siphoning

Whether you're a small business or an individual who wants to create a pass for Passbook, unless you have a lot of technical knowledge, it's not going to be an easy journey. There are a lot of moving parts that come together to create a pass for Passbook. Certificates, the actual coding of the pass, signing it, distributing and tracking it are just a few of those parts.

Instead of investing countless hours and money into developing a pass, it may be easier to use a service to streamline the process and prevent any headaches you would likely … Read more

Do a quick search on Twitter and you'll find many iOS users sending request after request (or in some cases, demand after demand) to retailers, airlines, and merchants for Passbook integration. Passbook is clearly one feature iOS users are eager to use, but the delay in adoption is driving them mad.

Enter Gyft.

Gyft is a gift card app for iOS that allows you to store gift card information in a single, easy-to-access place. Sound familiar?

As TechCrunch pointed out this morning, Gyft received a big update last night, bringing with it the ability to add any gift card … Read more

When Apple announced iOS 5 and the tight integration it would feature with Twitter, many people wondered about the conspicuous lack of Facebook integration. We still don't know why Facebook wasn't included in iOS 5, but it is included in iOS 6 and it works great.

In Settings, you'll find a listing for Facebook. Go there to start setting up Facebook's new integration with iOS. If you don't already have the Facebook iOS app installed on your device, you'll be able to download the app there.

You can then log in to Facebook directly … Read more

After you've updated your iPhone to iOS 6 you'll be able to politely decline an incoming call by sending the caller a message, or setting a reminder to call them back in a few hours. Let's take a look at how to use it, and how to set up custom messages.

When you get a call on iOS 6, you'll see a new phone icon at the bottom of the screen as your phone is ringing. You can slide up the phone, similar to sliding up the camera icon to take a picture from the lock … Read more

The iPhone 5 is here and millions of people will buy it and love it. But its arrival also starts the clock ticking on the next iPhone. Approximately a year from now Apple will have a new model, which may be the iPhone 6 or simply be another iteration of the 5 (a lot of people have their money on a 5S).

What will the next iPhone have that this one doesn't? That I don't know, but I do have a wish list for what I'd like it to have.

Click on any image to begin the … Read more

Fancy yourself the next Christopher Nolan but only have a smartphone-size budget? Let me walk you through the apps, accessories, and workflow you need to shoot beautiful movies on your iPhone 4 or 4S. Action!

With the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, Apple made HD movie-making cheap and accessible. They let us shoot video in glorious hi-def (up to 720p resolution on the iPhone 4 and 1080p on the iPhone 4S), and quickly and easily upload our footage to a watching world.

While Apple's top-selling smartphones are capable of recording top-notch video, their svelte bodies don't lend themselves … Read more

iPhone cases come in all shapes and sizes. Well, OK, the shape and size tend to be pretty uniform, but there's certainly no end to the variety and versatility of iPhone cases.

Like the one that adds a tripod mount. And the one that adds a fold-out keyboard. And don't forget the licensed "Star Wars" iPhone cases and custom photo iPhone cases.

Now, for those people who feel the pen is mightier than the thumb, there's the binder-clip iPhone case. Designed for the iPhone 4 and 4S, it adds a mini-clipboard to your device -- ideal for those times when you want to jot a few notes, old-school.… Read more

First, an apology to those who've read this article before in its various iterations, you probably have a bad case of deja vu.

Truth be told, I originally published this column shortly after the iPhone 4 came out back in June 2010, which is why you see a lot of dated comments -- but they are fun to read.

Hopefully, this will be the last update, but you never know, considering how long this whole waiting-for-iPhone-5 saga has gone on. … Read more

At first glance, a digital guitar with the brains of a super-powered smartphone and illuminated fretboard seems like a product that could change everything about guitar instrumentation. The digital dynamo by Incident Technologies aims to work as "the first guitar that anybody can play," as noted in description of the gTar on Kickstarter.

To start, one merely needs to plug an iPhone 4/4S in to the digital guitar. After selecting a song in the gTar app, illuminated frets await your fingertips to help you start playing along. … Read more