The multifamily marketing industry recently gathered in Huntington Beach, Calif., for the 2019 Apartment Innovation and Marketing (AIM) Conference. The 2019 edition focused on digital marketing best practices and innovative technologies. Keep reading for top insights from the 2019 conference! The ever-expanding Internet of Things A second wave of connected technologies is making its way to multifamily. In fact, according to Terry Jones of tech giants Travelocity, Kayak and Wayblazer, 75 billion smart devices will be connected to the internet of things by 2025. From smart home integration and keyless entry to smart thermostats and high-speed WiFi, AIM sessions focused on the convenience and opportunity afforded by embracing IoT advances. At AIM, Yardi experts also previewed connected technology innovations coming soon to the RENTCafé Suite. “Marketers are going to need to understand technology more to be successful,” shared Ben Burns, vice president of digital strategy at Bozzuto, during a growth-focused question and answer panel. “At the end of the day, we’re providing experiences.” Is your business ready to embrace new technologies and give renters what they want? Attribution, automation and analytics New technologies appear on the market every day. But which ones made the jump from novelty to widespread adoption? The AIM Technology TrendTalk with Esther Bonardi, vice president of marketing at Yardi, explored multifamily technology trends and how smart marketers can use them to improve business outcomes. Meet the speakers: Diana Norbury, Senior Vice President of Operations, Pillar Properties Norbury spoke about utilizing benchmarking and prescriptive analytics to help drive more informed marketing decisions. At AIM, one thing was clear: data is a marketer’s best friend. Prescriptive and predictive analytics can use that data to inform your marketing strategy, improve customer experiences and, ultimately, boost conversions. “Predictive analytics allow our staff to work...

Editor’s note: By now, everyone has heard about the Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to the billions of devices around the world that are now connected to the internet, collecting and sharing data. Turning dumb objects – from refrigerators to cars to watches – into intelligent aggregators of data creates a new layer of machine learning, and digital communication. This merging of the digital and physical can be found in almost every industry, and is a significant growth area for real estate. Smart city projects are filling select urban areas with sensors, enabling them to understand and control the environment. Within a building, energy efficiencies can be made and predictive maintenance performed. Asset managers can now make better decisions based on real time data that doesn’t just create more awareness around the asset’s current position, but how it can generate more market value. So what’s behind the explosive growth of IOT? The following article by Yuen H. Lee of Augmentum, explores further. IoT is about connecting things that weren’t previously connected. Devices surrounding our everyday lives are omnipresent. Light bulbs, switches, wall clocks, door locks, appliances, etc. Going further, they may include devices we do not see but are omnipresent anyway: circuit breakers, HVACs, home gas shutoff valves, elevator controls, automobile parts, sensors, and smart phones. In a 2018 Bain & Company study, it is estimated that the combined markets of the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow to about USD 520 billion in 2021, more than double the USD 235 billion spent in 2017. A tripped smart circuit breaker can notify the homeowner what and where the problem lies. A group of tripped smart circuit breakers in a neighborhood can alert the utility supplier that a bigger problem may exist. An automobile...

When conversation shifts to home automation, references to Millennials are rarely far behind. While it’s true that the emerging generation of homeowners loves their tech toys, they aren’t the only ones harnessing the power of smart home technology. Senior living providers have joined other industry leaders in the pursuit of more automated options for residents as well. Amazon + Senior Housing Amazon has made huge strides as a provider of integrated automation and voice control for major home builders across the industry, including prominent developers Lennar and Shea Homes. Communities created by these companies are part of a growing “Wi-Fi Certified” trend, offering housing with built-in automation and voice control. For seniors, that means controlling features within their homes and interacting with the outside world is simplified, thanks to voice commands. Enabling the integration is Amazon’s Alexa, a cloud-based virtual assistant, which appears in various forms throughout the homes. She’s most often takes shape as a sleek, tabletop pillar in the Echo line of products. Through Alexa, seniors can set reminders for appointments and medications; control music and home ambiance; check weather; get news and sports updates; and order just about anything fathomable on Amazon.com. Amazon Echo Dot speakers permit seniors to access Alexa anywhere in their home. They also serve as Bluetooth speakers that are capable of connecting to a myriad of seniors’ personal devices. With so many ways to integrate, Amazon’s variations on Wi-Fi centric homes are quickly becoming the new standard for incoming baby boomers, but the tech toys come with a few caveats. Too Smart for Its Own Good? As technology develops at a rapid pace, home builders are left wondering just how quickly their newly installed gadgets will become obsolete. Alternatively, what are the costs associated with staying up-to-date...

With 2017 drawing to a close, we’ve been thinking about the future. The current year’s tech trends have been big and impactful, with artificial intelligence topping the charts. How about 2018? Most likely, technology is set to focus on the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Internet of Things Pretty much everyone has heard about IoT as it can be found in almost any industry now. You must have noticed that everything is becoming ‘smart’. In your car, at home, in the office, or shopping—there’s smart technology everywhere, ready to collect data and connect to other devices in order to assist you with your tasks. Gartner states that by 2020, a quarter of a billion cars will be hooked up to the internet. No doubt the trend will continue to progress in 2018 and even expand to areas outside of those mentioned above. Artificial Intelligence Pretty much anywhere you look—tech conferences, development and discussions, AI is at the forefront. And rightly so as it’s no easy thing to have computers able to learn in much the same way as humans do. Behind its extraordinary advancement is the incredible explosion in data—the more data an AI system has, the faster it can learn and the more accurate it becomes. It seems like humanity is on a path without a return alley. Machine Learning This technology has already swept every platform into its net. All developers want to make life and software more intelligent and advanced. It will replace all those mindless, repetitive and time-consuming tasks, precisely what technology should do. We already have some automated processes, decisions, functions and systems, carried out by algorithms or robots. Machine learning is the next step and ever more industries will be impacted by it—truck...

A panel of corporate security experts held a recent Realcomm-hosted webinar to discuss strategies for managing cyberattacks to buildings that are increasing in frequency, sophistication and impact. Don Goldstein, senior vice president of IT for CBRE, recounted how the “Not Petya” ransomware attack of June 2017 encrypted hundreds of thousands of computers around the world and shut down whole networks and systems for weeks.  With the damage still being added up, the initial $850 million economic cost estimate could rise. “Not Petya hit all verticals, from nuclear plants and pharmaceutical firms to steel makers, consumer lenders and law firms,” Goldstein said.  Cautioning against disaster fatigue, he added, “We need to get people to think about and prepare for this type of event.” Ryan Allbaugh, business initiatives consultant for Wells Fargo, said that because internet of things (IoT) connected devices don’t have traditional IT operating systems or antivirus and antimalware, cyberattacks are “no longer an IT problem, but an operational problem” for every part of the economy. As we see more IoT connections, everything is vulnerable, from remote lighting control to elevator and video surveillance controls, Allbaugh noted.  “The challenge with IoT is that these systems often lack centralized visibility, and doing something as simple as getting a physical inventory can be a challenge,” especially with widely dispersed properties.  He outlined the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, which offers guidance on assessing and improving prevention, detection and response to cyberattacks. Lorie Wigle, general manager for Intel, noting that “one company can’t solve this on its own,” urged collaboration and information sharing among IoT participants.  “We need to have ongoing lifecycle security management services in place to continue to measure and detect compromises to components of end-to-end services,” she said. Given that there’s...

Google has eliminated 300 apps from its online store after discovering a secret plugin silently installed across several Android devices. The seemingly innocuous apps were all secretly outfitted with the WiredX botnet. WiredX commandeers vulnerable Android phones and tablets, using the gadgets to kick off a DD0S attack. While Google does not yet have an official account of just how many devices currently host the WiredX botnet, Chad Seaman, a senior engineer at Akamai, a cyber security firm, estimates the number could reach 70,000 or more. “I know in the cases where we pulled data out of our platform for the people being targeted we saw 130,000 to 160,000 (unique Internet addresses) involved in the attack,” said Seaman. Silent, but Deadly The initial WiredX outbreak occurred on August 17th, when several Content Delivery Networks (CDNS) reported similar DDoS attacks. A search for the source eventually landed at the doorstep of Google’s Play Store, prompting the tech firm to pull hundreds of affected applications from its store and initiate procedures to remove the malware from infected devices. “We identified approximately 300 apps associated with the issue, blocked them from the Play Store, and we’re in the process of removing them from all affected devices,” a Google spokesperson said. “The researchers’ findings, combined with our own analysis, have enabled us to better protect Android users, everywhere.” The apps chosen to host the plugin provided genuine services, like ringtones and video players, but included hidden malware designed to commandeer the device for potential DDoS attacks. Once powered on, any infected phone or tablet mainly served as a soldier in a broader DDoS army – all unbeknownst to the user. While the apps themselves operated as promised, the malware surreptitiously connected to an internet server run by the WiredX...

As the Internet of Things expands exponentially, astronomers and tech companies are fighting it out in the newly crowded radio spectrum. In the high desert of northern Chile, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) scans the night sky, its 66 high-precision antennas seeking out the faintest radio waves. Unfortunately, the frequencies ALMA depends on to gather valuable scientific data exist on a previously unallocated radio spectrum suddenly crowded by competing interests, including all those smart devices scattered throughout our homes. “There are no spectrum bottlenecks for dedicated Internet of Things systems yet,” Kevin Ashton, co-founder and former executive director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Auto-ID Center, told Bloomberg BNA, “but we are seeing Wi-Fi services get maxed out, as there are only so many channels you can cram into the available spectrum.” “The extent to which the Internet of Things will be a threat to radio astronomy will depend upon whether the regulatory standards can be upheld in the face of the massive onslaught of lawyers funded by the private sector,” Carla Beaudet, RF Test & Measurement Engineer at National Radio Astronomy Observatory explains to Discover Magazine. “If the regulatory standards are upheld rather than modified every time somebody needs more spectrum, there will still be small windows of spectrum in which astronomers can observe.” Smart Spectrum Every smart device, from temperature savvy toasters to programmable thermostats, communicates via radio waves. Unfortunately, as the number of wired gadgets and intelligent contraptions multiplies, previously unobstructed frequencies are jammed with the chatter of clever toothbrushes and talkative televisions. While some bands are protected by the FCC – 1400 megahertz for hydrogen, for example – the rest of the spectrum gets shared by 29 services ranging from mobile phones to radio stations to military drones. As each...

Sitting silently in the corner, Amazon’s Alexa awaits the next command, ready to place online orders, adjust indoor temperatures or even provide a weather update. For senior citizens, the ability to manage a variety of tasks through voice command can help bolster independent living and provide caregivers with the ability to remotely monitor the health and safety of older patients. Whether used in the home or at a senior living facility, voice technology has the potential to modernize and personalize senior healthcare. Specialized Software As part of the Internet of Things (IoT), voice recognition technology has entered the mainstream, with more and more households are adding computerized personal assistants. As the hardware becomes ubiquitous, opportunities to add software specialized for seniors abound. For companies keeping an eye on their bottom line, the ability to add voice-command technology software to existing hardware allows a senior living facility to upgrade services without needing to upgrade current infrastructure. Even multiple operating systems can be navigated with ease, with most emerging software applications designed to be compatible with everything from Apple’s Siri to Amazon and Google home. “I believe the future of senior-related technology is customizing existing products through software,” says Laurie Orlov, the founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch, a market research firm that provides thought leadership and analysis on senior care technology. “We aren’t going to see senior living products that have their own hardware succeed [because] they can’t scale. Without the product being able to scale, you can’t make it work.” Virtual Caregivers For older adults, maintaining routines is essential, especially when it comes to medication management and other health-related tasks. While the plastic pill containers labeled with the days of the week can help keep seniors on track, the ability to preprogram voice-enabled...

Twenty years ago, mobile technology rarely made an appearance in university dormitories. Today, technology anchors both private and communal spaces in student housing. New developments depict the rapid advancements—and changing expectations–around mobile technology in the industry. Connectivity The 2017 NAA Student Housing Conference tackled the concept of wireless connectivity in university residences. Student housing should accommodate internet speeds of at least 25 MB per student per second, proposed Faith Hawks, AIA, LEED AP, Principal, at Marks Thomas Architects. That may seem excessive at first until you consider just how much bandwidth the average student consumes. Hawks explains that students are now using an average of 10 Wi-Fi devices—at once. In addition to the expected devices such as a smartphone and laptop, many students also use a tablet, smart TV, gaming consoles, smart DVD/blue ray player, and wireless speakers. Students even strap Wi-Fi ready devices to their bodies with wearables like activity monitors and smart watches. Pile those devices on top of smart home features such as Nest-style thermostats and virtual personal assistants, and it quickly becomes clear why 25 MB per student per second is not unrealistic. Even when not actively in use, many programs run in the background issuing updates and exchanging data between devices. But the biggest drains on bandwidth come from streaming videos and gaming. Neither is particularly educational, but both are an integral part of the student life experience. Shared Spaces Outside of their apartments, students’ technology expectations do not diminish. Tech rich communal spaces, including charging stations and smart boards, prove to be a strong selling point for properties. In Rethinking Student Housing Interiors, Rick Reid of HPA Design Group explains, “To be competitive in today’s market means attracting students by providing them with housing they can relate to;...

The smart home’s weakest link may be that unassuming router tucked neatly next to your modem. [Update: Netgear has released firmware updates for the affected products. Click here for more information.] While the breach of one billion Yahoo! Email accounts continues to dominate the new, another internet security crisis continues unabated. As Lily Hay Newman reports in Wired’s latest issue, Nighthawk line of Netgear routers can be remotely exploited, allowing third-parties to take control of the devices, leaving thousands of home networks open to hackers and “”havoc-wreaking botnets.” “While Netgear has finally released a tentative fix for some models,” writes Newman, “the delays and challenges in patching all of them help illustrate just how at risk the Internet of Things is—and how hard it is to patch up when things go wrong.” Hacking the Home Like many of the smart devices that make up the “Internet of Things,” routers seem as common – and as low-tech – as a toaster or thermostat. But as has already been noted, the ubiquitous nature of many of these ‘wired” versions of our beloved devices make them almost invisible; and for many smart home inhabitants, invisibility is a weakness. “If we want to put networked technologies into more and more things, we also have to find a way to make them safer,” Michael Walker, program manager and computer security expert for the Pentagon’s advanced research arm recently told the New York Times. “It’s a challenge for civilization.” Routers Gone Wrong Andrew Rollins, a security researcher with the handle Acew0rm, notified Netgear about the security flaw back in August but never heard back from the company. As months went by with no fix – presumably exposing thousands of users in the interim – Rollins eventually chose to go public....

Imagine crossing the threshold after a long day at work to a perfectly lit, temperature-controlled living space. As you walk down the hallway, lights flicker for your approach while a disembodied voice welcomes you with a rundown of messages and alerts as your crockpot bubbles aromatically in the kitchen. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but if Samsung, Google and Apple have their way, eventually every home will be a “smart home.” Highlighting their technology’s ability to keep residents apprised of every activity in their home, Samsung’s Smart Things touts a setup that includes an App (available for iOS and Android), a Hub, and collection of up to 200 customizable devices including thermostats, light bulbs, outlets and sensors. The Smart Things app can push notifications to users, and its devices can turn off and on at particular times or based on temperature and vacation settings. Home monitoring through the app provides instant alerts for intrusions, smoke, leaks and other unusual activity. Adding a camera even allows for video footage of flagged events. The Hub connects via Ethernet, and uses ZigBee and Z-Wave radios for IP compatibility and works with products ranging from Sonos to CREE to Honeywell. In line with the company’s seeming commitment to simplified, intuitive technology, Google’s Nest products work together to create a “connected” home environment for easy management of a broad range of devices from electric vehicle charger to automated pet feeder. Nest touts itself as a solution for those seeking “the thoughtful home: A home that takes care of the people inside it and the world around it.” Centered on three main products – Nest Cam, Nest Protect, and Nest Learning Thermostat – the Nest app allows users to access live streaming video and control indoor temperatures...

Never a dull moment. Technology never stops evolving, thanks to dedicated innovators from all over the world. Now, here’s something that could make Nikola Tesla’s dream a reality: Wi-Fi powered electronics. In this era, we’re surrounded by Wi-Fi almost everywhere we go  – local area networking technology allows electronic devices to connect to the network. However, some raised the question: are we using this technology to its full potential? Every time I think of Wi-Fi, my subconscious shares a second with Nikola Tesla, the man who was keen on making wires redundant. Researchers at the University of Washington wish to fulfill Tesla’s dream with PoWiFi. The engineers released a new type of technology that uses a Wi-Fi router—a source of ubiquitous, but untapped energy in indoor environments—to power devices. This new system, dubbed Power Over Wi-Fi (PoWiFi), is one of the most innovative technologies of the year—Popular Science included it in the annual “Best of What’s New” awards. The researchers recently published a paper that shows how they managed to harvest energy from Wi-Fi signals and then to power a simple temperature sensor, a low-resolution grayscale camera, and a charger for a Jawbone activity tracking bracelet. The final paper will be presented next month at the Association for Computing Machinery’s CoNEXT 2015 conference in Germany, on emerging networking experiments and technologies. “For the first time we’ve shown that you can use Wi-Fi devices to power the sensors in cameras and other devices,” said lead author Vamsi Talla, a UW electrical engineering doctoral student. “We also made a system that can co-exist as a Wi-Fi router and a power source—it doesn’t degrade the quality of your Wi-Fi signals while it’s powering devices.” What this means is that electricity flows wirelessly through the air, but don’t...

SAN FRANCISCO – Last week, The Moscone Center West hosted one of the world’s largest games of Pong while Google presented the products and services it’s been brewing up for the past year. At the I/O keynote, Google showed primary focus on optimizing Android, complemented by a new Google Cardboard and a VR camera system that will be sold by GoPro. Also, we’re found out that right now there are out there over 4,000 distinct devices using Android of which you probably only know a few, such as Samsung, LG, Motorola. And Sundar Pichai, senior vice president, announced HBO coming to Google Play. Android M mostly follows its predecessor L, but comes with a few big improvements. App Permissions – is a way to simplify what data you allow the apps to access. Instead of the long list of permissions upon installation, the user will be prompted for permission when the app needs to use a feature, such as microphone or camera. App Links – or Chrome Custom Tabs, is a useful feature that enables developers to add custom components that overlay on top of apps; for instance, Pinterest can add custom transition animation to link to the web, within the app. Furthermore, there’s a new app linking feature that allows apps to verify links to switch from app to app rapidly. Battery & Charging – introduces Doze, a new feature that in Android M uses motion detection to go into a deeper sleep state if inactive for longer periods of time. While dozing, the device will still be able to respond to high-priority messages and alarms. Their test in which a Nexus 9 running on Lollipop against M Nexus showed that the latter lasted up to two times longer in standby, Google claims....

One third of our life is spent in bed. Sleep is vital to a healthy and relaxed life and the technology today comes to bring even more comfort in the bedroom. The latest is the invention of Italians Matteo Franceschetti and Massimo Andreasi Bassi, the Luna mattress cover. Luna is a smart device that will start shipping in August 2015 after having raised $552,153 of a $100,000 goal on Indiegogo crowdfunding website. In fact, the project sounded so exciting to supporters that the goal amount was gathered within 6 hours. Everybody dreams of a good night sleep. The mattress cover is made out of 5 layers: top and bottom fabric layers, a sensor layer, a batting layer, and a temperature control layer. It comes in 4 sizes: full – 54in x 75in; queen – 60 in x 80in; king – 76in x 80in; California king – 72in x 84in, and weights only 7lbs. It is made almost entirely out of polyester and can be machine-washed. Its intelligence is provided by a series of sensors: sleep phase sensors, biometrics sensors (temperature, respiratory, and heart rate), ambient temperature and humidity sensor, ambient light sensor, plus a microphone. It has Wi-Fi-enabled integration with other devices in your home. Its low voltage system is powered through a 90W power supply. Let’s have a look at how it watches over our dreams. Luna is designed to slip over your mattress, as a fitted sheet does. Its sensors collect information and send it to your smartphone where you can view how well you’re sleeping at night; over time, the information forms profiles of your sleeping behavior. An exciting aspect is its dual zone technology that lets you set different temperatures for each side of the bed. Once it learns how...