Bill Brown, CEO of property-visualization company Matterport, talks to Cheddar about how technology...from virtual reality to 3D printing, is influencing the real estate market in our "House Rules" segment sponsored by Chase Home Lending.
Matterport provides 3D and virtual reality models as a medium for real estate agents to show off properties. Brown talks about how millennials are in an "always-on" mode and crave an interactive connection with almost everything. He says young adults are more likely to buy a property, sight unseen, than any other generation.
And although seeing houses through a virtual reality headset or a 3D model can save a lot of time and money for the buyer, it still doesn't necessarily eliminate the need to see the house in person. Brown says there are certain circumstances where it will be most useful, for example moving across the country or wanting to invest overseas.
Pernilla Sjöholm, star of the Tinder Swindler on Netflix and founder of IDfier, explains how she went from fraud to co-founder of her own company. Watch!
DJ X, alongside Molly Holder, Senior Director of Product Personalization, takes us inside Spotify's A.I. DJ and how it's the best new way to listen to music.
Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
