SPECIALS | 10/03/08 – 10/10/08

Have you recently purchased a product from Small Dog? If so, tell us about it. We’re looking for you to write a review of the products you receive.

For the month of October, we’re going to reward two lucky reviewers a week with a t-shirt and frisbee bundle. We’re looking for solid, honest and helpful reviews, whether you liked the product or not; we just want you to give us some feedback and tell us why!

To get started, find you product on our website and click the Reviews tab. There, you’ll be prompted to write a review. Be sure to provide your accurate email address so that we can contact you if you’ve won!

We’re basing our winning selections on the quality of the review–either it’s informative, makes us laugh or both, so go start writing!

Have more than one iPod? Chances are you do. The “Griffin PowerDock 2 Charging Cradle for iPod and iPhone”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/73013 will let you charge two iPhones, two iPods or an iPod and an iPhone at once. It’s a nice solution not only for the compact all-in-one design, but I know the thought of placing my iPod and iPhone properly in the dock is more calming than just leaving them on my desk.

The PowerDock 2 won’t hook up to your Mac–it has no ports other than the AC on the back–but that makes sense since you can’t sync both devices simultaneously anyway. I like the fact that you don’t have to have your devices plugged into your Mac at all times to charge them. One note, however: iPhones will charge __slightly__ slower than their maximum allowed capacity in this device (than if charged by themselves). I did not notice this to be a problem–it’s easy enough to put my iPod and iPhone in there and charge overnight.

It’s also made out of brushed aluminum, which matches the MacBook Pros and iMacs very nicely. There are two black Universal Docks next to one another in the center of the charging station. You’ll get adapters for all current iPods and iPhone, though there’s only one of each kind. (If you have two of the same model, you’ll need to pick a similarly-sized one for the second.)

Formerly $49.99, the Griffin PowerDock 2 is now $39.99, a fair price to charge more than one device!

“View the Griffin PowerDock 2 Charging Cradle for iPod and iPhone.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/73013

_Dear Friends,_

We have reached full peak foliage season here in Vermont with an amazing display of colors and just a hint of snowflakes on the mountain tops last night (Kerry pointed out that makes for snow on June 1st and October 1st this year) . It is the time of year to take the back roads and go slowly to enjoy the change of the seasons.

Way back in the old days when I would cut my own firewood, I would complain about the poplar (cottonwood) trees as they are not quite hardwood for heat but not softwood either. A friend reminded me that the poplar is the first tree with green leaves in the spring and the last with green leaves in the fall. The poplars are a beautiful contrast to the reds, yellows and multiple shades of brown that mark the hills now.

We closed our retails stores on Wednesday and part of Thursday this week as we transition the company to a fiscal year that ends September 30th each year. This allows us to get more and less expensive attention from our accountants and it makes a world of sense given the importance of the October to December quarter (now our first quarter) to retail sales. Hapy, Lucie, Art, Katie, Tim, Jaime and Cindy are all working hard to count the inventory, make adjustments and close out our short year.

A couple of customers scolded me for being so harsh on Mark last week. It was all in good humor–you see, Mark is a friend first and employee second; it is my duty as a friend to bust his chops from time to time. I have known Mark for over 20 years and he has worked with Small Dog Electronics for nearly its entire existence. I worked with Mark before that, too, as he sold me CDs when they were the new way to distribute databases and applications. Mark is one of the members of Small Dog’s senior management team and his messy desk is legendary here at Small Dog Electronics.

We were able to pick up a few of the recently discontinued 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.66GHz with the larger ExpressCard slot. “These are a great buy while supplies last at $1899.99”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/73305 and if you buy AppleCare with the MacBook Pro you can save an additional $10, too.

I downloaded some new apps for my iPhone in anticipation of my trip to Asia. I grabbed Skype so I can call home when I have a Wi-Fi connection and also some localized utilities like a hot spot finder for Hong Kong and a translator program. I also downloaded a couple of books to my Kindle account so I have them on my iPhone for the long trip.

This will be my last intro to Kibbles for a few weeks as I travel first to Taiwan and then to China and finally, to Las Vegas for the Apple Specialist Owner’s Retreat on the way back. Kali and Ed will keep you informed and entertained while I am away and I’ll try to get them some reports along the way.

Mac tips are plentiful around the internet, and as far as I’m concerned, I can’t get enough. The folks over at “CreativeTechs.com”:http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/ have a great tips blog dedicated to Mac, Adobe and photography tips in particular.

They also offer classes and seminars in all of the major Adobe products: Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Lightroom, etc. in the Seattle area. Anyone from around the world can join in, though, and portions of each class are posted after a live event.

“Check them out!”:http://creativetechs.com/tipsblog/

Using Apple Mail? Want to get your emails organized? Ditch regular folders in favor of using Smart Mailboxes. Smart Mailboxes are essentially saved searches, and used correctly, can be an incredibly efficient way to manage your inbox.

Here are some ways to utilize Smart Mailboxes:

* Flag your messages that you can’t get to right away and then make a Smart Mailbox with only your flagged messages.
* Make a Smart Mailbox for any weekly or schedule email you receive.
* Create a Smart Mailbox that makes it easy to exclude what you don’t want. For example, I manage several shared inboxes that happen to get a lot of spam. I’ve created a Smart Mailbox for the emails I need to see, so I mark them as read, and then when I go back to the inbox, I sort by status (read or unread) and then delete all that have not been read as a group.

Smart Mailboxes do not move the emails from your inbox; they still exist there, but are organized such that you can view them according to your rules. If you delete an email in a Smart Mailbox, it will be deleted in your inbox because it is not a copy.

To create a new Smart Mailbox, click the + at the bottom left hand part of your Mail window and select *”New Smart Mailbox…”*. It will then prompt you to apply rules. To create a Smart Mailbox from a selection, click an email that you want to be part of the Mailbox and click the +.

Grace is meeting me in Las Vegas my way back from Asia and while we are at the Owner’s Retreat, Hapy is taking us out for our 42nd anniversary dinner. We have this tradition of toasting each year of our marriage, so it will be good to have a designated driver!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes. We know it is you, our loyal customers, who pay our wages and we all appreciate the support for Small Dog Electronics. We promise to return that support with over-the-top customer service!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team
_Don, Kali & Ed_