//Customise Backbone.sync to work with Titanium rather than jQuery
    Backbone.sync = (function() {
        var methodMap = {
            'create': 'POST',
            'read'  : 'GET',
            'update': 'PUT',
            'delete': 'DELETE'
        };

        var xhr = Ti.Network.createHTTPClient({ timeout: 5000 });

        return function(method, model, options) {

            var type = methodMap[method],
                params = _.extend({}, options);


            //==== Start standard Backbone.sync code ====

            // Ensure that we have a URL
            if (!params.url) params.url = getUrl(model) || urlError();

            // Ensure that we have the appropriate request data.
            if (!params.data && model && (method == 'create' || method == 'update')) {
                params.contentType = 'application/json';
                params.data = JSON.stringify(model.toJSON());
            }

            // For older servers, emulate JSON by encoding the request into an HTML-form.
            if (Backbone.emulateJSON) {
              params.contentType = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded';
              params.processData = true;
              params.data        = params.data ? {model : params.data} : {};
            }

            // For older servers, emulate HTTP by mimicking the HTTP method with `_method`
            // And an `X-HTTP-Method-Override` header.
            if (Backbone.emulateHTTP) {
              if (type === 'PUT' || type === 'DELETE') {
                if (Backbone.emulateJSON) params.data._method = type;
                params.type = 'POST';
                params.beforeSend = function(xhr) {
                  xhr.setRequestHeader('X-HTTP-Method-Override', type);
                };
              }
            }

            //==== End standard Backbone.sync code ====


            //Handle success
            xhr.onload = function() {
                params.success(JSON.parse(this.responseText));
            };

            //Handle error
            xhr.onerror = params.error;

            //Prepare the request
            xhr.open(type, params.url);

            //Add request headers etc.
            xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', params.contentType);
            if (params.beforeSend) params.beforeSend(xhr);

            //Make the request
            xhr.send(params.data);
        };
    })();