Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Hard Drives vs. Solid-State Drives

    If you have been using computers for longer than a couple of years, it’s likely that you have experienced a hard drive failure at one point or another. Hard drives are by far the most common point of failure in a computer, and here at Small Dog, we see multiple computers with failing hard drives every day.

    Hard drives are so failure-prone because of the way that they are built. If you imagine a record player, spinning thousands of times per minute and packed into the space of a couple of inches, you have a good idea of what the inside of a hard drive looks like. Modern hard drives also have multiple disks and read/write arms stacked on top of one another, to increase storage capacity.

    With all of these tiny moving parts, functioning at high speed, it’s easy to see why hard drives fail so often. Over time, the moving parts will just wear out until they can no longer spin or are no longer aligned correctly. Hard drives are also extremely sensitive to movement, especially sudden movement. If a hard drive is dropped or impacted, it is likely that the tiny read/write arms will scratch the surface of the disks where the precious data is stored. This can cause data to become unreadable, or the computer to stop working entirely.

    More and more computers are now being built with solid-state drives instead of hard drives. Solid-state drives are a newer technology that requires no moving parts at all, storing all of its information inside electronic circuits. This lack of moving parts causes solid-state drives to be much faster and more reliable than hard drives. Solid-state drives can decrease startup times to a few seconds, and are much less likely to be damaged by sudden impacts than hard drives are.

    The only downside to solid-state drives is the high cost per gigabyte. All new MacBooks, MacBooks Air and MacBooks Pro are built with a solid-state drive installed, starting at 128 gigabytes. I often see people confused by this, because their older computer had a much higher storage capacity than their brand new one. In most cases, the tradeoff for better speed and reliability is worth the capacity downgrade.

  • _Hello Fellow Technophiles,_

    I know I will sound like an old fuddy-duddy when I say this, but it seems like every day people need things faster and faster. While it was once considered acceptable to wait several minutes to load a website, we now expect to be able to watch video in full HD with no buffering using only a 3G cellular signal. There are things you can do to make your Mac faster: upgrade to a solid-state drive (see Ben’s article below), add more RAM (won’t actually make it faster, but may reduce the amount of beach-balling that you experience), buy a “*brand new state-of-the-art Mac Pro,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85260/mac-pro-2-7ghz-12-core-64gb-1tb-flash-d700-6gbvram-cto and so on.

    On the other hand, there is a free way to improve your efficiency: shortcuts. There are “*many, many keyboard shortcuts on the Mac*”:https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236 and you can even customize them by going to *System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.* From there you can press the *+* button and add a shortcut for any existing menu item in any application.

    My best advice is to learn these as you go. In every menu, if there is an existing shortcut, the shortcut is displayed next to the menu item. The next time you go into a menu to do something, take note of the shortcut and instead of clicking, close the menu and use the shortcut instead. In no time at all, you will be flying around your Mac!

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

  • Grace has tired of riding the little Vespa scooter so we are selling it. I bought an almost antique Victory cruiser so we both have bikes down here. I am going to Jasper, GA to pick it up this weekend and riding it back through the back roads of Georgia. It should be a nice little break.

    I am going to miss Johnny Dread and the reggae show down here but I am sure Grace will be there. It is hard to believe that we are heading into March already. My granddaughter, Gracie, is a Feb 29 baby so she is celebrating her 4th birthday as a 12-year old. My other granddaughter, Khadija, was off this week visiting colleges in the Boston area. Sure makes me feel old. I remember announcing Khadija’s birth here in Kibbles with the line “just call me gramps” and they still do!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily, Morgan & Hadley_

  • Apple's Not The Only Game In Town

    I have the pleasure of being able to not only work behind the scenes here at Small Dog, but also on the front line with our customers. This past week while working in our “**Rutland, VT store**”:http://www.smalldog.com/rutland I had two customer interactions that brought an interesting subject light when talking about iPads. We have seen over the last two years or so there has been a slight drop in the number of iPads sales in comparison to when they first hit the market back in in April of 2010 and a lot has changed since then. There are more tablets out there than ever before including ones that run Android, Windows, Kindle and more.

    The draw away from Apple for some customers is that in many cases the same Apps and functions you can do on an iPad can be done on a another device and for less money. It’s easy to be persuaded by these draws and overlook some some other key aspects. What makes Apple stand apart is often pushed aside temporarily when comparing these products. With Apple everything is designed to work together. iCloud can sync all your information across multiples devices, from your iPad to iPhone to your computer. “**Handoff**”:https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18754?locale=en_US allows you to start a project on your iPad and then with a quick tab, pick up that project on your computer. Wanting to show your friends the pictures from your weekend trip to the mountains? With photo stream it doesn’t matter what Apple device you’ve picked up, your photos will be there. Have a great home video of your child or grandchild and just have to show everyone who came to Friday night dinner? No problem. With the Apple TV you can airplay that video and save yourself from passing your phone around the room for everyone to see. Another benefit? Apple devices last a long time! I have been using the original iPad mini for four years now and each week I interact with customers who are also using iPads that are two or three years old with no issues.

    In addition to all the integration, we’ve seen price drops for the iPads over the last several years as well. No longer do you need to spend $500 or more for an iPad. You can get an “**iPad Mini 2**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/84491/ipad-mini-2-16gb-space-gray starting at **$269** and “**iPad Air**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86240/ipad-air-16gb-wi-fi-silver for **$399**. So the next time your considering tablet options, take a few moments to consider that while Apple isn’t the only game in town anymore, it’s still the leader of the pack!

  • Compass 2 Stand for iPad, iPad mini, iPad Air, and Newton MessagePad

    Being an active Apple Newton user and–more recently–an iPad mini user (see my review , I’ve had my eye on “**Twelve South’s**”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/?mmfg%5B0%5D=Twelve+South Compass product for years. With their “**Compass 2**”:http://www.smalldog.com/search?search=Twelve+South+Compass+2 product line, they brought full support for the iPad mini and I finally got around to picking one up for my iPad & Newton use.

    I’ve gotten pretty fast at typing with two thumbs on my iPad mini while holding it vertically in portrait mode–which means I’m now horrible at typing on my iPhone 5S… c’est la vie–but it’s not comfortable for sustained periods. I’m much faster at typing with the on-screen keyboard with multiple fingers when it’s in landscape mode, but it’s not an ideal viewing angle when flat on a desk and not quite as comfortable to type on.

    Enter the “**Compass 2**”:http://www.smalldog.com/search?search=Twelve+South+Compass+2. It’s built like a drawing compass (hence the name) and expands to function either like a small easel or a wedge to support the iPad. The easel mode is great for watching or displaying the iPad (I keep my to-do list up, but it’s also great for watching movies or playing slideshows) or typing with a Bluetooth keyboard (it raises it up above the keyboard while most cases leave the iPad low behind the keyboard). The wedge mode is far more comfortable for me to type on the iPad when in landscape mode as it raises the typing and screen angle (naturally, it’s still not easy on the neck for seriously long typing sessions as you’re still looking down, but it’s a big improvement). And since it collapses down into a fairly small stand, it’s easy to take anywhere.

    The previous Compass was just a little too wide for the iPad mini, so while you could make it work by not adjusting it out all the way, it was far more unsteady, so the Compass 2 fixes that. With any iPad, I’d be careful about tapping too hard in the top left and right corners when the Compass 2 is in the easel configuration and your iPad is in portrait mode, but it’s still quite stable. It’s too small for the iPad Pro, so we’ll have to wait for a different solution there.

    Now, I mentioned another device, what was it… ah, the Newton! For those not in the know, the Newton “**MessagePad**”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MessagePad was Apple’s PDA product line–they actually coined the term “PDA” (portable digital assistant)–from 1993 until its discontinuation in 1997. It was groundbreaking and had very good handwriting recognition by the end (though many complaints were made in the early days, much like the iPhone’s autocorrect), but it was a bit too early and costly to take off like the iPhone and iPad have since.

    I have the MessagePad 2100 which was the last, best model and the most expandable with an optional wired keyboard (via the serial port) and two PCMCIA slots (I have ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS cards I use in mine). It also functions in portrait and landscape orientations, just like the iPad. In fact, while thicker, it’s dimensions are pretty close to that of the iPad mini, so it works just as well on the Compass 2. The Compass 2 makes typing with the external Newton keyboard extremely comfortable and is still stable enough to use the stylus for navigation & selections!

    If you’re a Newton MessagePad 2×00 owner and want to use or display your MessagePad safely, I highly suggest the Compass 2. Oh, and for the iPad too! It comes in “**black**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85885/, “**silver**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85516/, or “**red**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86484/ for $39.99.

    *Bonus Apple history lesson:* I also own an Apple Newton “**eMate 300**”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300, which was a notebook-style Newton produced for the education market and was the first Apple product to use translucent plastic, like the original iMac. Though often misattributed to Jony Ive, it was actually designed by “**Thomas Meyerhoffer**”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Meyerhoffer. Due to its notebook form factor, it doesn’t need a Compass 2.

  • Who cares about QR Codes?

    By now you’ve probably seen one of those odd-looking white squares with a bunch of smaller square dots that make up a random pattern inside–that’s a QR code. QR stands for “Quick Response,” and a QR code is a form of barcode, just like on the packaging of nearly everything you buy.

    Usually QR codes are used to store Web links–URLs–so an ad can display just the QR code instead an unwieldy and hard-to-type web address. But QR codes aren’t just for ads. They’ve appeared on business cards, in magazines and books, on coins and bills, and even on tombstones–any place it would be nice to help someone load a Web link into a smartphone but where there isn’t enough room for a URL or in situations where viewers won’t remember the URL later. And the links? They can display anything that can appear on the Web: text, photos, videos, games, and more.

    Only one built-in iPhone app can scan QR codes–the Wallet app in iOS 9–but it can scan only QR codes that are associated with Wallet passes, things like airline boarding passes, concert tickets, and iTunes gift cards. For QR codes that encode any other sort of data, Wallet shows an error. It would be nice if Apple would add general QR scanning capabilities to Wallet or the Camera app, but until that happens, you’ll need another app.
    There are numerous QR code scanning apps in the App Store, but if you need a recommendation, give TapMedia’s QR Reader for iPhone a try. It’s free with ads (remove them with a $1.99 in-app purchase), scans both QR codes and traditional barcodes on most commercial products, and displays the associated information within the app. It can even help you create your own QR codes.

    To use a QR code scanner, launch the app, allow it to access the camera when it asks, and then point it at the QR code. Good apps will scan nearly instantly, but if not, move the camera so the QR code is centered between the guides. If even that doesn’t work, move forward or back so the camera can focus on the centered code.

    Once the code has been scanned, the app will usually bring up an in-app Web browser to display whatever was encoded. For certain kinds of data, like books or grocery items, the app may go right to Amazon or a price comparison site. Good apps will also keep a record of sites you’ve scanned, so you can go back to them later, even if you can no longer scan the QR code.

    So download a QR code scanning app and keep an eye out for QR codes. Once you start looking, you’ll find them everywhere–it’s a modern-day treasure hunt!

  • Medgar Evers

    Medgar Evers (1925-1963) was an African-American civil rights activist whose murder drew national attention. Born in Mississippi, he served in World War II before going to work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). After applying to the segregated University of Mississippi Law School in 1954, he became the NAACP field secretary in Mississippi.

    As early as 1955, Evers activism made him the most visible civil rights leader in the state of Mississippi. As a result, he and his family were subjected to numerous threats and violent actions over the years, including a firebombing of their house in May 1963. At 12:40 a.m. on June 12, 1963, Evers was shot in the back in the driveway of his home in Jackson. He died less than a hour later at a nearby hospital. The accused killer Byron De La Beckwith initially escaped conviction.

    In December 1990, Beckwith was again indicted for the murder of Medgar Evers. After a number of appeals, the Mississippi Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of a third trial in April 1993. Ten months later, testimony began before a racially mixed jury of eight blacks and four whites. In February 1994, nearly 31 years after Evers’ death, Beckwith was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    Definitely some weird weather in Vermont. One day it is below 0 F and the next day it is in the 40’s and raining. It makes for some tricky driving as wet pavement can hide some black ice. Hopefully as we enter March there will be some snow because the ski areas and local merchants are suffering from the weird weather. We can take a lot of snow and freezing temperatures but this freeze/thaw cycle is just annoying.

    Apple has very strong hardware sales but their hidden gem may be the recurring revenue streams that they develop. Of course, we know about the 11 million+ subscribers to Apple Music that pay a monthly fee and the iCloud storage fees but there are other much larger streams that provide Apple with consistent revenue. The iPhone is a big one that has two parts to it – on the one hand, people want to upgrade to the latest iPhone and that upgrade business is huge. There is also Apple’s new financing of iPhones that spreads the cost of the iPhone over several months and allows much easier iPhone upgrades. The carriers are also offering these easy upgrade programs which enhances the recurring revenue stream. It is sort of like printing money.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the “**Apple Factory Reconditioned 21.5-inch iMac**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002159 with 2.7GHz i5 processor, 8GB of ram and a big 1TB drive. We are bundling this with the AppleCare Protection Plan which extends Apple’s 1-year warranty to 3-years and extends your 90-days of free technical support from Apple from 90-days to 3-years. To complete this bundle because we always want you to have a backup of your personal data, we are including the Apple Factory Reconditioned 2TB Time Capsule. The Time Capsule is the combination of an Airport Extreme base station and 2TB hard drive. Because you are buying it at the same time as the iMac it is also covered for 3-years by AppleCare! Normally, if you bought this bundle new it would cost $1769, bought normally as Apple Refurbished it would be $1399 but this week for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can get this great deal on an iMac with Time Capsule and AppleCare for only “**$1299.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002159

  • Airmail for iPhone

    As you may know, I have been using the Airmail mail client for some time and am a big fan of this alternative…

  • Motorcycling down here is sort of boring. I have my bike all tuned up but there is literally only one road and the fastest speed limit in Key West is 30mph. I think we may have to trade in Grace’s Vespa to get a real motorcycle for her so we can take some longer trips down here.

    Pitchers and catchers reported for spring training and the Cubs Kyle Schwarber is already breaking windshields in Arizona at the Cubs park. Maybe this year?

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

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily, & Hadley_