Hands On With Snow Leopard–In Brief

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.

This is “special” but not really “a special.” We wanted to let you know that, from today on, Small Dog Electronics is including an OS 10.6 Snow Leopard installation disk with every new-condition Mac we ship.

For previous-generation machines, such as the “2.0 GHz unibody MacBooks”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72290, Snow Leopard won’t be installed on the machine, but *will be included on an installation DVD.* This way you can choose if you want to run Snow Leopard now or wait a couple of weeks to read Snow Leopard reviews before you install it.

Want to learn more about Snow Leopard? “Click here for all the details!”:http://www.smalldog.com/snowleopard

_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.

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

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_