FEATURE OF THE WEEK | 11/07/08 – 11/14/08

It’s been a while since I’ve used Freeway from Softpress, but I have always considered it to be a quality web design program….

Just a note that we regret the omission of the outro in last week’s Kibbles & Bytes (#593). The archives are updated with the corrected issue; see it here:

“Blog.smalldog.com/kibbles”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles

_Dear Friends,_

I am still shaking off the effects of the long night of election returns and the emotional high of the historic moment we have been privileged to witness. As I watched Barack & Michelle Obama and their daughters walk onto the stage in Grant Park in my home town of Chicago, I was overcome with strong emotions and memories. My thoughts immediately went to my three grandchildren who, as African Americans, are the newest generation and our future. I know that as I talk to them about the future, my words to them carry so much more meaning. I have the ultimate example when I tell them that they can be anything that they want to be, even the President of the United States. I can point to Barack and say, “see, look at that family–it is just like your family.”

To think about the struggle that led to this pinnacle is mind-boggling to me; I remember working in the Civil Rights movement in the ’60s, hanging out with my friend Ken Boozer, and talking about what could/should be–and just trying to understand what it was like to be a young black man. I remember going to Martin Luther King Jr. speeches, meeting him and shaking his hand and then watching him change the consciousness of a nation. What a momentous time for all of us and for the world. I was chatting with some of our suppliers in the far east and they were thrilled with the election. My wife watched the returns in Australia while she was on vacation, and the Aussies were excited, too. Hope is a heady thing.

In addition to the Apple financial report for the quarter that came out a couple weeks back, Apple also released their 10-K filing to the SEC for their Annual Report. (Remember that Apple’s fiscal year ended at the end of September.) One of the highlights of that report was a significant increase (42%) in research and development expenditures. While some of this may be one-time charges, it is an indication that Apple will continue to innovate to grow, even in a down economy. You can see the whole report at:

http://tinyurl.com/5np8gm

There is also an interesting section that talks about the risks of a down economy and how the strengthening of the US dollar might impact Apple’s rapidly expanding international market. The report gives you a great insight both into Apple’s plans and the depth of analysis that Apple uses to assess its operational future.

I took my lawn signs down and took off the bumper stickers. Now we get to replace the excitement of watching the election unfold with the excitement of the peaceful transition of power that makes our country so unique. That transition alone will set the stage for cooperation and hopefully the bipartisan collaboration will stick around a bit. We’ve had a warm week here in Vermont, but it looks like rain and some snow is coming over the weekend. Killington Mountain & Resort just south of us down Route 100 has already opened.

Have a great weekend, and thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
_Don, Kali & Ed_

Undoubtedly, November 4 was the most important day nationwide in 2008. I wanted to be a part of that somehow, so I decided to volunteer at the local City Clerk’s Office on Tuesday.

When I arrived at 9AM, the energy was already high. Outside, there were picketers, TV crews and various political hopefuls to greet the voters who came in to cast their votes. Volunteers were ready with their “I Voted” stickers, and people were milling around everywhere.

Once inside, there was a lot to do: over 2,000 absentee ballots needed to be opened, counted (many times double- and triple-counted) and recorded, the ballot-feed machine needed to be emptied, voters needed to be checked in, ballots needed to be handed out and we needed to just be generally available to assist with the process. The day went amazingly smoothly–by about 2PM, more than 3/4 of Washington County’s registered voters in the Montpelier Disctrict had already had their ballots counted.

Since I spent a great amount of time working with the absentee ballots–including hand-transferring the emailed ballots onto the official ballot paper–I got to see how many people voted. Every ballot was anonymous by this point–someone elase had already recorded the absentee voter’s name onto the master list of registered voters, and yet someone else had opened the envelope and put the ballot in a pile (we were an assembly line of about 7 people–a well-oiled machine after a handful of ballots!). It was fascinating to see the voting trends (or seemingly lackthereof); it reminded me of the multiple-choice standardized tests I took in high school after a while!

I was able to do this as part of Small Dog’s Volunteerism Initiative, wherein each employee is mandated to take a (paid) day to volunteer in the community each year. It means a lot to Don to give back to the community, and this is a way that people can do their part without what may be the largest deterrent–sacrificing their pay. I have done a fair amount of unpaid volunteer work in the past, and the bottom line is that it just feels good, and it’s the right thing to do. I’m encouraged to go beyond this one day a year–no matter how busy I may feel–and be more active in community endeavors and volunteerism in the future. With that said, I’m already planning on 2010…

Check out our Flickr page to see some photos from my day at the polls: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smalldog/

Find out more about Small Dog’s programs: http://www.smalldog.com/about

This past Tuesday, I had a “wow cool!” Mac moment. Like most “wow cool!” moments, it actually began as a conundrum. For my election night party, I needed a second television. I have a TV room with a nice wall-mounted HD television, but this room was simply too small to accommodate all my guests. However, upstairs, I have a 24″ Intel iMac, which was the perfect size to use as a second TV in a separate room.

The various TV tuners I’ve tested for the Mac in the past have always let me down. The software was either wonky, the reception was bad, or the video ended up being pixelated and unpleasant to watch. However, I’d read good reviews of the “EyeTV Hybrid USB receiver,”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/71143 and decided to give it a try. For only $135, the cost was far less than a second TV. Plus, if it worked, I’d have the ability to tune and record HDTV on the iMac–including shows I currently pay to subscribe to in the iTunes store. With EyeTV Hybrid, I could easily move these recorded HD shows to an Apple TV or iPod to watch on the big TV.

With some trepidation, I purchased the EyeTV Hybrid, along with an inexpensive antenna that supported both digital and analog broadcast signals. The EyeTV Hybrid itself is a small, aluminum stick with a USB port at one end and a full-size coaxial plug on the other end. You plug the USB port into your Mac (Intel Mac definitely recommended), and the other end into your antenna or analog cable connection. EyeTV Hybrid comes with a composite video and S-Video break-out cable to connect a set-top box or video game console.

EyeTV also receives free over-the-air (OTA) HDTV, Clear QAM, and traditional analog TV. When you plug everything in and install the software, you need to allow the EyeTV 3 software several minutes to scan the airwaves for analog broadcasting, and then again for digital broadcasting.

After this was accomplished, I was able to instantly begin watching live broadcast HDTV on the iMac. The image quality looked fantastic on the iMac’s widescreen monitor, and I was especially surprised by the HD video quality. The iMac was truly working as a LCD television. I was also impressed by the quality of the EyeTV 3 software. It was truly “Mac-like” in all regards.

The software gave me a list of channels with the strongest, clearest signal, but it was also possible to manually click through unlisted channels that suffered poor reception. I was able to tune four crystal clear HD stations, along with 13 other analog channels of varying quality. After years of having cable, it seemed odd to move the antenna around for better reception. For that particular night, I was satisfied to have the three HD channels.

As channels convert to DTV by 2009, reception should improve. Of course, a connection via cable would be best, but after initial hardware costs, it’s nice to have “free” TV again. Also, I am going to do some research and buy a really good antenna. I’ll set everything up in the office and let you know how it goes over the next few months. I’m also going to experiment with connecting the Mac to the cable with the EyeTV Hybrid.

Now my iMac is an HDTV and DVR in one. The EyeTV Hybrid works way better than I expected, and I am happy with it. This is a great solution for using a Mac as TV in a guest room, a dorm room, an office, or even a living room in a cramped apartment.

EyeTV hybrid also works as a pass-through device, so you can connect a VCR and convert all your old VHS tapes to digital format for editing, archiving, and burning to DVD.

See the EyeTV with FREE 3-day express shipping “by clicking here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/71143