Recovering from a Failed Update with a Nearby iPhone or iPad

_Dear Friends,_

Definitely some weird weather in Vermont. One day it is below 0 F and the next day it is in the 40’s and raining. It makes for some tricky driving as wet pavement can hide some black ice. Hopefully as we enter March there will be some snow because the ski areas and local merchants are suffering from the weird weather. We can take a lot of snow and freezing temperatures but this freeze/thaw cycle is just annoying.

Apple has very strong hardware sales but their hidden gem may be the recurring revenue streams that they develop. Of course, we know about the 11 million+ subscribers to Apple Music that pay a monthly fee and the iCloud storage fees but there are other much larger streams that provide Apple with consistent revenue. The iPhone is a big one that has two parts to it – on the one hand, people want to upgrade to the latest iPhone and that upgrade business is huge. There is also Apple’s new financing of iPhones that spreads the cost of the iPhone over several months and allows much easier iPhone upgrades. The carriers are also offering these easy upgrade programs which enhances the recurring revenue stream. It is sort of like printing money.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the “**Apple Factory Reconditioned 21.5-inch iMac**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002159 with 2.7GHz i5 processor, 8GB of ram and a big 1TB drive. We are bundling this with the AppleCare Protection Plan which extends Apple’s 1-year warranty to 3-years and extends your 90-days of free technical support from Apple from 90-days to 3-years. To complete this bundle because we always want you to have a backup of your personal data, we are including the Apple Factory Reconditioned 2TB Time Capsule. The Time Capsule is the combination of an Airport Extreme base station and 2TB hard drive. Because you are buying it at the same time as the iMac it is also covered for 3-years by AppleCare! Normally, if you bought this bundle new it would cost $1769, bought normally as Apple Refurbished it would be $1399 but this week for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can get this great deal on an iMac with Time Capsule and AppleCare for only “**$1299.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002159

My daughter Autumn and her husband Ismael are coming to visit next week which should be fun. Then we pack up and head back to Vermont. Hopefully the weather will cooperate but it seems like warmer weather is in the forecast for the Green Mountains.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Emily, Hadley & Amy_

It is getting quite warm down here and I have had to fiddle with my solar heating system for the pool to get it turned down so I don’t have a hot tub instead of a refreshing plunge pool. One thing that is surprising here in Florida in my estimation is the lack of solar energy installations. Seldom do you see solar PV arrays either on rooftops or as a solar farm and even my rudimentary solar heating system for my pool is somewhat unique. You would think with all the sun down here…

I am doing some upgrades and maintenance on the motorcycles this weekend. I do enjoy motorcycle mechanics, well, most of the time. It may seem frustrating to some but freeing a stuck bolt or troubleshooting that backfiring is actually relaxing for me even as I sweat it out. Anyone need a really clean 2009 S150 Vespa?

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Emily & Hadley_

I got my start in using computers with CPM operating system and keyboard shortcuts were present there. I used them all the time so they come as second nature to me. But as I go out and talk with customers and help them with their Macs, I am surprised by the number of people that do not know that most of the things you can do with your mouse by clicking on a menu item can be done faster with keyboard shortcuts.

The first thing to learn about shortcuts are the symbols that are used to show these keys.

Command ⌘
Shift ⇧
Option ⌥
Control ⌃
Caps Lock ⇪
Fn

These work for your Mac Keyboard but if you are using a keyboard made for a Windows machine you need to substitute the Windows logo for the Command key and the Alt key for the option key. When you look at a menu in almost any application you will find the common commands for all these symbols next to them to indicate the keyboard shortcut. Here are some common ones:

Command-X **Cut** Remove the selected item
Command-C **Copy** the selected item
Command-V **Paste** the contents
Command-Z **Undo** the previous command
Command-A **Select all** items
Command-F **Find** open a Find window
Command-G **Find Again** Find the next occurrence of the item previously found
Command-H **Hide** the windows of the front app.
Command-M **Minimize** the front window to the dock
Command-M **New** Open a new document or window
Command-P **Print** the current document

Command-Space bar **Spotlight** show or hide the spotlight search field
Command-Tab **Switch apps** switch to the next most recently used app
Command-shift-3 **Screenshot** take a screenshot of the entire screen

As you can see, there are endless keyboard shortcuts to use, and these are only a small fraction of what you can do with “**keyboard shortcuts.**”:https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236 So the next time you find yourself wondering what you can do if your mouse suddenly stops working or if your just looking for a more efficient way to do something, keyboard shortcuts might just be what your looking for!