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Or download the PDF

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Out with a Buyer

It’s always been important to have the right tools for the job. As a REALTOR® you require detailed and timely access to property and market information. It?s also essential that you have the confidence your data comes from a trusted source. And only to make it more challenging, our industry uses many different operating systems and devices. But that?s beside the point; you just need it to work! That?s really where Realtors Property Resource® (RPR®) a member benefit of the National Association of REALTORS® comes in. In this two part series, I’ll share some real world scenarios in which you can start to take advantage of RPR in your business.

Here is the scenario?you’ve taken the time to listen to your buyer?s wants and needs. You?ve researched the area and compiled a list of homes to preview. Using the iPad, you decide to load a property report for each of the homes you?re previewing that day. As you drive towards the first home, you hand the iPad to your client. They?re able to pinch and zoom into the report, reviewing the neighborhood housing and economic stats. With a quick flick of a hand, they pan through home facts, photos, property history and even review the local schools, test scores and parent reviews. The property and market insight your client gathers on the drive over is not only useful but incredibly powerful toward helping them make a decision.

As you drive away from the first home, heading to the second your client notices a charming home for sale on the corner.? But this home wasn?t included in the list of homes you prepared. Your client asks ?How about that one?? and anxiously points and urges you to pull over. This is your moment to shine; the client loves the external view of the property, and wants to know more.

Using RPR and your iPad, you search the property address and start looking closer. ?Ah, the property is a For Sale by Owner?that?s why wasn?t listed in the MLS? you explain with the client.? While RPR does not display For Sale By Owner listings, the RPR database contains nationwide public records, lien information and foreclosure data, so you can find information on any property, whether its listed or not. Within a few minutes you?re able to review all aspects of the home directly from the iPad. You share the property characteristics, the backyard via satellite imagery, and even uncover the seller?s motivation. You?re able to tell the home has a distressed action, and looking at the mortgage data you see the home looks to be underwater. In a matter of minutes, you were able to satisfy your client with immediate information, and email them a comprehensive report on the home. You were also able to see the owner?s name and can reach out to schedule a showing with your client.

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Introducing Social WordPress Plug-In

Social is a new WordPress Plugin that?s bringing comments back! Social is designed to aggregate the conversation happening on your blog posts with the conversation happening in networks like Twitter and Facebook. Not only that, but it brings new meaning to the hub and spoke approach to social media marketing. Let?s take a look at how social works.

A little background to the Social Plug-In setup

Social is compatible with both single author and multi-author blogs. At the time of setup each author will visit their profile and link up their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Then similarly, visit the Settings area of Social and add your Facebook and Twitter account there too. You?ll also be asked for a Twitter Consumer key, which is really simple to setup. For that, go here and login with your Twitter account and complete the application details and agree to the terms. Twitter then will return OAuth settings; in those settings you?ll now have the consumer key.

While in settings, you can also build a standard message to be shared to Twitter and Facebook using the following tokens:

• {url}: Includes your post permalink
• {title}: Includes the post title
• {content}: Includes the post content
• {date}: Includes the post date
• {author}: Includes the post author name

Now that Social is setup, how does it work?

At the time of post creation you can set the ?social broadcasting? rules?allowing you to turn on or off the automatic Facebook post or Tweet.

Once your newly created content has been published, Social will aggregate new comments via Twitter or Facebook automatically using built in cron job. You?ll see the newly found content is nicely integrated with your WordPress comments. See all comments in aggregate, or use the tabs to filter out comments, Tweets, Facebook mentions, and even pingbacks. If the published post has not received replies via Twitter and Facebook the continued aggregation for that post will stop.

MyTechOpinion

I?ve seen many different comment plug-ins come on the scene over the years. Some completely take over the native comments feature in WordPress and you loose control as a result. Social is different, you stay in control of your comments and get the added benefit of integrating the conversation of your content from other networks. I appreciate the clean layout and ability to filter out the channel that?s most interesting to you. Also really like the Twitter hover cards that appear as you hover over a users Twitter handle.

I?m also happy to report that the plugin creators have stated they are actively developing the ability for Facebook pages to connect via the plugin not just Facebook profiles. I?m also eager to hear when they?ll integrate Google+ into the mix.

The post I’m Bringing Comments Back? appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Here is an example of what we?re talking about:

Authorship Markup is essentially a way for Google to connect authors with the content they create and then show what I’m calling Visual Search Cues in the organic results. ?This is all done by using HTML5 microformats such as the rel=”me” and rel=”author” tags to identify your content.

How do I setup Authorship Markup with my Blog?

The first thing you?ll need is a Google Profile, which is already a good thing to have based on the fact it?s highly search optimized and Google lets you link directly from the profile to your website, blog, external social profiles and more.

TIP: Make sure that your avatar is ?a good, clear headshot of yourself? and does not include a logo.? If it does, Google has said that they will not show it in the results.

To establish authorship of your content, you?ll need to complete two steps:

(1) Link the blog to your Google Profile
(2) Link your Google Profile to your blog or blog?s author page

Step 1 ? Linking your blog to your Google Profile

You may have noticed, with WordPress v3.2, on your individual post pages the link from your name to the author page includes the rel=”Author” parameter. That’s awesome, and exactly what we need. All you?ll need to do is add a link from the Author page on your blog, to your Google profile. The link should be in this format:

<a href=”[profile_url]?rel=author”>Google+</a>.

Replace [profile_url] with your actual Google Profile URL, which will look similar to this: http://plus.google.com/107461963711346948468. Also make sure not to delete the ?rel=author parameter

If you prefer to use a button, use the Google profile button generator

Step 2 ? Linking your Google Profile to your blog?s Author page

Next you’ll need to create a link from your Google profile to your blog or blog?s author page. Do that by visiting your Google Profile and selecting “Edit Profile”. Next click on the “Links” area located on the right-side of the screen and include a link to your blogs homepage, or if you are writing on a multi-author blog you can link directly to your Author page. Now check the box that reads “This page is specifically about me.”

One last thing…Google also recommends that after you?ve completed these steps you should complete this form.

MyTechOpinion

I can see this feature being a huge hit with content creators and even searchers,?especially?as search and social seem to be converging. ?We’ll be able to spot our favorite authors easier, and with that we’ll also be able to reach out and connect from a search results set. It’s still?unclear?how quickly newcomers will be added to this new index, but I would highly recommend getting things setup from your end.

Here’s to seeing you in the search results!

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Last week I started playing around with HootSuite?s new Custom Social Media Reporting module; and I was pleasantly surprised by it?s flexibility. The report builder includes over 30 individual report modules; allowing you pick the metrics you?re interested in tracking. Then once I had a finished product, sharing the report is a snap.

So what?s this going to cost me?

The HootSuite Pro Plan runs $5.99 a month and includes the ability to generate 1 custom report of your choice. (Note: the Ow.ly Click Summary Report is free). When you sign up, you?ll get the first 30-days free, and you can easily downgrade your account anytime during that period and you?ll never be changed. It’s worth noting that you’re credit for a report will not be used until you actually click “Create Report”. Also you can edit and modify your report at anytime, and that will not result in an additional cost. With the Pro account you?ll end up with 50 points redeemable in the reporting module.

Building your first HootSuite Social Media Report

From your HootSuite dashboard, click the ?Analytics? link on the left-hand side of the screen. Now select ?Custom Analytics? and you?ll see the options available to you. Notice the tab is divided into reports owned by you, reports shared with you, and reports still in draft mode.

By clicking the button titled ?Create New Report? you?ll now have the option to choose from one of their prebuilt templates as a starting place. (Note: you can easily customize the report in a later step.) The HootSuite templates include: (1) Proposal Report, (2) Ow.ly Click Summery, (3) Google analytics, or even (4) Facebook Insights. For this example, I?ll use the start from scratch option.

As you begin to build your report, you?ll start by adding company logo and contact information. Next you?ll type a header description; something that describes the metrics to follow. Now you’ll start to add the modules you want to include. Each report module (except for Ow.ly) will use 5 points. Your Pro account will give you 50 points by default. If you need more points they can be purchased, but additional points are not as cheap as the first set.

Here are a few of the metrics we have available to us:

Email and Scheduling

Once the social media analytics report is set up, you can schedule daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly email updates. Having this information push out to you is extremely helpful, and will keep real estate partners up-to-date on all ongoing marketing efforts.

Don?t like your report, change it!

You can make tweaks to your report at anytime by removing modules; the?points?you spent will be?immediately?returned?to be used on different modules. This could be helpful when you’re tracking the results of a unique marketing campaign or event.

MyTechOpinion

I really like the flexibility they’re introducing into their reporting module. Although I would like my initial 50 points (from the Pro Plan) to stretch a little further.. I didn’t like that the next jump up was to spend $50 dollars / month. I felt like the Google Analytics report was a waste of my credits, especially given the official Google Analytics reporting module will let me make an unlimited number of reports for free. That being said, I do like the ability to create my own custom report from scratch, and gather metrics from multiple social media platforms in one report.

If your?actively?using social media to market your real estate business, you should be?measuring?your results. HootSuite Pro is certainly worth checking out. ?Besides, HootSuite has tons of other features and applications you should be aware of.

Make sure you let me know what you think of the new HootSuite Custom Reporting Module! Here are a few related resources:

The post HootSuite: Custom Social Media Analytical Reports appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

That?s all changed with CardMunch from LinkedIn! This powerful iPhone app has quickly become one of my favorites. Its business benefit is huge, and right now you can download the app for free. (Android and Blackberry Users: CardMunch says they have a version for you coming soon.)

Enough already, what does CardMunch do?

CardMunch makes digitizing business cards efficient and email follow up a snap. Here?s how it works: use CardMunch to take a photo of any business card directly from the CardMunch iPhone app. Seconds later an image of the card is uploaded to CardMunch servers where it?s transcribed in real-time and then reviewed for accuracy by real people. Even hand-written text on the card is picked up and transcribed correctly. Once CardMunch has created the contact; it?s sent back to your iPhone. The whole process?start to finish?only takes a few minutes.

CardMunch can deliver a push notification to acknowledge the digitized business card has been successfully added back to your phone. After a quick review of the contact record, you can easily add the the new record to your iPhone contact database. (Even set this up to happen automatically once you trust the accuracy of CardMunch.) It’s also worth noting that the scanned business card image is added to the contact record as their photo for easy viewing later. Also for peace of mind, your scanned database is backed up via the CardMunch website.

CardMunch takes it further

Interestingly enough, I would have been thrilled to use CardMunch if that?s all it did. But they?ve built-in a few more amazingly powerful tools. If we were all extremely organized and had a little extra time, we would appreciate sending our newly added contact an email follow up. That?s exactly what CardMunch helps us execute. By visiting the ?My Settings? area of your app, you can setup an email template that can be used to follow up with newly added contacts. Even forward your contact information as a vCard on the email template allowing your contact to easily add you to their database.

Also take your follow up a step further by sending your contact a ?quick connect? LinkedIn request directly from the app.

MyTechopinion

After using this tool a lot over the past few days, I can honestly say that CardMunch is amazing but I can?t see it staying free forever. It?s extremely beneficial for real estate professionals who collect cards regularly. So next time you wrap up an open house, Broker?s Tour or get back from a conference with a stack of business cards take a few moments to spread-out the cards you?ve collected and quickly snap-off a photo of each. What you?ll get in return is the ability to proactively follow up with your contacts and save time in the process. Get started by heading over to the App Store . Please report back; I would love to hear what you think!

The post CardMunch: The Handy Solution to Business Card Overload appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

On February 10, 2011?Facebook announced page admins could start using iFrames as page tabs, displaying a maximum of 8 tabs at any one time. To see more than the default 8 tabs, users need to click “More” below the last tab to reveal anything hidden. Facebook also announced they were going to deprecate FBML and FBJS as the primary technologies for building Facebook apps. As of March 11, 2011, Facebook users will no longer be able to create new FBML apps and pages will no longer be able to add the Static FBML app.

So what does this mean for my Facebook Page Tab?

The future of Facebook Tabs looks to be centered on iFramed content, which leads me to the main reason for my post today.? Adding iFramed content isn?t difficult, but it does require a different set of steps to install compared to its Static FBML counterpart. ?Let?s take a look.

Step 1: Create or identify the page to be iFramed into Facebook

For my example, I’ll show you a Streaming Video page I created for RPR. It’s pretty basic, just a .php file that includes live video streaming embed code from Ustream mashed with Facebook?s Live Chat. The Live Chat component will allow the viewers in Facebook to share their thoughts about what their watching, also posting a comment back to their wall. Of course this is just one example of what you could build, but using these steps you can bring just about any content into Facebook. It could be a custom neighborhood page, listings page, newsletter sign up, videos, anything you desire. Also because we’ll be creating an app, your page tab could even be installed by other pages if you would like. Just keep in mind for things to look good, your content should be no wider that 520px…we don’t want anyone to side-scroll.

If you would like to use my example and build a Ustream app in Facebook, download the source files here. You’ll need to update the uStream embed code with your own channels embed code. You’ll also need to add your APP ID to the Facebook Live Stream code. You’ll see I’ve documented the spots you’ll need to edit.

Step 2: Creating a Facebook Application

The first thing we?ll need when creating a Facebook app is to make sure we?ve already installed the Developer App. It?s used to manage the applications that you build in Facebook. If you haven?t already installed it, please do so now. ?You?ll see something like the screenshot below. Choose ?Allow.?

Once you?ve installed the Developer App, we?re ready to start creating the new application that will pass our iFramed content into a page tab.

Select the button titled Set up new app on the right side of the page.

Now enter a friendly name for your app and agree to Facebook?s Terms of Use.

About – Basic Information

Now we can start editing the important details of the app. You?ll arrive on the About tab, with the focus on ?Basic Information?. Enter the name of your application, a brief description, the icon and logo. The icon will be used like a favicon on your Facebook Tab.

Moving down the page, confirm the correct email address is listed. Add any other admins, testers, or users to the application. Now we can move on to the Facebook Integration tab.

Facebook Integration

Canvas Page: Look for the Canvas section. Start by creating what is essentially a vanity URL for your application. This is the URL that someone will type to access the app directly. It?s also the URL you?ll access when you?re ready to add the application as a tab to your page.

Canvas URL: Now you?ll enter the URL of the page that you are framing into Facebook. Keep in mind the URL must either be dynamic or point to a directory. (HINT: Create a directory and make the .html or .php filed named index.)

Canvas Type: Select ?IFrame?

iFrame Size: By default the tab will have a width of 520px; and a height limit of 800px. If your iFramed page exceeds those dimensions it will result in scroll bars being shown. Although if you do need more height, or would like to auto-select height based on your iFramed content, there is a simple workaround. For that, you?ll need to choose Auto-Resize (Note: Auto-Resize will require a few additional steps included below. It’s also important to note that I’m not using the Auto-Size option for my example app.)

Social Discovery: If social discovery is enabled, Facebook will display a user’s usage of your app in News Feed.

Tab Name: Enter the name you would like to see as a page tab. (Note: This can be overridden from the page itself.) Maximum of 16 characters.

Page Tab Type: Select iFrame

Tab URL: The page Facebook will use to pull content for your tab; which is relative to your Canvas Page. In my example it was index.php

If you selected “Auto-Resize” follow these steps, otherwise skip to Step 3 below.

The idea behind Auto-Size is that your application tells the canvas what size it should adjust to. To set this up properly we?ll need to initialize the JavaScript Library from our iFrame source page. This is done by adding the following code before your closing </body> tag. You need to replace YOUR-APP-ID with the ID of your newly created app. (Hint: You can find your app ID in the Core Settings of your newly created app.)

Next we?ll use FB.Canvas.setSize() to auto detect the height of your iFrame. Add this bit of code just before your </head> tag. (Note: If you would like to set a fixed size, see here. Or if you’re content size changes dynamically, try using FB.Canvas.setAutoResize. Be warned, I’ve seen a few bugs submitted to Facebook on this function.)

Step 3: Add Your New App as a Facebook Tab

Now visit the application profile page, which can be found by visiting the Canvas Page. This is the URL we created a few steps back on the Facebook Integration Tab.

Click Add To My Page. Facebook will display a dialog with all of the Pages you administer. Now select Add to Page to the right of the page you want your new tab to display on.

Now visit your page, and choose Edit Page. Select Apps and look for our newly added application and click Edit Settings and confirm your custom tabs display name. Now click okay.

Here is an example of what our page would look like with this app installed…

The post How-To: Add an iFrame to Your Facebook Page as a Tab appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Over the last few years we’ve covered many different screen sharing technologies.? Some were bloated with heavy installs and others had the perfect feature set but were over-priced for the average real estate agent. Today we have an option that may just bridge the gap perfectly. Introducing Join.me, a FREE and simple screen sharing tool that can support a variety of needs whether you’re holding ?a virtual office meeting with peers, reviewing homes with an out-of-town buyer, or even going over contract details with a busy seller.

Really? So how is Join.me different?

My biggest complaint about online meeting software is that typically the install feels overly complicated and users need to keep track of ID’s and passwords.? Join.me simplifies all that by allowing meeting owners to easily share one thing–the meeting URL.? The people you invite are not asked for anything…no email, no username…they simply click the link you’ve shared. ?As for compatibility, both PC’s and Mac’s are good to go. Join.me employs Flash player 10 found in any of the current browsers.

You’ll know the meeting software has launched when the Join.me navigation bar appears front and center on your monitor. (See graphic below.) Each Join.me meeting can hold up to 250 people and comes with an optional audio bridge accessed by clicking the phone icon once you’ve logged into a meeting. Once you’ve dialed the phone number and PIN provided, audio support will begin.

If you need to chat with your viewers, you’ll select the “Quote” button to send the message.? It will display a chat window that lets you communicate with all attendees or you can target a particular user by selecting them from the list. Keep in mind if you’re sharing your screen, all attendees can see what you’re typing.

A few other standout features include the ability to share files via your meeting and to let someone control your screen. The file sharing utility could be truly valuable using the scenario I mentioned early. Say you’re meeting with an out-of-town buyer and you’ve shared your screen and started to review homes.? You’ve gone through each of the properties from your initial selection and now the buyer has selected a subset to see next week. Now you quickly render a Buyers Tour and immediately share the file. Now your buyer instantly has the packet of homes and details, and can save it to their computer for review later.

As I mentioned, you can also give a meeting attendee the permission to control your screen.? This will allow the attendees to actually click links, scroll and perform other actions as if they were on your computer. Of course as the meeting creator, you control who can use this feature and most importantly you can stop sharing control at anytime! In the unlikely circumstance that one of your meeting attendees becomes unruly, just click the people icon and select the “X” next to their name. That will remove them from the meeting.

Ok, I’m convinced. Let’s go through the meeting setup:

• Step 1: Visit Join.me
• Step 2: To host a meeting click the big “Share” button. The meeting software quickly will launch the share tool to the top center of your screen.
• Step 3: Copy the meeting URL to your clipboard or choose to send by email.

At the end of your first meeting you’ll have the option of installing a very lightweight application that makes it super easy to start meetings in the future.

Going PRO: If you like what you see with Join.me and want to take it a step further check out their pro version. That will allow you to customize your URL, schedule and lock down meetings, and provides better user management tools. The pro version is priced at $29/month.

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What does this mean for you?

It means your real estate blog can now have the functionality of a highly custom site with search engine friendly IDX data. dsIDXPress is released with special introductory pricing of $99.95 setup and $29.95 a month. That is an introductory offer and will go up over time.

And for the most part the plug-in is compliant in all markets they cover with the exception of a couple of the more strict MLSs. If you have any questions or comments about compliance reach out to them here.? Let?s take a look at a few ways to implement dsIDXPress.

Short code

If you?re not already familiar with shortcode, it?s worth taking some time to familiarize yourself with the concept. It was introduced in WordPress 2.5 and allows the blog author to include a small piece of content [shortcode] in a post or page to replicate what would usually be numerous lines of code.? In the case of dsIDXPress the shortcode placed in your posts and pages is replaced with specific listings or groups of listings from your MLS. ?That?s right, no frames?.actually pages from your site that get indexed by Google and the others. *C?mon deep crawl*.? This also means that your real estate blog can now be sculpted to represent your market area in custom fashion. For example, take a look at a few options:

• Geographic: Create a page for each of the different areas in your market. Break them down into geographic levels that make sense: city, zip, community or tract. ?Here are a few different examples of how the shortcode could be displayed in a page:

[idx-listings city=”Pleasanton” orderby=”Price” orderdir=”Price” count=”15″]

[idx-listings zip=”94566″ orderby=”Price” orderdir=”DateAdded” count=”15″]

[idx-listings community=”Golden Oak” orderby=”Price” orderdir=”LastUpdated” count=”15″]

[idx-listings tract=”Willow Glen” orderby=”Price” orderdir=”DESC” count=”15″]

• Listing Specific: This piece of shortcode uses the MLS number to display a configurable view of a property. Show just the basic property details or all data available.? Included in the property display is a Google map that will also display in your RSS feed for subscribers.
  Example: [idx-listing mlsnumber=”AB454834″ showall=”true”]

Widgets

dsIDXPress comes with 3 widgets: Search, Area List and Property List. Each provides different levels of customization. The property list widget can display a crawl-able list of properties, map, and a detailed array of properties.

MyTechOpinion

It?s no secret that we at MyTechOpinion love WordPress. So much so that we partnered with Brian Gardner of AgentPress because he captured the essence of what a real estate agent require in a WordPress theme.? Now we see the same in Diverse Solutions new dsIDXPress.? ?We think they really nailed it with their plug-in.? To start, it?s very easy to install and early adopters will likely see amazing results. Overtime it will become more important for real estate bloggers to sculpt their site to increase pagerank and facilitate a deeper index by Google. ?If you need help in that department, make sure you reach out to Chad of MyTechOpinion for a quote.

If you?re even slightly interested in learning more about dsIDXPress from this article let me give you the push. Go check it out?.tell them Reggie from MyTechOpinion sent you.

The post dsIDXPress: Search Engine Friendly IDX appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

A few weeks back we were excited to hear Ustream was approved for the iTunes app store. At the time, it seemed obvious Qik would follow suite and make a move for approval. Well it?s happened; Qik (version 4.40)streaming video service has been officially approved by the app store and is now ready to download.

This smooth application lets you to stream videos right from your iPhone.? If you don?t already have a Qik account, simply create one after downloading the application and you?re ready to start shooting video in public or private mode. If you choose private you?ll control who sees the video by sending various parties a direct link from SMS or email.

Why we like Qik:

Qik was the first to bring video to the iPhone, even before Apple.? The only problem with Qik was that users needed to Jailbreak their phones to get access to the app. One major drawback of Jailbreaking is that you void your factory warranty. ?Although now that Qik is officially approved, you?ll get all the benefits simply by installing the free app.

We love that Qik works on the iPhone 2g, iPhone 3g, or iPhone 3gs. We also like that once you?ve captured that perfect video, Qik makes it easy to share using sites like Facebook, Twitter & YouTube.

If you?re wondering how you could apply streaming video to your real estate business, here are a few ideas:

• Share a local home tour with your out of state buyer
• Capture important moments from your local city council meeting
• Broadcast downtown event on your blog
• Share highlights from a? convention

Cost: FREE!

The post 12 Days of iPhone Apps ? Day 12: Qik appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

About the Dragon Search app:
Historically if you wanted to search a keyword or phrase on your iPhone you?ve typed directly into a search engine. Ok, maybe you?ve tried the Google voice app, but for me I was left wanting more. Not any longer, Dragon Search is the new one-stop search application controlled by your voice. At its heart you’ll gain the ability to speak any given search into like Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Twitter, iTunes, and Wikipedia. Once the results have populated your screen, use the intuitive search carousel to switch between the other sources on the fly. Dragon also archives recent searches, allowing you to quickly recall past activity.

Why we like the Dragon Search app:
Dragon search is quickly become one of my favorite iPhone apps because of the accuracy, speed and convenience. Plus the fact that Dragon provides a very slick and intuitive interface. I also appreciate the ability to define my preferred search engine. I would recommend that you head over to the iPhone app store and download Dragon search today.

If you like this app, try Dragon Dictation.
Cost: FREE

The post 12 Days of iPhone Apps ? Day 10: Dragon Search appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

About Dropbox:

Do you ever email yourself a document, just so you could access it on another computer?? You may want to check out Dropbox, it?s a lightweight app that syncs files between computers and even your iPhone.? To me, it?s become one of those apps that I can?t do without.? I switch between my desktop, laptop and iPhone often. And there are certain files in each of those locations. That?s when I rely on Dropbox.

Getting started with the app is really straightforward. Create your free account, and claim your free 2 GB of space. ?Then go to Dropbox.com and install the software on each of your computers. Also visit the App Store and download the DropBox application for your iPhone. ?That?s it, now just drop a file into the folder and voila?it will sync to your other Dropbox enabled devices.

Why we like Dropbox:

Dropbox is a simple solution to a real challenge we have with files in multiple locations. For those of you that work in teams, try using Dropbox to share and collaborate key files. Because Dropbox stores a copy of your files on their secure server, you?ll always have the most current version of a document with file recovery for accidental deletion. ?If you need more than the 2GB of space, check out their Pro plan s starting at $9.99/month.

Dropbox also features a public folder for sharing files with outside users.? Each file in this public folder will let you link directly to them.

Cost

2GB = Free
50GB = $9.99 /month
100GB = $19.99 /month

The post 12 Days of iPhone Apps ? Day 3: Dropbox appeared first on MyTechOpinion.

Here are some highlights of what’s new:

– See upcoming Events & Birthdays
– See Pages, post updates & photos to Pages you admin
– Write Notes and read your friends’ Notes
– Upload videos from an iPhone 3GS
– Upload photos w/Complete photo management
– Change your Profile Picture
– Zoom into photos
– Like posts and photos
– Full Facebook News Feed
– Visit links in a built-in web browser
– See all of your friends’ friends and Pages
– See mutual friends
– Easily search for people and Pages
– Make friend requests & fan Pages
– Quickly call or text your friends
– Create shortcuts to your favorite friends and Pages
– Chat with friends

What does this new Facebook app mean for you?

By now you should already know that Facebook has over 250 million users world-wide?the largest social network in the world. This new application brings all of that power into the palm of your hand.? For the first time this app lets users interact with Facebook they way they could from their computer.

Here are a few of my quick favorites:

A) I absolutely love this new ability to add shortcuts to my favorite people and pages. Here?s what you do:

1. Open the Facebook 3.0 app on your iPhone
2. Slide the main screen to the left. You?ll land on the shortcuts screen.
3. Click the ?+? in the top left corner
4. Now search for a friend or page that you manage or read. Click the icon and it will be instantly added to the shortcuts screen.

B) Upload video or photos to your wall or a friend?s wall:

1. Visit the wall in which you would like to post videos or share photos
2. Click the camera icon the left of the status field
3. Follow the on screen prompts

(*Video is only for iPhone 3GS. Also for now you will not be able to preview the video you leave from the Facebook app. You will see a message however that they?re working on it. Looks like we can expect it in a future update.)

C) Use your Facebook lists with the Newsfeed:

1. Click the ?News feed? icon
2. Now you enter the full newsfeed, click the ?News feed? button at the top right
3. Now spin the wheel and stop of the list you want to view

Please reply here and let us know what you like best about this new app, and how will you use it?

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