Do You AppleCare?

Our Governor in Vermont, Jim Douglas announced that he is not seeking re-election, which will really throw open the election for next year. I disagree with Governor Douglas in many public policy issues, but I have tremendous respect for him as a public servant and as an individual. We share a passionate love for our state and for Vermonters and that really does transcend politics. We all wish him well.

It looks like rain for this weekend but I hope to get out on the bikes at least a little bit and perhaps I’ll just have to check out one of the fairs in our state. Meanwhile, I have some work to do in my shop at home. I just found a 1970 Norton Commando to restore as a winter project so I want the shop to be ready for some late night mechanics.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali & Ed_

We wanted to let you know that we have been busy in our warehouses getting ready for our Famous Semi-Annual Garage Sale! At least once a year, we clean out our inventory and offer some crazy deals on the goodies we find. “Click here to read more about the Garage Sale.”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale

This year we’re going deep and will be offering lots of interesting finds. We’ll give some hints in next week’s Kibbles and Bytes, so stay tuned. Kibbles readers are always the first to know!

*WHEN:* Tuesday, 9/18, beginning at 8AM ET.

*WHERE:* “http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale

Surprise! OS 10.6 Snow Leopard has been released early–today, August 28! Here at Small Dog Electronics we are very excited about Snow Leopard, even though Apple is not heavily promoting its launch with pre-press, etc.

Snow Leopard is designed to make day-to-day tasks on your Mac easier, faster and more accessible. It delivers a wide range of enhancements, next-generation technologies, out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server, and new accessibility features. Snow Leopard is the most powerful and refined version of Mac OS X ever.

*How to Purchase and Upgrade to OS 10.6 Snow Leopard*

Snow Leopard is an upgrade for Leopard users and requires a Mac computer (duh) with an Intel processor, 1GB of memory (though at least 2GB is highly recommended), 5GB of available disk space, and a DVD drive for installation. “Visit our RAM Finder if you want to add RAM to your Mac before upgrading to Snow Leopard.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ramfinder

*If you’ve purchased a qualifying Mac or Xserve on or after June 8, 2009 that didn’t include Mac OS X Snow Leopard,* you can upgrade to Snow Leopard for $9.95 exclusively from Apple via the Mac OS X Up-to-Date Program. “Click here to get details of this offer and download the PDF.”:http://www.smalldog.com/snowleopard

*If you have OS 10.5 Leopard installed on a Mac purchased before June 8, 2009,* you can upgrade to the Snow Leopard Single User Edition, on sale for $29.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74329

*If you have multiple Macs running OS 10.5 Leopard,* you can upgrade to Snow Leopard with the Snow Leopard Family Pack. This can be installed on up to five Macs and is on sale for $49.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74330

*If you have Mac OS 10.4 Tiger or earlier,* the only way to upgrade to Snow Leopard is with the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set. This includes OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, along with iWork ’09 and iLife ’09. Purchasing those separately would cost $289! See the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set on sale for $169.99 “by clicking here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74331

*If you have Mac OS 10.4 Tiger or earlier running on multiple Macs,* the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set is available as a Family Pack that can be installed on up to five computers for $229.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74332

*Our Favorite Features*

Some of the most exciting new features and overall system enhancements in OS 10.6 Snow Leopard include:

* 64-bit support, the next big step for the Mac. All key system applications are now 64-bit so they can take advantage of all the memory in your Mac.

* Out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange. Mac OS X Snow Leopard delivers built-in support for the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server, something even Windows PCs don’t have.

* Smaller footprint. Snow Leopard takes up less than half the disk space of the previous version, freeing about 7GB for you–enough for about 1,750 more songs or a few thousand more photos.

* The Finder has been completely rewritten using Cocoa to take advantage of the new technologies in Snow Leopard, including 64-bit support and Grand Central Dispatch. It’s more responsive from top to bottom, with snappier performance throughout the Finder.

* Quicker Time Machine backup. Snow Leopard makes Time Machine up to 80 percent faster and reduces the time it takes to complete your initial backup to Time Capsule.

* Faster to wake up and shut down. Your Mac wakes from sleep up to twice as quickly when you have screen locking enabled. And shutting down is up to 80 percent faster.

* QuickTime X: As the next generation of media players, it’s built on new core technologies and advances modern media and Internet standards.

* More efficient file sharing.

* Multi-Touch gestures in older Mac models. All Mac notebooks with Multi-Touch trackpads now support three- and four-finger gestures.

* A new technology called Grand Central Dispatch takes full advantage of multicore systems by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors.

* Universal Access: Every Mac comes with built-in technologies designed to help people with disabilities experience it. Innovations in Snow Leopard advance accessibility even further.

It’s a pleasant surprise that Snow Leopard is being released earlier than expected. We will feature in depth reviews of Snow Leopard in our newsletters as soon as it’s released.

Not sure if your Mac qualifies for Snow Leopard? Email “sales@smalldog.com”:mailto:sales@smalldog.com with any questions!

Did you know that it’s possible to burn to one CD or DVD multiple times? The trick is to use the “Leave Disk Appendable” option in Disk Utility, located in the Utilities folder on every Mac. First step is to create a folder and fill it with the stuff you want to burn. From there, open up Disk Utility (*Macintosh HD/Applications/Utilities*), pull down the File Menu, select New, and then Disk Image From Folder in the sub-menu.

When the resulting window opens, find that folder you just created and click the Image button. Select a destination for your image, and click Save. The disk image, ending with .dmg, will shortly appear on your desktop and along the left side of the Disk Utility window. Click once on its icon in Disk Utility, then click the Burn button at the top left of the Disk Utility window.

Here’s the trick: When you click the Burn button, a dialog box will pop up asking you to insert a disc–go ahead and insert the disc, then click the blue triangle on the right side of the window and click the box next to Leave Disk Appendable before hitting Burn. Next time you need to burn a disk, just repeat the process; when you get to the final step, the button will say Append instead of Burn.

We’ll be posting our own review of Snow Leopard next week after we get to spend some quality hands-on time with it. In the meantime, here are some reviews from around the web:

* “Wired.com – 6 Things You Need to Know About Mac OS X Snow Leopard”:http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/08/6-things-snow-leopard/

* “Gizmodo – Snow Leopard Review: Lightened and Enlightened”:http://gizmodo.com/5346418/snow-leopard-review-lightened-and-enlightened

* “Wall Street Journal – Apple Changes Leopard’s Spots”:http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20090826/apple-changes-leopards-spots/

* “New York Times – Apple’s Sleek Upgrade”:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/technology/personaltech/27pogue.html

* “C|Net – Apple Mac OS X Snow Leopard”:http://reviews.cnet.com/macintosh-os/apple-mac-os-x/4505-3673_7-33676737.html?tag=mncol;txt

* “Engadget – Snow Leopard review”:http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/26/snow-leopard-review/

* “Physorg First Look: New Mac ‘Snow Leopard’ software not a dramatic change”:http://www.physorg.com/news170527795.html

And then there’s this ridiculous link-bait article over at PC World. Personally, this makes me glad Small Dog Electronics no longer advertises over there!

“Snow Leopard Is a Pale Imitation of Windows 7”:http://www.pcworld.com/article/170783/snow_leopard_is_a_pale_imitation_of_windows_7.html

_Dear Friends,_

Snow Leopard mania! We’ve been scrambling to get “Snow Leopard upgrades, Snow Leopard Family Packs, Snow Leopard Mac Box Sets and Snow Leopard Mac Box Set Family Packs”:http://www.smalldog.com/snowleopard into stock for the Friday launch. We have the inventory ready to go, so if you placed a pre-order or made the 3PM ET order cut off today, we have started shipping them now!

This is the most affordable upgrade in some time at only $29.99. While there are not the same “wow” applications such as Time Machine in this upgrade, the important “under the hood” changes are significant in terms of stability, speed, security and over-all performance. I highly recommend this very affordable upgrade!

We had a tremendous tax-free holiday here in Vermont. We did about 10% more business this year in a single day than we did in the two-day holiday last year. We had lines at our doors at the opening at 8AM and were answering the phones until midnight. Both stores were jammed and the Small Dog team was on the very top of it game so we had a lot of fun talking to our customers and making sure every customer received personal attention.

I worked up in the S. Burlington store most of the day with my partner, Hammerhead, who served as the official “greeter.” He occupied the kids while the parents shopped. He was so tired when we got home that he crashed out on the couch and didn’t even come to bed at night. It’s his birthday today, by the way, so in honor of that, we’ve put our Hammerhead sleeves on sale (50% off) through the weekend!

“Click here for more details.”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=hammerhead

The first mention of the “F” word was in the weather forecast last night. That is, F as in frost! The low-lying mountain hollows can expect some frost, yikes! We haven’t really had summer yet so now we are in for cooler temps that are normal by the end of August. But hey, it is sweet corn season and Artie took the day off today to help out in haying.