SPECIAL | Free Shipping on Aroma Home Screen Wipes & Device Holders

Adobe recently became victims of a massive security breach on their website, affecting nearly 3 million users. They released a statement regarding what they are doing and what customers should do in turn. If you have an Adobe account or use any of Adobe’s products, please take note:

“Our investigation currently indicates that the attackers accessed Adobe customer IDs and encrypted passwords on our systems. We also believe the attackers removed from our systems certain information relating to 2.9 million Adobe customers, including customer names, encrypted credit or debit card numbers, expiration dates, and other information relating to customer orders. At this time, we do not believe the attackers removed decrypted credit or debit card numbers from our systems. We deeply regret that this incident occurred. We’re working diligently internally, as well as with external partners and law enforcement, to address the incident.”

They are currently in the process of resetting passwords and notifying customers to help limit the damage. Read their statement for more information.

Related: Adobe’s Breach Widens -Forbes

_Dear Friends,_

Grace and I got to see one of the best basketball games ever last weekend when the Celtics beat the Heat in Miami on a dramatic last-second 3-pointer. After noticing our Celtics jerseys, the bartender at the restaurant where we went after the game bought us a drink, too!

Things are really coming together at the Key West store, and I am glad I have had the chance to help get the store established here. I can tell it is getting colder back home when Will sends me pictures of my snow-covered back yard from time to time.

The iPad mini with Retina display is starting to ship, although we have not seen any inventory yet. We feel this will be a highly constrained product throughout the holidays, and our Product Management team is doing their best to get stock for all the stores. We are in a better position with regard to the iPad Air, which is in stock in many configurations at each of our stores.

One interesting thing we have discovered is that the White/Silver iPad Airs outsell the Space Gray model here in Key West by 3 to 1, but that is not true elsewhere. Nevertheless, the iPad Air has been a huge success; people are impressed by the speed, and love the smaller size that just seems to fit right in your hand. It is one of those products that sells itself. If you haven’t seen one yet, stop in at any of our stores to check it out!

This is a bit of a mini-soapbox but I’ll leave it in the opening. We were notified by the Mall in NH that the mall was going to be open at 8PM on Thanksgiving Day, and stay open until 10PM on Black Friday. I think this notion of pushing the shopping frenzy of Black Friday into Thanksgiving is ridiculous. While I will probably get in some trouble from the Mall, I refuse to open on Thanksgiving; my employees deserve to enjoy the day off with family just like anyone else.

We will, however, open a bit early on Friday and will have some great specials for our customers, even though they might have to wait 12 hours or so versus the other stores in the mall. We will be doing some really special things this year with Black Friday including an expansion of our Charitable Giving program that we will let you know more about soon!

The Bit.Trip series is a cult classic in the indie gaming scene. Mixing retro style graphics, with a chiptune soundtrack and a brutal difficulty, it was the perfect mixture to create something that was unique and fun to play.

The one game in the series that really stood out was “*Bit.Trip Runner*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bit.trip-runner/id426568319?mt=12&uo=4&at=11lb7k&ct=kibbles. In this game, you control the protagonist, Commander Video, by sliding, kicking, and jumping over and through any obstacles that blocked your path. The game was so popular that a sequel was made this year, and that’s what Bit.Trip Run! is based on.

In Bit.Trip Run!, you control Commander Video. You have the ability to jump, slide, kick, and dance. You’ll learn how each one of these moves work as you progress through the game. In each level, you’ll collect stacks of gold, along with “power ups” that act as score multipliers (and also enhance the soundtrack), while avoiding pitfalls, enemies, walls, etc. If you happen to mess up during the level, you’ll be sent back to the beginning and have to run through it again. However, a checkpoint system has now been put in place so once you get to a certain point within the level, you won’t have to play the whole level over again. This is a really nice addition, and makes it more beginner-friendly than the original game.

Challenge stages, “retro” stages, bonus characters, and unlockable costumes can all be purchased using the gold that you collect in game. At the moment, there are no in-app purchases via the iTunes Store; everything can be purchased just by playing the game. There’s a free update coming that will add 20 more levels, more retro and challenge stages, and more boss battles.

Bit.Trip Run! is a game that everyone should try, whether you’re a fan of the Bit.Trip series, or a newcomer who has never heard of it before. It’s everything one could ask for in an endless runner — it’s fun, the music is great, and it offers a challenge level that will keep players coming back for just one more try.

Over the years here, I have had more than my share of “quirks” with my various computers: font corruption, Mail issues, black magic-type things I can’t explain, etc. Even as I’ve upgraded my workstations, some of the oddities and flat-out problems continued. My theory is that much of it stems from the fact that my first MacBook Pro’s hard drive failed, and thus, corrupted some of the data in the process, so when I migrated my data from a backup each time, I was bringing the baggage with me.

This Mac Treat is not about the virtues of starting “clean” with each new computer, or even tips that you can use to keep your data fresh and problem-free when migrating — that’s for another time (but I’ll get to it…). I’ve discovered a tip that has come in very handy when moving my data, and the following is a good thing to keep in mind if you’re dealing with *file permissions.*

You can see what any file’s permissions are by clicking Command-I. In my case, I needed to change the permissions of an entire folder (i.e. all of the enclosed items).

Here’s how you change more than one at a time:

* Get Info on the file you need to change
* Click the ‘lock’ icon in the lower right section of the window (Note: You will need to be an admin or know the admin’s password to have access)
* Click on the Name of the user or group that needs different permissions
* Change the Privilege to what you want
* Click the Gear icon and select “Apply to enclosed items…”

I used this to give multiple users permission to use the fonts installed on my system — helpful because my font folder included over 200 subfolders that I’d have to change one-by-one otherwise!

Have you tried this before or have a question about another scenario where this would be useful? “*Email me!*”:mailto:kali@smalldog.com

*Note:* Back in “*Kibbles & Bytes issue #843*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb843/, I wrote about the many uses of the Option key, so take a look at that list if you’d like to see what other hidden gems the Option key unlocks!

Someone shared a link about this cool little card on Facebook a couple of days ago, and I was immediately intrigued. I am not one who has a million credit cards (…anymore, as a few years ago I decided I was done paying crazy interest rates and got rid of them all, leaving me with my trusty debit card), but, if I had seen this a few years ago, I totally would have wanted one.

“*Coin*”:https://onlycoin.com is a new company that wants to slim your wallet down. The Coin is about the same size as a regular credit card, yet can pack credit cards, debit cards, loyalty and gift cards into one. The Coin has a small black and white e-ink display (for the expiration date, last 4 numbers of the card, and a brief description), one button, a two-year battery, a magnetic stripe and uses Bluetooth connectivity to talk to your phone.

How do you get all your card information onto this one card? Duh, with an app of course! The geniuses of Coin created an app (which has not been released yet) as well as a compact dongle that plugs into your iOS or Android device. Using the dongle, you can swipe multiple cards and all the account details and information will be uploaded to coin app and then to the card itself. The Coin will hold up to eight cards at a time, but the mobile app can store an unlimited number of cards.

When it’s time to venture out into the world and spend some money, you simply use the one button that’s on the card to toggle between which card you’d like to charge. They’ve even designed the button on the coin so that it is not easy to trigger a “press” unintentionally, so that you don’t accidentally charge the wrong card.

You do not necessarily need a phone to use the Coin, but having one provides great security. Say you accidentally leave the card at the restaurant; as you begin to walk away, your phone will send you a push notification informing you that you forgot it. If you accidentally lose it or someone steals it, it will automatically deactivate itself after a period of time (that you set in the Coin mobile app).

It seems as if any concern about this card has been carefully thought about and solved by the creators of Coin. The “*FAQ*”:https://onlycoin.com/support/faq/ section of their website offers all sorts of great information concerning the card and how it works.

The company planned a pre-order campaign that would top out at $50,000, selling the cards at a discounted price of $50 (normally $100), and they blew past their goal in 40 minutes. They will be available in the summer of 2014, and needless to say, I think the Coin is going to be a success!

My time here at our southernmost store is getting shorter, and we will have some visitors over the next couple weeks. Hapy and Jessica will be here this weekend, Taylor arrives the next week and Kali will be here just before Thanksgiving.

Our plan is to head back north at the end of the month, right after the Black Friday madness, and spend some time in Vermont during the holiday season!

Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes.

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali & Stephanie_