Author: Mike Moffit

Director of IT

  • _Dear Friends,_

    There are snow squalls today, bringing smiles to the skiers faces, but it’s on the heels of a January thaw that brought temps up near 50F. It was funny that it was colder in Las Vegas when I was there last week than it was in Vermont.

    The Consumer Electronics Show was huge, as usual, with exhibits in the Convention Center, in the parking lot of the convention center, and at the Venetian Hotel. With over 3,000 exhibitors and 150,000 attendees, it was a huge show. I was somewhat disappointed with the show in terms of innovative new products, though. There were a lot of companies showing products to work with Apple products — so many that the iLounge section had to expand from the North Hall into the Hilton next door.

    Without Apple and Microsoft in attendance, the big players were Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Intel. TVs were everywhere; TVs that connected to the internet, OLED TVs with paper-thin displays, Ultra High-Def TVs (such as the huge 110-inch — over 9 feet! — UHD TV), and various combinations of those technologies like the curved OLED TV. While the images from the 9 foot TV were spectacular, you really had to get close to the TV to actually see the impact of all those additional pixels.

    While I expected more 3D printers to be shown, there were only a handful. I did sit through a demonstration from one Chinese company offering a 3D printer for $900 (far less than most 3D printers), and it did the job, but was very slow. There was one company, Sculpteo, that offered a cloud service for 3D printing; all you needed to do was upload the files to their server and they’d send you the finished 3D item.

    Hapy and I talked on the plane about whether mega-shows like this are on their last legs. I think I agree with him that they have become less meaningful in terms of sourcing products, since much of the product information can be easily found on the internet. On the other hand, these shows provide an opportunity for those in the industry to network and get their hands on the products of tomorrow.

  • Don’t forget to take a look “*at our website*”:http://www.hammerheadcase.com for all of our products, or download sales sheets, product photos, full pricelists and more from our “*vendor server.*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com

    As always, my team and I are available for questions, concerns and new thoughts about our Hammerhead and Chill Pill line. Please don’t hesitate to give us feedback!

    Hope to hear from you soon!
    Tony

  • These Neoprene Cases retail for $24.99 and the Stylus sells for $12.99. You can use these styluses as you like: sell them separately for $12.99, include them as a promotion with the cases, offer them as a giveaway on your counter, or perhaps a contest you dream up!

    The Neoprene iPad case comes in four different color choices. Your price per case is $12.50.

    *IMPORTANT!* Please mention this promotion on your purchase order so I will be sure to ship your free styluses right away.

    **Note if you purchase your cases directly from distribution, you MUST forward your purchase order to me so that I can fulfill your promotion items.

  • Hello All,

    I hope you’ve had a great start to 2013! Now that we’re well into January (how did that happen?), your holiday decorations are probably packed away and you’re starting to think about new promotions for this year. Well, I have one for you that will be fun and lucrative for all your iPad customers.

    We ran a special last year that was very successful and I’m making it available to you once more! I can offer you a “*Hammerhead Stylus in Silver*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/sell-sheets/SS_stylus.pdf with each “*Hammerhead iPad Neoprene Case*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/sell-sheets/SS_neoprenecase_ipad.pdf you buy.

  • TT SPECIAL | FREE iPad Accessories

    What is better than buying an Apple refurbished iPad? Purchasing an Apple refurbished iPad and getting *FREE STUFF*!

    Simply buy an Apple refurbished iPad 64GB (1st generation) like you were planning and get a Hammerhead Verso case in ebony, Hammerhead stylus in black and a PDO crystal clear screen protector at no additional cost.

    *Apple refurbished iPads are in short supply so get one before they’re gone!*

  • TT SPECIAL | Half Off iPhone 5 Protection

    If you are a fan of Apple’s product design, Hammerhead and AppleJuce are here to help you protect your iPhone 5 while keeping true to Apple’s aesthetic. The sleek design of Hammerhead’s bumper gives you great protection and their bubble-free screen protector makes it easy to apply the first time. After that AppleJuce’s screen cleaning solution will keep your iPhone free from dust, dirt and fingerprints.

    This bundle of accessories is 50% off for a *limited time only* and *while supplies last*, of course. Hurry up and grab your bundle in either “*Black*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000449/ or “*White*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000450

  • TT SPECIAL | HUGE Savings on Keyboard & Mouse

    The Matias Folding Keyboard & Mouse is perfect for anyone who needs to stow their peripherals. Whether you are on the go and need to maximize your backpack space or you have a media center in your living room and like things out of sight, this combo will surely please.

    As an added bonus, you get a Small Dog mouse pad with some helpful keyboard shortcuts.

    *At $75 off we don’t anticipate this bundle lasting very long. Grab yours today before they’re all gone!*

  • Blind Man's Buff

    As a technician, we talk to people with computer and iOS device problems all day long. One frequently asked question is, “Why did my [insert device here] fail?” Generally, we find that after we explain a little further, customers better understand why an electronic device might have issues. However, I have long thought that if people really understood how these things work, they would be amazed they actually work at all (like a lot of things, I guess)!

    Modern processors and hard drives are at the cutting edge of human technological accomplishment, and they continually push that edge. They use nano-scale robotic manufacturing, quantum physics, and some of the best minds on the planet to create them. For example, chips with a billion or two transistors (really), or hard drives that get divided into billions of tiny segments are possible thanks to humanity’s best and brightest (plus thousands of years of human scientific development).

    Any scientist worth his or her salt is going to admit that we only have a vague understanding of what is really going on at the quantum level. Think about it: Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer and Richard Feynman, if they were alive, would not be able to tell you exactly how or why an iPod works.

    We are poking around inside a watch with a chopstick while blindfolded, so to speak, though somehow we’re able to produce an iPad from the pieces! With that being said, don’t be surprised if occasionally a support person hesitates when you ask why your Mac or iOS device doesn’t work — the answer may not be as simple as it seems!

  • Monitor Your Bluetooth Devices

    A while ago, I let you all know how to get a deeper sense of your wireless connection and how to troubleshoot it. This week we’ll look at Bluetooth.

    If you don’t know Bluetooth is a wireless technology created in 1994 by Ericsson as an alternative to the RS-232 serial data cable. It is most commonly used to connect keyboards and mice to your computer but can also be used to connect headsets and peripherals to your phone and can even be used (with the right hardware) to connect your phone to your cars computer.

    A common repair problem that we deal with here in the shop are intermittent Bluetooth connections between the mouse or keyboard and the computer. Symptoms of a bad connection can be fuzzy audio or no audio in relation to headsets, or missed key presses or imprecise mouse movements in regards to the keyboard and mice.

    You can monitor Bluetooth connections on your Mac, provided Bluetooth is enabled and you have a device connected, by going to the Bluetooth preference pane in System Preferences. In the lower left corner of the window you should see a gear icon. Hold down the Option key and then click the gear icon. In the drop down menu, choose Monitor Connection RSSI (received signal strength indication). Once you can see the graph, let it gather data for a bit before you panic.

    When looking at the RSSI, you should keep in mind that the higher number means a better connection, but since the numbers are represented in a negative value a higher number means that -45 will be significantly stronger than -100. Here are some guidelines on connection:

    * -40 to -55 is a very strong connection
    * -70 and above is a good connection
    * -100 and below is a bad connection
    * -110 and below is pretty much unusable

    So now that you know how to check the connection, what do you do about it when you have a bad connection? The most common reasons for a bad connection are dying batteries and environmental interference. The first thing you want to do is swap out the batteries with brand new batteries or fully charged ones, then rerun the graph. Narrowing down the environmental factors can be trickier. This will involve moving things around your living space to see how the graph changes.

  • Someone Spilled My Java

    Last Thursday, the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) of Homeland Security suggested disabling Java on computers due to security vulnerabilities. Java is a web programing language that is used for interactive web apps like games, webcam integration and other tasks.

    This is the latest blow to confidence in Java — it has long had a cloud of security risk hanging over it and along with the Flashback trojan that exploited a security flaw in Java to infect half a million Apple computers, this latest announcement may hit hard.

    On Sunday, Jan 13, Oracle released a security update called 7u11 to fix vulnerabilities and also require the user to authorize the start of all unsigned Java applets and applications by verifying with a new Click-to-Run feature.

    US-CERT and many other software security firms still suggest disabling Java in your web browser to be safe. As always, users needs to decide for themselves if they are up for the risk. You most likely will not miss Java unless you play a lot of online games or have a Java-built application for work or school. If you are jumping off the Java train you can disable it as follows:

    In Safari:
    In the top left hand corner click *Safari > Preferences > Security* and then uncheck “Enable Java”

    In Chrome:
    Type chrome://plugins in the address bar. Then find Java and click the blue “Disable.”

    In Firefox:
    Click the orange Firefox in the top left hand corner. On the left hand side click *Add-ons > Plugins and then click “Disable” on the right side.

    References:
    “*http://www.pcworld.com/article/261843/time_to_give_java_the_boot_.html*”:http://www.pcworld.com/article/261843/time_to_give_java_the_boot_.html

    “*http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025178/oracle-releases-java-fix-but-security-concerns-remain.html*”:http://www.pcworld.com/article/2025178/oracle-releases-java-fix-but-security-concerns-remain.html

  • Hello readers,

    This week seems to be shaping up to a “*January thaw.*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaw_(weather)#January_thaw However, I was really enjoying a classic Vermont winter — more cold weather is headed our way, and I will certainly be keeping an eye on it. I don’t seem to fall prey to seasonal mood swings as much as many people I know, but I have to say the ambiguity of recent winters has kept me on an uncomfortable edge.

    This week we learn what we always kind of suspected: Java needs to go away. Plus, we have some tips to help you when Bluetooth goes away, which is much less desirable.

    Thanks for reading.

    Liam
    “*liam@smalldog.com*”:mailto:liam@smalldog.com

  • We always say you can never have too many phone chargers. With this bundle you get a backup (or replacement) Lightning cable, charger…