Construction Tech of the Week | Threshold, Combining Plans and Photos

Project documents in the cloud are nothing new. Any decent software that deals with plan files should allow upload, download, and sharing capabilities entirely through a web-based plan room. But Threshold, a new service from San Francisco-based 383 Studio, has added another incredibly valuable step...attaching photos directly to plans to illustrate various spaces/conditions and tagging the photos by service or trade for easy reference and search. 

"When a shot is pinned to a point in the plan, a "room" is created with a click and the image dragged to it. Images are tagged by trade or with custom labels. Items tagged "electrical" show up on electrical plans, "plumbing" on MEP, etc. They show up on multiple plans if several tags are used. Clicking a room shows all photos tagged to that place, in order of upload." 

Click here to learn more about Threshold project plan and photo technology

Scheduling Tech of the Week | Tungle.me

So this week's tech is used less on the jobsite than to get everyone to the jobsite. Or office. Or conference room. Or Skype conference. Wherever project owners, GCs, subs, and any other stakeholders require a meeting. The question is always, when?

"Eliminate the back of forth of finding a time to meet. Easily share your availability with anyone. Prevent double bookings and forget about time zones." 

You can sync almost any type of calendar you have (see list here) to Tungle.me and only share as much info and details as you want with those viewing your profile and availability. Meetings can be proposed and requested directly from your profile and synced back to your calendars. 

Click here to learn more about Tungle.me's technology  

The Must-Have Technology Tools

AGC TechBrief, April 2012
By James Benham, President of JB Knowledge Technologies, Inc., Makers of SmartBidNet

Depending on your age, the technology on your desk has probably evolved quite a bit since your first day there. Whether your beeper was going off at your hip or you were punching away at an encyclopedia-sized laptop, technology today makes those days seem archaic in retrospect. But the best part is there’s a good chance you haven’t even seen the best of today.

Every day, an innovation emerges with the potential to propel your work day into the Jetsons’ era faster than you could have predicted. Many of these developments will be bought by the likes of Google or Facebook, who will then find a way to incorporate them into something you already use or an unreachable luxury for high-class nerds. But some will find their way into what I will call your "Tech Toolbox." These are the technologies that can and will impact personal and corporate bottom lines and whose value far outweighs the minimal capital investment required to employ them. Most are cloud-based, some are free, some are $1.99 in the app store and some are business suites with annual subscriptions well worth the price tag, but all of them can transform your work day.

Click here to read the full article from TechBrief

Construction Tech of the Week | The Space Elevator

Alright so this may be month's old news to some - but we just discovered it and had to post. By 2050, the Japanese construction firm famous for the Tokyo Sky Tree claims it will be possible to build a 22,370 mile tall elevator into space. And it will only take you a week to get there. 

"In Obayashi’s plan, a carbon nanotube cable would stretch one-quarter of the way from the Earth to the moon, about 60,000 miles (96,000 km) and attach to some type of spaceborne counterweight. The other end of the tether would be anchored at an Earth-based spaceport...The elevator car could carry up to 30 people and would travel at 125 MPH for a week. Tourists could stay at the waystation at 22,370 miles up, and scientists and researchers could go all the way to the end of the tether."

Before you start packing, you should know there are no estimates on minor details like buildling or passenger costs yet...but still, pretty cool to think about. And Obayashi Corp? Please let us know if you need a bid software for that.

Click here to read more about this space elevator technology 

Collaboration, Integration And Interoperability Through The Cloud

Featured in the April 2012 Jobsite123 Newsletter
Written by James Benham, President of SmartBidNet

The evolution of technology in your office probably looked something like this: copy machine, fax machine, microwave-sized personal computer, inter-office email, bulletin board systems, really slow websites with lots of blue hyperlinks, loaf of bread-sized cell phones…until finally instant messaging, laptops, smart phones, printer/scanners and now the occasional tablet came to save the day. No one wants to remember the black screen and green letters – but it’s important to understand how far we’ve come.

Now what exactly made it possible for you to abandon that pager and flip back and forth between your Angry Birds app and this article on your smart phone? Internet? Laptops? Steve Jobs? What if I told you they were all a part of this term everyone is throwing around as if it’s brand new… The Cloud?

Click here to read the full article

The Future of Online Plan Rooms

Constructech Magazine
April 6, 2012

The plan room has evolved from paper, to FTP (file transfer protocol) sites, to online collaborative platforms where partners can download files, and print only when necessary. The online plan room opens the door to new technology capabilities, such as integrations with other technology solutions.

This week, Barryhund Online Plan Services, www.barryhund.com, Sacramento, Calif., a Web-based plan room solution, and SmartBidNet, which is developed by JB Knowledge Technologies, www.smartbidnet.com, College Station, Texas, announced new integrations between the two platforms.

Click here to read the full article

Announcing SmartBidNet Integration with Barryhund Online Plan Services

COLLEGE STATION, TX (PRWEB) April 05, 2012

SmartBidNet construction bid software recently announced its latest industry alliance with fellow solutions provider, Barryhund Online Plan Room Services(OPS). Over 45 plan rooms across California, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Washington use Barryhund’s OPS platform to distribute details of over 45,000 projects per year to general contractors andsubcontractors subscribing to each plan room. The integration between Barryhund and SmartBidNet, launching this summer, will connect project news from Barryhund’s plan rooms across the United States with private bidding in the SmartBidNet system.

Click here to read the full article

ENR Readers Recommend Their Favorite Technology, SmartBidNet Among Them

SmartBidNet was recently featured in Engineering News Record's "Recommended Reading" release, listing "Products and services that ENR readers say they are now using with good results that have potential to improve their jobs, or even the entire industry."

Click here to see the entire list

18 handy tablet apps for AEC professionals | Building Design + Construction

The SmartBidNet Construction Bid iOS App made a recent Building Design + Construction list of helpful AEC industry tablet apps for everyday design, construction, BIM/IT and LEED processes. 

Click here to read the full list

SmartBidNet Construction Bid Software Wins Constructech 2012 Commercial Top Product Award

College Station, TX (PRWEB) March 27, 2012

JB Knowledge Technologies, Inc., a leading information technology solutions provider, announced that its SmartBidNet construction bid software is a recipient of Constructech’s Top Products Commercial Award in the Trusted Products category for 2012. This esteemed award recognizestechnology solutions that demonstrate the greatest innovations geared toward the commercial construction market.

Click here to read the full article