Why have you or have you not downloaded and installed the Inspection Radio Toolbar? - InspectionNews

Carlos Tabora · #1 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 02:11 PM

As we further develop the toolbar and create tutorials and promotional materials, we want to know why you have or have not downloaded, installed or used the Inspection Radio Toolbar?

The toolbar technology is amazing and everything on it can be changed or customized within less than one minute. But we want to make sure that we're effectively communicating what Inspection Radio can do for inspectors and why the toolbar will be the best free Internet resource for anyone involved with the home inspection profession. In a nutshell, Inspection Radio is not in the business of building a new website or a service with 100% exclusive content. In fact, we're just the opposite. We're in the business of showing you everything that's on the Internet related to the home inspection world. The good, the bad, the ugly, the funny, the pitiful, the gossip, the whatever.

Anything on the Internet is fair game and with the exponential growth of social media (podcasts, blogs, vidoes, etc.) people will discover what's out there faster than you can imagine. That includes your posts or pictures here on Inspection News, other people's posts on Inspectors Journal, the NACHI boards, pictures on FLICKR, videos on YouTube, you name it.

Since we're independent from any home inspector organization, we can show you everything. For example, check out this great education seminar or this new training program. Look at this inspector's stupid video on YouTube. Check out this consumer's home inspection pictures on Flickr and how he just rips his home inspector into shreds. Read this cool case study on this site about EIFS, etc.

So let us know what your initial impressions have been. How should we promote the service and what are the first things about the toolbar that we need to educate people about? Do we need to mail out postcards, do web presentations of how the toolbar works...the sky's the limit or at least until Megan asks us for advance payment again.

As always, your thoughts and input are welcome.

Carlos

Wayne Whitter · #2 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 06:19 PM

when i downloaded your program it wanted to become a default program. I would not accept the terms.

John Arnold · #3 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 06:25 PM

I tried a number of times without success, and gave up. I use FireFox. Maybe this has been fixed? I haven't tried lately.

Bob Mayer · #4 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 06:26 PM

The press release says:

"Anyone with Internet access can easily click, play, listen and watch the audio and video options incorporated into the toolbar without having to learn or switch between any computer programs."

But the download page says that you have to be using Microsoft Windows 2000/XP. I don't use MS Windows. MS Windows and Internet access are a bad combination.

- BOB

Rick Hurst · #5 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 09:27 PM

I've tried several times, but I just can't get past that music jingle before tossing my computer in the floor.

Anger management maybe is an alternative first.

Carlos Tabora · #6 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Whitter

when i downloaded your program it wanted to become a default program. I would not accept the terms.

It's just asking if you want to use the toolbar search function as your default search engine for your web browser. You do not have to select it as your default. I don't for my browser. I'll paste a screen shot here to help explain what I mean.

Carlos Tabora · #7 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

I've tried several times, but I just can't get past that music jingle before tossing my computer in the floor.

Anger management maybe is an alternative first.

Sounds like an aural or oral problem to me. I guess it depends on the context. Maybe that's why home inspectors only do a visual inspection? The music jingle is only on the InspectionRadio.com web site to help people understand the radio concept. If you have the toolbar installed and your browser open, there is no jingle that will automatically play.

Carlos Tabora · #8 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Mayer

The press release says:

"Anyone with Internet access can easily click, play, listen and watch the audio and video options incorporated into the toolbar without having to learn or switch between any computer programs."

But the download page says that you have to be using Microsoft Windows 2000/XP. I don't use MS Windows. MS Windows and Internet access are a bad combination.

- BOB

Are you on a Mac? People have successfully installed the toolbar on their Mac Firefox browser. I was able to do it on my Mac mini. Open your Firefox browser and try downloading the file directly at Firefox Download. It should allow you to install the toolbar. If you can't download the file, send a blank email to iradio-firefox[at]aweber.com. Replace the [at] with the @ symbol. The file will be sent to you automatically once it has confirmed your email address.

If you're not using MS Windows or Mac OSX then you're a brave man.

Carlos Tabora · #9 (**permalink**) 04-27-2007, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Arnold

I tried a number of times without success, and gave up. I use FireFox. Maybe this has been fixed? I haven't tried lately.

Open your Firefox browser and try downloading the file directly at Firefox Download. It should allow you to install the toolbar. If you can't download the file, send a blank email to iradio-firefox[at]aweber.com. Replace the [at] with the @ symbol. The file will be sent to you automatically once it has confirmed your email address.

Bob Mayer · #10 (**permalink**) 04-28-2007, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carlos Tabora

If you're not using MS Windows or Mac OSX then you're a brave man.

No, I have been on Linux at home for seven years. Before that, since 1977, I could use VMS or Unix at school or at work. No viruses, no worms, no trojans, no BSOD, no commercial "security" nagware. If you run MS Windows on the Internet then I think that you are the brave man.

- BOB

Jerry Peck · #11 (**permalink**) 04-28-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Mayer

If you run MS Windows on the Internet then I think that you are the brave man.

I run MMM

MMmsS Windowsssssssss
//3245r3^%$^

and have not

had

any

problems

or

bugs I am awa

r

e

of.

Richard Rushing · #12 (**permalink**) 04-28-2007, 08:49 PM

I keep getting this for my settings...

Rick Hurst · #13 (**permalink**) 04-28-2007, 10:57 PM

What does this screen mean?

Tim Moreira · #14 (**permalink**) 04-28-2007, 11:28 PM

Quote:

What does this screen mean?

your screwed

Dom D'Agostino · #15 (**permalink**) 04-29-2007, 10:11 AM

Quote:

...we want to know why you have or have not downloaded, installed or used the Inspection Radio Toolbar?

I have to say that if the Inspection Radio system requires a download (Toolbar) than many people won't ever hear it. I won't install this toolbar on my PC just to use this service.

Why not just make the system available without downloaded software? Can't we just go to the site, find a topic, and listen or view it?

Dom.

Bob Mayer · #16 (**permalink**) 04-29-2007, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Hurst

What does this screen mean?

You are running MS Windows.

- BOB

Carlos Tabora · #17 (**permalink**) 04-29-2007, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dom D'Agostino

I have to say that if the Inspection Radio system requires a download (Toolbar) than many people won't ever hear it. I won't install this toolbar on my PC just to use this service.

Why not just make the system available without downloaded software? Can't we just go to the site, find a topic, and listen or view it?

Dom.

As with any new technology, it will take some time for people to understand it and learn how to use it in their personal or professional lives. I think I must have talked to Brian about 8-10 times before he finally downloaded the toolbar and installed it. But when he did and I gave him a personal tour of what the toolbar can do, it didn't take long for us to get this project started.

As for putting information on the InspectionRadio.com website, we will do that, but it will not be immediate. In fact, it may take days or even weeks for information you find on the toolbar to be placed on the website. Why? Because we may not have the rights to re-publish the content or don't have the time or resources to create completely exclusive content to cover the same subject matter. In addition, the longer you wait, you run a greater risk of putting information up there that will be outdated or no longer useful. The toolbar has much more value in providing instant access to information that is already out there on the Internet. Search engines are great, but few people will go beyond the first 3, 5 or 10 pages of results. Some of the best information will never be found because no one knows that they exist. That will all change because of social media.

The time it takes for someone to post an interesting link or topic on a discussion board and wait for other people to respond to it is just enough time for someone else to post it on a blog, have it digged, tagged and clipped by other blogs and news aggregation services and distributed to hundreds if not thousands of people. That is the difference between waiting for information to be posted on a website and watching the information go viral within a matter of hours.

With the older demographic of most home inspectors and the stubborn and independent mentality that drove most of them to work for themselves, I understand that it may take some time for home inspectors to adopt this service. But the ones that do will be the first to know about anything positive or negative that can affect their business.

When I left ASHI 3 1/2 years ago, I knew that I wanted to learn more about the Internet and emerging technologies. I've gone to the top Internet marketing conferences and met some of the most influential marketers handling brands like Microsoft XBOX, AOL AIM Pages and so forth. The things that are coming down the pipeline within the next 6-12 months are simply amazing. If you have any teenagers or college kids that use social networking sites like MySpace or