_Dear Friends,_

Rob and Tony took the time to prune the big apple tree that we had planted just outside the window of my office when we first moved here. It is a big tree now and covered with apple blossoms that seem to have weathered the snow that we got earlier this week. Now the blossoms are attracting the birds and the bees and some of the staff must wonder what I am doing staring out the window. I’ve seen hummingbirds, red wing black birds (actually orange winged), grosbeaks and this morning a bluebird just sat on the top branch for a long time. Gotta love spring!

I am constantly amazed at how many inventions that I first read about in science fiction books as a youth are now becoming reality. Apple made a big $1 billion investment in China’s ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing. There has been a lot of speculation as to the reasons for Apple making this investment but even for a pure financial move it makes sense as Didi does at least 10 times the number of rides that Uber does in the USA. It has become the new normal for rides in many areas of China. But, there has also been a lot of speculation that it has something to do with Apple’s foray into the automotive industry and the future of self-driving cars. That’s where the sci-fi comes in — many writers have speculated about taxis that are driverless and they have been in movies such as Blade Runner. With the work Apple, Google and others are doing on self-driving electric cars, can it be far off? I think that there could be a major paradigm shift coming regarding car ownership and use.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the stunning 27-inch iMac with Retina display. This Apple factory reconditioned model has the same one year warranty as a new product and we are bundling it with AppleCare so you get 3-years of warranty protection and instead of the 90-days of free Apple technical support you get 3-years. This model features the 3.5GHz i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and 1TB fusion drive. If you are looking to add a desktop Mac this could be a great opportunity. Normally, this bundle would sell for $1,939.98 but “**exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002225 this week (while supplies last) you can save $200 and get the 27-inch iMac with Applecare for only “**$1739.98!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002225

“Assistive Technology”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Assistive_Technology
is an area that I hold in high regard as the parent of a child who is on the autism spectrum. I have used some of the tools available to help him with his struggles and have seen hands-on how technology can assist in making tasks easier and more productive for people with disabilities.

In 2013 Small Dog became the only company authorized to sell iPads in Vermont with Medicaid accepted as payment. These orders come in the form of authorizations from Medicaid as prescribed by speech and language pathologists (SLP) across the state. For right now the iPad is only approved by Medicaid as a speaking device, however; there are programs in place looking to expand the uses to other people with disabilities, these include blind and vision impaired, hearing impaired, autism spectrum and more.

In addition to Medicaid we also work closely with Vermont Assistive Technology (VAT), which is a state government agency tasked with cataloging all the items that fall in this very broad category. They provide consulting, information, demonstration and a 30-day trial period to the public. As of today they have catalogued over 21,000 items.

VAT recently reached out to me and asked if Small Dog would take on a role to offer more products and support services in this area as they do not have the resources or budget to do so. Naturally, we said YES! This is a great opportunity for Small Dog Electronics to expand into this field and offer some unique products that truly can change the end-users lives considerably. Having worked with Medicaid for the last several years we have found that procuring the items needed is very difficult. There is no central distribution for these products as many are manufactured by small businesses that specialize in very specific areas. Working with VAT we will strive to offer as many of these products and services that are attainable and make sense.

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Some examples of products we have recently sold are the **RJ Cooper Magic Arm.** This is a wheelchair or desk-mounted iPad solution that allows a nonverbal person to communicate their needs through the iPad. The App we used for this solution is
“**Proloquo2go**.”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/proloquo2go-symbol-based-aac/id308368164?mt=8

The “**Tecla Shield**”:http://gettecla.com/products/tecla-shield gives those with limited upper body mobility (due to disability or disease) access to their touchscreen devices. Tecla makes it possible to use iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, as well as computers. All are accessible via assistive buttons, switches or wheelchair driving controls. You can see a video of this “**here**”:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn41GhTDe4M

With VAT listing over 21,000 products there is a vast array of products offered to assist people with all sorts of disabilities. Examples of some of the devices available are large print keyboards for the visually impaired, antimicrobial cases for hospitals and caregivers, computer, tablet and display mounts, rugged cases with built in speakers, keyguards for iPads, smart pens for dictation, head pointers, cameras that replace the need for a mouse and more. Another area of focus will be Apple’s Home Kit. The hardware and software taking advantage of this solution are a perfect fit for those with limited mobility and control. We will be able to design a home setting that reacts to the end users needs without having to move around more then needed.

Small Dog Electronics has identified assistive technology as an important area for our company to refine and specialize our offerings. Don has asked me to head up this initiative for the company and I am thrilled to be able to find tools that will make life easier for so many people. This is really a situation where new technology can make a real difference in these lives. If you want more information or have suggestions, I urge you to write me directly, “**Rob@smalldog.com**.”:mailto:rob@smalldog.com

Back in high school we used to always get assigned summer reading that we had to do before classes started up in the fall. One summer, before my senior year, there were three assigned books. I only remember one of them: Crime and Punishment. I remembering thinking it was a “crime” that they were making me read such a long book over the summer and that it was “punishment” for something I didn’t remember doing. Actually, I really enjoyed the book once I got into it.

I don’t remember if e-readers were a thing back then. If they were, they probably weren’t a big deal. I remember every summer it was impossible to get the summer reading books from the library, so you often had to just buy them. That summer though, I used “**Project Gutenberg**”:http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page. I had been downloading and reading free, out of copyright, books from them for a while at that point. They offered many classics in several formats including plain text. At the time, I would load the plain text onto my Palm Pilot and read books that way. It actually worked better for me because I could read a little bit anywhere I was even if just for a few minutes, and I didn’t have to carry around a huge book like Crime and Punishment.

For one reason or another, I don’t read quite that much these days. When I do, I tend to prefer physical books only because I find it easier on my eyes. That being said, there are lots of options for reading books on iPads or iPhones. Obviously, you can use the iBooks app, but you can also download the Kindle app. A lot of the things I end up reading these days are PDFs of academic articles or copies of old magazines. Did you know that iBooks can open those too? You can simply drag PDFs you want to read to your iCloud Drive and then they’ll show up in both iCloud Drive and in iBooks.

I don’t think I have a preference between the iBooks and Kindle apps. There have been a few books I wanted to buy that weren’t in iBooks, so I had to buy them in Kindle, and there have been others that were cheaper in iBooks. Both apps work about the same and have similar features. I haven’t gotten to try either of them since the new Night Shift feature was added to iOS. I wonder if that will make them easier on the eyes.

Of course, with both iBooks and Kindle, there are OS X equivalents if you just have to read whatever you’re reading on your Mac. I tried it briefly with one book I bought, but it really doesn’t work that well for me. The form factor of the iPad Air/Pro is really great for reading in my opinion.

I’ll probably still continue to prefer physical books over e-books in most situations, but I have to admit, I enjoy the convenience factor when it comes to e-books.