We always know a new Apple product is going to popular when a large number of Small Dog Electronics employees decide to buy it for themselves. The new iPod nano with built-in video camera, microphone, pedometer, and FM radio is a perfect example of this. (And in case you’re wondering, green is the most popular color.)

I recently tested the video from the new nano against a Flip minoHD. In some ways, this isn’t a fair comparison. The Flip is a dedicated video camera, and shoots in HD with a wide 1280 x 720 aspect ratio. The video camera in the nano isn’t really intended to replace a dedicated video camera; it’s there to capture spontaneous, fun videos. It captures standard def. video at a 640 x 480 resolution. The nano also features 15 built-in special effects like X-Ray, Security Cam, Cyborg, and Kaleido, which further accentuate the fun factor. Still, I thought the video from the nano looked surprisingly decent.

I basically attached the two cameras with rubber bands and walked around Small Dog. Video here is shown side by side. All audio comes directly from the nano, not the Flip. Neither the Flip nor the nano has a particularly outstanding microphone.

Of course these videos are ultra-compressed by the time they’re posted online. Don’t forget to watch in HD!

“Click here to see the video on YouTube.”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB76K8hHMqA

“Click here to see the video in a larger size in better quality on Vimeo.”:http://vimeo.com/6728321

Recently, I created a Pages document that grew to be unusually large in file size due to the images that I was using. The Pages file was roughly 140MB, so even exported to a PDF, it only shrunk to about 50MB–still too big for an email.

Rather than resize the images that I put in the document itself, there’s an easier way.

In Pages, select *File > Reduce File Size.* This will resize the images according to how large they actually appear in the document itself.

*140MB > 1.2MB?* Success!

Last week, I wrote about “how to make your Mac more like a PC.”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/?c=kb617 Now, here’s a Top 5 for the other side: those who want to make their PC more like a Mac! Whether you’re someone who wants the look and feel of a Mac because you’re used to one at home and your evil bosses make you work on a PC at the office (kidding) or simply because it’s fun to mix it up a bit, the following tips should help:

1) *Get Firefox (or Safari):* Seriously, ditch Internet Explorer if you haven’t already! Both “Safari”:http://www.apple.com/safari/download/ and “Firefox”:http://www.getfirefox.com are much faster, cleaner, secure browsers for the web. In addition, Safari has the same features you love on the Mac side, and Firefox offers a seemingly infinite number of extensions to customize it (including numerous Safari/OS X skins). It’s a no-brainer!

2) *Use Thunderbird:* Similarly, using Thunderbird will mimic your Mac experience. There are skins (themes) for it as well that emulate the look of Apple Mail–nice and clean. (We’ll be writing about our favorite Firefox/Thunderbird extentions in a future Kibbles.) Don’t worry about ditching Outlook; Thunderbird can handle all of the same types of email accounts (POP, IMAP, etc.) that it can, so you won’t miss a thing. (Just be sure to have someone guide you through the process if you’re unsure of some of your email settings.)

3) *Fix that UI:* Face it, the user interface of a Mac looks good. If you’re still using Windows XP, it’s especially apparent that it doesn’t look as great. Try “StarDock’s WindowBlinds,”:http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/ a utility designed to make XP or Vista look amazingly Mac-like. It’s a non-permanent option that’s safe for work computers (as long as you have access) because it just gives your PC the smooth, aqua ‘skin’ of OS X.

4) *Create PDFs:* Miss how easy it is to make a PDF in OS X? Grab “PDFCreator.”:http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/ Create a PDF from anything you’d be printing instead–no rebooting necessary!

5) *Get Command back:* Use “SharpKeys!”:http://www.randyrants.com/2008/12/sharpkeys_30.html This tool allows you to switch your Alt and Ctrl keys, emulating the Command key on an Apple keyboard.

Have some tips of your own? Let us know. Next week, I’ll feature some feedback from both of these articles!

Image credit: “Instructables.com”:http://www.instructables.com

Thank you for your support in 2009! All of us here at Small Dog Electronics realize that ultimately it is you, our loyal customers, that pay our wages and we pledge to continue in 2010 to provide the very best in customer satisfaction.

We believe in making customers for life and want to hear from you with comments, suggestions, complaints, praise or just a friendly hello!

Happy New Year from Small Dog Electronics!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
_Don, Kali and Ed_

My husband Chris recently ditched Windows for good on his MacBook, on which he had previously been running Windows via Boot Camp as his primary OS. Once he decided to make the leap for good, he just backed up his important files, deleted the Windows partition and started using OS X.

All worked great until the time came to sync his iPhone. Since he was still on the same computer, he didn’t think anything of plugging it in. However, he had been in the Windows world, and the two operating systems–though on the same physical computer–treat syncing devices separately. When he plugged his iPhone in, iTunes naturally treated it like a new device.

Without thinking, he clicked through the windows prompting him to set up his new device and all info was lost. Around the same time, I had been having issues with my own iPhone and needed to troubleshoot to getting it working correctly again. What a great time to write about safely backing up and restoring an iPhone!

So, if you’re having issues with your iPhone or iPod touch or you’d like to utilize the restore feature before syncing to a new iTunes library, here are some things to keep in mind (if you need step-by-step instructions for the restore process, see the bottom of the article for links):

* *iTunes has a built-in feature that backs up your data each time you sync, update or restore your device.*

However, this does NOT include your photos, videos or audio. If you have the information still on your computer that you want to sync, it will do so; however if you’re setting up your device for the first time and your information is not already on the computer, you want a more fully-featured backup program such as “iPhone/iPod touch Backup Extractor.”:http://supercrazyawesome.com __(Leopard only)__

* *If you want to restore your device from a backup, either right click the iPhone or iPod touch icon in the lefthand navigation bar or click Restore in the Summary tab in iTunes.*

If your data is completely up-to-date the way you want it, and you need to restore it because it’s acting funny, I’d recommend syncing first, so you have a recent backup.

Note: If you click Restore in the Summary tab and proceed from there, it gives you a little more information about the backups than if you right click on the device icon (e.g. my old iPod touch and iPhone are named the same thing–only the former example gives you your phone number to indicate that it’s a phone, rather than an iPod!)

Depending on the size of the backup, it could (and probably will) take several minutes.

* *Once your data is restored, all of your information should be back on your device, but the apps will be out of order.*

If you’re like me and have several pages of apps that you’ve painstakingly organized to perfection (yep, I said it), I recommend taking a screenshot of each page beforehand to help you sort them out afterward! (iPhone only: To take a screenshot, press the Home button and the button on the top simultaneously. It will take a screenshot that is then stored in your pictures.)

More resources:
“Backing Up/Restoring your iPhone/iPod touch software”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414
“iPhone and iPod touch: About backups”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766
“iPhone Troubleshooting Assistant”:http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/troubleshooting/phone/
“iPod touch Troubleshooting Assistant”:http://www.apple.com/support/ipodtouch/troubleshooting/ipodtouch/