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TiltShift Generator combines blur and other depth-of-field effects to make objects in your photos seem miniature. To get the miniature effect, you'll ideally take photos from some distance, but even close-up shots can be put through TiltShift Generator with good-looking results.

TiltShift Generator does a great job of taking you through the process of creating tilt-shift images. The app automatically adds the tilt-shift effect, but you can also go through the process yourself. You start by either taking a photo with your iPhone camera or choosing an existing image from your library. From there you can adjust the blurred … Read more

Visa is planning to launch a new type of digital wallet system that would let consumers pay for items online with just a single click.

Tapping into the growing mobile payments technology known as NFC (near-field communications), Visa's offering could also let consumers wirelessly pay for items at retail outlets through a mobile device equipped with the digital wallet technology.

The company is promising a number of benefits through its digital wallet. Consumers could order items online in one click using a single e-mail address or ID and password instead of having to plug in their mailing addresses and … Read more

Intuit wants to give its customers a glimpse of the future of mobile payments through an adaptation of its GoPayment service that eliminates the need for credit cards.

Tapping into the growing field of NFC (near-field communication) technology, Intuit's reimagined GoPayment service would let consumers wirelessly pay for items on the go through just a touch of an NFC-enabled cell phone.

With the necessary NFC hardware and credit card information stored on a mobile phone, consumers could leave their money and credit cards at home and use their phones to buy items and services at stores, restaurants, and other … Read more

AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA are scaling back plans for a mobile payment system that will allow people to buy things with their cell phones, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal today.

In November the companies announced that they had formed an alliance with credit card company Discover to build their own mobile payment network. The joint venture was known as Isis. The plan called for the carriers to set up their own payment and transaction network that would charge fees based on transactions. The business model would have put the wireless operators in … Read more

There are many times using while Safari (5.0.4) when I have come back to a Web site after a long time, thankful to find that my password was saved. My thanks is usually due to the fact that I couldn't remember the password. With a recent tip from a Mac OS X Hints user, you can reveal the letters behind those password field dots using developer tools in Safari.

The hint is actually a pretty simple little trick, taking advantage of Safari's ability to change elements in a Web site via developer tools that can be … Read more

Samsung and Visa are joining forces to offer smartphone users the ability to make mobile payments through NFC technology in London next year as part of the 2012 Olympic games.

Using special Samsung Olympic and Paralympic Games mobile phones, attendees in London before and during the games will be able to buy items on the go through near-field communications, an emerging technology that lets people send payments by phone directly from their bank accounts to special terminals.

Samsung and Visa join a growing number of companies hopping onto the NFC bandwagon. Dangling the lure of wallet-free purchases, an array of … Read more

Microsoft is expected to include mobile-payment technology in the next version of the Windows Phone operating system that will allow users to turn their Windows phones into an electronic wallet, according to a Bloomberg report.

The first handsets featuring the technology could appear later this year, according to the report, which cited two unidentified people described as familiar with the plans.

Microsoft representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

With the move, Microsoft would join a growing list of software makers incorporating near-field communication (NFC) to turn consumers' smartphones into mobile wallets. The total … Read more

It was only a matter of time: American Express has taken a full-out dive into the crowded and ambiguous space full of companies both big and small that are trying to figure out the future of consumer payment transactions. The company today announced Serve, a set of applications designed to let users make payments more easily online or with mobile phones via special accounts funded by credit cards, debit cards, or bank accounts. With this product, the company "aims to expand into new segments of the market that do not rely on traditional charge and credit cards to manage … Read more

This week on preGame we're throwing out our game consoles (not really) and firing up our iPad to bring you some of the hottest games available for your brand-spanking-new tablet.

Tune in for live demos of Dead Space HD, Cut the Rope HD, Infinity Blade, Collision Effect, Infinity Field, Pictureka, Snood, Tapper World Tour HD, and Solipskier.

We're also giving away all kinds of prizes on preGame including 10 codes for the latest Halo: Reach Defiant Map Pack, so make sure to watch to find out how you can win.

Also, for the next few weeks, we'll … Read more