New Product! ZAGG Folio for iPad Air

In last week’s Kibbles and Bytes, I talked about “*thermoelectric power generation.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb870/ Thermoelectrics are actually part of a larger family of devices and techniques used in something called “*energy harvesting*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_harvesting.

I alluded to this in describing how thermoelectric devices are sometimes used in industrial processes to recover waste heat energy. Energy harvesting generally describes the process of taking energy (or “harvesting” it) from the ambient environment. Technically speaking, solar is a very efficient form of energy harvesting. Most types of energy harvesting yield far less power.

In this week’s article, I’ll discuss another form of energy harvesting: piezoelectrics. Unless you’re all caught up on your knowledge of Greek, that name won’t mean much to you. The root “piezo” comes from the Greek “piezein” which means “to squeeze.” That’s precisely what a piezoelectric device does; you apply pressure, or squeeze it, and it generates electricity. Many materials have piezoelectric properties including quartz, wood, Rochelle salt, and even DNA and table sugar. Quartz crystal is a common material used in piezoelectrics.

One use of piezoelectrics in generating electricity is in a barbecue lighter. One of the mechanisms on the lighter (usually a slide) is used to open a valve for the gas. Once the gas is flowing, you can pull the trigger and get a flame. Pulling the trigger drops a tiny hammer onto a piezoelectric device. This instantly generates hundreds or even thousands of volts which passes over a spark gap, creating a spark and lighting the gas. Despite the high voltage, very little charge is actually conducted, so it’s no more dangerous than a static shock.

Starting in the late 1990s, research has been conducted into other applications such as placing piezoelectrics into shoe soles or sidewalks to generate power while someone walks around. Could you walk around and charge your iPhone? That would be cool! Unfortunately, you’d need to be willing to walk hundreds (probably thousands) of miles for a single charge. The problem with piezoelectrics is that while each generating “event” or “squeeze” might generate dozens, if not hundreds of volts (like the lighter), the charge conducted is very low. Those charges are what you need to fill up your iPhone’s battery, and the smaller each one, the more you need.

The potential for piezoelectrics to generate real amounts of power still exists though. “*Research at Cornell University*”:http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2010/05/researchers-harness-energy-wind-vibrations has focused on mimicking nature by using the concept of a leaf flapping in the wind to generate power from piezoelectrics. Maybe one day instead of plugging your phone into the wall, you’ll be able to plug it into an artificial tree.

With over $800 in prizes on the table (court?!) you’ll want to make sure you get your bracket set — our “*March Mayhem*”:http://www.smalldog.com/marchmayhem/ contest kicks off this Monday, March 17th, and you have *two chances to win.*

# Enter in-store on any of our demo machines (in any store) and you’ll have a chance to win a *$400 Small Dog Gift Card!*
# Enter online at “*Smalldog.com/marchmayhem*”:http://www.smalldog.com/marchmayhem and you’ll have a chance to win a pair of Beats Studio Wireless headphones in Red — a $379 value.

If you’re in the South Burlington area, join us for our kick off party — ??see details below!??

Need more info? Even if you’re not a basketball fanatic or don’t care about NCAA or March Madness, entering is a piece of cake. Just go to “*Smalldog.com/marchmayhem*”:http://www.smalldog.com/marchmayhem/ at home or in-store, enter your final four selections for the NCAA final brackets, and then pick the winners of those last three games.

Increase your chances and sign up both ways — we will be giving away one grand prize winner in our retail stores and one via our website. See page for more information.

This past Monday, Apple released an “*update to iOS 7.*”:http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7-update/ Last week, I wrote about “*Apple’s announcement of CarPlay*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb870/ — and like magic, here’s the update to support that.

Along with CarPlay, Apple has fixed bugs and enhanced its Touch ID for people who have the iPhone 5s. You’ll also notice that certain Apple apps received a facelift (check out phone calls as well as the keyboard).

Here’s a list of improvements:

* CarPlay
* Siri now knows when to stop listening
* Camera now automatically enables HDR on iPhone 5s
* Updated look and feel on certain apps (e.g. Phone)
* The ability to glance at events in the new Month view in Calendar
* Touch ID fingerprint recognition is improved.
* An occasional Home screen crash bug has been fixed.
* iPhone 4 users will enjoy improved responsiveness and performance.

If you haven’t already downloaded 7.1, I’d suggest doing so! It’s been reported that people who have the iPhone 4 are experiencing a much faster phone and it’s always good to keep your device as up to date as possible (??cough?? Kali ??*just*?? updated to iOS 7 this past week ??cough!??)

__Editor’s Note: Roger that…I am finally an iOS 7 convert on my personal iPhone 5, and I love it. It was worth the wait to let the new look grow on me a bit, and make sure the kinks were worked out.__ -KH

Engineered around workstation graphics with dual GPUs, PCIe-based flash storage, high-performance Thunderbolt 2, new-generation Xeon processors, ultrafast memory, and support for 4K video, the new Mac Pro delivers state-of-the-art performance across the board.

*Enjoy free shipping this week!*

I miss my pups, but Grace is heading out today on the long drive down I-95. I have been working from home this week, and find that it is a bit of give-and-take. I find that I am much more productive without a lot of interruptions, but I miss my co-workers, the interaction and excitement. I guess I’ll have to find the right balance.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don, Kali & Stephanie

Stop by our South Burlington location “*next Monday the 17th from 5:30pm – 7:30pm*”:https://www.facebook.com/events/1541869492704925/ for some fun, food, drinks and giveaways and to help us kick off our “Half-Ass Bracket” contest. (*Prize = a $400 Small Dog gift card,* picked at the end of March Mayhem. Details below!)

Wear your St. Patrick’s Day best or sport some gear representing your favorite team and you’ll be entered into any one of our eight amazing giveaways — we have door prizes from Smugg’s, Beats, Hammerhead, Chill Pill and more that we’ll be raffling off every 15 minutes!

*Don’t forget: Free food, free drinks and free swag next Monday* — come on out before you hit the town for St. Patty’s Day and join the March Mayhem fun!

*On Facebook?* “*RVSP here!*”:https://www.facebook.com/events/1541869492704925/