Wireless router security

A wireless router sounds so wonderful! And it is! Imagine working from anywhere within your residence without having to worry about a cable connection to the Internet. It's wireless.

You can run to the local retail electronic store and buy a wireless router. Connect it to your DSL modem and also to your computer, and in five minutes you could be up-and-running wirelesslsy. Many folks rush through the job to get their Internet connectivity working as quickly as possible. That's totally understandable. It's also quite risky as numerous security problems can result.

Take a few minutes to secure your wireless network. Here are the basics (no detail because you should check your installation manual or guide).

- update administrator passwords
- turn on encryption
- change the default SSID
- turn off (disable) SSID broadcasting
- place the router near the center of the residence rather than near exterior walls and windows

Enjoy your wireless environment.

Beware of Blackberry thumb

More and more REALTORS are incorporating Blackberry devices as part of their gadget bag. Beware of the numbing sensations when typing on these devices. A recent report on a networks news channel described "BlackBerry Thumb'' -- a catch-all phrase that describes a repetitive stress injury of the thumb from overusing small gadget keypads.

Cutting prices on high-end homes

The Los Angeles Times reported on October 19 that sellers of high-end homes must reduce prices. Experts say that this is typical of the latter stages of a housing boom. it is also a leading indicator that the overall housing market is beginning to lose steam.

View the full article at http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-fi-homes20oct20,0,6200919.story?coll=la-class-realestate-news

Introduction to IDX

The Internet has redefined how real estate brokers do business. One of the more important developments is to enable brokers to display listings of all homes for sale in their area from their websites. This allows brokers to become information providers as well as service providers.

The advantage of the Internet data exchange (IDX) is that it enables website owners to keep visitors from leaving their site to go to other sites in order to see all of the properties available in a market area. According to one statistic, visitors remain on websites with IDX for approximately 20 minutes, whereas they remain for less than 5 without IDX.

Typically, brokers can either frame or link to an outside source, which is usually the MLS’s public website or another aggregate listing site. IDX allows brokers the option of presenting the data on their own website without linking or framing another site. This is a more expensive option because brokers must build their own listing databases.

Framing or “smart framing” is the more popular choice, according to one IDX technology vendor . With "smart framing", the framed website is aware of the site framing it and offers specific content accordingly. Building their own listing databases requires participants to download the listing data and find their own way to create a searchable and fully-functioning website.

(to be continued)

Google and 300 years of information

Recently, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt estimated that it would take the company 300 years all of the world's information. Of the approximately 5 million terabytes of information out in the world, only about 170 terabytes have been indexed, he said earlier during his recent speech.