A new website called RentJolt launched this year with a new spin on the NYC apartment rental game. Owners can list their apartments and apparently collect up to $1000 when it rents, and renters pay "only" a 5.75% fee to when signing a lease, as opposed to a one month fee, which usually comes to about 12-15%. Though it's nice that yet another site has sprung up claiming to defend against Craigslist scams, this sort of just seems like a discount brokerage for rentals. The site has a nice clean look, but they only have 4 listings in all of Manhattan thus far, and seem to ignore the fact that many NYC apartments can be rented with no fee whatsoever...
However, the RentJolt Blog is filled with some helpful information and bait and switch horror stories for the prospective NYC renter.
A new website called RentJolt launched this year with a new spin on the NYC apartment rental game. Owners can list their apartments and apparently collect up to $1000 when it rents, and renters pay "only" a 5.75% fee to when signing a lease, as opposed to a one month fee, which usually comes to about 12-15%. Though it's nice that yet another site has sprung up claiming to defend against Craigslist scams, this sort of just seems like a discount brokerage for rentals. The site has a nice clean look, but they only have 4 listings in all of Manhattan thus far, and seem to ignore the fact that many NYC apartments can be rented with no fee whatsoever...
However, the RentJolt Blog is filled with some helpful information and bait and switch horror stories for the prospective NYC renter.
Embark NYC makes mass transit simple. It provides everything necessary to get around on the New York subway, and it even works underground!
Note: Embark NYC was originally called "Ride NYC" and may still appear as such in the App Store. The feature-sets are the same.
Key features:
Trip planning, even with no cell signal. Gives you detailed trip information
Arrivals information about upcoming trains for each station
Google street map with GPS integration for each station
Interactive multitouch subway map
Elegant and user friendly design
Geolocation for planning trips to specific addresses or landmarks
Bookmarking favorite stations
GPS integration for finding the stations closest to you
Detailed delay and planned-works information that can be pushed to your phone
Available on both iOS and Android
via mtaappquest.com
Check out the website at http://letsembark.com/
via infonewt.com
via vimeo.com
US Online Advertising Spending to Surpass Print in 2012
Overall ad spending expected to rebound after 3.4% growth last year, as TV remains steady
NEW YORK (January 19, 2012)—US online advertising spending, which grew 23% to $32.03 billion in 2011, is expected to grow an additional 23.3% to $39.5 billion this year—pushing it ahead of total spending on print newspapers and magazines, according to new forecast by eMarketer.
Print advertising spending is expected to fall to $33.8 billion in 2012 from $36 billion in 2011.
eMarketer’s previous US online advertising forecast from July 2011 was among the more bullish estimates issued during the year, yet consistently stronger-than-expected results from major industry players and the IAB/PwC through the first three quarters of 2011 contributed to the upward revision.
“Advertisers’ comfort level with integrated marketing is greater than ever, and this is helping more advertisers—and more large brands—put a greater share of dollars online,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst.
The growing amount of time consumers spend with digital platforms and advertisers’ view of the internet as a more measurable medium—especially as the soft economy forces businesses to be more accountable with their ad dollars—are both significant contributors to digital’s growing footprint, Hallerman added.
eMarketer forms its forecast for advertising spending though a meta-analysis of reported revenues from major ad-selling companies; results from benchmark sources such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau/PricewaterhouseCoopers, Newspaper Association of America, Radio Advertising Bureau and Outdoor Advertising Association of America; and research estimates and methodologies from dozens of firms that track ad spending. eMarketer’s estimates for US total media advertising include directories, internet, magazines, mobile, newspapers, outdoor, radio and TV. The forecast does not include spending on direct mail.
Despite concerns about the economy among agencies and marketers, total ad spending in the US is expected to continue to rebound in 2012 after rising 3.4% to $158.9 billion in 2011, according to eMarketer. US total media ad spending will grow an estimated 6.7% to $169.48 in 2012, boosted by the national elections and summer Olympics in London, eMarketer estimates.
While several notable firms downgraded their 2011 estimates for US ad spending growth during the latter portion of the year, eMarketer’s estimates for total media ad spending growth remain slightly more confident—a result of the rapid rise of digital advertising and brands’ continued confidence in television advertising, despite increasingly fragmented viewership and the soft economy. Spending on TV advertising grew 2.8% in 2011 to $60.7 billion, eMarketer estimates. This year, TV ad spending will grow an estimated 6.8% to $64.8 billion.
In the newspaper industry, digital revenues remain a sole bright spot. eMarketer estimates US digital ad revenues for newspapers will grow 11.4% to $3.7 billion, after rising 8.3% to $3.3 billion in 2011. Print advertising revenues at newspapers, however, will dip an additional 6% to $19.4 billion in 2012, eMarketer estimates, after falling 9.3% to $20.7 billion in 2011.
At magazines, US print ad revenues are expected to rise 0.5% to $15.34 billion in 2012, up from $15.3 billion last year, eMarketer estimates. US digital advertising spending at magazines is expected to grow 19.3% to $3.3 billion this year, after growing 18.8% to $2.7 billion in 2011.
Radio advertising spending will grow 3.6% to $16.7 billion in 2012, after growing 1.3% to $16.1 billion in 2011, eMarketer estimates, while spending on outdoor advertisements will grow 6.3% to $6.8 billion. Directories ad spending will decline 8.5% to $7.5 billion this year, eMarketer estimates.
via emarketer.com
via youtube.com
Samsung's Transparent Smart Window - really?
Rent Rises 3.75% While Sale Prices Slip 1.83% in Top Metro Markets
San Francisco, CA - A new housing report released by HotPads, a national housing search engine, finds that rental prices for two bedroom units grew 3.75 percent in 2011 while two bedroom units for sale saw a 1.83 percent drop in price across the top 20 most populated U.S. metros. (Jump to graphs)
Studio rentals remained the highest growth segment, with a 7.12 percent increase over the year. One and two bedroom rental properties also saw a price increase, 2.59 percent and 3.75 percent respectively, while three bedrooms dipped by .31 percent.
Popular metro areas like New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago had some of the most expensive rental listings in the U.S., as measured by median listing prices of two bedroom properties. Rental listings in San Francisco appeared in particularly high demand, staying active for just 28 days on HotPads, compared to an average of 49 days across other top metro markets.
Unlike rentals, homes for sale saw a further decline in 2011, sinking 1.83 percent across the largest metro areas, as measured by the median for sale listing price of two bedrooms on HotPads. A similar trend could be seen among the listed price of three bedroom homes for sale, which declined by .19 percent. In 2011 the most expensive two bedroom properties could be found in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.
While we expect demand for rental properties to remain high throughout 2012, we anticipate a slower growth compared to last year. As the price of homes for sale continues to decline, we believe more home shoppers will consider buying over renting (buy vs rent data below). We also predict more foreclosed and long standing for sale properties will re-enter the market as rentals in 2012, which should increase the rental supply and help ease prices. However, if economic conditions extend consumer uncertainty, we may continue seeing would be home owners continue to rent.
The data in this report is calculated based on the median listing price of 500,000 concurrently active rental listings on HotPads across the top 20 most populated U.S. metros. For consistency, two bedroom properties were used to determine the rental and for sale year over year price changes. The Buy vs Rent ratio is calculated by dividing a metros median house price by annual rent. Higher ratios mean it is more expensive to buy than rent a comparable home. The 20 metro areas include major cities like Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago,Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle,St. Louis, Tampa, Washington, DC. 'Metro Areas' consist of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, ex: "San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA" and "New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA".
Need more info? Get in touch at press@hotpads.com
Visual Rental Trends, January 2011 - December 2011
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA $897 $106,150 1.02% -0.09% 9.86 -1.10% Baltimore-Towson, MD $1,285 $186,537 5.08% -1.54% 12.10 -6.30% Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH $1,929 $229,283 -1.95% -0.04% 9.91 1.94% Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI $1,552 $145,650 19.57% -10.00% 7.82 -24.73% Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX $980 $117,783 2.52% 6.20% 10.02 3.59% Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI $841 $54,333 0.00% -16.69% 5.38 -16.69% Houston-Baytown-Sugar Land, TX $996 $108,417 1.51% -0.09% 9.07 -1.57% Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA $1,717 $262,888 0.29% -9.09% 12.76 -9.36% Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach, FL $1,748 $183,941 15.15% 37.52% 8.77 19.43% Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI $1,053 $120,933 -2.29% -4.00% 9.57 -1.75% New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA $2,653 $251,558 4.09% -7.69% 7.90 -11.32% Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD $1,208 $164,717 0.00% -5.07% 11.36 -5.07% Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ $892 $123,683 5.88% 12.01% 11.55 5.79% Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA $1,242 $135,676 0.97% -9.97% 9.10 -10.84% San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA $1,506 $229,738 5.03% -2.98% 12.71 -7.60% San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA $1,607 $293,471 3.11% 1.72% 15.22 -1.34% Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA $1,178 $163,465 8.14% -16.72% 11.56 -22.99% St. Louis, MO-IL $797 $103,875 0.63% -10.01% 10.86 -10.57% Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL $899 $86,917 0.00% -5.56% 8.06 -5.56% Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV $1,714 $184,069 1.02% 3.96% 8.95 2.89% from Hotpads
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