I just got back from The Inman Real Estate Connect conference in NewYork and what stuck me most was how many different MLS services and providers there were.

While in Canada we are not immune to this, with local boards for each area, we are none the less a little more centralized than the US which seems to have (as per data I was given at the conference) over 900 MLS providers.

Ouch ... as a software engineer building next generation system, it makes me wonder what's up and how I could ever negotiate those 900 deals.

While it may seem self serving (and lets face it, most things need to be if they're going to get done) but wouldn't it be nice to just have one place to go for current, timely, useful listing data that could be used by anyone that wanted it?

Searchers, Publishers, Agents, Brokers...

I wrote a blog post about " Open Source MLS - Real Estate Listing System " and I'd love your feedback on it.

I think it's in everyone's best interest to push for an open MLS, what do you think?

Weigh in here or on my blog post

Stop selling, start providing good information.

The key to growing your business online is in being the best place to get information.

People online are searching for answers to their problems, if you remember that and focus on what their problem is and how you can best solve that problem for them ... you'll have business beating a path to your door.

PS - We'll be at Real Estate Connect (providing information) next week, please feel free to set up a meeting, or drop by our table in start up alley (S6) if you'd like to talk to us about our web solutions

**Note** I first posted this directly to the newbies group, but several people asked me to be able to reblog it, so I'm copying it here to my blog channel so that people (besides newbies) can get better access to it.

First thing you want to do is set up your Referral alerts.

That way it will email you when someone is looking to refer a client to your area.

To set it up, you go to the sidebar of your home page and click on "referral network", then again in the side bar look for referral alerts.

Click on "Create New Alert". and fill in the city where you are.

While it's use varies depending on the area, the alerts are a great "set it, and forget it" feature that ActiveRain provides to it's members and it should be one of the first things you setup after your profile.

Second thing you want to set up is your Listing Router.

Got to your profile, click hit router on the side bar and then in the "my markets" enter your city, and then the URL for your listings page.

Then when people are on your profile and they click on your listing tab, it'll take them to your listings page on your website.

Hope that helps, let me know if it results in a lead for you.

The CRTC has ruled that Bell Canada Inc. is not breaking the law by purposefully slowing internet speeds and will be allowed to continue to do so.

Bell, Canada's largest internet service provider, has two million high-speed customers in addition to smaller companies that rent portions of Bell's network and resells them. “Based on the evidence before us, we found that the measures employed by Bell Canada to manage its network were not discriminatory," said CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein in a release. "Bell Canada applied the same traffic-shaping practices to wholesale customers as it did to its own retail customers.”

The regulator's investigation, which began in May, was limited to Bell's wholesale practice and did not consider whether internet throttling should be allowed in general.

As such, the CRTC also announced it was opening a new probe into the larger issue of throttling, which is also done by other large internet service providers such as Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Inc. Interested parties will have until Feb. 16 to submit their thoughts and a public hearing will be held on July 6 in Gatineau, Que.

"The broader issue of internet traffic management raises a number of questions that affect both end-users and service providers,” von Finckenstein said. “We have decided to hold a separate proceeding to consider both wholesale and retail issues. Its main purpose will be to address the extent to which internet service providers can manage the traffic on their networks in accordance with the Telecommunications Act.”

Bell and the others say they need to throttle customers who use peer-to-peer applications such as BitTorrent because they are causing congestion on their networks.

For the full story, go to CBC article

In an age when showing up at the grocery store without a reusable bag is akin to showing up at a dinner party without your pants, the type of bag you carry can say a lot about you.

One bag -- it's been so popular the first two runs are almost sold out -- is allowing people to make a statement about shopping locally, shopping green, and community pride with an easy swing of two straps over the shoulder.

The highly coveted Commercial Drive banner bag is made with the bright, bold nylon of retired street banners that once decorated the shopping and dining strip in East Vancouver.

"They tend to sell out within four or five days of us receiving them," said Jen Wittich, manager of Dream Designs, one of 15 retailers selling the bags.

"People tend to really appreciate the story. They like the fact it's keeping waste out of landfills. And I find people in the Commercial Drive area tend to shop very locally. They love to shop within their own neighbourhood."

A local designer who sits on the Commercial Drive Business Improvement Association came up with the idea of turning the banners into bags, and a limited number of umbrellas, out of a frustration that the banners had nowhere to go but the landfill.

To further sweeten the concept, it was decided that all profits from the sale of the items would go to creating new green spaces in the Commercial Drive area.

It proved to be a popular idea.

The story of the banner bag was picked up by dozens of websites and translated into at least six languages. Ian McSorely, the banner designer who came up with the concept, said the City of Vancouver is planning to make bags from its Olympic banners, and there have been inquiries about the program from municipalities all over North America.

"It's had a great response," he said. To show buyers the extent of the environmental impact of the bag, McSorely also conducted an "eco-audit" on the bag. The audit showed that by using recycled fabric to make the bags, 5.3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions were kept from the skies, 192 kilograms of nylon were kept from the landfill, and enough energy was saved to provide electricity to an average Vancouver home for more than 15 months.

Nearly 500 bags were made and, so far, the profits from the project have earned more than $4,000, said Michelle Barile, executive director of the business improvement association. (Twenty-five umbrellas were made and are being sold exclusively through the association.)

Only a handful of bags are left among five of the 15 retailers who have been selling them. But a new line of small makeup bags -- made with the scraps left over from the banner bags -- will be hitting stores soon, Barile said. The makeup bags have been made by members of the SEED Employment Program at the Kettle Friendship Centre.

North Vancouver has also jumped on the bandwagon, hiring Dream Designs to manufacture bags from its banners, which Wittich said the store will be selling soon.

Barile says she has no problem with other municipalities and neighbourhoods imitating the concept.

"If what we started here is now going to cause other banners to be recycled, that would be awesome."

Source: The Vancouver Sun