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The New Animoto Makes Creating And Editing Video Slideshows A Breeze | TechCrunch

[DOWNLOAD] Ten Tools and Technologies You Need to Know About

All That Glitters Isn’t Gold

I freely admit that I suffer from “S.O.S:” Shiny Object Syndrome.

I – like many in the Social Media space, who shall remain nameless – are often drawn off course with the latest and greatest piece of technology. Like children around the fir tree on Christmas morning, we can’t wait to unwrap whatever is next and play with it. Even if we don’t really need it. Curiosity, truly, is a powerful driver of behavior.

As often as not, after some period of time – just like the kid who stops playing with this year’s version of Tickle Me Elmo after he tires of it – we discover that many of these “tech toys” aren’t all they were cracked up to be.

They either don’t work very well, or they are a solution in need of a problem. Whatever the reason, many of these innovations don’t gain traction and end up on on the tall-and-growing-taller pile of technology castoffs.

My MacBook Pro is littered with apps and programs that I haven’t opened in months. Some, in years.

Beyond the Shiny

And then there are those tech tools that DO survive the test of time and use. And that is the purpose of this post: to share with you the tools, apps and technologies that have survived “beyond the shiny.”

That being said, every item that appears on the list below meets all of the following criteria:

• I use it frequently
• It works very well
• I’d highly recommend it
• I consider it an indispensable part of my life

Also, I’m going to skip the “big and obvious” things (WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, MacBook Pro and iPad, etc.) that are at this point (IMO) ubiquitous.

Tested, Tried and True

In no particular order, here are the things that I use :

1 | Basecamp

This is the engine that drives the various projects on which I’m working at any given point in time. It does everything you’d want it do, and surprisingly almost nothing beyond that. Its genius is its streamlined robustness (yes, I realize that sounds like a contradiction). I have no idea how I got anything done before I discovered Basecamp. And I’m getting a lot more done now that I have discovered it. Thanks, Jason Fried!

2 | Google+ Hangout

I Tweeted this recently: “Google+ Hangouts are my new intro emails.” I frequently send out “introductory” emails trying to get people to work on various projects with me. Since I started using Hangouts, I’ve basically stopped with the emails and switched over to G+. It’s incredibly easy to use, and the best part is THE AUDIO. It’s basically perfect, like you’re having a F2F conversation with someone. Yes, I know Skype has been around forever, and Facebook also has video, but there’s something about the Hangout that I just like better (maybe it’s the word “Hangout?”).

3 | Evernote

Evernote  is the hub of my digital existence, which I covered in my last post; there is no need to duplicate it here.

4 | Camera+ (iPhone app)

Camera+ is basically Photoshop for dummies. It’s now the only photo manipulation tool I use (so, yes, I do ALL my photo editing on my iPhone, period). Everyone I know that uses it raves about it. For samples of quality and effects, here is a random photo gallery I took in Chicago last month . Draw your own conclusions.

5 | JotNot Pro

JotNot Pro is an app that turns your iPhone or Droid into a portable scanner. It’s good enough (once you get the hang of it; hint: have a steady hand and use the ‘stabilization’ feature for max quality) to use for real estate closing documents, to put it in perspective. This is a great tool for saving whiteboards, scanning when you don’t have access to a traditional scanner, and uploading directly to Evernote (that’s one of its native sharing features).

6 | iMovie

Strangely, iMovie is not as robust as Windows Movie Maker, the program that I used before iMovie. However, it is far more stable (I came to think of WMM as the “reboot causation machine”) and easier to use. As long as you don’t aspire to be the next Francis Ford Coppola, iMovie is probably more than you need, and it’s a great bang for the buck. (Full disclosure: after creating around 100 videos, I finally outgrew iMovie and upgraded to FinalCut Pro X. HOWEVER, if you’re new to video, I’d still highly recommend iMovie because of its ease of use and price.)

7  | MacSpeech Dictate (for Mac)

I wrote this post with Dictate. Was it perfect? No. But it was probably 98% accurate, it took just a few minutes to correct and I definitely saved a lot of time. I start every day with an entry into a personal journal that usually totals around 1,000 words. I haven’t typed a word of that (other than to make corrections) in several years. I could never do that without the aid of a solid VR program, and Dictate is the one for me. (Full disclosure: when I upgraded to Lion on my Mac, I lost some of the functionality of Dictate. If you are going to upgrade to Lion, make sure you research all the softwares that matter to you to see if they’re going to be impacted by the upgrade.)

8 | Kodak Zi8

Yes, I know that Kodak has come out with a new camera that’s supposed to be better (the Playtouch), but I haven’t used it, so I cannot comment. All I know is that the Zi8 satisfies all my needs and requirements, and I have used it to shoot a lot of videos. It’s well made, it transfers files to your computer quickly, it has a lot of memory and it’s basically idiot proof. The learning curve can be measured in minutes, literally. Given how important video is to the future of real estate, I’d highly recommend you buy the Zi8 or the Playtouch and start moving in that direction.

9 | iPhone

Nothing polarizes and riles people up like a good old “Blackberry vs Droid vs iPhone” debate, but I do want to say this one thing: I’ve used all three of these platforms for AT LEAST one year each, so I do have SOME basis for an opinion (yes, that doesn’t qualify me as an expert, but many who get down in the mud on this topic haven’t used all three). And I can say that, from an ease of use/genius of design/quality of construction/love of product perspective, there is the iPhone…and then there is everything else. I thought I knew what techfatuation was (see: MacBook Pro and iPad) until I got the iPhone. It’s my favorite Apple device, period.

10 | Skitch (for Mac)

I do an outrageous amount of screen capture (the graphics for this post, for example). And Skitch is the tool I use for that. It’s amazingly robust for what it does, and it’s free. You can annotate photos, save the screen caps in different file formats, and a lot of other cool stuff. To know Skitch is to love Skitch.

So, that’s my list. Like I said, some of these things aren’t that sexy, and some aren’t even the most current versions of whatever they are. However, if you’re looking for performance, value and reliability, I’d recommend you check them all out. They work for me. Really well.

So, what’s your favorite TTT?

Facebook is So Flippin’ Smart: Timeline? Ticker? And What the Heck Happened to My News Feed?

Like many of you, I logged into my Facebook page a couple days ago after the big f8 developer conference, and thought, “what is this?” Even though I knew change was coming, I was still taken aback by the new Home page format, the “missing” Recent News feed and the Ticker.

The highlight of f8 this year was the unveiling of Timeline, which is currently in beta until October 5^th. It is available now via a Developer App.

If you are interested in trying out Timeline, read this fantastic post by InmanNext™ contributor Jimmy Mackin.

I held off on changing my profile over to the new Timeline for a day or two.  No particular reason, but generally I prefer to wait a day or two after changes happen on Facebook before I dive in and change anything.

So while preparing for this post, I watched Mark Zuckerberg’s keynote message again, and then I installed Timeline into my profile.

Immediately after downloading it, I scrolled through my profile and it was like taking a trip down memory lane.

I have to say, Facebook is so flippin’ smart!

Why?

Because they have brought nostalgia and emotion back to Facebook.

Nostalgia and emotion are the bread and butter of what make Facebook work.

Why do you post something on Facebook? Because it means something to you.

Why do you share on Facebook? Because it interests you – perhaps it evokes an emotion for you.

Happy. Mad. Sad. Incredulous. Surprised.

It’s what makes Facebook work and it’s also what makes successful Facebook Pages work well.

Why is The Corcoran’s Group’s Facebook page thriving with comments, likes and shares?

Because they paint the picture of what it is like to live in New York City. They tell the stories of New Yorker’s and you every time you read something on their page, you feel a little bit more connected to New York City – regardless of where you live.

What did I see on my Timeline?

I saw my posts before I had worked for Inman News.

I saw the post the day I announced on Facebook I was pregnant with my second child.

I saw an awesome video Nicole Nicolay had posted for me last year on my birthday.

In one click, my life flashed before me – through the posts I had posted on Facebook, through my interactions, the pages I liked, the friends I added and the photos and videos I uploaded.

It was surprisingly a really emotional experience – to see all of my life’s important moments right there in front of me.

As Chris Smith mentioned yesterday in this post, there are bound to be real estate agents who abuse the Timeline and fill it with self-promotional material – i.e. an oversized obnoxious listing photo.

I’d like to think that won’t happen, but I’ve been around this block a time or two and will not be surprised when I see this. I do advise all agents reading this to embrace this opportunity – to not make your Timeline all about your business – but let it be a tapestry of your life; your family, interests, and yes, a little bit about your real estate business.

For me, the Timeline was a huge visual reminder that at the heart of social media is you and me.

There is a reason why you have to have a personal profile before you can even think about setting up a business page. Why?

Because at the heart of social media is our personal experiences. It’s the day to day likes, interactions, conversations and everything that happens in between as you get to know your Facebook friends better and you reveal more of your authentic self.

In addition to the new Timeline there are a slew of other new features.

Why is there a Ticker?

The Ticker is your lightweight stream of everything going on.

To be honest, at first glance the Ticker was a super annoying feature. It is a live feed that seems to be in constant motion. But then after listening to Zuckerberg. I really got the bigger picture.

The Ticker is for items that are not monumental that used to take up your News Feed – like when you friend comments on a photo or friends someone new. Now, those live in the Ticker. Also, by things living in the Ticker, you can respond or comment to someone in real time by hovering over the Ticker and not losing your place on your News Feed.

Zuckerberg calls this “real-time serendipity.”

He says,

“Your friends are doing a lot of cool stuff, but maybe they don’t have a way to share it.”

If you have a wider screen, slide the grey bar between Ticker and chat up or down to adjust how many updates you see at a time. To control who can see your updates anywhere on Facebook, including in Ticker and News Feed, adjust your sharing control or apps settings.

Where did the News Feed go?

The News Feed is still there, but now, when you visit Facebook, you will see the things you’re most interested in, like status updates from your family, closest friends and the pages that are most relevant to you.

Zuckerberg talked about how Facebook will be “finding patterns and activity.”

He says,

“Your News Feed looks for interesting patterns in activity – and will put it in your News Feed instead of just the Ticker.”

This impacts pages for real estate agents and brokers in a profound way. It is no longer about getting tens of thousands of likes. Now, it is about having fantastic content that your members will want to share. The more your page content is shared, the more you will prominently appear in someone’s News Feed.

How often are you on Facebook? How does that affect your feed?
If you haven’t returned in a week, you may want to see a summary of top stories first. If you’ve already visited several times that day, you probably care more about recent news. So now, it is easier to keep up with the people in your life no matter how frequently or infrequently you’re on Facebook.

According to the Facebook blog,

“Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won’t have to worry about missing important stuff. All your news will be in a single stream with the most interesting stories featured at the top. If you haven’t visited Facebook for a while, the first things you’ll see are top photos and statuses posted while you’ve been away. They’re marked with an easy-to-spot blue corner.

How will the Open Graph be a game changer?

According to Time Magazine:

“The Open Graph, aims to change the social network even more than the Timeline will. It lets third-party companies connect their apps and services to Facebook far more seamlessly than in the past — and in particular allows them to seek one-time, blanket permission from a user to share stuff with Facebook. Once permission has been granted, the apps can push out the details of everything the user does, no further human intervention required.

Until now, you had to Like a song on the Spotify music service for your friends to know you’d listened to it. Now, all the songs you listen to on Spotify get shown on Facebook automatically — and your friends can listen to those tunes on Facebook if they choose.”

Before, things would only appear on your Facebook page by “liking” it. Now, once you give permission to certain apps you can just “do” something.

“Open Graph is the most significant change we’ve made to our platform since we launched it in 2007.” CTO Bret Taylor at f8.

Zuckerberg says,

“You don’t need to LIKE a book, you just need to read a book. You don’t need to like a movie, you can just watch a movie.”

What about apps?

In the past, Facebook had apps around things like communicating and games. The new phase of apps will revolve around media (like Netflix and Spotify) and lifestyle apps.

Zuckerberg talks about having a “frictionless experience” with apps – like not being asked to share something on Facebook right in the middle of a game.

What will this mean for real estate? Already it is becoming more and more apparent that is less about amassing thousands of likes, it is more valuable for people to share your content.

Now more than ever, real estate agents and brokers need to be creating and/or curating not just good content, but great content – content that their fans will share. This is just one more reason I am so excited about our new changes at Inman News with our content.

Now, agents and brokers can clearly and confidently share content they trust with their social networks. We knew this was of the utmost importance!

My takeaways?

1. If you are concerned with the new changes, check your privacy settings.
2. Be cognizant of the apps you allow access to your Facebook account.
3. Content has always been king – but now it is more important than ever for real estate professionals. Do you have a content strategy? It is no longer an option to not have a strategy.

I’ll say it again, Facebook is so flippin’ smart.

They are staying one-step ahead, constantly innovating and raising the bar.

I’d love your thoughts and feedback about this post and about the changes.

Please post your comments below and if this post was helpful to you, please share it on Facebook and/or Tweet it out!