Tracking a Tough Real Estate Market

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPc4Qt2n6RI]

I saw some reports recently that real estate websites are seeing record levels of traffic despite the depressing state of the housing market. I suspect much of that can be attributed to homeowners surfing the web for information on how much equity they’ve lost in their houses as prices have declined.

Trulia.com
For a quick read on what’s going on with housing prices in your area, Trulia’s home price heat maps are a great resource. Just input your zip code and you’ll find color-coded maps indicating median home prices in each neighborhood. Trulia also offers traditional real estate features like for sale listings.

Zillow.com
This is the site that uses complex calculations to estimate home values for about every home in the country. Yours is probably one of them. Just search for your zip code or your exact address and find Zillow’s price estimate for your home as well as those of your neighbors. Of course it’s just a guess, but Zillow says its estimates are usually within about ten percent of actual sale prices in the Baltimore area.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPc4Qt2n6RI

New Features from Google

Those new Google features are at…

Earth.Google.com and Google.com/latitude

Monitoring Kids Online

The last few weeks brought more news of sexual predators being kicked off social networking sites. Here are a couple of sites offering help keeping an eye on what your kids are up to.

YouDiligence.com
Starting at about $10 per month, this site watches your child’s Facebook or MySpace page for inappropriate messages and alerts you if it spots something. This alone won’t keep kids safe, but it’s another line of defense that may offer some peace of mind.

ReputationDefender.com
This is a slightly different take on the same service. Instead of watching what your kids are up to, this site constantly scans the internet for what others are saying about you.

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Plans

Yahoo recently sent out a P.R. email noting that they were seeing lots of searches for the phrase “When is Valentine’s Day?” This doesn’t bode well for the folks in relationships with whoever is turning to Yahoo for help with the holiday. But even those who know the date can procrastinate, so here are two sites that may come to the rescue at the last minute.

OpenTable.com
This restaurant reservation site is quite popular, but there’s one particular feature that can be very helpful when dinner reservations are hard to get. Instead of searching for a particular restaurant on OpenTable, just search for your city and date. Your search results will show all local restaurants that still have tables available. A lifesaver for Valentine’s, perhaps, and useful for busy dining nights all year ’round.

TheosWorld.com/valentine
Anybody can send Valentine’s e-cards, but when was the last time you received a custom-decorate virtual Valentine cake? This probably won’t make up for forgetting the big day, but the personal message you can share by email may show that you mean well. It’s the thought that counts, right?

Online Dating with a Twist

Just a few days from Valentine’s Day, it’s tough to miss the ads for some online dating websites. But the big names you see on TV are just the beginning of the matchmaking options online.

PlentyOfFish.com
This free dating site has quietly grown into a serious competitor to the likes of eHarmony and Match.com. It’s not as slick-looking as the big sites, but its advantages include a large user base and its price tag of zero.

GreatBoyfriends.com
It really ought to be GreatBoyfriendsAndGirlfriends.com, but that would be a lot of typing. Single men and women are featured on the site, but this personals site adds a bit of a twist. Instead of most users posting their own profiles, GreatBoyFriends.com encourages users to recommend their single friends and family members. So instead of reading what a person wrote about him or herself, you read a description from one of their friends. There is a fee for this one, though. It’s $20 per month to access all the features on the site.

Back to School

I keep hearing economic experts advise people to go back to school to improve their chances of getting and keeping jobs in the difficult economy. I’m not sure how people are supposed to find the time or where they’re supposed to find the money. But here are some websites letting you take classes at top schools for free, just not for credit.

AcademicEarth.org
This site aggregates lecture videos from various courses, bringing them all together on one easy-to-navigate site. Choose from various topics and find videos of entire classes. Watch videos from the first day of class to the last, even download them to a iPod or iPhone to watch on the go.

For even more free online learning, check out the classes offered by M.I.T., Harvard and Princeton.

Spreeder.com
Learn to speed read! Or at least that’s the claim on this site. Just plug some text into the box and this little application flashes the words on the screen quickly. It claims that by gradually increasing the speed of the text you can train your brain to become a faster reader.

A Change in the Weather

We’re launching an all-new Insta-Weather page today on WBALTV.com. It’ll happen officially at noon, but you can get a sneak peek right here.

It’ll take a few seconds to load the first time, but hang in there. Once it downloads the first time, it’ll be much faster when you return.

The page looks very different, but rest assured all the info you’re accustomed to seeing on our Insta-Weather page is still here. You can even rearrange the page to keep the most important details right on top.

Try it out and let me know what you think. Email me at techquestions@wbaltv.com or just use the form on the side of this page.

Make that June 12. DTV Transition to be delayed.

This is cross-posted from my DTV conversion blog “Going Digital.”

It’s done, or at least will be done soon. The House of Representatives just passed a bill to delay the DTV transition from February 17 to June 12th. The Senate has already done so. All that remains is the President’s signature, all but guaranteed.

I believe one of the small differences between this bill and the one the House defeated last week is that Broadcasters will have the option to go ahead with the conversion before the deadline. I don’t know what effect that will have here in Maryland, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

I just noticed that there’s language in the bill that allowing the government to reissue one replacement coupon to any household whose initial coupons expired unused.

As I read the legislation, that change wouldn’t take effect until further financial authorization is approved to spend the money necessary to do it. But it’s good news for the many viewers holding worthless, expired coupons.

Waiting for Phil

Here are the links to the live video feeds from Punxutawney.

Groundhog.org
Is the homepage of the Punxutawney Groundhog Club, the group behind the tradition.

GroundhogDreams.com
Is the entertaining but inexplicable Pennsylvania tourism site inspired by Groundhog Day.

Super Bowl Ads Past and Present

Super Bowl Sunday is no longer the debut for many commercials, since companies are now previewing their spots online.

SuperBowl-Ads.com
See many of this year’s commercials before their air in the Super Bowl, and take a walk down advertising’s memory lane with all the ads from the last ten years of the big game.

Blogs.NFL.com
The NFL has a good peek behind the scenes in Tampa with the constantly updated blogs on its Super Bowl homepage.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY IS NO LONGER THE DEBUT FOR MANY OF THESE COMMERCIALS… SINCE COMPANIES ARE NOW PREVIEWING THEIR SPOTS ONLINE.