Author: Mike Moffit

I have some interesting chores in store this weekend aside from navigating the grandkids’ Christmas lists. The weather stripping is coming off my front door so I have to take the door off the house and fix that — which is typical for winter. Why not take the door off the house in the freezing cold?

I also have some sort of tree growing out of one of the flues in my chimney, so I have to fire up the big wood furnace to burn that out. Ahh, winter time.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
_Don, Kali, Stephanie and Mike_

Quirky always has a mind for unique designs and this swiveling surge protector is no different. If you are short on space this ‘lil guy will help keep your electronics protected from power surges and save on space! For only $19.99 you can’t pass up this special!

Have you ever found yourself missing the feel of real keys on a keyboard? Well the Matias Slim One Keyboard is the perfect companion for your iOS device when you need to do some major typing. Save $10 on this great gift this holiday season!

This year in our retail stores, we’re collecting toys for those in need this holiday season. As an extra incentive, **if you bring in a new toy between 11/23 – 12/23, you’ll get $15 to spend toward a $50 purchase.** You must use the coupon the same day you bring your toy.

In both our **Waitsfield and S. Burlington locations,** we’ll be taking donations for the “**Rutland County Women’s Network.**”:http://www.rcwn.org/ In our **Manchester location,** all toy donations will benefit the “**YWCA.**”:http://www.ywcanh.org/

If you’re in the area, bring by a new toy for a child in need, and perhaps take care of some of your holiday shopping list at the same time!

__Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be featuring gift ideas from Small Dog staff members here and on our blog. Stop by often to see what we think would make great gifts this year!__

“*iPod nano,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/iPod/iPod_nano/ *$149.99*
“This makes a perfect gift for young and old alike (I’m identifying with the latter more and more, by the way). It’s light, yet solid, so it’s perfect for small (or perhaps clumsy) hands. The big round icons are colorful and easy to use, and it’s a great nano for a tween, gym rat, or parent on your list. It keeps your digital content simple, and I love the sleek, small size and the fact that it comes in seven colors.” -Kali

“*Magic Trackpad,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/76695/apple-magic-trackpad/at_kb *$69.99* and “*MagicWand,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77851/twelve-south-magic-wand *$29.99*
“Magic Trackpad is ideal for anyone using a Mac desktop. It allows one to use all of the innovative features that Mac OS X is capable of — including all of the Multi-Touch gestures to navigate multiple windows at once. It’s made with the same glass that the laptop trackpads are made from, however it is larger to accommodate for the larger screen of the desktops. If you have an Apple Keyboard, you can connect it with the Trackpad using the MagicWand by Twelve South!” – Austin

“*Adobe Photoshop Elements*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/81982/adobe-photoshop-elements-v11-0-for-mac-win-1-user/at_kb *$89.99*
“I use Photoshop all the time for work, but I’ve found that for most people, Photoshop Elements does just want they want — and the price is right! If you know someone who is into photography, or even just the casual iPhoneographer, they won’t be disappointed with this.” – Steph

“*iPad mini,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/iPads/iPad_mini *from $329.99* and “*Hammerhead Folio Case,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Hammerhead/iPad_mini *$29.99*
“Well, it’s my birthday today, and I’m hoping to see one of these. The iPad mini is really the best version of the iPad for me because I love that it fits easily in one hand. My son is already excited about all of the games he could play on it, and I know my husband would probably want to swipe it for a meeting or two on the mountain. OK, Don, here’s your chance…” -Kerry

“*Hammerhead Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Cable,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/76263/hammerhead-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-cable-6ft/at_kb *$29.99*
“I have a Mac running 10.8 and an Apple TV, and let me say that video mirroring is amazing. However, sometimes I still prefer the old method of connecting the two via a cable. There is less lag when heavy graphics are being displayed and sometimes I would rather extend my display instead of mirroring it. That is why I highly recommend to anyone who owns a Mac to also have a Hammerhead Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable on hand. It is easily the best money I’ve spent on an accessory for my Mac!” – Mike B.

“*Shop our Holiday page*”:http://www.smalldog.com/holiday for more gift ideas! Don’t forget that you can get a $25 gift card or free Chill Pill when you buy a Mac plus AppleCare and essential hard drive.

“*Find a retail store here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/retail iPads are exclusively in-store, and both our S. Burlington and Manchester locations have extended holiday hours. Come see us!

Some of you may already know what Pinterest is and use it daily (like I do), some of you might have heard of it or seen the “Pin It” button around various parts of the web, and yet others might have no clue about what I’m talking about! For those of you who don’t know what it is or would like to know more, you might be signing up for an account shortly.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. It’s a virtual pinboard. People use and create various pinboards to help organize, share, collect and dream about things they would like to have or do. For instance, the wedding you want to have one day, the glamorous dinner parties you want to throw on the weekends or the dream house you one day hope to have.

The Pinterest website allows you to look at all the pretty pins other pinners have been pinning (don’t worry, you’ll have the lingo down soon). A pin is an image that is added to Pinterest. It can be added from a website using the Pin It button (most sites these days have added this handy button that allows you to quickly and easily pin something to one of your boards you’ve created on the Pinterest site) or you can upload images from your computer or smart phone.

Each pin links back to the original web page or image source it came from, so you always have a point of reference. A pin might be a chocolate cupcake recipe you want to try later, a dress you want to wear to your brother’s wedding next summer or a DIY bathroom cleaner you can make from three ingredients (I think Pinterest might be sponsored by the baking soda industry…).

A board is a set of pins and can be created on any topic. Examples of boards that I currently have are “Love me some Foods”, a board with 160 different recipes I want to try, “Just call me Crafty”, a board with 25 different do-it-yourself projects I want to attempt (ok, I like food more than I do crafts) and “Design Inspire-ations”, my board where I pin inspirational graphic design, typography and colors.

With the holiday season upon us, Pinterest can be a great resource to make shopping easier and give you some great gift ideas. For those of you who are online shoppers (or find what you want online and buy locally), you can organize all your gift ideas onto a board or multiple boards on Pinterest. It can be your virtual gift or wish list.

Pinterest even recently added a new feature allowing you to have “secret boards” where only you can view them, since by default, the boards you create are public. (There are some settings to either hide or show your content in website search engines, too, if you’re mindful about privacy.) This way, you can keep your gifts for others your lil’ secret. Pinterest has a great free app for iPhone allowing you to review your boards on-the-go. Not only does this come in handy when you’re out shopping for gift (e.g. “What was that awesome thing I wanted to get my mom again?”), but I usually check out my “Love me some Foods” board while at the grocery store for good dinner ideas.

We recently added the Pin It button to the collection of social media buttons on our website making it easy to pin your favorite Apple products and accessories — you’re welcome! If you don’t have a Pinterest account just yet, I’d strongly suggest getting one. It used to be by invitation only but now you can simply sign up.

Of course, Small Dog has a Pinterest account as well, since we’re excited to find and share the products, geeky stuff, tattoos, and dogs we love! We also love to pin anything Vermont or New Hampshire-related, people who inspire us, and overall fun things.

True story: I kept telling Kerry here in the office — who loves all sorts of glamorous things — to sign up for Pinterest. She kept saying “no, no,” because it seemed too overwhelming. Finally, months later, she signed up. She came into the office today looking a little tired. Why? She was up all night pinning away. Told ya so!

You too, will be addicted in no time.

Follow Small Dog Electronics’ Pinterest boards here:
“*Pinterest.com/hellosmalldog*”:http://www.pinterest.com/hellosmalldog

The other day, my boss sent me this link to check out an app for my iPhone. Intrigued by the fact that she would not say what it was I opened it up to find an app named after me. Thats right, the “*Burl App*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fburlapp-homegrown-guide-to%2Fid582792446%3Fmt%3D8%26uo%3D4%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 is an app made by Seven Days the local magazine in Burlington. You could guess by now that it isn’t really named after me, and it’s actually short for Burlington, but I still love seeing my name pop up on this app all the time.

So what does the Burl App do? Well, it is a very handy collection of businesses, attractions, news and events all in the Burlington and surrounding area. The app dubs itself as a home-grown guide to Burlington, VT made by “*Seven Days*”:http://www.7dvt.com and “*Route 802*”:http://route802.biz as a resource for locals and tourists alike. That just about hits the nail on the head. If you are looking for a new place to eat, or what DJ is playing where this Friday night, the Burl App has you covered.

What I like best about this app is that it is a very simple gateway for information. It doesn’t inundate you with a million features. It simply gives you an organized list of what you can do and where you can go in Burlington. For example, if you want to do some shopping for your pup you can go to the pet section of the shopping area and find “*Pet Food Warehouse*”:http://pfwvt.com/index.php. This is a local pet shop and the app gives you a brief summary of the business including an address, phone number and website to view if the business has one. Or, if you are visiting Burlington for the first time and need a place to stay, you can look into the lodging section to find the perfect place for you to catch a few winks.

I highly recommend to anyone that plans on visiting and anyone who lives in Burlington, VT to download the “*Burl App*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fburlapp-homegrown-guide-to%2Fid582792446%3Fmt%3D8%26uo%3D4%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30p. I think that you won’t be disappointed with the wealth of information the app has. The other nice thing is that the app is free which makes sense due to the fact that all of this information is also easily Google-able. You might ask, “then why do I need it when I can just use Google?” I can’t deny the fact that Google has the answers, but all of the information is already pre-packaged for easy digestion with the Burl App and it won’t cost you a penny. Go ahead and give it a whirl and it if really doesn’t do what you want just delete it — no skin off my back and no money lost on your end!

Dear Friends,

We have just gotten a few dustings of snow so far here in the north country, which were soon followed by warm weather and rain. They are making snow up on the ski slopes, but looking out my window here at the office down the Mad River, I still see green. Most of my co-workers are skiers who are looking forward to lots of snow but the mild winters of the past few years seem to be a trend, at least so far this year. I do have a goal of getting out on my motorcycle once in December.

Sometimes I wonder why I live here in the cold and snow. I don’t ski — never been downhill skiing in my life and have no interest in sliding down a steep mountain slope in snow and skinny pieces of plastic. I tried to take up snowmobiling thinking it might be like motorcycling in the winter, but nope, there were only about a dozen days to go out and it was not at all like motorcycling. I’m also over making snowmen. I guess it is the dues I pay for being in Vermont, but whenever I leave the state in the winter, I am thinking about why anyone would live in the ice.

Rebecca and I made a presentation via Messages to the Naples Florida Mac Users group that was a lot of fun. It was on our “Western Wear Wednesday,” so Rebecca and I showed up in our cowboy gear and told the story of Small Dog. I took care of the history and our mission, and Rebecca talked about our current projects and capabilities. If your user group would like to do something similar, we would be happy to do so. Don’t forget you can also tune into our radio show, “Small Dog Speaks,” every Thursday from 1pm-2pm on “*WDEV.*”:http://www.wdevradio.com You can even call in toll-free to ask questions and answer our trivia question giveaway.

We have the new iMac now in stock and WOW, it is beautiful. If you are looking for a desktop machine, these new iMacs are simply stunning and wicked fast! And I hear that some are now being assembled here in the USA, too.