Google just announced their new release of Business Photos on Google Maps. Demo’d on stage yesterday during the Social-Loco conference in San Francisco, it captures the interior of businesses, allowing prospect customers and clients alike to get a good look inside before seeing it in person.

This brand new FREE service (yes, I did say FREE), is only available in a few select cities currently, which are listed below:

• Orange County, CA
• Phoenix, AZ
• Bay Area, CA
• San Antonio, TX
• St Petersburg, FL

I’m actually surprised that Chicago, New York and Boston are not on the list to be included in Business Photos, but I’m sure they will be added soon.

So how is it free?  Well, if you have a business (or in your case selling a business), you can apply to have Google come out and do a photoshoot of the establishment at no charge!

Ok, so what does this mean to you, the Commercial Real Estate Agent? I believe this is a GREAT listing tool that can be used to wow more commercial sellers. Hot off the press and ultra techy, this may be a no-brainer for some sellers. By introducing this new online marketing tool, you’ll prove yourself (yet again) to be on the ball and ahead of your competitors.

On a side note, as a consumer, this is a great addition to Google Maps as it allows us to take an inside look at a restaurant, bar, hotel, etc., before physically going. From experience, I can honestly say that beauty is not only skin deep in humans! If I had been able to take a look at a restaurant prior to going, I could have saved myself the time and anguish of going there and having to turn around and find somewhere else to go…

To learn more about Business Photos for Google Maps you can visit their FAQ page and if you live in one of the five cities listed above, you can also Apply to have Google come out and take your photoshoot.

Here’s a quirky two minute video of how Google is introducing this new feature for business owners:

Have you used the Yelp “monocle” yet?

As you type in “pubs” you then point your smartphone in any direction and magically you see “pubs” on your screen through your camera lens. Sitting in my office downtown I can see through the walls. You can touch them for distance and reviews. If you like one, you know which direction to march onward and if need be you can even pull it into google maps for directions where the voice from the “mother ship” will guide you in turn by turn for a safe landing.

Like it or not, you are a few stitches away from being a cyborg.

Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline coined the term cyborg in a 1960′s article called “Cyborgs and Space”. They defined it as, an organism that “deliberately incorporates exogenous components extending the self-regulatory control function of the organism in order to adapt it to new environments.”

As disturbing as being compared to a Cyborg may sound, just humor me and make an assessment of two things.

1. What is your phone used for?

2. Where do you take it?

To answer the first, your smartphone (that you may be reading this on) has more computing power than the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander. Did you hear what I just said? If you aren’t using it well, give it to NASA and let them figure out a use for it. Now here is a list of a few cyborgish insights to how your phone is used:

-Visual Surroundings Re-con (Photos)

-Status Report for your Cyborg Squad (Facebook)

Now you may argue, “Ok, I do use my phone in all sorts of ways that makes life easier, but that doesn’t make me a robot!”

This is very true. I mean it isn’t a part of your body. If you were to be considered a “pseudo” Cyborg it would have to be around you all the time and you would almost have to be addicted to it and feel lost without it. My bad…

Have you ever:

-Looked around your office and noticed everyones phone is within one foot of them?

I say all this not to encourage you to stitch it to your hand, I say this to help you see that the only item you keep closer to you is possibly a wedding ring! Welcome to the cyborg nation. As Real Estate Agents or for that matter anyone who is conducting any kind of business, there are two things that had better be on the forefront of your mind.

1. How am I positioning my personal self to be found by Cyborgs? (My brand, second self)

2. How am I positioning my inventory to be found and acquired by Cyborgs? (Not just about having a website. Cyborgs have a psychology as to how they interact)

By the way, I just wrote this on a flight and took a walk to the back of the plane for a cup of coffee. 17 people had their phones out staring at that little 4 inch screen.

Oh by the way…. Welcome to the Cyborg Nation.

Guest post courtesy of:

Nick Smoot
Co-Founder of Toor.me and mobile geek
www.facebook.com/nicksmoot
www.facebook.com/toorme

At age 8 Nick’s mother was helping him work on his cursive. He looked at her and said, “Why am I doing this? Computers are the future and this is a waste of my time.” The rest is history…