“New York City today asked people all over the world to pick the best new mobile and web apps that make the Big Apple “more transparent, accessible and accountable. NYC BigApps contest entrants mash official information from the  NYC Data Mine with outside data and services. The hopes is to create a cool and useful app that will win the developers some of the $20,000 in taxpayer money offered as prizes.”

“1. Be working late at night and get an idea to write a post just because you haven’t written one in a while. Write the short post about an important subject and don’t check for grammar or spelling errors. 3. Write a stupid call to action at the end.”

“It is time for brokers to take back the technological aspects of the business back and win once and for all the Internet battle with regard to real estate.”

“Take a picture of a book, a store, a landmark and that picture translates into a search for that object. It is still in its infancy and only available on the Android (but the rumor is that it will available soon on Google Chrome) but think about the possibilities for real estate search. What if this worked with homes on the market? You could snap a photo and instantly see how long it had been on the market, details about the home, listing agent, virtual tours, and more.”

“With consumers now expecting to see a comprehensive set of for-sale listings, agents, brokerages, multiple listing services and third-party aggregators are seeking to differentiate themselves from their competitors by pulling onto their Web sites anything and everything from the growing universe of information that might conceivably be connected with a home purchase.”

“A new study found that tenants in green buildings experience increased productivity and fewer sick days. The research also found that that green buildings have lower vacancy rates and higher rents than non-green counterparts.”

“For many of the categories on this list, there are a number of mobile apps that are already available today. But what Gartner makes clear is that we’re just getting started when it comes to their use.”

“Forget the RPR. If you’re interested in the future of real estate, you need to be watching Google closely these days. A couple weeks ago we noted the company’s move to include a real estate overlay on Google Maps, which put listings smack-dab in front of millions of Google users who likely had no idea the company has spent the last several years quietly aggregating this content.”