K&B SPECIALS: 02/04/11 – 02/11/11

Remember when iPad was first introduced? Many people thought Apple would release a traditional tablet–something like a MacBook without a keyboard. Instead, Apple thought different and produced a device that is truly “magical and revolutionary.” We believed in iPad from day one. We also knew that iPad owners would want to protect their iPad from daily wear and tear.

…so we decided to design our own iPad case. Cut to the result–the Verso case: a simple, premium quality, easy-access case that protects iPad in style. It can go from coffee shop to boardroom to bedroom. It looks great and feels great in the hand. It’s a case that your iPad can live in.

“Click here to see Verso in three colors”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=verso. **We’ve temporarily dropped the price $20, to $39.99.** That’s a great value on an exceptional iPad case, if we don’t say so ourselves.

“Click here to read the entire Verso concept and design story!”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/how-we-designed-the-verso-ipad-case/

Over the past couple of years, Apple has taken new interest in MobileMe. They have overhauled the service with refinements and new features. Our sales of MobileMe are skyrocketing. MobileMe’s easy options for syncing data between computers and iOS devices along with the “Find My iPhone” feature makes MobileMe worthwhile by itself.

From conversations with my friends, it seems that iDisk is one of MobileMe’s lesser known and used features. It’s one of the core MobileMe services that Apple has truly polished and improved over the past two years.

I really only use iDisk to share large files (up to 1GB) with vendors, clients and friends. If you haven’t tried doing this recently, you’ll be impressed how easy it is. With any modern web browser, simply log into your MobileMe account at “Me.com.”:http://www.me.com and select the iDisk icon (the one used at the top of this article).

Next, select the “Public” folder in the left hand pane. Click on the “up” facing arrow at the top of your web browser. A new “upload” window will open. Use this window to browse to the file you’d like to share (again, up to 1GB). After the file uploads, you’ll see options for sharing the file, including via email. Note that you can also password-protect confidential files.

The link to your public iDisk folder is always https://public.me.com/yourmobilemeusername. If you have MobileMe, take a look at your public folder, so you can see it as others see it.

You can set permissions so people can also upload files to your iDisk. This is a very easy way to request files that are too large to be emailed.

If you have files to share that are larger than 1GB, I recommend “Dropbox”:http://www.dropbox.com/ (sync files of any size or type) and “Droplr.”:http://droplr.com/hello

Check out this “article”:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/hpg21.html about naming files for sharing.

We celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln this month, and we also celebrate Black History Month. Carter Woodson founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History in 1915, and initiated Black History week in February of 1926 to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

For many years, the second week in February was Black History week and in 1976, as part of the the USA’s Bicentennial, it was expanded and became Black History Month.

Each week during February, I will highlight a notable figure in Black History. This week we feature Harriet Tubman, a black American who escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the Civil War. She came to be known as the “Moses of her people” by leading hundreds to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad. Estimates of the number of black people who reached freedom in this way vary greatly, from 40,000 to 100,000.

In 1849, Tubman escaped from a plantation on the eastern shore of Maryland and made her way north. In 1850, she returned to Maryland to guide members of her family north to freedom. She was the Railroad’s most active “conductor,” making frequent trips into the South to bring out escaping slaves. Despite huge rewards offered for her capture, she helped more than 300 slaves to escape. She maintained military discipline among her followers, often forcing the weary or the fainthearted ahead by threatening them with a loaded revolver.

“Click here for one of the only photographs of Harriet Tubman.”:http://search.eb.com/blackhistory/art/otubman001p1.jpg

During the Civil War, Tubman served as a nurse, laundress, and spy with the Federal forces along the coast of South Carolina. After the war, she made her home in Auburn, New York, and, despite numerous honors, spent her last years in poverty. Not until 30 years after the war was she granted a government pension in recognition of her work for the Federal Army.

Harriet Tubman posthumously received many honors, including the naming of the Liberty ship Harriet Tubman, christened in 1944 by Eleanor Roosevelt. On June 14, 1914, a large bronze plaque was placed at the Cayuga County Courthouse, and a civic holiday declared in her honor. Freedom Park, a tribute to the memory of Harriet Tubman, opened in the summer of 1994 at 17 North Street in Auburn. In 1995, Harriet Tubman was honored by the federal government with a commemorative postage stamp bearing her name and likeness.

_Dear Friends,_

A cyclone the size of the US hit Australia and the winter “storm of the century” was a bit of a dud in Vermont as we received less than a foot of snow. Other places across the midwest and east received up to two feet and some ice and wind to boot. Our stores in Manchester, NH and S. Burlington, Vermont closed, as did most of the nearby retail stores. Here at headquarters we were open for business all day and making fun of those that didn’t remember 2007 when a Valentine’s day storm dumped a few feet of snow on Vermont and we stayed open.

I am happy to report a few new additions to the Small Dog family. First, our Waitsfield store manager, Emily Kenyon, who I know would be here today if she were not on maternity leave, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Olivia Grace. Emily will be out for a while but we’ve twisted Katie’s arm and she will be helping out here in Waitsfield.

I am also very pleased to announce that we have hired a new Director of Marketing, Jan Knutsen, who will be directing all of Small Dog Electronics’ marketing activities. Jan has already made an impact here and we welcome her and her dog, Buster, our biggest dog–a Chocolate Lab/Springer mix.

I have just downloaded and installed the new daily “newspaper” for the iPad, The Daily. It is free for the first two months and it is a daily news and feature application for the iPad from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. At just $0.14 an issue, it is priced right and is a ground-breaking news application. My first impressions are very positive for this new and compelling iPad feature!

This Thursday, the long-awaited Verizon iPhone 4 was made available for pre-order for existing Verizon Wireless customers. As the handsets will soon see public availability, embargoes on initial reviews were removed.

“*Macrumors*”:http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/02/early-verizon-iphone-reviews/ has compiled a series of early reviews, and though feedback seems generally positive, the phone does have a few weaknesses compared its AT&T counterpart. “*All Things Digital*”:http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20110202/verizon-apple-iphone4-review/ and “*Engadget*”:http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/02/verizon-iphone-review/ both reported that while the phone gets remarkably better reception and drops calls less frequently, data speeds are generally weaker. In fact, it was reported that AT&T’s network permitted download speeds up to 46% faster than Verizon in areas of good reception.

Though it’s been known since the phone’s announcement, nearly all reviewers commented on the phone’s lack of true multi-tasking. Due to a limitation of CDMA wireless technology, the Verizon iPhone 4 cannot make or receive a call and access data simultaneously. In their review, Macworld reported: “if you’re using the Internet and your phone rings, your Internet connection immediately drops.” The trade off mentioned in every review, is the phone’s improved reception.

Potentially due in part to a combination of the rumored reworking of the phone’s antenna and Verizon’s network, all reviewers commented that the device did not drop calls. “*TechCrunch’s*”:http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/02/verizon-iphone-review/ reviewer claimed to be able to place a call in an area of his building which had previously been impossible with AT&T.

The Verizon iPhone 4 has been subject to an increasingly large amount of hype building towards its public launch. However, as with any product, it has pros and cons. There are several trade offs to consider, especially if you’re switching from AT&T. While better reliability may seem enticing, early adopters will have to weigh it against slower data and the inability to multi-task while on a phone call.

Verizon has posted full plan pricing and details for the iPhone 4 “*here.*”:http://buyiphone.apple.com/ipa_preauth/content/catalog/verizon_US/

Grace got me tickets for the Celtics/Magic game on Sunday for my birthday so we will be heading down to Boston to watch the boys in green. I’ll have to make new paths for the pups again as the fresh snow has filled them. Fantail Shrimp likes the snow and will dive into the snow banks until her little face is all white from the snow. Hammerhead, on the other hand, is a bit like me–he could do just fine without that cold, wet stuff.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali, Ed & Ben_