Cooltools: getting the most out of Valuation on the iPad is easy--and convenient.

SINCE THE FOURTH QUARTER 2010 LAUNCH OF THE IPHONE AND IPAD APPLICATIONS for Valuation magazine, more than 1,600 readers have downloaded the application. The app, which works on the iPhone, iPad and even the iPod Touch, provides access to all of the great content you've come to expect from the quarterly magazine, plus interactive elements that make the articles come to life.

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Here's how to get the most out of the app once it's been downloaded to your device.

The app is more than a simple page viewer. Readers can choose between seeing thumbnails of a page, a full page or enlarged text versions of stories. It also allows viewers to link through directly to more features, advertising information and videos, as well as to access RSS feeds from the Appraisal Institute, such as its Appraiser News Online news feed (Fig. 1).

The Appraisal Institute has loaded the third and fourth quarter 2010 issues onto the application, and upon publication, each new issue of Valuation will also be accessible via the app, giving readers an ever-expanding library. Use the Valuation app to quickly find an article, ad or any other item in a recent issue of the magazine, right there, on your mobile device. The touch-screen interface lets you easily scroll through an issue or pull up a single article to read in a plain-text format (Fig. 2).

Other ways to interact with magazine articles include: book-marking your favorites columns and features for later reading (Fig. 3), searching keywords among all issues to find a particular topic or article (Fig. 4), sharing articles with friends and colleagues, and commenting on the content to generate conversation with other Valuation app users.

Also, once you download each issue, you'll have access to the articles even when you're not connected to the Internet. So, if you leave your hard copy of the magazine at home or the office, you'll still have Valuation magazine as long as you're carrying your iPhone or iPad.

To access the magazine and its interactive features on your iPad or iPhone, download the Valuation app today at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/appraisal-institutes-valuation/id406359825?mt=8.

R. Wayne Pugh, MAI, is CEO of R. Wayne Pugh and Co., a real estate consulting and appraisal firm he founded in 1975 in Baton Rouge, La. He also heads Software for Real Estate Professionals Inc. and Real Estate Data Services. He developed the Appraisal Institute Cool Tools seminar (www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/seminar_descrb/Default.aspx?sem_nbr=0L-COOL&key_type=00S) and writes the "Cool Tools Blog" at www.facebook.com.