Passbook: My book is "passless!"

If you need more passes in your Passbook (Requires iOS 6), try the Gyft app. It's totally passbook integrated and has many gift card brands. Just add a plastic gift card and add it to Passbook. Here's the process in pictures.

Add a gift card to Gyft

It appears in the Gyft Library

Tap on the Gyft Card and tap "More"

Select "Add to Passbook"

A confirmation appears

It appears with the rest of your cards

Video Tutorials: Making Your Desktop Presentable

Today, I will show you how to make your desktop look nice and neatly organized in video form. The video is my very first Tech Talk 4 Geeks video tutorial! This should give you a better perspective of the process as this is a bit hard to word. Anyways, I hope you like it.

My Friend's Minecraft Server

My friend, who in this post will be referred as RyGuyN, has created a server on Minecraft. And my other good friend, who will be referred to as AnimalCrossing35, has made a video of the server. It's really cool. Check it out!

P.S. I am redyellowgreen99 in the video and I got my friend's blog address wrong. It's mcnewsusa.blogspot.com

Charging Your Battery

I know this is a rather simple topic. However, some people don't fully understand exactly how it works. The battery in your iOS devices are lithium-ion batteries. They are different than the ones in your remote control. They are rechargeable (and, yes, I know about the batteries for remote controls that are rechargeable, but this is different). I know a few friends and relatives who shall remain name-less in this blog post. They tend to take advantage of their iOS's massive battery life and let it drop until the battery dies. This isn't wrong, but it isn't as efficient as the method I will now describe.

The Rules of the Method:

1. Charge your iOS device EVERY night when you go to sleep. Even if it is around 100%. Lithium-ion batteries CANNOT be overcharged.

2. Don't worry about the environment or power. When charging your iOS device, it uses less energy than your average light bulb.

3. Keep your battery at a good level before you go out. When you're not using it after you wake up or if you're using it, but you're not too far from a charger, keep it plugged in. Try to keep it above 75% before noon.

Note: Games like Minecraft: Pocket Edition or Plants vs. Zombies are VERY battery consuming.

The only device that I have made an exception to is my Kindle. This is because it has a one month battery life and I take it to school everyday. I charge it once a month so I don't run the risk of leaving it at home.

Herobrine

Herobrine
Source: Minecraft Wiki

Herobrine is probably one of the most-speculated, non-canon characters in the gaming and technology world. For those who don't know, Herobrine is a fake character in Minecraft. He also looks very similar to Steve, the default character of Minecraft. I do think that it would be cool if he was in the game but, Herobrine is a figment of a community's imagination. He is sometimes portrayed as Notch's (from Mojang) dead brother. This is invalid as Notch never had a brother. The reason that Herobrine doesn't exist is because there is no source code in the game that refers to him. However, there has been times where Mojang (Minecraft Developers) have pretended that Herobrine was real with the community. In almost every update, a feature may have some reference with Herobrine. This, however, has no real reason to be there. Mojang would say that they removed Herobrine as a bug fix. This is in fact, not true. Notch once stated that Herobrine would one day be in an update, however, he has taken this statement back. Although Herobrine has been in many Mojang appearances, including adding his skin in the XBox 360 Edition, this not true and is either Mojang toying with the community or the appearance was fan-created. Bottom line, Herobrine couldn't exist in Minecraft.

Add Subject Field 2 iMessage

To add the subject field to iMessage, go to Settings > Messages and scroll to the bottom and tap "Show Subject Field" to on. This will let you add a subject to a conversation when texting other iOS devices.

Government Alerts

In iOS 6, you can receive emergency alerts in your area. These include AMBER alerts. They are automatically set on. You can turn these off at Settings > Notifications and scroll to the bottom. It should show AMBER alerts and emergency alerts. Turn them off by tapping on the switch next to the alert. However, I don't recommend turning them off. I hope this helps.

iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4S: What's the diff?

My Uncle Wally recently got a iPhone 4S and he wanted to know what the differences were between the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5. So, let's take the iPhone 4S (Older version) and the iPhone 5 (Latest version). If you put them side by side, the only thing you will notice is the screen size. However, there are many more differences. Here's a list of most of the differences:

• The iPhone 5 has an A6 chip instead of an A5 chip (Faster processor)
• The iPhone 5's unibody has a layer of glass removed to make it thinner and lighter
• The iPhone 5 has either a black and slate color or a white and silver color while the iPhone 4S only has black or white.
• The iPhone 5 has 4G LTE (Long-Term-Evolution) a.k.a. blazing fast cellular
• The iPhone 5 has a Nano-SIM Card while the iPhone 4S has a Micro-SIM Card
• The iPhone 5's front camera has a 1.2 Megapixel camera while the iPhone 4S's only has VGA resolution (Less resolution)
• The front camera on the iPhone 5 also has 720p HD video while the iPhone 4S's only has VGA resolution (Less resolution)
• The iPhone 5 has a backside illumination sensor unlike the iPhone 4S
• You can take still pictures while recording video only on the iPhone 5
• There is face detection only on the iPhone 5
• The iPhone 5 comes with EarPods (Check out my review) while the iPhone 4S only comes with the Apple's older earphones
• The iPhone 5 has the Lightning connector (a small, reversible connector to a charger) while the iPhone 4S has the 30-pin connector
• The iPhone 5 has better battery life than the iPhone 4S (Actual results may vary)
• The iPhone 4S currently only comes in the 16 GB model while the iPhone 5 comes in 16 GB, 32 GB, and the 64 GB (Bigger is better)
• The iPhone 5 starts at $199 while the iPhone 4S starts at $99 (Contract not included)

Well, there you go. That's the general differences of the iPhone. I use the term "general" as I am sure there are more. Anyways, I hope this helps the people that need it.

Happy New Year!

It's 2013 and we are still here. Congrats on surviving the end of the world. We've had our ups and downs. The iPad 3. iPad Mini. iPad 4. Galaxy Note II. iPhone 5. Here comes another chapter in the great book of life. In related news, Google has made another end of year video and it is great. It's a the end of this post. Until the next post, Happy New Year!

In Memory of

Dick Clark

30-Pin to Lightning Adapters

If you were ever to need to use a dock that only works with 30-pin iOS devices with an iPhone 5 (new iPod, iPad 4, or iPad Mini works too), what are you to do? Try an adapter! Starting at $29.99, these adapters can convert 30-pin adapters to Lightning cables. They come in two forms. There's a stub ($29.99) that is about the size of my thumb (keep in mind that as a teen, that I have relatively small thumbs) and is pocket sized. The other is a cord ($39.99). It looks like a charger cable. They have the same name as each other, so make sure you double check what you are buying. Either could work and there's really no disadvantage to either one other than price. I hope this will help you.

Custom Vibrations

For iPhone, you can make custom vibrations for when you get an alert. Go to Settings > Sounds and choose a notification type (ringtone, text tone, etc.) and choose Vibration. Look to the bottom and make or use a custom vibration. There you go! Have fun with your new trick.

* Requires iOS 5 or later

Do Not Disturb

If you're ever in a meeting or don't want to be bothered by a call while sleeping, enable Do Not Disturb. It silences all notifications. This is available in iOS 6. Go to Settings, and switch it on. Tap it again to turn it off. You can also have it scheduled by going to Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb. Choose the time that's right for you. You can also customize the terms of Do Not Disturb. I hope this helps you guys.

System Status

Do you ever wonder how Apple's Systems are going? You know, behind the scenes. Then, go to http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/.

Tech21 Impact Mesh Case for iPhone 5 Review

This case is super light! That's first off. I have the Orange/Clear version and it looks great on my white iPhone 5. Not to mention that this case compliments my new RuggedKey by LaCie. It even keeps the beauty of an iPhone. I'm not sure about durability, but it seems pretty good. I'm not going to throw my new iPhone at the ground. Anyways, I give this product five-out-five Geek Glasses. It's great.

Getting Started: iPhone

Congratulations on buying the iPhone. Let's get started. Turn on the iPhone by pressing and holding the top button until a screen appears. You should see the word "iPhone" appear along with a slider that says the phrase "Slide to set up" in multiple languages. It doesn't matter what language the slider says, just slide it. Then, select the language, country, Wi-Fi, and your phone should activate. Then, enter you Apple ID. If this is your first Apple product, create an Apple ID. After that, configure these last few settings. FaceTime and iMessage numbers/emails, Siri, Find My iPhone, and Diagnostics. You are ready to use an amazing phone that tops all of the others.

Merry Christmas!

Today is Christmas! I hope you have a great day. I got my very first iPhone this morning! It's an iPhone 5! I hope your Christmas is as merry as mine! Merry Christmas!

Follow Santa on Christmas Eve!

Today, follow Santa with this nifty site that Google and Santa's elves put together! It's really cool! The address is:

http://www.google.com/santatracker/

Our next series...

After Christmas is over, I'm going to be posting complete articles on how to start up with whatever tech product you got for the holidays. Products like the iPad (Shocker, right?), iPhone, and other products. I hope you will enjoy this series. It will be called, "Getting Started." Until then, Happy Holidays!

Why there isn't as much tech news...

If you haven't noticed, here is much news during the Holiday season. That's because everyone has announced their ideas for the year and they're waiting for the fourth-quarter results. Anyway, sorry about the short post today. I'm finishing holiday preparations at my house. See you tomorrow!

Happy Winter!

Today is the first day of Winter. And I am personally going to stay away from the whole "End of Mayan Calendar" thing. Winter is great! I hope you guys have good luck with gift giving if you haven't already done it. Sorry that it's a short post today. Thanks! Welcome to the new season.