MAC TREAT #114: Force-Ejecting A Stuck CD/DVD

If you are thinking of purchasing a new computer setup, one important component that is often overlooked is a good surge protector. While locally we only have to worry about lightning a few times a year, power spikes can still happen at any time, and for the investment put into a brand new machine it is better to be safe than sorry: AppleCare does not consider lightning or electrical damage to be repairable under warranty!

Surge protectors are used to protect electronic devices from power spikes, and should not be confused with power strips (some power strips do have surge protection built-in, and most of the time this will be labelled clearly, but never assume it to be built in if there is no indication).

Generally speaking, picking the surge protector with the highest Joule rating is going to be the best bet. Higher Joule ratings mean that the surge protector can absorb more energy (such as from a lightning strike or power spike) without failing.

It is also important to note that surge protectors also do have a finite life span, so your 10-year-old one probably isn’t up to par anymore (even if it’s never warded off a lightning strike), not to mention it likely has a lower Joule rating than the ones available today.

We’ve got a good selection to choose from in store, my two favorites being the “Belkin 12-Outlet Surge Suppressor”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/71539/belkin-12-outlet-surge-suppressor (rated at 3990 Joules) which is perfect for your home setup, and the “Belkin 5-Outlet Mini Surge Protector with 2 USB ports”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72284 (for your iPhone or iPod!) for your portable setup.

Both are attractively priced at $24.99, so if you are buying yourself an awesome new Mac setup, don’t forget the silent warrior who sits behind the desk–the surge protector!

_Dear Friends,_

We’ve missed yet another snowstorm. As I was flying into Burlington on Saturday I saw an awful lot of bare ground. There is very little snow here when we are usually over our heads in snow this time of the year. All the storms seem to have been south of us. I’m back on an airplane again, heading out to Portland to visit our friends at the Mac Store, an excellent Apple Specialist in the Pacific Northwest. I will be visiting their stores and then going to see a Blazers vs. Celtics game. Kevin Anderson, their CEO, is almost as rabid a Blazers fan as I am a Celtics fan, so we have a friendly wager on this season. Both teams have been ravaged by injuries but the Blazers second string has really stepped up.

I had fantastic meetings out in Cupertino with the folks from Apple and the other Apple Specialists on the Reseller Advisory Board. I was also asked to make a presentation about Small Dog on Friday morning. I stressed about the presentation for a week or two and probably drove Kali mad as she helped create the Keynote slide show. Once I was in the room and ready to go, though, I was in the zone and it went really well. I am very happy with our partnership with Apple and am very excited about our future plans.

I ventured up to San Francisco before I got on the plane and was able to visit Macworld and have dinner with an old friend before I got on the red-eye. Macworld was sad. There were almost no products shown for the Mac; it was a lot of products for iPod and iPhone. It was confined to one of the halls and did not even fill the hall. There seemed to be a lot of people there, however, that was because IDG advertised a lot of free tickets. Many vendors I spoke with were very disappointed, saying that there were virtually no industry present and most of the crowd consisted of consumers. Most said they would not be back next year. I think this is the end of Macworld and that is understandable, yet it is also sad. I have a lot of great memories of Macworlds in San Francisco, Boston and New York.

Our big tax free day is coming up in Vermont on March 6th. As Katie and I were driving to Boston a week ago, we resurrected an idea that we talked about the last time we had a tax-free day–staying open 24 hours. We looked at each other and suddenly realized that she was the store manager and I was the CEO and we could make this decision! We made the call and will be open from 12:00 AM to 11:59PM on March 6th. Katie and I pledged to drink a lot of coffee and do the overnight slot; I think we’ll have plenty of visitors, from customers to employees checking out the late night and early morning tax-free shopping.

Before I head home, I will be visiting with my cousin, Jon Mayer, who I reconnected with on Linkedin and after 35 years have been communicating and catching up by email. It will be great to catch up and reconnect in person. The red-eye back is one thing I am not looking forward to; I was so exhausted by the time I got back to Vermont last week, I had to sleep for 12 hours to catch up!

I’m hoping we get a little snow before this winter is over but I’m seeing mud season on the horizon.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali and Ed_

It can be daunting to try to stay on top of the endless flow of information available online. Among other tools, I use Google Reader, Socialite, and email alerts to stay on top of the topics that interest me. I recently started using “Alltop.com”:http://my.alltop.com/smalldogelectronics to help with this.

Alltop says its purpose is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. They do this by collecting the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic. They then group these collections–“aggregations”–into individual web pages. Then they display the five most recent headlines of the information sources as well as their first paragraph.

We created an Alltop so we could stay on top of the latest Apple news. Many of us make it habit to get to work and fire up our page first thing in the morning. Click here to see our Apple-news themed Alltop page, or to create your own! “Alltop.com”:http://my.alltop.com/smalldogelectronics

Vermont is having a sales tax holiday on Saturday, March 6. There will be *no sales tax on items that cost $2,000 or less.* This could save you some serious dough if you’re upgrading your own computer, your family’s Macs, or just want to grab some fun gadgets. The savings can add up, as sales tax in Vermont is 6%, and even 7% in a couple of towns (South Burlington, Williston).

We’re celebrating with a 24-hour sales event at our South Burlington retail store. The store will open at 12:01 AM and close at 11:59 PM. Our Waitsfield store will be open with regular business hours on Saturday, we’ll have additional telephone coverage, and our warehouse will be busy shipping orders all day.

“Click here to read our Vermont Sales Tax Holiday FAQ.”:http://www.smalldog.com/taxholiday

Note that everyone who lives outside of Vermont gets to order tax free from Smalldog.com every day (we don’t charge sales tax on orders that ship out of Vermont).