Dear Friends,

A cyclone the size of the US hit Australia and the winter “storm of the century” was a bit of a dud in Vermont as we received less than a foot of snow. Other places across the midwest and east received up to two feet and some ice and wind to boot. Our stores in Manchester, NH and S. Burlington, Vermont closed, as did most of the nearby retail stores. Here at headquarters we were open for business all day and making fun of those that didn’t remember 2007 when a Valentine’s day storm dumped a few feet of snow on Vermont and we stayed open.

I am happy to report a few new additions to the Small Dog family. First, our Waitsfield store manager, Emily Kenyon, who I know would be here today if she were not on maternity leave, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Olivia Grace. Emily will be out for a while but we’ve twisted Katie’s arm and she will be helping out here in Waitsfield.

I am also very pleased to announce that we have hired a new Director of Marketing, Jan Knutsen, who will be directing all of Small Dog Electronics’ marketing activities. Jan has already made an impact here and we welcome her and her dog, Buster, our biggest dog—a Chocolate Lab/Springer mix.

I have just downloaded and installed the new daily “newspaper” for the iPad, The Daily. It is free for the first two months and it is a daily news and feature application for the iPad from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. At just $0.14 an issue, it is priced right and is a ground-breaking news application. My first impressions are very positive for this new and compelling iPad feature!