SPECIALS | 04/17/09 – 04/24/09

It looks like good weather for our big ewaste event. We moved it this year from our store to the local high school so that we can handle the huge amount of old electronics that come to us. Last year, our neighbors in the shopping center were amazed at the amount of traffic we generated and then dismayed at the fact that their customers couldn’t get in to shop.

I told the Small Dog employees yesterday how important it is to embrace change because today’s amazing technology so rapidly becomes tomorrow’s ewaste. We’ll see that in action on Saturday. Watch our blog for pictures on Monday!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali & Ed_

Did you know that several iPod models can easily record voice memos, as long as the iPod is equipped with a compatible microphone?

Recording functionality started with the 3rd generation iPod (the one with four round buttons in a row), and includes the following discontinued models: iPod nano (2nd generation), iPod (5th generation), iPod with color display (running iPod Software 1.0 or later), iPod photo (running iPod Software 1.0 or later).

All current iPod models except the iPod shuffle also support recording. In fact, thanks to improved menus, it’s easier than ever to record high-quality audio on the current iPod classic (120 GB), iPod nano (4th generation), and iPod touch 2G. On current iPods, simply plug a compatible mic into the iPod’s headphone port (or dock connector port), and a new “Voice Memos” menu will appear on the screen. Recording and syncing audio back to iTunes is very easy; you can see a video of how this works with a RapCap microphone “by clicking here.”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/rapcap-ipod-microphone-overview

On previous iPods, you typically had to sync recorded audio back to your computer before you could review it. Current iPods allow instant playback of recorded audio.

Example microphones include the “RapCap,”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/iPod_Accessories|Microphones “Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic,”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72846 “Apple In Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic,”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72100 “Incipio Lloyd Microphone Adapter for iPod nano (which uses the nano’s dock connector),”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/73531 and headsets such as the “Skullcandy Full Metal Jacket Headset.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72761

“Click here to read Apple’s support article detailing how to enable audio recoding on compatible iPods.”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2396

As Don mentioned above, Small Dog Electronics just started carrying the “RapCap”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=rapcap. It’s only $14.99 and comes in eleven colors. Because of its small size and low cost, it’s my microphone of choice with current iPods.

*The 3rd Annual FREE eWaste Recycling Event will be held on Saturday, April 18 from 9am – 1pm at S. Burlington High School in S. Burlington, VT.*

We want you to recycle your old electronics responsibly. We’ll be taking your old TVs, computers, monitors, printers, scanners, digital phones, other peripherals and pretty much any other electronics with a cord!

“See our website for more details.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste2009

*NOTE: THIS IS A RESIDENTIAL COLLECTION EVENT ONLY. NO BUSINESS LOADS WILL BE ACCEPTED.*

For more information on our ewaste initiatives, our event, ewaste statistics as well as national ewaste recycling resources, “click here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste

Check out our premier sponsors!
“Ben & Jerry’s”:http://www.benandjerrys.com/
“Green Mountain Coffee Roasters”:http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com/
“SymQuest Technology”:http://www.symquest.com/

For the next couple of weeks, we have all Skullcandy headphones on sale from 15% – 40% off. Skullcandy makes a full range…

This week I was quoted in a “MacNewsWorld”:http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/66819.html article titled “Mac OS X vs. Windows: Does Soul Matter?” The article asks “beneath the superficial surface features, what are the real core differences between the two operating systems?”. The particular focus of the article is on the emotional pull of the two different (but closely related) platforms.

My point of view on this topic is that Mac OS and Windows have a shared linage of sorts, but have always pursued different goals and fundamentally have different design philosophies. In particular, while Apple chose to pursue the seamless integration of hardware and software along with simplicity and ease of use, Microsoft sought ways to get its software on as many PCs as possible. Microsoft massively achieved this goal, since about 90% of all computers run some flavor of Windows.

A beneficial side effect of Microsoft’s approach was near-global software standardization, which probably helped facilitate mass-adoption of personal computers. Of course, it also made Windows an attractive and easy target for viruses, trojans, worms, and other computer attacks. Vista is apparently much more secure than earlier versions of Windows.

Apple never sought total global OS domination, but instead sought a large, healthy, and sustainable niche in the computing ecosystem. With 30 million users and a mature modern OS, Apple has also achieved its goal.

Some would say Apple’s goal was simply to be the flat-out “best” personal computing platform. That designation is subjective, but many surveys show Apple to be among the most admired companies in the US.

I admit, I’ve been a PC-basher in the past. However, I no longer want to waste time with that. I’ve grown exceedingly bored with the Mac vs PC debate. This is partly because the invective and spite around the issue has grown truly unpleasant. Visit any Mac vs PC message board, and you’ll find vulgar, overblown rhetoric (on both sides). It can be amusing — like the Mac-basher who recently responded to the topic “Thinking of getting a Mac” with the statement “OSX users. 10 million. Windows users. 100 Billion. Any questions? You can shut up now.” Rude, and there’s nowhere near 100 billion people in the world.

Apple and Microsoft are both guilty as well – Mac with their “Get A Mac” TV ads, and Microsoft with their recent “Mac Tax” ads.

I prefer any version of Mac OS X to XP or Vista, and fortunately I can do all of my computer-related tasks on a Mac. Mac works for me — in fact, Mac is excellent for me.

But I recognize that Windows works for many people. I’m grateful I don’t have to use it, just like I’m grateful I don’t have to commute in a panel van every day. I’ll continue to make my preference known with my dollars — and not on overheated Internet forums. From now on, you’ll never hear me say “Windows sucks”.

Red Sox vs Yankees, however — that’s a debate I’ll get into anytime. Not that we Red Sox fans have anything to brag about right now. Or often did in the past. But still.

You can read “the MacNewsWorld / TechNewsWorld article by clicking here.”:http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/66819.html

With all this Mac/PC talk heating up again, I figured this is a timely list. Plus, my wonderful husband who has been a long-time PC user has decided to fully make the switch to the Mac (of his own volition–without prodding from me!)

He bought a MacBook from us last year, but continued to use Windows on it (mostly because his work requires some PC-only programs, but also because he figured the learning curve was too steep to get onto the Mac side quickly). Well, several months, countless slowdowns and a handful of gray hairs later, he’s on OS X and loving it.

However, he was only at about a 98% satisfaction rate. With OS X, he gained speed, ease-of-use and integration, a much richer interface (with smoother fonts) and more, but there were a few things that he missed that Windows does well.

Here’s my top 5 tricks to tweak your Mac to be more like Windows for all you Switchers out there:
1) *Full-Screen Windows Function:* Miss being able to consistently maximize your windows when they’re open to full screen? Install “SIMBL”:http://culater.net/software/SIMBL/SIMBL.php and the windows will do what you want, all the time.

2) *Remote Desktop:* This is the term apparently PC users use when referring to being able to hook up an external monitor and have the main laptop screen stay black at the same time.

The standard Mac way to handle external monitors is either to mirror the screens (both display the same information) or to use the extended desktop mode where the large screen is just an extention of the small laptop screen.

For those who don’t like those options, and just miss being able to only view the larger screen, simply plug in your display when your computer is off. Then, turn on your computer and quickly shut the lid. The external display will stay on as the sole screen while your laptop screen stays black.

3) *IE integration:* We’ve talked about the Internet Explorer workarounds before: “here”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/?c=kb590 and “here,”:http://www.smalldog.com/kibbles/kibbles_display.php?id=578 so why not revisit? Miss being able to access certain websites that bafflingly, __require__ IE to view? Try fooling them by selecting “Show Develop menu in the menu bar” in the Advanced section of Safari’s preference pane.

4) *Dock Placement:* Another complaint my husband had was that the dock seemed to be in the way a lot, especially when he was used to making windows show full-screen. There are a number of things you can do to make the dock do what you want, including hiding and showing it or placing it on the left or right (instead of the bottom). All of these can be found in the Dock prefs under the Apple (top lefthand part of the Menu bar).

5) *Application Management:* Here’s something that PC users are really used to: being able to add/delete programs right in the Control Panel. As Ed has mentioned in a “previous issue,”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/?c=kb604 OS X does not have a great management system to uninstall apps in totality. We both like “AppCleaner”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/index.php or “AppDelete”:http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/appdelete.

Hope all these help ease the transition!