From the category archives:

Web 2.0 / Social Media

Facebook Introduces New, Improved and Easier To Manage Security Settings – 10 New Security Changes You Need To Know

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 27, 2010

Is It Better To Ask For Forgiveness or To Ask For Permission?

Generally speaking, I’m in the “Ask For Forgiveness” tribe.

Facebook is a monster. It’s super cool. It’s fun and useful. But at the end of the day, Facebook is a business. They aren’t going to invest dozens of millions for the good of humankind. They want everyone on planet earth to use and enjoy Facebook. In exchange, they’re going to serve up targeted ads and things we don’t even know about yet. It’s their right. No free lunches, etc..

Recently, Facebook has pissed people off by making some undesirable changes to what the users post, where it goes, who sees it, how it’s indexed, etc. In fact, if you follow this kind of thing, the uproar has been loud and even Congress is eyeballing them.

This isn’t the first time. It seems every time it happens, Facebook asks for forgiveness, changes a few things, throws a couple of bones to the cry babies and makes a few positively viewed changes. This is the case recently.

One more thing, before I share some Easier To Manage Facebook Settings info, if you’re using Facebook as a tool for business, or as I do, you believe Hugh MacLeod’s cartoon below speaks the truth, then you really don’t care. Why? Because you want to connect with as many people as possible. The more people know you or about you, the more they can decide if they should trust you or not. It’s that simple. In the real estate business and in all business I guess, TRUST is everything. Plus, if you don’t want people to see what you write or share, don’t post it. Honestly, I really do believe that privacy on the internet is a myth. Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, most everything we do is tracked or trackable.

Facebook Announces How Their New and Easier To Use Privacy Settings Work.

When I find things I think you might need to know or be curious out, I share them. For Facebook updates, I rely on a site called AllFacebook.com. They know what’s up and are happy to share. If you want super detail, they have books and stuff. So, here’s LINK to their Security Settings Post.

Here’s what you’ll discover in the blog post.

10 Things You Need To Know About Today’s Facebook Privacy Changes

You Can Opt Out Of Applications
You Can Hide Your Friends List
You Can Hide Your Interests
Instant Personalization Is Still Opt-Out
You Should Review Your Settings
Privacy Now Only Takes One Click
You Can Hide Your Friends List
3 More Tips

There you have it. Now we can all rest easy. For the moment.

Hey, if we aren’t connected on Facebook yet, ping me.

How Can I Sync and Share Important Stuff Between My Desktop, My Notebook, My Smart Phone / iPhone and My Magical iPad?

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 26, 2010

The folks at GeekEstateBlog.com have given me permission to share and occasional ramble about Geek-Stuff for real estate agents, and anyone who will listen. If you’d like to read my first blog post for them, you can find it Here. If you’d like to read a bit first, be my guest.

Like you, I’m In and Out, on the Go, and in a hurry. I need my important stuff handy wherever iGo and whenever I get there.

I searched around for something REALTOR® friendly. Something simple and affordable. Something that works smooth-like-real-butter, on my desktop, my notebook, my iPad and my iPhone.

I and settled on a beautifully simple application called Dropbox. The process is straight forward. If you’re looking for a simple synching solution, I think you’ll like this.

Sign Up for your Drobox account. 2Gigs for free. 50GB for $9.99 per month. Or, 100GB for $19.99 per month. There are discounts if you pony-up a year in advance.
Simply download the software to your computers/mobile devices and launch. Computer, iPad and iPhone applications are free.
Drag previously saved files into your Dropbox folder (See below) and begin saving new important files to your Dropbox folder and you’re good to go.

Most of my important stuff, listing presentations, .PDFs, letters, contracts, photos, slide-decks, etc., I create on my desktop or notebook. For things I want to have handy anywhere (my desktop, my notebook, my iPad the cloud or my iPhone), I save it to the Dropbox Folder.

Here’s what you get on your computer when you install the Dropbox application. Notice the Dropbox folder on the left hand side (red arrow). To sync your files on all your geek stuff, either save new files to the Dropbox folder or drag previously created files from another folder to the Dropbox folder. The little green-for-go check-mark means the file has been successfully synced (the syncing magic happens quietly in the background).

If you’d like to read more – Go For it.

Thanks.

My Touch and Tell Tale – i and Ms. iPad

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 17, 2010

I wrote my story for Agent Genius.com. Take a quick look. If you like it, you can read the entire article here. Or if you have any questions, give me a call – 832-797-1779.

Have you heard about the iPad?

Are you wondering if it’s worth it? Or, is the iPad for iDIOTS and people who don’t know the value of a dollar?

Here’s my story. But, let me warn you… I’m not normal. I should tell you that before you go any further. To my credit, I did wait until the end of the day before slobbering my order.

I tried to tell myself that I didn’t “need” it.

Lust was excused as natural, logic prevailed. Whoosh went my $729 + tax. I pre-ordered mine evening one. It’s the 3G/32 Gig model.

My wife was annoyed….something about “stupid is as stupid does”, and some other stuff. You might agree, I don’t know.

Supreme Vulcan-Logic went like this…

“I have (imagined or real?) tech-cred to consider. How can I be in-the-now and a legit-player, if I’m watching from the sidelines? Obviously a “Need” not a “Want.”
“How can I answer questions about what it is, how it works or is it worth it, if I have no experience. Easily mission critical, not a “Nice, but not necessary.” Definitely necessary, critical in fact.
“Imagine the possibilities! There’s not a guru (I’m no guru, I’m using the word for effect and for the people who believe there is such a thing) alive who doesn’t scream, reinventing yourself is more important than oxygen or fire or Crown Royal. How can you reinvent yourself and save the world if you not willing to embrace change, stretch your comfort zone, get out of the box and or generally sashay cliche’ your very own renewal, regeneration and personal salvation. Most definitely a “can’t live without it”, not a pinhead (see photo), narcissistic, knee-jerk, shiny object, impulse purchase.”
“$700 is serious. The cost of not knowing the in’s and out’s, pro’s and con’s is seriouser. Better to invest in knowledge, experience and the possible future than sit idle and speculate (see 2. above).”
“Etc.”

I know I don’t need to convince you or justify myself, I’m just sharing the sober realities I wrestle with before I purchase a piece of the future or invest in the magical. You know?