We’re happy to announce that next month, we’ll again be hosting *two FREE eWaste Recycling Events!* We will be having one in Manchester, NH at the Mall of New Hampshire, and the other in a completely new location: Rutland, VT.

What is ewaste? As you may know, we use a lot of electronics in our daily lives, and unfortunately, many of them contain hazardous materials such as mercury or lead. In the last few years, Apple has manufactured devices and machines free of toxic materials, but chances are, you may have older “electronic waste” around the house that you need to get rid of responsibly. Well, here’s your chance!

*The Details:*

* Saturday, June 16, 2012
* Manchester, NH at the Mall of New Hampshire (Food Court parking lot)
* 9am – 3pm

* Saturday, June 30, 2012
* Rutland, VT at Rutland High School
* 9am – 3pm

“*Click here to read more about our annual eWaste Recycling Events.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste
“*Click here for more information about our June 2012 events.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste2012
“*Read more about Apple’s commitment to the environment here.*”:http://www.apple.com/environment/

Here are more resources to help those of you who specifically have MobileMe-related iCloud questions. I’ll be sharing my MobileMe to iCloud transition next week.

The system requirements to go to iCloud are as follows:

*Macs*

* OS X Lion 10.7.2 or later
* iTunes 10.5 or later
* iPhoto ’11 (version 9.2 or later) or Aperture 3.2 or later (for Photo Stream)*

__*recommended__

*iPhone, iPad, iPod touch*

* iOS 5 or later

Many of you have asked about your .mac/.me emails and whether or not they will still exist if you do not make the transition to iCloud. The answer here is no, unfortunately.

Apple’s explanation of the move is as follows: “The core services provided by MobileMe have been completely rewritten and are now part of iCloud. MobileMe will no longer be available after June 30th, 2012. To continue to have mail, contacts, and calendars kept up to date automatically and free of charge, and to enjoy the new services that iCloud provides, MobileMe members must move their accounts to iCloud before June 30th, 2012.”

“*Check out the specific FAQ section for MobileMe subscribers here.*”:http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html

Small Dog Electronics is hosting a local event as part of the global hackathon, Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK). It is being held at UVM, thanks to the generosity of the UVM Summer University. This is a great event that brings those with technical skills together with those who might need help.

Picture a classroom of geek-y types (you know who you are!) all putting their brains and coding power together to solve problems!

Small Dog is looking for anyone who might want to help with the cause, even if you’re not a “up-all-night-strung-out-on-mountain-dew” software developer! We need volunteers of all kinds, especially if you just want to help come up with ideas. We also need organizations with problems.

We’re also on the hunt for problem submissions for hackers to solve! Non-profits, NGOs and individuals are encouraged to post their problem directly to the “*RHoK website.*”:http://www.rhok.org/problems Any solutions created will be open-source and free to the public.

Know all about RHoK and ready to sign up? “*Do it here.*”:http://www.rhok.org/event/burlington-vt-usa Need more info? Read on below.

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Join us for Small Dog Electronics’s very first Burlington, VT Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK) event. This event is part of RHoK Global, which hosts simultaneous hackathons all around the world on June 2nd-3rd. Meet like-minded programmers, create new and exciting apps, and win prizes and hack for humanity!

RHoK’s mission is to make the world a better place through a global community of innovation developing practical open technology. In this two-day event you’ll have the opportunity to help find solutions to submitted “*problems*”:http://www.rhok.org/problems from all over the world. Work with local subject matter experts on problem submissions from within our community, or choose from hundreds of global problems. This is a phenomenal opportunity to find technological solutions to solve local and global issues.

*Quick FAQs:*
*When:* June 2nd-3rd
*Where:* UVM – courtesy of UVM Summer University
*Cost:* FREE! We’ll even feed you!

Who’s invited? Whether you program a little or a lot you’re welcome to attend. This can be a great chance to stretch your skills and learn new ones. Community members who feel they can contribute, even if they don’t code, are also welcome.

How does it work? On Saturday morning, after an introduction to some of the local problems, you’ll break up into groups, choose a problem and work together to find a solution. Solutions need to be kept open source and you have the option to continue working on them after the hackathon. Sunday afternoon you’ll have a chance to present your solution to the group and a few lucky groups will go home with some pretty sweet prizes.

Need Housing? Hotel deals TBD. Want an even cheaper solution? Try “*CouchSurfing.*”:http://www.couchsurfing.org/

Sign me up! For more information and to register check out our event page at “*RHoK*”:http://www.rhok.org/event/burlington-vt-usa

Any Questions? Contact Rebecca Kraemer, Director of IT for Small Dog Electronics, at 802.496.7171 x643 or “*rhok@smalldog.com.*”:mailto:rhok@smalldog.com

I really like Pages, and even though I have Word and InDesign installed on my Mac, Pages is the first application that I turn to when I have to create something from a blank page. I find it less cumbersome than Word for word processing and much faster than InDesign for page layout. I thought that it would be fun to do an article about creating a letterhead template that can be used over and over.

I’m going to create a document that Tony Amenta, our new sales manager for Hammerhead and Chill Pill Audio, can use when he’s writing documents. First I’ll use the two logos that are already created. I’ll add all the things that Tony will reuse each time he sends a note–name, title, address, etc. I’ll put each element in a text box so that it can be easily modified in the future. I’ll place these where I want them on the page by dragging them around.

I want one of the logos to be more like a watermark, so I’ll change the opacity of that image to be about 40%. This is done in Graphic Inspector when the image that you want to modify is selected. I’ll also make a text box for the body of the letter and put some __lorem ipsum__ text in it for Tony to modify later. I use this website to get the text: “*Lipsum.com.*”:http://www.lipsum.com/

Once I get the document the way that I want, I’ll choose “Save as Template…” under the File menu. You can save it anywhere, but it might be easiest to save to your “My Templates” folders so that it’s easy to find. To use your new template, choose it from the gallery under My Templates.

That’s it! You’ve made a template. Letterhead jumps to mind as one of the most commonly used templates, but anything that you find yourself writing over and over, just create a template!

“*iWrap.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/78089/ for iPod touch (4G) features:

* Full body protection covers front, back, sides, and corners
* Invisible, scratch-proof film
* Precision cut for 4th gen. iPod touch
* Ultra-durable film is extremely clear and strong enough to protect from scratches and minor falls
* Lifetime guarantee from iWrap

Use coupon code *kbwrap* in the cart once you’ve added the “*iPod touch (4G) of your choice.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/iPod/iPod_touch/

Remember to thank a mother this weekend, whether she’s yours, your child’s or just a special mom you know. Seriously, now that I know even a year+ of what that’s like, she deserves it. Trust me.

Thanks for reading!
_Kali, Dawn and Mike B._