Power banks are no longer an innovation, but a Latvia-based firm designed a new device it hopes will differentiate itself from the rest. Draugiem Grupa came up with CoalBit, a 23-gram, 2×1.4-inch coal-shaped portable power bank which features a 560mAh battery, enough to juice your smartphone with three hours of talk-time, two hours of surfing the Internet, or listening to 10 hours of music. And this is not all. CoalBit includes a flashlight, in case you need one handy. But the novelty that makes the Latvian device differentiate itself from the rest comes from the inclusion of a Bluetooth locator which enables it to sync with any smartphone. By syncing it with the phone you can keep track of both your phone and whatever you attach to your CoalBit. Due to its small size, misplacing it is easy (as is your smartphone). The developers thought about it and found a solution: you can enable a distance alert that will buzz your phone when you get a little too far away from the tiny power bank. In the event you’ve lost it somewhere and haven’t enabled the feature, the firm built an app, available on iOS and Android platforms, which will inform you of the CoalBit’s last known location. Furthermore, in case of emergency you can send an SOS signal to your friends and family. Pretty cool feature, no? Like what you’re reading? Draugiem launched a Kickstarter campaign that you can back, aiming to reach an $84,000 funding goal that will enable them to finish development and begin production. The firm offers two versions of the product—the basic one, CoalBit Lite which removes the Bluetooth locator, and the regular one, CoalBit Standard, with all the features described above. In addition, CoalBit comes with either an...

Socrates famously declared, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Sony appears to have taken the old philosopher’s adage to heart. With the company’s trio of Xperia products – the Eye, the Projector and the Agent – consumers may soon be able to track, record, store all the minutia of their daily lives. All three products debuted as concept devices at the 2016 Mobile World Congress (MCW) in Barcelona earlier this year. The MWC, which typically takes place in February, is a prime time for major manufacturers to reveal new products and projects. Probably the simplest and least intrusive of Sony’s Xperia trio, the Eye takes the form of a wearable camera. The Eye resembles a small mp3 player, and wearers need only don the device before blissfully going about their day. Though it’s currently just a “conceptual vision” with no release date, Sony’s prototype updates the typical lifelogging camera with its voice and facial recognition capabilities and it’s “intelligent shutter technology” which allows the camera to pick and choose which moments to photograph. In a video for the products, a father passively watches his family open a gift box; his hands are unencumbered as the Eye quietly captures the scene for prosperity. The Xperia Projector is less surveillance minded than the Eye, but its intuitive interface also depends on what it can glean from its environment. Loaded up with data on appointments, locations, contacts and other facts and figures, the Projector transforms all that information into an interactive UI projected onto any surface, including walls and tabletops. Altering the projections is as simple as moving your fingertip across the images. In the future, this modest digital hub will be able to provide a personalized and customized experience for the whole family. Rounding out...

SubTropolis is the “World’s Largest Underground Business Complex,” developed by Kansas City Chiefs owner and real estate developer Lamar Hunt. The excavated mine, located in Kansas City, Mo., is approximately the size of 140 football fields. The underground city, 160 feet beneath the earth, was created through the mining of a 270-million-year-old limestone deposit which began in the 1940s. It wasn’t until 1960 that the owners realized they had a gigantic area they could rent, sell and lease for business operations. Now, 14 million square feet of the 55 million square-foot cave is an industrial park with illuminated, paved roads and several miles of railroad track. SubTropolis is home to over 50 national, international and local companies in the fields of e-commerce, automotive and storage industry. Approximately 1,700 employees work under the “World’s Largest Green Roof,” with the facility storing everything from postal stamps to the original film reels of Gone With the Wind. Currently more than 6 million square feet is occupied with 8 million more to move into. The eco-friendly underground campus also houses a state-of-the-art data center; SubTropolis Technology Center. STC, an underground data center carved out of 18,000 to 24,000 pounds per square inch solid limestone which is six time stronger than concrete, provides a level of security and strength unmatched by any other traditional data center facility. Armed security, 24x7x365 patrols, monitoring, key card, gated barriers and biometric readers make the technology center an indestructible and impenetrable fortress. STC also has a six-acre equipment yard on the exterior surface for future infrastructure. SubTropolis Technology Center has the advantage of space, with millions of square feet available for IT and raised floor area. The facility provides customers with data center suites ranging from 5,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet,...

In December of 2014, MIT Technology Review declared 2015 the “Year of the Hospital Hack.” Unfortunately, their prediction came to pass. By the end of 2015, Websense researchers reported a 600% surge in cyber-attacks on hospitals – and that number is only expected to climb. Both the Ponemon Institute and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse have identified health care data particularly susceptible to cyber-attacks. A Top Target As we reported last month, the threat of ransomware continues to grow, and hospitals, in particular, are in the crosshairs. With assaults escalating every day, healthcare facilities face a tricky balancing act as they weigh the benefits of technology against the need for security. While 2015 saw a significant uptick in cyber-attacks at hospitals and other healthcare facilities, 2016 is shaping up to be even worse. During the first few months of the year, four major hospitals – Canada’s Ottawa Hospital, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Medstar Washington, and Kentucky’s Methodist Hospital – were on the receiving end of a ransomware aggression. In each case, hackers held the facility captive by demanding bitcoin payments to release their computer systems. Unfortunately, experts warn the healthcare industry will continue to experience these types of scenarios. Even worse, these attacks could result in a whole host of dire consequences, including some with life-threatening implications. “One can imagine how detrimental it would be if someone was in the middle of a major operation and suddenly all of their health records became unavailable,” says Malwarebytes security researcher Jérôme Segura. Data Rich Targets Carl Leonard, principal security analyst for Websense believes hospital hacks are alluring because of the type information stored by medical facilities. Medical records, which often contain social security numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information, can provide enough material to “build...

With its 2016 theme, Keep Connected, the National Center for Assisted Living hopes to shine a sotlight how technology can enhance the lives of senior citizens. According to a 2014 Pew report, almost 3/4th of American seniors own a cell phone, and more than half are online. In fact, though older adults are typically late adopters, Pew discovered that once seniors join the online world, “digital technology often becomes an integral part of their daily lives.” In recognition of the effect technology can have on the lives of older citizens, the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) announced the theme for National Assisted Living Week 2016 will be “Keep Connected.” Organizers hope the event, taking place September 11-17, will highlight how technology can improve the senior experience. “With this year’s theme, we hope to help overcome the mistaken belief that seniors are not interested in or able to learn about the latest modern advancements,” explains NCAL Executive Director Scott Tittle. “At the same time, we want to recognize the many revolutionary ways staff are enhancing care through new innovative tools and broadening their connections with the larger community.” For older adults transitioning into senior living, the physical distance from friends and family can be daunting. The disappearance of day-to-day contact with loved ones can leave retirees feeling isolated and alone, but that doesn’t have to be the norm. As programs like Sienna Senior Living’s Cyber Seniors prove, with a little coaching seniors can learn to use the latest apps and devices without difficulty. Laptops, phones and tablets empower older adults, helping to strengthen personal relationships and connect with us with the outside world. For senior living businesses using the Yardi Senior Living Suite™, the value of a connected community is evident. From the beginning,...

Virtual Reality is on everywhere these days—videogames, engineering, healthcare, entertainment—are just a few of the industries fuelings its evolution. More recently, VR entered the real estate market too. Allured by its many advantages, developers turn to virtual reality and enable buyers to tour units, “walking” around mock layouts and peering out windows to envision the view they might wake up to every morning (this is where drones step in to capture accurate floor-by-floor perspectives). Instead of the full-sized models of one of the units, they can now use smaller sales centers equipped with a VR headset. No more selling off blueprints. “Our whole business exists to work on spaces that don’t exist.” Jamie Fleming, CEO of Studio216 Such a development that used the VR technology to drive sales is Luma, a 24-story condominium development in Seattle. The sales team opted for an Oculus Rift headset and started offering tours of the property a little after the project had just broken ground. Studio216 of San Francisco is the digital production agency that created the simulated space for the Luma development and one of the firms currently involved in developing industry-specific application for the technology. The virtual reality market is expected to explode over the next decade. According to a Goldman Sachs research, VR will be an $80 billion industry by 2025—the size of the current desktop PC market. The forthcoming consumer release of Oculus Rift headsets to the public might rapidly improve consumer adoption. However, real estate technology is far behind where it should be. A good exemplification is that there are still real estate firms still using Internet Explorer (sorry, Microsoft) as their main browser. Using VR headsets to tour your future home, office or vacation rental is pretty straight forward: the agent connects...

Last month, the Los Angeles Department of Health Services became the latest victim in a string of ransomware demands hitting the healthcare industry. Though not as severe as the ransomware attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center earlier this year demanding $17,000 in bitcoin, Department officials were quick to act on the threat. The Los Angeles Department of Health Services was able to contain the damage to five work computers thanks to preemptive security measures. Because employees have limited access to the department’s database, the ransomware attack was unable to spread. When asked about the nature of the attack, Director of USC’s Center for Computer Systems Security Clifford Neuman explained, “Since this one affected only a few employees’ systems and does not appear to have spread further, it was likely one of these non-targeted pieces of malware.” Exploiting Vulnerabilities Non-targeted malware describes how attackers access a victim’s device. Whether the ransomware sneaks in through an email, an attachment or even a camouflaged link, once triggered, the result is a total lockdown of the infected device through encryption of the contents. Paying the ransom releases the data and returns control of the device to the victim. Ransom prices can vary from small sums to thousands of dollars. Until recently, Apple devices and systems had not been widely affected, but news of ransomware malware lurking inside a recent update for Transmission highlighted vulnerabilities inherent in all online activities. While in the past ransomware primarily struck individuals, in recent months attacks have kicked up a notch. The latest victims are large, data-rich institutions like hospitals and government services. “Since the New Year, the healthcare industry has experienced an uptick in ransomware incidents,” county spokesman David Sommers told the LA times, reiterating that the county has “be successful in...

Did you know that Cat® sells phones and smartphones? A new version of smartphone was introduced at the  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month. The Cat S60 is the company’s new flagship product, the world’s first smartphone with integrated thermal camera, once a very expensive tool used only by law enforcement and the military. Initially, the FLIR ONE thermal camera begun life as a cumbersome case for the iPhone 5, then turned into a dongle that connected to the microUSB or Apple Lightning port. In the new smartphone though, the Lepton sensor that enable FLIR cameras to see in darkness has been integrated into the device itself, next to its standard rear camera. “To stand out from the crowd in today’s smartphone market requires true innovation and we are proud to partner with FLIR to announce what is truly a world’s first,” said Peter Stephens, CEO Bullitt Group, global mobile device licensee for Caterpillar. “The Cat S60 represents a milestone for smartphones. We are excited for thermal technology to be in the hands of Cat phones customers and to discover the myriad of daily time and efficiency use cases it will present for them.” A sixth sense “We are delighted to work on the latest Cat phone with Bullitt Group, to integrate our thermal camera into their proven, industrialized smartphone to create a truly innovative and groundbreaking mobile product,” said Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR. “The CAT S60 presents mobile users around the world with new capabilities – a ‘sixth sense’ experience that only thermal imaging can offer.” Cat S60 is also waterproof to depths of up to 5 meters for one hour, during which time it can be used as an underwater camera, pushing the boundaries of mobile technology. The...

We already have robots serving us in different industries: they build our cars, entertain the family, and defuse bombs. A new bot has emerged from IBM’s labs as a result of collaboration with Hilton Worldwide—the first Watson-enabled robot concierge in the hospitality industry, Connie. Connie, named for Hilton’s founder Conrad Hilton, represents the first time IBM has developed a Watson-enabled robot for the hospitality sector. The automaton can already be found in the Hilton McLean hotel in Virginia, where it will work with Hilton’s team members as a regular concierge, answering questions about nearby restaurants, tourist attractions, and hotel information. Connie will not be able to check guests in to the hotel. The 23-inch wonder (that’s 58 centimeters) has as physical support Nao, a French-made android (Aldebaran) that has become the first platform used for educational and customer care tasks, partly because its relative affordability—approximately $9,000. Connie is more about brains than looks though as its brain is based on IBM’s flagship AI program Watson, the Jeopardy!-winning system engineered to understand people’s questions and answer them. Connie’s brain uses a combination of Watson APIs, including Dialog, Speech to Text, Text to Speech, Text to Speech and Natural Language Classifier, enabling it to greet guests upon arrival, and to answer questions about the hotel’s amenities, services and hours of operation. The information on local attractions and interesting sites is actually channeled from the travel platform WayBlazer’s database, also an IBM partners. What’s more interesting is how Connie improves itself through interactions with human customers, learning how to fine-tune its recommendations. “This project with Hilton and WayBlazer represents an important shift in human-machine interaction, enabled by the embodiment of Watson’s cognitive computing,” said Rob High, IBM fellow and vice president and chief technology officer for IBM Watson....

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona had many attractions this year. Among them, Remix OS in beta, now available for download. The alpha version of product was introduced earlier this year at CES. It’s an Android fork with desktop features that can run on pretty much any x86 computer. Work on the Androidx86 Open Source Project started in 2009 with the initiative of computer engineer Chih-Wei Huang. Over time, the project lead to an official partnership with Jide Technology. The foundation of Remix OS for PC is a custom engineered version of Android Lollipop – Remix OS 2.0. The Google Play Store in not pre-loaded onto the OS, as the Jide is still waiting for Google’s approval to directly integrate Google Play Services and the Play Store. These items have been side-loaded at the moment (not optional) and it is a bit of a hassle to test it. However, the company says they are in constant discussion with Google about this and they’re confident they’ll receive full approval later this year. Jide Technology announced the beta version, a more stable build with support for 32-bit hardware and dual-boot support through the new hard drive installer. Moreover, it brings in OTA update options. In other words, users won’t have to worry about losing data (theoretically) when performing an update. Remix takes basic Android and adds all those elements present in any Mac or PC—support for mice and keyboards, a windowed interface, a file manager, system bar and a dock at the bottom of the screen for the apps. Other changes from Alpha to Beta include over 50 major bugs fixed, UEFI support added, and 32-bit support added alongside 64-bit. Remix OS allows users to run Android apps and games such as Clash of Clans, Microsoft...

Ever wonder what the future looks like for New York City’s payphones? Well,  you won’t be seeing them for too long as they disappear like the extinct species they’ve become. But a new public utility kiosk is coming along to take their place. LinkNYC, a consortium of experts in technology, media, user experience and connectivity that includes Intersection, Qualcomm, and CIVIQ Smartscapes, has plans to replace them with a high-tech sibling. The launch has already begun with a beta phase rolling out a fiber optic network of kiosks equipped with different types of free services such as high speed internet, web browsing, cell phone charging and calls to within the U.S. Additional apps, features and services will be rolled out on an ongoing basis over the next few years. “It’s going to be the largest and fastest public Wi-Fi network in the world,” Collin Odonell, managing member of CityBridge, said in a prepared statement. “It’s really the first of this kind of network and it’s going to transform the streets and people’s way to access information.” Privacy and security is the main concern, especially when the subject is some public Wi-Fi network. LinkNYC claims it offers two types of networks: a public Wi-Fi one and a private encrypted one. The private, fully equipped network is accessible only by devices that support Hotspot 2.0 (currently, LinkNYC only supports Apple gear). On its public network, LinkNYC will be able to track the user’s MAC address (which won’t be tracked either, claims LinkNYC). In addition, users will have the option to clear their sessions once they’ve done using the kiosk. Please keep in mind though that it’s still very risky to log in to bank accounts over public networks and that even though the user information won’t...

This month, we celebrated the fourth  anniversary of our Yardi corporate blog. This special project, created for Yardi clients and employees, has now been ongoing since February 2012. To date, we have published more than 1,200 articles. Our readers are at the heart of our content decisions and we applaud and appreciate you. Thank you for your attention to our words and interest in the real estate technology industry. Our mission is to provide a broad focus on the many places where our built environment and technology intersect. They are all around us, and increasing in number at a rapid pace with innovations like connected homes, smart utility systems, and constantly improving cloud-based property management software. In the four years that we have been blogging, Yardi Systems has grown, expanding to a staff of over 4,700 employees in 37 offices around the world. Our ever-expanding global footprint and product platform are a constant source of inspiration for new articles. As we look forward, we intend to keep providing you with interesting and engaging content. We welcome your story ideas, and you can reach us by emailing [email protected]. On behalf of myself and the editorial team, thank you for your readership. Here’s to many great years to come. -Leah Etling Editor, The Balance...

Did you know the average person spends 10,000 hours of their lifetime looking for disappearing car keys? To be honest, I made that number up, but I think we can all agree time flies at the speed of light whenever we’re inevitably late and looking for that one last thing – keys, phone, glasses – before stepping out the door. What if you could find what you’ve lost with the touch of a button? There’s plenty of tech out there promising to reunite you with your AWOL objects, but what about your pet, your purse, your phone itself? What recourse is available when those waylaid whatsits that aren’t hiding in your couch cushions, but actually sitting on a park bench miles away? For the chronically searching, those kings and queens of the misplaced and forgotten, deliverance has arrived! Meet TrackR Bravo, a coin-sized device that attaches to your valuables keeps tabs on their whereabouts. The brainchild of two recent UC Santa Barbara graduates, inspired by their own experience with miscellaneous vanishing acts, TrackR Bravo is a Bluetooth enabled solution capable of interacting with your smartphone and using crowd-based GPS to geolocate mislaid property, whether it’s sitting on your magazine-laden coffee table to at bus stop down the street. About the size of a quarter and priced at $29, the TrackR Bravo can be attached to anything, from a set of keys to a bicycle to the collar of your wandering dog. As long as the fob is within 100 feet of your Bravo-enabled device, you can send a signal to trigger a beeping alarm that leads you to your missing item. Past 100 feet, the alarm is no longer an option, but the GPS will kick in, tagging various doodads and personal effects and...

Drones are unstoppable. Within the next one to three years we’ll receive our orders via drones if the private sector and government work hand in hand. Giants like Google and Amazon, and Wal-Mart have all announced working on developing their own fleet of drones to ship orders. The main setback remains the number of regulatory issues which need ironing out first. Currently, businesses interested in flying drones for commercial purposes need to seek approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, under current drone rules, companies aren’t allowed to fly drones at night and drone operators can’t fly more than one drone at a time—well, except for the special show Intel prepared in collaboration with Ars Electronica Futurelab near Hamburg where four drone operators had each 25 drones under their command. You can watch the thing of beauty in the below video. Earlier this year, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced that the government plans to finalize its drone rules for commercial operations by late spring. The FAA enlisted a handful a drone makers, industry advocates, and retailers such as Google to help create the registration system and rules. The respective registration system came online in late December; since then 181,000 drones have been logged in its database. Google has been exploring the use of drones for deliveries over the past three years. Research continues under Dave Vos, head of Google X’s Project Wing experimental drone delivery program. At an aviation industry event in Washington, he stated that drones will be safer than general aviation and that they’ll operate quietly enough so as to not disturb anyone. According to Vos and his Jetsonian vision, people will eventually be transported from one point to another via autonomous airplanes. “Moving people and stuff around...

Expandable furniture helps micro-apartment inhabitants make the most out of limited square footage with the push of a button. Trundle beds and convertible couches may define making the most of a small living space, but what’s been lacking is automation and modernization. Enter Ori, robotic furniture that appears, and disappears, with the push of a button. Modular Momentum The brainchild of Hasier Larrea, Ori furniture takes the guesswork out of transformation, seamlessly morphing floor units and wall installations into beds and pop-out closets. Ori offers a full-scale bedroom with a retractable bed that can be changed into an office or a closet, along with a full media console/credenza. Other versions include a walk-in closet, couch and various flavors of storage space. All the systems can be integrated into new and existing floorplans, which allows the Ori system to fit comfortably into any new building development or retrofit. During her tenure as the leader of the Architectural Robotics research area at the MIT Media Lab, Larrea married her robotics tech with Yves Behar design. The final product involves modular, transformable furniture Larrea and her team hope will debut early next year. “Larson’s team at the Media Lab developed the technologies behind Ori as part of the CityHome research,” Larrea told Mashable in a recent interview. “Then we created some initial functional prototypes … and went to [designer] Yves Béhar to help us ‘transform’ this initial concept from a robot/machine to a customizable system that people would love to have in their homes.” Space on Demand Ori’s first piece available for purchase includes a trundle style bed that rolls out from the bottom of a large wall of shelves. Specially designed actuators, electronics and software created by researchers at MITs CityHome project allows Ori’s furniture  to almost...

A new species is evolving—the humanoid robot. The family of human-like robots adds a new sibling with Chinese Ubtech Robotics’ crowdfunding campaign for Alpha 2—its newest humanoid companion-bot. The little fellow is “designed for practical household service and companionship,” because Ubtech felt that the need for human-like, responsive technology is growing. Alpha 2 is the brainchild of James Chow, Ubtech’s CEO. Made from aluminum alloy, PC + ABS housing, this small domestic drone is designed on the same premise as today’s smartphones — a responsive, intuitive and attractive platform on which to develop intelligent and useful functionality. Indeed, the Alpha 2 is fully programmable, operates on an open-source OS, and offers some impressive sensory inputs, including ultrasonic, touch, and pressure sensors. The robot companion may be small, but he is pretty smart. His brain is connected to the cloud, which allows it to leverage more visual and audio processing power than what could be physically implanted in a plastic skull. Alpha 2 can perform a series of activities (so far). It can manage weekly calendars and provide verbal reminders for scheduled tasks; his conversation skills make of him a tutor or interpreter, and he can also follow verbal instructions. Of course, he can take high quality photos (8 million-pixel camera with auto-focus and built-in powerful visual computing systems and smart technologies) and can also post them on social media. Alpha 2 can perform home security monitoring and alerts, entertain your children, guests, and even pets. We couldn’t really grasp exactly how the robot can entertain pets, hopefully it doesn’t involve letting the cat push it off the table. The 17-inch tall alloy family companion is equipped with 2GB of RAM memory, 16GB of storage, and a Samsung Exynos 5260 six-core processor. The five-pound robot...

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” -Confucius Geekitecture – a new term I’ve just invented to describe the development of office space by new technology titans – is becoming a real trend. Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are showing off innovative architectural plans for their impressive new headquarters’. These projects may look drastically different, but they have major commonalities, namely that they are focused on innovation, sustainability, collaboration, and beauty. By capturing the attention of the general public, these technology innovators are showing that they can transfer their design and development skills to physical plant as well as virtual products. Let’s take a look at a few of the projects planned. Apple is building a jaw-dropping 2.8 billion square feet spaceship-like corporate campus on approximately 176 acres, property that was previously owned by HP. Apple Campus 2 will be four stories high, encompassing a mix of office, research and development space and open land. It’s planned to accommodate up to 14,200 employees who will unfold their activity in a unified, secure and private campus which connects with outdoor opportunities for recreation, relaxation and reflection. The top priority for Apple’s project is the environment. The company is committed to power the campus with renewable energy, provided by fuel cells and approximately 8 megawatts of photovoltaics. This solar installation will be one of the largest in the world for a corporate campus. Some of the campus’ amenities are a striking restaurant, a Corporate Fitness Center of approximately 100,000 square feet, and a 1,000-seat Corporate Auditorium of around 120,000 square feet. The project replaces existing asphalt and hardscape with over 100 acres of landscaped green space. The professionals behind it are London architects Foster + Partners,...

The price for photovoltaic cells is plunging, in the last six years it has fallen by at least 50 percent. According to a Gallup poll, 79 percent of Americans expressed the interest for the U.S. to develop more solar power. The product is already growing, accounting for 36 percent of all new electric capacity through the first nine months of 2014, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Although on an upward swing, solar power has yet a lot of catching up to do. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that the United States generated approximately 4,093 billion kWh of electricity in 2014. The most part of the electricity (two-thirds) came from fossil fuels (mainly coal and natural gas), and one-fifth from nuclear. Solar accounted for only 0.4 percent. The reasons are various: the roof is facing the wrong way or needs replacing, there is too much shading from mature trees or other buildings, the renter status which doesn’t give them the right to make such a decision, simply lacking those 10 or 15 grand to pay for installation, or the not-so-good credit that cuts any possibility of financing or long-term purchase agreement. The future looks different. A new sharing platform dubbed Yeloha focuses on a new approach, which combines the power of social networks and the attractiveness of the sharing economy, aiming to offer solar power regardless of location of income level. What’s the plan? Yeloha has two types of customers—sun hosts and sun partners. The sun hosts are represented by the people living under eligible sunny roofs, but can’t afford the costs for the panels. In their case, Yeloha will install its own panels at no cost and give them a portion (typically one-third) of the electricity they produce, for free. In...

The 3D printing technology continues its adventure, conquering industry after industry. Among the latest highly debated upon is the construction industry and the upgrades 3D printing brings to it. It’s no surprise as construction is a $1 trillion industry in the United States ($8.5 trillion worldwide) and accounts for 8-10% of the U.S. GDP. Startup Branch Technology of Chattanooga, Tennessee, led by visionary Platt Boyd, came up with a new approach inspired by nature. The company announced at GIGTANK, a boutique accelerator for startups developing high-bandwidth business applications, that it is the first company to successfully construct building walls at scale using the world’s largest freeform 3D printer; they are the winners of the Investor’s Choice Award. Branch’s mission is to simplify the work of architects by giving them more freedom to incorporate new geometries into their designs, inspired by nature. Like bones in our body or trees in the forest, optimized geometries are made strong and functional by the material filing the matrix. After that, the interior and exterior skins can be finished in any way. To achieve that, Cellular Fabrication™ (C-Fab™) was designed as Branch’s patented freeform 3D printing process. It turns the question “how much can we build?” into “how little can we build?” Freeform printing in open space is freed of the slow, layer-by-layer build process of traditional 3D printing. They’ve came up with an algorithm which creates both the geometry and robotic motion to construct complex geometries in open space, saving on the use of support materials and on highly controlled build environments. The technology uses a 12-and-a-half-foot Kuka robotic arm which travels on a 33-foot rail to build a simple lightweight scaffolding made out of ABS plastic reinforced with carbon fiber. Then, using the same tools that contractors...

Renters of all ages have rising expectations for technology features in their rentals. While splurging on gadgets would certainly catch your prospects’ attention, that approach isn’t the most budget-friendly. You’ll want features that offer the biggest bang for your buck! We’ve evaluated a few tech toys that combine resident appeal, utility, and longevity. USB Compatible Outlets These little guys allow residents to charge phones, tablets, and other mobile devices without displacing lamps and small appliances. Installing USB compatible outlets can offer significant savings for older properties, which often lack the quantity of outlets available in newer properties. Residents will need fewer extension cords and power strips, which reduces the risk of hazardous overloads and costly fires. USB outlets are affordably priced and can be installed in less than ten minutes. With so many USB-reliant devices, they are unlikely to become outdated soon, making them a terrific investment. Home Automation Home automation wins over the hearts of many: tech gurus love controlling their homes from their tablets; those who love to save savor the $180 savings per year thanks to a remotely programmable thermostat; tenants who enjoy convenience appreciate starting the coffee maker from bed or turning off the iron once they’ve left the house; renters who are concerned with safety rely on Bluetooth-controlled locks that regulate access to their home using customizable codes. Most renters can find something to appreciate about home automation, which gives your property a competitive edge over properties without it. The downside is that home automation technology can be costly to install and maintain. Depending on the features, home automation systems can cost upwards of $1,000 per unit. More advanced systems also require additional labor and time costs; there is very little research to depict the ROI in multifamily installations...