Author: Emily Dolloff

  • It’s a very rainy day here in Vermont, which is a little fitting for the way I feel today. Animals have a special way of taking hold in our hearts, and many of us find great comfort from having them in our lives. I think for anyone who has had pets in their life knows that unique bonds are formed with each one, and for some the bond runs deep. I’ve been around and owned horses for my entire life. I have bonded with several horses, but one horse holds a very special place in my heart, Skye. I am blessed to have been able to share 30 something years with this wonderful animal. I was able to grow as a rider thanks to him and in later years he helped my girls learn basic horsemanship. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to my lifelong friend and the grief over his loss is enormous. But, I have to keep moving forward. I have two other horses who need me and at the end of a long day, I can count on my pups, Piper and Tyson, to keep me company at night.

    Don’s been out this week at CES. I’ve seen a few Facebook posts from the show and it seems robots are the big theme this year! I’ve had a hard time accepting the idea of drones, I can only imagine how long it will take me to adjust to robots taking care of people or as a partner in a round of scrabble! Thankfully, I’m confident in saying it will still be sometime before I have to be concerned over the idea of robots in my life. Who knows, maybe by the time that happens I will have become a fan of drones! Robots are happening right now, so I guess I need to get used to the idea! I’m looking forward to Don’s report on new products that will expand our home automation offerings, as well as other new product offerings to add to our Small Dog line up.

    For this week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive I feel the need to crank it up! Music and movies really are a way to relax, focus or just take some time to distract your mind. I am a huge fan of my Sonos speakers for my music and movies. This week, I’m bundling a white Sonos Playbase with a pair of white Sonos Play 1’s. This trio of speakers normally costs $999.99. I’m making this bundle available to Kibbles & Bytes readers for $875.99!

  • Keep Your Passwords Safe!

    I’m never one for encouraging or promoting New Year’s resolutions unless it’s something practical and attainable. Ok, and something that you know you…

  • Keep Your Passwords Safe!

    I’m never one for encouraging or promoting New Year’s resolutions unless it’s something practical and attainable. Ok, and something that you know you can follow through with! We talk a lot about data security in terms of backups here at Small Dog Electronics, but we do not talk a lot about password security. Passwords can feel like the bane of our existence some days! We need passwords for just about everything we want to do on the internet, we need them for gaming, online purchases, our banking and more. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen users keeping their usernames and passwords written directly on their computers, sticky notes taped to the underside of their computer, a file right on their desktop called “passwords” and more. I think I’ve probably seen every possible WRONG way you can store your usernames and passwords. I get it, it’s frustrating to forget this information and even worse when it’s a login you have to change every 3-4 months.

    To make dealing with passwords a little easier and more secure, using password management software can be crucial in organization and security. We use a service at Small Dog called 1Password, There is also another service called LastPass. that works just as well. Your keychain through your iCloud account can also be used, but, if you need to securely share information with others using one of these other services can be a better solution. We like 1Password and with the frequent need to update passwords and usernames on different sites, it’s extremely functional to ensure that we don’t get locked out of accounts.

    I am sure that some of you have seen Safari suggest a random and impossible to remember password suggestion when you need to reset a password, another reason for secure password storage. As crooks and scammers get smarter, we have to get smarter about our passwords. We might prefer to use a near to your heart password combination that you know you won’t forget, but those are often the most easily hacked.

    With password management software you will still need to remember a few key passwords and usernames. Afterall, you do have to use a secure password to get into your password filing system. When you are creating passwords, always try and use a combination of numbers, letters and even characters when the sites permit it. Random and longer passwords are always recommended. You might try what I call the sentence trick when creating a new password. This is where you could have a favorite movie line or excerpt from a poem and use that as the base for your password. For example “Now is the time for more fun!” This could turn into a password “N1tt4mf!” I took the first letter of each word and changed some letters for numbers with a special character at the end.

    Just as important as tips for what to do to keep your passwords secure is what NOT to do! Always enable two-step verification whenever possible. It’s a bit frustrating at times but is one tip you won’t regret for account security. When using two-step authentication and password management systems keep in mind you can still be vulnerable. You will want to avoid common habits like using the same password on multiple sites. One major benefit of password management software is it remembers your account information, so it eliminates the urge to use common passwords across multiple sites. Once you have filed your account information, discard those old sticky notes! You do not want to keep those lying around anymore.

    Now, get organizing and start off 2018 a little more secure than you were!

  • Bundle Up!

    I woke up this morning to negative temperatures and the forecast isn’t changing in the next few days. I’ve written about keeping your phone safe in the heat of summer, but what about in frigid weather?

    iPhones and other electronic devices are not meant to be kept in extreme temperatures. As frigid winter temperatures are upon many of us, it’s important to remember that our iPhones can’t perform well at extreme temperatures. iPhones have ideal operating temperatures and work best between 32 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Leaving your iPhone in the cold can have unpleasant side effects, similar to when you accidentally leave your phone too long in a hot car in the summer.

    Many of us take our phones everywhere we go, we want to have them with us be it to keep in touch or perhaps you just want to listen to your new playlist while hitting the slopes. Personally, I think there’s nothing more peaceful than a good song and a cruise down the ski slope until your music stops! When our phones are out in the cold performance issues can arise. You can experience rapid loss of charge on your battery, your phone could begin to perform erratically and it can even stop working. Over the years I’ve had countless customers come into the store during the winter months concerned they have a failing battery due to poor performance. In most cases, this is just temporary and your battery is just fine. However, continuing to expose your phone to the cold weather can have long-term effects. I recommend keeping your phone close to your body if you have it outside and avoid leaving it behind in your car in the cold. If it’s really cold out and you have to be outside, you might want to just leave your phone where it’s warm!

    Batteries in phones have a long history of troubles, it seems. There has been some press lately about battery issues in iPhones in general. When the iPhone X first came out reports buzzed about the performance of phones in the cold, Apple was quick to release a software update. I have not had any troubles with my iPhone X in the cold, but naturally, I’m not using it out in this cold weather. I’m sure many of our readers have heard and read the reports on Apple slowing down older phones running iOS 11, Apple has released an updated battery replacement program for customers.

    Battery issues will always arise with our devices, be it heat, cold, operating systems upgrades, location services and more. No matter what generation phone you have, extreme temperatures will always have a negative effect, so do your best to keep your phone safe.

  • Stay Away From Windex!

    All iPhones pick up fingerprints, and it’s all too easy to get your iPhone dirty with ink, lotion, makeup, dirt, food, and oil….