looking to try a different browser then the default Blazer browser? Try Opera Mini…I'm trying it just to see the RSS news reader feature. If you are installing Opera Mini for the first time on your Treo, you might run into some trouble…

First lets get all the software.

1. If you do not have the Java Virtual Machine for your palm, start by downloading that here
2. Download the Opera Browser

Before you can run the opera browser, you have to make sure your JVM is set up properly. If it is not set up properly, the Opera Mini browser will crash during initial setup.

To Configure the IBM JVM, go to Prefs->IBM Java VM (it is located at the bottom in "Other").

Double Buffering: on (default is OFF)
High-res coords: on (default is OFF)
Memory Max: 1Mb (Default is 1MB)
Stack Size: 32Kb (Default is 2KB)

once you have entered the settings, you are ready to browse. I really just use it for feeds, which it handles really well. I'm going to try other feed readers soon, but until then, this should do the trick. 

Popularity: 5% [?]

I have a Treo 650, and let me say, it is the best… When it comes to cell phones people can get really personal, so I'm expecting a few flames about this, but it's true. Yeah, it's heavier then the blackjack, and not as easy to use as the blackberry, but it has by far the most software available…much for free.

Trang, has a Blackjack and loves it. She use to have a Treo 650 but it broke and she now recommends the Blackjack to all her friends, but me and my tech friends all think she's a noob, and has no idea what she it talking about. Actually my brother-in-law got a blackjack, and he is pretty techy, but I don't think he ever had a smartphone before so to him the Blackjack must be futuristic.

Here are few quick appz for your palm to amaze your peers

1. Iphoney – Useless, but it looks like an iphone on your palm. I got mine the day after Apple announced the iphone. This is a hard to find app because Apple had all the download links removed from pretty much all blogs. So if this one doesn't work, then you might be out of luck. Iphoney is an app launcher for your palm: Iphone Download

2. The Core Pocket Media Player – This little wonder lets you play video on your  palm. I love it. Make sure you get at least a 1gig media card to hold the videos. I like showing Trang's video tours on the phone. It does not stream video, yet, and I don't think the company that developed the free version will support this version anymore, but it is open source, so there might be someone out there working on a stream feature. Download here

   There was discussion at FOREM about home searching from the cellphone, which got me wondering if there was a video streamer for the palm. This looks like a nice video stream package from Kinoma, but it's not free, so I will probably not try it, unless they want me to test it and review *(hint, hint). Back to FOREM discussion. The scenario I was thinking about is like this. I'm driving in my car, I see a for sale sign, with a link to the video tour. I whip out my treo and watch the video tour of the property while still in the driveway.

   Seems simple, but currently it is pretty hard to do. I found a website called tinytube.com that allows searching for video on your palm. You can't just go to youtube and search for videos…soon you will, but not now. Tinytube interface is made for mobile searching, basically it is just a search box. I typed in Real Estate and found a few video tours to download. You can download 2 versions from the site, High and low. The low is so bad you can't view it, but the high quality video is nice. Download to the palm was pretty quick, I downloaded a 1meg move in 2-3 minutes, then watched it. It works, and I can see this being useful, but with streaming right around the corner…might want to wait.

   I downloaded the same video to Trang's Blackjack, and it downloaded really fast. Less then a minute to get the video, but when I played it, the video was only about 1 inch x 1 inch?

3. u*blog – blogging from your Treo. Handles multiple blogs, and you can add/edit/update your blogs with too. I give credit for a really solid app, but you have to be hard pressed and completely addicted to blogging to use this. I tried to use it a couple times when I thought I had a couple hours to spare and nothing else to do (shoe shopping with Trang). It is just too hard to make a nice entry with the tiny Treo buttons. Download u*blog here

So there are a few appz to get you going on your Treo. I'm going to start giving more love to the Treo crowd, since it's such a good phone.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I love open source, I love hacking, I love guerilla marketing, I love figuring out ways to take tech gadgets and apply them to real estate.

Here is a technology that is fairly new, but coming on strong. GPS Navigation on cell phones.

I bought Trang the Tomtom GPS for her Treo 650 this year, and it’s great. Easy set up, works perfectly, and was half the price of a stand alone GPS system for her car. The cool thing is, I can take the GPS receiver and play with it on my Treo 650 without the maps, and just get my location.

I got this idea from my friend Alain (ak4life.com)

Off topic: Alain as Borat for Halloween

Alain Navigating us through Livermore Wine Country

Back on topic…
Tomtom for Treo comes with CD’s that include all the maps for America, and the GPS receiver. I loaded them up on trangs Treo, but I have not put them on mine. I don’t even know if I can, there is an activation code, doesn’t matter, I don’t want them anyways, I just want the GPS receiver.

My goal is to track where I am, get the logitude and latitude so I plot it on a google map.

I found a lot of products that will do this, but I don’t want to pay…this sounds like fun, but not for $50. I finally come across a product called cotogps. This is an awesome product, Just follow the instructions, and install to your Treo. You have to install the palm mathlib first, which you can also get from cotogps website.

It installed with no problems, Just had to make the ’serial port’ accept bluetooth and I’m off and running. ready to start tracking my location.

cotogps, tracks a lot of data, your location, speed, direction, elevation… It has a track sytem to record your location every 1 second, 2 seconds, 10 secs, or 1 minute. I set it to 10 seconds, jump in my car and head off to Best Buy…I lost my stylus, so I need another one. Every 10 seconds the palm beeps to let me know it recorded my location. it also keeps the palm on, so make sure you have a lot of battery life.

After I get back from Best Buy, I want to view my path. You can see your path from your palm, but not very much info. I need to get the data off the phone and into a gpx file to put it on a map. The palm will not directly export it. I have to download another tool from the cotogps website called cotoGPSDT. Another very cool tool, This guy did a great job.
I sync my palm with my computer, and go to my backup folder and find the track that I plotted. I open that in cotoGPSDT and it creates some very neat images.

This is the path and elevation. Looks like I fell off a cliff.

The cotoGPSDT program lets you export you path as a gpx file. A gpx file is nothing more then an xml file.
I export it to my desktop, and search on Google for ‘gpx to google map’ and come across this page:
http://www.tom-carden.co.uk/googlegpx/

Simply upload you gpx file and it puts it on a google map. In satellite mode, you can actually see which parking spot I was in. Another cool thing is that cotogps tracks your speed and allows you to add markers to your path. you can take pictures and connect them to your path.

Ok, so how does this help realtors…

If you can find your exact location, you can find all the homes for sale or open houses around you.

You can take your clients on a home tour, and create a path, mark the homes you were in, with pictures, and then create a website with that path. Your clients will love it, they will remember a lot more if they see the path to the houses.

There is also a game called geocaching, which is like a high tech treasure hunt. You can get together with other realtors and create a game for open houses. create a path, and tell your clients to follow it. I know it sounds aweful but give it some thought, it might work.

any suggestions for this technology is welcome…I’m jumping on my mountain bike and hitting the hills. I’ll have a new path later.

Popularity: 11% [?]

test

–(test is from my treo, this is from my computer) Sweet, I can blog from my treo 650…and It is free software…more about this later. Stuck in jury duty today I went on a mad search to find Palm software to help Realtors…I got some good stuff. Faxing, mapping, voice, blog, I found it all

Starting a new section for smartphones.

We at Realivent all have Treo’s so I think I will call the section Treo Tips.

I think my ultimate goal is to get a listing, post it on the web, with pictures, create a property blog, all while still at the listing appointment…Trang will be doing the contract work and I will be typing away on my little treo. Of course I should probably do it on my laptop, but think how cool it would be to do all this from my treo!!!

Oh by the way, I’m using U*blog and you will need to have the data enabled on your phone, data = internet connection. It is around $10 extra month for limited, and ? for unlimited…I have limited, so help me out gang.
*Shaking with excitement*

Popularity: 5% [?]