InfoCentral Blog

The Center for REALTOR® Technology is launching a REALTOR® Technology Spotlight Award. The first annual award honors REALTOR® family members or their direct support staff who have shown excellence and vision in their use of technology.

The award goals are to:
(1) recognize those who have implemented, created or embraced technology in a way that shows understanding of the medium and therefore puts them in a' best in class' category
(2) disseminate innovative and effective strategies to accomplish this, and
(3) increase awareness within the real estate industry of technology trends & promote innovation.

The Center for REALTOR® Technology is accepting nominations for the award until Aug. 31. The winner will be announced later this fall and the award will be presented at the annual conference in San Diego in November. Submit your nomination today.

Posted on June 19 at 11:39 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Today Apple's latest iPhone, the 3Gs, arrives in stores. Most of the reviews I've read - gizmodo, cnet, WSJ [via ProQuest], and the NYT, to name a few - say this version isn't the must-have upgrade that the 3G was over the original model. With so many people still with time to go in their contract with AT&T before they can get the discounted upgrade price, that might be a good thing. The increased speed will appeal to some but many great improvements will come just by downloading the free software upgrade to version 3.0. However problems have been reported with overloaded servers at Apple in recent days as the hordes have tried to update their software. If you haven't yet updated, you might want to wait a few days to do so.

As I'm finally out of contract with my mobile provider, I decided to make the switch to the iPhone. This is my first smartphone and I'm eager to try the apps and internet access. Hopefully the iPhone will allow me to leave the laptop at home when I visit my parents in the Land of the Lost. I ordered mine online and it arrived today via FedEx at no extra charge. Thank goodness I didn't plan on picking it up at the Apple store - the line was around the block this morning at 7:30 am!

Posted on June 19 at 09:33 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

JUNE 2009 -- At its 1912 annual convention in Louisville, Kentucky, the National Association of Real Estate Exchanges received a new wooden gavel and a piece of American history.

REALTORS® met in the city's Armory on June 19 and were called to order by President Samuel S. Thorpe of Minneapolis. After an invocation and welcoming speeches, President Thorpe paused the proceedings "for a few minutes while we have this photograph taken."

Continue reading "This Month in Real Estate History: 1912 REALTORS® remembered the Maine" »

Posted on June 12 at 09:21 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

The old post office in Chicago, which spans the Eisenhower Expressway, is up for auction. This unique building was once the largest post office in the United States, with 14 stories containing 3 million square feet. Suggested bids start at $300,000.

Posted on June 11 at 08:58 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

Vincenzo Cosenza took data from Google Trends and Alexa to compile a map of the largest social networks around the world by country. Facebook dominates in the US, Canada and most of Europe, but is second in size to QQ, the largest social network in China. Friendster has faded in all but the Philippines and MySpace is trailing in all but Guam. It's interesting to see the number of regional or country specific social networks. Click on the image above to embiggen.

Posted on June 9 at 09:02 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)