Crammed Cells

With summer vacation in full swing, many of you no doubt have seen the station wagons and SUVs driving down the highways, bursting with suitcases and various pool toys.

You may have even seen Clark Griswold driving his family to Wally World.

As you pass him by, though don't blame an over-stuffed trunk for the weighed-down back tires.

Blame his smartphone.

As reported today, Android smartphones are getting weighed down by more and more "bloatware"- with many phone now coming pre-loaded with trial software and apps that users cannot delete.

Anyone who has to click the little 'x' on the "free" trail of McAfee virus-protection whenever they start their PC up knows all about bloatware.

DotLoop, of course, has mastered the art of giving both simplicity and power in one simple, online site. You won't find any bloated features here, just the most state-of-the-art site designed to streamline your negotiations and get your job done more effectively and efficiently.

After all, who wants to be weighed down with excess paperwork?

A "Kin"dred Spirit For Agents?

Today's Wall Street Journal has an article on a fascinating new device coming out next week from Microsoft. It's called the Kin, a phone that doubles as a social media device. As I reviewed the details on the site (kin.com), I couldn't help but think of how useful this device could be for tech-savvy agents.

Imagine a client is meeting with you, but doesn't know the directions to the home. With the phone, you can easily take a picture of the house, search for directions on the web and send both to your client through the phone's "Loop".

Seems like a perfect phone for DotLoop users. Send your client a Loop through the phone's Loop and complete a negotiation without ever having to reach for a Bic pen or hunt for a fax machine.

I'm excited to see where this goes.

Apps In The Cradle

DotLoop's Chief Technology Officer, Matt Vorst, handed me his copy of Fast Company this morning and thought I might be interested in the cover article about the smart phone revolution.

The article discusses how kids are becoming more and more in-tuned with technology and starts by detailing the smart phone habits of Eliana and Gemma Singer, who are both three years old.

I found it fascinating, if only because I have a three-year old niece who is just the same and always seems tethered to both her stuffed giraffe toy and some sort of tech toy, as if she's a link between the analog world and the digital abyss.

Of course, the article seems even more timely as today, DotLoop CEO Austin Allison gave a keynote speech at the REtechSouth Conference in Atlanta on the same thing: how today's - and tomorrow's - home buyers are connected more than ever.

Still, a part of me questions whether all of this constant connection is ultimately a good thing, or if staring at a screen from cradle to grave will eventually turn us all into cyborgs. I did find one thing ironic, though: I read the article from the magazine in front of my computer, where the same article was posted. I guess there's still hope after all for not becoming completely sucked into the digital void.

What do you think - are we introducing kids to technology too soon?

Get Smart

My girlfriend wants a smartphone, but I keep telling her that she already has a smart boyfriend with a phone, so isn't that close enough?

But she's a fan of foursquare (I tell her she already has me; she just needs three more) and her old phone isn't making the grade.

Of course, she's not alone. In 2009, smartphone sales grew by over 41% over 2008 numbers and some have gone so far as to say that smartphones have changed their lives.

People are quickly turning their attention to their phones. A new Pew Internet study showed that 33% of adults get their news from their smartphones and a blogger at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas last week noted the lack of netbooks and notebooks amongst the tech-forward crowd who were overwhelmingly reliant on their smartphones. Is this a sign of things to come?

DotLoop will be at REtechSouth in a few days and I'm curious to see how many tech savvy agents there will be texting and accessing the web with their smartphones.

As for my girlfriend, she'll get a smartphone eventually. I just hope that when she does, she doesn't become addicted to it and that I'll still be able to converse with her without having to type a single text message. Real conversation, you know?

Is there an app for that?