_Dear Friends,_

It is blueberry season here in Vermont and my breakfast these days consists of a big bowl of fresh-picked berries and some “*Nutty Steph’s*”:http://www.nuttystephs.com granola. We have had some unusually cold nights with temps down into the 40s, but the garden and the weeds are growing well.

I will be participating in the “Road Pitch” with a bunch of entrepreneurs and and business leaders. This four-day event puts these business people (who also happen to be motorcyclists) on the road in Vermont to listen to business pitches from teams of entrepreneurs seeking advice and capital. I look forward to riding with this amazing group and listening to young start-ups creating jobs and businesses here in the Green Mountains. You can learn more “*here.*”:http://freshtracksontheroad.weebly.com

Apple announced new MacBook Pros this week with faster processors and more RAM. Kali and Stephanie will go into the details, but with our Dog Days of Summer back-to-school specials, this is a great time to buy that new Mac! And today through Sunday, our readers in Florida can save even more with the “*Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday,*”:http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/tips/pdf/tip14a01-04.pdf where the first $750 of your purchase will be tax-free! Any qualifying order placed between 8/1-8/3 on “*Smalldog.com*”:http://www.smalldog.com and shipped to a Florida address is applicable, and if you’re near our Key West location, stop by to take advantage of these savings in the store.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive takes our amazing Back to Class offer a step further on the 27-inch iMac featuring a 3.2 GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Our Dog Days of Summer special gives you some great add-ons when you purchase AppleCare with your beautiful new 27-inch iMac: You get a $100 Small Dog gift card, a pair of white Chill Pill speakers and the 4th year of labor coverage on this iMac (not including parts). In addition, you get $45 total off the Canon Pixma MX472 wireless photo all-in-one printer with AirPrint.

That is an awesome deal in and of itself for only $2,224.97, but you’re a Kibbles & Bytes reader and I really appreciate that…plus, I want you to always have a backup of your data, so if you buy this bundle including the printer, you will receive a free Seagate Backup Plus Slim Portable 1TB drive — a $86.99 value!

If you are thinking of getting an iMac, “*this might be the ultimate bundle for you!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001558

??Start Soapbox??

Each night after dinner, my wife and I watch the national news. It has been so depressing lately that, even though I want to be informed, I can hardly stand watching. The constant news of war and people killing each other in the name of religion, territory or riches is simply senseless.

You know that I have often predicted in my “*annual prognostications*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb861/ that this would be the year of confirmed alien contact. But let me tell you, if I was an intelligent alien, I would stay way, way away from this planet. War is barbaric, uncivilized and the case can be made that wars do not solve any problems.

I certainly see that in recent wars. We sent our sons and daughters to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan and I would challenge anyone to give me a list of problems that they have solved. In both cases, the situation is worse, not better, and thousands and thousands have died and suffered.

The Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting my entire life, and while I unequivocally support the right of Israel to exist in safe and secure borders without rockets raining down on them, I cannot justify the indiscriminate violence against Palestinian civilians which is causing such dramatic suffering. Of course, I do not have a solution to the stand-off, but it saddens me and alarms me that each side so easily slides into war as the answer.

Syria, Ukraine, Somalia, Nigeria, Central America, Central African Republic and literally dozens of other smaller wars are causing such widespread suffering, displacement and death that I just start thinking about Albert Einstein’s famous quotation, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Until we eliminate war as a means of “solving” problems, the most important challenges facing humanity — poverty, hunger, climate change, health care, education — cannot and will not be addressed, and we will slip deeper into the haves and have-nots. The strong, the weak and ultimately, innocent people will continue to be the victims.

War is simply a failure. A failure of humanity to think clearly. Before our country went to war in Iraq, we put out a big sign in front of our headquarters that had the simple message “NO WAR.” I think it is time for us to put up another that says “END WAR.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, a notable military man, President, and General, has perhaps summed it up best:

bq. ??”Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”??

??End Soapbox??

(Legally) Save taxes on your next Mac or iPad purchase! From August 1-3, you won’t have to pay them on any purchase up to $750 at Small Dog Electronics on Truman Ave. Combine that with our sweet “*Dog Days of Summer back-to-class promotions,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/dogdays and you’ll save big — we’re already bundling Macs with up to $250 in savings and iPad bundles with up to $100 savings.

We’re open Friday, August 1st and Saturday, August 2nd at our “*Truman Ave location in Key West*”:http://www.smalldog.com/keywest and you can take advantage of this Tax Holiday online at “*Smalldog.com*”:http://www.smalldog.com with any qualifying purchase shipped to a Florida address.

“*See the State of Florida’s Tax Holiday rules*”:http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/tips/pdf/tip14a01-04.pdf for more details.

On Tuesday Apple announced an update to their MacBook Pro with Retina display line. These updates include faster processors, double the memory in both the 13-inch and 15-inch entry-level models, and a lower price for the top-of-the-line 15-inch model.

The updates look like this:

* 13-inch MacBook Pro w/Retina display: Bumped up to 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz and 8GB of memory, up from 4GB in the entry-level notebook
* 15-inch MacBook Pro w/Retina display: This top-of-the-line model has a new, lower starting price of $2,499
* 15-inch MacBook Pro w/Retina display: Entry-level model bumped up to 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, 16GB of memory, up from 8GB

“*You can read the full press release from Apple here.*”:http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2014/07/29Apple-Updates-MacBook-Pro-with-Retina-Display.html

These should be landing in our warehouse any day now (preorders have started to be filled), but until then, head to our site to “*shop for yours today!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/Macs/MacBook_Pro

First of all, thank you so much for all of the feedback on my recent Mac Treat, “*Wave That Flag (In Mail)*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb889/ I haven’t yet been able to reply to every email yet (as I like to do), so I thought I’d address some of the common questions here.

Q. *Is the name-changing option only available on iPhone and not the Mac?*
A. Actually, it’s the other way around — the Mac OS is the only place I’ve found that I __can__ rename the flags. On iOS, only one color flagging is offered anyway (not the array of colors), so it wouldn’t even really be helpful, considering that this tip helps one differentiate between your flag colors! If you’re having trouble making it work, make sure when you’re in Mail that you’re clicking on the flag color list on the *lefthand side of the main Mail window, and not the toolbar at the top.* (See image)

Q. *How do you right-click on the flag to change it?*
A. See above for the first part of the answer — make sure you’re clicking in the right place to begin with. And as for right-clicking, you can either hit the right side of your mouse* or select Ctrl-click to see the right-click menu options. I have also found that you don’t need to necessarily right-click on the flags at all to be prompted to change the name. Just like renaming files and folders in Finder, you can click once to select the one you want to change, and then click a second time to prompt the text box to become editable. (Note that deliberately clicking two times on the source isn’t the same as a fast “double-click.” A double-click won’t do anything.)

Q. *How can you get the colors on your iPhone or iPad?*
A. Again, unfortunately, this isn’t an option in the current version of iOS. I hope that it’s something Apple adds to the next one, though, because that would make the Mail app infinitely more useful for me while on-the-go!

Q. *Is there a way to change the envelope color in the Mailbox column?*
A. I’m not currently aware of a way to do this, but there could be a hack or plugin out there that does it. If you know of one, let us know at “*hello@smalldog.com!*”:mailto:hello@smalldog.com

Q. *How do you change the flag/color of incoming messages?*
A. This has more to do with using Rules in Mail, so I’d experiment with the options there — if you want the colors to change once a message is read, that may be trickier (or impossible?), but again, using Rules could be the answer. As I referenced in my article, I have a rule set up for incoming invoices that not only adds the green flag but also gives the message a light green background to help it stand out. Those indicators don’t go away once read, but I track my actions (i.e. whether or not I’ve replied to approve it) by making sure the messages have the Reply arrow next to it.

I hope this clears some of the questions up, but if not, feel free to let me know! (And for those of you who I haven’t replied to yet, look for a response from me shortly.)

Thanks for reading!