_Happy 5th of July!_

It’s Kali writing for Don this week, as he recovers from yet another Prickly Mountain 4th of July get together, which no doubt was full of strawberries (in daiquiris, both virgin and non), croquet, lively company and the Warren parade festivities. I know that he was disappointed not to ride this year due to his electric bike being out of commission, but I expect he’ll have it raring to go next time.

I know it may feel a bit early to start talking “back to school” so we won’t __fully__ dive into that yet (you can have a few more weeks of summer without thinking about the ‘S’ word — you’re welcome), but we’re excited to announce that we are offering an awesome gift card deal. And it starts today!

*Buy any new Mac with AppleCare and you’ll receive a $100 Small Dog gift card from now until September 15.* This offer is valid online and in stores, and full details are below — plus, if you’re near one of our retail locations, there’s a $50 SDE gift card up for grabs when you purchase a new iPad or iPhone with AppleCare+. Summer lovin’.

Some of you savvy online shoppers may have noticed a few changes around our website in recent weeks. Well, those little code monkeys we employ at Small Dog have been hard at work creating some changes to give our website a fresh new feel to keep up with the ever-changing trends of web design.

If you haven’t already, check out our slight makeover of the “*Specials page*”:http://www.smalldog.com/specials after you’re done reading. It’s gotten the grid treatment that our product listing pages now offer (more on that below), which we like to call a carousel view. You can now scroll through our specials horizontally by hovering over the arrows, which is ideal for smaller screens — including mobile devices, obviously. More updates are coming to this page soon, too.

Additionally, we’ve rolled out what’s called “product lines” in our specials, which really just means that you can now choose your computer model options within an individual ‘wag.’ In other words, if you’re looking for a 15-inch MacBook Pro, you can just click on one of the 15-inch MBP specials and there will be a dropdown menu where you can customize the exact version you want. (As long as each option is applicable to the special advertised.) So, if you want to take advantage of the Mac to School special with a MacBook Pro, AppleCare and free $100 gift card, you can either choose what we have in stock or a CTO version within the same window. Since each page incorporates multiple models, the price will indicate a range.

You might recall that our product listing pages had a tendency to be long, even when broken up by pagination, so we gave them the grid treatment as well. The result is much more dynamic, both visually and in practicality. You’ll see larger photos with detail, which is ideal when comparing two computers that may look the same at a glance. Don’t worry — if you prefer the traditional list view, there are two buttons to the right which allow you to toggle between the two options.

Check it out: “*Smalldog.com/macs*”:http://www.smalldog.com/Macs

We really hope that you like these new changes — we’re continuing to develop under-the-hood, and we’ll keep you posted about what’s new. Feel free to let us know what you think and what you’d like to see at “*hello@smalldog.com.*”:mailto:hello@smalldog.com

Last week, I wrote and article about how to add an extension to your contacts. This article received a lot of attention, and I wanted to clarify a few things for our readers.

I had one reader set me straight with the facts about the pause and wait functionality. It is something that has been around for a while and isn’t new or exclusive to iOS (though it was new to me). The second thing most users wrote back about was the inability to add the extension to their contacts in OS X. I am sad to say that, at this time, it is impossible to do it on your Mac. This is a feature that’s exclusive to the Contact app on iOS devices and doesn’t work in the Contact app on your Mac.

If you missed last week’s Mac Treat you can read the entire issue “*here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb834/ Thanks to everyone who wrote back and keep reading!

This year, we want to give you no doubt about why you’d get that Mac you need to go back to school, or the iPad or iPhone you’ve been waiting to buy from Small Dog.

Starting today, *buy any new Mac and AppleCare, and get a $100 Small Dog gift card.* It’s valid online and in-store until September 15. Additionally, if you buy a new iPad or iPhone with AppleCare+, you’ll get a free $50 gift card! All new iPads and iPhones are included, and sales of these are exclusively in our retail stores.

We have a full selection of Macs in stock — any new Mac or previous generation Mac that is eligible for AppleCare is eligible for this deal.

“*Find a store here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/retail

Shopping online? Click a category below:

* “*View MacBook Air 11-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000829/mac-2-school-11in-macbook-air-bundle
* “*View MacBook Air 13-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000830/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-air-bundle
* “*View MacBook Pro 13-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000831/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-bundle
* “*View MacBook Pro 13-inch __with Retina Display__ bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000832/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-w-retina-bundle
* “*View MacBook Pro 15-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000833/mac-2-school-15in-macbook-pro-bundle
* “*View MacBook Pro 15-inch __with Retina Display__ bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000832/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-w-retina-bundle
* “*View MacBook Pro 17-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000835/mac-2-school-17in-macbook-pro-bundle
* “*View Mac mini bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000827/mac-2-school-mac-mini-bundle
* “*View iMac 21.5-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000825/mac-2-school-21-5in-imac-bundle
* “*View iMac 27-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000826/mac-2-school-27in-imac-bundle
* “*View Mac Pro bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000828/mac-2-school-mac-pro-bundle

Better still, this deal is open to everyone — from students on paper to students of life (which begs one of my favorite quotes, “I am still learning” – Michelangelo). Now, you have no excuse!

__From the Archives: Originally featured in__ “*Kibbles & Bytes #730.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb730/

Long time Kibbles & Bytes readers will know that I have been writing editorials in the newsletter for some time. Many times when I write a soapbox, I will provoke some thoughtful discussion on our blog, Barkings!. There will usually be a few customers who advise me not to “mix business and politics” in case I hadn’t thought about the implications of expressing myself in my newsletter. Some have even gotten angry that I share my views.

That was the case this last week and I want to thank everyone who shared their views … furthermore, I thought it would be good to give you some perspective on the “why” of the soapboxes. I look at our electronic newsletter as a periodical that we send to our subscribers, and while our main interest is everything Apple and how you can use the amazing products coming from Cupertino, I also view it as a newspaper that might have advertisements, pictures and of course, editorials. My soapbox is the equivalent of the editorial page of a newspaper.

But even more importantly, I believe that our commitment to social responsibility in business practices requires us to speak out on issues that face us today, especially those that impact business, our employees and our customers. I have long been an advocate for non-violence and for issues such as human rights, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, health care reform, dog welfare and environmental protection. I speak out on these issues, I testify in the legislature and I feel that it is totally appropriate to let you, my customers, know how I feel. It is really a part of our marketing plan — to make Small Dog Electronics personal and personable.

Sure, I could avoid upsetting any customers and be pure pablum but that is not who Small Dog Electronics is — we are an active and contributing member of our community and I want you to know how we think. Before you decide you will never buy from us again because I tell you how we feel, you should consider where other companies put their money and what their commitment to their communities is. Providing the soapbox is a forum for civil discussion of issues that impact us all and will help you understand how Small Dog Electronics measures its success by our commitment to people, planet and profit.

I encourage you to join the discussion at our blog and assure you we never intend to insult, only to provoke careful consideration. The soapbox is part of Kibbles & Bytes and will be for some time to come.

Interested to read old issues? “*Check out the HTML archives here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/ and go even further back (to the beginning!) “*here with our plain text archives.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/kibbles/

Small Dog is excited to announce that we are offering three upcoming training sessions for businesses and IT professionals.

* *iOS (iPad/iPhone) For Business,* Tuesday, July 30, 9am-12pm
* *iOS (iPad/iPhone) Technical Training For IT Professionals,* Tuesday, July 30, 1pm-5pm
* *Mac OS X Technical Training For IT Professionals,* Tuesday, August 6, 9am-5pm

Why register? If your business is new to Mac or iOS, or if you’d like to maximize how ‘going mobile’ can improve your productivity, these business-centric trainings are ideal. You’ll learn how to seamlessly integrate Macs, iPads and iPhones into your business.

All classes are held at KnowledgeWave, 30 Community Dr. #5 South Burlington, VT 05403.

“*To learn more, and to register, click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/training/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=KB-kw

__*Note: Participants are encouraged to bring their own iPads and iPhones.__