K&B SPECIALS | 10/22/10 – 10/29/10

We wanted to remind our customers about Apple’s up-to-date program for iLife ’11. This program allows customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac or Apple Certified Refurbished computer between October 1 and October 19, 2010 that does not include iLife ’11 can upgrade to iLife ’11 for $6.99 plus tax. The completed order form must be postmarked or faxed by November 19, 2010.

US customers should “click here”:http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?partNumber=MC635Z/A to register for the for the Up-To-Date program.

Read more about Apple’s Up-to-Date program “by clicking here.”:http://www.apple.com/ilife/uptodate/

Following the announcement of iLife ’11 and Mac OS X Lion on Wednesday, Steve Jobs paused onstage to announce that there was “one more thing.” Delivering on the hopes of many, this new product turned out to be the next generation MacBook Air. With refinements to nearly every aspect of the machine, the latest MacBook Air advances both its line as well as Apple’s entire family of notebooks. Jobs touted the re-designed machine as the next generation of MacBook, highlighting many revolutionary features previously unseen in an Apple notebook.

Though the Air is already known for its light footprint and compact design, Wednesday’s announcement brought forth a second smaller model. For the first time since 2003, Apple has re-introduced a diagonal screen size of under 13 inches into their product lineup. Sporting an 11.6-inch display with an impressive 1366 x 768 resolution, this smaller Air will accompany its larger 13.3-inch brother as the most portable and lightweight entries in Apple’s notebook family.

Perhaps the biggest feature of the new Air models is what they lack. Neither model includes the option for a traditional SATA hard drive. Instead–for the first time in Apple’s history–the company has released an entirely solid state line of Macs. Featured in capacities ranging from 64GB to 256GB, all four stock configurations of Air include solid state flash storage by default. The lack of hard drive, combined with the continued omission of an optical drive, has allowed Apple’s engineers to slim down the Air even further. Shaving a 1/10th of a pound off the 13-inch machine, it now weighs in at only 2.9 pounds. The newly debuted 11-inch model weighs a nimble 2.3 pounds. At their thickest point, both models are only 0.68 inches. At their thinnest point, both models taper to 0.11 inches. Those first to go hands-on with the new product claim it is slimmer than an axe blade.

Featuring a wider array of ports, both models now include two USB 2.0 ports in addition to the MiniDisplay Port and headphone jack featured on the previous generation. The 13-inch model also includes an SD card slot. Apple has also boosted processor speeds as high as an optional 2.13GHz with options for 1.4GHz and 1.86GHz available as stock. The Air’s graphics have also been updated to the latest consumer standard with the inclusion of the NVIDIA GeForce 320M. This gives the line a much needed graphical speed boost. With a full-size keyboard and a Multi-Touch trackpad, the new Air will be able to handle 10.7 Lion’s Multi-Touch oriented interface with ease.

A final stand-out feature of the re-designed Air is its battery life. Managing an impressive five hours in the 11-inch model, its larger counterpart supports up to seven. Though not the longest lasting batteries in Apple’s lineup, this functionality is still impressive given the machines’ minuscule size. Apple is also advertising a standby time of 30 days for when the machine is not in use. This is a vast improvement over the 4-5 days a typical Apple notebook can retain battery life in standby.

Combining a series of enhancements and revolutionary new features, the re-designed MacBook Air has significant potential. Offering more functionality than its predecessor, it carries the potential to become much less of a niche product. Steve Jobs eloquently described the Air as what would happen if a MacBook and iPad hooked-up. Though it doesn’t sport the touch interface or 3G capabilities some of us had hoped for, the new MacBook Air stands to reinvigorate the MacBook line as it ushers in the next generation of Apple notebook. Starting a only $999, the new MacBook Air is available now. Click “*here*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|MacBook_Air/at_kb to view all available configurations.

GarageBand ’11 was released today at Apple’s Back to the Mac press conference, as part of the new iLife ’11 multimedia productivity suite. Some standout new features include:

*Flex Time* – Flex Time is a new tool that lets you quickly change the timing of your recording, so your song has perfect rhythm. Something sounds a little off? Use Flex Time to fix timing mistakes on the fly. Just click and drag any part of a waveform to change the timing of a note or beat. You can move, stretch, or shorten individual notes without changing the good parts of your recording. And Flex Time is great for creative inspiration: Extend guitar riffs, alter vocals, try different rhythms, and get new ideas. Your Flex Time edits are highlighted so you can easily see your changes. Click the Flex Time button at any time to compare your edits with the original performance.

*Groove Matching* – Instantly match the rhythm of your whole band to a single track. If you’re working with a bunch of different tracks–like a guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, and a drum loop underneath it all–chances are that one (or all) of them could be a little out of rhythm. Groove Matching brings all your tracks together beautifully. Just select any track in your song and make it the Groove Track, and all other tracks instantly match it. If not every track needs adjusting, you can choose only the tracks you want. Groove Matching helps Apple Loops fit the feel of your song even better, too.

*New Guitar Amps and Stompbox Effects* – GarageBand brings you seven new guitar amps for a total of 12. They’re modeled after the most revered gear in the world–from clean sounds to heavy distortion and everything in between. You can also reproduce the sound of classic foot pedals with five new stompbox effects, making 15 to choose from. Mix amps with stompboxes and find thousands of ways to rock. And with the Apogee GiO (sold separately), you can control GarageBand hands-free, so you don’t ever have to stop playing. The GiO lets you control stompbox effects, recording, and transport controls with your feet. Plug an electric guitar into your Mac, crank it up, and let it rip.

*”How Did I Play?”* – Put your skills to the test while you’re jamming on a lesson. First GarageBand taught you how to play. Now it tests your chops. As you play along with any lesson, record yourself. GarageBand listens in real time and tells you how you’re doing. You’ll see how well you played with colored notes, a progress bar, and a performance meter. You can check your rhythm and note accuracy, keep track of your progress, and beat your best score–all while perfecting your skills.

*New Lessons for Piano and Guitar* – Learn to play piano and guitar even better on your Mac. With 22 new genre-based lessons (40 in all), you can pick up the basics of piano, guitar, or even both. Video demonstrations, synchronized notation, and instrument animations make lessons fun and easy to follow. And you can learn at your own pace. You’ll jam with the Blues Guitar and Rock Guitar series. You’ll master classical piano pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, or Chopin. And you’ll play Top 40-style piano with the Pop Piano series. The new built-in glossary is a great reference for tuning your guitar, changing strings, reading music, finding basic chords and scales, and more. With the Chord Trainer, you’ll master the most important guitar chords by shape, which makes it easier to keep them straight.

The Mac is about to get its own app store, just like the App Store for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad! Aptly enough this will be called “The Mac App Store”. (See how I did that?) On its website Apple says that the Mac App Store “revolutionizes the way applications are installed on a computer–it happens in one step.”

The Mac App store features one-click downloads, purchased via your existing iTunes account. There will be free and Paid apps, and developers will get the same 70/30 split currently used in the iOS App StoreOne great feature: Mac apps can be installed on every Mac you use and can even be download again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own.
Apps will be stored and organized in the new Launchpad feature in Lion.

You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music and more. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. The Mac App Store keeps track of your apps and tells you when updates are available. Update one app at a time or all of them at once, and you’ll always have the latest versions.

“Click here to learn more.”:http://www.apple.com/mac/app-store/

Want to develop apps for the Mac App Store? “Click here!”:http://developer.apple.com/programs/mac/

Some people have expressed concern that the Mac App store means that Apple will exert undue influence on third-party Mac software. It’s an interesting question, though it’s important to note that most software will be available via optical media and downloads from third party sites years into the future. This is meant to supplement not supplant existing software distribution channels.

Just a reminder that if you have old, broken, and obsolete electronics, you can recycle them for FREE on Saturday, October 23rd at our ewaste collection events in New Hampshire and Vermont.

The NH event will be held from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM in the parking lot at the Mall of New Hampshire. “Click here to see this location on Google Maps.”:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Mall+of+New+Hampshire,+Manchester,+NH&sll=44.450387,-73.144741&sspn=0.053673,0.08214&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=The+Mall+of+New+Hampshire,+Manchester,+Hillsborough,+New+Hampshire+03103&z=15

The VT event will be held from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at 30 Community Drive in S. Burlington, VT (Ben & Jerry’s offices). “Click here to see this location on a Google Map.”:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ben+%26+Jerry’s+Homemade+Inc,+South+Burlington,+VT&sll=44.452715,-73.139248&sspn=0.055019,0.08214&ie=UTF8&hq=Ben+%26+Jerry’s+Homemade+Inc,&hnear=South+Burlington,+Chittenden,+Vermont&ll=44.450387,-73.144741&spn=0.053673,0.08214&z=14&iwloc=A

Again, both events run from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Learn more about the event, including what ewaste is accepted “by clicking here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste2010/at_kb

Hope to see you there!

We’re very excited for the ewaste collection event on Saturday. We’ll have far more trucks and far more workers than in years past, so this will be a very efficient event. I will be at the Manchester, NH location, handing out coupons and gift cards. I’m hoping we collect over 75 tons of ewaste per location. That would be amazing!

Until next week!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Ed, Kali and Ben_