Starting today, and until October 9, all current Point2 Agent accounts are being migrated to new Rackspace email accounts, which provide extensive spam filtering, organizational tools, and email messaging options.

Current members’ migration dates will be different, due to the volume of email addresses and emails that must be migrated.  The day prior to the migration, you will receive a migration notification email.  You will still be able to access your old email account at any time to review prior email messages, although after your migration date, all new emails will be delivered to your new Rackspace email account.

If you have not already done so, you will want to export the contacts in your old account and import them into the new Rackspace email account, so that you can generate prospect contact lists, add additional information to contact records, and still keep in touch with your key clients.

If you have any questions regarding the new email accounts, you can reveiw the email migration FAQ’s and some key information about Rackspace.

Once again, the migration to the new Rackspace email accounts has commenced for current Point2 Agent members. We know that you’ll love them as much as we do!

* New members to Point2 Agent will automatically have access to Rackspace email accounts with their membership.

It’s almost here.  Next week marks the start of the migration to the new Point2 Agent Rackspace email accounts!

Between the weeks of September 15-October 9, current email accounts through Point2 will switch over to Rackspace email accounts.  Due to the volume of emails within Point2 Agent, this migration will be done in stages.  Users will receive a migration notification email indicating when your specific email address(es) will be migrating over to Rackspace.

Email addresses will remain the same, but all new emails will be delivered to the new Rackspace email account(s).

Here are a few answers to commonly asked questions:

What happens to all the emails in my current email account?
In the weeks following September 15, they will be migrated over to a new email account.  During the migration time-frame, you will still be able to access previous emails in the old account.  Once migration is complete, all older email will be reunited and accessible in your Rackspace account, which provides users with further spam filtering, task management, time organization, and email messaging options.

What do I need to do prior to my migration date?
Exporting contacts from current accounts, so that they can be imported into your new Rackspace account.  This will allow users to retain all of the current prospect information, as well as provide opportunities to add further information, add prospects to mailing groups, and having a Frequent Contacts list of those who are emailed the most.

I need more information or assistance.
To help the transition between email providers, we have created email migration FAQ’s (which includes information regarding downloading email to Outlook) and pulled together key information about Rackspace.

If you are a Point2 Agent user keep an eye out for your migration notification email!

We are pleased to announce we now offer spam control on your web forms from reCAPTCHA.

This feature was released last Thursday and is available for all members to turn on in your Point2 Agent websites.  By default, reCAPTCHA will be left turned off.   You will want to go in and take a few quick seconds to activate this feature if you are concerned about spam in your web forms.

For instructions on activating the reCAPTCHA feature in your Point2 Agent account, please visit our User Manual here.

For more information about reCAPTCHA and how it works, check out their site.

In case you haven’t already heard, today Microsoft officially unveiled the newest iteration of it’s search engine, Bing, which aims to accomplish three things:

• Replace its often maligned Live Search

• Reposition it as a “decision engine” rather than a simple search appliance with an $80 million dollar cross-media marketing campaign.  As an aside, you can check out the first commercial for this campaign here, and no, contrary to my previously affectionate post, I don’t like this commercial one bit!

• As always, try to grab some market share from other search engines.

So how is it?

After spending a little time with it over the past couple of days, and*gasp*  setting it as my homepage instead of iGoogle, I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised.  It might not be the “Google-Killer” it was billed, but is a step in the right direction.   While I don’t think it will become my default search engine (I simply have too many services tied to Google in order to make that switch), I do think that it brings some great features to the user search experience.

The following is a rundown of some of these standout features, and how you can use them to get the most out of your queries, be it for real estate or otherwise.

Categorized & Related Searches

Whenever you complete a query, Bing will 1) provide you with a list of logical results categories for you to filter through in order to get access to the information you want quickly, and 2) display a list of the most common related search queries based on your original results.  For example, when I searched “Canada” the most common related searches were for the 411 service, an airline, and my bank!

Large Results Previews

This will likely be the fist thing you will notice when you first use Bing.  When you mouse over a search result you will notice a expandable box to the right of the result that when hovered over will give you a preview of the information on the page as well some of the prominent topics on the page.  This is a huge time saver, and will undoubtedly save users untold time and wasted clicks, in addition to being almost flawlessly implemented into the search experience.

Video Search & Previews

The prevalence of video on the web is growing at a fevered pace, so it makes sense that companies invest in new ways to search video instead of conventional text.  Bing ups the ante by offering a short description of the videos in results, referring sites, length of the video etc. But the best part is that you can preview video results with full audio with just a mouse-over – this will be a long way towards making sure you get the video you are looking for.

Smart Image Search

Image search is where almost everyone is going to agree that Microsoft has pulled off a coup against Google.  Besides the gorgeous snapshot presentation, the endless scroll results (no more clicking “next page”!), and the loads of filtering options in on the left panel,  Bing gives you the ability to show images similar to those displayed.  This is huge news for all those who spend way too long searching for the perfect image.

Bird’s Eye Maps

Don’t have Google Street View in your area yet? *cough* all of Canada *cough* Well then you are in for a treat.  Probably my favorite feature of Bing has to be the “Bird’s Eye” views built into the maps search which gives you a high-resolution satellite photography of most urban centers.

Now I know you are probably thinking, “so what? Google does this as well”, but the difference is that the Bird’s Eye imagery is taken on an angle rather than straight down – this means you can actually make out things like the signs on buildings, how tall a structure is,  and all manner of topographical features.  And to top it off, this imagery is taken from all angles, so you can rotate all around an area and get the Bird’s Eye view, rather than just a fixed angle.

In my opinion this is the perfect option in between conventional maps and Street View, and will be a valuable tool for real estate professionals since you can tag areas (like a properties) and send that link to prospects.  Hopefully this tech makes its way into marketplaces like Zillow and Trulia.

So there you have it.  What, in my opinion, are the most compelling features of Bing.

Do I think that these additions will change the tides in the search wars?  Probably not.  After all, Google has brand “ownership” on search and I don’t think they will be dethroned any time soon.  However I think Bing will gain market share at the expense of other brands in the market, such as Yahoo!, AOL, and Ask with this newest offering.

Also, if you would like to give Bing a shot, or just would like to see how its results stack up against Google’s make sure to check out the comparion search tool created by BlackDog.ie – all the search goodness, with none of the messy commitment!

I am pleased to be able to share again some of the newest features added to the Point2 Agent software in a recent release earlier this week.

Cross-browser Compatibility:  We have fully integrated the ability to access your Point2 Agent accounts using the browser of your choice.  We have been working on introducing this feature for quite some time now - at our members’ request - and are happy to say it is finally available.  Point2 Agent is now cross-browser compatible for:

• Internet Explorer 6-8
• Firefox 2-3
• Chrome
• Safari

Remember, you’ll always receive a better browsing experience by using the latest version of your preferred browser.  For further information visit the User Manual.

(Kudos to our very own Bryan Larson for prepping these icon knock-offs for your viewing pleasure.)

Improved Content Editor: We’ve upgraded the content editor for all Point2 Agent sites to one that includes more features and is extremely user-friendly.  We are sure you’ll enjoy editing your website even more so now.  Here’s just a few of the new features of the content editor:

• Anchors can be created directly through the editor
• Hex codes can be inserted for color
• Better HTML content generation
• The restriction of 800×600 image upload size has been removed
• Full screen editing capabilities
• Table tags are now outlined so you can easily see where they exist within the content
• Editor templating system allows you to choose a content layout template and replace it with your own content

Learn more about working with the new content editor in the User Manual.

Updated Photo Upload Tool:  With the addition of cross-browser compatibility, we’ve also improved the way our members upload photos.  For those using Internet Exporer, you can continue using PUFLITE.  However for those using browsers other than Internet Explorer, you can now easily upload photos using our Java-based photo upload tool.  In order to use the non-Internet Explorer photo upload tool, you will need to have the latest version of Java installed on your computer.  (Download here: http://java.com/en/download/)  Further detailed instructions on both methods of uploading photos can be found in the User Manual.

What’s coming?: We’ve got some big plans ahead for our members – and crazy-good improvements.  I am so excited I can barely contain myself.

Keep your eyes glued to the blog (or subscribe to the RSS feed) for more details to come!

This week our development teams have released some new features for us to play with.  We’ll be the first to admit that there’s plenty left to do and we are looking forward to making all sorts of awesome improvements into 2009. 

So, what’s new?  New Features and Performance Enhancements

We are working with many MLS’s to bring their data on board with Point2 Agent, to utilize the amazing Syndication Network we have available.  As part of this work, we now have the ability to import listings directly from MLS’s into an Online Office.  We have a few MLS’s on board already, and look forward to continuing to expand.  Want your MLS listings imported directly into your Online Office?  Get your MLS interested and have them contact us.  We’d love to have them join us too!

The look-and-feel of the Online Office has been tweaked in many places to help our members better enjoy their user-experience.  Have a look around your Online Office and note some of the changes.

We know your prospect information is important.  For this reason, the Detailed Prospect History report has been rewritten to increase the speed and reliability of the report.

So what’s next?

Going into 2009 we expect to continue to import more and more MLS data as MLS’s recognize the importance and benefit of providing syndication to their members.  The likelihood that you will never have to enter your listings in more than one place is a real possibility, especially if your MLS joins the Point2 Agent network.

We also anticipate further exciting improvements to our Online Office and website solution.  Something that we’ve been working on behind-the-scenes for a while now is cross-browser compatibility.  It’s not quite ready yet, but we hope that early in the new year our members will be able to access their Online Office to edit using their browser of choice, not just Internet Explorer.

Stay tuned for more details in the coming months…and please feel free to comment below and share with us what features you are looking for and hope to receive from Point2 Agent in the future.