Wednesday, August 3, 2016

How Snapchat Helped Ad Buyers Get Over Their Fear of a Ghost

When the company started offering ads, brands were wary of high prices and vanishing content. Then it let football fans drench themselves in virtual Gatorade.
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See What's Inside Microsoft's Reimagined Xbox One


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What a view! And what a perfect spot to unwind after a long day!


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Video Games Where Batman’s Psyche Trumps Whiz-Bang Action

Telltale Games has wooed gamers, and Hollywood, by breathing new life into the genre of narrative video games that let players decide how a plot unfolds.
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Daily Report: Venture Capital’s Endangered Middle Class

After just one firm raised one-quarter of all funding in the second quarter, midsize investors are facing a future in which they could be squeezed out.
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'Abzu' Is a Breathtaking Underwater Game You Shouldn't Miss


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Now Anyone Can Buy Microsoft's Crazy Futuristic Headset


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'Inside' Will Fix a Shortcoming for PlayStation Gamers


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Schooling Siri on Unusual Names

If the iOS virtual assistant app garbles names that sound different from the way they’re spelled, you can take steps to correct the pronunciation.
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This Company Just Got Permission to Land a Robot on the Moon


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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Why Aren’t More New Homes Selling When Demand Is Soaring?

Despite the hordes of frenzied home buyers hoping to take advantage of very low mortgage interest rates and sign on the dotted lines for their dream homes, builders still aren’t putting up nearly enough residences to appease the rising demand.
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Instagram's Latest Feature Is Basically Just Snapchat


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Here's Why Apple Isn't Doomed


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Samsung's Cheap VR Headset Just Got a Little Better


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Here's An Early Look at Samsung's Big New Galaxy Phone


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Getting Chatty in Gmail

Google’s mail program offers its users the choice between a no-frills instant-messaging service and a more full-featured communications hub.
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Instagram Takes a Page From Snapchat, and Takes Aim at It, Too

The new service from Facebook’s photo-sharing app will let people share photos and videos that have a life span of no more than 24 hours with friends who follow them.
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Daily Report: What Tech Happens in China Stays in China

Uber’s deal with Didi is strangely familiar: China does something like the American original, but stays onshore.
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China, Not Silicon Valley, Is Cutting Edge in Mobile Tech

American tech companies study Chinese users and apps as a smartphone revolution changes how people interact, buy products and manage their money.
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Even Uber Couldn’t Bridge the China Divide

The ride-hailing company joins the top tech giants in failing to overcome the enormous and varied barriers to competing effectively in China.
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Seymour Papert, 88, Dies; Saw Education’s Future in Computers

Dr. Papert was a co-director of an artificial intelligence lab at M.I.T.; some considered him the foremost expert on technology and learning.
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Sharing Video Streams on Facebook

Facebook Live makes it easy to stream real-time video from your mobile device to everybody in your world — or the world at large.
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Oracle, Having Bet Billions on Its Future, Sets Sights on Data Analysis

The biggest business-software company thinks that information gathering could become a valuable adjunct to many of its database and applications efforts, and it has more data than anybody.
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New Fund From Technology Crossover Ventures Draws $2.5 Billion

Though some worry about a cooling tech boom, the venture capital money keeps pouring in.
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Farhad’s and Mike’s Week in Tech: The Cautionary Tale of the Fall of Yahoo

Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon shared their second-quarter earnings reports, and Yahoo agreed to sell itself to Verizon for about $5 billion.
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First Time Home Buyers in San Francisco

ATTENTION: First Time Home Buyers in San Francisco
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Sunday, July 31, 2016

Startup among latest efforts to help teachers afford Bay Area housing

When Wendy Gudalewicz heard about a new startup aimed at helping homebuyers afford down payments, she called her daughter Jamie right away. "You need to check this out," she said. Jamie Carota, an East Oakland renter who teaches science at Itliong-Vera Cruz Middle School in Union City, has been searching intensively for a house in San Jose for about half a year. So far, she says, the process has been "defeating." The 27-year-old has toured over 30 houses in the last eight weeks and scours the real estate website Redfin several times a day. But her husband also works in education, and their salaries put most homes out of range as Bay Area prices continue to rocket to new heights.
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Friday, July 29, 2016

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Average US 30-Year Mortgage Rate Rises to 3.45 Percent

ortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday the average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.45 percent from 3.42 percent last week. The average rate is down sharply from 4.04 percent a year ago.
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Sunday, July 24, 2016

S.F.’s residential towers encase tenants in urban luxury

Kristie Locks is making the case for life in Rincon Hill’s newest apartment tower, where rents for a 619-square-foot, one-bedroom unit start at $4,065, and the bells and whistles are state of the art. There’s a refrigerated room off the lobby to store deliveries of fresh groceries. Two “board rooms” can be reserved with seating for eight. A concierge is on duty 24 hours a day. An app lets you pay the rent, tell the valet to retrieve your car, or schedule a dog-walker or an in-room massage. “This is the new way of living,” said Locks, senior leasing agent for the Jasper, which stacks 320 apartments in a 40-story shaft behind the gas station at the entrance to the Bay Bridge. “People love how techie our units are. It’s San Francisco!” The Jasper is one extreme of what I call Extreme Living: the packaged lifestyles being dangled before potential residents of all those buildings taking shape above the streets of the city’s northeast corner. We long-timers may resent blocked views, or be dumbfounded by the prices. But the past decade has proved that people who want to live in San Francisco and can afford it — an important distinction — aren’t just looking for Victorian charm and bohemian funk. For many of them, modern amenities are as seductive as that little cafe around the corner.
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Friday, July 22, 2016

A Minimalist Manifesto: How To Simplify Your Style at Home

Sometimes, our homes can overwhelm us. What should be a place of retreat and comfort becomes bloated with items not needed, styles experimented with and abandoned, and projects started but never completed. While a good Spring Clean (whenever it happens) is always welcome, sometimes you want to go even further than that and streamline your style, too. Read on for our Minimalist Manifesto, and for ideas on how to simplify your home.
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Thursday, July 21, 2016

Best Places to Live

U.S. News analyzed the 100 most populous metro areas to find the best places to live. To make the top of the list, a place had to have good value, be a desirable place to live, have a strong job market and a high quality of life.
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Sunday, July 17, 2016

New Listings Low in Bay Area Real Estate Market | Published: 7/13/2016 | Homesnap Real Estate News

New listings have fallen in the SF Bay Area market, reaching a low that hasn't been seen since April. They also had a 30-day tally of 6,323 sales. With a total of 1,827 new listings, Alameda County contributed the most. Potential buyers should note that prices are coming down in the Bay Area Metro Area, and for this period the median sales price slid from $760,000 to $758,000. There are only two months of inventory available in the Bay Area Metro Area, and combined with shrinking new listings numbers, it's a definite seller's market.
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Friday, July 15, 2016

130 Designer Kitchens for Every Style

Allow these culinary hot spots to stir up major inspiration for your own home.
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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Brexit unlikely to roil U.S. real estate sector, experts say

The turmoil roiling the United Kingdom real estate market since the surprise Brexit outcome is unlikely to trigger similar impact for the U.S. real estate sector, industry experts predict. In fact, some predict U.K pain ultimately could mean U.S. gain.
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Get a FREE - NO obligation Instant Home Valuation

ATTENTION SAN FRANCISCO Luxury Home Owners! Do you know how much your home is really worth? It may surprise, even shock you.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Foreign buyers flood US real estate, but buy cheaper homes

The appetite for U.S. real estate continues to flourish, but international buyers are shifting their sights from luxury to less-pricey properties. This may be due to overall higher home prices, along with a stronger U.S. dollar, which both cost foreign buyers more at the negotiating table. There are also fewer nonresident foreigners investing in the market.
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Monday, July 11, 2016

This looks like the perfect family home! Is this what you're looking for??


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San Francisco Real Estate Market Hits New Listings Low | Published: 7/8/2016 | Homesnap Real...

The San Francisco market looks like it may be showing mixed signals. Although there has been a three-week upward trend, bringing this week's numbers up to 452 homes sold over the last 30 days, new listings have fallen to the lowest they've been in three months. In comparison, Oakland led all other nearby municipalities with 431 new listings. The median sales price dropped to $1,227,500 over the latest reporting period for San Francisco, down from $1,249,888. With just two months of inventory available and sales going up, San Francisco is a definite seller's market.
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Friday, July 8, 2016

How To Make Your Outdoor Space Feel Like Another Room In Your Home (for Less than $100)

As soon as summer hits, you may feel the urge to move everything you own outside so you can live under the sun and stars. Utilizing whatever outdoor area you have is especially important when you call a small space home, because it can give you the dining room, living room, or reading nook your place typically lacks.
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Thursday, July 7, 2016

Custom list of Fixer Upper homes in San Francisco Bay

Are you looking for a Fixer Upper home in the San Francisco Bay market area? We have this custom list of homes just for YOU!
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Will a Sparkling-Clean Home Appraise for More Money?

Selling your home is a long journey, but it doesn’t end with accepting an offer.
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Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Thanks, Brexit! Why UK vote is likely to boost US home sales

The net effect will depend on location and price point, but overall, the Brexit will likely result in continuing growth in home sales with somewhat slower growth in home prices. The impact will benefit well-qualified buyers the most, and it will be a boon for sellers in affordable markets and price points.
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Monday, July 4, 2016

Look at this beautiful library! Is this exactly what you'd like in your new home?


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Sales Down in San Francisco County Real Estate Market | Published: 6/30/2016 | Homesnap Real...

The San Francisco County market slowed with a 4.7% sales drop in this week's report. However, overall sales numbers for the last 30 days remained above the monthly average (385.2) with 442 homes sold. Within the same time period, Santa Clara County had 1,362 sales, the most of all counties in the area. Prices are falling in San Francisco County, and this period the median price of all sales fell from $1,250,000 to $1,249,944. In spite of the decrease in sales, a low two months of inventory signals that San Francisco County is a solid seller's market.
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Thursday, June 30, 2016

A storm is brewing in the real-estate market

In a report released Monday, Pimco's John Murray and Anthony Clarke wrote that the capital flows that propped up the market since the housing crash were decreasing. And that spells trouble ahead.
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Monday, June 27, 2016

Wow, look at this incredible backyard oasis! Is this exactly what you're looking for??


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San Francisco County First-Time Homebuyer Report for June | Published: 6/24/2016 | Homesnap Real...

San Francisco County rank as the 13th- most affluent county in California with a median income of $69,713 per household. The population is considered younger than most with a median age of 38 years. The three zip codes with the largest populations are 94112, 94110, and 94122. Keep in mind, most people in San Francisco County are renters, with 58.9% of the population renting their home. Heading the list of top schools in the county is Alice Fong Yu Elementary School.
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