Y Combinator-backed SmartAsset prompts you with a series of questions about your income, deductions, assets, geography, and expenses. Based on the responses, the engine generates personalizes advice on what is affordable and why, how a purchase would affect cash flow, tax consequences, and more. The new features include mortgage advice, government programs, neighborhood recommendations, and home appreciations.

“In the wake of the financial crisis, the average consumer is less trusting of banks and brokers for financial advice and seeks greater autonomy in decision-making,” said founder Michael Carvin in an email. “SmartAsset equips users with the information and analytics they need to make decisions for themselves. SmartAsset provides unparalleled transparency into financial decision-making.”

Carvel was working in finance when he decided to buy a home. He was surprised to learn how complicated the process was and about all the hidden costs. He said advice from real estate agents, brokers, and other companies was often wrong or biased, and online advice was “static or anecdotal,” meaning it did not pertain to his personal circumstances. Financing is one of those areas where one size does not always fit all, and Carvin decided to build an engine that delivered personalized and accurate advice.

SmartAsset first launched in July. This update triples the number of questions its customers can answer, which adds an additional layer of customization. Carvin said that these questions are searched for on Google 4 million times per month, and he is responding to user demand to help people answer these questions in an intelligent and trusted way.

Now in addition to factoring in personal information, tax codes, transaction expenses, and dynamic property values, SmartAsset will also answer questions about mortgage insurance and types, checks if users qualify for government programs, make neighborhood recommendations based on data about local crime rates, school quality, weather, and commute times. The company also partnered with Moody’s, which provides credit ratings and research, to forecast home appreciation by county. Carvin said this is the first time this data has been made public.

While for now, SmartAsset is focused on home-buying, there are 24 other “life-changing” financial decisions in the pipeline, such as whether to go back to school or when to retire. The startup is based in New York and backed by $2.4 million from North Bridge Venture Partners, Javelin Venture Partners, Peterson Venture Partners, Y Combinator, Quotidian Ventures, and angels.

Photo credit: thetorpedodog/Flickr

MagicPlan is a mobile application that uses sensor fusion, augmented reality, and reality capturing technology to let your mobile device draw a floor plan for you. Creating a floor plan typically involves tape measures, pencil, paper, measuring and remeasuring, and sometimes even complicated CAD software. The typical floor plan can take hours or days to build and can cost hundreds of dollars. MagicPlan does it quickly, cheaply, and without requiring a tape measure (which can be painful when mishandled … trust me).

“We have spent three years working on this technology,” said Pierre Gaubil, CEO of Sensopia, which produced MagicPlan. “It takes away the burden of measuring and drawing and needing to move furniture, It is a huge time saver, and there are so many potential applications and partnerships.

At first, Gaubil said he expected real estate would drive the business, but there is also significant interest from the home improvement and design sector, as well as law enforcement agencies that have to submit crime scene floor plans to judges. To fuel adoption of the product, MagicPlan is also announcing major partnerships with Home Depot, virtual tour technology company Real Tour Vision, and interior design platform Cocontest.

These partnerships will drive MagicPlan’s distribution, which is already significant. Between 10 and 15,000 floor plans are added a day by users all around the world. The app, which is currently only available for iOS, has been downloaded over 3.6 million times and has won multiple App Store awards. MagicPlan launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to support development of an Android application. While Apple products involve one set of hardware, the Android platform involves many, and this poses a fresh set of development challenges.

The team, however, is up to the task. Four of the five founders are former CEOs with advanced technical backgrounds, and when they set out to build a new company, they aimed big.

“We have a very experienced team, so we wanted to be technologically ambitious,” Gaubil said. “As you go on the App Store, it is very public and you are exposed to competition. We felt our best protection was to create something technologically advanced that would be difficult to copy. We also wanted to do something mobile, because back then in 2009, we felt mobile would be as big a revolution as computers and change everything.”

Their predictions turned out to be true. Mobile devices are tricked out with accelerometers, gyroscopes, and cameras that make this type of application possible. Once the area is captured, augmented reality maps it and algorithms assemble all the pieces together. Sensopia holds three patents for the use of sensors to do floor plans on a mobile device, the ‘normalization’ of measurements (making it all fit properly), and how to leverage all data coming from sensors to assemble the floor plan.

MagicPlan costs $3 to download, with subscription packages and development fees available for businesses in home improvement, insurance, architecture, law enforcement, and other  markets. Sensopia has offices in San Francisco and Montreal.

In fact, Scout Alarm crowdsourced that cash all on its own.

The Scout Alarm is a $120 “next generation” alarm system that is designed for renters as well as home owners. It’s clean, simple, doesn’t require wires or a landline, and it comes with you to your new home when you move. In other words, a Scout representative told me, it’s the perfect system for urban dwellers who may not be living in the same home for decades on end.

Scout says that Kickstarter wouldn’t allow it on its service as its product was not far enough along in preproduction yet, so the company followed in the footsteps of Lockitron, which crowdfunded its keyless lock solution, then open-sourced the needed software. A month later, the company has 596 backers who have pledged $159,180 for the new alarm systems, which start shipping in August.

“Scout has been the most successful project of its kind that we can find,” a company representative told me via email. “Even if you look at the top 15 projects of 2012 from Indiegogo, Scout would be in the top 10 … we believe we are the most successful independent crowdfunding campaign to date, excluding Lockitron, which was on their second product.”

The company put together two blog posts highlighting how to make a private crowdfunding campaign work. Here’s the short version:

1. You’ll need to do some programming. Even though Lockitron open-sourced its crowdfunding code, it may not be perfectly suited for you.
2. Press helps
3. This may be a well-duh one, but if you can get the attention of people that have others’ attention, it helps.
4. PR people help, too. Let me just put it this way: There’s a reason you’re seeing this article, and it’s not because I woke up this morning thinking I was going to write about Scout Alarm.
5. Sweat the small stuff. Distributors? Shipping rates? Know them.
6. Remind me later. Some people can’t buy right away. Some don’t want to. Give them a way to get you to remind them later.
7. Live chat on your site. Talk to people who hit your site — they’ll have questions.
8. Talk to backers early and often. Keep them informed, excited, and sharing.
9. Have a second angle on press. Initial press doesn’t last. Have a new angle for week two, three, and so on.
10. Retargeting from day one. Set up AdRoll or another retargeting solution on your site so that you can market to people who visit but don’t buy. “It’s cheap,” Scout Alarm says on its blog. “We’ve spent $340 to get 43,000 impressions and 81 clicks in two weeks.”
11. Video, demos, pictures. People don’t like to read; they like to see.
12. Ask for help. Other startups and entrepreneurs like to help startups and entrepreneurs.
13. Help backers go viral. Give them simple ways to share news and updates.
14. Hire a virtual assistant. Keeping up with the flow of information is hard.
15. Ask for the sale. Don’t be shy!
16. Track referrals and conversions from day one. Know what’s working … and what’s not.

The results?

In the first three weeks, Scout Alarm received 48,500 visitors, including 36,500 unique visits, from people who pre-ordered $140,000 worth of home security equipment. Now the campaign is near $160,000.

Scout’s campaign is continuing for another five days, and it’s looking for about $20,000 more in preorders.

Zillow is a real estate marketplace that lists “practically every home in the U.S.” It can be used to find homes for sale, apartment rentals, market records, mortgage rates, statistics, and even advice. Like any enterprising real estate mogul, Zillow has been on a buying spree, snatching up startups to expand and improve its offerings. The HotPads purchase marks Zillow’s sixth acquisition in less than two years.

HotPads’ map-based real estate search engine is known for its split screen search interface that lets visitors view multiple listings side-by-side to make comparisons. Of the millions of visitors to HotPads, almost 70% were looking for rentals. This fits into Zillow’s recent launch of Zillow Rentals, which offers a suite of tools for rental professionals.

“This acquisition represents a significant step-change for Zillow Rentals, allowing us to dramatically increase the number of leads we send to landlords,” said Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow. “HotPads has a younger, complementary and rental-focused audience. Now Zillow will become even more relevant to consumers at the beginning of their real estate life cycle.”

This is Zillow’s first acquisition of a primarily consumer-facing company. Earlier acquisitions include Mortech, Inc; Buyfolio; RentJuice, Diverse Solutions, and Postlets.

There are mixed sentiments about Zillow’s future within the technology community. While the company had a strong third quarter with $27.8 million in revenue and saw 36 million unique visitors in October, a recent report from research firm Citron undermined investor, share-holder, and consumer confidence.

HotPads will not only supplement Zillow’s rental offering but will also help build out its mobile presence. Zillow recently launched the Rentals for iPhone app and saw record mobile usage in Quarter 3. HotPads’ five mobile applications will “complement Zillow’s growing rental marketplace.” HotPads will also serve to bolster Zillow in its competition with Trulia, another real estate listing company.

HotPads has 19 employees and is based in San Francisco, where it will remain even though Zillow is based in Seattle. Read the press release. 

Online travel site Luxury Retreats welcomed $5 million into its sumptuous, landscaped, columned, decorated home (with a pool) today, from iNovia Capital.

Those looking for a getaway of the utmost comfort and style can peruse rental options around the world on Luxury Retreats. Each villa is “handpicked” by a global team, scouring the globe for opulent rental options. It has over 2,000 villas in the system, and the personal touch ensures an added layer of quality assurance. With homes at thousands of dollars a night (some are cheaper), quality assurance is rather important.

The site offers a complementary concierge service as well that can assist with other elements of planning a trip, like booking a private wine tour or going on a scuba adventure.

While researching the company for the article, I created myself a nice little wish list of vacations.

Someday when I dig up a box of gold or receive a massive inheritance from an estranged billionaire aunt, I will book a palatial Tuscan villa where I can throw elegant affairs in the ballroom and surrounding cedar garden;  Thai mansions overlooking the Andaman Sea, where I can bask under coconut trees and order massages on the hour; and a mountaintop chalet at Whistler, where I can ski all day, lounge in a hot tub, and sip hot cocoa on a majestic sleigh ride through the forest.

Back to reality.

The website clearly targets the affluent traveler and with this funding, plans to add at least 50 new destinations in the next year. Luxury Retreats was founded in 1999 by CEO Joe Poulin, who was 17 years old at the time. This is the company’s first round of institutional funding, which has existed thus far on its own profits.

It is based in Montreal, with offices in Barbados, St. Martin, and Buenos Aires.

Home-cleaning robot manufacturer iRobot announced today that it has acquired one of its key competitors, Evolution Robotics, for $74 million. Evolution Robotics is the maker of the Mint floor cleaning robots.

The acquisition means that the largest company in personal and home robotics, which has already sold over 6 million Roombas, is growing even bigger. And it’s acquiring some key technology it lacks.

Mint does a few things Roomba does not. First of all, it specializes in hard surfaces, dusting and then damp-cleaning floors better than a Roomba. Second, Mint has a repeat revenue business with name-brand cleaning cloths such as Swiffer. Third, and probably most important, Mint has better technology for navigating — via what the company calls “indoor GPS,” or NorthStar Navigation.

As anyone who has one knows, Roomba navigation can be a little head-scratching. In fact, Mint used that in, essentially, an attack ad on the market leader … which could be a little embarrassing now:

In a statement, iRobot chief executive Colin Angle said that the company would use its large sales and distribution network to expand sales of Mint products, which suggests that the Mint brand will remain, at least for some time.

Evolution Robotics’ current CEO will be joining iRobot as chief technical officer.

Image credit: thenorwoodbuilder

iRobot‘s Roomba, which promised to vacuum our houses for us, featured pitiful pick-up and puny batteries.

But that didn’t deter iRobot from its efforts to reinvent the world of grunt work. And persistence has paid off: Roomba is now 10 years old, and all grown up.

iRobot has sold over six million Roombas, each of which the company says cleans an average of 300 pounds of dirt over its janitorial lifespan. Add up the square feet covered, and you’ve got about 39 Rhode Islands, which is about 22 percent of Texas. Or 29 million football fields.

Perhaps more interestingly for YouTube fans, Roombas have been successfully ridden by turtles, babies, prairie dogs, and yes, of course, the obligatory cats and dogs.

Here’s the infographic:

photo credit: Ryan Harvey via photo pin cc

Hat tip: Mashable

The company produces products such as “MamaRoo,” a calming baby rocker that is basically a multifunction massage chair with five different rocking motions and a built-in iPod dock with speakers.

Source: 4moms

Not made by NASA, not a prop in a SF movie

Or Origami, a stroller that folds and unfolds at the touch of a button, sports daytime running lights (!), has a LCD dashboard that shows temperature, trip and lifetime distance travelled, and speed.

The kicker? It not only charges itself while you walk, but it also charges your phone.

This is not yo momma’s stroller.

Essentially, the company is doing for parenting aids what Apple has done to consumer electronics and what Dyson is doing to home appliances: Making everyday tools smarter and better by harnessing an intensely user-focused design to the power of sophisticated modern technology.

Of course, all this high-end automation and electronics does not come cheap: Origami is $850. MamaRoo is a comparative bargain at only $200.

According to AllThingsD, the company plans to use the new funding to expand internationally and increase the range of products it offers.

I’m not a mother (does father count?) but I would have loved these tools — although price would have been an issue.

My biggest question: When will 4Moms focus on the biggest source of home drudgery: preparing meals?

The company is developing a huge 120,000 square foot “Google Experience Center,” which will serve as a sort of private museum and meeting center, as well as labs for secret projects and the company’s @Home automation endeavour, reports the Mercury News.

The new buildings are big part of Google’s $120 million constructions efforts at the Googleplex, and they show how the company is quickly transforming into something more than just a search giant.

The Experience Center, for example, will be a place for the company to share big ideas with important industry figures. It may host future entries of Google’s new Solve for X conference, given the description by one of the architects working on the building:

The Experience Center would not typically be open to the public — consisting of invited groups, and guests whose interests will be as vast as Google’s range of products, and often confidential… Therefore, the Experience Center must also operate somewhat like a museum, exhibit, or mercantile space allowing flexibility in the exhibits so that as Google’s products and needs change, the space can adapt.

Such a building would also give Google an easy way to demonstrate its products for future enterprise and government customers, technology analyst Rob Enderle tells the paper.

Not surprisingly, Google had little to say about the Experience Center, or about its secret lab space, dubbed Project X. It’ll likely be a larger area for Google X, the company’s lab for fantastical projects. According to the Mercury News, Project X could involve “precision optical technology.”

Google is also carving out a lab that can screen out wireless frequencies for its @Home automation service. Little is known about @Home at the moment,  but Google has hinted that it could do things like control your home lights, appliances, and will be powered by Android. The company’s recently rumored streaming music device could end up being a part of its @Home suite.

Photo Maria Ly/Flickr

Hoping to jump on a trend, Sony is planning to launch a redesign of its PlayStation Home virtual world, making it into a hub for social games.

PlayStation Home launched in 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and it has more than 23 million registered users. It is currently a virtual world where users can wander through attractions and stores with their avatars, or virtual characters. But virtual worlds have fallen out of favor, while more users are entertaining themselves in social games on platforms like Facebook. To adapt, Sony is evolving PlayStation Home into a place for gamers to both socialize and play social games, said Jack Buser, director of PlayStation Home, in an interview.

“This is a giant leap in the evolution of the platform,” Buser (pictured right) said. “We are going to ‘up level’ games as the heart of PlayStation Home. This means that Home itself is going to become a game. The first things you see when you get into Home are games.”

Sony showed us its plans for Home at the E3 video game trade show in June and it has been tweaking the experience ever since. The new design focuses on Home’s strength: a core group of hardcore gamers who share a love for games. By giving those gamers a more intense game experience inside Home, Buser believes Sony can keep them engaged for a longer period of time even in an age full of distractions such as iPhones, Twitter and Facebook — not to mention Microsoft’s rival online gaming service, Xbox Live.

The new version of PlayStation Home will arrive this fall. One of the biggest changes is that Sony will now include large-scale group games within PlayStation Home. The central plaza of Home will now be replaced by a futuristic transit place called The Hub (pictured at top).

The Hub integrates games, quests, community events and user-generated content. That’s in addition to traditional Home offerings such as navigation, shopping, socializing and viewing entertainment. At The Hub, users can look at an activity board where they will see the various games in progress and missions that they can fulfill. They can also create their own events to share with friends.

The Hub will now be its own kind of “meta game,” where visitors can earn points for game-like activities. For instance, you might be called upon to engage in a group activity within the Hub, such as defending it from an attack.

From the Hub, players can teleport directly into free games, or move to different districts that emphasize different game genres. In the constantly-changing districts, users can find games that suit their own styles and moods. The goal is to rapidly connect players with games that they want to play.

The territories include the Action District (pictured above), where users can associate in a gritty, urban place that looks like a first-person shooter level and provides direct access to action and horror games; Sportswalk, a place that makes you feel like you are “outside the stadium” with access to major league sports scores, headlines, highlights, and sports games; the Adventure District, which drops you into a an island jungle with a lot of mystery, hidden treasure, and adventure games; and Pier Park, a waterfront boardwalk with access to carnival, outdoor, and arcade games. You can take a ride on the Pier Park Ferris wheel (pictured below) or visit the arcade.

Sony is also planning an update to its core client, which provides the underlying user experience in PlayStation Home. It will allow for a more streamlined experience upon login with separate tracks for new, returning and regular Home users.

The world will also contain new games. One of the new games that Sony will debut on PlayStation Home is COGS, a social game being developed by indie game label Codename.

Buser said the average time spent in the Home platform is 70 minutes per session. There are already 230 games to play in the world and 9,000 virtual items. Home has 65 virtual spaces, 35 partners, and it has held more than 600 community events. Users can still access all of that, but with one big difference.

“We get to users to their games as fast as possible,” Buser said.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

The moderator, who posted the information on news aggregator Reddit under the user name chesh420, said the latest version of a custom firmware for the Playstation 3 called Rebug.me let Playstation 3 owners with that firmware installed access a developer network. They could then put in a fake credit card number and download content as they pleased without any kind of verification of the number on Sony’s back-end.

The latest version of Rebug.me was released at the end of March, and the first guides detailing how to get modified Playstation 3 consoles onto the developer network came out around a week after that, the moderator said. Sony brought its Playstation Network down four days ago without offering many details about what happened and said it was beefing up security. It has acknowledged that an “external intrusion” brought down the network and that it is trying to beef up its security. Meanwhile, it has said it is still trying to determine if any user credit card information was stolen.

In a blog post this morning, Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said, “I know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don’t have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time. As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly. We’ll keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience.”

The PlayStation Network, or PSN, is Sony’s attempt to engage its video-game console and PlayStation Portable audience in a larger online entertainment network that includes online games, movies and TV shows, as well as Sony exclusives such as Qore, a digital magazine, and The Tester original TV show. It’s a strategic asset for the console maker as more of the-video game audience moves into the online world.

There are 948 games now available in the PlayStation Network store, as well as 4,000 pieces of add-on content for games. There are also 31,000 movies and TV shows available for download, not counting the content available on Netflix, Hulu, and sports content.

VentureBeat has contacted Sony for comment and will update the story as soon as more information is available.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---