The way it should look…

ByMike Moffit

I’ve worked here for over 5 years and the iPhone 5 was my first iPhone (I know). When I got my iPhone 5 the first two things I wanted was AppleCare+, I’ve broken the glass on my iPad 2 three times now, and a dock. I drove all the way to the Apple store in Nashua NH, at the time we were unable to sell AppleCare+, to register my phone with AppleCare. I asked the associate for AppleCare and to point me in the direction of the new iPhone 5 docks. “There isn’t an iPhone 5 dock.” WHAT, I was shocked.

I know it’s not a ground breaking accessory, but it’s Apple, it just didn’t look right in the multiple third party ones I tried. Finally the iPhone 5S brought along the new lightning dock! As expected it looks amazing, clean, slim and of course white, contrasting nicely with my black (not Space Gray) iPhone 5.

It also has one feature that I’ve always liked: line-out. This allows you to plug in a stereo or desktop speaker system into the back of the dock. The key feature is that it disables the volume control of the device, meaning the speaker system volume is the only control, producing a cleaner sound over the stereo. Get yours now at smalldog.com

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    Shut up!

    What is more annoying than following a link to a web site and suddenly being bombarded with some automatically started video blasting audio? If you are like me, you may have several tabs open in Safari and finding that annoying one has been a pain. Well with El Capitan it is simple. When one of those tabs has audio, the tab shows the audio button and you can click on it to mute the audio. The address bar also has an audio icon where you can mute all or select which audio stream to mute or listen to.

    Notable

    The Notes app is so improved that I am actually using it more extensively now. Most importantly, a note I create on my iPhone is available on my Mac or iPad. Not only that but the things I can put into my notes are actually useful. I can add a photo, a URL, a map location or even a video to a note and it is on all my devices. Checklists, websites, ideas for the next Kibbles & Bytes and directions can all be saved. As I am planning my trip out west and find interesting places to go or places to spend the night, I can add them to my “Sturgis” note and easily use Maps to guide me to them. I think you are going to love the new Notes app.

    Spotlight

    Spotlight is just better. Who needs Google when you have Spotlight? Whether you are searching for a file on your drive, baseball statistics, transit information, weather, stocks or just some obscure trivia to settle a bet Spotlight is there for you and now you can ask that question in you own words. Like, “find that Note I wrote about Sturgis” and boom, there it is. Here’s a list of all the places you can search with Spotlight in El Capitan. You can turn these on and off as needed:

    Applications
    Bing Web Searches
    Bookmarks and History
    Calculator
    Contacts
    Conversion
    Definition
    Developer
    Documents
    Events & Reminders
    Folders
    Fonts
    Images
    Mail & Messages
    Movies
    Music
    Other
    PDF Documents
    Presentations
    Spotlight Suggestions
    Spreadsheets
    System Preferences

    Shake that Thing

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    ! Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures*. When you select *Create Signature* you have a choice of trackpad or camera. While signing on your trackpad is okay, I prefer the camera method. Here you take a white piece of paper and sign it. Then click on *Camera* as the means of capturing your signature and hold up that piece of paper to the camera on your Mac. Once you align the signature on the blue line you can hit *Done* and your signature is stored. If you don’t like the first try, click *Clear* and do over.

    To add your signature to a PDF document click on the *Sign* button !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4295.png! or use the path *Tools > Annotate > Signature* to select the signature. Once it has been placed on the document you can drag it to where you want it, then use the handles to adjust its size. Save the document and you can include it in an email with your signature. Remember that the *Save As* command is sort of hidden now but to get to it simply hold down the *Option key* when you select *File.*