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We have changed Small Dog Electronic’s fiscal year to match Apple’s, so our year (for financial purposes at least) ends this month. We are holding an off-site management retreat this weekend in Lake George at Uncle Geoff’s holiday camp. We will be planning for 2010 and the busy holiday quarter which will be our first quarter of the next fiscal year this time. I am very grateful to the rest of the Small Dog team who will be holding down the fort and manning the store while we do this essential planning.
Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
_Don, Kali & Ed_Apple Releases 10.6.1 Update
Hot on the heels of their Snow Leopard release, Apple has made the 10.6.1 update available. Here’s what it features:
* Addresses printer compatibility for printers that do not properly appear in the Add Printer browser. I had this problem last week!
* Fixes an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
* Fixes a Dock bug that prevented removal of icons from the Dock
* Includes bug fix for account set up and sending mail via SMTP servers in Mail
* Includes bug fix for Sierra Wireless 3G modems
* Addresses an issue in which Motion 4 could become unresponsive
* Adobe Flash Player update (new plug-in version 10.0.32.18) This is especially important, as “Ed referenced last week.”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/?c=kb636To download, go to *Software Update…* under the Apple or “click here.”:http://support.apple.com/kb/DL930
Duplicate Newsletters Issue
Loyal Kibbles & Bytes readers: our server has gone a little bonkers in the past few weeks, and many of you have experienced duplicate mailings of Kibbles & Bytes.
We apologize for the inconvenience–we realize you only need __one__ shiny new copy every week. We have been working furiously on this issue, and it should be straightened out by today’s mailing.
If you are still receiving duplicate copies of Kibbles as of today, please contact us at “subscriptions@smalldog.com.”:mailto:subscriptions@smalldog.com
Thank you for your patience!
Garage Sale Preview: Coming September 18!
As we mentioned last week, the Garage Sale is coming next Friday, September 18! We have over 150 products listed so far, with many more to go before Friday.
*WHEN:* Tuesday, 9/18, beginning at 8AM ET.
*WHERE:* “Smalldog.com/garagesale”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale
We’re still working away to get it ready so in lieu of the list today, here’s a preview of what’s in store:
* Apple keyboards and mice
* Harmon Kardon speakers
* Assorted iPod cases and covers
* Many, many more goodies…Keep checking “Smalldog.com/garagesale”:http://www.smalldog.com/garagesale next week for more info!
FEATURED SPECIAL: Free Shipping on New iPods, AppleCare Bundles
To celebrate the release of new iPods this week, we are offering free shipping on all iPod nanos (which don’t normally qualify for free shipping at Smalldog.com because they are less than $200), along with free shipping and a $25 discount on AppleCare bundled with the new iPod touch models. We are also offering free shipping and a free RapCap with the new iPod classics. See ‘em all here:
We expect to start shipping all the new iPods at the beginning of next week. This is a great time to get a new iPod!
_Dear Friends,_
Now that Labor Day is over, we can start looking for signs of autumn. I have spotted Canada geese heading south, the maple tree by my garage has some red leaves and the arctic kiwis are ready for eating. Of course, I notice the days are getting shorter, the mornings are chilly and there is usually a blanket of fog as I head into the valley to come to work. Nevertheless, Tony, Matt and I are going to brave the weather and ride our motorcycles over to Geoff’s “Forest Lake Camp”:http://www.forestlakecamp.com for our management retreat today and tomorrow.
Apple’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” event was on Wednesday and we were all reading live coverage at various web sites, shouting out the latest announcement as we worked. I wish Apple would go back to a webcast of these events so we could all enjoy the live feed. What other company has this type of following, where announcements of new products are watched with excitement by Apple fans, the press and seemingly, just about everyone? It was great to see Steve Jobs come back on stage with some new products and software but even better to see him well enough to take that leadership role and to talk about his personal gratitude to the donor of his transplanted liver. He says he’s eating like crazy and eating a lot of ice cream. Hopefully, he is filling up on Vermont’s finest Ben & Jerry’s!
I know that Kali and Ed will talk more about the announcements later in Kibbles & Bytes but I want to highlight what I see as the three biggest announcements. One new feature, Home Sharing, is something I have been waiting for and is now in iTunes 9. My wife and I have separate music libraries (and a lot of different musical tastes), but also a wide selection that overlaps. It has been cumbersome to trade songs, even though we authorize each other’s Macs for iTunes. With Home Sharing it is wicked easy to share and update our libraries. Home Sharing displays Grace’s library when we are at home on the same network and the songs that I do not have are highlighted so I can easily copy them. Finally, we do not have to buy the same songs all the time.
I’ll give Apple’s 100 million credit cards on account at the iTunes store the number two position in important announcements. What an amazing asset! I am sure we will see a lot more ways to spend our money at the iTunes store going forward. Number three is the iPod nano. Apple made the nano more compelling, more versatile and more colorful. They hit the sweet spot with the new nano. Now I am going to have to sell my Flip camera–who needs a Flip when you have a device that takes and plays movies, holds thousands of songs and has a built-in FM radio, voice recorder and pedometer?! This is going to be a huge year for the iPod nano!
Just so you don’t think I am a complete Apple fan-boy, I have to give them the thumbs-down for the petty move of making the yellow and Product (red) iPod nano and the special edition stainless steel iPod shuffle exclusive to the Apple Store. It is an unnecessary affront to their loyal independent resellers along the same lines as prohibiting the sale of the iPhone via these same Apple experts.