Beware Fake “Sextortion” Scams

_Dear Friends,_

I had a great trip up to Jasper, GA to pick up the 2003 Victory motorcycle. I took almost all two-lane roads and the weather cooperated although it was a bit chilly in the mornings. It got busier as I headed south in Florida but all in all it was a great way to spend the weekend.

Small Dog Electronics is finishing up our 20th year in business and we are going to be changing out the 20-year anniversary banners and signs. Now that we are going to be 21 we are renewing our commitment to walking the walk as a socially responsible business. We feel that how we treat people, customers, employees, vendors or strangers is an equal measure of our success as to how we treat the planet and the profit we hope to make. Did you know that 100% of the electrical power for our S. Burlington store and about 85% of the power for our Waitsfield headquarters is generated from solar energy?

When you form a “corporation”, if you tear down the word to its Latin base, it means to “form a body”. My high school latin teacher would be proud. As a body in society, a business has a bigger footprint than any individual. We have buildings, we consume resources, we generate waste and we have a huge impact on peoples lives. With that larger footprint comes a larger responsibility and that is the basis for our commitment to always measure our success by the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the iPad mini 4. This model in Space Gray includes 64GB of storage and cellular capability. With the Retina display and Touch ID this incredibly thin and light iPad could be a complete solution. Because this model has cellular capability (cell contract required) you can use it anywhere where there is Wi-Fi or Cellular coverage. The iPad Mini 4 is my iPad of choice. I like the way it fits in one hand and is perfect for reading. It feels like you are holding a paperback book. This week, exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers we are offering the “iPad Mini 4 in Space Gray with AppleCare Plus”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002167 for a special price. AppleCare Plus for the iPad extends the 1-year warranty to 2-years and also provides for coverage for accidental damage (i.e. broken screen, etc.) for up to two incidents for a $49 deductible. It also extends the 90-days of free Apple technical support to 2-years. Normally, this bundle is $729.98 but we are giving Kibbles & Bytes readers the opportunity to save $40 on this bundle. You get the iPad mini 4 64GB Cellular model with AppleCare Plus for only “**$689.98!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002167

You are visiting Key West, accompanied by your trusty iPhone and MacBook Air. Suddenly there’s an emergency at work, and you need to get online with your Mac. You can pick up a cell signal with the iPhone, but there’s no Wi-Fi that isn’t locked up. Well, my first thought might be “oh well, I’m on vacation!” but you are dedicated and need to be online.

Don’t worry! You can use your iPhone’s cellular data plan to create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot that lets your Mac access the Internet through your iPhone. Also called “tethering,” it’s fast, easy, and can be a life-saver when you just have to get online with a Mac or your Wi-Fi-only iPad. It supports up to 5 users, too, which means you can get your team online, too!

Before we explain how to do set up a personal hotspot, note that most but not all cellular carriers allow tethering on existing plans. For some, you might have to pay more for tethering. Keep in mind that any data consumed by your Mac while tethered will count against your data allowance and may generate overage fees. Carriers with “unlimited” data, like T-Mobile and Sprint, generally throttle your bandwidth to slower speeds if you use too much data.

Along those lines, if you use a file sharing service like Dropbox or Google Drive, or an Internet backup service like CrashPlan or Backblaze, turn them off before connecting. Particularly if they haven’t connected in a while, those services can transfer a lot of data quickly, which could result in a hefty overage charge or awkward data throttling for the rest of the month.

With those warnings out of the way, follow these steps in iOS 9 to turn on Personal Hotspot:

1. On your iPhone, if you’ve never enabled the feature before, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot. Once you’ve turned Personal Hotspot on once, it moves up a level, so you can access it from Settings > Personal Hotspot.

1. Tap on Wi-Fi Password and enter a password that’s at least 8 characters long and easy to type. It doesn’t need to be super secure because you can keep Personal Hotspot turned off unless you’re using it. But you do want a password so random people nearby can’t connect and use your data.

1. Once you’ve entered a password, slide the Personal Hotspot switch.

That’s it! The Personal Hotspot screen provides basic instructions for connecting to the iPhone via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB. Stick with Wi-Fi, since it’s the easiest and most reliable in most cases.

• To connect to your new Personal Hot Spot on your Mac, click the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar and choose your iPhone’s name.

• On your iPad, go to Settings > Wi-Fi and choose your iPhone.

• Enter your password when prompted, making sure to select Remember This Network. That way, you won’t even have to enter your password the next time.

• The Mac or iPad then connects to your iPhone, showing a hotspot icon instead of the usual wave icon for the Wi-Fi menu.

Could it get any simpler? When you’re done, the safest thing to do, to ensure you don’t accidentally end up using too much of your data allowance, is to turn off the Personal Hotspot switch in Settings > Personal Hotspot. Your Mac or iPad will automatically disconnect.

Actually, it CAN be simpler! Your Mac can automatically use the personal hotspot on your iPhone to connect to the Internet when they’re within range of each other.

Use Instant Hotspot on your iPhone (with iOS 8 or later) to provide internet access to your Mac computers and other iOS devices (with OS X Yosemite or iOS 8) that are in range and signed into iCloud using the same Apple ID. Instant Hotspot uses your iPhone — you don’t have to enter a password or even turn on Personal Hotspot.

Make sure your iOS device and your Mac are signed into iCloud with the same Apple ID.

On your Mac, click the Wi-Fi status icon in the menu bar, then choose your iPhone or iPad.

After you connect to the iPhone or iPad Personal Hotspot, you can check the cellular signal strength and the battery status of the iPhone or iPad in the Wi-Fi status menu.

When you’re not using using the hotspot, your devices automatically disconnect to save battery life.

One more big advantage of Personal Hot Spots. When you are shopping for that new iPad, perhaps you don’t need the cellular model if you nearly always have your iPhone handy. That’s what I do. If I need internet access on my Wi-Fi iPad, I simply connect to my Hot Spot! Saves me the added cost of a cellular-enabled iPad and the monthly fees from the cell carrier!