Recent Real Estate Tech Pieces

While this blog has been silent, I have not kept quiet!  Here are a few recent pieces related to real estate technology that have been posted elsewhere.  Enjoy!

• Fifth Grade Math Says Don’t Ignore Money, Use Data-Driven Facilities Maintenance
  • Part of a research project across 180 Silicon Valley tech companies led to this piece summarizing a couple of insights on workforce productivity.  Can smart building technology  prevent lost productivity?
• The coldest winter you’ll ever feel is a summer in the office.
  • We’ve all been too cold or to hot indoors (or wished people wouldn’t complain).  Can real estate technology today solve the decades old thermostat battle?
• How to Become the Facebook, Google or Amazon of Real Estate
  • Facebook, Google and Amazon deliver data-driven experiences that wow.  How can we do the same with real estate technology?
• Large and Unseen Built Environment Opportunity
  • Clip boards with inspection logs are in use in some of today’s most modern buildings, as well as almost all of the older construction.  How do real estate professionals keen to improve their property management and facilities maintenance capabilities leverage the largest opportunity in our industry since Carrier invented air conditioning?

 

 

 

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Answer Your Hotel Room Door Naked

You’re just coming out of the shower and the hotel’s front desk is delivering the item you requested.  Are you going to be embarrassed when you open the door dripping wet with nothing on but a towel?  What about the person delivering?  I know someone who worked at a hotel and they hated it when people answered naked (with no towel) for weirdness, fun or spite.  It happens way more often than you think.  Plus, a lot of hotel guests are comfortable answering a door in their undies when hotel staff would simply prefer they cover up.

There is a better way…indoor robot deliveries.  For the person who is concerned about answering the door with bed head, without makeup, or in some less-than-ideal state, the experience of opening up to a robot with a delivery surpasses interacting with a human.  AND the robot won’t expect you to pull a tip out of your undies.

Relay by Savioke is an indoor delivery robot making deliveries in about 30 locations today in the US and Singapore.  Check out this interview with Savioke CEO Steve Cousins where he talks about Relay, a robot that can get to your door in 5 minutes vs 25+ minutes for a member of the hotel staff.  Relay also doesn’t care if you’re naked!

 

 

 

Light Litter: Smart City and IoT Solutions Can Fix This

Light Litter!!! Have you ever noticed outdoor lights on during broad daylight in roadways and buildings? That is an example of ‪#‎LightLitter‬. These street lights in San Jose between Moorpark and Stevens Creek on Winchester Avenue were on at 9:30am on Thursday, August 11, 2016.

 

If the timer is out of sync with sunrise/sunset, that may mean they are OFF at night when they should be ON.  It doesn’t have to be that way, IoT and Smart City solutions can solve this problem, putting technology to work for municipalities around the world.

Lets raise awareness, improve safety and save energy!

Tesla, Solar Impulse, SRI, Comfy & More in this ControlTrends Interview

Emerging technologies, including Internet of Things technologies, are enabling building owners, operators and managers to leverage technology to impact asset NOI.  This weekend I was a guest on the ControlTrends videocast and podcast with hosts Kenneth Smyers and Eric Stromquist.  ControlTrends is a weekly show exploring the future of HVAC and building system controls, including emerging technologies.

In the podcast we talk about

• Solar power and the recent completion of the Solar Impulse mission
• Teslas opening of the gigafactory where the battery production factory will be covered with solar panels
• Research from SRI International on heating and cooling people vs buildings (click link to view interview of Roy Kornbluh of SRI)
• An update on Comfy, which produces an app enabling building occupants to request warm or cool air (Click link to view interview of Lindsay Baker of Comfy)
• and much more

You can listen to the ControlTrends ControlTalk NOW podcast here:

http://controltrends.org/?powerpress_embed=21194-podcast&powerpress_player=mediaelement-audio

 

You can watch the ControlTrends ControlTalk NOW videocast here:

Note: I’m the second interview so in this link I’ve queued up my conversation with Kenny and Eric but I’d recommend you back up and watch the whole thing.

 

 

Heat & Cool People vs Buildings

In this interview, SRI International researcher Roy Kornbluh discusses a solution under development that addresses personal thermal comfort in buildings.

 

Smart Building Tech For All Occupants: An Interview with Lindsay Baker of Comfy

An awesome conversation with Lindsay Baker of Comfy, including a demo of the Comfy app.  Enjoy!

 

Smart Buildings & All Things IoT in this ControlTrends Interview

I usually do the interviewing but this time Eric Stromquist and Kenneth Smyers from ControlTrends turned the microphone and camera on me.  Check out the video below.

RealComm/IBcon 2016 Summary & Videos

Those of you familiar with my background know that it is in real estate technology. Those of you that understand my present passion know that it is in disruptive technologies, most of them enabled by the Internet of things.

June 21-24, 2016 I attended RealComm/IBCon 2016, the world’s largest real estate technology conference.  During the conference I had the opportunity to meet and talk to the most brilliant thought leaders in real estate.  A few of them stepped in front of the lens to share their views and the videos were posted on my Facebook page. Here they are for you to browse.

If you like a video, click through to the clip on Facebook and let me know via the comments on the video. Enjoy!

In this clip I talk with Jim Young, Co-Founder and CEO of Realcomm following the Realcomm 2016 opening session. Topics covered in the opening session included robots, drones, wearable technology, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, Internet of things, big data, intelligent building solutions, the shared economy and much more.

This is a quick peak at the #SmartBuildingshowcase at Realcomm/IBcon 2016. Real value generation. Real ROI. Real impact on asset NOI. All the big names are in this game. Companies represented in the case studies include Intel, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Stanford University, and that’s just the ones with space here in Silicon Valley. Shanghai Tower, multiple buildings in Australia including Barangaroo South in Sydney, are some international buildings. The world is on board with IoT solutions for the building. Are you in the game?

Check out this demo of Microsoft HoloLens by Jordan Lawver from Trimble at RealComm. The future is here: #augmentedreality that creates real value.

The tours following RealComm/IBCon 2016 both impressed and inspired.  I toured the new Stanford University Central Energy Facility and interviewed Gerry Hamilton, Director of Facilities Energy Management at Stanford University’s Department of Sustainability & Energy Management. This is the place that provides the hot and cold water pumped all over campus to heat and cool buildings, labs and the new hospital. Everything is state of the art.  I invite you all to learn more at https://sustainable.stanford.edu/

In this interview I speak with Cityzenith CEO Michael Jansen at Realcomm 2016. The Cityzenith solution provides what they call ‘Big data for the built environment’ and Michael and his team won one of this year’s Digie awards. Note: The video got cut, so it jumps from talking about the property to the individual sensor, but you can look at floors too.

In this video I catch up with Eric Stromquist and Kenneth Smyers, the hosts of the ControlTalk podcast and show. It’s the place to hear about the latest in #cretech #smartbuilding and many other related topics in the real estate industry. Check it out at www.controltrends.org