Refresh

Not being a developer I have avoided books about coding web pages pretty successfully. Most information is available online, good courses, references and excellent examples - more than enough for what I needed.

Now I checked a book 'HTML, XHTML & CSS' from Elizabeth Castro in its sixth edition, and I have to say that was a good book and very helpful to read this stuff chapter by chapter. Sure, some things I skipped because I was still pretty much up to date, but she has some rather helpful tips on many pages. I especially liked the pages on handmade rss feeds and podcasts for iTunes, had not done this coding myself before.

Good book, I hope she will keep on updating it and show up with a version on HTML 5 soon.

Google Maps, Mobile and Real Estate

One of the more obvious ways to use Google Maps on mobile or on a pc: Scan real estate databases, connect it with streetview, maps, photos, videos and you can add huge value for users.

Properties

Now Google just needs to add a way to select categories and properties for real estate. Show real estate, give a distance to a given point (your job location), add a price range and minimum room requirements as filters. Then take a look on a Google map what qualifies for this selection. Check how it looks like. See the surrounding areas. Check out traffic to your job. See if there are bike-ways. Search for restaurants and parks, shopping areas and whatever you like. All on one map.

Mobile Tracking

And if you allow Google to track your location while driving (Google latitude, works already) they can alert you when you are moving around town with your cellphone. You might hear a beep because you will pass a house that fits your criteria in a moment.

This has huge potential and combined with some free, seller / interest based real estate database instead of agents databases will be a huge threat to real estate agents and brokers.