Todd Clarke's Technology Corner v2.0

Every other month, I report on the latest technology for the IREM associations Journal Of Property Management in their “gadgets” column.

This month’s issue provids coverage on the must have apps for your iPhone and/or your iPad.

Thanks again to the IREM staff for doing a phenomenal job on the layout!

I recently came across Microsoft’s PhotoSynth for the iPhone/iPad. This app “assembles” live photographs into a mosaic or collage of photos.

Here is a before and after shot of the auditorium at the Bank of America headquarters in Charlotte, NC.

Before my class started:

and during the class:

I’ve also used the tool to turn otherwise dull photos of properties into something that interests the viewer – like this one:

and really, anyone involved in comercial real estate.

MyAnalyst is a must have tool for every commercial Realtor. CCIM’s and investors will appreciate the mortgage calculator, the t-bar with IRR and NPV calculations as well as the investment and lease/own analysis tools, appraisers will love the ability to measure a property from aerial photos and owners will appreciate the environmental risk summary reports.

You can download the app here, or visit blyn.cc web page here.

I personally love having a quick and dirty analysis tool that is like a swiss army knife on my iPhone/Ipad.

* Note, the author of this blog is good friends with the authors of app and sits as an unpaid advisory board member to their corporation.

With hundreds of thousands of available apps in the iTunes store, it is becoming harder and harder to find the app that best suits your current needs.

Enter Chomp, an app that uses a ” proprietary algorithm learns the functions and topics of apps, so you can search based on what apps do, not just what they’re called.”

Chomp is free on the web and in the iTunes Store and works both on the iPhone/iPad and Andriod platforms.

Trimensional is a new app in the iTunes App store that does one simple thing – it takes a “3D” photo, converts that photo to a series of data points and into an animated graphic.

Although I have not yet found a lot of practical applicaition, it is a lot of fun to play with.

I realize, I will most likely only be able to keep this post up a day or two before it drives us all nuts!

I recently signed up with Square for their SquareUp credit card service.  Square sends you a small reader device that plugs into your iPhones headphone port.

Thursday of this week, I tested out this system when I accepted 4 credit cards during the course I was teaching on “Understanding NM’s Property Tax System“.

The hardware/software system could not have been easier to use.  One fast swipe of the client’s credit card

Followed by entering an amount, the client’s email address and having them “sign” with their finger and Viola!

An email recipt was sent to the client and I, and on mine, I could see the amount, the location of the sale, and the client’s email address.

Many of us know, the easier you can make it for someone to pay you, the more likely you are to have additional sales – and the Square system could not be an easier – and it looks very cool!

My wife’s iPhone stopped charging and wouldn’t sync.  Apple wanted to reset and if that didn’t work, sell us a new phone.

While a new phone to replace her 3Gs is a nice idea, the problem is she hadn’t backedup her phone in ages.

Fortunatley, we found Fullbars on Albuquerque’s westside.  In less than an hour and for $75 they had her back up and running- thank you Fullbars!

IREM’s latest Journal of Property Management Gadget column has 3 must have devices – A tiny HP printer that is iPad compatible, a case with built in charger and battery for your iPhone and a pocket sized paper scanner from Fujitsu.

Goodreader – porting PDF files around
iBooks – showcasing listings/assignments/reports in PDF
Pages – similar to Microsoft Word
Numbers – similar to Microsoft Excel
Keynote – similar to Microsoft PowerPoint
Quick Office – (similar to above) –
Dropbox – for accessing files on the road
Pogoplug – similar to dropbox, but it physically exists in your office
Wikipanion – research using Wikipedia.org – HootSuite – managing social networks
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hootsuite-for-twitter/id341249709?mt=8
BAO (demographics)

QR Scan – reading QR Codes –

Loopnet – finding listings –

Photosynth – assembling cool photos in collage format –

Magicplan – measuring space (requires iPad2)

10bii cash (calculator)

WordPress (for updating our websites and blogs) –

Not necessary to have, but might be interesting:
And the app we wrote for property taxes in Bernalillo County – Taxessor
And an interesting app that shows the potential of what your own app could like –