Twitter clients

Posted on 16 April 2009 | by Aaron Traffas | 2 comments
twitter logo map 09
Image by Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten via Flickr

It’s no secret that we’re enamored with Twitter. Our AuctioneerTweet site has over 45 auctioneers listed and it seems we’re continuing to add several each week as more and more auctioneers join Twitter.

Twitter is useful. It’s replaced instant messaging and reduced our use of email and Facebook. Even so, the actual Twitter website leaves much to be desired in the way of a usable interface. Indeed, Twitter’s biggest strength comes from their open access system that lets anyone build clients or services around Twitter. We’ve tried many, and here are our favorites.

Desktop clients
Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop (known as Twirl until a week ago) are two clients that are currently vying for our attention. Unfortunately, each is built on Adobe’s Air platform which means that you have to install a framework package before you can actually install the application. Both clients support a multi-column view that lets you display your @replies and direct message in separate columns. Seesmic supports multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously and, on the surface, looks more polished, but so far it’s been a little buggy for us. Tweetdeck isn’t as pretty, but it supports Facebook, Twitscoop, StockTwits and 12Seconds. Seesmic’s picture capabilities are much more robust than Tweetdeck’s singular support for Twitpic. For now, Tweetdeck is the reigning champion unless you need to manage multiple Twitter accounts.

Web clients
There are several web clients that are superior to the original twitter.com. Our two favorites are Tweetree and Twitterfall. One of the difficulties with a standard timeline view in Twitter is that it’s difficult to understand the @replies. Tweetree turns a timeline into threaded conversations like a forum or bulletin board so you can see the original messages that sparked the replies. Twitterfall, on the other hand, displays a timeline view in real time. New tweets fall from the top of the screen to the bottom. You can control the rate at which they fall and which tweets are included in the timeline. It makes it very easy to search tweets from all Twitter users in real time by entering a search word or phrase and having all tweets matching that phrase show as they’re created. Want to monitor Twitter for all references to the Palm Pre? Twitterfall makes it easy.

Mobile clients
A big component to Twitter is mobile integration. The most basic form is interacting with Twitter using simple text messages. Just as Twitter itself isn’t the greatest web client, using Twitter by text message isn’t the greatest way to use it on the go. For the iPhone, Tweetie easily bests runner-up Twitterific, supporting multiple accounts and search while Twitterific is strictly a basic client. For Windows Mobile, Pocketwit is the prettiest application and supports the most features, though Tiny Twitter is easier to use for basic functions. We still acutally use ceTwit to upload pictures directly to TwitPic since neither Pocketwit nor Tiny Twitter is very easy when it comes to pictures.

Other services
Two other services deserve mention. Each has the ability to be embedded on a website in the form of a widget. We mentioned TwitPic above, which can be embedded to show the most recent image uploaded. That image links to your TwitPic timeline so users can click to see all the other pictures you’ve posted. For an example, visit www.aarontraffas.com and look at the TwitPic widget in the right sidebar. The other service worth noting is TwitterCounter which charts your followers over time, predicts what they will be based on previous rates of increase or decrease and allows you to embed a badge on a website showing your number of followers. You can see an example of TwitterCounter’s badge at the top of the Social widget in the right sidebar on AuctioneerTech.

Remember, realizing Twitter’s value is difficult until you use it. Hopefully, using one or more of these clients we’ve listed will make it easier to use or give you an idea for using Twitter in a different way. Don’t forget about AuctioneerTweet. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/traffas.

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US Senate designates April 18 National Auctioneers Day

Posted on 2 April 2009 | by Aaron Traffas | Comments Off on US Senate designates April 18 National Auctioneers Day
Work of the United States Senate, Credited to ...
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The National Auctioneers Association announced yesterday that Senate resolution 86 was passed on Tuesday. This resolution officially designates April 18, 2009, as National Auctioneers Day. Here’s the text of the bill from govtrack.us.

SRES 86 ATS

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. RES. 86

Designating April 18, 2009, as ‘National Auctioneers Day’.

March 31, 2009

Committee discharged; considered and agreed to

RESOLUTION

Designating April 18, 2009, as ‘National Auctioneers Day’.

Whereas auctions have played an important role in the sale and exchange of goods for nearly 2,000 years;

Whereas auctions have been an integral part of the marketplace in the United States and around the world;

Whereas auctioneers sold nearly $268,400,000,000 in goods and assets in 2008;

Whereas the National Auctioneers Association has 5,000 members and has its headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas;

Whereas, in 2008, members of the National Auctioneers Association raised $16,000,000,000 for charity through benefit auctions;

Whereas auctions are growing in popularity and are used with increasing frequency in the marketplace;

Whereas, through competitive bidding, auctions demonstrate how the free enterprise system establishes fair market value;

Whereas trained professional auctioneers ensure that auctions are conducted in a manner that is fair to both buyers and sellers;

Whereas, in the past, Federal, State, and local governments have designated days and weeks to celebrate auctioneers; and

Whereas the designation by the Senate of April 18, 2009, as ‘National Auctioneers Day’ will heighten awareness of the contributions made by auctions and auctioneers to the economy, culture, and way of life of the people of the United States: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate designates April 18, 2009, as ‘National Auctioneers Day’.

Kansas auctioneer and NAA member Dave Webb was helpful in passage of this resolution, as was Chris Longly from NAA staff. Thanks, guys, for working to raise awareness about auctions and auctioneers.

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AuctioneerTech releases Internet clerking and bidding platform

Posted on 1 April 2009 | by Aaron Traffas | 4 comments

AuctioneerTool logo

AuctioneerTool logo

Riding high on the recent success of its AuctioneerTweet sister-site, today AuctioneerTech released an open-source Internet-based clerking software and bidding system for auctioneers called AuctioneerTool.

Based on common, open source web technologies PHP and MySQL, the client installs on any server with access to a database. The platform currently supports pre-auction bidding and Internet only events, with support for real-time bidding coming soon.

“It’s something I’ve been working on in my spare time,” said Aaron Traffas, CAI, ATS, CES of Manhattan, Kansas-based AuctioneerTech. “I finally have all the pieces in place to release the code under the GPL. Releasing the code under the GPL – GNU General Public License – means that anyone can use the software free of charge and improve it. There will be some hosting costs we’ll incur, but with the recent success of the advertising sponsors on AuctioneerTweet and the AuctioneerTech Auction Podcast, those expenses should be easily covered.”

All sensitive data is encrypted and stored on AuctioneerTech servers. The data is encrypted before it leaves the AuctioneerTool client so AuctioneerTech never has access to the client information, but the user can be sure that the data is stored on secure servers in a PCI-compliant manner. Because the client software is open source, anyone with a programming background can inspect the encryption mechanism to verify that it’s being encrypted properly and that nobody but the auctioneer has access to the user list or sensitive data.

The client is completely integrated into an auctioneer’s website with no logos or branding. The auction inventories are automatically uploaded to the NAA auction calendar using the NAA’s open AuctionXML format where it can be syndicated to other auction calendars.

For more information about AuctioneerTool, or to download the easy-to-use installation scripts, visit www.auctioneertool.com.

Posted in announcements

GPPA and MPPA designations – Graduate and Master Personal Property Appraiser

Posted on 31 March 2009 | by Aaron Traffas | 3 comments
This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series NAA designations

One of the hats that many auctioneers wear is that of an appraiser. Appraisals can be court-ordered or requested by sellers wanting to know what their assets are worth. Many auctioneers, masters of the secondary market, serve as experts on the value of property.

We caught up with our friend Jack Christy, Sr., CAI, BAS, CES, MPPA, of Christys of Indiana, and asked him why appraisals were necessary. “Everything needs to be reappraised,” said Christy. “Antiques are down 70% in our market.”

Proper appraisals aren’t easy, and not all appraisals are the same. An appraiser must know before beginning work on a project if the appraisal is for replacement value, fair market value or liquidation value. These values are usually very different and serve different purposes. Because of the differences in appraisal types and qualities, it’s important to know that the person doing the appraisal is going to do it correctly and in a standards-compliant way.

Dr. Harlan Rimmerman, Director of Education for the NAA, says that new IRS regulations will require that the IRS look for credentials of appraisers. “They now want the appraiser to have credentials as well as experience. The credentials must come from an approved provider such as NAA. The GPPA course teachers those new IRS regs,” said Rimmerman.

The GPPA and MPPA designations from the National Auctioneers Association lend credibility to an auctioneer’s appraisals. The NAA’s GPPA program is a member of the Appraisal Foundation, the Congressionally-authorized entity in charge of regulating certified appraisers. The Appraisal Foundation publishes a set of standards known as the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Here’s the course description for GPPA from the NAA website.

GPPA

GPPA designation from NAA

The GPPA class examines the responsibilities of the appraiser and discusses the factors affecting the value of appraised items. Experts and classmates will discuss industry trends, the function of the appraiser, identification, valuation and methodology of appraisals, as well as the responsibility the appraiser has to the client.

The GPPA course also provides basic information about appraisal work including teaching you how to search for comps, what to look for as far as condition, identifying marks and other conditions.

You will learn about personal property, antiques, machinery, equipment, farm, and construction equipment. The instructors will provide examples as well as materials to help you start your appraisal business. You will also learn about the GPPA appraisal template and practice preparing an appraisal report using the template.

You will be able to customize a standardized appraisal format, market your appraisal services, enhance your research skills and improve your appraisals. An examination is given at the end of this course.

On the final day of GPPA you will participate in the Appraiser as Expert Witness program.

Christy, Education Institute Trustee and Chairperson of the GPPA Committee, said that the NAA is currently working with the International Society of Appraisers on an alliance that will work to augment the offerings and designations of each with those of the other. In addition to the standard five-day GPPA course, the NAA currently offers optional specialization courses in the following categories.

  • Construction and agricultural equipment
  • Manufacturing and process equipment
  • Small business valuation
  • Antiques and residential contents

Each of these optional courses is a two day course, offering 14 credit hours towards the 24 hours of continuing education mandated by the GPPA designation every three years. The alliance with the ISA will allow other specialization options in addition to those currently offered by NAA.

“It adds value to the invoice I send,” said Travis Hamele of Hamele Auctions. It also ads legitimacy with the courts. Judges who notice the designation are far more likely to accept the word of the auctioneer as expert testimony.

Once an auctioneer has years of experience conducting appraisals as GPPA, he or she may apply to receive MPPA. This is a peer-reviewed application and confirmation process that doesn’t require additional coursework outside of the yearly continuing education requirements for GPPA and all NAA designations. Once the committee reviews the application and judges that the auctioneer has demonstrated experience and professionalism in conducting appraisals, he or she may be designated Master Personal Property Appraiser or MPPA. If you’d like to learn more about GPPA or MPPA, visit the course webpage.

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AuctioneerTech launches AuctioneerTweet, gets scooped

Posted on 30 March 2009 | by Aaron Traffas | 3 comments

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

As an effort to build and grow the community of auctioneers using Twitter, we launched a new website yesterday called AuctioneerTweet at – where else – www.auctioneertweet.com.

The concept is simple. Any auctioneer with a Twitter account can join and have his or her tweets included in the AuctioneerTweet timeline. A member list on the right side shows the member’s name, follower count and a direct link to the auctioneer’s website. Members are listed by full name and NAA designations, if any, are prominantly featured with each user.

The catch is that members must be auctioneers. Company Twitter accounts don’t count. Social networking is about connecting people with people, not people with companies.

While we’re excited about the launch, we’re a little embarrassed. We planned on making the announcement about the launch today, but while we were putting the finishing touches on the new, home-grown WordPress plugin that powers the site, a story popped up on the Examiner noting the launch of AuctioneerTweet by our friend AuctionWally. Thanks, Wally, for scooping us on our own site!

Look for AuctionWally in a future episode of the Auction Podcast. You can also follow him on Twitter, follow us on Twitter or proceed to the AuctioneerTweet website.

If you’re an auctioneer and you’d like to be listed on the AuctioneerTweet site, send a direct message to @traffas on Twitter with your full name and NAA designations, if you have any.

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