Product Resources
Buyers Guide(2)
Mr. Tough Guy
The Pentax Optio W80 all-weather digital camera is designed to go from poolside to the deep end. The camera’s underwater design allows users to take pictures in the rain and snow and in temperatures as low as 14 degrees. Its casing and rubberized corners also protect it from falls of up to three feet. In addition to face detection and shake reduction features, the Optio W80 also records high-definition video. The camera’s cost ranges from $189 to $299.
Contact Pentax at (800) 345-9935 or www.pentaximaging.com.
Layar Your World
Augmented reality moves from the fanciful to the practical with Layar, a free smartphone application for Android phones. (An iPhone version is in development.) The app can integrate more than 250 content layers that provide information about sites viewed on the phone’s camera screen. Using Layar’s open-application programming interface, developers can create content layers and organize them into various categories, including real estate. Several layers display available for-sale and rental properties within a phone’s viewable area. Layar is a free download.
Contact Layar at www.layar.com.
Actionable Strategies
Active Private Equity Real Estate Strategy, written by experts in the ING Clarion Partners’ Research and Investment Strategy Group, is a compilation of market analyses, forecasts, and strategy papers from 2007 and 2008. Part one includes an overview of capital markets and an early simulation of the recession’s effect on commercial real estate. Part two, “Active Strategies,” illustrates how institutional investment managers can create and analyze opportunities in hospitality, industrial, senior housing, and other sectors. Readers might recognize Chapter 13, “Opportunities in Infrastructure Investment,” which originally appeared in Commercial Investment Real Estate’s March/April 2009 issue. The book costs $90.
Contact Wiley at (877) 762-2974 or www.wiley.com.
Data Consolidation
Risk Integrated’s expanded Specialized Financial System consolidates property data across a portfolio, giving decision makers a comprehensive look at otherwise disparate data sets. SFS is an enterprise-level management information system that provides various reporting capabilities, including covenant analyses, exit yields, and lease profiles. Standard reports like current loan-to-value and debt service coverage ratio by sector and geography also are included. Users can look at the raw data, generate what-if stress tests, and explore probabilities based on cash-flow simulations. SFS is available either as a Web-based system or as a centralized in-house application. Call for cost information.
Contact Risk Integrated at (845) 598-1620 or www.riskintegrated.com.
New Windows
Windows 7, the latest version of Microsoft’s operating system, is available in Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate editions. The release introduces fewer updates than its predecessor, Windows Vista, and is compatible with the same hardware, applications, and device drivers. New features include a redesigned taskbar, streamlined home networking, and a faster boot time. Windows 7’s cost ranges from $119.99 for Home Premium to $219.99 for Ultimate.
Contact Microsoft at (877) 696-7786 or www.microsoft.com.