Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Recovering Deleted Files

    On many computers, the operating system and user data is stored inside a component called the hard drive. You may remember my contribution to “*Tech Tails #946*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt946/ in which I went into some detail on the inner workings of hard drives. This week, I will cover some different methods of deleting and recovering files from hard drives.

    Data is stored on hard drives in the form of magnetic signals of varying intensity. A weak magnetic charge can be interpreted by the computer as a “0”, and a strong charge as a “1”. With enough of these simple signals, a computer can store a song, a video, or just about any type of information imaginable.

    When a user deletes a file from a computer the standard way, by moving it to the trash and emptying the trash, it does not actually remove the magnetic signals from the hard drive. Parts of the file are altered in a way that instructs the computer to ignore it and treat it as blank space. The actual data of the file is not erased until it is overwritten with a new file. This is done because it is much faster than actually erasing the data every time a file is deleted from the computer.

    In versions of OS X previous to 10.11, a “Secure Empty Trash” option existed. This would overwrite all of the data in the trash with empty data. This feature was removed in OS X 10.11, because Apple could not guarantee that the user of the computer had not made other copies of the file on the same computer, which would not be erased. Apple recommends enabling Filevault if you are concerned about the security of the data on your computer. You can learn more about Filevault in my contribution to “*Tech Tails #942.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt942/

    *Be cautioned:* If you enable Filevault and then forget the password to your computer, your data will be *permanently unrecoverable.*

  • _Hello Fellow Technophiles,_

    One of our most frequent topics in our newsletters and conversations with customers regards backups. I will say it again here in case you haven’t heard it before: Make sure to back up! Your Mac includes a tool called Time Machine that can be used to automatically back up your machine to an external hard drive. Your iOS device can automatically back up to iCloud or can be manually backed up to a computer via iTunes. There are numerous other third-party solutions that can be used to back up your data such as emailing the document to yourself, other cloud storage providers (like Google Drive or Dropbox), cloning software such as Carbon Copy Cloner, etc.

    But we as a people have failed to back up our most important asset: humanity itself. Now you may be saying to yourself “There are almost 8 *billion* human beings…isn’t that enough copies?” While that is a redundancy that is probably overdoing it for the limited resources that we have (although I am not sure I can really complain about there being too many people as I am pictured on the right with my two little backup copies), that only covers us for local disasters. What if an asteroid was to take out the entire planet? We need an offsite backup to take care of that.

    Fortunately, we have a pretty good option right next door: Mars. While not currently naturally inhabitable by human beings, it does have many of things that we need including an abundant supply of water. With technology that exists today, we could get to and live on Mars. In the long run, there is the option to terraform Mars as well, which has the potential to make Mars even more hospitable for us.

    While I do not have the influence that JFK had in announcing the plan to get to the Moon and back, I am nevertheless setting a goal for humanity here in this week’s Tech Tails: Colonize Mars as soon as possible. I hope that you, our faithful readers, can help me in making this dream a reality.

    -Mike
    “*michaeld@smalldog.com*”:mailto:michaeld@smalldog.com

  • iOS 9.3

    It’s hard to tell in advance whether or not a new iOS release will get me excited. With iOS 8 I was really excited about Continuity, and I always like the addition of Safari improvements. In iOS 9, we got proactive assistance so spotlight and Siri were more context sensitive. I think I was most excited by slide over, split view and picture-in-picture. Those features seemed to really solidify how Apple was going to be handling multitasking in iOS going forward.

    So when I started hearing rumors about what would be included in the latest iOS 9.3 update, I was immediately pretty excited. Now that it was released earlier this week, I’ll go over the new features here and give my impressions.

    Night Shift

    Admittedly, this was the most interesting thing to me. I hear a lot of complaining (from my mom mostly) about how I shouldn’t be reading/watching movies/web browsing in bed on my iPad. Most modern displays, especially on mobile devices are notoriously “cool” meaning they tend to be towards the blue end of the color spectrum. This helps the displays to be brighter in direct sunlight, and also more vibrant, but if you’re in the dark, getting ready for bed, it’s not so great. The brightness and the “cool” tint sends signals to your brain that mimic sunlight. It’s basically telling your brain, “hey, the sun’s up, it’s time to get active.” Night Shift helps to correct that problem. It re-tunes the display to exaggerate “warmer” tones in the spectrum like red and orange. With iOS 9.3, you can turn it on manually, or on a schedule. You can also specify how much or how little “warmth” you want to use. It looks weird at first, but after as little as 15-30 seconds, you’ll adjust and won’t be able to tell the difference.

    Notes

    I’ll admit I’ve started using Notes a lot now that you can have checklists, formatting, drawing and more. In iOS 9.3 Apple added secure notes. You can secure notes using a password or Touch ID. This is great if you have some confidential information you want doubly protected both by your device’s PIN and Notes itself. I haven’t had a use case for this yet, but I expect I will very soon.

    I think Night Shift and secure Notes are the most notable changes in iOS 9.3 for me, but other additions included improved personalization in the News app, more information about third party apps in the Health app, and additional 3D Touch context menus. I’m particularly fond of the menu on the Settings app which allows me to quickly jump to bluetooth, wifi, or battery settings in one quick motion.

    One last thing to note is that the Night Shift feature isn’t available on every single device. While it is supported all the way back to the iPad 4th generation, the original iPad mini does not support it. The performance of the original iPad mini isn’t quite enough to allow for Night Shift without reducing performance and stability on the rest of the device.

    Overall, I definitely give iOS 9.3 my seal of approval.

  • Ick, it is tax time and while I love Turbo Tax, I hate doing taxes. It is not that I have a problem paying taxes, especially when I see my tax dollars doing things for the public good but it always alarms me to see how much I am paying for unnecessary wars and an ineffective congress. Grace stays far away as I work on the taxes as I grumble and fret.

    It looks like it might be a rainy weekend here in Key West so I can work on that and do some much-needed motorcycle maintenance. I can’t wait to get my hands on one of the new iPad Pros to compare with its big brother. I don’t know if it will turn around the decline in Apple’s iPad sales but it does represent a new powerful digital tool.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily & Hadley_

  • “!http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4684.png!”:http://www.smalldog.com/springfever/spring-fever

  • iOS 9.3

    It’s hard to tell in advance whether or not a new iOS release will get me excited. With iOS 8 I was really excited about Continuity, and I always like the addition of Safari improvements. In iOS 9, we got proactive assistance so spotlight and Siri were more context sensitive. I think I was most excited by slide over, split view and picture-in-picture. Those features seemed to really solidify how Apple was going to be handling multitasking in iOS going forward.

    So when I started hearing rumors about what would be included in the latest iOS 9.3 update, I was immediately pretty excited. Now that it was released earlier this week, I’ll go over the new features here and give my impressions.

    *Night Shift*

    Admittedly, this was the most interesting thing to me. I hear a lot of complaining (from my mom mostly) about how I shouldn’t be reading/watching movies/web browsing in bed on my iPad. Most modern displays, especially on mobile devices are notoriously “cool” meaning they tend to be towards the blue end of the color spectrum. This helps the displays to be brighter in direct sunlight, and also more vibrant, but if you’re in the dark, getting ready for bed, it’s not so great. The brightness and the “cool” tint sends signals to your brain that mimic sunlight. It’s basically telling your brain, “hey, the sun’s up, it’s time to get active.” Night Shift helps to correct that problem. It re-tunes the display to exaggerate “warmer” tones in the spectrum like red and orange. With iOS 9.3, you can turn it on manually, or on a schedule. You can also specify how much or how little “warmth” you want to use. It looks weird at first, but after as little as 15-30 seconds, you’ll adjust and won’t be able to tell the difference.

    *Notes*

    I’ll admit I’ve started using Notes a lot now that you can have checklists, formatting, drawing and more. In iOS 9.3 Apple added secure notes. You can secure notes using a password or Touch ID. This is great if you have some confidential information you want doubly protected both by your device’s PIN and Notes itself. I haven’t had a use case for this yet, but I expect I will very soon.

    I think Night Shift and secure Notes are the most notable changes in iOS 9.3 for me, but other additions included improved personalization in the News app, more information about third party apps in the Health app, and additional 3D Touch context menus. I’m particularly fond of the menu on the Settings app which allows me to quickly jump to bluetooth, wifi, or battery settings in one quick motion.

    One last thing to note is that the Night Shift feature isn’t available on every single device. While it is supported all the way back to the iPad 4th generation, the original iPad mini does not support it. The performance of the original iPad mini isn’t quite enough to allow for Night Shift without reducing performance and stability on the rest of the device.

    Overall, I definitely give iOS 9.3 my seal of approval.

  • Apple TV and Apple Watch

    This week I’ve been testing out some of the new features on the Apple TV and a bit on the new watchOS. You can now get an Apple Watch for $299.99. The release of watchOS 2.2 was a minor bump in improvements, including the ability to pair more than one Apple Watch to one iPhone, additional browsing options in Maps, improvements to tracking your pulse and a few other minor updates. Unlike past revisions and improvements to the watchOS this one has left me feeling a little underwhelmed. While the software updates weren’t particularly robust, I was excited to see that the Apple Watch now has even more watch bands to choose from. I’ve had my watch for about six months now and have noticed its getting a bit dingy, so now might be a good time to get another band! There are new sport band colors to choose from including a bold new yellow and a new woven nylon option. For those seeking a more traditional style band, the woven nylon might be just what you are looking for, this band features a standard watch buckle style clasp.

    Apple TV got some updates this week and just in time for the NCAA Championship. With the latest software release for Apple TV you can now get the latest NCAA games with an added feature of having two games display on your TV side by side! In addition to being able to watch the latest games, you now have approximately 5000 apps to choose from, including new workout apps. Siri now works better when searching for content, even in the App Store, and you can access your iCloud Photo library. Starting to feel like your apps are getting too cluttered? Easily create folders by dropping app icons onto of each other just like you do on your iPhone or iPad. Dictation, another added feature that can really speak up your search process. Rather than typing through letters one at a time when searching for something specific, you can now use dictation by selecting the Siri button in the search field. I will note, you do have to be in the specific search field, you can’t just use it from the home screen. My favorite updates, one of which works with both the Apple TV and the Apple watch, is the remote app. You can now use your Apple watch to navigate through the options on the Apple TV, a feature that might seem silly to some, but with a small and easily misplaced remote this is bound to be an incredibly valuable new feature. Think the watch is too small to use for a remote? Hook up your Apple bluetooth keyboard! That’s right, you can now use your standard sized keyboard as well.

    I should note, that some of these updates, like the NCAA games, do have additional fees. More and more of us are swaying away from traditional TV and with more options coming to the Apple TV and choosing your content, we are getting closer and closer to paying for only what we want.

  • The Little Guy(s)

    You know I am a rabid Boston Celtics fan, and I have been since I was a child listening to games on my transistor radio, searching for the gravely voice of Johnny Most. These days our All-Star and team leader is Isiah Thomas who NBA hall of famer, Tommy Heinsohn, always refers to as the “little guy”. We have been thinking of changing our dog, Max’s name to the little guy as a result.

    It was little iPhone and little iPad Pro day at the Apple event. Apple introduced the 4-inch iPhone SE and the iPad Pro 9.7-inch tablet. In other hardware announcements, there were new watch bands for the Apple Watch and a new Lightning to USB 3 camera adapter. The original iPad Air is now discontinued and the iPad Air 2 with a more limited selection becomes the entry-level 9.7-inch iPad.

    I have gotten used to the size of my iPhone 6 but there are many people that want a smaller iPhone. Having a big iPhone 6 or 6+ sticking out of your back pocket is an invitation to theft and they do get a big bulky in the front pocket of your jeans. The iPhone SE uses the iPhone 5 form factor, with a 4-inch screen and aluminum case. The iPhone SE is not crimping on power though, as it meets almost all of the specifications of the iPhone 6s. It fails to match up to the current iPhone lineup only in the lack of the 3D Touch technology, the Taptic Engine that provides feedback you can feel, and slower wireless networking. It’s either $399 or $499, with 16 GB or 64 GB of storage, and comes in the same four colors, Silver, Space Gray, Gold and Rose Gold. We have found that most cases for the iPhone 5 should work with the iPhone SE. These are shipping on March 31.

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    The 12.9-inch iPad Pro, introduced last year with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, has enjoyed some moderate acceptance as a productivity device. I can see how for some, it might be their only device. And for artists, architects and others the iPad Pro is a digital drawing board like no other. But it is 12.9 inches and that is just a bit large for some. Apple introduced the 9.7-inch iPad Pro to meet this need, which meets or exceeds many of the larger model’s specs.

    For instance, the smaller model’s screen can display more colors and adjusts its white balance to match the ambient light in the room. Its cameras are notably better — the rear camera is 12 megapixels instead of 8 and has a True Tone flash, while the front camera is 5 megapixels instead of 1.2 and can use the screen as a flash. Plus, the new iPad Pro can record 4K video instead of just 1080p. I assume we will see these upgrades to the 12.9 inch iPad Pro in the future but the smaller version is a powerhouse.

    The 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s A9X chip is somewhat slower, it has half the RAM, and its Lightning port transfers data at only USB 2 speeds. But if the size is right for you, prices start at $599 for 32 GB of storage and go up to $899 for 256 GB. It will be shipping on March 31 in four colors: silver, gold, space gray, and rose gold. Cases and accessories designed to fit the iPad Air 2 should work with the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. We have our orders in with Apple and should have stock by the launch date. I think this new iPad Pro is going to be the iPad of choice for a lot of people.

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    Apple also introduced the $39 Lightning to USB3 camera adapter. It is much more than a camera adapter though and opens the Lightning port to a lot of USB devices. With the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter, it’s easy to transfer photos and videos from your high-resolution digital camera to your iPad Pro.
    If you connect with a USB Power Adapter, you can connect USB peripherals like hubs, ethernet adapters, audio/MIDI interfaces, and card readers for CompactFlash, SD, microSD, and more. This is a new and important step by Apple in making the Lightning port much more versatile.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    I tuned into the Apple special “Let Us Loop You In” event on my Apple TV. We will talk about the new hardware and software but there were a few things that caught my attention that really help to define Apple as a truly different company.

    The first was Apple’s environmental commitment. They now boast that 90% of their operations, worldwide, are powered by renewable energy and 100% in the USA. This is a unique accomplishment that is made even more remarkable by Apple’s size. While Small Dog Electronics is proud to power our Waitsfield headquarters and S. Burlington store by solar energy, we have not yet reached the point of powering all our operations which is something Apple has done both by purchasing renewable energy and installing large scale solar arrays at their locations both in the USA and China.

    Their environmental commitment goes further with an awareness of the impact their products have on the waste stream. They made a point to describe the materials used which have lower impact and talked about their recycling program, too. The robot, Liam, that disassembles iPhones into its component parts was very cool and is a further demonstration of Apple’s leadership in environmental stewardship.

    The other part of the announcement that caught my eye was the extension of Apple’s altruistic Research Kit tool that has helped researchers gather data on several chronic diseases. CareKit takes that a step further, offering tools that help patients and their medical providers manage those chronic diseases. They already have several new apps in development, including one that provides post-surgical care monitoring and another for diabetes monitoring. Research Kit and CareKit are both open-source software that do not necessarily provide any revenue stream for Apple but provides the tools to improve health. I am very proud of Apple for its initiatives in these areas.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a “**home and away USB charger bundle.**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002185/home-and-away-usb-charger-bundle-one-for-the-car-one-for-home This features the Hammerhead 2-port USB Automotive charger and the Hammerhead 2-port wall charger. Both have sufficient power to charge both an iPhone and iPad. If you are like me, you can never have too many chargers and this bundle is a great way to get a spare for you home and car! Normally, this bundle is $34.98 but exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers this week, it is $10 off at “**$24.98!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002185/home-and-away-usb-charger-bundle-one-for-the-car-one-for-home

  • It is getting quite warm down here and I have had to fiddle with my solar heating system for the pool to get it turned down so I don’t have a hot tub instead of a refreshing plunge pool. One thing that is surprising here in Florida in my estimation is the lack of solar energy installations. Seldom do you see solar PV arrays either on rooftops or as a solar farm and even my rudimentary solar heating system for my pool is somewhat unique. You would think with all the sun down here…

    I am doing some upgrades and maintenance on the motorcycles this weekend. I do enjoy motorcycle mechanics, well, most of the time. It may seem frustrating to some but freeing a stuck bolt or troubleshooting that backfiring is actually relaxing for me even as I sweat it out. Anyone need a really clean 2009 S150 Vespa?

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily & Hadley_