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Lowe's muscles into smart home

Do-it-yourself retailer Lowe's later this year will sell three home automation kits designed to plug thermostats and home security gear into a home network.

The company today announced a deal with U.K.-based AlertMe which will provide the equipment and a cloud-based service, called Iris, for home energy management, automation, and monitoring.

The products will be available mid year and be priced for the "mass market," said Kevin Meagher, the vice president and general manager for smart home at Lowe's. All three kits will be self-installable and can be accessed from Internet-connected devices, such as … Read more

What makers of business apps can learn from Angry Birds

Editor's note: This is a guest post by Quinton Alsbury, president of MeLLmo, which makes of mobile applications for businesses.

We've all been there--squinting at a spreadsheet on a mobile device, zooming in and out in attempt to make sense of the information. Each swipe of the finger triggers a blank screen as the data renders and slowly reappears and our frustration builds.

It shouldn't be that way.

Think about it. We've all also been on the opposite end of the spectrum, launching a game or social networking app so beautiful, fast, and interactive it's … Read more

Apple's iOS grabs 52 percent of mobile browser users

Despite a drop in December, Apple's iOS remained the top platform for mobile browsing, according to the latest stats from NetApplications.

Throughout December, iOS carved out a 52 percent share of the mobile market, down from 54 percent in November and 61 percent in October, but still in the lead. Google's Android ended December with a 16 percent share, a dip from the prior two months.

Drilling down further, the iPhone accounted for 25 percent of all mobile browsing and the iPad 24 percent, leaving the iPod Touch with 2 percent. Android 2.3 was the most popular … Read more

Use Apple's MobileMe Backup app to back up important data

If you had a MobileMe account before the transition to iCloud, you may have heard about the MobileMe Backup tool.… Read more

Visa brands its digital wallet V.me

Visa has officially launched its new brand for its digital wallet, called V.me, as the credit card company also works to court app developers to help further is mobile payment platform.

Early next year, Visa will start marketing its digital wallet as V.me, a brand that is differentiated from its Visa credit card brand. The new digital wallet, which works a lot like PayPal by allowing users to link the wallet to other forms of payment like an existing credit card, will make it easier for customers to make online purchases, especially from their mobile phones.

Instead of … Read more

iTunes Match: A solution for a problem Apple helped create

Do you have digital baggage? Apple wants to help...again.

Apple's iTunes Match service, which went live in iTunes 10.5.1 today and costs $24.99 a year, tackles a problem users run into as time goes on: music libraries continue to grow, as do the ways users want to listen to their music, but there's still the pesky issue of where to store that library of songs, and keep it safe.

Streaming music services like Spotify and Rdio have solved this by pushing the library and purchase mode to the back seat, offering monthly paid subscriptions … Read more

Siri, we have to talk; our communication stinks

commentary Siri, we have to talk.

It's not me, it's you.

This just isn't working, and I think it's your fault.

The problem is, I can't really tell, because you're being kind of sketchy about it. You go away and come back without telling me. Your parents aren't letting on to any of your recent absent behavior, but I'm reading all about it on Twitter and on the news.

I thought things were going pretty well when we first met. You lived to serve, you told me. You helped me remember meetings, … Read more

Struggling BuyWithMe may live on as unit of Gilt, report says

Daily-deals provider BuyWithMe has been sold off to Gilt Groupe, BetaBeat is reporting.

According to the blog, neither party divulged the terms of the acquisition. The companies expect to combine forces on November 1. Gilt expects to layoff some BuyWithMe sales staff and provide them with one week's pay as a severance, BetaBeat's sources say.

Unfortunately for BuyWithMe, layoffs have become commonplace at the company. Just last week, the company laid off over half of its staff, or about 100 people, due to its continued inability to compete effectively against Groupon and LivingSocial. According to BetaBeat, sales staff … Read more

Mail requesting p99-imap server password with iCloud

When you upgrade to Apple's iCloud service from MobileMe, the system will transfer your Mail account over to the new service as well. While not much changes for Apple's Mail service itself, some people have found that e-mail clients such as Mail will sometimes not connect properly.

When the connection problems happen, Mail or other e-mail clients including those on iOS devices will issue a message stating something like, "The iCloud IMAP server 'p99-imap.mail.me.com' rejected the password..." and request that you re-enter the password. When you do the password does not work, and … Read more