MAC TREAT #113: Seeing (null) in Your iCal Invites?

It’s time for the Winter Olympics, and once again, those who love to watch the action but don’t have a TV will look to the internet for coverage. Thankfully, those behind major sporting events have followed the lead of online movie and TV services and have transitioned to make video content available online.

However, this genre really ups the ante of online video, because timing is vital–we need live streaming. (Because who really wants to spoil the ending of the Super-G?)

This year, NBC is streaming selected events “much like they did in Beijing in 2008,”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/the-olympics-the-online-version/ with many to be made available with a short delay. (No time zone difference for us this time!) I haven’t yet found evidence that they will broadcast the opening ceremony live, but I’ll be checking back at 7:30 pm ET tonight.

Watch NBC’s coverage here:
“http://www.nbcolympics.com/”:http://www.nbcolympics.com/

View the official Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics website here:
“http://www.vancouver2010.com/”:http://www.vancouver2010.com/

Any events you’re especially excited for? “Email me!”:mailto:kali@smalldog.com

Everyone is buzzing about the “2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics”:http://www.vancouver2010.com/ starting tonight. Some people love to watch Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating or the Luge. This year the Olympic Games are being held right in our own backyard, plus we have a lot of contenders, so it’s especially exciting.

“Cowbell2010”:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cowbell2010/id349213072?mt=8 is your perfect new app for the iPhone or iPod touch. This new app is created by “Rage Digital”:http://www.ragedigitalinc.com/ and it allows you to cheer for your home country while watching this year’s Winter Olympics.

Cowbell2010 also lets you follow hundreds of tweets from athletes all over the world. It has a real-time medal counter and even a “Live Wall” so you can share photos and text your experiences with all of your Facebook and other Cowbell2010 friends.

At only .99 cents, it’s a cool and affordable app to keep track of all of the Olympic excitement!

This week we refreshed our coupon page with some great new coupons. For example:

* Use coupon code “clearance” to get 10% off any “clearance items”:http://www.smalldog.com/specials.

* Get free shipping on all “AppleCare”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|AppleCare on top of our already low AppleCare prices ($20 – $100 lower than Apple’s prices) with coupon code “applecare.”

* Use coupon code “chillpillcoupon” to get $5 off any “Chill Pill Mobile Speakers.”:http://www.smalldog.com/chill-pill-audio

* 10% Off all Apple Software – use coupon code “softserve10”

See all coupons on our “coupon page!”:http://www.smalldog.com/mac-coupons

To use any of these coupons, simply add the qualifying item to your shopping cart and then enter the coupon code in the coupon text field. You can also use these coupons on the telephone. Unless otherwise noted, coupons can’t be combined with other offers, but usually can be used multiple times until they expire.

Like Kali, I can’t wait to start watching the Winter Olympics tonight. I’ll be rooting for the US teams, with a special focus on snowboarding (even though I broke a rib snowboarding at the start of the season).

Burton Snowboards is a major sponsor of the US Snowboarding team. Burton is also one of Small Dog Electronics’ major local business partners. Their world headquarters is around the “block” from my house, and some of my best friends work there. It’s the global market leader in snowboard sales, but is still run by its founder (and snowboard pioneer) Jake Burton Carpenter. Having a local connection makes watching the Olympics competition even more exciting.

I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the games, and I hope you have a great weekend!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Ed, Kali, Matt, Katie, & JJ_

Dear Friends,

This week it’s Ed writing for Don, who is away at Apple headquarters (the mothership) in Cupertino, California. For no discernible reason, I can’t help but say “Cupertino” with a sort of surfer, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” Spicoli voice. Beyond the iconic main campus at 1 Infinite Loop, Apple is building an additional 50-acre campus in Cupertino. Cupertino is in the heart of Silicon Valley and is home to many high-tech companies besides Apple.

Don is out there to give a presentation about Small Dog Electronics to a group of Apple executives and managers. I don’t think he was nervous about the presentation; as he says, “If I can’t talk about Small Dog for forty-five minutes then I can’t talk about anything!”

After the presentation in Cupertino, Don is going over to the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. Macworld is a smaller event with less press this year, since Apple isn’t headlining the event with a keynote or new product announcements. However, Macworld is still a vital event for the Apple community. Major new third-party Mac products are introduced and previewed there, seminars and classes happen there, and a constellation of Apple stars and celebrities gather there.

I get most of my Macworld-related news from Macworld Magazine (which is featuring their “2010 Best of Show winners” which you can see here), Mac|Life Magazine, and Tuaw.com. All of these sites also have active Twitter feeds with up-to-date news from Macworld.

On Tuesday morning, Apple’s online store went offline, which is typically a sign that new products would be released. For a couple of hours, the Internet was abuzz with speculation—would it be new MacBooks? A new Apple Hi-fi? A Mac mini maxi? It ended up being the release of Aperture 3, which was still exciting. I was very glad to see it—it reassured me that Apple is still committed to developing its higher-end and professional applications. Matt Klein gives a brief overview of Aperture below. Next week Kali (our in-house pro photographer) will write a much more comprehensive hands-on review.