We’ve blogged before on the shift from PCs and laptops to tablets, a trend that still has momentum at its back. Intel, the world’s leading chip manufacturer for personal computers, has announced the release of a new product that may reasonably swing the balance—or at least level the playing field. Intel’s Haswell chip has been outfitted with several new components that permit faster, more energy efficient operations. As a result, the computers that use the chip can also become faster, greener, and lighter. As a bonus, Haswell machines will also offer improved graphics, less heat generation, and the gift of silence. Haswell at a Glance Microsleeps to save power: “If someone is typing on their PC, we can literally shut everything down when it’s not being used and then immediately bring it back up again in between the keystrokes,” says Navin Shenoy, vice president of the Intel Architecture Group, in an interview with the BBC. “The system is smart enough to know it’s not being used for those nanoseconds. That’s the kind of granular power management at the chip level that we’ve never had before.” This feature promotes longer battery life and less energy drain. Active-use battery life has been reduced by 50%, with inactive battery use improved by 75 percent compared to the previous generation. Quieter and cooler: Certain versions of Haswell contain a CPU core that uses six watts of power, which is low enough to ditch a noisy, cumbersome fan. The unit stays cool with less noise. Notable leap in GPU: The average user will have no need for an additional graphics card, which previously added to the cost and bulk of PCs. Notebooks and two-in-one devices can now compete with tablets on weight and bulk. Increased capability: Haswell’s CPU performance...

Here at Point2, we help real estate agents market themselves and their properties. That means we spend a lot of time looking at listing photos. We’ve seen them all – the good, the bad and the truly incomprehensible. While we all know that evocative listing photos can promote a property by encouraging viewers to picture themselves living in the space, we can’t help but wonder: what if these millions of images that are being traded across the Internet by agents, owners and real estate portals could do even more? Don’t worry, this is not an article about the future of smell-o-vision. Instead we take a look at today’s smart photos to show you how a curbside snapshot can be so much more than just a pretty picture. Here are three new real estate marketing applications brought to you by advances in imaging technology. Share Locations What’s the first rule in real estate? Location, location, location. This is reason enough to geotag your listing photos. Geotagging is the practice of associating your images with a geographical location. Geotags tell your audience, and search engines, where a photo was taken. Geo-data makes it easy to add another layer of ‘searchability’ to your photos so consumers can find you based on a desirable location rather just than a desirable set of search criteria. With so many people using their mobile devices to find properties, geotags help them search for nearby homes more easily. Although most of today’s smartphones and digital cameras can add geotags to your photos automatically, real estate agents and brokers might want to check out RealtorCam, an iOS app that adds location and date information to your photos, plus easy custom captions. Viewers can see how great a house looks, where it’s located and...

Increase your property’s visibility to perspective clients while promoting tenant engagement through advances in near-field communication. You may recall advertisements for various smartphones where file and photo sharing occur by simply bringing the devices within a few centimeters of each other. You may have also seen SmartPass devices in stores and vending machines that allow customers to pay for products and services by passing their credit card over a tag. Such technologies are examples of near-field communication (NFC), a rapidly growing series of standards that allow mobile devices to communicate with other devices within close proximity. NFC has taken hold in various pockets of commerce and entertainment, making transactions faster and more convenient. Ticketing for transportation and entertainment venues around the globe utilize cards and key fobs to permit access goods and services. Box offices allow patrons to present digital tickets in place of their paper counterparts. Loyalty programs for various stores rely on stickers and cards to connect customers to rewards and discounts. Perhaps most importantly, many of us have offered silent expressions of gratitude as our children quietly enjoy multi-player gaming on separate devices while sitting in the back seat of the car. It sure beats arguing over the radio station. The versatility of NFC has proven to be its greatest asset. NFC standards permit a nearly effortless exchange of images, videos, data and text. It can replace paper while still leaving a trail suitable for verification and authenticity. As the market continues to grow, the potential of NFC will continue to expand. Near-field communication lends itself to practical and fun uses within the multifamily housing industry: – Leasing agents can create and instantly share marketing cards that include contact information, property details, property photos, video and more. (Yardi PopCard is a...

The annual Google conference ended a few days ago. This year the event was more developer-centric. Many were disappointed by the lack of new gadgets, but this year’s conference focused on behind-the-scenes action. News about Android, Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Search, and Google Play took center stage. Android By now, 900 million activations of Android devices have occurred, and more than 48 billion apps installed from the Google Play store. Developers read these numbers as serious interest from the customer side. To aid development efforts, Google introduced a new tool – Android Studio – which allows them to work in multiple languages and for different sizes much easier than ever. Google Chrome Google named it “the most popular browser used in the world” and the 750 million active users worldwide agree. Last year, there were 450 million active users, much of the growth having happened on tablets and phones. And because it is a platform itself, developers use it to build apps, using all open tools offered by Chrome. More news on the operating system will be announced later this year. Google Maps for Mobile For the past ten years, the Google Maps product has been unmatched. Now, changes are making it more user-friendly and will help us discover new places, instead of just taking you from point A to point B. Maps users now have Places Recommendations, meaning that they see what places have been rated and recommended by Google+ friends. The integration with Zagat has been improved to include badges and editorial reviews right in the app. Exclusive offers from different locations can now be displayed directly in the information cards, redeemable on the spot or saved within the app for later use. Google Explore is the new feature that enables...

A new mobile technology has appeared approximately every decade since the first 1G system was introduced in 1981; 2G networks were made public in 1992, 3G rolled out in 2001, and 4G systems were standardized in 2012. Today, most of the world is rolling out 4G networks, but the Koreans are pushing for 5G mobile communications technology. They say it will be delivered to consumers by 2020. Samsung Electronics announced the successful outcome of their attempt to develop the world’s first adaptive array transceiver technology operating in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for cellular communications. More precisely, they’ve been successful in testing the super-fast successor of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), hitting a speed of 1.056 Gbps in tests, at a frequency of 28 GHz and to a distance of 2 kilometers. This represents the core of the 5G mobile communications system, this is what will make possible to transmit data up to several hundred times faster than current 4G networks. Once the 5G networks start being commercialized, users will be able to transmit massive data files, high quality digital movies “practically without limitation.” Fast, seamless downloads of 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition content and even remote medical assistance will be available to subscribers. “The millimeter-wave band is the most effective solution to recent surges in wireless Internet usage. Samsung’s recent success in developing the adaptive array transceiver technology has brought us one step closer to the commercialization of 5G mobile communications in the millimeter-wave bands,” said Samsung executive vice president and head of digital media and communication R&D ChangYeong Kim. Although this sounds like a breakthrough, Samsung is not the first company to have developed the core tech for 5G networks.  NTT DoGoMo, in collaboration with the Tokyo Institute of...

The number of applications downloaded from Apple’s iTunes store has now surpassed 50 billion. That’s a lot of apps in five years’ time. And the lucky person who downloaded the 50 billionth app is being handsomely rewarded with a $10,000 iTunes gift card to be spent on – guess what? – more apps. And that’s a lot of apps, since the average price for a downloaded application was $3.18 on an iPhone and $4.44 on an iPad (as of late 2012). Many apps are free. The lower prices go, the more downloads go up. And by 2017, the average price per app is estimated to drop to less than dime, according to a forecast from Strategy Analytics. The pace at which apps are downloaded has speeded way up since the iTunes store began. It’s estimated that 2.5 billion downloads are now taking place every month. There’s an app for everything, and there are thousands of apps that are real estate related. Did you know that Yardi is the real estate technology solutions provider with the most applications available for download from the iTunes store? Here is the run down of the Yardi apps available that might help you improve your business performance. Yardi CRM Mobile – During the leasing process, every day a unit sits empty costs you money. Yardi CRM Mobile will help streamline leasing by automating the process. Prospect and customer contact information and history are tracked in Voyager and synced with Outlook throughout the leasing process, from first contact to final signing. Access to crucial data is always within reach when it is on the mobile device that never leaves your side. Lease abstracts can also be run from Yardi CRM Mobile, available for iPhone and iPad. Yardi Inspection Mobile –...

Facebook has introduced a powerful tool for managing online advertising campaigns that is being heralded as a major advancement in targeted marketing. If you are using social media-based ads to reach potential renters for your multifamily property, the Facebook Power Editor could change and enhance the campaigns you create. It allows you to create and manage multiple advertising efforts at once, which means you can parse your ad budget according to the markets you most wish to reach. Placement of the ads within Facebook is a major added feature offered by the Power Editor, which will allow you to select where you want your ads to show up. You might choose to advertise in the Facebook News Feed (where users are accustomed to seeing posts from their Facebook Friends) or continue to advertise in the right side bar of the site, where advertising has traditionally appeared. However, many Facebook users say that they no longer see the right hand column, considering it a “blind spot” where ads will be ignored. You can also use the Power Editor to ensure your ads only appear on mobile devices, which is increasingly the way most users engage with Facebook – more users now use phones or tablets to reach the site than computers. And that group is getting larger – the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone has increased over 60 percent to 818.4 million since 2011. The mobile version of Facebook is a very different interface from the web-based interface, and ads must be formatted differently to reach mobile users. Using the Power Editor, which can only be accessed on the Google Chrome browser, you can decide on how large of an audience you’d like to reach. Targeting specific groups within the...

In early 2000, the city of Provo, Utah decided that the city and its residents would have a lot to gain from access to high speed connectivity. In 2004, it began the construction of iProvo, the Fiber to Home service, and the project was completed within the following two years. Homes and businesses, municipal buildings and schools, power stations and traffic signals, were now connected throughout the city. Since then, the service changed owners several times due to financial reasons, until last week when the city council voted unanimously to reclaim ownership and find a buyer for the “troubled iProvo network.” About $39 million in bond debt was issued to build it, and the network has not yet been run in a financially sustainable way. Google saw an opportunity. According to Provo’s press release and Google’s blog post, Google has now purchased the fiber-optic network. Kansas City and Austin will likely have a third sister city with access to Google Fiber if the City Council votes in favor of the agreement this week. If the agreement is approved this week,  the network will be upgraded to meet the current standards.  When the work is complete, they will offer their “Free Internet service (5 Mbps speeds) to every home along the existing Provo network, for a $30 activation fee and no monthly charge for at least seven years.” On top of that, the giant promises to offer “Google Fiber Gigabit Internet—up to 100x faster Internet than today’s average broadband speeds—and the option for Google Fiber TV service with hundreds of your favorite channels. We’d also provide free Gigabit Internet service to 25 local public institutions like schools, hospitals and libraries”, says Kevin Lo, GM of Google Fiber. Provo’s inhabitants responded well to the previous fiber service,...

The mobile ecosystem is constantly making room for innovation and new applications. Smartphone operating systems are racing for market position. At the moment, a duopoly is in place: Linux-based Android, followed closely by Apple’s iOS. The third spot is under contention between Microsoft’s Windows, Blackberry’s Blackberry 10, and Firefox’s Firefox OS. Who will occupy the bronze podium and what’s their impact on the market? Gartner tracks technology shipments and predicts that the worldwide PC market will drop 7.6 percent this year, due to user behavior. Customers are flocking to mobile, an economically favorable alternative to a laptop/PC, and application addiction is very real. Tablets will see a 69.8 percent increase in shipments from 2012 and smartphones will grow from 675 million to 1 billion units, according to Gartner’s data research. Google’s free Android is currently the most popular smartphone OS, holding two thirds of the market. Trying to ensemble the intuitive, easy and delightful experience  iOS offers, combined with the power and flexibility of the traditional Windows desktop OS, Android became the “Windows” of mobile operating systems. With multiple manufacturers, each with their own price, quality level, and features, Android is much easier to customize, being extremely flexible. Today there’s a device running on Android for every pocket, purpose, and desire. Apple’s iOS, not even available for licensing, has less than one third of the market; its iOS platform is by far the most polished, prestigious and popular of them all. After all, it’s Apple that kicked off the modern post-PC era. iOS is reliable, its hardware is gorgeous and cutting–edge, and iTunes is the largest library of apps and content. It’s so easy to use an iPad, that everyone can understand how it works, even toddlers. For the average consumer with little to...

Austin, Texas is already famous. It is home to the major multimedia festival South by Southwest, a great music and arts scene, and fabulous queso. And now that Google and AT&T have decided to go head-to-head to deliver Austin super-duper fast Internet connectivity, it might be time to change the slogan “Keep Austin Weird” to “Keep Austin Wired.” This week, AT&T announced that Austin will be the next city to benefit from the wonders of Google Fiber, which offers online access at speeds 100 times faster than what most of us are used to. How fast is one gigabit per second? Fast enough that you could download a 2GB file in a few seconds, rather than a few hours.  Kansas City was the first market to feel the magic. Fiber was rolled out there in late 2012, prompting the growth of new businesses, much media attention, and happy/lucky Internet users. Google’s statement on why Austin was chosen for Fiber: “It’s a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities, as well as the University of Texas and its new medical research hospital,” said Milo Medin, VP of access services for Google Fiber, on Google’s blog. “We’re sure these folks will do amazing things with gigabit access, and we feel very privileged to have been welcomed to their community.” Google plans to be live with Fiber in Austin by summer 2014. The very same day Austin’s selection as the next Fiber city was announced; AT&T announced it would bring its Project VIP effort to Austin, too. Project VIP is a broadband expansion effort, supported by advanced fiber optic infrastructure, that also promises speeds of 1 GBPS. The nationwide effort entails AT&T spending $14 billion over the next three years to enhance its...

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that the future of computing is moving from one type of screen – traditional computer monitors – to many types of screens with a plethora of different sizes and resolutions. Smartphone and tablet sales are outpacing PCs, and innovative web-browsing technologies, like Google Glass and the iWatch, appear to be on the horizon. What does this mean for websites everywhere? To stay ahead of the curve, you need a site that looks good and functions well on any and all devices. It’s time to take steps towards responsive design. In fact, Mashable.com – one of the Internet’s most popular news and technology blogs – has declared 2013 the “year of responsive web design.” What Is It? Responsive design is the practice of creating a website that provides an optimal viewing experience across all devices. Responsive web designs resize and reformat page content in response to screen size and resolution. More Views, Higher Quality Responsive websites reach more consumers because they tend to appear higher in search engine rankings. Why? Because they have a single URL, instead of multiple URLs for different versions of a site. This makes it easier for crawlers to discover and eventually index content. Responsive sites also load faster than mobile sites because mobile sites have to be redirected to the mobile URL. Responsive sites do not have to be redirected. Faster load times can boost your search result rankings. Additionally, responsive design may decrease your bounce rate among visitors by improving viewing and linking capabilities across the board. Having a responsive site means that mobile viewers see exactly the same screen that desktop viewers do, instead of a bland mobile site with decreased capabilities. Mobile users also enjoy improved link-sharing via responsive design. For example, if...

The Internet has become an irreplaceable tool for today’s connected home shopper. The web has opened a whole new world of home buying possibilities for consumers and real estate professionals. Once upon a time, people turned first to newspapers for home sales advertisements. Nowadays, house hunters rely almost entirely on digital channels. A recent study developed by Google in partnership with the National Association of Realtors revealed that 90 percent of home buyers searched online during their home buying process. Moreover, data shows real estate related searches on Google have grown 253 percent over the past four years. Foreclosure searches on desktop are up 7% year-over-year and 180% on mobile. In an effort to keep up with today’s complex, digitally driven media environment, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has created the HUDHomeStore, an online listing platform for HUD real estate owned (REO) single-family properties. This comprehensive listings site provides the public, brokers, potential owner-occupants, state and local governments and nonprofit organizations a centralized location to search the inventory of HUD properties for sale. In addition, registered real estate brokers and other organizations can place bids on behalf of their clients to purchase a HUD property. And for those searching via mobile, applications are available for Android and iPhone, allowing prospective buyers to look on the go. Visiting a new city or neighborhood and want to learn what affordable real estate opportunities might be available? These apps are an ideal tool. The mobile app returns instant listings of available HUD homes for sale in any part of the country. The search field helps you look for homes by street, city, state, or ZIP code. Each listing features extensive information on the property, including bed/bath info, year built, square footage, pictures and maps...

Is it a tablet, is it a phone? Why not two in one? Asus keeps coming up with very interesting technology and based on their latest release, one could say that they’re having a good time experimenting with the industry’s most popular mobile devices: the smartphone and the tablet. At the Mobile World Congress they revealed the pair Fonepad and Padfone Infinity. The first one is a 7-inch Android tablet with a 1280×800 display. It runs on Android 4.1.2 OS with 16GB of storage and 1GB RAM. A microSD slot for expanded file storage is available. What makes this tablet interesting is the micro SIM for voice calls. Although highly commented upon, with clear emphasis on its futility (who would want to hold a “phone” that has the microphone too far from the earpiece because of its size that resembles a book?), it’s still a nice experiment result. Still, headsets were created with a purpose, weren’t they? The 3MP rear camera is available only for Asian models; those built for Europe don’t have it. The US market most likely won’t make room for it and that’s because it lacks LTE; Asus has only 3G support. Another interesting aspect of the Fonepad is that it’s got Intel inside, more precisely PowerVR SGX 540 GPU paired with a single-core 1.2 GHz Atom. This is quite the involution as far as the strength of the device is concerned (compared to the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor that’s in the Nexus 7), games or more elaborate applications will have it slow down fast. As availability, Asia will welcome it in March at around $249 and Europe in April at 219 Euros. The Padfone is not a new product line for Asus, but the updates made to the hardware...

Editors’ note: Geneva Ives is the marketing writer for Point2, a leading provider of online marketing solutions for real estate professionals, including custom websites, syndication tools and prospecting utilities. She will be contributing technology-oriented real estate interest posts to The Balance Sheet. It’s no secret that the team at Point2 is a little home obsessed. We’ve been providing real estate marketing services for over a decade now; it’s fair to say we’ve seen a lot of properties (and housing trends) in that time. We recently encountered this house-centric blog post on Smithsonian.com that features video clips from the long-canceled CBS weekly documentary program entitled “The 21st Century.” The episode in question originally premiered on March 12, 1967. In it our host, legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite, escorts us around a vision of the single family home in the year 2001. Modern marvels abound – inflatable furniture, multicolored plastics, illuminated speakers. It’s a wonderland inspired by rapid advances in technology. That got us thinking: holy moly, the future is now! Decades past had such high aspirations for the year 2000 and beyond. Are we living up to the hype? To address this question, we decided to take a look at three specific rooms in the homes of today. How do they compare to their counterparts in homes of the 1960s? And how do they compare and contrast with the futuristic visions previewed by Mr. Cronkite? The Kitchen 1960s Trends: According to back issues of House Beautiful, contemporary eat-in kitchens celebrated saturated colors and wood cabinetry. 21st Century Predictions: The CBS writers of the day posited that we would enjoy irradiated foods, automated meal preparation and dishes that are molded on the spot in the 21st century. Clean up would be a snap. Dirty plates, complete...

Europe hosts the world’s premiere mobile event, a supersized tech fair that recently brought together over 72,000 participants from more than 220 countries and over 1,700 companies. Held this year in Barcelona, the Mobile World Congress is where the latest innovations in the mobile ecosystem are revealed, with emphasis on the technology behind the scenes such as networks, support systems, connected spaces, and more. This is the ultimate event for any technology fan, featuring exciting phones, tablets, back-end solutions, applications, and accessories. At this year’s event, over 50 percent of the attendees were C-level executives. Keynote speakers included Dr. Paul Jacobs, Chairman & CEO – Qualcomm, Stephen Elop, President & CEO – Nokia, Gary Kovacs, CEO – Mozilla, Mitchell Baker, Chairman – Mozilla, Dennis Crowley, Founder & CEO – Foursquare, Drew Houston, Founder & CEO – Dropbox, René Obermann, CEO – Deutsche Telekom, Axel Dauchez, CEO – Deezer, Randall Stephenson, President & CEO – AT&T, Franco Bernabè, Chairman, GSMA, Chairman & CEO – Telecom Italia Group, and Vittorio Colao, Chief Executive – Vodafone. There were many big announcements and unveilings. Highlights included: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 SoC (system-on-chip) phone lacks a competitive peer. The company makes the world’s most sophisticated 4G modems, advanced radio frequency connectors, and can roll a mind-blowing applications processor to boot. It’s truly impressive how Qualcomm managed to fit 4 “Krait” cores, Adreno 320 graphics, and an on-die LTE modem into a phone; it wouldn’t come as a surprise if they will be taking on more of Samsung’s business. Nvidia and Intel have made good progress on the mobile SoC branch, but not good enough to consider themselves competitors. Neither has the capability to deliver an integrated LTE modem with apps processor sooner than the end of 2013. This year Qualcomm runs unopposed. Nokia announced to everyone’s delight that they’re making a wireless...

Samsung has announced that it is Ready 4 the show, inviting fans on March 14th to New York for a special event where the newest device from the South Korean company will stand in the spotlight. The event will be live streamed on YouTube, announcing the next Galaxy. The star will be the Galaxy S IV. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona the focus was on smartphones, but Samsung preferred to reveal the new 5.5-inch version of its Galaxy Note II tablet, leaving the descendant of GS III away from the curious audience. Chances are that this marketing strategy has been encouraged (if not triggered) by the requests received from the US carriers to hold the event in the US. This will be a premiere for Samsung, Samsung Galaxy S IV will be the first Korean device to be launched in the U.S. – GS III had its grand event in London last May, more than two months after the annual biggest trade show of the mobile industry. Some leaks landed under the curious eyes of the media; a second set of leaks made their eyes even bigger, what’s the latest challenge Samsung has prepared for Apple? The leak showcases a pretty fast smartphone: 1.9GHz Qualcom Snapdragon 600 processor 2GB RAM 4G LTE support 3100 mAh battery Bluetooth 5.0 16/32/64GB storage options Removable SD card slot (up to 64GB) 10-13MP rear-facing camera Multi-purpose/Dedicated camera button Android 4.2 Jelly Bean OS A real shame is that the much awaited device, contrary to some of the rumors, won’t be the first handset to use flexible AMOLED screen – a tough, yet flexible material that makes the display virtually crack-proof. Instead it might have a higher resolution, at 1080PPI, and maybe a bigger display (not too...

As a property manager, it may become prudent to ask yourself: Are you getting the most out of Pinterest? This new social media tool has skyrocketed in popularity over the last year, and owners and operators across the country are finding it is a great way to promote their communities. In a recent webinar called “Pinterest for Property Managers,” Charity Zierten, a consultant for Socially Engaged Marketing LLC, provided tips and tricks to integrate Pinterest into a winning social media strategy. The key aspects for a successful professional Pinterest account include being professional, being relevant, and focusing on great products, fun communities and inspiring ideas. According to Zierten, it’s important to integrate Pinterest with a property website, including adding a “Pin It” button so that people can pin directly from the site. She also suggested that property employees, such as leasing agents and people on the maintenance team, take pictures of the property using their smartphones, and pinning those pictures directly to community boards. And, while Zierten definitely recommends pinning original images to Pinterest boards, she also suggested repinning applicable images from other people’s boards. “It’s the polite thing to do, especially if they’re residents,” Zierten said. Additionally, Zierten suggested incorporating Pinterest accounts with Facebook accounts. “This is how you’re going to generate leads,” she said. One way to generate leads through Facebook is to announce Pinterest contests on Facebook feeds. Beyond being a way to increase a social media profile of a community, Zierten said that Pinterest is useful because it could increase a property’s presence online. “Google loves Pinterest!” Zierten said. It is crucial to optimize pins for online search and to get the most repins. One method is to have a call to action in the pin’s description, such as “lease...