Archive for July, 2006

Messenger Revisited

Published
by
Ian Smith
on July 31, 2006
in Projects
. 2 Comments

HappyPhone

In an effort to simplfiy the installation and administration of the Messenger service, CRT has rebuilt it from the ground up. First let’s review how Messenger works. The service translates text into a speech message, makes a phone call, and then plays the message. We refer to this process as event based phone messaging. The text can come from different sources. In it’s current version Messenger is able to grab text from an email or a web form. 

The earlier version of Messenger functioned in a similar fashion but had additional capabilities which added complexity to the installation and administation processes. Since these additional capabilites had little to do with the core function (event based phone messaging) of the Messenger service they were removed from the current version.

The Messenger Project page has been updated with additional information about the new version. Look for the the official Messenger release this week.

[8/4/06 Messenger released. Messenger 1.0 is now available for download at the new Messenger Project page.]

Mark wins Innovator Award

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on July 27, 2006
in Announcements, General and Press Releases
. 2 Comments

Inman_Innovator_Award_2006.jpgLast night Mark received a special Inman Innovator Award for "Individual Innovator " at the Inman Connect real estate conference in San Francisco. The award honors forward-thinking technology pioneers in online real estate, brokerage and mortgage companies

Congratulations Mark! 

NAR’s new CTO

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on July 25, 2006
in Announcements and Press Releases
. 0 Comments

We had the NAR CTO job posted here a few months ago. Well - those of us on the staff of CRT are pleased to see Mark get the position. Here’s more about it .

Congratulations Mark!

ezRETS looking for a few brave OS X users

Published
by
Keith Garner
on July 24, 2006
in Projects
. 0 Comments

OS XezRETS is finally running well enough on OS X in testing that I’d like to find some brave souls to do some alpha testing on it.  I’d like to find some usage patterns that aren’t mine to see if there’s things that I haven’t exercised.  It doesn’t matter if you’re on PPC or Intel, but you do need to be on 10.4.x aka Tiger.

ezRETS is CRT’s ODBC Driver for RETS servers.  It aims to provide read-only access to RETS servers via any application that can speak ODBC, such as Microsoft Office.  It’s cross-platform existing under Windows and Linux.  For more about it, visit ezRETS project web page.

If you’re interested please join the ezRETS-users mailing list and mail there or e-mail me directly. 

CRT @ the REALTORS® Conference & Expo - New Orleans Nov 10 - 13

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on July 18, 2006
in Announcements and Conferences
. 3 Comments

In addition to sponsoring the wireless hot spot for attendees and the new blog room CRT sponsors several IT related sessions at the REALTORS Conference & Expo. Here are the sessions CRT is sponsoring at the upcoming  conference in New Orleans, November 10 -13. 

Digital Identity in Real Estate - Beyond Tokens
We will look at the role digital certificates might play in the real estate transaction. How can digital certificates be used in real estate? What are their advantages and how can a real estate practitioner use them to capture the consumer? Digital credentials allow for single sign-ons, e-signatures, encrypted messages, more secure access and content management. They are a key success factor in transaction management. Be better prepared to make decisions and answer questions about this important component of secure transactions.

Accelerating Technology to Engage the Consumer
Today’s market is all about getting in front of the consumer. What new technologies are there today to help you do that? We’ll review leading edge products and how they can assist you create the business buzz you need to be successful. The panel of experts will share their knowledge and product insight about the latest technologies for real estate professionals.

The ABCs of ISPs
Do you know what to look for when you need managed hosting solutions. How do you get the best deal? What do you need to include? What responsibilities belong to whom? How do you determine which responsibilities belong to the ISP and which you should retain control over. Are you aware of the impact Net Neutrality laws may have on Internet Services? Take home answers to these and other related questions!

White Powder, Bird Flu, Hurricanes and Hackers
We will focus on business continuity and disaster recovery; what to do when you can’t access your office, can’t work out of a central location; the office no longer exists or is severely damaged. We will also discuss how to protect your organization from the ever growing threat of cyber attacks. Take home processes, procedures and management action items to ensure your business survives the new threats of the 21st century.  

Web 2.0 and Mashups Web 2.0 and mashups are the next generation of website usage. A mashup is a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. Much the way blogs are revolutionizing online publishing, mashups are revolutionizing web development . In real estate this might contain: listings served from an MLS; maps of the listing; an AVM model to demonstrate the value of a particular property; public records data for additional info on a property; news services; or market statistics and data. The real value will be in the simplicity of its use.  Learn how, through creativity and a combination of web services, you can use your web site to attract and engage the real estate consumer.

In addition, we will likely have a session on blogs in real estate as well. If you are interested in participating in the sessions please contact Todd Costigan.  

You will also have an opportunity to help rebuild New Orleans. We urge you to participate. CRT will be. 

Automating Policy

Published
by
Keith Garner
on July 14, 2006
in Articles and Tools
. 1 Comment

A toy robot!NAR has a very member-focused phone policy.  Whenever anyone calls, the phone must be answered by a human.  If someone is not at their desk and they receive a call, after about three rings, it’ll ring on the phones of the rest of their dept.  The theory is someone else will be around to answer it.  At the end of the day, we’re supposed to forward our phone to voice mail and when we get to work in the morning unforward it.  Also, we’re to unforward the phones of the others in our dept as well.

You can guess the part I routinely forget to do?  Yep, the forwarding and the unforwarding.  Most times I just forget to forward it when I leave, but when I do remember to forward it, the next time I come in I sometimes forget to unforward it until 10am.  I decided that technology had to be able to help me.

The good news is that the VOIP system that NAR uses has a web interface that you can log into to change some of the settings on your phone, the most important being if the phone is forwarded and where it is forwarded to.  I often use it when I work from home to forward my phone there.  Its extremely useful for that.   So now I have an easy to access electronic means to get the phone forwarded, I just need to automate it now. Continue reading ‘Automating Policy’

CRT sponsors Developer Day conference

Published
by
Todd Costigan
on July 12, 2006
in Announcements, Conferences and General
. 4 Comments

CRT will be at this years Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference. It is an great mix of technology and real estate. In other words a good place for CRT to discover and network.

This year another day specifically for developers has been added to the conference on Wednesday July 26. And CRT is sponsoring it - Developer Day will focus where developers’ needs are greatest.  It is a great place for CRT to be. Mark will be speaking. Some of the topics include mapping, search, document management, standards, video integration, transaction management and analytics.

Besides CRT, there are other great sponsors like Microsoft, Google, Redfin, Mapquest and Inman. 

The conference is in San Francisco from July 26 to 28. Hope to see you there.

Some secure fun! - Part 3

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on July 6, 2006
in Internet, MLS and Security
. 0 Comments

realtor_secure.jpgA while ago, we produced some videos related to security in order to try alternative means of getting the word out on security.  Traditional means were not working.  We tried white papers, a website and e-mails.  The second video in this series has some fun with viruses.