Free eWaste Recycling in VT and NH!

When the image popped up on the web for the Back to the Mac event, the cat behind the Apple was easily recognizable, prompting the accurate speculation that the next incarnation of OS X would be branded “Lion.” On Wednesday, Steve announced that 10.7 is indeed on its way, slated for release in Summer 2011.

Lion boasts dozens of new features, including the Mac App Store, Launchpad, Full-screen apps and Mission Control. Here’s how Apple describes it:

bq. “We took our best thinking from Mac OS X and brought it to the iPhone. Then we took our best thinking from the iPhone and brought it to iPad. And now we’re bringing it all back to the Mac with our eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system.”

*Mac App Store*
Inspired by the success of the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch and available in 90 days from today, the Mac App Store will allow you to purchase, download and install apps from the store itself–no packaging required! Developers will be able to submit apps for approval as soon as November. We’ll have more on this shortly, since this is a big change from how you’re used to getting apps on your Mac.

*Launchpad*
As Apple puts it, the Launchpad “gives you instant access to your apps–iPad style.” When you click the Launchpad icon in your Dock, your windows will “fade away,” leaving a full-screen view of all of the apps on your Mac. From there, you swipe your fingers to see multiple pages, bringing the functionality of Spaces. If you have just downloaded an app from the Mac App Store, it will automatically appear in the Dock, ready to launch.

*Full-screen apps*
This is a great way to tune out the distractions. Apps can now go full-screen natively, something people have been asking for for a long time (I used to get this question all the time from people who were switching from Windows). You will be able to bring an app to full-screen with one click, switch to another with a swipe, and then back to the desktop with another swipe.

*Mission Control*
Mission Control gives you a “bird’s-eye view of everything” all in one place. Apple describes it thusly: “With a simple swipe gesture, your desktop zooms out to Mission Control. There you can see your open windows grouped by app, thumbnails of your full-screen apps, Dashboard, and even other Spaces, arranged in a unified view.” Anything in Mission Control is accessible with one click.

No word yet on the price tag of Lion, nor a firmer release date. We’ll be keeping you up-to-date on Lion news as we get it!

iMovie ’11 was released today at Apple’s Back to the Mac press conference, as part of the new iLife ’11 multimedia productivity suite. Some standout new features include:

*Movie Trailers* – This is a fun feature. If you thought the movie was great, just wait until you see the trailer. Now you can make one yourself in iMovie ’11. Choose from 15 movie trailer templates in almost every genre: adventure, drama, romantic comedy, and more. Graphics and titles flash across the big (or small) screen. The legendary London Symphony Orchestra performs an epic original soundtrack. And suddenly, your home video goes Hollywood. Movie trailers are easy to create. Just click your clips to drop them into the storyboard. Add character names and personalize the titles. Then trim your clips to fit and adds transitions, titles, and special effects. The result? A trailer tour de force.

*All-New Audio Editing* – Go from indie filmmaker to master sound editor with new audio editing tools in iMovie. Sound effects, voiceover, and music–you control them all. iMovie shows you detailed audio waveforms for all your clips. They’re color coded, so you can see where the audio is overpowering. To adjust the audio levels of a clip or part of a clip, just drag the volume slider. To shorten or extend fades, drag the fade edges. As you make changes, waveforms update immediately so you always see what you hear. And the new single-row view shows you your entire movie project in one horizontal row, so it’s easier to preview and edit your soundtrack.

*One-Step Effects* – A dog running in slow motion. A wedding ceremony sped up. Pee Wee baseball instant replays. Home videos are even more entertaining with visual effects, and you can make them happen with a click. Add jump cuts and flip effects perfectly timed to music. Transition parts of clips from color to black and white, sepia, or a dream haze. Choose a clip, choose from over 12 effects, and click to apply.

*People Finder* – What’s a movie without a great cast? iMovie makes it easy to find your stars without digging through all your footage. By analyzing your video for faces, People Finder identifies the parts with people in them and tells you how many are in each scene. It also finds the close-ups, medium shots, or wide angles so it’s easy to grab video clips as you need them. People Finder is great to use while you make movie trailers. You can quickly find the right shots and drop them into the movie trailer storyboard.

*Your World Premiere* – iMovie ’11 lets you publish your movies in more ways to more places. You can export movies to iTunes and watch them on your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Apple TV. Share them with your friends on Facebook. Premiere them with a YouTube or Vimeo audience. Publish newsworthy content to CNN iReport. And you can create a video podcast in iMovie and send it directly to Apple Podcast Producer. When you export HD video at full 1920 x 1080p resolution, whatever you share will stun everyone.

*Sports and News Themes* – Today’s headlines: whatever you want them to be. Turn your video into a broadcast news segment complete with sophisticated graphics, sleek transitions, and hard-hitting titles you write yourself. The News theme is a fun way to announce a graduation or a new baby. Want to report real-life news? Share your story with CNN iReport directly from iMovie. With the Sports theme, you can turn a Pee Wee baseball game, a round of golf, or skateboarding at the park into sports video highlights. Add sports graphics and transitions. Choose from dynamic animated titles, such as game score, team face-off, and player stats. The Sports theme even includes a Sports Team Editor that seamlessly integrates your own player photos, rosters, statistics, and team logos into any Sports theme movie.

iLife is a $49 upgrade for existing Mac users, and comes free with every new Mac. “See it here;”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77205/apple-ilife-11/at_kb
It’ll be shipping shortly!

_Dear Friends,_

It’s Edward Shepard writing this week for Don, who is is down in Austin, Texas hoping to score a position playing upright bass in a honkey tonk band. What follows is a very long issue of Kibbles and Bytes, as it was a big, big week in Apple news. On Monday, Apple reported blockbuster Q4 financial results. On Wednesday, Apple held an exciting “Back to the Mac” press conference (covered in detail below).

Apple press conferences are a major event here at Small Dog. We joke that they’re like the nerd Superbowl. The big news from the press conference was an updated system architecture for the MacBook Air, a groundbreaking new ultra-compact 11-inch MacBook Air, and iLife ’11, which is a substantial update to Apple’s very popular multimedia production suite.

In other news, I wanted to apologize about the contest platform we were using for our Office: 2011 drawing. After people entered the contest, they then had to unsubscribe from future offers from that company. *It is a longstanding, permanent policy that Small Dog Electronics will never sell email addresses provided by our customers or subscribers to our newsletters.* This contest platform blurred the lines of that policy and thus we will never use their services again.

Instead, we will be running a new drawing for Office: Mac 2011 next week. Everyone who entered will be automatically be entered into this drawing, and everyone else who didn’t enter or didn’t want to enter with the previous service will have a chance to enter to win as well. Again, I am sorry about the confusion with that.

Don’t want to wait for the drawing to get Office: 2011? Use coupon code *office2011* to save $10 on Office or any other “Business and Productivity”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Software|Business_and_Productivity/at_kb software title today! “Click here to browse this category.”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Software|Business_and_Productivity/at_kb

We wanted to remind our customers about Apple’s up-to-date program for iLife ’11. This program allows customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac or Apple Certified Refurbished computer between October 1 and October 19, 2010 that does not include iLife ’11 can upgrade to iLife ’11 for $6.99 plus tax. The completed order form must be postmarked or faxed by November 19, 2010.

US customers should “click here”:http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?partNumber=MC635Z/A to register for the for the Up-To-Date program.

Read more about Apple’s Up-to-Date program “by clicking here.”:http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/

GarageBand ’11 was released today at Apple’s Back to the Mac press conference, as part of the new iLife ’11 multimedia productivity suite. Some standout new features include:

*Flex Time* – Flex Time is a new tool that lets you quickly change the timing of your recording, so your song has perfect rhythm. Something sounds a little off? Use Flex Time to fix timing mistakes on the fly. Just click and drag any part of a waveform to change the timing of a note or beat. You can move, stretch, or shorten individual notes without changing the good parts of your recording. And Flex Time is great for creative inspiration: Extend guitar riffs, alter vocals, try different rhythms, and get new ideas. Your Flex Time edits are highlighted so you can easily see your changes. Click the Flex Time button at any time to compare your edits with the original performance.

*Groove Matching* – Instantly match the rhythm of your whole band to a single track. If you’re working with a bunch of different tracks–like a guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, and a drum loop underneath it all–chances are that one (or all) of them could be a little out of rhythm. Groove Matching brings all your tracks together beautifully. Just select any track in your song and make it the Groove Track, and all other tracks instantly match it. If not every track needs adjusting, you can choose only the tracks you want. Groove Matching helps Apple Loops fit the feel of your song even better, too.

*New Guitar Amps and Stompbox Effects* – GarageBand brings you seven new guitar amps for a total of 12. They’re modeled after the most revered gear in the world–from clean sounds to heavy distortion and everything in between. You can also reproduce the sound of classic foot pedals with five new stompbox effects, making 15 to choose from. Mix amps with stompboxes and find thousands of ways to rock. And with the Apogee GiO (sold separately), you can control GarageBand hands-free, so you don’t ever have to stop playing. The GiO lets you control stompbox effects, recording, and transport controls with your feet. Plug an electric guitar into your Mac, crank it up, and let it rip.

*”How Did I Play?”* – Put your skills to the test while you’re jamming on a lesson. First GarageBand taught you how to play. Now it tests your chops. As you play along with any lesson, record yourself. GarageBand listens in real time and tells you how you’re doing. You’ll see how well you played with colored notes, a progress bar, and a performance meter. You can check your rhythm and note accuracy, keep track of your progress, and beat your best score–all while perfecting your skills.

*New Lessons for Piano and Guitar* – Learn to play piano and guitar even better on your Mac. With 22 new genre-based lessons (40 in all), you can pick up the basics of piano, guitar, or even both. Video demonstrations, synchronized notation, and instrument animations make lessons fun and easy to follow. And you can learn at your own pace. You’ll jam with the Blues Guitar and Rock Guitar series. You’ll master classical piano pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, or Chopin. And you’ll play Top 40-style piano with the Pop Piano series. The new built-in glossary is a great reference for tuning your guitar, changing strings, reading music, finding basic chords and scales, and more. With the Chord Trainer, you’ll master the most important guitar chords by shape, which makes it easier to keep them straight.