ByDon

Dear Friends,

I saw a gaggle of Canada geese in the field by the warehouse as I drove in this morning. It is a bit early for their annual trek south but they are gathering. The big apple tree outside my window here at the office has some apples on it and some have fallen to the parking lot so apple picking season is rapidly approaching. Apple picking season is also coming to the tech world as Apple has confirmed their special event on Tuesday September 9th where we are likely to see some of the great new products, especially the iPhone.

I am getting literally dozens of offers each day from suppliers overseas for cases for these unannounced products. I even got an offer to supply replacement parts for these new iPhones. Once the announcements are made we will be making some cases under our Hammerhead brand. It is clear that the new iPhone will be bigger physically and better certainly. While many people want a bigger iPhone, I don’t think I am one of them. I like the current size and actually might even like something smaller but that might be were Apple is going with wearables. Nevertheless, we will all be watching the Apple event on Tuesday.

One of the most persistent rumors is that Apple has made agreements with American Express, Visa, and MasterCard to launch a mobile payment system. While this may require some new hardware in retailers, my guess is that will come quickly, too. I have gotten very used to using my iPhone at Starbucks and I think the day where I will not need my wallet anymore is coming faster than I thought.

I downloaded a really handy app for my iPhone when I noticed it was on sale at the App Store: PDF Scanner is a neat app that uses the iPhone’s camera as a scanner and converts the photo to a PDF document. It can scan multiple pages, save them, and share via Dropbox, email, print, or store in folders you create. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to get rid of the flatbed scanner on my desk.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes special is the Audioengine A2 Speaker system with the DS1 Stand for $199.99! This is a great speaker system for your office or dorm and has a 3-year warranty. I use Audioengine in my shop and love the big sound. That is $80 off the regular price!

See this fantastic and exclusive deal here!

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  • I am riding to Maine this week to put a small dent in the lobster population and hang out by the ocean for a couple days. It looks like good motorcycling weather. Speaking of motorcycles, the KillaJoule electric motorcycle “*set the land speed record for electric motorcycles at over 241 mph.*”:http://gm-volt.com/2014/09/02/several-records-set-for-electric-sidecar-building-eva-hakansson/ It also was the fastest time ever for a motorcycle with a sidecar (regardless of fuel). It was also the fastest time ever for a woman rider. Eva Håkannson’s homemade electric motorcyle is one fast machine! My eHippo electric bike got up to 70 mph once.

    Have an awesome weekend and thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don & Mike_

  • 10.10 Yosemite Beta – Spotlight Review

    I was one of the lucky million who was able to download the Public Beta of Apple’s new OS earlier this month. I have only installed it a few days ago and I must say, so far so good. While I have not explored all of the new features of the OS, I must say I have been very drawn to the changes they made to Spotlight.

    Spotlight has always been a favorite of mine, but now it’s only getting better. When you hit the Command+Space key a nice window pops up right in the middle of your display. Start typing in anything you want, and within seconds, a list with a full preview to the right of it will begin to appear. In the older version of Spotlight, to activate the preview function you would need to hold your cursor over the line for a few seconds then a very small preview would pop out of the menu. Now its automatic and the preview is nearly full size.

    For example, when looking up a contact, it displays all the information, just the same as if I had opened up the app and searched for it in there without all the hassle, and it’s fully interactive. This means that right from Spotlight you are able to find your contact, click on their email address, and Mail will open a new message addressed to that person. For those of us who use keyboard shortcuts all the time, this is a real time saver.

  • The FBI is Holding Your Files Hostage!

    If you are using a PC there is some nasty ransomware and malware stuff out there. There are some that can actually hijack and encrypt your files and then ask for $350 or $500 to unlock them. Fortunately, you are on a Mac ??(editor’s note: you are on a Mac, right?)?? and that is not going to happen. But there is an annoying piece of software out there that claims to do something similar.

    This software takes advantage of a JavaScript exploit in Safari. Basically, it is a JavaScript popup that presents you with a message that your files and browser are locked unless you pay up. *DON’T PAY!* There is a much simpler way to deal with this annoyance.

    You need to first Force Quit Safari by going to the Apple menu in the upper-left corner of your screen, choose Force Quit, select Safari and hit Return. Then you want to relaunch Safari BUT this time hold down the Shift key as you launch Safari. This will load Safari without loading previous content. We also recommend resetting Safari by going into the Safari menu, selecting Reset Safari, leave all boxes checked and click Reset.

  • KB | Free Shipping on BookBook Case for iPad mini

    BookBook for iPad mini is a handmade, genuine leather hardback case made exclusively for iPad mini. BookBook protects your iPad mini by securely holding it inside a built-in support frame that is enveloped between two hardback book covers and a rigid spine. Not only that, your iPad mini is also disguised as a vintage book, adding a level of theft protection. This clever case also doubles as a desktop wedge and a multi-angle display stand.

    *A great price and FREE shipping!*

  • Are My Naked Pictures Safe in iCloud?

    Unless you are a celebrity it is likely no one will bother trying to get your “special” photos from your iCloud account but just how safe are your photos that ARE stored in the cloud? With all of the news this week about the posting of nude photos of some celebrities the debate is on. So, here are some suggestions for best practices:

    • Make your passwords STRONG. Using your birthday, your dog’s name or anything you can remember quickly is simply not enough in this modern era. Make your Apple ID password impossible to hack. The software that is used to hack passwords usually will keep trying the 500 most common passwords until it finds one that works. Now, Morgan in our IT department uses Twitter size passwords but you do not have to go that far. Mix up a combination of UPPER case letters with lower case letters and toss in some numbers and a symbol or two. Use Keychain Access to remember them.
    • Turn off iCloud sharing and Photo Stream if you want the pictures to just remain on your iPhone.
    • Manage your photos in iPhoto or directly on your iPhone. Frequently connect your iPhone to your computer and delete photos from the iPhone or edit and remove unwanted pictures from your camera roll and iCloud account. Want to just remove a few risque shots here and there? It is simple —when you are in Photo Stream hit edit, tap the offending photos, and zap them. They will be gone from iCloud and all your devices EXCEPT the one that you used to take the photo. If you want to delete that, too, you need to go to Camera Roll on that device and delete it there, too.
    • In iPhoto go to “My Photo Stream” and edit what is appearing there…you might be surprised at what you are sharing!
    • Turn on two-step verification: While this added step will not add protection to your iCloud photos it will protect your Apple ID with another layer of protection. To set this up you visit My Apple ID, click on Manage your Apple ID>Password and Security>Two-Step Verification and get started. This two-step process will require you to verify your identity before you can make changes to your account or make an iTunes or App Store purchase from a new device. When two-step verification is active you will enter your AppleID password as normal but Apple will then send a verification code to one of your devices (i.e. iPhone, iPad, Mac) and you enter that code to complete the sign-in. They will also send you a Recovery Key for safekeeping in case you forget your password or lose your device.

    Most importantly, keep in mind that if you are using iCloud and Photo Stream, whatever photos you take will be on all your devices and in the cloud so think about that as you take that selfie!