SPECIALS | 03/20/09 – 03/27/09

*Currently on the road at SXSW!*

For a limited time, get free shipping on the TruePower iV Battery and Portable Charger for iPhone 2G/3G and iPod touch.

* Extended Battery adds up to 24 hours of talk time
* Allows Charging using the Dock Connector
* Adds a flash to your iPhone’s camera
* Will feel just like your old cell phone from the ’90s or your cordless phone!

While at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Don came across a booth with an assortment of officially licensed mice in the shape of popular automobiles. Upon returning to our world headquarters, the RoadMice flyer he grabbed was tossed on my desk with orders to bring them in.

Seeing the Concept Camaros, Dodge Chargers, Ford Mustangs, and Corvettes online didn’t do this neat input device justice. These mice are very close in look and scale as the real life autos they mimic. We have chosen a few colors for each of the cars, including a Highway Patrol badged Chevy Concept Camaro.

While the real thing may be a gas guzzler, the RoadMice are not battery guzzlers! The RoadMice Mouse automatically goes into battery save mode when left idle for a few minutes.

Each mouse has its own VIN number, and when you register online, one is granted access to an official Certificate of Title as if you had just been to the DMV. I printed mine out and am planning on signing it over to the next owner someday. 😉

Using Radio Frequency wireless (it comes with a USB dongle), the mouse is easy to connect once you install the two AAA batteries and find the little switch on the bottom to turn it on. After syncing the mouse to the dongle, I was mousing wirelessly within minutes of opening the package. These are fully Mac/PC compatible.

The two-button RoadMice also have working headlights. Click the left side button and the left headlight comes on, etc. The scroll wheel also lights up when used. The smooth functionality of this 800 DPI optical wireless mouse is much appreciated thus far, and most people who’ve seen these agree that they will be a hot seller.

My new Atomic Orange Corvette has really souped up my computer, and I’ve already gotten used to cursor movements after just a day or two of use. There’s always a slight delay in response compared to a wired equivalent, but as I say, it just takes a little getting used to, and is comparable with Apple’s own wireless mice with regard to functionality. I made one adjustment to my iMac’s System Preferences to allow the mouse to track a little more slowly to assure precise control.

Although owning a new car may seem out of reach, I assure that you will not be disappointed with the milage you’ll get if you obtain one of these great wireless mice from Small Dog Electronics. Most of us love cars, and what a great way to express who you are by getting your favorite model, and in such a great, functional replica!

“See the full list of 4 Door Media RoadMice on our website here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=road+mice

*Kibbles-only special: “Save $5 on the Highway Patrol Camaro Wireless Mouse – $32.99”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag18906/at_kb*
__Offer valid until next Friday, 3/27, or while supplies last!__

At Tuesday’s iPhone 3.0 event in Cupertino, CA, Apple announced changes to the iPhone software and a new version of the Apple Developer Kit. Here’s a rundown of what we can expect:

*For End-Users*

* *Cut and Paste capabilities.* To copy and select, users will double-tap (or tap and drag to select longer parts of text) and then paste. It will work between applications.
* Spotlight searching.* Big news! Now you can search your Mail: To, From, Subject and Entire Message, just like in Apple Mail. Calendar, Notes and even iPod will support the search feature as well.
* *Landscape Orientation.* All main applications will be able to support landscape orientation. Safari already features this, as well as many other third-party apps. (My husband will definitely appreciate this since he hates the small typepad!)
* *MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) support.* Users will be able to send and receive photos, audio files and contact info. Plus, the new Messages application will be able to forward and delete messages (either individually or multiples) in addition to its MMS support.
* *Shake-to-Shuffle.* Now, shaking your iPhone or iPod touch will shuffle your music–a key feature in the iPod nano and iPod shuffle.

Other features include automatic updating, networking/sharing between iPhones/iPod touches (see below), Parental Controls, YouTube enhancements and more. It’s also been reported that the iPhone also will be able to support new accessories, such as FM transmitters.

“See Apple’s iPhone OS page
here.”:http://www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/
“Read Apple’s press release here.”:http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/03/17iphone.html

* *Available this summer* (no further details at this time)
* *Free for iPhone users; $10 for iPod touch users*

*For Developers*

* *More than 1,000 programming interfaces for the iPhone.* That way, they’ll have more ways to create feature-rich applications for the App Store.
* *Peer to Peer Connectivity,* This new framework allows any application to communicate between devices using Bluetooth. Gamers will be able to add a multi-player experience and others will be able to share data between devices.
* *Apple Push Notification service.* Apple is now allowing third-party apps to utilize their “push” service–users will be alerted to new information even when the application isn’t running.
* “See the full list of features in the iPhone SDK here.”:http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/sdk.html

We’ll update with more info as soon as we hear it!

_Dear Friends,_

Well it is official, it became spring at 7:44AM today. There is still snow in the yard and the roads are muddy but winter is over. The signs of spring are evident from the Robin I spotted in my yard this morning to the crocus buds pushing through the snow. The river is high but the gradual warming has limited the ice jams and we have not had any serious flooding yet (knocking heavily on my wood desk).

With spring comes some heightened activity on our annual Earth Day eWaste recycling day, which will be April 18th this year. We have moved the event to the local high school because last year we pretty much shut down the whole area with traffic as cars were backed up in both directions with people waiting patiently to drop off their ewaste. This year we have support from Apple, Ben & Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee, SymQuest, 7th Generation, Chittenden Bank, Canon, Chroma Technology, the Chittenden Solid Waste District and our new recycling partner WeRecycle.

WeRecycle is one of only a handful of eWaste recyclers that has signed the “Basel Action Network’s”:http://ban.org/ e-Stewards Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship and has met the strict BAN criteria for ewaste recycling. (e-Stewards website: “www.e-stewards.org”:http://www.e-stewards.org/) We collected over 130 tons of eWaste last year in our 4-hour event, making it the largest one-day event in the USA. This volume also allowed us to be the first and only electronics retailer to be able to claim that we recycle more ewaste than we sell each year.

I am proud to report that the Vermont Retail Association gave us the Greentailer of the Year award yesterday at a ceremony and lunch in Burlington. We are very proud to be recognized for our commitment to one of our bottom lines–planet!

Apple announced the iPhone 3.0 software on Tuesday and the new features include much-desired options such as tethering (using your iPhone as a modem for your Mac), cut and paste, open core location (permitting turn-by-turn GPS) and MMS support. With over 100 new features and 1000 new APIs for developers, this is a major advancement in the iPhone and iPod touch platform that will make it even more compelling and will open the door for additional devices to take advantage of the power and versatility of the software, App Store and Apple’s hardware (more below).

And just in case you were wondering, nope, we still are not allowed to sell the iPhone. It is a constant source of customer inquiry and frustration. It is somewhat unbelievable that Apple feels that a customer would have a better experience at Walmart or Best Buy than at Small Dog Electronics or the other Apple Specialists. We will keep asking, pleading and cajoling Apple and perhaps one of these days, they will see the light.

Ever wonder where those pesky specials characters that aren’t written on your keyboard (e.g. ¢, ©, ®, ™) are when you’re writing? They’re all listed in Character Palette–part of OS X.

Easy access can be found either as a part of your other Apple Apps (such as Mail, TextEdit, Stickies, etc.) or in the International panel of System Preferences. (System Preferences > International > Input Menu)

If you find that you use these symbols a fair amount and would like to see them quickly, check the Character Palette checkbox and “Show input menu in menu bar.” The latter will display a little flag icon in the top righthand corner of your menu bar (how patriotic!).

Another tip for finding some symbols that you use more than others is to remember the keyboard shortcuts. Here’s a cheatsheet for my most popular ones:

* Accent Acute (´): Option-E
* Bullet (•): Option-8
* Cent (¢): Option-4
* Copyright (©): Option-G
* Degree (˚): Option-K
* Registered (®): Option-R
* Trade Mark (™): Option-2

And, for Mac users, one we’ve mentioned before and use a lot of: the Apple symbol (): Shift-Option-K

Note that fonts may handle characters differently!

As the weather warms and the snow recedes, there is a bit of a mess revealed in my yard from the dogs, the snow plow and a winter’s blanket of snow. We’ll start picking away at that, but it is still a bit squishy out there.

Welcome to our new subscribers to Kibbles & Bytes. It has been over 12 years of Kibbles and I am glad to see some new readers. I had one long-time friend subscribe and he wondered how long I have been writing this newsletter; he then went on to correct me about my horse. It turns out it was not a Belgian, but a Percheron. It was a very large horse and in addition to sugaring with her, she cleared my entire lot, pulling huge loads of logs that I cut down. She was a bit cantankerous and when I would ride her, she would immediately head for the nearest low hanging branch.

Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali (& Ed)_