Kibbles & Bytes Blog

It is December and it is still relatively mild in Vermont although the midwest seems to have taken the first winter blast this year. While world leaders debate a response to climate change in Paris it is apparent that 2015 will be the warmest on record. The impact of climate change is being felt already and we will undoubtedly see more extreme weather, coastal flooding and other weather events unless these leaders come up with a functional response. It is good to see them taking it seriously!

Happy Hanukkah! Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

_Don, Dean, Scott & Emily_

You don’t even have to be that old to see how much shopping has changed in modern times. I’m only 27 and even I remember a time when buying things online was far from trivial and even considered strange. Nowadays, almost everyone buys or has bought something online. It’s easy, sometimes more convenient than going to a store, and a wider selection of products are available. Even I just purchased two containers of “**Everglades Seasoning**”:http://www.evergladesseasoning.com/. I heard about it online, wanted to try it, and realized no physical store north of Tennessee was going to carry it. Internet shopping to the rescue!

So shopping online is pretty great, but it’s not without its perils. I’ve personally had my credit card number compromised several times over the last 2 years. My suspicion is that the compromises occurred during a handful of international purchases I made. Buying things from companies located in other countries can be much riskier even if all precautions are followed simply because laws and standards are harder to enforce across international boundaries. Fortunately, fraud detection from most major credit cards is excellent, so I never lost any money, but it’s a huge inconvenience. So if you’re shopping online this holiday season, I’m here to offer some tips on how to keep yourself and your credit card information safe and secure.

The most important thing to do is make sure that any site to which you’re submitting your credit card information has valid and active SSL (“**Secure Sockets Layer**”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security#SSL_1.0.2C_2.0_and_3.0) certificates. A good hint that things are working is the URL of the page will start with “https” rather than just “http”. Never submit credit card information on a site that is not using SSL. All modern browsers make it easy to verify valid certificates. I went to **https://checkout.smalldog.com/cart** and in the address bar at the top of Safari, there was a little lock icon next to the URL. I clicked on it and a window popped up saying that “Safari is using an encrypted connection to checkout.smalldog.com”. That’s what you want to see. I can further inspect the certificate by clicking “show certificate”. This will show all the details about the certificate, including whether or not it’s valid, and which Certificate Signing Authority (CSA) has issued the certificate. In the case of smalldog.com, I can see the certificate was issued by GeoTrust Global Certificate Authority. Safari has confirmed the certificate is valid, so I’m all set to enter my credit card information on this site. It will be encrypted and transmitted securely to Small Dog and no bad people will be able to steal it.

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I don’t always buy things from major retailers online. Sometimes I find tiny companies or just choose to buy something directly from a publisher for example. These companies often don’t put as much effort or focus on e-commerce security, because it’s not their main source of business. However, you can still often purchase safely from such companies if they support PayPal. In order to even support PayPal, a company has to adhere to PayPal’s rules and systems which are secure, because that’s what PayPal does. PayPal acts as a buffer between an online merchant and your financial information (bank account, credit card, etc). When you use PayPal to purchase something, the merchant only receives an authorization code from PayPal. They never see any of your financial information. The merchant can then transfer the money to their own PayPal account from your PayPal account. The great thing about this setup is that the online merchant never sees or uses your credit card information. That’s taken care of by PayPal internally. From PayPal, you can manage your financial information any way you’d like. I personally only added a credit card to my account. So when I purchase something using PayPal, my credit card is ultimately charged, but it’s PayPal that’s actually doing the charging on the merchant’s behalf. In a nutshell: You pay PayPal, PayPal pays merchant. This is very secure and allows me to purchase things online with an extra layer of security. Small Dog’s shopping cart also supports using PayPal for purchases.

Those are my tips and suggestions on staying safe this holiday season when you’re shopping online. It’s easy to shop safely online if you follow a few basic rules of thumb.

Hanukkah starts this Sunday and lasts for eight days. So, I thought it would be fun to call out what I think are the eight best gift ideas for the holidays.

h2. Day 1 –

h3. Kwikset Kevo Lock

I have the Kevo lock at my house and I simply love it. We rented out the house up on Prickly Mountain while we are in Key West and it was a simple matter of sending an electronic key to the renters. They can then use their iPhones to open and lock the house. With the upcoming addition of the Kevo Plus gateway (an add-on purchase) you will be able to remotely control your lock, too. It is a great convenience; no longer do I have to hide a key under the mat or arrange to get a key to someone who needs to get into my house. I can just send them a key via email.

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I installed the Kevo at both houses in about an hour. If you already have a deadbolt it is a very simple installation. The Kevo app is all you need afterwards. Of course, there is a regular key if you need it and a key fob for those few that don’t have an iPhone or iPad.

We are offering the Kevo lock in your choice of Polished Brass, Satin Nickel or Venetian Bronze for $30 off this year. This is a great gift for your parents, especially if you come over and install it for them!

h2. Day 2 –

h3. The New Apple TV

The newest version of the Apple TV might be this year’s most popular gift. I was talking with my Apple rep the other day and we were comparing how much we use Apple TV vs other cable or satellite services. I haven’t quite cut the cable yet because I want access to local news but I am finding that my viewing habits are about 75% Apple TV now. That includes a bunch of news stations because I am a news junkie but also a lot of binge watching as Grace and I find a show that interests us. Watching the Celtics on NBA Team Pass skews the numbers a bit, too. I’ve become addicted to a simple game on Apple TV – Crossy Road which annoys Grace as I play while she is making dinner.

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I think you will find the new Apple TV experience to be rewarding and will change how you watch TV, too!

If you buy either the 32GB or 64GB Apple TV you can add a 6 ft. HDMI cable for only $7.50 or add AppleCare for only $25.

h2. Day 3 –

h3. Factory Refurbished 27-inch iMac

This one is for that really special person on the list. This is a stunning 27-inch iMac that features a 3.2 GHz i5 processor, 8GB of ram and a big 1TB hard drive. You are going to save hundreds buying this Apple Factory Reconditioned iMac. It comes with Apple’s 1-year warranty and is eligible for AppleCare as well. This is a great way to add that “family” Mac at great savings. We are normally selling these at $1429.99 but for Kibbles & Bytes readers we have two special values. Buy the iMac alone at $100 off – $1329.99 or give yourself some piece of mind and buy AppleCare with the iMac, extending your warranty to 3- years and your Apple Technical support to 3-years for $1439.99!

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h2. Day 4 –

h3. Apple Airport Extreme with 2 TB Hard Drive

Is there someone on your list that is still using an old Airport base station? You know, the one that looked like a flying saucer? Upgrade them with a new Apple Airport Extreme to give them faster speeds and a more secure network. Because you love them and want them always to have a backup of all those silly pictures they took of you at the holiday party in THAT sweater we are going to bundle the Airport Extreme with a 2 TB Seagate hard drive that they can either connect to the Airport Extreme for Time Machine backups or directly to their Mac.

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The special price for Kibbles & Bytes readers on this bundle is $274.98

h2. Day 5 –

h3. Tempus Pro Bluetooth Weather Station

I have talked about the Fody Tempus Pro weather station and it has been one of the most sought after gifts this year. I have these weather stations installed at my house and it is fun to have instantaneous weather data from my own micro-climate easily accessible from my iPhone or iPad. It is very easy to install and is a complete weather station including wind, rain, temperature and barometric pressure from both indoor and outdoor sensors.

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Kibbles & Bytes readers can get the Tempus Pro for $20 off – $139.99.

h2. Day 6 –

h3. Hammerhead USB Charging Bundle

If you are like me you can never have too many USB chargers and cables. I named our Hammerhead brand after my bulldog although we use a shark as the logo. We have home chargers and car chargers that each feature two charging ports with power to charge both an iPad and an iPhone. We also have Apple-licensed braided lightning cables. These have the Apple MFI designation so you know they are safe for your devices. This bundle includes two of these cables and one each of the home and car charger. Normally the bundle is $77 but for Kibbles & Bytes readers only you can have all four pieces for $55.99!

h2. Day 7 –

h3. Beats by Dr. Dre Solo 2 Headphones

The kids or the grandkids still want to be sporting Beats. Here’s a great chance to get them what they really want. Engineered for comfort, the Solo 2. The Solo 2 has a more dynamic, wider range of sound, with a clarity that will bring you closer to what the artist intended you to hear. Regardless of what kind of music you’re into, you will feel the higher fidelity sound in your Solo 2. With the color-matched cable with remote you can change songs, adjust the volume and even take calls, without having to reach for your device.

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Regularly $199.99, Kibbles & Bytes readers can get them this week for only $149.99!

h2. Day 8 –

h3. MacBook with 512GB storage!

I’ve left the best for last. The new MacBook has really re-defined the portable computer. This MacBook is the one I want to replace my MacBook Air. It is fully configured with 8GB of ram and a big 512GB SSD drive. It has a brilliant 12-inch screen and the slimmest most sleek design of any laptop.

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For Kibbles & Bytes readers you can buy any MacBook with 512GB storage bundled with AppleCare for only $1775!

_Dear Friends,_

We drove up to Miami on Monday to see the Celtics beat the Heat. It is a long drive up the Florida Keys but a beautiful drive with ocean and gulf surrounding you as you travel up the island chain to the mainland. Then we entered a whole new world but got to see a great basketball game. I ran into Cedric Maxwell, former Celtic and radio announcer in the aisle and he sorta looked at me like he know me but we had only met once before in the picture here when I went down to Boston for a Celtic experience with former Small Dogger Katie Wilhite.

Hanukkah is early this year and starts this Sunday. I will give you my top 8 Hanukkah gifts this year below that will work for all the holidays this season.

It has been hard to watch the news these days with all the senseless shootings. It seems like it is an everyday occurrence and it is almost inevitable that we will become numb to it. You know I am an avid science fiction reader and today seems so much like some author’s dark vision of the future whether it is 1984 or the Berserkers of Fred Saberhagen’s space opera. We cannot let ourselves make this the new normal.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes special brings back the popular “**Chill Pill six-pack offer**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002096. 2 red, 2 black, 2 white Chill Pills for one low price of $29.99! These will make a great stocking stuffer!