Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • Stack Exchange

    Back in college when I was working at the IT helpdesk, we’d sometimes have days that were just really slow. One of my favorite things to do back then was hop onto Yahoo Answers and find questions that I could help answer for people. They were mostly technical questions and I liked being able to help out people with the knowledge I had.

    Although Yahoo Answers still exists today, it’s often not taken seriously because of the large number of people there posting fake questions and answers. So where should you go if you have questions you want answered by a volunteer community of experts? Enter “*StackExchange*”:http://stackexchange.com/

    Launched in 2009, StackExchange has become host to dozens of excellent topic-specific sub-sites or exchanges where you can ask questions and get answers. The community is exceptionally helpful and friendly. The biggest exchange is “*Stack Overflow*”:http://stackoverflow.com/, where you can ask any and all questions related to computer programming. This is also the main exchange that spawned the rest of StackExchange. Other large popular exchanges include “*Server Fault*”:http://serverfault.com/ (for server admins), “*Super User*”:http://superuser.com/ (for computer power users), “*Ask Ubuntu*”:http://askubuntu.com/ (for Ubuntu users), “*Ask Different*”:http://apple.stackexchange.com/ (for Mac users) and many more.

    The cool thing is that although it started off as a primarily technical Q&A site, various exchanges have popped up over the years for other things as well like, “*English Language and Usage*”:http://english.stackexchange.com/, “*Mathematics*”:http://math.stackexchange.com/, “*Travel*”:http://travel.stackexchange.com/, “*Parenting*”:http://parenting.stackexchange.com/, “*Chemistry*”:http://chemistry.stackexchange.com/, “*Pets*”:http://pets.stackexchange.com/ and more. I can’t tell you how often I google search some question I have and end up finding the answer on StackExchange.

    New exchanges can be created as well. If you visit “*Area 51*”:http://area51.stackexchange.com/ their new site staging zone, you can see all the proposals for new exchanges. Some up and coming exchanges include Latin Language, 3D Printing, and Arts and Crafts.

    So if you’re an expert on something and want to lend a hand to others, or if you are looking for expert answers to very specific questions, give StackExchange a try!

  • Shake That Thing…

    One of my favorite features of El Capitan is the Cursor locator. I use a large display and the display on my MacBook Air when I am working at my home office. A lot of times I will have a spreadsheet on the MacBook Air’s display and our database (appropriately named K9) on the other large display. From time to time, I might lose track of the cursor. Where I used to just start cussing out my Mac with Grace asking “what’s wrong, dear?”, now all I have to do is shake my mouse or wiggle my finger on the trackpad and I have mega-cursor and know just where it is.

    Okay, so let us just imagine that you might need to wiggle your mouse or trackpad in doing illustrations or something. That jumbo cursor might get in the way. You can disable this curser action if you want. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display and deselect Shake mouse pointer to locate.

  • Choosing the Right AirPort

    Let’s say you just got that new iMac and you are finding that your network is running slow. Your wireless signal drops out a few times a day and you just can’t seem to stay online. Well, it is probably time to upgrade your wireless network. Fortunately, Apple offers several options with their Airport wireless routers.

    There is not much choice in the flying type of airport either here in Key West or in Vermont. When it comes to equipping your home or office with a wireless network, Apple offers three different options for Apple AiPort base stations: the Apple AirPort Express, Apple AirPort Extreme and the Apple AirPort Time Capsule. With an AirPort base station you can easily create a Wi-Fi network with a Mac or an iOS device in just a few steps. You can also use the AirPort base station to share a printer or hard drive, stream iTunes to your stereo and back-up your Mac.

    Let’s take a look at each of Apple’s offerings:

    h3. AirPort Express

    The compact AirPort Express utilizes the 802.11n Wi-Fi standard and supports AirPlay. It is great for an apartment or smaller space, it allows you to use AirPlay to wirelessly stream music to your stereo or compatible speakers and has a USB port so that you can print wirelessly. It also has an audio output port (AKA headphone jack) to support wireless music streaming. It has an Ethernet input and one Ethernet output so it can be easily connected to your DSL or Cable modem and to your Ethernet network if you have that, too. The Express has an internal power supply, so no wall wart!

    h3. AirPort Extreme

    The Apple AirPort Extreme is more powerful, features 802.11ac Wi-Fi and offers increased performance and extended range. This is the unit for you if you have a larger home, a small business or in the classroom. Its taller shape increases the range due to better antenna performance and it features a USB port to enable wireless printing or to connect a hard drive. It features three Ethernet LAN ports in addition to the single Ethernet WAN port. The AirPort Extreme’s power supply is also built-in.

    h3. Airport Time Capsule

    The Airport Time Capsule looks identical to the AirPort Extreme and has the same ports and wireless specifications. It adds either a 2TB or 3TB internal hard drive for Time Machine backups.

    All of these Apple AirPort base stations are very easy to set-up. You plug it in, turn it on and connect it to your cable or DSL modem via the Ethernet WAN port. Your Mac or iOS device will recognize the AirPort, select the new AirPort base station and the built-in setup assistant provides step-by-step instructions and suggests the best network configuration. You select “Create a new network” create a password and you are surfing.

    Deciding which Apple AirPort base station is right for you depends on where you are using it, i.e. the range you need and whether you need the maximum speed. The latest Apple Macs all support 802.11ac and that may push you towards the Extreme or Time Capsule.

    It is somewhat of an undocumented feature that you can, in fact, attach a USB drive to an AirPort Extreme and use that combination with Time Machine for backups. It does take a little bit more configuration time but I can say from personal experience that it works flawlessly. While there is an advantage to having the all-in-one Time Capsule it can also be an advantage having separate devices so that IF one fails, the other is still functional.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    Still not much snow up in Vermont but I do see a little dusting on the lawn on Prickly when I look at the webcam. Artie took advantage of the artificial snow up on Sugarbush and his “ski” clause in his employment agreement to get a few runs in this week. It was a very mild November and December is also mild. I definitely would have extended my motorcycling season this year if I was in Vermont. Motorcycling down here is a 12-month affair but a lot more boring – there is really only one road for about 100 miles.

    It is funny how my grandkid’s Christmas lists mature over the years. They have gone from asking for the latest game, toy or doll to much more practical stuff. My oldest teenage granddaughter, Khadija, had the following on her list: bed spread, house plants, tea, yarn and knitting needles, banana bread, stuff I need for college & anything from the heart.

    We have good stock of all the Apple products and third-party accessories at each of our stores so if you are doing some holiday shopping, drop into any of our stores in Vermont or down here in Key West!

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is the Apple iPad Air 16GB with WiFi in Space Gray. This is a great iPad at a very affordable price. It features a 9.7 inch screen, the powerful Apple A4 processor and a 10-hour battery life. While supplies last, this “*16GB iPad Air is available to Kibbles & Bytes readers for $389 and you get a $25 Small Dog Gift card, too!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002102/ Only a limited quantity available at this price!

  • 20 Years of Service.

    !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4613.jpg!

    Small Dog Electronics has been your local Apple Specialist for 20 years! Not only do we sell the latest Apple products and have some of the most knowledgeable staff around, we offer some of the best *one on one training* and *consulting* services around. Should Santa put something under the tree this year that your just not sure about how you can use it, do not worry, we have got your back and it doesn’t matter where the product came from. Stop into any of our retail stores or give us a call and we will get you getting the most out of your Apple products.

    “!http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4612.jpg!”:http://www.smalldog.com/macthehalls

    Not only do we have great services to help you get the most out of your Apple product, but we have some great deals going on in all of our retail stores *December 9th through the 15th*! Visit any of our retail stores in Rutland, Waitsfield or South Burlington or visit “www.smalldog.com/macthehalls”:http://www.smalldog.com/macthehalls for these deals or more information about what Small Dog services might benefit you.

  • Warning Signs of an Expanding Battery

    In every MacBook there is a battery. Depending on the year and model, the battery varies greatly. Sadly, batteries are consumable and eventual give out no matter how well you take care of your machine. At first you will see that your battery is holding less of a charge and the MacBook’s usage time starts to dwindle. Eventually it will stop charging all together. The biggest issue with batteries is when the start to swell and expand. There are a few warning signs to keep your eyes open for.

    * Trackpad doesn’t click and you feel resistance when pressing down.
    * The Trackpad cracks when no accidental damage has happened.
    * There is physical warping of the bottom case or the palm rests.

    If you are encountering these issues please go to your nearest Apple repair facility and have a technician take a look at your machine. An expanding battery is a fire hazard and the longer you wait to resolve the issue the more you are at risk for a thermal event.

  • Migrate Your Data to a New Mac

    When a customer buys a new Mac, there’s often a question of what to do about the old data. All that old data is all that stuff that made your old machine yours: it’s the settings, the pictures, saved web page bookmarks, documents, spreadsheets…all that stuff.

    Frequently a Mac-to-Mac data transfer can be done without any special equipment or advanced knowledge. The easiest way is to use Apple’s Migration Assistant which is a program built into OS X, and is on every new Mac. When setting up a new Mac (or any Mac that’s been reset to factory settings, generally from the disk being wiped and the OS being reinstalled) it’ll prompt you to make a decision.

    The top option is to transfer data from a start up disk or Time Machine backup. If you’re already doing a Time Machine backup to an external HDD this is the best option, just make sure your backup is completely up to date. If it’s behind, any changes you’ve made won’t show up on your new machine when the transfer completes. Once you’ve identified the drive you want the data to come from it goes through and calculates the sizes of everything on that older drive. You’ve got a little control of what comes over, like whether or not you want the entire Applications folder, but nothing more specific than that. It’ll also tell you how much available space will be left over, or if there’s more data on the source drive than the destination.

    I recommend using a Time Machine backup drive (any external HDD that has a Time Machine backup on it) because it’ll be useful for backups on the new machine. It’ll even see that it’s a new machine that has all the same data and ask if you want to keep using the same Time Machine backup; this is call inheriting.

    Alternatively, you can put the source machine into Target Disk Mode by pressing the T key when the machine is booting and having it connected to the destination machine through Thunderbolt or FireWire. Target disk mode only works through Thunderbolt and FireWire, don’t bother trying anything else. I’ve wasted enough time for us all: it’s not supported. If you’re transferring data from a machine with FireWire but no Thunderbolt to a new Mac that only has Thunderbolt you can get a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter, but that’ll run you $30 and you might not have another use for it after the data migration. You could also use a Thunderbolt cable, but that’ll also run you at least $30, and again, you might not have another use for it, that’s why I recommend an external HDD. If you’re not doing a backup, it’s worth the peace of mind, and simplifies data transfers.

  • Wi-fi Connections Vs. Wired Connections

    Wireless internet is very convenient. It’s much easier to simply connect your computer or phone to a wireless network instead of dealing with the network cables. Since wireless internet is a recent technology, it is often assumed that wi-fi is superior in every way to wired connections. It is true that wi-fi is easier to use than wired connections, but wired technology does have numerous advantages over wireless.

    Wired connections are much faster than wi-fi. They also are not vulnerable to wireless interference. Some electric devices like microwaves can emit wireless signals and radiation that can interfere with wi-fi signals. Wi-fi signals also cannot penetrate objects or walls that are thicker than a certain amount, depending on the exact frequency the signal uses. In addition, wi-fi signals are much less secure than wired connections, since they can be potentially connected to by anyone in range of the signal.

    All of these are things to consider the next time you are setting up a home network, or if you notice your wi-fi connected device being slow or acting strange. It could be that your wi-fi signal is being interfered with or having trouble transmitting through something.

  • _Hello Fellow Technophiles,_

    Have you seen the new iPad Pro yet? When I first picked it up, I felt like I had shrunk, not like this was a bigger device. From the iPhone 5S to this device, there is truly an iOS device that has the exact screen size that you are looking for. While I still am unable to make the transition to iOS device only, there are plenty of people out there that have. I am looking forward to the day when both devices run the same OS, or at least a similar enough one that the apps are transferrable, but I am not sure if this will happen or if so, whether it will be anytime soon. In the meantime, my 15 inch MacBook Pro and my iPhone give me two good options for getting through my daily tasks.

    Today’s Tech Tails brings us articles on wired vs. wireless connections, transferring data to your new Mac, and the warning signs of an expanding and potentially EXPLOSIVE battery.

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