee to be spun off into a freestanding not-for-profit organization.

We thought about posting some summaries, but Michael DelGaudio of MRIS is live-blogging the RETS meeting over at MRIS’s Developers Corner blog.  We’ll let him do the hard work and just point you over there.

CRT at Association Executives Institute

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on April 5, 2006
in Conferences, MLS, Reviews and Security
. 0 Comments

I was at AEI this past weekend in Reno, Nevada. CRT provided wireless Internet access for attendees and participated in several Institute sessions.

The first session was "Information Security - What AEs need to Know."  It featured Mac McMillan of CynergisTek and Doug Eddy of MRIS as speakers. The session focused on how information security can be used as a business enabler, threats that are on the rise, and how NAR’s Realtor Secure program can provide resources to an AE to assist their security efforts.

The second session looked at new business models that are on the rise in the real estate industry.  It looked at vertical and horizontal search companies, real estate portals, and online brokerage models.  It highlighted companies like Zillow.com and Trulia and how AEs can learn from them.  It was a lively session with many questions and comments.

Another session presented by CRT was about PolicyPage, CRT’s internet compliance tool.  I must commend the attendees at the PolicyPage sesssion - it was at 7:00 am on the last day of the conference and had over 50 attendees.  From the reaction of the audience, we at CRT will be anticipating an increase in the number of PolicyPage users.

The conference was titled "Find Your Winning Combination."  That theme reminds me that there are many aspects and groups that need to be combined for a successful association. One aspect of an association and its MLS that is constantly increasing is ‘technology’ and the conference sessions certainly reflected that.  Many sessions featured a technology theme which indicates just how important it has become for success in real estate.  One that I found informative included the AE Forum where the new "The Consumer: Catalyst of Change" report was covered.  Another well attended and lively session included "The Future Face of REALTOR® Associations and MLSs."  Both these sessions stressed how technology and the consumer use of it is changing real estate information needs and practices.