A new technology-driven trend is emerging in the real estate business. Buyers now can be alerted via their mobile devices when they are in range of actively listed properties. Daniel Island Real Estate is using the technology. Small, portable “beacons” are placed on homes or properties listed for sale, and they emit signals that trigger push notifications on compatible smartphones or tablets that pass within a few feet to up to 100 feet away. The notice then directs users to specific online content about the listing.

Amazon’s Zappos, already a leader in mobile shopping convenience, continues to focus on streamlining the experience even more, which is why it is the latest retailer to make Apple’s Touch ID technology available to its application users. The online shoe retailer updated its iPhone and iPad apps last week, giving users the option to log in with Touch ID. Mobile passwords can be a hassle to remember and key in but with Touch ID, users are logged in and ready to check out with a single touch.

Australian startup Bluedot Innovation has won a partnership deal with the mobile commerce platform for Taco Bell, Sonic and other major US brands. Cardfree, a mobile commerce company, has signed an exclusive agreement to use Bluedot’s location-based services technology in US restaurants. Bluedot will enable restaurants to send marketing to customers based on their location. Bluedot, a Melbourne-based startup profiled in 2013 in Techworld Australia, sells a patented SDK for geolocation that can obtain the precise location of a person’s smartphone for payments without the battery drain usually associated with GPS use. Earlier this year, Bluedot announced an expansion into the US after raising …

McDonald’s much anticipated global mobile app goes live this summer though will not have all its features open to users in an attempt to work out whether its focus is mainly promotional or commerce. The restaurant has been scrambling to get its marketing ship shape over the last 18 months and the app’s imminent arrival will mark its bow as a digital marketer. While it has dedicated significant resources to catch up in the digital arms race, the company will bide its time with the app’s rollout in order to pull away from the pack.

Samsung executive vice president Young-hee Lee has revealed the company’s smartwatch strategy moving forward: Don’t release any. Speaking with theWall Street Journal at Mobile World Congress, Lee explained Samsung’s new strategy regarding watches simply: We’ve been introducing more devices than anybody else. It’s time for us to pause. We want a more perfect product. Lee isn’t exaggerating about how many smartwatches have come out of Samsung over the last couple of years. After diving into the wearable space with the first Galaxy Gear in September 2013, Samsung went wearable crazy. The next year saw the release of the Gear 2, …

Ryan Mclnerney, global president of Visa Inc, speaking at this morning’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) keynote on digital transactions and social interactions, said the huge effort involved in helping Apple Pay get off the ground has put it in a position to help others, including mobile operators, launch rival mobile payment services. “We are the payment engine underneath Apple Pay, and we had 700 people working on it for 18 months before its launch last year,” said Mclnerney. “We wanted to build a platform and system that would be scalable, reliable and safe – but not just for Apple Pay, …

Apple Pay has come under scrutiny because of apparent credit card fraud, but multiple sources say a fix is in the works in the aftermath of a flood of news stories on an apparent security flaw. The problem is simple. With stashes of millions of stolen credit cards details harvested in the recent breaches atTarget, Home Depot and the others, thieves have realized that an iPhone can, in effect, be transformed into a credit card substitute by loading it with a stolen number. Before, those criminals could only shop at online retailers. Now, with an iPhone, they can walk out of retail stores with merchandise …

Department store chain Barneys New York is investing in its consumers’ online experience with the redesign of three of its Web sites with a mobile-first strategy. The retailer claims to be the first luxury retailer to use responsive design to more fully integrate content and consumer feedback into the ecommerce environment. Barneys looks to be at the forefront of digital within luxury, bringing its in-store experience to consumers regardless of where they are located and how they choose to connect.

Uber, the popular ride-sharing startup, is acquiring the mapping and search startup deCarta for an unspecified amount, Mashable has learned. The deal, which closes later this week, is for deCarta's technology and talent. Founded in 1996, the San Jose startup provides a software platform that focuses on location-based features, including mapping, local search and turn-by-turn navigation. "A lot of the functionality that makes the Uber app so reliable, affordable and seamless is based on mapping technologies," an Uber spokesperson told Mashable. "With the acquisition of deCarta, we will continue to fine-tune our products and services that rely on maps –- for example UberPOOL, …

Ticketmaster’s focus shift to ticket management on mobile has paid off, as the brand saw more visitors to its mobile site than desktop in 2014’s fourth quarter, suggesting that mobile tickets have considerable traction behind them. As part of parent company Live Nation’s earnings statement, Ticketmaster revealed its renewed spotlight on event discovery and purchase. With many consumers turning to mobile devices for both browsing and purchasing services and products, Ticketmaster is hoping to tap into the massive growth opportunities on mobile for traffic and conversion.