Archive for September, 2008

Banning SPAM is Unconstitutional?

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on September 17, 2008
in General, Internet and Security
. 0 Comments

I saw this headline over the weekend on the Washington Post:

Va. Ban On Spam Is Ruled Unlawful
E-Mail Restriction Called Violation of First Amendment

[Note: I would have provided a link, but registration (free) is required.  After registering, use the keywords "spam court" or something similar to find the headline.  The article appeared on 9/13]

The sensational title worked and I read the article.  The facts were not as dramatic as the title implied.  An excellent analysis of the situation is available on Groklaw.

Whew, I feel better.

CRT Sessions at the 2008 REALTORS® Conference & Expo

Published
by
Ana Schmitz
on September 16, 2008
in General
. 4 Comments

The REALTOR® Conference & Expo in Orlando, FL, is right around the corner (Nov 7-10, 2008).  Many of you have been asking about CRT sessions during the Conferece.  This year CRT will be sponsoring 7 educational sessions in addition to the WiFi Hot Spot (located in the Rosen Centre Hotel)  and the Bloggers’ Lounge (located in the Convention Center).  CRT will also be at the Young Professionals Networking Event helping with video interviews and meeting with the young professionals.

The seven sessions are… Continue reading ‘CRT Sessions at the 2008 REALTORS® Conference & Expo’

Green is Good

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on September 13, 2008
in Conferences and General
. 1 Comment

I spent some time with Marc Gould this week and he reminded me that NAR now has a green designation.  Since I can’t ride a mechanical bull as well as Marc, I thought I would make two contributions to the effort.

First, I wanted to let folks know that REBAC is offering a Green Designation course, taught by Terry Watson, during the Annual meeting in Orlando this year.

I also thought I would pass along some tips related to reducing the energy consumption of computers.  Yes, I know the designation is about housing, but my contribution should be considered tangentially related.  Although each computer uses a relatively small amount of energy, it is amazing how quickly it can add up.    Remember, even “wall wart” (hideous, I know) power supplies use energy if the are plugged into the wall and not attached to a cell phone, laptop or other device.

Maybe we are all Treehuggers to some degree!

Missing a friend

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on September 11, 2008
in General
. 1 Comment

Just remembering my friend Greg Malone.

Putting URLs in your text?

Published
by
Keith Garner
on September 5, 2008
in Internet
. 2 Comments

As technical people we often have to use URLs in our writings for things such as magazines, newsletters and the like.  One of the things I’ve always wrestled with is how exactly to use URLs in text.

Luckily, Grammar Girl comes to the rescue here.  Today’s podcast entry from Grammar Girl covers this very topic.  I should also point out that this top was adapted from her print book, which I’ve been thinking about picking up.

From what I’ve remembered what I’ve done I seem to follow must of the suggested stuff without thinking about it, but its good to have another source to point to (or doublecheck with) when writing.

Recipe: How to make a brick

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on September 5, 2008
in Articles, Gadgets, Geek, General, Reviews and Tools
. 5 Comments

I was very excited last month to spend some time with my Neo FreeRunner last month.  I purchased the US (850/1800/1900) version.  This is the first Open Handset I have played with. According to Open Handset theory, you buy your phone and then choose your carrier.  Also applications that run on the device do not have to come from the carrier.  I can see a whole vendor community springing up for real estate.  Yep, we love our mobility!

Of course, the first thing I did was pop my T-Mobile SIM card into the phone to see just how open the Freerunner was.  To my delight, I was able to make a call to a co-worker.  I wonder if the folks I call when testing things ever get bothered?  Next was to receive a call.  This I did from from land line (preserving the patience of my brethren).  I can tell you that the ringtone of the FreeRunner is very “retro”, sounding like a landline in the UK.

The next order of business was to look at the applications.  The preloaded applications are based on the QTopia platform.  Phone … check.  Contacts … check.  Browser … check.  Good.   Now to hook up my various e-mail accounts.  Hey, not e-mail client (grrrrrr).  An e-mail client is a Google Summer of Code project, but the fact that it is missing keeps me from trying to use the phone daily.

Continue reading ‘Recipe: How to make a brick’

Where is that listing photo?

Published
by
Mark Lesswing
on September 2, 2008
in General, Internet, MLS and Tools
. 3 Comments

I ran across an interesting service called TinEye that claims to be able to find images on the Internet that are similar to one that you supply.  I have been asked many times about tools to search the Internet for unauthorized listing photos, so I decided to give it a try.

Being a “staffer”, I don’t have any listings, so I decided to try it out on the logo for REALTOR.org.  Just to “push” the envelope, I used a PNG rendering of the logo.

To my surprise it worked!  I received a page full of search results that I could click on to see the image in context. In my case, the logo was found on several International association sites.  The result set also contained similar logos.  At NAR, all of our groups use a similar “swoop” in the logo, including REALTOR.com.

You must set up an account with TinEye before you use the service.  Please read the terms and conditions of service.  The site is in BETA right now and has both a Flash and non-Flash interface.

Your mileage may vary, but I would be interested if TinEye can find all of the places you expect your property photos to be.