Category: Internet

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Online Real Estate Tools in Washington D.C. Area

Whether you’re buying, selling, or just want to know what’s going on, it’s easier than ever to follow real estate online.

Finding Comparables

Zillow provides a property value estimate based on neighboring comparables and their sale prices. It was started in 2005 by the people who started Expedia.com because they were frustrated that these tools were only available to real estate agents.

Real Estate Listings

Google recently added Real Estate to their Maps option. Google Base also recently began listing Real Estate with full search capabilities.

Long and Foster has been one of the most popular sites to search MLS listed properties.

Credit Report

Before buying a house, you need to know your credit score. You should also check it occasionally just to be sure that there are no errors. It is not uncommon to find that someone has impersonated you or that the credit agency just got something wrong.

AnnualCreditReport.com allows you to request your credit report for free once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Mortages

Bankrate.com provides a good starting point for finding mortgage rates.

If you are in the Military or part of a Military family, consider Pentagon Federal Credit Union or the Navy Federal Credit Union. There are local offices in Washington D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.

Realtors

If you understand the comparables and have done the search yourself, you should consider a low-cost realtor.

Both ZipRealty and PenFed Realty (for Military personnel) both offer low fees or cash back.

Real Estate News

The Washington Post – Real Estate section provides real estate news and stories in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland.

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Powerline vs Wi-Fi

Just about everyone knows what Wi-Fi is and most people even have it at home.  Because wireless N is not yet standardized, most people are still using wireless G.  What most people don’t know is that there is an alternative that in many cases will work better than wireless G and it uses lines you already have in your walls.

Powerline

Powerline connections use your existing electrical wiring.  One huge advantage is the simplicity.  Plug one powerline box into your router with an ethernet cable and the power cord into an electrical socket.  Then put your other powerline box wherever you need ethernet and hook it up to your device with an ethernet cable.  That’s it.  You’ve got internet.  Because of the simplicity, companies like Sling Media sell powerline devices like the Slinglink Turbo Powerline Kit to make hooking up a Slingbox that much easier.

Speed

A big problem with wireless is that you never actually get the claimed speeds.  Wireless G claims a theoretical max of 54Mbps.  Cut that number in half if you have two wireless devices talking to each other. With expected interference, such as neighbor’s Wi-Fi, you can likely cut that number in half again.  In my experience, if you get 20Mbps from ethernet device to Wi-Fi device, that’s about typical.  If you’re trying to move some big data like an HD show from one tivo to another, then you’re going from Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi and only getting about 10Mbps.  This is painfully slow.

This is where powerline becomes very handy.  If you just move one of your TiVos to powerline instead of Wi-Fi, you don’t have to cut that speed in half.  Powerline can take some trial and error to setup but if you find the best plugs to use, you can expect to get near 20Mbps and some newer powerline technology claims even more.  The end result is you can double your TiVo transfer speeds because only 1 TiVo on Wi-Fi can use the full 20Mbps while 1 on powerline is also getting 20Mbps.

Placement

Finding the best places to put the powerline devices may be the hardest part.  If speed is not important, you can probably use just about any 2 plugs.  I have yet to see 2 plugs that didn’t work at least a little.  The closer they are physically on the wire, the better the performance should be so it helps to know how your electrical is ran in your house.  If you don’t know, trial and error is a must as well as bandwidth testing software such as Qcheck.

Excellent Alternative

Everyone has Wi-Fi but that creates even more interference that slows it down. Powerline is a great alternative or complement to help maximize your home networking. Once wireless N is standardized, it will be much faster than wireless G but it will never be as simple to setup as powerline.

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Podcast Explains History of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Everyone in Washington D.C. is talking about the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. They’re headquartered here in Northern Virginia. People who work there are anxious about a big management shakeup.

If you’re interested in some historical perspective on Freddie and Fannie, there is a podcast called My History Can Beat Up Your Politics. Its last episode talks about the origins and life of these companies. iTunes users can subscribe to it here.

Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics describes this podcast:

Not everything from the New Deal lasted. Some of the programs were abandoned in a couple of years, others lasted four or five, some until after World War II. Social Security remains. Fannie Mae, also known as the Federal National Mortgage Association, is a legacy of the New Deal. One that is now in trouble. A look at Fannie Mae, which for the first time since 1968 has come under Federal Government stewardship. And a quick contrast between the Bush Admin’s suprisingly muscular government actions and those of the New Deal.

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Watch Your Home Team with Slingbox

Slingbox is a device that hooks up to your cable, tuner, or DVR. You connect to it remotely using the SlingPlayer software to watch TV from wherever you are on the Internet. It costs $150 to $240 depending on the version you want.

Because it is a one-to-one connection and not a broadcast, it isn’t illegal. So if you want to watch your home TV while you’re on the road, or if you want to watch the football team that isn’t shown where you live, Slingbox is a great solution.

The quality isn’t perfect. It depends on the upload bandwidth at the Internet connection where the Slingbox is located. Sports programs unfortunately will suffer the most from the video compression because they have a lot of action. Sometimes you just need to listen to the announcers to figure out what really happened.

If football is very important to you, then consider purchasing DirecTV and then adding the Sunday Ticket for $300. But if you can handle the reduced video quality, Slingbox is a great solution.

UPDATE: Slingbox just released the Slingbox Pro-HD, their new top-of-the line version. This box can now send high definition video over a local network.

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Google Chrome Browser First Impressions

Today, Google has launched their own browser called Chrome.  There’s no doubt Google is trying to control all things on the web and this is yet another step towards that goal.  Their search engine is dominant and they’ve been trying to push online applications such as Google Docs.  By creating their own browser, they can more tightly integrate their web applications with the browser.  

Speed

The first thing I noticed when trying out Google Chrome was the speed.  It felt very fast to me so I ran some simple speed tests trying to render amazon.com using the latest Firefox and Safari.  Firefox and Safari were very similar taking slightly less than 5 seconds.  Chrome did the same site in less than 3 seconds.  There’s no doubt it is a fast browser.  Google claims it has the fastest javascript engine which may be the reason it loads faster than the other browsers.

Bookmarks?

Chrome tries to simplify their browser.  The end result is the default has no visible bookmarks, menus, or even a button to add bookmarks.  Type something in the address bar like “firef” and it will list the Firefox site that you can arrow down and select.  It does this even if you’ve never been there before so the browser has some intelligence about where you might be trying to go.  It is as if Google is saying bookmarks aren’t necessary.  Another feature saying you don’t need bookmarks is the most visited page which is the default page shown when you load.  It displays the 9 pages you visit most with thumbnails of each displayed so you’re one simple click away from your most favorite sites.  You can add a bookmarks toolbar but there is no menu of any kind.

Mac? Linux?

I expected Chrome to be lame and pointless since there are already several good browsers out there.  But its speed has impressed me and makes me want to see more.  Unfortunately, they have not released Chrome on Mac or Linux yet.  I’m sure they eventually will but it could be a while.

Endgame

Google recently extended their deal with Mozilla, makers of Firefox, until 2011.  Google pays Firefox to have google.com be the default search.  But what will happen then when Google no longer needs Firefox to point to their search?