Welcome to the BYTE, where we serve up the latest home and tech news from the last week for you to sink your teeth into.

This week we’ll take a BYTE out of a company searching for its way into the big game, many things being taken by storm, possibly the hottest fall in a decade, an entirely new way to social network, and a fun new way to watch college football when you can’t be there in person. Enjoy!

Generally

Welcome To The Show

Google had its big hardware event this week and in doing so went after Apple and Amazon in one fell swoop.

What Does Google Make Now?

Google announced many things at this event, a new phone called the Pixel and Pixel XL which some have called the smartest phone ever. The smartphone also come alongside a new VR viewer that looks like your new pair of sweatpants. Google Home will be hitting markets soon, which is attacking the Amazon Echo and is cheaper. Google Wifi will let you get better internet all through your house and the new Chromecast will let you stream 4K video. Google has had some products before that competed directly with their tech counterparts but now they seem to have stepped up their game in a big way.

Be Safe Out There

Hurricane Matthew Is No Joke

Matthew is being seen as one of the worst storms in a long time. It hit Haiti and plenty of devastation. It cruised through the United States over the weekend and now and a state of emergency has been called in many states. The estimated property damage is as much as $326 billion dollars. We hope everyone is safe and damage is at a minimum.

Take Notes

Fall Is Heating Up

Realtor.com expects this fall to be the best for the housing market in 10 years. There are many factors playing into this: the expected days on the market decreased in September by 4% from last year, record high demand, and the average listing price is 9% higher than last year. All in all this shapes up to one fine looking fall for all of us in the housing market.

Look At Me Now

Facebook showed off its new Oculus toy this week at Oculus Connect. Facebook hopes to redefine social media with VR. The presentation showed that with this Facebook VR app you can actually see and interact with your friends in the virtual world. You have a little character that represents you, and your friends have the same, you can talk, draw things and even fence each other. With VR becoming more common and innovations like this coming out it might be time to redefine how we work with social media.

The Big Hit

This weekend in college football Oklahoma and Texas played. What made this game different from other years or even other games this weekend was that the game was live broadcasted in VR. This is the second game to do this and looks like it might be a huge hit allowing users to change cameras, instantly look at stats and rosters, and much more. The company behind it, LiveLike, received $5 million more in funding after the first game so it might be time to stock up on VR viewers before the next watch party.

Totally Unrelated

Welcome To The Future

Nike is releasing less than 100 Nike Mag self-lacing shoes. Just like the ones from Back To The Future. The shoes are being raffled off and you can enter the raffle for $10 a ticket, all of the money goes to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Welcome to the BYTE, where we serve up the latest home and tech news from the last week for you to sink your teeth into.

This week we’ll BYTE into the real numbers behind smart homes, an app to help fight your lagging jets, a popular social site over-estimating their numbers, a shift in how we all move around, and a newer social app trying to see its future. Dig in!

Generally

Finding A Better Connection

That’s what a lot more people are doing now-a-days. Houzz put out its smart home report for 2016 and Business Insider did an analysis on the future of The Internet of Things Market. All in all there have been more smart products used and the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

Well What Did They Say

The Houzz report found that home renovations are leading the charge with 45% of all remodels. Thermostats and security systems top the best sellers list for smart devices, and a lot of people need help installing them. Business Insider’s report estimates the market from now until 2020. Basically the market is about to blow up, with an estimated 24 billion installed devices, $6 trillion invested, and high adoption from consumers, governments, and most of all in businesses. Kaboom.

App-arently An Included Feature

When Your Room Comes With An App…

Check out the Stay Well app that comes with certain Delos real estate properties. The app includes local recommendations for the area and points out cool features in your hotel room. But the best part is the jet lag tool. The tool tells you exactly when to drink coffee, expose yourself to sunlight and go out and get some sun with “Vitamin D Walks.” If this actually works then it won’t be long before apps like these take off.

Take Notes

Wait Who’s Watching?

Not as many people as we thought. Facebook announced it may have exaggerated its view counts just a bit for videos on the social network. The number that was inflated for all marketers was the average viewing time. Basically if your video was viewed for more than three seconds it was counted as a full view, which everyone now agrees definitely does not count… well, at least as long as your video is longer than three whole seconds.

Turn This Car Around

Personal car ownership is dwindling as shared car ownership is rising. Deloitte University Press put out a future of mobility infographic explaining how the rise of ride shares, autonomous vehicles, car shares and a driverless revolution are all showing a dramatic change in the way most people get around.

Make It Snappy

Over the weekend Snapchat changed its name and released “Spectacles”. Snap Inc., the app formerly known as Snapchat, is growing and offering more products. The “Spectacles” are sunglasses with cameras on them that can send videos straight to the app. Think Google Glass, but trendier. As Snap Inc. continues to grow and offer more products it will be interesting to see how it stands up in the competitive social realm.

Totally Unrelated

Pottermore And More And More

If you ever got into the Harry Potter series or know someone who did, this new Patronus Quiz might be a fun way to start the week. Even if you didn’t get into the Harry Potter world the quiz is still quite beautiful and fun to play around with. NOTE: You do have to create an account.

THE BYTE

Welcome to the BYTE, where we serve up the latest home and tech news from the last week for you to sink your teeth into.

This week’s BYTE is focused on fears over affordability, a new trend for beach front property, a little more of an empty Nest, the latest home innovation for your best friends, and a new take on hands free technology. Enjoy!

Generally

What Else Is New?

Redfin conducted a survey in August 2016 that showed, surprise, people’s biggest concern with buying a house is affordability. Redfin paired this study with the release of a list of cities with the most affordable homes.

O.K., Any Other Results?

The study showed that:

• Millennials were the most concerned with affordability followed by size and quality/design;
• The main reason people were influenced to buy was that rent was too high;
• And overall, people’s decision to buy was not affected by the stock market, Brexit, or the election this year.

Also the top 3 affordable cities were Detroit, Cleveland and Baltimore, showing that if you want to buy an affordable home just move to an affordable place. If you don’t want to move, the study included really fun charts that show the rapid decline of affordable homes in several cities.

Run To The Hills

No More Coasting Through Life

New data suggests people are slowly moving away from coastal cities. For as long as humans have kept records, the majority of the global population lived on the coasts. This might not be true for much longer as more people are moving inland. As global water continues to rise and storms like this continue to happen, this trend may accelerate.

Take Notes

Empty Nest-ers

In the latest news from Alphabet, Google’s parent company, there will be several developers moving over to Google from Nest. The move came about because of Google ramping up its operations on trying to dominate the smart home market, specifically targeting everyone’s living rooms.

The Only Smart Home Tech You’ll Need

Acer just launched into the pet friendly smart home world with Pawbo+. With Pawbo+ you can skype with your pets and share the video on social media. There are also the add-on products aptly named, Catch, Munch, Punch, and Flash, for playing catch, giving treats, playing “whack-a-mole”, and recording your animals in the dark without hurting their eyes. Who knows, maybe this smart home tech will become the norm? Or will it be a “ruff” road?

Just Roll With Me On This One

Cowarobot has us wondering, has science gone too far? Cowarobot is the newest self-controlled, motorized suitcase. The suitcase comes with a wristband that lets the suitcase know where you are and will follow you at “an arm’s length.” The suitcase also has a camera and sensors to avoid objects and stairs. What might be the coolest, but non-necessary feature, is the button that tells your suitcase to find you, basically like the Batmobile.

Totally Unrelated

That’s One Tough Melon

If you were ever wondering if a watermelon covered in LineX (super-strong, spray on coating) could survive a 147 foot drop, today is your lucky day.