There have been a LOT of agents buying the TREO 650
PDA. Many are loving it, but there are a good many that have been having
various software problems.
If you are having
problems, be aware that there have been patches to the software made available
that may help. You can find them at the Palm site at
http://tinyurl.com/brb6n .

DNC - The Do
Not Call list
If a FSBO or
Expired is registered with the Federal Do Not Call list - ARE you allowed to
call them?
I just came across
an article in Realty Times I thought I would share with you that updates the
answer to that question.
As of February
2005, the FCC said, effectively:
You can not call a
FSBO unless you have a buyer for that house. You can not call expireds, unless
they expired with your company, otherwise not at all!
The link to the
article is
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20050809_clarifyrules.htm

Google Autolink
It appears Google is pulling another fast one. Following
is a link to an article about what Google is calling "Autolinking", which
is slated to become part of the Google Toolbar. It can transform plain text
on any Web page into a link that sends the visitor to a related site for
more information. AutoLink, though still in beta, is angering many people
because it gives Google--not visitors or Web site designers of sites in
which links are embedded--the power to decide which sites it sends you to.
Imagine that you have an address of a listing on your
site, and unbeknownst to you, Google plugs a link into it, and it takes
your site visitor to that listing on Realtor.com. That's what Autolinking
could do to you! It looks for text that can be identified, and if Google
has an affiliate that fits, plugs a link into that phrase! Read the article
at http://tinyurl.com/4ekqb
JPEG Viruses
This is not a hoax that you sometimes see
warning you of viruses. I have researched this. Please note the links you see
below.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but
if you have not already heard - JPEG files can carry viruses. A JPEG or '.jpg'
file is the most common type of file for a photo online or in e-mail. It was
announced not too long ago that they were now capable of carrying viruses, but
now there is an imminent warning that one is about to be/has been unleashed.
Following are links to more information about it.
I can't tell you that if you haven't
already downloaded the XP SP2 patch, to do it now, because I don't know how safe
it is yet. BUT you have to weigh the relatively small chance that it will
interfere with your system, versus the potential to get this virus without it.
Good luck!
http://tinyurl.com/5yxrb
http://www.easynews.com/virus.html
I also suggest you go to Google, and key
in , without the quotes - 'jpeg virus'. You will find much information there as
well.
Update your virus files immediately if you
are not doing it automatically!
Google and Cloaking
Google may be up to some tricks again. It
has been reported that they did an unusually large amount of spidering in
September, and that another restructuring or overhaul of their index MAY be
happening again. Watch your Web site statistics in the coming months.
Another issue I just read about by people
that do this for a living, was about reciprocal linking. They are "theorizing"
that Google MAY start punishing people for linking to sites that are optimized
using methods of which Google does not approve. I know for a fact that some
people reading this are using SEO methods/companies that are using cloaking or
similar tools. They may be using it unwittingly, but using it nonetheless. In
that case - ignorance is NOT an acceptable excuse, as far as Google is
concerned. The issue here is not who links to you, but who you link to. I
thought, given the amount of reciprocal linking going on with many of you, that
you may want to consider this. I am personally now considering using the tool I
mentioned in another post http://www.gritechnologies.com/tools/spider.go, to
insure that I do not link to a site which is being optimized using cloaking
pages or redirects, on my Agent Referral Network page at http://garydavidhall.com/network.htm.
What you need to do is look at the individual pages using the diagnostics view
hyperlink. If you see text that isn't on that web page, when viewing that page
in a browser, the SEO is cloaking and probably using redirects. That will be a
lot of work, and I don't know about you, but I can't afford to be banned from
Google!
They also warned about using companies
that "Guarantee" you first page rankings for specific key words. These companies
have been very successful at one thing in particular - getting you banned from
the search engines!
Your name as your domain name
I had a client tell me that a local agent
had bought her name as a domain name, such as BettyBoop.com. The agent then
"pointed" it to his own site! So if someone was looking for Betty, at ABC
Realty, they went instead to her competitors Web site. Not only was he not
affiliated with her, but he was from a different company all together. She asked
me if this was illegal, or at the least, could she stop him from doing it. I did
some research and found that NAR had already addressed this once, and they will
not allow it. What follows is the case in which they decided it.
What's the point? Go to the Web and key in
yourname.com & yourname.net, to make sure no one is using your name to drive
people to their Web site!
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Case #12-17: Use of Deceptive Domain
Name/URL ("Uniform Resource Locator") (Adopted May, 2001.)
REALTORŪ X, a principal broker in the firm
XYZ, was technologically savvy and constantly looking for ways to use the
Internet to promote his firm and drive additional traffic to his website.
Being an early adapter to the Internet, he
had registered, but not used, domain names that incorporated or played on the
names of many of his competitors and their firms, including ABC, REALTORSŪ.
REALTORŪ X and his information technology
staff concluded that one way to drive traffic to the firm's website would be to
take advantage of the search engines commonly used by potential buyers and
sellers. They realized that when potential buyers or sellers searched on key
words like "real estate" or "REALTORSŪ" or on similar words, lists of domain
names would appear, and that when consumers searched the Internet for ABC,
REALTORSŪ, one of the domain names that might appear would be REALTORŪ X's
domain name, abcREALTORS.com.
REALTORŪ X decided to take advantage of
the domain names that he had previously registered, and pointed several that
used, in various ways, the names of his competitors, including "abcREALTORs.com,"
to his site.
In a matter of days, REALTORŪ X learned
that he had been charged with a violation of Article 12 of the Code of Ethics by
REALTORŪ A, the owner of ABC, REALTORSŪ , alleging that his (REALTORŪ X's) use
of the domain name "abcREALTORS.com" presented a false picture to potential
buyers and sellers and others on the Internet.
At the hearing, REALTORŪ X defended
himself indicating that, in his opinion, use of a domain name was not
advertising or a "representation" to the public but simply a convenient way for
Internet users to find relevant websites. Moreover, "When websurfers reach my
home page, there is no question that it is my site since I clearly show XYZ's
name and our status as REALTORSŪ," he continued. "These complaints are just a
lot of sour grapes from dinosaurs who aren't keeping up and who don't realize
that on the Internet it's 'every man for himself.' "
The Hearing Panel disagreed with REALTORŪ
X's justification, indicating that while his use of a domain name that employed
another firm's name might not be precluded by law or regulation, it did not
comply with the Code's higher duty to present a "true picture."
REALTORŪ X was found in violation of
Article 12, presenting an untrue picture in his representation to the public.
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