Text Replacements Not Working on the Mac? Check This Setting

With all the news surrounding the government’s attempt to force Apple to write software that doesn’t exist to crack an iPhone, iCloud has been in the news, too! Do you use iCloud? Apple has some huge server farms to support this amazing technology and I thought it would be good to do a brief review of some of the features as they relate to Safari.

iCloud has sort of settled to the back of my mind because it just does its thing in the background and serves up features that I take for granted. But this week, I ran into a dilemma that puzzled me for some time. I noticed that I had accidentally deleted one of my folders in my Safari favorites bar. These were important bookmarks and I needed them back. Well, like a good boy, I have a Time Machine backup and quickly went back in time and restored my Safari bookmarks from a time before I had deleted them. Good stuff, but when I went to look the next morning, the folder was gone again. This happened a few times with me going back in time to get the .plist file. Then I figured it out – I had Safari active in iCloud so my bookmarks were being synced in the cloud. So, every time I restored it, it would eventually be overwritten by iCloud. The solution? Really sort of simple, I turned off Safari in iCloud preferences and turned it back on, problem solved.

Activating Safari in iCloud gives you some great tools. You can start browsing on your iPad and pick up seamlessly from your Mac or you iPhone. It syncs your bookmarks and tabs and if you also use iCloud Keychain it will remember all those passwords for the websites you visit. If you use the reading list function of Safari it will also keep those current across your devices.

As with the other features of iCloud, the features only work if you are signed on with the same Apple ID on all of your devices. It won’t know that you are signed onto one AppleID with your Mac and another with your iPhone. Most common issues with iCloud come down to this simple issue. Apple has not made it easy to merge Apple IDs so at least for iCloud you should be consistently using the same Apple ID. Open the iCloud System Preference on your Mac and choose Safari to activate iCloud on your Mac or go to the iCloud Setting on your iPhone or iPad to activate.

You can also access the Safari tabs that you have open on your Mac on your iPhone or iPad. It is a bit different looking on the iPhone or iPad. Open Safari on your iPhone or iPad and then tap the tabs icon. You will see all of your open Safari windows but if you scroll down at the bottom will be all the tabs open on your Mac and you can click on any of those to make it active.

No, not some new invasive species, but rather some really cool wireless headphones! BlueAnt audio is one of our newest headphone lines that we have begun to carry here at Small Dog. The “Pump Mini”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/87884/blueant-pump-mini-wireless-hd-audio-sport-buds-purple Wireless HD Audio Sports Buds have become my latest must have! These are lightweight, hold a great charge and come in several colors.

When I first saw these headphones I was a little skeptical. I actually hadn’t ventured into wireless earbuds before trying these headphones and had heard customer complaints in the stores about different varieties over the last year or so. The biggest issue that I had heard was comfort and how well they stayed in your ears, so I had no idea what I about to experience! I charged up the headphones and tested them out on some morning runs before work and was very pleased with them. I easily connected the headphones to my iPhone and enjoyed great sound out of them. They were comfortable and stayed in my ears easily. I was even able to take phone calls with them and those I was talking to could easily hear me. I also connected them to my Apple Watch and as you might guess, preferred this over carrying my iPhone with me.

I’ve begun using these earbuds in the office as well with my MacBook Air. I unfortunately have to wear glasses, so I find that many over the ear headphones (and I’ve used countless ones!) inevitably give me a headache from the pressure the headphones put on my glasses behind my ears. Contacts aren’t an option for me so I have found these headphones have begun to serve a truly universal role!

I have been hosting phone bank parties for Bernie Sanders at my house as we head into the first caucuses and primaries. It is fun talking to folks out in Iowa and now New Hampshire to see who they are supporting and to tell them about the Senator from Vermont. I like being involved and feel if you are not involved, informed and voting you do sacrifice your right to complain about the results.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes! We know it is YOU, our loyal customers that ultimately pay our wages and appreciate the support!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Dean, Emily & Scott_