My synthesis

Das SonyCenter soll verkauft werden

US-Bank will Berliner Sony-Center verkaufen

BNP Paribas Real Estate mit K?ufersuche beauftrag

Für die Suche nache einem potentiellen K?ufer hat der Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (MSREF) das Maklerbüro BNP Paribas Real Estate beauftragt, was unter den derzeitigen Marktbedingungen allerdings der Suche nach der Nadel im Heuhaufen gleichen dürfte. Einerseits sind die Immobilienpreise im Zuge der Finanzkrise auch hierzulande eingebrochen, – wenn auch nicht so stark wie in London, Moskau oder Spanien – andererseits geben sich die Banken bei Investments in dreistelliger Millionenh?he nachwievor ?usserst zugekn?pft. Ausnahme sind eigenkapitalstarke Investoren, die sich derzeit aber kaum die Klinke in die Hand geben. Zugutehalten kann sich Morgan Stanley immerhin, dass die prestigetr?chten Bauten mit namhaften Mietern gut ausgelastet sind. So hat Sony Europe seinen Sitz im gleichnamigen Geb?ude

Urteil: Da steht kein Pferd auf dem Flur - Pferdestall im Wohngebiet verboten

Die mit der Haltung von Pferden einhergehende Geruchsbel?stigung sei den Anwohnern nicht zuzumuten, so die Richter. Zudem ist selbst bei sorgf?ltiger Pflege der Pferde mit dem gesteigerten Auftreten von Fliegen und Ungeziefer zu rechnen.

Nicht jeder erfreut sich am Pferdegeruch.

W?hrend Pferdenarren gerne von der Eleganz, Kraft und Leichtigkeit ihrer R?sser schw?rmen, fühlen sich Anwohner, die in unmittelbarer N?he von Bestallungen wohnen, von den zumeist typischen Gerüchen eher nur bel?stigt. Im vorliegenden Rechtsstreit klagte ein Ehepaar aus der 7.000-Seelen Gemeinde Asbach (Kreis Neuwied) gegen die ihrer Ansicht nach rechtswidrige Baugenehmigung eines Stalles für drei Pferde, der in knapp zehn Metern Abstand zu ihrem Wohnhaus errichtet werden sollte. Das Verwaltungsgericht Koblenz folgte der Argumentation der Kl?ger.

Auch wenn am 25. M?rz erst einmal die Er?ffnung des neuen Gesch?ftshauses ?die Mitte“ ansteht, tr?umt Investor Hines schon vom n?chsten Projekt am Alex. Gleich neben dem neuen Shopping-Tempel erstreckt sich eine freie Fl?che, für die Hines wirklich Gro?es vorhat – und zwar 150 Meter gro?.

Das US-Amerikanische Immobilien-Unternehmen feilt derzeit an Konzepten für ein 150 Meter hohes Geb?ude, das, wenn es in der geplanten Form entsteht, immerhin das H?chste in Berlin w?re. Der Glasturm soll nach Vorstellung der Investoren m?glichst ein Hotel mit darübergelegenen Luxus-Appartements beherbergen.

Berlins h?chstes Haus soll am Alexanderplatz entstehen

Ein zweiter Anlauf soll erst unternommen werden, wenn die Wirtschaftskrise überstanden ist. Berlin hat bereits Erfahrungen mit mehreren Verkaufsrunden. Schon beim Verkauf der Wohnungsgesellschaft GSW und der Bankengesellschaft unternahm das Land mehrere Bieterverfahren, weil die in der ersten Runde eingegangenen Gebote zu niedrig waren.

Der Verkauf der BIH w?re womoglich eine der gr??ten Immobilientransaktionen seit l?ngerer Zeit geworden. Das Land Berlin erhoffte sich einen Verkaufspreis von knapp vier Milliarden Euro, von der ihm allerdings wohl nur ein kleiner Teil von etwa 100 Millionen Euro geblieben w?re. Der Gro?teil h?tte für die Milliarden-Risiken der ehemaligen Berliner Bankgesellschaft zurückgestellt werden müssen. Die inzwischen zerschlagene Bankgesellschaft hatte 595 Objekte, darunter Mietwohnungen, aber auch Kinos, Büros und Einkaufszentren in ganz Deutschland gekauft.

Berliner Immobilien Holding wird vorerst nicht verkauft

Die Anwohner in Waidmannslust haben wirklich allen Grund zur Klage. Seit Jahren ist es keine Seltenheit, dass von den Mietern der Wohnungsgenossenschaft GSW, deren Name eigentlich für ?Gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Wohnungsbaugesellschaft Berlin“ steht, bis zu vierstellige und nach Mieter-Ansicht überzogene Nebenkosten-Nachzahlungen gefordert werden. Scheinbar ist der GSW die gemeinnützige Ader nach ihrem Verkauf an den US-Finanzinvestor Cerberus verlorengegangen.

Berliner Mieter wehren sich gegen hohe Nebenkostenabrechnungen

The problem

This may seem like a small change, but it’s a big knock on Digg’s shortening service, and for Digg’s credibility at maintaining features.

The easiest option is interstitial ads–the kind users need to wait through, or click a certain link to bypass on their way to the source content. Digg has effectively done that by forcing users to come through Digg on their way to the content. The big difference in Digg’s case is that users who might have gone to Digg for shortening can simply go elsewhere that does not put advertising on the page, or require an extra click from users.

Despite the bevvy of features compared to some competing URL-shortening services, both users and publishers alike found fault in the DiggBar. Users had problems with the service since it drastically hid information about the site they were on, including the URL in their browser’s address bar, and any bookmarks they saved, which would retain the DiggBar. For publishers, there was the worry that users would choose to comment back on Digg instead of on their own pages, as well as SEO damage from search engines not properly indexing and attributing traffic since Digg.com was the redirector.

Introduced in early April, the DiggBar was originally intended as a service that did three things: one was to shorten links and act as a redirection tool. The second was to bring Digg features along for the ride with a framed bar that would appear on the top of the page and provide a simple way to view user comments, related stories, as well as other Dugg items from that same site. The third was to provide a simpler way for users to publish content, either to Digg itself, or places like Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail. This included giving users the capability to shorten a URL by dropping a Digg.com/ in front of the site’s address.

In effect this left the DiggBar as something power users could take advantage of, but that casual users would never see–reducing the entire DiggBar feature down to URL shortening.

So is Digg’s shortening service now just a way to shorten links to Digg.com pages? Digg founder Kevin Rose went on to say as much in a Sunday night appearance on Leo Laporte’s This Week in Tech, citing that the company was having to internally juggle certain shortened-URLs that had become popular from outside sources. Particularly, ones from Twitter where the source site would be on the receiving end of an increasing amount of traffic, but because of the lack of a Digg frame bar on the top of the page, it wasn’t easy for users to Digg the story without having to make their way back to Digg.com.

So could this mean Digg is working on a paid variant on its shortening service that gives either users or content owners the option to pay to get that direct-level of service? Possibly. It could also mean Digg simply realized it was footing the bill for a service that was bypassing the very pages that were keeping it afloat.

(Credit:CNET)

Making big money on small URLs

Digg’s departure from providing parts of its shortening service could be a good signal of where the URL-shortening service is headed. Turning big URLs into small ones is not difficult, however maintaining these services indefinitely, and at no cost, is a challenge.

The bigger problem, it seems, is that Digg listens too closely to its users and critics instead of staying on course. Digg URLs should have always come with a frame bar on top. It may have been annoying to some, but that was the price of admission. If users wanted a straight-up URL-shortener, there were hundreds available at the time when Digg unveiled its own. The one killer feature was the fact that it took the Digg community along for the ride, which is so clearly far removed from people using it that Digg has chosen to go this route instead.

This clearly wasn’t good enough for Digg, since this move nets the site more ad impressions and unique user tracks than it would by acting as a redirection service alone. Back when it was originally introduced, the company was able to get by since the DiggBar displayed ads when people were using certain features such as viewing related content, Digg user comments, and other stories from that site’s particular source. But, without the DiggBar on top, and without any kind of recognition–other than in name, Digg was getting none of these benefits.

Update: A Digg representative has told me that we should be getting an update on the new link behavior sometime Tuesday.

Based on a long history of changing things its users do not like, it’s possible the company will revert to the old way of handling shortened links. However, Digg has made no mention of the change on either its public-facing blogs or on the company’s Twitter account. While this could just be a slow start after a big weekend of activity, it could also signal some internal debate on what’s best for the longevity of the service. I just hope Digg takes a step back and looks at what it offered to begin with, since the current service is such a shadow of its former self.

The solution, was to change the link to kick users to the Digg.com story page, as if they had found their way there naturally. However, this caused confusion for users since that page would only show up when clicking from Twitter, and not when clicking that link from another domain. Digg’s fix to that problem? Homogenization. All shortened Digg links simply go to Digg pages, as long as the story’s been submitted. Otherwise, the URLs send users to the source site, which prompts the question if it’s worth submitting a story to Digg, since it can rot a link that thousands of people may be using.

Digg stops redirecting some URLs, links to self instead

Once you link up your Facebook account with Digg it gives you a fast way to add your FB friends as Digg friends, and choose which content you want to port over.

Still missing from Digg’s log-in options, and what was originally unveiled when Facebook Connect was announced, is support for OpenID. Like with Facebook Connect, this would let OpenID users log in with their OpenID credentials. However, it’s likely taken the backseat to the implementation of Facebook Connect since there are fewer ways to resyndicate that segment of user activity.

Digg (finally) gets Facebook Connect integration

I found no trace of: “Lord, what does it all mean?” Or even: “Is there a rap about the Rapture?” This is a pity, as there are some very fine church-related Web sites like Generationchurch.org, which offers excellent Twittering and Flickring options.

As I write, the day after this deeply worrying experience, I stare at the latest Google Trends, still concerned about the world’s direction. Marley and Me continues to ride high in Googlers’ cranial Top 20. The engagement of Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady is, naturally, creating worldwide giddiness. There seems to be massive outpouring of interest in the Sarah Palin calendar.

Did Mammon defeat God online this Xmas?

Color me fascinated, for one. And next time you see me walking down the street in heels that light up with each step, don’t forget to compliment me on my soldering skills.

View the full gallery

A founding member of the Brooklyn-based hacker collective NYC Resistor, Eng enjoys taking apart the likes of cell phones, digital cameras, and heart monitors and sew them into clothing (past creations have included an inflatable gown fitted with a hacked hand vacuum and a series of valves). She is, therefore, probably more comfortable with needle-nose pliers, wire cutters, and conductive thread than many of us.

Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET’s Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie.