APP REVIEW: Packing Pro

You can’t ignore it much longer…back-to-school time is fast approaching. In order to get a jump on what you need, take a look at what we’ve put together–from the lightweight Mac you can carry to each class to the Office software you’ll become besties with pulling an all-nighter while writing a paper, you’ll find it in one place at a low price.

It’s no secret that tech gear is a large part of back-to-school shopping, so we aim to make it as easy and affordable as we can! Check out all the Mac to School specials here:

“*Smalldog.com/mactoschool*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mactoschool

We recently discovered that a post back in the day (in 2007, to be exact) was highly popular among our blog readers. Turns out, many of you wanted to know how to type the Apple logo!

To do this, hold down Option-Shift-K at the same time. Note that this only works on Macs, and it doesn’t look exactly right in plain text. Try it in a rich text document, such as a Pages or Word doc or email in Apple Mail.

_Dear Friends,_

It’s definitely the dog days of summer as most of the country is gripped by a heat wave and some serious drought conditions are harming crops in many areas of the country. Here in the north, we have had some hot and humid days but nothing like most of the country. Our nights are cool, and today it is quite pleasant with low humidity, a lot of sun and perfect motorcycling or beach weather. My blueberries are coming in and we are trying to beat the birds to the fruit. Grace made the first blueberry pie of the season last night–food you grow yourself always seems to taste better!

I am very pleased to announce that Jason Wu has joined the Small Dog Electronics team. Jason has a lifetime of experience in the Apple market and has been my friend for a couple of decades. Jason will be responsible for our wholesale division and will be working to expand our Hammerhead and Chill Pill Audio brands. I have traveled to China a number of times with Jason and his vision and financial expertise will help to make that division a success. In addition, Jason serves on our board and will be advising Hapy and me on leading Small Dog Electronics.

Did you know that Small Dog Electronics publishes three other email newsletters? In addition to Kibbles & Bytes, we send Tech Tails and Deal Retriever out each week and Best in Showroom each month. You can subscribe to any of our newsletters “*here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/newsletters If you haven’t checked out our blog that might be interesting to you as well. Our website was basically a blog way back before there were blogs. I used to get up very early each morning and write something for “Barkings!” that would be the feature on the website. It’s still called Barkings! and can be “*found here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/ or accessed from our “*homepage.*”:http://www.smalldog.com Be sure to check us out on “*Facebook*”:http://www.facebook.com/smalldogelectronics and “*Twitter,*”:http://twitter.com/hellosmalldog too!

Dawn and I used to write two other newsletters each week. One was called “Do your Business” and was aimed at our business customers. Who knows–we may have to resurrect that one someday. The other was published during the heyday of the Mac clones when we could sell to educational institutions and it was called “Ed’s Up!”. If any of you remember those, feel free to share your memories of them with me at “*don@smalldog.com!*”:mailto:don@smalldog.com

The release of OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, is tentatively set for July 25 (next Wednesday). If you’re “*champing at the bit*”:http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/champ+at+the+bit to upgrade as many of us are, the good news is that we don’t have long to wait. If you’re still unsure about whether to make the move to Mountain Lion or not, check out some of the most exciting features and requirements here.

*Reminders*
The lightweight list-based app in iOS is coming to your desktop. Though it’s not as all-inclusive or sophisticated as say, “*Things*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/things-for-ipad/id364365411?mt=8%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30 or “*OmniFocus,*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/omnifocus-for-ipad/id383804552?mt=8%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30 it can be a great basic app for your lists and to-dos.

bq. “__Make as many lists as you need and easily add to them. Set due dates and you’ll get alerts as deadlines approach. Set a location from your Mac, and your iPhone or iPad will remind you when you get there. Check items off your lists as you go and keep track of what you’ve completed. iCloud keeps your reminders up to date on your Mac, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, so you don’t forget anything.__”

*Notes*
Another included iOS app, Notes is designed to work with Mail and Messages (below) seamlessly.

bq. “__Add, delete, and flip through your notes or do a quick search. Use the Share button to send your notes with Mail or Messages. Pin important notes to your desktop so they’re easy to get to. And take them with you everywhere. Notes works with iCloud, so when you create or edit a note on your Mac, it automatically updates on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. And vice versa.__”

*Messages*
iMessaging is coming to the Mac, basically combining texting and iChat in one easy-to-use application.

bq. “__Send messages to anyone on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5, too. Messages appear on your Mac and any device you use, which means you can say hi from your Mac and keep chatting on your iPhone or iPad, no matter where you are. Send photos, videos, documents, and contacts–even send messages to a group. You’ll see when your message has been delivered and when someone’s typing a reply. Turn on read receipts, and they’ll see when you’ve read a message. With end-to-end encryption, your messages stay safe and private.__”

*Notification Center*
Perhaps the most highly anticipated new feature being ported over from iOS, Notification Center clearly lays out what’s happening on your Mac–whether it’s an email, a message, a software update, a calendar alert or something else.

bq. “__Notifications always appear in the same spot on your desktop and disappear quickly so they don’t clutter up your screen. Whenever you want to see all your notifications in one place, just swipe to the left from the right edge of the trackpad. And there they are, in a simple, ordered list. So you’ll always know what’s up as soon as it comes up.__”

*Safari*
Apple’s web browser is getting a boost, and it will be a welcome one, especially in the wake of Google’s super fast Chrome update.

bq. “__New features in Safari make browsing the web smarter and faster. Now there’s one simple search field for both search terms and web addresses. Tab View shows your open tabs. Just pinch to see them all and swipe to switch between them. When you open web pages on your iPhone or iPad, iCloud Tabs makes them available on your Mac, too, so you can pick up browsing wherever you left off. And now that Safari saves entire web pages in your Reading List–not just the links–you can catch up on your reading even without an Internet connection.__”

In addition, there are seven new features related to *Auto-Save,* five new features for *Built-In Sharing,* eight *Dictation*-based features, five new *Finder* features, seven new *iCloud* features, and over 150 more. “*See all of them here.*”:http://www.apple.com/osx/whats-new/features.html

Whether you’re headed to high school, college, grad school or are a student of (and for) life, we have some great bundle opportunities for you to take advantage of.

Currently, we have stock of end-of-life machines, also known as “EOL” or “closeouts.” What this really means is that what was brand new one day has just been replaced by the current model Mac. All of our closeouts are new-in-box unless otherwise specified. (Note: further deals can be found on Demo models!)

We also have some savings we can offer on G-Tech hard drives. (And you don’t even want us to get into how important it is for students to back up the work they’re doing…) Plus, you’ll save on some iPad accessories by Hammerhead and a fantastic HP laser printer that’s perfect for printing out all of those term papers and includes AirPrint, too!

The weather looks perfect for the weekend and we have our first Small Dog company picnic and beach party at Plymouth State Park. It will be good to get together with our team in a relaxing non-work environment!

Thank you for reading Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali, Dawn and Mike_