_Dear Friends,_

We are used to having a lot of snow up here in the north country, but this year we have just not had enough to even cover the ground. This is one of the most snow-less winters that I have seen. I just hope that it doesn’t all come at once in the spring. I am heading off for a break in a warm, sunny place so it would be a great time for winter to appear back here in the Green Mountains.

An interesting thing that was revealed in the Apple financial results from a couple weeks ago was the continued rapid growth of the Mac market. While we see a lot of press and advertising coverage on the iPhone and iPad, the days of “I am a Mac, I am a PC” ads seems to be over. Nevertheless, Apple’s market share and unit sales growth is both consistent and spectacular. In fact, Apple is the only computer manufacturer that is growing market share. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and the appearance of the “Ultra” notebooks from PC manufacturers is again a testament to just how far Apple is in the vanguard.

We have some fantastic deals right now on the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air. These are brand new Macs with Apple’s one-year warranty; however, they are the discontinued models from last year. You can save hundreds and still have the lightest, thinnest and most fun laptop on the market.

What could possibly prompt the FBI to run a background check on Steve Jobs? Perhaps any number of things in the notoriously “think different” icon’s past (“*lack of license plate notwithstanding*”:http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/239563/20111028/steve-jobs-drove-license-plate-got-arrested.htm), but specifically, it was his potential appointment to the first President Bush’s President’s Export Council.

Jobs ended up being appointed to the council, which advises on international trade, in 1991. The FBI has just made his background check available recently, and it’s interesting to get a further glimpse into the life of the late Mr. Jobs.

“*Check out the article in full, with excerpts from the FBI file and video here.*”:http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/02/09/what-the-fbi-had-on-steve-jobs/

__via__ “__MacDailyNews__”:http://macdailynews.com/2012/02/09/steve-jobs-fbi-file-released/

Get your sweetie a sweet case for the 15” MacBook Pro. With a fiery-colored interior and rich reddish-purple exterior, the Incase Nylon Sling…

Fresh off of the arguably most masculine day of the year (Super Bowl), we have Valentine’s Day to maintain balance in the world. If you’re hoping to celebrate next Tuesday with the one you love, check out these three apps to get prepared.

1. “*Candy Valentine Hearts,*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fcandy-valentine-hearts%2Fid295778759%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 $.99
What’s Valentine’s Day without some tiny candy hearts with hilariously bad/cutesy sayings? Relive the nostalgia, but digitize them instead–fewer cavities.

2. “*Red Stamp,*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fred-stamp%2Fid414561551%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 free
Email, text or mail personalized cards and notes to your one and only!

3. “*Valentine’s Day Recipes*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fvalentines-day-recipes%2Fid349094513%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30
Nothing beats a homemade meal…

Check out more apps “*here,*”:http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/10_apps_extra_special_valentines_day and for fun, revisit our “*Valentine’s Day iMix compilation on iTunes!*”:http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=305467955

There’s a lot of news out there, and try as we might, there are stories and articles that we don’t get around to covering. We’re pretty discerning about the news we choose to post, though, and pride ourselves on unique content and stories that we know will be of interest to our readers.

So, after last week’s debut, we’ve decided to include a new feature “*on our blog*”:http://blog.smalldog.com and in Kibbles & Bytes: a recap of all of the Apple and tech news found ’round the web. This week, however, we’ll feature some feedback and will get back to the pressing news in next week’s issue (after all, we’ve got Valentine’s Day and looooove on the brain).

Reader Steve A. wrote to us regarding the two Apple updates featured in the article, mentioning that there were major issues for some users that we should have addressed. He writes,

bq. “You mention two updates coming from Apple: AirPort Utility 6.0 and Mac OS 10.7.3. The one you don’t mention is the one that’s causing all sorts of folks big problems, including me. That one is the Security Update 2012-001 for Mac OS 10.6.8, which is actually part of the Lion update. This separate Snow Leopard update is causing Rosetta apps to crash upon opening, saving, or printing files. I have confirmed this myself on a Mac mini I have yet to upgrade to Lion, simply because the users of that machine still run PowerPC-era applications to get their work done. Having applied the update before the warnings started emerging, I must now admit that I jumped the gun on this one for none of the users of that machine can get their work done.”

He makes a great point! Hopefully, many of you didn’t experience the same, but if you’d like to read more about said issues, check out Tuesday’s edition of “*Tech Tails,*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt805 where Glenn goes further in-depth.

Fresh off of the arguably most masculine day of the year (Super Bowl), we have Valentine’s Day to maintain balance in the world….