The New iPad, the draw of tiny home photos, and don’t forget to change your clocks

Apple launches its new iPad. Take away: a great update. It represents a much, much greater jump above the iPad 2 than the iPad 2 was over the original.

A group of students and a few young alumni from Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science designed a tiny zero net-energy house to teach people about sustainability, living simply and creatively using the space one has. Construction began in the spring, and the team intends to complete the home by Sept. 1.

And if you find the word ‘tiny’ in the previous post oddly compelling, you’re not alone. The Atlantic Monthly explores why we are drawn to pictures of tiny homes but have less interest in palatial mansions. Reasons vary: a desire to simplify, anti-consumerism, their ‘cuteness’, and people who like the Swiss army knife challenge of getting it all to fit.

Daylight Saving Time begins this weekend, so remember to move your clocks ahead 1 hour.  AccuWeather looks at the history of this time change, who follows it (and who doesn’t) and why you should also change the batteries in your smoke alarm.

More and more credit cards are coming with embedded RFID chips so you can just wave your card at a terminal to use it. There is a risk though. Watch a local news special investigation (don’t you just love those?) of the problems with these cards.

Homeowners are hot, more Pinterest, and how Target knows you’re pregnant

Just in time for Valentines Day, a new study finds that home ownership is not only a smart move, it’s also sexy. Sponsored by Trulia (so the results aren’t too surprising really), the study surveyed singles and found that more than a third of women and 18% of men said they would much rather date a homeowner than a renter. Only 2% of women and 3% of men preferred renters.

If renters aren’t sexy, how about squatters? The Seattle Times covers the problem of empty foreclosures, abandoned properties, and their impact on cities and neighborhoods.

Quick – what’s your computer operating system, IP address, and screen resolution?

As it’s always wise to invest in what you know, many REALTORS are also landlords. If you’re new at the game, how do you deal with tenants who can no longer afford to pay the rent (or just aren’t paying)? Instead of eviction and that whole process, this landlord suggests a cash for keys strategy.

After our post last week, Pinterest continues gaining momentum. What makes it so special? Fast Company provides an insightful analysis: “When I pin or re-pin something related to a brand, I am saying that I care about this content enough that I want to hold onto it or that I want to show other people that it is important.” David Pogue is also a fan.

Companies know more about us than you imagine. So much so, that they have to play a little dumb so that they don’t spook us. It’s a long article, but the New York Times explores how habits form, what drives choice, and how companies are leveraging data to sell us more stuff.

Hopefully if you’re logged in to Pinterest, the laptop isn’t burning a hole in your pants. Overheating laptops are a real pain. Lifehacker gives some advice on taming the burn.

Machines might be taking over the world. Globally, mobile devices will outnumber humans this year, Cisco has predicted.

If you were old enough to listen to the radio in the early 1990s you undoubtedly remember Whitney Houston’s rendition of “I will always love you” from the film “The Bodyguard“. And you may even know it was originally written and sung by Dolly Parton, but did you know she wrote it not as a farewell to a lover, but to say goodbye to her mentor and business partner? And that the song barely made it into the movie? With the passing of Whitney this past weekend, Yahoo! recaps some interesting facts about a signature song.

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