Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Grace and I are getting ready for our annual 4th of July party. Got to get the strawberries for the daiquiris which is my role. Running dual blenders almost non-stop. The Warren, VT Independence Day parade is an amazing event as tens of thousands descend upon our small town for the annual celebration.

    I’ll be thinking of Hammerhead a bunch as this was his holiday but mostly I will drink to the fond memories of the clown of a dog that touched me so deeply.

    Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day! Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don, Emily, Hadley

  • So Many Options!

    There is a mountain of information out there about cloud storage verses cloud backups verses physical drives. In order to be able to selct the right solution you need to have a basic understanding of what the differences are between the options. There is iCloud, Google drive, wireless drives like the Lacie Fuel, Seagate Personal Cloud, tradition plug in USB drives. What makes learning about and weighing options even harder is that each option available, depending on what you’re reading, makes it sound as though that particular backup option is superior to all other solutions out there. 

    To try and make it a little easier on yourself, here’s a general outline of the pros and cons of the different solutions out there. It is very important that as you read through information and consider different options that you think about what best suites your needs. Some of us at Small Dog swear by wireless back up solutions and others of us stick to good old physical drives and Time Machine.

    iCloud is free for all users, but it’s only free for the first 5GB, so if you are looking to utilize iCloud for backing up an iPad, iPhone or documents from your computer you may want to purchase additional storage. It’s just $0.99/month for 50GB of storage (you can get up to 1TB) so I strongly encourage upgrading to a higher storage option even if it’s just for secondary backup of your photos. When using iCloud it’s important to log into your iCloud account from time to time to make sure that the information you want backed up is being backed up, especially the photos. I have talked with several customers over the years who thought they were backing up photos to the cloud and because they never logged into their online account, never knew the backup was not happening correctly. It’s also important to know that iCloud is not backing up programs, it’s just the files. Thankfully with Apple purchased apps you can easily download anything you might have purchased through your iTunes account in the app store, but this will not help you for third party programs. Finally, it’s also important to know that you will need to continue to pay for the service, if you stop paying for it, you will lose files. 

    There are tons of other online backup and cloud storage options, it’s crucial note that some “cloud storage” options are not actual backups. They’re just a place to store things, so restoring a machine from a cloud backup service is often not possible unless you are paying for that kind of service. Think of many cloud storage solutions as nothing different than just dropping and dragging files to a physical drive. You will have to piece back together your information if you have a complete loss of your data on your computer. For many folks this is absolutely OK. 

    Physical hard drives and using Time Machine often provide a greater sense of security simply because it’s a physical piece of equipment and you can see your information on the drive. If you’re using software like Time Machine, you will have a complete copy of your data along with programs and can, in most cases, quickly restore  data to your computer. A downside is that external drives can and do fail. This would be an example of where a cloud-based option offers some increased security. It’s unlikely data would and could be compromised using cloud services provided you continue to pay for the service. Physical drives have the advantage of a one time fee. When you buy the drive and it’s unlikely that a user would need to pay for anything additional after the initial set up. 

    Lastly are the personal cloud drive and wireless drives. Personal cloud drives like the Seagate Personal Cloud allow you to create your own cloud storage solution and support it completely on your own. This cloud solution works very similarly to other services and allows you to access information from anywhere and anytime just like traditional cloud services. The draw back to personal cloud type setups is they are often for advanced users because they can be more complicated to set up and to maintain. Wireless hard drives like the Lacie Fuel often require that you are within range of that drive and will not work with Time Machine. The benefit to these drives is they allow multiple users to access information and are perfect for sharing media, but like personal cloud type drives they could require a slightly higher level of understanding when it comes to drives and data sharing. 

    Ultimately I am not sure there is one perfect solution and combining wireless with wired options is often a good compromise. I have used iCloud for years for my calendars, my contacts, and I love iCloud keychain. I even have my favorites synced in Safari via the cloud. However, I still utilize a physical hard drive and Time Machine backup on all of my machines.

  • Playing with Cars

    Luke, Emily’s husband, came into the office and said “what’s up with Don – traded his Infiniti for a CHEVY?”. Well, yes I did. I picked up a new Chevy Volt this week. I wanted better gas mileage than the Infiniti hybrid so set the bar at 40mpg. Then again I am fascinated by electric cars and couldn’t think of affording a Tesla so the Volt became more and more interesting. The fact that it had CarPlay and automatic parallel parking didn’t hurt, either.

    This morning after charging all night I had 53 miles of EV range on the battery. It is about 12 miles to the office so I figured I would have about 40 left. Well, it turns out it is all downhill from Prickly Mountain so I actually gained EV range due to regenerative braking and the Volt has 67 miles left on the battery now.

    Yeah, but what about CarPlay? I went to Boston to pick up the car and driving back I was able to play around with CarPlay. I asked Siri some hands-free questions, tuned into MLB to listen to the Cubs, played some Reggae music and used Maps to navigate home. My first CarPlay experience was great!

    As I searched for cars I went to the Apple web site that lists all the CarPlay compatible cars and made it one of the most important criteria. You can check out the current list here. In addition to these equipped cars there are 3rd-party after-market receivers that support CarPlay.

    CarPlay is the smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car. CarPlay takes the things you want to do with your iPhone while driving and puts them right on your car’s built-in display. You can get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, ask Siri for the latest Cubs score and listen to music, all in a way that allows you to stay focused on the road.

    Activating CarPlay was simple in the Volt. It was merely a matter of plugging my iPhone into the USB port in the car and I was ready to go. I could dictate messages, listen to a wide variety of content in addition to my music library. CarPlay Apps include Spotify, Pandora, Tunein Radio, Audible, Slacker, etc. More and more are coming as Apple opens CarPlay for developers, too. You install CarPlay apps on your iPhone and they will automatically be reflected on your CarPlay screen.

    When I left the dealership I told Siri to take me home. Maps launched immediately and I was given turn-by-turn directions to Prickly Mountain. I am sure that more and more car manufacturers will be incorporating CarPlay and with all the attention to cars these days, I am pretty sure we will see a lot more features coming. But for right now, it is very handy and a great safety feature to keep the iPhone in the cup holder and be able to use so much of it eyes-free in the car.

    It is not perfect though. I want wireless CarPlay because I do not want to even take my iPhone out of my pocket. It would be nice if Mail was a supported app. Let’s say you are waiting for that important eMail about a new job. You are going to be tempted to take your eyes off the road and fiddle around with your iPhone but if Mail was supported on CarPlay you could have Siri read that mail to you and you could dictate your response. Find my Friends would be another handy one so you can meet your buds at the right watering hole. While my car has weather from Sirius XM it would be handy if Apple’s Weather app came on CarPlay or Darksky.

    Hmm…what else is on my wish list. Movie listings, Stocks, Open Table, Calculator, The Score — all would be great to have on CarPlay. So far, I am giving Apple CarPlay high marks and for this Apple fanboy it was an important consideration in buying my car.

  • Dear Friends,

    I am very sad to report the passing of my companion for the past 12 years. This week we said goodbye to Hammerhead. He was truly a love-mirror and I loved him so. He was seldom more than a couple feet from my side and liked to “ham” it up. He was a star of the Warren, VT 4th of July parade when he rode in my sidecar (which I bought just for him) and I am sure he thought the parade was just for him. It was hard to let my buddy go and there is a huge hole in my life, but a lot more room in my bed.

    Hammerhead lives on not only in my memories but also as a brand we named for him. We manufacture cables, chargers and cases under the Hammerhead brand. Dogs have always been such an important part of Small Dog and my life. After all, I tell people I am 2/3 dog — you know D O n. So many great memories and so much love. We miss you Hammerhead.

    Our stores and offices will be closed on Monday so our employees can celebrate the 4th of July. We will open as usual on Tuesday the 5th.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a Hammerhead special. We will include a Hammerhead USB 2-port wall charger, a Hammerhead 2-port car charger and 2 MFI USB Lightning Cables all at a special price of only $21.99! And we will also toss in a free Hammerhead neoprene iPad case for you to carry all this stuff around in.

  • macOS Sierra

    I used to live in the foothills of the Sierras in a little town called Challenge. We rented what was an old stage coach stop right in the hills that were part of the gold rush of the nineteenth century. Did you know that the nickname for Californians – the 49ers – came from the huge influx of gold miners in 1849?

    Apple hopes that macOS Sierra will bring in a rush to the Mac, too. First off, we should note that the name has changed (to protect the innocent?) from OS X 10.12 to macOS Sierra. I like the name change but it certainly pales next to the improvements in the operating system for Mac.

    If you have a Mac that is older than 2009 you might want to turn out, or better yet come in for an upgrade because macOS Sierra will only run on late 2009 Macs or newer. It will be free when it comes out this fall and there will be a public beta program in July that you can sign up for at beta.apple.com.

    Hello Siri!

    What’s new? Let’s start with Siri. Siri finally comes to the Mac! Ask Siri to send messages, search the web, find files, adjust settings, and more. You can also drag and drop, copy, or pin Siri results. Siri will even turn down your Mac’s fan when activated to minimize microphone interference. I have just started to play with Siri on the Mac but it is a little weird talking to my Mac in the middle of our open office. I feel a little bit like Scotty in Star Trek talking to the mouse of a Mac Plus.

    Universal Clipboard

    Have you ever found an interesting article or picture on your iPad and wanted to include it in something you are working on your Mac? Well, that just got a lot easier with Universal Clipboard. Copy and paste now works across your devices when they’re near each other. There are no special instructions, just copy images, video, or text from an app on one device. Then paste into another app on a different device.

    Optimized Storage

    Are you reaching the limits of your storage? With all the rich media, apps, pictures and music this is a pretty common issue. We recommend that you leave 10-20% of your storage space clear but finding what to delete is always a challenge. Apple has now addressed that with Optimized Storage. Optimized Storage helps you make more room on your Mac. When space is low, it automatically stores old files, photos, movies, and email attachments in the cloud and makes them available on demand. Files you recently created and optimized photos stay on your Mac so they’re there when you need them. You can also easily find and remove files or apps. I am running the beta of macOS Sierra and my free space went up from about 25GB to over 150GB once my storage was optimized

    Auto Unlock

    How many times have you found yourself logging into your Mac and accidentally had the caps lock on and had to re-enter your password? Well, if you have an Apple Watch you will never have THAT problem again. When you walk up to your Mac while wearing your Apple Watch, you’ll be automatically logged in to your desktop. Because you authenticate your Apple Watch when you put it on, there’s no need to type in a password if you’re nearby.

    Shop with Apple Pay

    Apple Pay gives you an easier and more secure way to pay when shopping online in Safari. When you see the Apple Pay button on participating websites, simply click it at checkout on your Mac, then securely complete your purchase using your iPhone or Apple Watch.

    Keep Tabs

    I know that not everyone uses tabs in Safari or Chrome but most of you do. It is a great way to have multiple web sites open at once without cluttering your desktop. macOS Sierra brings tabs to other apps now. It works in Pages and a few other apps now but should be pretty universal by the time macOS Sierra comes out in the fall. I was a bit baffled at how to access it but then I noticed a new command under the “Window” menu item – Merge All Windows.

    Picture-in-Picture

    This time of the year I like to watch the Cubs day games while I am working. That’s the thing about watching baseball, you don’t have to pay too close attention. At any rate, with macOS Sierra I can now have a floating PIP window with the game while I work on spreadsheets or in our K9 database. You can float a video window from Safari or iTunes over your desktop or a full-screen app. Play the video in any corner of your desktop, and resize the window to see more or less of what’s behind it. It currently only works with some video sources (and unfortunately not with MLB Team Pass) but more will certainly be added.

    iCloud Drive

    Ever been in a meeting and needed that document from your Mac but you just have your iPad with you? With the new enhancements to iCloud Drive in macOS Sierra it will be no problem. Now you can store your Documents folder and Desktop in iCloud Drive and access all your files from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC and on iCloud.com. So you can save files where you normally do and they’re automatically uploaded, with no need to drag them into iCloud Drive first.

    And MORE!

    Photos has been upgraded with new organization and search capabilities, iTunes has been upgraded including lyrics in the mini player, new Emojis and fun stuff in Messages and much more that we will talk about in Kibbles as we discover more of the features.

  • My granddaughter, Khadija, is bringing some of her friends over for a sleep-out tonight. There have been a lot of reports of bears in the neighborhood (but I won’t mention that…or will I?) and the other night I was driving home and a huge moose meandered across the road. Some nights I like to sit on the porch and listen to the coyotes and foxes making noise. Lots of wildlife in the Green Mountains!

    I’ll have to work on my strawberry daiquiri recipe in anticipation of my big 4th of July party. I watched the movie Independence Day last night with Grace and she asked me when it first came out. I was surprised to see it was 20 years ago! Yikes, time flies when you are having fun. I think the new Independence Day movie is in my plans sometime this weekend.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily, Hadley, Mike & Amy_

  • Dreaming of Tablets

    I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed there were no new hardware announcements at or around WWDC. I didn’t really expect any at the actual conference itself, but I was hoping the MacBook Pro would get their expected refresh in the month of June. As much as I love it, I’m looking to get a little bit more horsepower for video editing than my 2014 MacBook Air can provide. I’m sure we’ll see the MacBook Pro refresh at some point over the next few months, so I guess I can wait.

    Just for giggles, I did think a little bit this morning about whether or not I could feasibly replace my laptop with a tablet. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is very impressive. The screen is about the same size as my 13-inch Air, but with Retina, the resolution is much higher. Combine a quality keyboard (either Apple’s own or one of the many 3rd-party options) with the Apple Pencil, and I almost think I could do it.

    On my laptop, I’m always multitasking. I’ve got Safari open with dozens of tabs. I have a few terminal windows open. I probably have a few instances of Skype running. Messages, Photos, and any number of other apps are all available for me in an instant. This would’ve been the deal breaker for a tablet previously, but with the split screen and Picture-in-Picture options in the latest versions of iOS, I think I might be able to deal. Switching between running apps that aren’t in split-view is pretty smooth too.

    Another big annoyance I have with tablets is the lack of trackpad and keyboard. A few months ago I put a keyboard case on my trusty iPad Air and I don’t know how I lived without it for so long. I do a lot of writing so a keyboard that’s functional massively increases the usefulness of a device for me. I tend to use my iPad a lot more now, and the small size means I can carry it all over the place and be much more productive wherever I end up with it. The lack of a trackpad mostly affects how I select, drag, etc. I think iOS has gotten a lot better at those types of actions, and with the addition of an Apple Pencil, there are further options even beyond what a trackpad can do. Might I find myself doing more handwritten diagrams and writing on an iPad Pro?

    Sadly, I think I’ll still be holding out for the new MacBook Pro, but I was very surprised how close a tablet was to working for me. I guess if the new MacBook Pro live up to some rumors I’m not crazy about, like the new butterfly-hinge keyboards found on the Macbook line, I might have a really tough decision to make. Sure I could always get the previous generation MacBook Pro, but if I’m getting new hardware, I like to future-proof as much as possible. We shall see. Would a tablet really work for me and my work style?

  • tvOS

    Last week at WWDC a new version of tvOS was announced which is set to come out sometime this fall. Apple has been promoting the app experience heavily since the latest Apple TV hit the shelves last fall and many of the upgrades to tvOS make it even easier to enjoy those apps. Here are some of the updates to look forward to in the Fall.

    **Siri** will now specifically look for content in a specific app. You have been able to search content generically using Siri and it automatically does a general search. I will say my one complaint is that it does seem to prefer pulling content from the iTunes store. I was excited to see that you can now specify, for example, Netflix or YouTube when you’re looking for content with Siri. I’ll be excited to see how well Siri will be able to search specific apps for the content that I am looking for. Overall I have found that the Siri function on the Apple TV works extremely well.

    **App badging** is finally coming to Apple TV, but what is it? Those little red dots that appear next to your apps on your iPad or iPhone letting you know there is something is new about the app will now appear next to the app. Additionally **automatic app downloads** are also going to be available with the new tvOS. When you download a universal app or game on your iPhone or iPad, it will automatically send it to your Apple TV.

    **Single sign-on** is another new feature in the upcoming tvOS. For those with supported cable or satellite providers you’ll now just need to enter your provider’s information once and you’ll have automatic access to any supported apps. Currently you have to enter your information for each individual app you wish to use, so this feature is going to save users a lot of time and allow for faster access to content. As a bonus, this feature will also be available in iOS 10 so you’ll only have to sign on once for each of your devices.

    **Light or dark** will be a new feature to tvOS and one that I admit I think I need to see and use to gain an appreciation for it. Similar to features you can turn on in iBooks and Night Shift in iOS, you’ll be able to set your Apple TV background to light or dark depending on your viewing environment. This will allow you to optimize your view of different apps within Apple TV. This flexibility is great when using my iOS devices but I admit I can’t just yet wrap my head around the advantages when I am watching TV.

    **HomeKit** makes its Apple TV debut in the new tvOS and continues to make it even easier to access and control HomeKit compatible devices like your lights, the temperature in your house or lock the downstairs door before heading off to bed. Other improvements were also announced in Apple Music and in Photos allowing users to access their favorite media in new ways and faster than before.

    Now if only fall was here so we can all try this out! OK, I won’t rush summer; it never lasts long enough as it is.

  • Watch This

    I am really surprised that I have taken to the Apple Watch so completely. It is not that I use it as a fitness device although I DO have goals…that I seldom meet. But, I wear it every day even though it was over 50 years since I regularly wore a watch.

    Q: So, what do I use it for?

    A: ApplePay, sports scores, texts, answering my iPhone Dick Tracy-style, weather and a lot of other stuff like checking the time. 🙂

    I was very interested in the latest version of *watchOS* that was introduced by Apple at WWDC; *watchOS 3* has some pretty dramatic changes in store for your *Apple Watch*. The first, and most noticeable for me, is that the little scribbles that you can send to your friends when you press the side button is gone. Okay, I used that like 4 times to send little drawings to Grace or my hearbeat but pretty useless for that important button. Now, pressing that button will give you a *Dock* which you can configure with your favorite apps, which I find a lot more convenient than trying to get my big fat finger on that tiny little icon.

    Something you will get used to pretty quickly, but is a huge improvement, is that it is easier and faster to perform common tasks including replying to a message, starting a workout, or skipping a track. Apps launch much faster. Swipe up from the bottom of the watch face to access your important settings in *Control Center*.

    Apple added new watch faces, too, including Minnie Mouse (I don’t get the fascination with Mickey and Minnie), Activity, or Numerals, and you can customize them with more complications like Music and Workout. Switch faces with just a swipe, so you can have the Activity face for the gym and the Modular face for work. And easily configure your faces in the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Configuring your watch faces on your iPhone is much easier than on the tiny watch face.

    There are some improvements to the *Activity app* including some for the more competitive folks. You can share and compete with activity sharing. Send and receive real-time progress updates when friends finish workouts or earn achievements, and reply with encouragement or smack talk. Activity rings are optimized for wheelchair users, there are two wheelchair-specific workouts, and there’s a new *Time to Roll* notification.

    There was a lot of time spent on the new *Breathe app* and while I like it and have tried it out a few times it is not as groundbreaking as Apple made it out to be. It must have been someone’s pet idea. The new Breathe app encourages you to take moments in your day to do short, deep-breathing sessions. The beautiful, calming visualization and haptic cues guide you through deep, full breaths in sessions lasting from one to five minutes. And when you’re done, you’ll receive a helpful heart-rate summary. I ended up turning of Breathe notifications after a few sessions.

    You know those squiggly drawings we talked about that were eliminated? Well, they were actually just moved where they belong: into *Messages*. Set off fireworks or stick a sticker. Share a secret with invisible ink or reply in your own handwriting. You can even draw letters on the display and Apple Watch turns it into text. All your options including larger emoji, sketches, taps, and your heartbeat are in the same place, so you can send and respond to messages faster than ever.

    The new *SOS* feature is a handy safety item to complement your *Medical ID* that we talked about a couple weeks ago. Quickly and easily call for help if you’re in a critical situation. Press and hold the side button and your Apple Watch will automatically initiate a call with 911 or other emergency services numbers in other countries. SOS can also send a message to the people you’ve chosen as your emergency contacts, so your family and friends are alerted as quickly as possible.

    The *Timer app* which I use all the time is revamped and makes it easier to start timing, but best of all is *Auto Unlock*. While it is not yet implemented in the current betas, Auto Unlock will unlock your Mac when you are wearing your watch. Very, very handy!

  • _Dear Friends_,

    Hey, guess what? I am a Cubs fan and I have been for my entire life. When I was a very young child my family lived in Wrigleyville near the Cubs stadium. My mom would take my brother and I to games, especially on “Ladies’ Day” and we would wander around the field and got to know many of the players. My favorite player at the time was Hank Sauer who won the NL MVP but Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks was there, too. I once won tickets to a Cubs play-off game with my statement that “my Mom used Wrigley Field as a daycare center”. Okay, so that is all a lead-in to say that this might actually be THE YEAR! Go Cubbies! Grace and I are going to take a little tour of the midwest this year for a motorcycle trip with, of course, a stop at Wrigley!

    I have my annual golf outing with old friends, Larz Barber, Melinda Moulton and Dave Sellers. Dave and I usually manage to squeak out a victory but who knows this year. Sometimes it is hard to hit the ball since we are laughing so hard.

    Emily is going to talk about tvOS this week and I’ll be reviewing watchOS 3. I am using the beta of watchOS but haven’t taken the leap yet with my Apple TV. I’d hate to see that it was not compatible with MLB Team Pass.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features an Apple Factory Refurbished MacBook that hasn’t even landed yet. We have a few of the “*gold MacBook*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002271/gold-macbook-with-applecare-for-only-1089-99? with 1.1 GHz processor 8GB Ram and 256GB drive coming in next week. These are refurbished by Apple and carry the same 1-year Apple warranty as new Macs. This week we are bundling this MacBook with AppleCare which extends that warranty from 1 year to 3 years and extends Apple’s toll-free technical support from 90 days to 3 years. This is a great opportunity to snag a MacBook for the lowest price we can find. Gold MacBook with AppleCare for only “**$1089.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002271/gold-macbook-with-applecare-for-only-1089-99?

  • I am heading over to Laconia, NH to check out bike week and with excellent weather in store, I think we may just have to do a little exploring on motorcycles. Strawberries are about to come in season with pick your own places crawling with stooped over folks picking the delicious early summer berries.

    I’ve been driving the little Austin Healey Sprite to work since it is not raining this week. It is so fun to drive the little British sports car but I know I have some preventive maintenance to do soon as it is not much more than a glorified go-cart. At least I am not collecting golf carts like Emily!

    Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

    Don, Emily, Hadley & Amy