The Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Pocket PC or what most people think of as the Pal Pilot is now only four years old. In that time, it has grown from a device with approximately 550k of memory to one which can approach more than 72 megabits of memory, but most typically 8 to 16 megabits of memory. What is remarkable is that this device which can now fit in our pockets is what once sat on our desktop in the late 1908’s. Today the PDA can be a comprehensive address book, calendar, book, camera, telephone, map, HP calculator, music player, newspaper-all in this single device.
The PDA has a variety of manufacturers and all of them accomplish the same basic tasks outline above. Compaq, Casio, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Handsprings Visor and the original Palm Pilot can all be purchased in most computer stores or online. If you want access to all the great freeware out there you still want to own a Palm Pilot, Visor (or a device with the Palm Pilot OS), or other Palm-based unit. This is the primary PDA for which coders still write.
AS AN APPRAISER, WHAT CAN YOU ACCOMPLISH ON YOUR PDA?
Address and Calendar Books - These features come with every PDA. Probably the most basic and useful features of PDA’s are their address books and calendars. You can put more than 5,000 full addresses in this small device. The key here is not to just limit yourself to a few addresses; your entire client list can be held in the palm of your hand as well as your daily schedule-including an alarm to remind you of meetings. If privacy is a concern, you can lock your PDA with a code known only to you. Now you can combine your PDA with the mobile phone add-on www.visor.com and you don’t have to dial the numbers.
News Services www.avantgo.com - AvantGo.com can provide you with any number of news services including the Star Tribune, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. You can even download directions to any address via MapQuest. This should be one of your first add-ons. The directions are very easy and you can change news services according to your needs or wants over time.
Document Readers www.palgear.com - At Palmgear.com you can download a variety of document readers for your Palm Pilot, such as Documents to Go, for free. This is a very useful tool for appraisers. I, for one, keep a copy of some key sections of USPAP on my Palm Pilot for reference. Any document produced on Word or WordPerfect can be loaded onto your document reader. You can also download electronic Books and novels when you are traveling.
Mapping Capabilities www.delorme.com - You can download not only maps to your Palm Pilot using special software from Delorme Map Software (Solus products) but also from Avant Go using www.mapquest.com. You can download directions from one address to another. Recent add-ons even allow you to add GPS navigation to your PDA device.
Appraiser’s Calculators www.palmgear.com - There are a number of calculators which function like the HP12C, or any other calculator you are accustomed to.
In addition, you might add a dictionary, a small almanac, a thesaurus, area code and zip code listings for the United States, long distance codes, and almost anything else you can find out there.
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