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.