iPhone - page 244

Listen, you tech-savvy, trend-resisting cynic you. I want you to stop dismissing wearable computing as a pointless, narcissistic fad.

Wearable computing is not for people too lazy to look at their phones. It’s not a trendy toy for wealthy yuppies. And it’s not about joining Robert Scoble in the shower.

What you need to know is this: Wearable computing is the next evolution of consumer electronics. And it changes everything for everyone and not just the people actually wearing the computing.

And it will change Apple, too. Here’s how.

Apple’s new Passbook app and system is really a nascent technology, but it’s here on your iPhone, so why not figure out how to use it, right? Below are five tips and tricks to help you get the most out of this futuristic, if not-yet-mature technology from our favorite technology company.

This week on The CultCast: Adobe goes rental, Bill Gates gets crazy, Nintendo doesn’t come to the iPhone, 5S begins productio, Buster gets hit on by a goat, and the other fun Apple stories from the week. Baaaah!

All that and more on this week’s CultCast! Stream or download new and past episodes on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing now in iTunes, or hit play below and let the good times roll.

Click through for the show notes!

Yeah, we get it: Passbook is awesome. It’s also woefully under-populated with only a handful or three of official apps.

But look, Passbook files aren’t even that special. They’re just specially formatted computer files with a .pkpass extension. What’s neat about that is that anyone can create one of these files, and then send them to you in email, or have you download them from the web. That way, you can take advantage of Passbook system without being limited to the official Passbook apps on your iPhone.

Here’s how.

If you’re looking for a new solution to back up your iPhone’s photos to the cloud and access them on other devices, Amazon has a new solution for you. The company just launched it’s new iOS app, Amazon Cloud Drive Photos, that lets you upload your photos to Cloud Drive.

The security features built into Apple’s iOS software are so good that the police are unable to gain access to defendant’s iPhones when they need to. Apple itself is able to bypass the security software and decrypt locked devices — and it do so when the police request it. But the company has so many requests that it has to add police to a lengthy waiting list.

If you weren’t grandfathered into an unlimited 3G data plan, then you probably spend each minute on your cellphone judiciously deciding what to spend your data on before you reach your limit. It sucks for users, and it sucks for content providers who want you to stream more videos and consume more content.

ESPN is trying to make thing better for consumers though by striking a deal with the carriers to subsidize your data plan so you can watch more sports video and analysis on your smartphone without it costing you anything against your data plan.

Apple looks to be building another retail store in Beijing, which could open its doors in time for the launch of new iPhones and iPads this fall. Construction has begun on a building that bears a strong resemblance to a typical Apple retail outlet in Beijing’s China Central Place Shopping Center.

In the latest free-to-play iOS game from the makers of Critter Escape, you’ll take on the role of a crystal mining critter who must take care of an endearing blob of muck named Chuck. You’ll be tasked with escaping the crystal mines with some flinging-action and bouncy platforming skill. You’ll need to keep Chuck fed with crystals, all while navigating through dangerous places and avoiding guards and exploding things along the way.

One enterprising soul over on the Apple boards at Reddit has taken a bunch of comparison photos from the Camera+ app website and put them together to show just how far the iPhone camera has come, with the same image taken with the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and 3GS, the iPhone 4 and 4s, and then the iPhone 5.

The difference between the first and last photos is stunning, but there’s an initial ratio of improvement between two models of the iPhone that’s simply stunning.

Want to get an iPhone or iPad App on the App Store, but don’t want to take the extensive process to learn how to code it? Have you considered outsourcing it, but don’t want to fork over the $5,000 to build it?

Then this is the course for you. And Cult of Mac Deals has it for the low price of $79 – but only for a limited time.

No, Aplomb is not a new third-party app to help you manage your Passbook items, cars, or passes. But if any developers plan to make one, please let me know.

Really, once a card, coupon, or time-based ticket is expired in Passbook, you’ll want to delete it to prevent Passbook clutter, right? Well, it’s super easy to do so, and here’s how.

For the last two years there has been a lot of speculation that Amazon is working on its own smartphone to go head-to-head with Apple and Samsung’s offerings.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Amazon Kindle Phone is real, and that it might come with a high-tech glasses-free 3D display.

Netflix is one of the greatest tools ever invented for absolutely destroying your weekend with laziness. All you got to do is pull up one of your favorite TV series and watch the entire thing in one glorious weekend of binge TV viewing.

A new update for the Netflix iOS app just hit the App Store and it’s going to make binging even easier, thanks to to the added “post-play” feature that will start up the next episode after one ends. Other features included in the update are a recommendation feature after you’ve finished a movie and enhanced second screen options.

Here are the release notes:

Your Mac comes loaded with some great stock apps that can help you be more efficient and effective with your workflow, but there’s nothing wrong with adding some elements to the Mac environment that can push your productivity that much further.

That’s where The Mac Productivity Bundle 4.0 comes in.

In the latest version of this bundle, you’ll get 9 great Mac apps from Cult of Mac Deals for only $49.99 – a savings of $640 – that has been hand-picked to help you get the most out of your Mac.

Apple is expected to launch a new low-cost iPhone later this year, but as long as you’re willing to buy an older model, you can already bag an Apple smartphone for as little as 50p a day.

British retailer Carphone Warehouse will offer the iPhone 4 on a two-year contract for just £17 a month from tomorrow, May 10, with no upfront cost. It will be the cheapest iPhone tariff available in the United Kingdom.

Last week we reported that AT&T was planning to launch a new pre-paid brand to compete with T-Mobile and other pay-as-you-go carriers, and it looks like it’s finally here.

AT&T just pulled back the curtain on its new pre-paid BYOD service provider that’s a subsidiary of AT&T called AIO Wireless. The new pre-paid nationwide service is launching in Houston, Tampa, and Orlando today but new markets should be opened up in the U.S. over the next year.

Facebook Pages Manager for iOS just got a big version 2.0 update that brings a number of performance improvements and new features. Facebook says the app has been rebuilt to offer a smoother, faster experience, while photo filters and support for emoji and stickers have been added.

If you want proof Apple is planning a ‘budget’ iPhone to address untapped markets, look no further than a new report which says that Apple’s suppliers are going on massive hiring sprees… and citing the imminent arrival of a new, cheaper iPhone as the cause.

It’s not much bigger than a (large, fat) thumb — but this PhoneSuit Flex battery has more juice than all but the very, very largest iPhone battery cases. While it’s been available in 30-pin and Android/micro-USB flavors for months, it’s now also available for the iPhone 5.

Most Mac users will experience one of three reactions after reading the word “Rosetta.”

The first involves breaking into a cold sweat, and possibly hives, after remembering that Apple no longer supports the translator that ran all those old, useful apps written for PowerPC-based Macs after Apple switched over to Intel chips.

Option two, imagining the Rosetta Stone itself, the magical key to unlocking ancient script, stumbled upon by Napoleon’s troops

Or there’s an association with foreign phrases, mall carts and almost certainly the most recognizable name in language software, Rosetta Stone.

We’re focusing on that last one here, and about how Rosetta Stone has finally brought their language software, in the form of the Navigator series apps, to the iPhone — for free.

EveryThink, an amazing get-it-all-done-and-in-one-place app, has just updated to version 1.3.1, bringing a host of improvements to an already pretty great app.

The new update adds Dropbox to the already existing Google Drive support, meeting invitations from within the app itself, Siri Reminder integration, and Facebook support, which brings contact photos and Facebook calendar events in automatically.

New usability features have also been added, including a guided introduction to the many features of the EveryThink app, as well as landscape orientation, so you can hold your iPhone the way you want to and still use the spatial organization central to the app’s interface.

Over at The New York Times, Bits columnist Nick Bilton has a gripe to pick with Apple. He doesn’t like the fact that push notifications keep pouring in during a voice call on the iPhone. “Even when the device is placed on mute, it vibrates when a notification comes in, rattling your skull for a never-ending second,” says Bilton.

I had never actually thought about this annoyance until I read Bilton’s piece. And coincidentally, it actually happened to me while I was on the phone earlier today. I remember quickly pulling my iPhone away from my face in shock at the vibration and loud noise in my ear.

This seems like something that should be fixed. What say you? Should Apple say hasta la vista to notifications during phone calls in iOS 7? Let us know in the comments below!

Passbook is cool, and one of the neat features of the service is the automatic refresh of information on your passes, letting you keep track of stuff like your Starbuck’s balance, or airline miles, or other kinds of cool stuff.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work automatically. This can be an issue if they include balances or loyalty points, right? Luckily you can refresh each of the passes in Passbook manually.

Here’s how to do that.

Peter Belanger is a San Francisco-based photographer. You’ve never heard of him, but you’ve definitely seen his work. He’s the guy that makes Apple products look so perfect in every Apple ad, so if you’ve seen an ad for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod within the last few years, you’re probably very familiar with Peter’s work.

In a recent interview Peter talked about his creative process with commercial photography. Finding the perfect lighting for each surface of a product is the ultimate challenge, but Peter explained what the creative process is like when working on an Apple product shoot.