OK. so last week all of the Austin Board of Realtor members had to change in their dKeys for the new, the wonderful, the unnecessary ActiveKey.
Why? I don’t know.
I loved my dKey. It was simple, small, had a great battery life, and worked. Yes, it did have to be placed in a charger to synch [...]
OK. so last week all of the Austin Board of Realtor members had to change in their dKeys for the new, the wonderful, the unnecessary ActiveKey.
Why? I don’t know.
I loved my dKey. It was simple, small, had a great battery life, and worked. Yes, it did have to be placed in a charger to synch with the server and allow you to access lock boxes, but since everyone had a cradle and became accustomed to using the cradle to charge/synch, routine set in very quickly. Come home from a day of work, plop your keys down, cradle your dKey, take off shoes, relax. No big deal.
My first reaction to seeing the new and wonderful ActiveKey, was why the hell is it so big? Then I picked t up. Uh oh. It’s flimsy. Basically, we now have a Jitterbug ActiveKey. You know the Jitterbug. The phone for the elderly who can’t figure out new fangled feature rich cell phones.
Check out the side by side..
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Ok. Maybe I’m being too harsh. So I thought I’d give it a try.
The battery lasts about a day and a half if not plugged in, so doing away with the cradle is pretty much moot now since you have to plug the thing in every day anyway.
I went to show a house this morning and when I tried to turn on the key…. nothing. It had been plugged in all night. So I plugged it into the car charger and tried to turn it on. I was greeted with a descending tone, but no lights. Grr.. So I called the supra folks and I need to find a paperclip or needle (both of which I regularly carry on me) to reset the key. Dug through my glove box and found a piece of wire that would do. Reset and tried to turn it on. It came on, but with a low battery warning. Apparently, it didn’t charge, hold a charge, or the charger is broken.
Basically, I’d rather have my dkey back.
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I did find it funny that GE advertises that the key is design by agents. I’m not sure that’s a great selling feature, but whatever.
Hey GE… what can you do to make this Activekey thing better? I’ve got a few suggestions.
- higher capacity battery
- reduce the size, technology gets smaller, not larger
- back light the keypad for 30 seconds when a key is pressed, if it’s dark I can’t see the back light key to turn the back light on
- remove the on/off key, GE meatball button, and the backlight key to reduce the size of the unit
- how about a toggle switch for on/off if you need one, seems like any key pressed could turn the unit on and a timeout could turn it off
- keys that press, click, or something to let you know that you clicked them
- reset that doesn’t need a needle or paperclip to work, think hold keys 1,4,7 or something like that
- how about a color? if a real estate professional designed this it would be more pleasing to the eye
Like many cities in the nation, Austin is facing some serious issues that need to be handled by a new Mayor beginning in May. There are several candidates to choose from this election, including two that currently sit on the Austin City Council. McCracken has been an intense supporter of Austin’s ever growing technology sector. [...]
Like many cities in the nation, Austin is facing some serious issues that need to be handled by a new Mayor beginning in May. There are several candidates to choose from this election, including two that currently sit on the Austin City Council. McCracken has been an intense supporter of Austin’s ever growing technology sector. He chairs the council’s Emerging Technologies Committee and the Land Use-Transportation Committee. A Corpus Christi native and graduate of Princeton and the University of Texas School of Law, McCracken has served as a prosecutor for Harris County in Texas. McCracken has also been a staunch supporter of all things green in Austin, helping to make Austin Energy the first utility nationwide to open its grid for clean energy companies to test their technologies.
The major issues faced by Austinites during this election include the city’s budget, transportation and infrastructure, and the environment. McCracken’s way to a better economy entails the embrace of emerging technologies within clean energy, biotech, film and digital media. McCracken hopes to commit to puting solar power onto 100,000 homes in the next ten years, again by investing in emerging technologies. He plans to create an endowment to ensure that Austinites have every opportunity to learn green collar jobs and healthcare professions, citing “we want everyone to be included…including the less fortunate.”
With so many issues facing the candidates, it is important to know where each one stands on the matters that are important to Austin. Remember, early voting begins April 27th, with Election Day on Saturday, May 9th. For more information about Brewster McCracken, visit his website www.brewstermccracken.com
When it comes to the single factor responsible for heat loss or gain in any building, one needs only to look out, or at, the windows.
While many windows allow for much daylight, which is essential to human health and lowers lighting costs, it can also lead to increased heat transfer – whether out in cooler [...]
When it comes to the single factor responsible for heat loss or gain in any building, one needs only to look out, or at, the windows.
While many windows allow for much daylight, which is essential to human health and lowers lighting costs, it can also lead to increased heat transfer – whether out in cooler weather or in during hot summer days – which is an energy drain either way. Today’s window glazing methods attempt to reduce this energy loss.
A low-e window is coated with a low emissive glazing. It reflects more long wave radiant heat, keeping the sun from heating a room or preventing a warm room from radiating heat to the outside. The lower the emissivity number, the better the heat loss protection.
Sunlight not only heats a room, but can damage furniture and carpeting. Visible transmittance is the percentage of visible light rays that get thought the glass. Windows can be tinted or have film applied to block out the damaging end of the spectrum, or to reduce the radiant heat waves.
Double- or multi-glazed windows are perhaps the most economical means of preventing heat transfer. These windows integrate two or more panes of glass in one sash with an inert gas injected between them to provide insulation against heat loss or gain. This type of window prevents heat transfer while still allowing healthy sunlight into the room.
The type of glaze or tinting for a room’s windows depends on the application: one may wish to reduce heat transfer while another’s main concern is light damage to delicate furnishings. Either way, technology is available to fill these needs.
