Last week I wrote about Evernote Basics – what it is and some samples for how to use it.  Today I’ll dig a little deeper and share how I use it personally – both how I organize my digital notes and what purposes I use it for.  But before I dig into the details, I want to take a step back and talk conceptually about notes and filing.

Digital vs Paper

There really isn’t much difference between digital and paper notes.  Forget digital for a minute, and think about paper notes:

If you write something down, or print a web page, or have a photo, that paper item actually exists.  You can hold it, feel it, read it, share it, and eventually – put it somewhere.  Your ability to access the information on that piece of paper is only as good as your ability to remember where you put it.  If you put a minute’s effort into filing it into a well-labeled file folder hanging in a drawer in a filing cabinet, odds are you’ll be able to find it when you need it.  If you throw the note onto the kitchen counter, along with piles of other notes & junk mail, odds are you won’t remember exactly what happened to it a few months from now.

Digital notes are very similar to paper notes.  Each note is an individual piece of information that you might want to access again later.  You can be very meticulous about filing them, or you can be less rigid.

Digital notes are also very different to paper notes.  Each note can have an unlimited amount of information on it, including whole web pages, links to other notes, pictures, audio clips, and any other file (word document, pdf file, spreadsheet, etc.).  In addition, the notes are search-able, so even if you just throw your notes into a big pile on the Evernote kitchen counter, you’ll most likely still be able to find the note you’re looking for.  I have some notes which only contain a subject line – just a short phrase to remind me of something I need to do, and I have other notes which are several megabytes and contain several attachments – one of these notes might be an entire file folder if I had to print it all out!

Storage, Use, and Growth

My first boss was an organization maniac.  He would preach that we take lots of notes, because nobody had a good enough memory.  He taught us that if you have 5 pieces of paper on the same topic, that topic needed its own folder.  If (or when) a topic’s folder got too big (maybe 50 pieces of paper), you needed to break it out into more, smaller folders – either chronologically or by subtopic.

This process leads to a slow but steady accumulation of files, with an ever-evolving organization system based on how many notes you have about various topics.  You don’t go out on day 1 and pre-name hundreds of files, drawers, and cabinets with what you *think* you’re going to need to file; you slowly add a file here and there as you have the need for them.

(my file cabinet, 3 years ago.)

I use this exact same system for Evernote.  I started with one notebook, adding a few notes each day.  That quickly became several notebooks representing various topics.  Eventually I wanted to group related topics together, so I gave them a Notebook Stack.  This is the Evernote equivalent of moving related file folders into the same drawer in the file cabinet.  Over time my file tree has consistently grown; I currently have 1,993 notes in 72 notebooks and 9 notebook stacks.  Looking at them today, I have only 1 notebook with more than 100 notes, and I have a dozen or so with less than 10 notes.  Just last week I created a new notebook stack, when I felt like one stack was getting really big and it contained notebooks representing 2 different topic genres, so it was easy to break it out into 2.

I don’t use tags – they tend to confuse me.  Each note only needs to reside in one place – the right notebook.  Tags feel sloppy and haphazard.  But that’s just me.  Google "organizing Evernote" and you’ll find more people who preach tags than those who don’t.  It’s all about making organization work for you.  I’ve been using Evernote for 2 years, I have almost two thousand notes, and I can find any of them in about 2 seconds from any of my computers or phones – it simply works!

My 10 Best Uses for Evernote

1.  Kids’ School Work.  the kids bring home mountains of paperwork from school, and my wife wants to save all of it!   I scan or snap a photo of each page, then put it into an Evernote notebook.  now it’s stored forever, without any boxes of old crap to keep in the attic!

2. Client Files.  each client/project gets a notebook, and EVERYTHING goes into it. I now have all my info & notes, neatly together, wherever I am.  For organization & clutter sake, and because Evernote has a limit of 250 notebooks (although they’ll allow thousands of tags), once the client closes I move their notes into a combined notebook – I still have everything available, but I have fewer notebooks to sift through.

3. To Do List. I’ve used dozens of task managers over the years, but I keep coming back to Evernote.  It’s fast & easy to jot down a to-do item as I think of it, it’s with me all the time on all my devices, and it’s easy to add notes, screen clips, emails, etc. to my to-do notes.  I have one notebook for my tasks that are due immediately – today or tomorrow, and another notebook for tasks due in the future.

4. Web Research.  I have taken screen clips of tons of things over the last couple of years – maps, computer comparisons, cell phone plans, state parks and hiking information, hotel information and confirmation, online shopping receipts, etc. etc.  Anything that shows up on my computer screen that I want to keep a picture of – done.

5. Special Foods.  My oldest son is on a restricted diet, so I’ve taken pictures of some of his foods with my cell phone & shared them to Evernote.  Then, when my wife asks me to stop at the store on the way home to pick up some ________ , I get the right kind!  I’ve also taken pics of the vitamins he takes, so when my wife calls from Sprouts to ask which specific brand is his, I can tell her.  (Bonus husband points for me!)

6. Bookmarks.  Evernote has a browser add-in which allows you to highlight any part of a web page and keep that selection as a new note, with the web page’s URL attached to it.  (or, don’t highlight anything and Evernote captures the whole page.)  I use this to add bookmarks with one mouse click, and my bookmarks are now available to me from any browser on any computer.

7. Names.  I like to jot down a quick note of people’s names, especially when I meet a group of new people.  It helps me remember the names better, and it gives me a quick reference guide to review on the way to an event where I’m likely to see those people again.

8. Journal.  A couple days a week I do a voice recording on my way home, (using Hi-Q MP3 android app to record in mp-3 format), as a way to journal what’s going on – mostly notes about the kids, but I also journal about work, triathlon training, and whatever other thoughts I have.  It’s become a great record of the last couple of years.  I can also add text and photos to my journal notebook – sometimes I just take a picture of the kids with my cell phone & share it to my Evernote Journal Notebook – done.

9. Blogging.  Combining the Web Research and Journal functions gives me a great blogging resource.  I store ideas for future posts, web articles & research, and rough drafts.  In fact, this post was composed entirely in Evernote.  I wrote some of it from my desktop, then I added some notes from my phone during my son’s soccer practice, then I used my laptop, before finishing it from my desktop.

10. Paperless.  I expanded on my Kids’ School Work concept and started scanning &/or photo’ing all my admin files:  records and receipts for the cars, medical receipts, notes & receipts from household items, etc.  Once my records are in Evernote, I’m able to shred or trash the paper document.  I also take pictures of the box or the model/serial number when I buy new things (dishwasher, SLR camera, etc.), so I’ll have the information I’ll need in a few years for a repair or replacement part.  Right now I’m 99% paperless, and I’m more organized, with more information that’s easier to find, then I’ve ever been.  1,993 Evernote notes and counting.

Remember my filing cabinet from 3 years ago?  Here’s my filing cabinet today.

It’s also my briefcase.  The silver one on the right is my backup.  Not only is it easier to find what I need when I need it from wherever I am, but the next time I move is going to be a whole lot easier! 

Your Evernote-lovin’ Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Evernote – part 2 – How I Organize and My 10 Best Uses is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

Other posts you might like:

1. Evernote – part 1 – The Basics
2. Product Review – Microsoft OneNote
3. 7 Best Free Softwares

I don’t know about you, but when I love a product, I tend to talk about it.  (sometimes a little too much!)  Evernote is one of those products.  I’ve talked it up enough that more than a few people have asked me what it is & how they should use it, which gives me a good reason to write a post about it.

Evernote Basics

What is Evernote?  Well, a screen clip from their website is a great place to start:

That basically says it all.

Capture anything.

• Sceen Clippings
• Web Sites
• Thoughts, notes, ideas
• Voice notes
• Photos
• Emails
• Digital files – pdf, doc, xls, etc.

Access anywhere.

Everything you put into Evernote is readily available on every device you own, as well as any computer (or any other device) with an internet connection.  It’s totally platform independent.

• Windows PCs & laptops
• Netbooks
• Macs and MacBooks
• Android phones
• Android tablets
• iPhones and iPod Touch
• iPads
• Blackberry phones
• Blackberry PlayBook

This means anything you note, capture, or edit on any of these devices will be automatically sync’d up with all your other devices, ready to be retrieved or edited from wherever you are & whatever device you’re using.

Find things fast.

Evernote offers 3 completely different ways to organize your notes, each of which can be used with or without any of the others:

• Categorize with notebooks
• Label with tags
• World class searching, including searching handwritten & typed text in photos and scanned files.

(image courtesy of Jeffrey Beall)

Notebooks and Notebook Stacks.  Stacks are like file cabinet drawers (or stacks of file folders), and Notebooks are like file folders.  Each note can only be in one notebook, like each piece of paper can only be in one file folder.  You can have multiple notebooks in a stack.  People who are good with filing systems – paper or digital – will probably gravitate towards this system.

For example:

Suppose you had a Notebook Stack called Vacation, which contained Notebooks for San Diego, Colorado, Florida, and New York.

Information for your trip to San Diego would go in your San Diego notebook.

You could find all your San Diego notes by selecting the San Diego notebook, OR by selecting the Vacation notebook stack.  (in which case you would see your San Diego notes mixed in with your notes from Colorado, Florida, and New York.)

Tags. Tags are like labels.  Each note can have an unlimited number of tags.  In addition, Tags can be organized into a file-tree for those who want to organize groups of tags together – this makes it visually easier to find a tag or tag group on the screen.  People who prefer a little less structure, or those who are used to using labels extensively, will most likely gravitate towards tags.

 (ChristmasStockImages.com)

Example:

Information for your trip to San Diego would be tagged with San Diego and Vacation.  (and possibly Restaurants, Theme Parks, or Hotels.)

Search by Key Words.  Since Evernote’s search capabilities are so good, some people just put their notes into a "big digital pile", but they can search for a particular word or phrase to find the note they want.

Example:

Information for your trip to San Diego is just put into Evernote.  You could find it by searching for San Diego, or San Diego Restaurant, or Sea World, or whatever makes sense for whatever you are looking for.

How to get started using Evernote

Because it can be a bit overwhelming to think about what goes into Evernote, or making a switch from where you are today to going paperless, or anything drastic like that, I recommend you start with 1 thing, and add other uses as you get comfortable with it.

Recipes.  My wife gave Evernote a try with her recipe collection.  Over the years she had accumulated magazine pages, email & website printouts, and lots of individual recipe-cards.  Years ago I built her a template she could use to type in a recipe & have it print out onto postcard.  The postcards were then kept in a cute little box in the kitchen.  This was ok when it worked, but it had several flaws:

1. She would get behind & end up with a stack of printouts, then have to stay up late one night to type them all out.
2. She would get a new computer, and if everything wasn’t backed up perfectly, she would lose her digital copy.
3. She would be at the store, or at her mom’s house, and wouldn’t have the ingredient list for a particular dish with her.

Using Evernote has solved all 3 problems.

Now she can type them up, clip the web page directly into Evernote, or take a picture of a magazine page with her cell phone, and the recipe is stored – permanently and easily searchable-sharable-readable.

She tags the recipes as needed – chicken, main dish, dessert, appetizer, gfcf, etc., so she can quickly search for whatever type of dish she’s looking for.

She also has them wherever she goes – home computer, smart phone, mom’s computer, wherever there’s an internet connection.

By doing this, she’s become more familiar with Evernote as an application – how to put stuff in, how to find it later, and how it all shows up wherever she needs it to be.  That makes it a lot easier to start using it for other things, too.

Other ideas include:

• web research – Evernote is awesome here.  Screen clippings save exact images from your screen.  Web clippings copy web pages and include the url they were copied from.  And you can add as many notes about it as you need to.
• plan a vacation – maps, hotel information, restaurants and entertainment ideas, flight info, contacts in the area.
• client notes – housing likes and dislikes, neighborhood criteria, photos, notes about homes you’ve shown them, mls search results, alternative contact information, frequently reviewed emails, etc.
• receipts – take a picture of a receipt with your phone, and Evernote will read the text for searching later.
• hobbies – Evernote can become a collection of notes, projects, history, ideas.
• blogging! – Jot down an idea (typed or voicenote) wherever it comes to you.  Write rough draft posts in.  Clip articles and images to be used later.
• journal – an easy way to write up your daily thoughts throughout the day, from whichever device or wherever you are.
• add more ideas as you get comfortable with it!

In part 2 I’ll write about how I use Evernote – how I organize it and some specific ways I use it to be more efficient.

For those of you who want to know more about it – security, sharing notes, bandwidth limitations, free vs premium, etc., there’s been more written than you have time to read!  Start by reviewing the evernote website, then try one of the 61,400,000 results that returned in my Google search for Evernote.

Anyone out there already using Evernote?  Please chime in on anything I might have missed..

** Update 9/28/11 – Link Here to Evernote Part 2 – How I Organize and My 10 Best Uses.

Your thankful to have an external brain Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Evernote – part 1 – The Basics is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

Other posts you might like:

1. Part Time Realtors Cause Frustration
2. Search the MLS, part 3

Three weeks ago I received 92 spam-emails in a single day, and quite honestly that felt like a light day.  I wrote about the difference between spammers and true emailers, and said I was going to unsubscribe zealously from every spam I receive.

image of SPAM beach ball from Hormell’s SPAM website.

Yesterday, exactly three weeks later, I received only 15 spam emails.  So far the unsubscribe tactic is working.

I hadn’t been unsubscribing from emails over the last couple of years for a number of reasons:

I didn’t want to spend the time required to click around and do it.

I didn’t want to open the spammers’ emails and risk them thinking I actually read it.

I was nervous the link would take me to a virus-infecting website.

I didn’t want the spammers to sell my email address to other spammers as an “active email account”.

Hopefully I was wrong on all accounts, because 15 is a lot better than 92 (or 125 on some days).  I will continue to unsubscribe to every spam email I can.  I will also continue to practice non-spam emailing.  And of course I’ll let you know if I have any updates worth sharing!

Your reducing spam from outlook’s diet Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Spam update is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

Other posts you might like:

1. Recipe for not spamming
2. More Fun with Spam Email
3. Anyone like poker?

Why are you spamming me?

Heather’s post last week has had me thinking about spam.  (and not the oh-so delicious canned processed meat kind, either.)

photo credit:  Hormel Foods via www.spam.com

Yesterday I ended up with 92 emails in my Junkmail folder.  I spent a little more time than normal skimming through them, trying to make sense of them all.  2 of them were false positives, which I moved back into my Inbox.  The rest were unsolicited commercial email (spam.)  Believe it or not, I have a few thoughts on the subject…

Where do they come from?  About half of them are addressed to me as ChrisB, rather than chrisb.  The only two places where I use capital letters in my name are 1.) this website, and 2.) the association of Realtors.  So I want to give a quick thank-you to the NAR, AAR, and WeMAR for passing my email address around to anyone who asks (and pays.)

What’s the difference between spam and acceptable commercial emails?  (this is an important topic to me, because we send a monthly newsletter via email.)

the Time factor.  4 of the emails were very specific in saying they understand my time is valuable and they don’t want to waste it.  Here’s the thing:  once you write an email, it takes very little additional time to send it to multiple recipients.  Therefore email is inherently more time consuming for the recipient.

If you’re asking me for 10 seconds to review your email, but you’re also emailing 100,000 people, you’re really asking for us to collectively give you 278 HOURS of our attention.  That’s not a fair trade – we didn’t ask for your product or email, and I doubt you spent 278 hours preparing your email.  So I don’t believe you when you say you don’t want to waste my time -  you’re wasting everybody’s time!

the Percentage factor.  Industry estimates for “mass email marketing” (spamming) expect success rates of a fraction of 1%, oftentimes less than one-tenth of one percent.  That means you need to send out 1,000 emails in order to have 1 person respond to you.  Therefore, 1,000 responses will require 1 million emails.  Anyone following these “laws of large numbers” is sending spam.

the Permission factor.  More than half of the spam emails I received yesterday told me that I had “opted in” to their list.  Believe me, I’m fairly savvy with this whole internet thing, and I did NOT opt in to your email list.  Just because I’m a member of the Board of Realtors, and my board reserves the right to share my information with “affiliates”, does not mean that I opted in to your list.

There are some people & organizations I know of who send out thousands of emails each month, and one person who sends out over 1 million per week!  But these emails go to recipients who asked to receive them, and oftentimes look forward to receiving them.  I know from experience it takes a long time to build a list of people who trust you enough to “opt in”, while it only takes a few minutes to buy a list of email addresses.  There’s an even bigger difference in the results.

the Product factor.  I received emails yesterday from real estate brokerages asking me to switch companies, diet pills & programs who can help me lose weight, companies who want to enhance my sexual performance, vocational schools who assume I’m an out-of-work former Realtor, as-seen-on-tv products, people offering me quotes on insurance, cars, and loans, companies offering me various types of real estate leads, and people who want my help getting several million dollars out of their country.  (I’m sure there were others I can’t remember.)

Here’s the thing – if I’m in the market for your type of product, and your product, pricing, website, and testimonials are good, I’ll find you.  If you have a new product that I might not have known about, and you feel the only way to let me in on your secret is to spam me (and millions of others), you need to find a better business plan.

the Offer factor.  This ties in very closely with the Percentage factor and the Product factor.  If your offer is so fantastic that you just have to send me (and millions of others) an unsolicited email, you should be getting an overwhelming response rate.  ABC product for XYZ price, plus a special bonus if I sign up today?  Come on – give us all a break and go away already.

the Reply factor.  Is the email coming from an individual person?  Even if it’s from a company, there should be a human who can read your response.  If your reply or request to unsubscribe never gets read, or worse – bounces back to you as undeliverable, that’s another sign of spam.

Most spammers follow the CAN-SPAM act by including an unsubscribe link.  (whether they actually unsubscribe you is another topic for another day.)  But following the act and not sending spam are apparently two different things.

My personal unsubscribe attack.  For the last couple of years I had pretty much given up on spam, using filters and my Junkmail folder as a best method for at least keeping it pretty much out of my way.  Yesterday I decided to be more aggressive at reducing the amount of spam received.  I have been unsubscribing to as many of the emails as I can.  I expect to either receive less spam over the next couple of weeks as these unsubscribes take effect, or far more spam as my email address is sold to other spammers as a “validated email address.”  I’ll update this post in a couple of weeks with the results.

And finally, my Recipe for not spamming.  Simple – just do the opposite of everything on this list, and you’ll be ok.  Send emails to people who want to receive them.  Keep the time factor fair – remember that one-to-one it takes longer to write an email than to read one, but sending out large numbers tips the time factor the other way.  Send emails personally, and be willing & able to respond to every person who writes back.  Let it all simmer together, then sit back and enjoy.

Seems so easy, right?  duh.

Your tummy aches from digesting so much spam Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Recipe for not spamming is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

No related posts.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with real estate. But with the market as heavy and depressing as it’s been lately, I’m casting around for lighter blog material.

I found a couple of intriguing online vendors today, after sleeping  a whole lot later than I’d meant to (again!). Realtors work odd hours. My days never start at the same time. One morning it’s a 7:00 AM home inspection. The next day I don’t start work till 10:30 AM, take a 3 hour lunch to eat and run errands, and then work straight through until midnight. For clients with deals in the hopper, I’m on call pretty much 24/7.

Sometimes the alarm clock isn’t enough. I am one of those people who routinely hits the snooze button until the alarm clock gives up and goes silent. This morning I thought, “Wouldn’t it be grreat if I could schedule a wake up call, like at a hotel, only at home??”

I hit the internet and found you can get in-home wakeup calls, in the comfort of your own jammies. Visit Snoozester and Wakerupper. Both allow you to go online, order your call, and each charges a small fee for their service.

Wakerupper gives you 10 free calls, then charges a pre-paid 5cents per call. You can schedule recurring reminder calls. You gain credits for future calls by pre-paying them on a debit or credit card, through the website. Wakerupper has a text to speech feature, so you can instruct it to say “Wake up you sleepy lazy jerk” when it calls you.

Snoozester gives you 10 free calls, then charges on a sliding scale according to use, from $3.99 to $14.99 per month. You can’t schedule recurring reminder calls, but they do have a nifty snooze feature. Press “2″ on your phone and they’ll call you again in a few minutes. You can pay for call credits with debit/credit cards, or gain credits by referring friends.

Wakeupland is another web call service. But they’re 95 cents per call or $4.99 per month. Unlike Wakerupper and Snoozester, Wakeupland does offer pre-recorded text such as Joke of the Day or Fun Fact of the Day, and even Psalm of the Day for those so inclined. Their pricing gets cheaper when bought in bulk.

Some of the press for these websites offer creative ways to use their services (naturally). Want an escape hatch for a blind date? Schedule a reminder call for halfway through dinner. Nag your kids to their chores via Wakerupper or Snoozester.

Wake up calls from the ‘ole intertubes. Who’da thunk it?

Wake Up! is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a runner as a consequence. Her TiVo's full of spy thrillers, police procedurals and Whedonesque sci-fi.

No related posts.

Wow! I just discovered the coolest website resource for folks interested in mid-century modern architecture in the metro Phoenix area. Check out Modern Phoenix! See especially their interactive map of mid-century modern Phoenix.

Not sure what mid-century modern means? Think 1950′s and 1960′s. If you like homes that look like those below, you’re a fan of mid-century modern. It’s making a huge comeback in the metro Phoenix and Scottsdale areas. My East coast friends get a kick out of we “Zonies” thinking that historic means ‘built before 1960′ but hey, ya gotta celebrate what you’ve got, right?

Pricing for these beauties varies wildly depending on location and condition. In Maryvale Terrace, you can snap up an un-restored mid-century home for under $100,000. Travel to the neighborhoods around the Phoenix Country Club and similar homes, re-modeled, will run in the mid $300′s. Email or call me if you’d like to see the historic listings in the local MLS and start a search for your piece of history.

photos were borrowed from the Modern Phoenix website

Mid Century Modern is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a runner as a consequence. Her TiVo's full of spy thrillers, police procedurals and Whedonesque sci-fi.

Other posts you might like:

1. Century Plaza Condos

Socks the Cat is back!

Socks sez

“OK all you pepuls. It’s time to buy howses now.”

Just thought I’d toss that out there. It can’t hurt.

See more LolCats at I Can Has Cheezburger

Fun with I Can Haz Cheezburger is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Heather Barr is a Realtor and a happy workaholic. She eats more than someone her size ought to be able, and is a runner as a consequence. Her TiVo's full of spy thrillers, police procedurals and Whedonesque sci-fi.

No related posts.

How did you spend your summer vacation?  Starbucks announced they’re now offering Free wi-fi at all their company-owned stores.  I must not have been listening, because I only found out about it by accident!  In fact, I generally try to avoid Starbucks whenever I can – both as a way to protest their ridiculous pay-for-T-Mobile service, and as a way to support local independent business-owners.

However, when you’re consistently working out of your car, and regularly trying to find local hotspots on the other side of town…  let’s just say it can get frustrating at times.

Starbuck’s free wi-fi program comes with some strings attached, so it’s not as easy as most independent shops make it.  I’m not here to argue whether this is good or bad, as I see both sides of their reasoning.  I’m here to tell you it’s about time they opened it up!  Here are the hoops you have to jump through:

Get a Starbucks Card.  You can do this online, or you can walk into the store and get one at the counter – just a regular gift card will do, as if you’re going to give it to somebody else, but you keep it instead.  It’s not the fancy branded Visa card or anything like that.

Register Your Card at starbucks.com.  It took me about 3 minutes to get through the process, including also registering for AT&T as part of the registration (didn’t have to buy or subscribe to anything – just need an AT&T password to access the wi-fi connection) and writing down my password so I’ll have it when I’m at Starbucks.

Confirm the Registration.  AT&T will send you an email; you have to click on the link to activate it.

Semi-limited Access.  You’re allowed to use Free wi-fi at any Starbucks for 2 consecutive hours each day, every day.  This means you can’t sit at Starbucks all day long and use it as your office – get in, get online, get out.  (they have pay-for-service plans if you need extended time.)

Reload your Card.  You need to either use your Starbucks card (presumably to buy coffee while you’re online) or reload your card once every 30 days.  Failure to do this will freeze your free access.

Bottom Line.  Yes, there are some hoops to jump through.  Yes, you can get easier access (and support local entrepreneurs) elsewhere.  But if you’re out & about on a regular basis, you can’t beat having 8,000 free hotspots across the country.  Heck, there are 7 Starbucks stores in a 10 square mile block around my house!

Your liking Starbucks today more than yesterday Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Starbucks makes life easier is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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I met Jott.com about a year and a half ago, and was smitten immediately.  I loved being able to instantly leave myself a voice-message, and have that message show up in my email’s inbox within minutes.  Over time I became better and better at "jotting", and got to the point where I now Jott a note to myself a few times a day.

Today Jott.com is changing her format, and is requiring a pay-for-services subscription for most of her services.  The basic, no-frills, leave-yourself-a-note service is still going to be free (horray for me!), but the ability to leave a note for other people will now cost you.

My gut feeling is that this won’t work well, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jott looking into a makeover soon.

First of all, this is sort of a drug-dealer business model – get people addicted for free, and then start charging for the merchandise.  I think many people will simply take offense to being charged for something that was free for so long.

Next, if you’re going to charge for something, you better be very good at it.  I personally never used the "Jott to a Friend" program because Jott does such a terrible job of transcribing my voicemails!  Frankly, she’s a terrible speller, and some of the words aren’t even close to the words I spoke.  (and certainly not well enough to charge for the service).

Finally, I doubt many of her suitors find the product to be critical.  I’ve never heard anyone say "I don’t know how I lived my life before Jott."  My guess is that people will change to a different way of doing things, rather than start paying money to Jott.

I’m still going to use the watered down, free version of Jott.  But I think the excitement is gone from our relationship, and I’ll probably start seeing other technology too.

Your sad to see things change Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

Why did you have to change? is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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Did you know Google can answer your math questions for you? How about your measurement conversion questions? Yep, and a lot more!

Say you read median home prices are down 11% from last year’s $185,000 (these are hypothetical numbers.) and you want to know what today’s median price is. Simply type the following into Google:

185000*(1-0.11) <enter> Google returns 164650, the correct answer.

It can do more advanced calculations, too. Say you’re buying a home today for $185,000, and you’re assuming it’s going to appreciate an average of 5% per year. What will it be worth in 10 years?

185000*(1.05)^10 <enter>

Now let’s try one more thing. You’re watching the Olympics next week and see somebody run 1,500 meters in about 3 ½ minutes! That seems pretty fast, but you’re not sure exactly how far he just ran. Let’s ask Google:

1500 meters in miles <enter>

It turns out the Google calculator can do lots of stuff. Check it out for yourself by clicking here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator

Your learning something new everyday Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

using Google as your calculator is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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I’m sorry to have posted so often lately about this boring topic. I’m doing so in an effort to say thanks to those who helped me, to help others who might have similar problems, and to keep a record of what I did in case I have to do it again! Hopefully this will be the last of the WP update posts…

This problem was completely behind the scenes, but annoying none-the-less. From the administration section of my blog, I’ve been unable to view anything past page 1 of an extended list. Categories, Comments, Posts – whatever. The screen shows “1, 2, 3…8 next”, but mousing over any of the numbers brings up a link for “http:///?paged=2″, without the proper URL.

The fix is to edit the wp-settings.php file by replacing every instance of PATH_INFO with ORIG_PATH_INFO. At least, that seems to have fixed the problem, and I haven’t noticed anything else broken (yet.)

Thanks to Squonk23 on the WordPress support forum for blazing this trail for me. More details here (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/193193?replies=2) and here (http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/7058).

update 8/7/08:  the fix described above worked for the backend, but broke ALL permalinks on the site.  Today I replaced the original wp-settings.php file (so the site actually works), and I’ll continue to search for a cure…

Your past the point of frustration Realtor,

Chris Butterworth

another WordPress fix – pagination link is a post written by The Phoenix Agents at Thompson's Realty. If you're reading this anywhere other than a feedreader (rss subscription) of ThePhoenixAgents.com, the site you're reading this on is guilty of copyright infringement.

Chris Butterworth is: Realtor. Analyst. Husband. Father. Writer. Amateur Photographer. Triathlete. Soccer Dad. Big fan of technology, efficiency, and the Arizona Wildcats.

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