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NEW ORLEANS--When Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg used his Consumer Electronics Show keynote to demonstrate the company's Connected Me concept, which turns the human body into a bridge between gadgets, he was met with lackluster applause.

Part of the problem was the audience didn't fully grasp what Vestberg was trying to show. He was on stage holding a smartphone in one hand and the sensor for an audio system in the other. The data signal shot through his body, playing an MP3 from the phone on the speaker system. In effect, he became a replacement for a USB cord … Read more

We all know how useful those little yellow sticky notes can be, and there are plenty of virtual versions that bring the concept of sticky notes to your computer desktop. MemoMe is one of the more feature-packed programs of this sort that we've encountered. With options for formatting text and even adding images, we think it's a great choice for anyone who needs an easy way to keep track of ideas, reminders, and so on.

The program has a predefined keyboard shortcut that opens a new note. At the top of each note, a small toolbar lets you … Read more

If you have Apple's iWork productivity suite and have used Apple's iWork.com collaborations, Apple has sent out another notice to remind users that this service will be canceled on July 31. The service, which was always in a beta release status, was an attempt to provide an online storage and collaborative environment for iWork programs, similar to Microsoft's SkyDrive and SharePoint options for its Office suite.

Apple's decision to shutter iWork.com comes after its transition of its MobileMe service to iCloud, which provides an online syncing and storage option that is system-wide and usable … Read more

Apple has a plan to nudge more MobileMe users on to iCloud.

The cloud-based storage service will replace MobileMe in June, but only users running OS X Lion (version 10.7) will have access to iCloud. Apple has realized that many MobileMe users are probably running an older OS and may be left behind by the cost of upgrading their systems.

So Apple is giving users of older operating systems a gentle push by making the first step toward upgrading easy: the company is giving away Snow Leopard -- the 10.6 version of OS X -- to MobileMe users, … Read more

Our guest today is documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who joins us today to talk about his new film "Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope."

He'll tell us about what it was like to meet geek royalty like Joss Whedon, Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith, and more. We also ask him about his own history with comic books and how sci-fi movies pushed him to create his own movies.… Read more

An earlier German court ruling banning iCloud and MobileMe push e-mail service in that country has been upheld.

The Mannheim Regional Court today ordered the ban to continue, claiming that the push e-mail service found in Apple's iCloud and MobileMe violates patents Motorola Mobility holds. In addition, Dow Jones, which first reported on the story, says the court ordered Apple to pay Motorola damages, but did not specify how much.

A German court back in February sided with Motorola Mobility in the case, arguing that Apple's push e-mail services in iCloud and MobileMe should be banned from use … Read more

If you're the type of person who likes a challenge, UnBlockMe from GzDev offers 7,800 levels of difficulty for the serious gamer. The objective, as with most really good games, is simple: get the red block out to the right side of the screen and into a gap in the wall.

UnBlockMe's interface and the mechanics of the game are really quite simple. Just drag the blocks up, down, and sideways to free up the red one. As expected, the game progressively becomes more difficult as you go up the levels, so stick with it if you … Read more

Tony Conrad and Ryan Freitas started the site About.me as a way to aggregate people's social-media content like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter into a single hub. Think of it as the personal and professional you all in one place online.

If you only get one chance to make a first impression, says Conrad, "We think it should be the whole you."

Since launching the site, it has grown to more than 1 million users. The business was acquired in 2010 by AOL, which has enabled About.me to launch a mobile app. SmartPlanet visit its San … Read more

Moscow-based I-Free and its app Girls Around Me crystallized the online privacy debate this week, and, I suspect, will begin the end of our long era of digital naivete.

It's as though the online community has been living in the Garden of Eden all these recent years, and we're all taking a bite of the apple all at once. There are consequences to our behaviors: companies that rely on our data to make their money are not going to suddenly start protecting that data. It's time for you and me to get serious about what we put … Read more