The world is realizing more of the gadgetry from James Bond’s reality, and it’s about time. But we’re not talking about underwater jet packs or a BMW equipped with missiles. Secure phones that ensure secret-agent level privacy are in demand across consumer sectors. They’re even being made by military contractors. Boeing has unveiled a secure smartphone that marks a unique departure for the Chicago-based aerospace and defense company, best known for making jetliners. In order to accomplish defense and security missions, security and flexibility are key factors, and their smartphone is primarily aimed at government agencies and contractors who need to keep their data secure. Made in the United States after 36 months of development-stage, the Boeing Black Smartphone features a 4.3-inch qHD (540 x 960) pixels handset with dual SIM cards, to enable it to access multiple cell networks. The battery stops at 1590 mAh, and has Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR-enabled connectivity. It runs on Android OS and its key features include disk encryption designed to store sensitive information securely, hardware Root of Trust to ensure software authenticity, a Hardware Crypto Engine to protect stored and transmitted data, Embedded Secure Components to enable trusted operations, Trusted Platform Modules to provide secure key storage, Secure Boot to maintain device image integrity, and “hardware modularity” for multiple modularity capabilities. However, the central security feature of the Boeing Black is the PureSecure, an architectural foundation “built upon layers of trust from embedded hardware, operating system policy controls and compatibility with leading mobile-device management systems.” In addition to all these, the smartphone includes the ability to communicate via satellite transceivers and “discrete radio channels”, advanced location tracking and biometric sensors. But what takes this mobile device to another level is that on top of the call encryption...

The following interview by Nisha Randhava appeared on the All Property Management blog, an industry resource on property management technology. In this digital world, where information can be accessed quickly and at any time, managing your online reputation as a property management company is critical. Learning how to access this information and keep it updated in a timely manner however, can be difficult if you do not know where to begin. The property management software Yardi Voyager, provides a reputation management feature. In addition, property managers can utilize the online leasing and resident services and property marketing sites. We spoke with Brad Setser, VP of Marketing, to learn more. APM: Please describe the product and its function. Brad: Yardi Voyager is our flagship property management and accounting platform. Voyager, plus a suite of complementary products, creates a full real estate management solution-operations, accounting and ancillary processes and services with portfolio-wide business intelligence and platform-wide mobility-for all types of real estate. We recently launched the latest version of Yardi Voyager, called Yardi Voyager 7S. One of the most significant aspects of 7S is that it’s browser-agnostic, which means the entire program can be run from any mobile device as easily as from a desktop. All new Voyager clients adopt 7S and we’re upgrading our existing clients. APM: What made you develop your product? Brad: We know that many people conduct much of their business, personal as well as work-related, on the go.We responded by developing Voyager 7S to help our clients meet the mobile expectations of their residents, tenants and investors. We wanted to make Voyager a one-stop solution where users can conduct all marketing, leasing and property maintenance operations from any mobile device. This accessibility helps our clients attract tenants and residents, retain them...

As the digital storehouse of sensitive data grows, the quest for secure authentication continues. Heartbleed jarred many of us. Data on our most popular (and presumably better protected) sites was exposed and, in some cases, compromised. The introduction of biometrics was a step in the right direction but Heartbleed reminded us that biometrics only protect a device; currently, such technology doesn’t fend off hackers from laptops, desktops, and the individual websites and apps that we use each day. Most of our data is still protected via password and even the cleverest passwords meet their match when hackers are intent to crack them. This poses a huge hurdle for companies whose user passwords protect countless pieces of sensitive client information. Fast Identity Online Alliance (FIDO), whose members include the likes of Google and PayPal, seek ways to decrease dependency on passwords. Its goal is to develop “technical specifications that define an open, scalable, interoperable set of mechanisms that reduce the reliance on passwords to authenticate users.” In other words, create simpler, stronger authentication. One of FIDO’s most recent innovations is a piece of hardware, simply called the authenticator, that may replace individual passwords. The hardware will communicate directly with the websites that you’re visiting, creating a distinct digital key for each digital lock. No access information is stored remotely, reducing hackers’ access to pools of passwords and the information that they protect. The hardware itself may rely on biometric access to prevent misuse if lost or stolen. FIDO’s authenticator is still under development but its business potential is evident. Employers could issue the hardware to employees, limiting potential human errors. Employees would not have to worry about changing passwords every 90 days, creating weak passwords, forgetting or sharing their credentials. Even if a device is a...

The fear of having a prospective investor pull their capital pledge from your fund raising effort is enough to make any fund manager lose sleep.  Losing a $100 million commitment means you can kiss $2 million in annual management fees goodbye. If your firm is particularly unlucky, other investors will follow suit.  Now imagine that you lost that investor because they were unhappy with…your financial reporting. Reporting systems don’t usually command much attention from managers at real estate investment firms when they think about asset and portfolio risk management. More likely, they devote a tremendous amount of time and intelligence to structuring a portfolio with assets that fit the right risk profile as set by the fund’s objective.  The creative sides of their brains crowd with questions: Does this property have an upside that can be exploited?  Are the tenants locked in?  Will this submarket rebound next year? But there’s another type of risk that’s not so sexy, and many fund managers often consider it a lesser priority: operational risk.   This category of risk encompasses the technical aspects of back office operations along with legislation and rules interpretations.  Operational risk management extends to the investor pool, as fiduciary obligations are part and parcel of accepting an investment commitment.  Potential trouble looms for a firm that does a commendable job of creating, protecting and nurturing investor relationships but ignores the risks inherent in their accounting and financial reporting operations. Operational risk is heavily tied to a firm’s business systems, and the two sure-fire ways to reduce risk in this particular area are to get off of Excel and QuickBooks and on to a mature accounting system, and to consolidate disparate systems into a single application and database. “But I’ve got a great accounting staff—they’re working...

Technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco have created software that transforms inanimate infrastructure into seemingly animated characters. Pipes identify their own leaks. Streets alert police of accidents and traffic jams. Buildings submit maintenance requests. The innovations offer endless possibilities. Fears of a high-tech dystopia, however, overshadow their efforts. Technology leaders must overcome public fears before their technologies can be adopted on a large scale. The Dawn of Smart Cities IBM has risen as a leader in smart city technology. The company hosts more than 2,500 smarter cities around the world. The goal of these experimental sites is to promote sustainable economic growth by providing the data leaders need to take proactive measures against mounting problems and make the most efficient use of resources. In an economic environment where revenues are tight in many countries, smarter cities could not have come at a better time. Many of the decisions made by leaders in smart cities are driven by collected data. Data sources include cameras, sensors and meters in public spaces as well as resident feedback–voluntary and involuntary–via apps and programs. The technology is already at work in creative ways. In New York, a collaboration between Center for an Urban Future and NYU’s School of Public Service allows the local hospital to decrease emergency room expenses. A “hotspotting” program identifies emergency room regulars, often locals suffering from chronic ailments and substance abuse. Based on the data compiled, outreach teams are dispatched to provide preventative assistance to at risk populations at homeless shelters and the streets. Emergency room costs are expected to decrease significantly. In Chicago, data for performance metrics, energy usage, crime, public health, transit, and more are accumulated and stored in an open-access website. To date, the city has 851 open data sets...

Yardi client, Cigna, stepped up to an exciting challenge this year. Through innovation, creativity, and an understanding of client’s needs, the global company has brought healthcare into the mobile age. Cigna’s exciting apps and personalized services have made healthcare more accessible to clients on the go. The company started at the foundation, altering clients’ perception of healthcare. Through its mobile campaign, Cigna is no longer a name that we think of only when we were sick and injured. Rather, Cigna strives to become a name that we associate with health, wellbeing, and independence. Rebranding gained public attention through the Go You campaign last year, a series of ads and commercials that focused on individuals and what they can accomplish as healthy people. The ads don’t refer to illness or injury. Instead, the ads take a health-is-wealth approach that shows subjects full of personality, originality, and possibility. Viewers could begin to see the company as a way to fulfill their personal potential and reach their goals. But how? The ads were followed by the introduction of several user-friendly apps that make health an everyday commitment involving small daily decisions. The myCigna Mobile App was one of the first, offering traditional resources such as a physicians directory and account management tools. Users also gained access to claim updates, drug information and comparison charts, and price comparisons. While myCigna Mobile is customized for clients’ accounts, the GO YOU app is available to everyone with an Android or iOS device. Non-clients and clients alike can now peruse thousands of helpful and encouraging resources. These tools can be shared instantly with friends and family. Users can also create edifying video messages, photos and banners about health and wellness. For making healthy dietary decisions on the go, Cigna created Everyday...

Giant 3D printers, though still in the research stage, may be the perfect candidate to replace built-by-hand homes. USC Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis designed a robot able to build a 2,500-square-foot home in just 24 hours. The process, called Contour Crafting, is in fact scaling up 3D printing to the scale of the building. The big robot’s actions are dictated by a computer program: the construction site is cleared and leveled; the workers lay down two rails a few feet further apart than the building’s width and a computer-controlled contour crafter takes over from there. A gantry-type crane with a hanging nozzle squirts out concrete and with a components-placing arm travels along the rails. The nozzle lays layers of concrete creating hollow walls, and fills them in with additional concrete. People would only install doors and windows. The animation here gives a pretty good idea of how it would ultimately work. “It’s a CAD/CAM solution,” says Khoshnevis. The buildings are “designed on computer and built by a computer”. This method has proved to produce much stronger structures than traditional building methods. According to Contour Crafting, the tested wall is a 10,000PSI (pounds per square inch) strength compared to the average 3,000PSI of a regular wall. With the Contour Crafting solution the cost of home-owning could be slashed, making it possible for millions more humans – especially in developing countries –  to have houses. The first thing that comes to mind is the opportunity to build emergency and replacement housing in disaster relief areas, such as recovery from typhoons and hurricanes. It could also be used to build high-quality shelter for those living in desperate conditions: at the beginning of the 21st century, there are almost one billion people in need of stable housing around the world....

Microsoft needs to take bold steps to regain precious ground. To that end, its Build 2014 Developer’s Conference included news both expected and surprising. The expected announcements were related to the new Windows Phone 8.1 software and the much-anticipated update to the Windows 8.1 OS. The surprise was the new Windows 7-style Start menu for Windows 8, which will be launched as a free update. The main focus of the conference reflected Microsoft’s path of offering the ability to experience the same look and feel of applications across phones, tablets, and PCs, as well as the ability for the developers to easily build apps for all three platforms. “I am absorbing the Internet… now I’m learning about you.” The spotlight of the keynote was on Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1, the upcoming voice assistant that has the task of competing with Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now. Even though right now the new sassy digital assistant is a beta app, there are a few interesting things about her – she’s talkative, but knows what she’s talking about as she’s been given the ability to mine the Windows Phone content (with the user’s permission) and also search the web. “Because she’s powered by the Internet, you could say that she knows everything about the world,” Joe Belfiore said. “But because she runs on your Windows Phone, she also knows everything about you.” Cortana will have her own Live Tile, at the same time replacing the search function on the Windows Phone. She can take notes, send reminders, set alarms, and recognize the places you frequently visit. She also has a “Notebook” where she tracks certain user interests, including an “inner circle” of favorite users. The “Quiet hours” feature blocked notifications, with permission to reach you...

For most of us, the smartphone has become the latest version of “don’t leave home without it” – remember that old American Express slogan from back in 1985? Most of us can’t make it more than a few minutes without access to our personal communication devices, which double as mini-computers and someday very soon will probably supplant our credit cards as a financial transaction point of contact. Most of us have adapted to the positive implications of the mobile technology we are carrying in our pockets. But we are less aware of the capable sensor suite, and associated risk, that is probably within your visible – or at least audible – range at this very second. Scientists and researchers have examined phones from all the angles, trying to help us prepare for any threats to the security of our personal information and data contained therein. One facet of the study on mobile phones involves the accelerometer’s power to detect vibrations. According to a research conducted by the computer scientists at Georgia Tech, placing a phone on a desk can detect the vibrations from keys pressed on a nearby keyboard and even pick out words with an accuracy of up to 80 percent. Although this type of attack might be more difficult than other methods of keylogging it can be a highly effective espionage story. “The best-case scenario, if you are an attacker, is if you are going after a very specific person”, says assistant professor at Georgia Tech, Patrick Traynor. “I think it is realistic in that case.” Accelerometers track movement in three dimensions: side-to-side, forward-and-backward and up-and-down. Analyzing the data they collect can give a good idea of the number code or pattern used to protect a smartphone. Adam J. Aviv, Katherine Gibson,...

It sounds unbelievable, but it all started only 25 years ago this week. On a March day in 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, established the first connection of his brainchild called the World Wide Web – a system for publishing information over the internet.  It was an idea that would change the world and life as we know it. Berners-Lee worked at CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva, Switzerland – and his intention was to help itinerant academics from all over the world run a complicated particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. These scientists were eager to share information – data and test results – but had plenty of roadblocks. Berners-Lee’s proposal specified a set of technologies that would help overcome that; however, his initial proposal was not immediately accepted. Perseverance is what made Tim successful: by October 1990 he had particularized three essential technologies that remain today the foundation of the Web, visible on any Web browser: HTML: HyperText Markup Language is the publishing format for the Web that includes the function of formatting documents and link to other documents and resources. URI: Uniform Resource Identifier is a sort of “address”, unique to each resource on the Web. HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol allows for the retrieval of linked sources from across the Web. By the end of 1990, the first Web page was served. By 1991, people outside of CERN were able to join the community. Perhaps the most important thing in the history of technology is set on April 1993 when CERN announced that the World Wide Web technology would be available for anyone to use, for free. Today the World Wide Web is the most powerful communication medium we know. Whether we teach and...

Once again, Barcelona hosted the GSMA Mobile World Congress, a global showcase where some of the industry’s biggest names displayed their latest toys. This year’s event featured over 1,800 exhibiting companies, more than 85,000 visitors from 201 countries, a new record, reflecting again how pervasive mobile has become. The four-day conference and exhibition became the meeting spot for executives from mobile operators, software companies, equipment providers, internet companies, and automotive, finance, and healthcare industries, topped by government delegations from all over the world. More than 4,500 CEOs, including Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and IMB’s Virginia Rometty held keynotes, followed by CEOs and senior executives from companies like Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, Bitcoin Foundation, Cisco, Citigroup, Connecthings, EMC Corporation, Etisalat Group, Ford Motor Company, Isis, Jasper Wireless, Kakao Corp., KDDI, Lookout, Millicom, NTT DOCOMO, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Shazam Entertainment, Shhmooze, SingTel, SK Planet, Tele2 Group, Viacom International Media Networks and WhatsApp. The Connected City attracted over 17,000 visitors over the four days, and presented mobile solutions for services like education, health, retail, transport, smart cities and more. The Internet of Things describes the phenomenon of network-connected sensors incorporated into devices that in the past were standalone appliances. An even broader term, ‘The Internet of Everything’, includes smartphones and other mobile computing devices, as well as Internet-connected appliances. Remember Google’s move earlier this year, the $3 billion acquisition of Nest’s smart thermostat and smoke alarm technology. A wide variety of vendors showed or announced services and products that fit the concept. The automakers announced connectivity technology this week, to meet consumers’ expectation of having the same connected experience with their cars as they have with their mobile phones. Deutsche Telekom announced a deal with PayPal through which it will enable the possibility for the mobile users to purchase...

Apple’s highly-anticipated sapphire glass will not only offer super-protection to our favorite electronic devices, but will also improve battery life by the addition of solar-powered charging cells. Sapphire is one of the three gem-varieties of corundum, the other two being ruby – corundum in a shade of red – and padparadscha – a pinkish-orange. Although blue is the most common color, corundum can also be colorless or pink, green, and shades of gray and black. It can be mined or artificially produced. Sapphire is more than a beautiful and extremely expensive gem. Because of its remarkable hardness – 9 on the Mohs scale, right after the diamond which scores the maximum 10 – sapphires are used in non-ornamental tasks such as infrared optical components (red ruby sapphires are utilized to create new-infrared lasers due to their capacity to be turned to the appropriate wavelengths, because of the titanium and chromium impurities that form them), high durability windows for high pressure diagnostic and scientific equipment, including bullet proof glass, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and scratch-resistant coverings for lenses and high-end watch faces (Rolex, Citizen, etc.) It is important to note that Corning Gorilla Glass scores ~7 on the Mohs scale. Very high-end smartphones are already using sapphire crystal screens. The handmade Vertu Ti has a 3.7-inch crystal-covered screen, but thus far the technology has been too expensive for mass produced smartphone screens. Apple started using it to protect the cameras on the iPhone and, more recently, on the home button for the 5S model. But things are not about to stop here. In a post on the Seeking Alpha investor blog, Matt Margolis concludes that the $578m deal Apple struck with GT Advanced Technologies has more than just the sapphire glass growth initiative behind...

Today’s smartphones hold more private data than a credit card. A credit card comes with a “kill switch” but your smartphone does not. If your credit card is stolen, you can have it disabled. Any access to your account using the old card number will be forbidden. Yet if your smartphone is stolen, you and your company are more vulnerable than ever. A few developers have created software that disables mobile devices. All that would be required to activate the kill switch is a verification  process, much like what is undergone when you’re canceling credit card. Companies and individuals can potentially save a lot of money and effort when kill switch technology hits the market. A kill switch can provide improved security for businesses by keeping private data out of the wrong hands. The 2013 Cost of Data Breach Study issued by Ponemon suggests that US companies have the most costly data breaches at $199 per record. This brings total costs to about $5.4 million annually. Cybercrime that may come as a result of compromised data leads to $300 billion to $1 trillion in damages. Companies could greatly decrease the cleanup costs of data breaches with a kill switch on corporate smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Companies can also protect themselves against disgruntled and negligent employees. Cisco reports that: 20 percent of IT professionals said disgruntled employees were their biggest concern in the insider threat arena 39 percent of IT professionals were more concerned about the threat from their own employees than the threat from outside hackers. 11 percent of employees reported that they or fellow employees accessed unauthorized information and sold it for profit, or stole computers. If a company is able to disarm its issued devices when needed, the company will be better...

Invoice processing services also help property managers monitor costs in several ways, says Brad Chandler, industry principal with Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Tech Choice Award winner Yardi Procure to Pay. Since invoices are digital, Chandler says, property managers can view them at any time without needing to search across various desks to assess property budget impact. This is key to financial decision-making throughout the month, and it also saves money, as there are no invoices to consume scarce office space. “The workflows that guide each invoice to the correct approvers eliminate the need to mail invoices to regional managers or headquarters for eventual payment,” he adds. According to Chandler, “Property managers are also able to view budgetary impacts prior to payable creation, to support future purchase decisions and also track service contract invoices against defined budgets as they are processed. “[This] provides insight of actuals against contract terms to ensure the budget continues to support the execution,” says Chandler. In addition, invoice processing can identify potential problems before they become actual problems, Chandler reports. Linking invoices to service contracts provides insight into execution actuals versus planned budgets, with each invoice eliminating reactionary steps when the budget is exhausted and the contract is not completed. Invoice processing systems can also identify duplicate invoices to prevent potential duplicate payments, which can impact cash availability. “Further, invoice workflows can be reported on when delays occur that could impact timely payment and payment discounts,” adds Chandler. “Property managers can assess the timing of payments to available cash and avoid insufficient funds and/or late fees. With electronic invoices, property managers can easily research vendor or client questions, no matter what workflow status the invoice is in.” According to Chandler, they can also expediently provide an invoice image and data, approval...

The social media engine seems to be losing steam these days. Twitter’s revenue more than doubled in the fourth quarter yet the tech giant said it hit a roadblock in terms of user growth; in the fourth quarter, the site added just 9 million, or 3.8% more, new monthly active users to 241 million, down from 6.4% growth in the previous period. It was the fourth straight quarter of slowing growth, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Facebook Inc. on the other hand boasts about 1.2 billion registered users worldwide, though it also reported lower sequential user growth, set at 3.4% in the fourth quarter. This slowdown in user growth indicates that it might be time for a change and Twitter knows how to take a hint. In an effort to transform itself into a mainstream product, the company announced a design makeover that will make Twitter more approachable to users. Twitter is very fond of experimentation as a product improvement technique and many of their strategies have proven successful. “A common thread across recent releases has been experimentation,” commented Alex Roetter, VP, Engineering, in a Twitter blog post. “We’ve tested various features with small groups of our 200 million users before determining what we’ll release. These tests are essential to delivering the best possible user experience.” “We also experiment with features that may never be released to everyone who uses Twitter. Those experiments are perhaps even more valuable because they help us decide what not to do – which is important as we work to keep Twitter simple while improving the user experience. Ultimately, our goal is to learn and keep making the product better; we aren’t necessarily looking to launch all of the experiments we roll out”, he added. The Tweet...

If your property was developed before 2000, it wasn’t built with cellphone and Wi-Fi reception in mind. The location, building materials, and sometimes the building’s design can hinder signals. Today’s renters won’t tolerate glacial-speed connectivity and inconsistent service. Beacons could help improve resident satisfaction, retention, and give you new ways to communicate with tenants. Beacons are the latest technology for any property that wants to improve cellphone reception and Wi-Fi availability. The small devices can be plugged into a wall or set on any surface. Their low-energy usage and low-cost makes them easy to add to any unit. Beacons use Bluetooth connection to send signals to devices such as smartphones and tablets, so there are no wires or tedious setup required. Basically, beacons can be used to amplify your wireless services.  Offering them with your units could be a huge selling point for renters, particularly Millennial. There is a growing trend of Americans and Canadians who are ditching cable in exchange for Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming video services; some switch to save hundreds of dollars on their bills each year. Residents won’t be pleased if they feel coerced into a cable contract because they can’t stream shows at home. Tenants of all ages will appreciate faster speeds and more consistent service. It’s vital to their life’s work, in many cases. An increasing number of professionals work from home at least one day a week or more. Even those who aren’t remote employees are expected to have always-on connectivity, staying on top of their game by working evenings and weekends. If the internet is down or slow, their work will suffer and they’re likely to look elsewhere when it’s time to renew the lease. Owners may also toy with the idea of using beacons...

There’s no doubt that 2014 is going to be another big year of exciting enhancements in technology. Improved software, systems and products really came on the scene in 2013, and more improvements are sure to make our working and non-working hours more efficient, secure and fun in the months ahead. Last year we talked a lot about business intelligence, moving to the right type of cloud for your company, and ensuring adequate security for your valuable business data. These will continue to be important considerations in 2014. To find out what smart companies are thinking about for the year ahead, we checked in with Scott Wiener, Yardi Senior Vice President and head of our Clouds Services division. He’s a longtime technology veteran with his finger on the pulse of the latest enhancements and innovations. Scott helped us come up with these four key questions that any smart company – not just Yardi clients and real estate-related businesses – should be asking in the year ahead. 1.       If I haven’t moved to the cloud, what am I concerned about? The options for cloud users are nearly endless, with service providers offering a wide range of options for network configuration, security, replication and access protocols. But some firms have resisted going cloud-based, despite myriad benefits. Partner with a company who has the experience and history of delivering the service; don’t trust the source ask what their safeguards are; how personally identifiable information (PII) is handled are just a couple of items you should be thinking of.   You’re holding out, it might be time to get on the phone with your technology service provider and ask the hard questions. Fears about access limitations and being able to directly connect to your database aren’t good reasons to pass...

Now in its sixth year of existence, bitcoin is rising in popularity, value, and accessibility. The question remains, however, if the digital currency can realistically open new doors for international commerce. Bitcoin is a digital currency that hit the marketplace back in 2008.  Like other currencies, its algorithm-based exchange rate fluctuates daily. The currency is not backed by a central bank or government; as such, it cannot be stored in a bank. Tightly encrypted online accounts facilitate transactions. The currency has earned a mixed reputation. Some hail bitcoin as the next step in digital exchange, the future of global commerce.  Bitcoin transactions result in fewer fees and capital controls, thus promoting more fluid trade. Others view bitcoin as the currency of thieves, vagabonds and unsavory black market merchants. Some governments won’t even humor bitcoin exchanges with their presence; the Chinese government forced the nation’s largest bitcoin exchange to stop accepting yuan deposits late last year. China’s actions somewhat crush the notion that bitcoin could survive as an independent currency. If other governments follow China’s example, their currencies could no longer be used to fuel bitcoin exchanges. Ultimately, bitcoin would be reduced to figures on a screen with no real world value, the equivalent of gaining or losing points on Candy Crush. But so far that hasn’t happened. While the value of bitcoin slumped miserably after China’s rejection, the currency is rebuilding strength in other markets. In fact, it may be used in American real estate transactions. Bond New York, a Manhattan-based real estate broker, is now accepting bitcoin as payment for real estate. In December, The Wall Street Journal reported that two sellers—one for an $800,000 ranch in the Hamptons and the other for a $7.85 million mansion in Las Vegas—are willing to accept...

Earlier this month, the Consumer Electronic Association presented the latest innovations in the smartphone’s most important peripheral accessory: the lasted and greatest in cases. But these babies do much more than just protect your phone from the inevitable fumble, toss, or spill from your shoulder bag. A popular one is the Typo case (left) for iPhone 5 and 5S, a $99 indigo copy of the BlackBerry keyboard founded by Ryan Seacrest; this case comes with a backlit physical keyboard at the bottom of the iPhone. It’s a niche product that doesn’t require too much of an effort to use it: at the first use it has to be paired with the iPhone and once set up it takes over from the iPhone’s keyboard software anywhere text can be inserted. A special key allows switching through the keyboard’s languages. It also has a key that mimics the function of the home button as the case covers the one of the iPhone. Of course, on the iPhone 5S the fingerprint-recognition function is lost; Siri is still present by holding down Typo’s home key. The keyboard has its own battery that the company claims will last one to two weeks between charges. This four-row replica triggered BlackBerry’s reaction and sued Typo for patent infringements. What will happen in court remains to be seen, but until then the Typo is available for sale and might be a much needed accessory for former BlackBerry users who are thumb-typing experts. No version has been announced for Android users. Mophie presented its new battery case for iPhone 5 and 5S and it doesn’t look too different from the previous Juice Pack Air, it’s just a bit taller. However, the way they used the extra height is what made it be the...