As a native Californian I’m not really used to the traditional winter. Yet, earlier this month we took a trip up to Anchorage and survived the bitter cold. We were even “snowed in” and couldn’t leave the house one day. One activity that is much more common up there is having fun with a snow machine. I rode a smaller version for the first time. Here is a video of my brother-in-law in Alaska at Lost Lake being a bit more adventurous.

Today Apple announced their new iPad (a third category of mobile device with the other two being phones and laptops). I my initial reaction was that this could be a really interesting advancement for sales people of all kinds but especially the Realtor.

They have already created an updated version of Keynote for the iPad but you could also use digital reports such as those from Cloud CMA in customer presentations (listing or sales). But what if we took it a step further… What if you handed the device to your client and while you drove they could be exploring the next property, comparable sales, or even school district data on their own terms. Would that improve the customer experience? Would that speed up the decision making process?

Another likely scenario would allow for the review and execution of documents in the field in a digital format. An elegant device that is easy to read and use might be appreciated (especially with aging baby-boomers who might need digital magnification of the fine print).

The implementations of MLS information, workflow improvements, and connectivity solutions for mobile devices has not yet met my expectations. Maybe with a new category of mobile device that will start to change. Time will tell.

Instead of making resolutions, make projections and create feedback mechanisms to monitor the progress. Keep on the watch for the unexpected success and unexpected failure. Those will be the best opportunities to tackle in this brand new decade.

One thing that I need to remember is that the less we talk about our plans the more of them we will actually accomplish.

Now let’s go make this world a better place!

Warning: Facebook may have made your social graph available to “everyone” with a confusing “opt-in” last week.

Personally I didn’t know until Jason Calacanis, the CEO of Mahalo.com, sent out an alert. Here are a few of the things that he mentioned:

In case you missed it, when you logged into Facebook [last] week you were road blocked with a popup explaining that they “we’re making some changes to give you more control.” Sounds good, and like most users looking to quickly get into a website or application, I simply clicked through the message. How important could it be?

When faced with a TOS (Terms of Service) or license the world has been trained to hit the word “agree,” and click, click, click until they get to the actual website or software they were trying to get to in the first place.

In this case, if you simply click through the windows you’ve exposed all of your private Facebook information, including comments, friends, pictures and status updates, to “everyone.” In other words clicking through changes everything in Facebook terms–unlike every other license or update screen you’ve experienced in your life.

The entire purpose of Facebook since inception has been to share your information with a small group of people in your private network. Everyone knows that and everyone expects that. In fact, Facebook’s success is largely based on the fact that people feel safe putting their private information on Facebook.

This action might have been a mistake but if they were really trying to “slip one past us” then they got it wrong! I will now be using Facebook less and my settings are more restrictive than they were last week.

Action Item: Check your settings are as YOU want. The rules changed but YOU have the right to manage your life.

What do you think of this change by Facebook?

Update:

Groups File Facebook Complaint
December 18, 2009

“Ten privacy organizations filed a complaint against Facebook Inc. to the Federal Trade Commission Thursday, arguing that recent changes to the social-networking company’s privacy policies and settings violate federal laws.”

Read the full article by Jessica E. Vascellaro in the Wall Street Journal or at wsj.com

I have a lot of content to share with everyone…but instead of trying to write a bunch of articles to end 2009 I have decided to head in a different direction. I’m taking a digital holiday. I plan to blog less, tweet less, check e-mail less, and read less aggregated news. Even my new Google Wave account is going to have to wait.

It can be exhausting to maintain personal and corporate brands in the new media space. Frankly, I need a break and I’m giving myself permission to take the rest of December off. I plan to return in 2010 refreshed and engage once again. Until then, I hope that you too will find ways to enjoy the precious moments that we have with friends, family, and perfect strangers. The main thing that I want to learn from this holiday is how better to say “thank you”. I’ve realized that I have not said it enough in the past (and when I did I didn’t always truly mean it).

Cherry Republic said that their favorite photographer is Paul Mobley.

He will be back in the region for a book signing.  The event is at 7 pm on Friday, November 20, 2009 at Brilliant Books in Suttons Bay.  Cherry Republic will be there serving tasty little cherry tidbits during the signing. Paul spoke yesterday in San Antonio, TX about his book.  He also recently did a photo shoot of Willie Nelson while he was down there as well.

305 St Joseph Street, Suttons Bay, MI 49682  |  231-271-READ (7323)

COSTA MESA – Rhonda Rohrabacher from Huntington Beach will be our guest speaker today, November 17 at MOTM in Orange County. Rhonda is the Director of Internet Strategy and Interaction Design for Congressman Rohrabacher (CA-46) and uses technology to shake things up in the political world and beyond.

The topic for conversation will be how technology has changed the political landscape and how the lessons learned impact strategy, marketing, and communications in all industries. With the convergence of political data and ubiquitous crowd sourcing in the real time world we now live in it is critical to have engaging interactive design and a consistent communications strategy. Rhonda has been a catalyst for change in the political world and we look forward to having her as our speaker.

Rhonda Rohrabacher is focused on the current “Government 2.0″ convergence of political, tech, and art worlds. She lives, eats, and breathes technology and spends her free time tracking latest tech trends and apps that are constantly emerging. She is keenly interested in using this technology to shake things up in political world and beyond. Rhonda is lifelong surfer and mother of five year old triplets.

Inspired by President Ronald Reagan, Rhonda has been running political campaigns since she was a teenager. She managed dozens of political campaigns and grassroots operations in Orange County in the 1990′s.

After studying German in Austria in 1999 she developed a love for electronic music and the new medium of mixing visuals with beats. Ultimately she became a club DJ and VJ with residencies at clubs on both East and West Coast as well as guest gigs in clubs in Moscow, Beijing, Dubrovnik, Manila, and Dubai.

From 2000-2002 she was a columnist/blogger for United Press International and wrote underground travel guides for dozens of cities around the world, as well as tech reviews, video game and electronic music reviews, and the convergence of the colliding tech worlds that began to emerge in the early 2000′s.

In 2003 while pregnant with triplets Rhonda set up the OC grassroots operations for Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s successful bid for Governor of California. Six months later, in 2004 Primary she ran Dana Rohrabacher’s re-election campaign, while on pregnancy bedrest for five months, and gave birth to triplets one month after he won the primary.

While raising newborn triplets, Rhonda became active in web design/development and rebuilt her husband’s campaign website from scratch. Running political campaigns morphed into online political strategy and handling her husband’s new media communications, internet strategy, interaction design and consulting for other political campaigns.

She and her partners are currently deploying startups (Informed Patriots and Patriot Tools) which design and develop interactive sites and apps for political campaigns. Current projects include: Revamp of OC Republican Party website, OC Tea Party, Save Voter Choice, and other grassroots initiatives. Her other projects are: Grafika Kolektiv, Rootless Cosmopolitan, and Shtetl Projekt.

This is sure to be an engaging evening as Orange County leaders gather at the Center Club in Costa Mesa at 7pm. The meeting will include hors devours and valet parking. Free to attend*.

*RSVP required.

If you think that you should be on the guest list and have not confirmed either use the link you received online or you MUST CALL 800.717.8591 x76 to confirm in advance.

IF NO ONE ANSWERS LEAVE A MESSAGE AND THEN WAIT FOR CONFIRMATION BEFORE COMING TO THE CLUB. WE’RE NOT TRYING TO BE A JERK ABOUT IT BUT WITH A VIP SPEAKER AND A PRIVATE CLUB WE DON’T WANT TO WASTE YOUR TIME BY HAVING YOU COME AND BE TURNED AWAY.

The good news is that even if you can’t come, or are not invited, The Bui Brothers, will be on site and providing an inside look with photography to be published by the end of the week. (Link to be published at: paulmobley.com)

Business Week has selected CitySourced as on of the 25 most interesting companies. The article was just published online and will be included in the Nov 16 issue. This is a really nice validation of their innovative business model that was introduced to the world at TechCrunch50 in September. Regular readers already know about Kurt Daradics and his company but if not read some of the previous articles that I’ve written. I love the fact that I was writing about CitySourced before Business Week (but they are better writers).

[UPDATE 11.17.2009 - My information was incorrect. This is an online article only. I did not see it in the print version (unless I'm blind, stupid, or both).]

After a three year battle, the FTC has ruled that a Michigan MLS (multiple-listing service for real estate) had unfair policies that restricted trade. They have been ordered to change their policies and provide a level playing field for all participants.

The Federal Trade Commission issued an Opinion finding that Realcomp II – a Michigan-based realtors’ group – violated federal law by restricting the ability of member real estate agents to offer consumers lower-priced alternatives to traditional real estate services. Realcomp refused to transmit discount real estate listings to its own and other publicly available Web sites and excluded such listings from the default searches within its own database. The Commission found that these policies restricted access to these listings and harmed competition. The FTC’s Final Order requires Realcomp to provide its members non-discriminatory access to non-traditional and lower-price listings on its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and to stop preventing such listings from being sent to its public real estate sites.

The Commission found that “the practices at issue improperly limit consumers’ access to information about the availability of these lower-priced alternatives,” and . . . concluded “that [Realcomp’s] acts and practices unreasonably restrain trade in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act . . . and Section 5.” The Commission’s administrative decision resolves litigation arising from a complaint charging that Realcomp’s policies violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

In my opinion, this is a very important decision that will allow for greater competition and more new media business models in real estate. The FTC said that, “The Internet has become vital to selling homes, and a majority of buying and selling homes begins on the Internet.” I completely agree with this statement and believe that if the current leadership in the real estate industry does not embrace technology then they will become increasing irrelevant.

These changes, the Commission wrote, “illustrate how technological dynamism and organizational innovation can place enormous pressure on traditional business models and create possibilities for ‘the new commodity, the new technology, the new source of supply, the new type of organization’ [Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy 84 (1942)] that can transform markets. Because [these] are powerful stimulants for economic progress, an especially important application of antitrust law is to see that incumbent service providers do not use improper means to suppress innovation-driven competition that benefits consumers.”

NAR financially supported the MLS in defense of these anti-competitive practices. We can only speculate as to whether the nations’ largest trade group was providing support based on preexisting mutual aid agreements or if they agreed with the policies of the MLS.

The National Association of Realtors has taken a major step towards a property centric MLS. The Realtor Property Resource (RPR) is not intended to become a national MLS system but it has the potential to provide vast amounts of property centric data. This is big news that has not yet been covered by the major press or tech news. Yet, this has the potential to be a GAME CHANGER in online real estate. So far the best information has come from blogs like 1000watt, Agent Genius, MLS Tesserat, and The Notorious R.O.B. and for real-time comments see #RPR.

To discover the what and why I went to the source and found some documentation by NAR leadership:

The Opportunity: Collectively Realtors® know more than anyone else about individual properties, communities, local trends, regulations, and other factors related to local real estate. If this collective knowledge (sometimes called “the wisdom of crowds”) could be organized and archived in a single industry sponsored and operated database, Realtors® could share their expertise and leverage their collective experience to provide broader, deeper, and more timely and accurate information to their customers.

The Solution: Creating a property or parcel centric national library or archive that has robust and useful information on virtually every property in the US.

Source: NAR Whitepaper (May 2008)

According to one of my sources, the NAR09 Conference next week is going to be the “first and best place for RPR related information”. I’m trying to find as much information as I can as soon as possible. This is supposed to be a major value proposition for brokers that is “industry-friendly” allowing us to be a reliable and “trusted advisor”. To date millions of dollars in Realtor dues have been spent on this initiative and it has now finally being unveiled. Time will tell if it was money well spent.

While the specifics are vague, I believe that RPR has the potential to be a very important development in real estate. At a minimum, it is moving us towards better, more accessible, data on all real estate properties (not just those currently for sale or lease). It should, in theory, make life better for the consumer. However, before we get there we’re going to have to deal with a lot of growing pains.

Twitter recently deployed a killer new feature called “lists”. Basically, it’s their version of groups that can either be public or private (and you don’t need to be currently following someone to add them to a list). For example, Robert Scoble created a list of Tech News Brands that I really enjoy. It’s features like this that allow a more functional real-time web (and it’s one of the reasons that I’m finally using my twitter account).

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and explain it myself… go to Mashable’s article on HOW TO: Use Twitter Lists

SAN JOSE – Every October the California Association of Realtors holds their annual expo. I attended, along with our intern Kyle, on Wednesday and Thursday (Oct 7-8). I enjoy this convention because it’s attended by the leaders in the CA real estate and innovative service providers. The fact that this year the event was in the Silicon Valley is one of the things that influenced the tone (at least for me). Tech innovations in all fields are common in San Jose. Some of them were even inside the convention center.

General Thoughts

Green. MLS. Search. Mobile.

These are the four things that really stood out to me at the Expo. Yes, there were a lot of people talking about short sale systems and REO tools but those are temporary. The future of real estate is really in these four things.

Green.

Green building and retrofitting techniques, energy efficient mortgages, and existing home certifications were all passionately discussed (even if the seminars were not well attended). John Shipman of Energy Efficiency Management explained to the real estate professionals that green techniques and thinking are more of a shift than a trend. He believes that agents should become the “source of the source” for green facts, inspections, and financing. If this happens then the agents would not only obtain a competitive advantage over the competition but they’ll help to provide better living environments for California families. Extra focus was placed on the physical inspection of a property combined with a financial analysis of the proposed green projects. They are advocating not doing green for the sake of green but rather dual benefit of both environment and economy.

MLS.

There are approximately 900 MLS systems in the United States. Some states only have one system while others have taken a regional approach. This was necessary when population, geography, and technology made it impossible to consolidate the data. The technology now exists to have an entire statewide MLS for California but there appears to be a resistance to change. There have been two approaches that have been successful in reshaping the MLS landscape this year. They are calREDD and CARETS.

calREDD is an inititive of the California Association of Realtors to create a single MLS for the entire state. Local associations (AORs) can chose to adopt this system or continue to use their existing provider. I saw a demo using live data from several regions that are early adopters. In my opinion, it’s the best MLS platform based on the integration of cutting-edge web application frameworks (at least by real estate standards). They have excellent transparency in their feature set and bug issues and have launched more versions in the last few months than most MLS systems have for their entire history. An agile web development approach gives them a clear competitive advantage over other systems. While they have accomplished a lot in 2009 there is still a long way to go. There are currently about 1,000 users on their system (with more planned) and their are integrating with CARETS in 2010. The promise of a “statewide MLS” has resulted in some wonderful accomplishments, however, it will be a while before the single-system with property-centric data is actually in use in California.

Another approach to the same problem is CARETS. They haven’t tried to create a new MLS system but rather to aggregate the data of multiple separate systems into one source. This has resulted in some MLS systems upgrading their data standards to be RETS compliant. To date, this method has been more successful (with more than 100,000 users) in part because it doesn’t require abandonment of existing MLS providers or changing of service contracts. For the agents, it’s also less disruptive because the system they access doesn’t really change.

Long-term is is likely that both methodologies will be necessary to marry real estate with current technology standards. By the two working together it will increase the speed of integration. Ultimately, the lessons learned on both sides will consolidate information from a regional or statewide system, to a national or international standard. Things are getting better but they’re a long way from fulfilling the dream.

Search.

Just as Google and Yahoo! changed the shape of the internet… search is transforming the real estate information game. Three companies that are dedicated to real estate information and search are Trulia, Roost, and Zillow. Roost was the only one of the three that didn’t exhibit at the conference but they were talked about inside the convention center. All three are companies to watch in 2010.

Zillow is different than the other two because they didn’t start with the active listings but rather they took a property-centric approach. Their database of all of the residential properties in the United States is clearly the consumers favorite in getting an estimate of property values. Recently have they began to partner with agents to augment the data with current information and photos (instead of sometimes stale public records) and direct potential buyers to their agent network.

Both Trulia and Roost are undertaking the daunting task of nationwide real estate search. They’re taking advantage of the fact that people are spending 8-12 weeks online doing research before they even contact an agent (according to a study by the California Association of Realtors). While their revenue models are different, than traditional players in the real estate business, they are clearly establishing themselves as the leaders in real estate information. They are focused on the needs of the customer.

Mobile.

The use of mobile in real estate makes perfect sense. If you can get the information to consumers when they are out in the neighborhoods (instead of at home with the computer) then you’ll have a competitive advantage. SMS has been used for a while to provide instant information about a property. But with the advent of smart phones new ways of accessing the information are being demanded by consumers. There is clearly a lot of growth potential in this area. Two players in this field (one who exhibited and one who did not) are planetRE and aumnia.

LOS ANGELES – Today, in Griffith Park, we participated in the Epilepsy Freedom Walk. The annual event is a fun family stroll in the park, complete with food, games and prizes. While the event is fun, the purpose is serious – to increase awareness about epilepsy and to raise money to continue the fight for freedom from seizures and freedom to succeed.

Epilepsy is more common than many think…

• Nearly three million people in the United States have epilepsy
• Another 200,000 people will be diagnosed with epilepsy this year
• The most common neurological disorder in children is epilepsy

Hundreds of people participated in the event and many more donated to the cause. Rachel Waters did an excellent job assembling a team to support the Hemispherectomy Foundation. To date the team has raised $1,635 (with more than $83,000 raised by the entire event). Rachel’s son Aiden needed a hemispherectomy to control seizures and stop the progression of a diagnosed brain disorder (Sturge-Weber Syndrome).

It’s too late to participate in the walk this year but if you would like to contribute to the cause donations will be accepted online until 5 pm on Saturday, November 28, 2009.

COSTA MESA – For several years now, the place to be once a month on Tuesday nights was at Meeting of the Minds (MOTM) in Westlake Village. Kurt Daradics and Baron Miller created something special that, at it’s core, could be summarized as starting a conversation. In this context many collaborations, innovations, and relationships have developed. People were attracted to MOTM from as far away as San Diego and the Silicon Valley (with the occasional out of state guest). The biggest complaint has been the distance for those people who live and work in Orange County, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

On Tuesday, October 13, a new conversation began in the OC with twenty-two distinguished guests who met at the Center Club (a prestigious private city club for Orange County’s social and corporate leaders). In a reversal of roles Kurt Daradics was the speaker and was interviewed by Baron Miller and Paul Mobley. Kurt shared with the group about his entrepreneurial adventure with CitySourced powered by FreedomSpeaks that was introduced to the world at TechCrunch50 in September.

The caliber of folks that showed up that at the inaugural event clearly demonstrated that MOTM OC is going be the premier high tech networking event in Orange County. We were especially honored to have Rhonda Rohrabacher, wife of US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, contributing to the conversation. Plus the venue at the Center Club is sublime and located in the heart of Orange County at the steps of the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

We invite you to join the conversation. The next MOTM OC is Tuesday November 10th, so stay tuned for more details.

THE INTERNET IS NOW USED BY 84% OF REAL ESTATE CLIENTS

• The Internet is used 9X more often than newspapers
• The Internet is used 34X more often than real estate magazines
• Internet users are better informed, have higher incomes, and take 40% less time in transactions

CitySourced was selected as one of the top three concepts at TechCrunch50 2009. While they didn’t receive the top prize (a check for $50,000) they did make a big splash at an event with lots of noteworthy tech innovators. Both the judges and the press loved the concept (including CNET). Keep your eye out for CitySourced to show up in the iPhone App store soon.

Check out the presentation on UStream

Jason Kiesel & Kurt Daradics (center) - Photo by Chanaye Thomas

CitySourced was introduced today as one of the finalists at TechCrunch50. CitySourced is a realtime mobile civic engagement tool. CitySourced provides:

• a free, simple, and intuitive tool empowering citizens to identify civil issues (potholes, graffiti, trash, snow removal, etc) and report them to city hall for quick resolution;
• an opportunity for government to use technology to save money and be more accountable to those they govern; and
• a positive, collaborative platform for real action.

The platform is called CitySourced, as it empowers ordinary citizens to crowdsourse solutions for common civil issues. CitySourced is powered by FreeomSpeaks, the leader in interactive civic engagement.

It’s cool to see new products like this coming on the scene. I wouldn’t expect to see this level of innovation coming out of city hall so it’s cool to see it being done by civic entrepreneurs (civic is the new green). The question is, are the civic leaders savvy enough to implement this type of system or will they be resistant to change?

Publishers Weekly, the leading magazine on the American book business, predicted another big hit this fall from the makers of American Farmer. The new offering by Welcome Books is Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town. This oversized hardcover by photographer Douglas Gayeton is a tribute to rural Italian life and charming local characters whose livelihoods and shared culture center on the growing, preparing, eating, and everyday pleasures of food.

Lynn Andriani, the columnist for Publishers Weekly, reported today that the slow food book has already gone back for a second printing bringing the total to 25,000 copies (which is impressive since the book won’t be released until next month). Lynn issued a “sleeper alert” encouraging the publishing world to sit up and take notice.

Welcome Book’s publisher Lena Tabori has continued the a tradition of complex, fascinating books with human truths at their heart. Books that tell the truth, speak with integrity and come from passion. American Farmer by photographer Paul Mobley was a perfect example of of this type of passion and you can expect Slow to keep the tradition alive.

Legendary country singer Michael Martin Murphey presented photographer Paul Mobley with the 2009 Wrangler Award for his book American Farmer: The Heart of Our Country.

Video on YouTube

Tomorrow, August 25, 2009, Matt Brouwers’ new record Where’s Our Revolution will be released by Universal / Indie Extreme. Since I’ve been friends with Matt for over a decade I’ll acknowledge my bias and leave the review to some else.

When I first listened to the record about nine months ago I was really impressed. I knew that it was really well produced and then I found out why… it was produced by Grammy award-winning producer, Michael Omartian. There were at least three radio singles that I noticed including: Please Say, Beautiful Now, and Sometimes. Have you heard them on the radio yet? Sometimes is the official single but Beautiful Now has also started to make movement on the charts.

At this point, you’re wondering why does the title of this article pit Matt Brouwer vs. Coldplay? The reason is that a recent AC Music Research study did just that. The test looked at 30 singles by different artists including Matt Brouwer, Pink, Coldplay, Shakira, and Green Day. The research looks at objective test data that’s both demographic (appropriate age range) and psychographic (targeted to those adults prefer to listen to adult contemporary radio).

Out of thirty singles, including Sometimes by Matt Brouwer, only two were recommended to be added to the radio station playlists. The two were Matt’s single Sometimes and Pink’s single Please Don’t Leave Me. This means that Matt’s song BEAT Life in Technicolor by Coldplay and a bunch of other proposed singles.

(Source: The Adult Contemporary Music Research Letter dated August 3, 2009, Vol. 26. No. 11)

If you haven’t heard the single yet you can buy Sometimes (Radio Edit) today on iTunes for $0.99. Or even better, call your local A/C radio station and ask them to play the song!

Tomorrow you can buy the full-length album at your favorite place to buy music. If they don’t have it yet don’t leave until you ask the manager to order it. Mention that you heard the single and you would have purchased it from them if it was available. Tell the manager that you don’t want to special order it but that they should carry it in-stock. Then you too will know what it feels like to be one of the first to know about a record that is likely to go Platinum.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to check out the Pinkberry challenge and provide feedback online and off. There were a lot of professionals who were unable to participate due to their production schedules (which I understand). However, I think that some others were scared to show how they do their magic (which is a little short-sighted).

Danny Kern provided me with the most detailed description of his process and the best resulting image. He is a photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area and is very knowledgeable about post production work. Check out his comment on the original post to see how he went about getting the best out of the raw image. P.S. Don’t forget to call him when you need professional photography in the Bay Area. Not only is he a very talented photographer… but he is also a really nice guy. Thanks Danny!

PROCESSED BY DANNY KERN

UNTOUCHED CANON G10 IMAGE