Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Getting Ready for El Capitan

    Downloading the latest Mac OS this next week is the easy part. Unless you start the download when another 2 million people are doing the same thing, Apple makes the upgrade process very painless. And of course, it is free, too! There are some steps you should consider as you prepare for El Capitan to make it a smooth process.

    BACK UP!
    Yes, I am shouting! Back up your data all the time but especially whenever you are updating your operating system. We have talked endlessly about how fabulous Time Machine is as a tool to back up your data. DO IT NOW. Upgrading to El Capitan is a great excuse to make a fresh back up of your priceless data.

    Do you know who you are?

    Do you know your Apple ID and the password? You are going to need that to upgrade. It will be asked for when you start the download and you will also be asked for it during the El Capitan and iCould setup. If you wrote it down on that little scrap of paper that is somewhere in your wallet, now would be a good time to find it.

    How Old is Your Mac?

    Sorry, that old SE 30 will not support El Capitan so you should make sure that you know if your Mac will support the new operating system. Here’s a list of the supported machines:

    iMac (mid-2007 or newer)
    MacBook (late 2008 Aluminum, or early 2009 or newer)
    MacBook Air (late 2008 or newer)
    MacBook Pro (mid- to late 2007 or newer)
    Mac Mini (early 2009 or newer)
    Mac Pro (early 2008 or newer)

    If you do not know your model you can go under the Apple menu and select About This Mac and if you are running Yosemite you will see something like this screen shot that will show you the vintage of your Mac.

    RAM and Storage

    The two mostly commonly confused terms in technology. Well, you need enough of both memory and storage. In the case of memory, Apple recommends a minimum of 2GB, however; Small Dog Electronics would set that minimum at 4GB. I think you will find your experience with El Capitan to suffer with only 2GB. If your Mac’s memory can be upgraded, now might be a good time!

    Storage is also important. We always recommend that you have at least 10-15% of your hard drive or SSD drive free just for cases like this. The installation of a new operating system creates a lot of temporary files that need space to live before they are ultimately deleted by the installation. Apple says that El Capitan takes about 6GB and that you should have 8GB free. That is cutting it pretty close. I would recommend that you have a minimum of 10GB free and pay close attention to the 10-15% free space. Now would be an excellent time to purge some files and old stuff that you really don’t need – like that downloaded copy of the Sopranos last season.

    Are you up-to-date?

    Is there a number in the icon of the App store? Have you done all your updates for the operating system and apps? Developers have been optimizing their Apps for El Capitan for several months so doing all those updates before you upgrade to El Capitan may make things go easier for you, too!

  • The honey-do list keeps expanding and I think I will be busy with chores most of the weekend, getting the house ready for the change in seasons.

    I hope you have a fantastic first fall weekend! Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Dean, Scott_

  • What’s New with Watch OS 2.0?

    Here’s my top eight new features of the new release of the Watch OS:

    h3. Native Apps!

    With the original software release all of your Apps from Apple or third-parties had to have the iPhone to function. In fact, they were mostly resident on the iPhone and the iPhone was the workhorse. With Watch OS 2.0 Apps can be made by developers that are native to the Watch. This means that they can access things like the heart rate sensor, microphone, Taptic Engine and accelerometer.

    This should mean some new exciting apps coming in the next few months that further expand the use of the Apple Watch.

    h3. A New Face on Time

    Tired of the line-up of watch faces? Mickey Mouse just not your thing? Well, there are a new set of watch faces to personalize. I now sport one with Hammerhead, my bulldog, staring at me. There are time lapse scenes, you can choose your own photo or even a photo album which will change the picture each time you raise your wrist.

    h3. It’s Complicated

    Some of the watch faces have little customizable boxes that you can set for things like weather, stocks, timers, etc. The new Watch OS opens complications to app developers so now you can add even more information to your watch face.

    h3. Time Travel

    I think someone at Apple must be working on a real Time Machine with all the references to time in their software but with Watch OS 2.0 you have a new way to look forward or backward in time by using the Digital Crown to scroll through your schedule and see contextual information like what the weather is likely to be on your trip tomorrow or perhaps a missed email from yesterday.

    h3. Take the Red Line to Wrigley Field!

    The maps app on the watch is great, especially when you are navigating by foot in a big city. But when you are in a big city navigating mass transit is essential. Watch OS 2.0 brings Mass Transit directions to Maps! It gives you walking directions to the nearest subway or bus stop and then after you get off it continues with your walking directions, tapping you on the wrist to turn.

    h3. Good Night

    I do not think I will use this much, except perhaps, while on the road. Watch OS 2.0 allows a Nightstand mode that basically turns your watch into an alarm clock and takes the watch face and moves it into the horizontal position.

    h3. It Lives!

    If you are one of the lucky ones upgrading to the iPhone 6s or 6s+ you probably know about Live Photos already. This is the cool feature that records a bit of video with a photo and when you press on the photo it comes alive with movement. Well, that works on the Watch, too, if you have the iPhone 6s or 6s+. It is like watching a GIF on your wrist. Just set one of the Live Photos as your watch face, press and watch the motion.

    h3. eMail Reply

    While you *should* be able to record a response to an email with the microphone the way that you do with text replies, you can reply to emails now. Short and canned is the description. You can choose from several customizable preset responses. You can create up to 20 and the signature will say “Sent from my Apple Watch” (customizable, too) so your recipient will know why you are so terse.

  • Get Ready for El Capitan

    Downloading the latest Mac OS this next week is the easy part. Unless you start the download when another 2 million people are doing the same thing, Apple makes the upgrade process very painless. And of course, it is free, too! There are some steps you should consider as you prepare for El Capitan to make it a smooth process.

    h3. BACK UP!

    Yes, I am shouting! Back up your data all the time but especially whenever you are updating your operating system. We have talked endlessly about how fabulous Time Machine is as a tool to back up your data. DO IT NOW. Upgrading to El Capitan is a great excuse to make a fresh back up of your priceless data.

    h3. Do you know who you are?

    Do you know your Apple ID and the password? You are going to need that to upgrade. It will be asked for when you start the download and you will also be asked for it during the El Capitan and iCould setup. If you wrote it down on that little scrap of paper that is somewhere in your wallet, now would be a good time to find it.

    h3. How Old is Your Mac?

    Sorry, that old SE 30 will not support El Capitan so you should make sure that you know if your Mac will support the new operating system. Here’s a list of the supported machines:

    * iMac (mid-2007 or newer)
    * MacBook (late 2008 Aluminum, or early 2009 or newer)
    * MacBook Air (late 2008 or newer)
    * MacBook Pro (mid- to late 2007 or newer)
    * Mac Mini (early 2009 or newer)
    * Mac Pro (early 2008 or newer)

    If you do not know your model you can go under the Apple menu and select About This Mac and if you are running Yosemite you will see something like this screen shot that will show you the vintage of your Mac.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4531.jpg!

    h3. RAM and Storage

    The two mostly commonly confused terms in technology. Well, you need enough of both memory and storage. In the case of memory, Apple recommends a minimum of 2GB, however; Small Dog Electronics would set that minimum at 4GB. I think you will find your experience with El Capitan to suffer with only 2GB. If your Mac’s memory can be upgraded, now might be a good time!

    Storage is also important. We always recommend that you have at least 10-15% of your hard drive or SSD drive free just for cases like this. The installation of a new operating system creates a lot of temporary files that need space to live before they are ultimately deleted by the installation. Apple says that El Capitan takes about 6GB and that you should have 8GB free. That is cutting it pretty close. I would recommend that you have a minimum of 10GB free and pay close attention to the 10-15% free space. Now would be an excellent time to purge some files and old stuff that you really don’t need – like that downloaded copy of the Sopranos last season.

    h3. Are you up-to-date?

    Is there a number in the icon of the App store? Have you done all your updates for the operating system and apps? Developers have been optimizing their Apps for El Capitan for several months so doing all those updates before you upgrade to El Capitan may make things go easier for you, too!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is now officially autumn and while I do see a few trees with some color starting, the fall foliage season which draws thousands of leaf peepers to Vermont seems like it will be a little later than normal this year. We have had some unusually warm weather and not much rain so my guess is that it will be peak foliage sometime in the 2nd week of October this year.

    Apple followed up the release of iOS 9 with the release of WatchOS 2.0 this week. I will go over some of the new features in the latest watch release but it may be a little while before we see the full impact as the most major upgrade is that the watch is now able to use native Apps and developers will be releasing new tools to make the Apple Watch even more useful.

    It seems that iOS 9 is being adopted at an amazing rate. It was reported that in the first 3 days of the release over 50% of active devices had been updated and are taking advantage of the new iOS 9 features. The new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are shipping this week, too. Some shipments were delayed in Washington, New York and Philadelphia however, due to traffic restrictions related to the Pope’s visit this week.

    The six-pack Chill Pill speaker special was so successful last week that we are going to hold it over for one more week!

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a six-pack of our famous Chill Pill mobile speakers. These compact “transformer” speakers produce big sound in a small package and have a built-in rechargeable battery. Normally, these sell for $29.99 each but for this week only for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can “*get 2 black, 2 white and 2 Red Chill Pill Speakers for the cost of one!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001955

  • Grace and I are having nightly “discussions” as we try to clean up the house for rental while we spend our winter in Key West. It is a battle between the need to “purge” and my proclivity to be a pack rat. It is a drawer a night and I just cannot throw away that Apple remote for a 1st generation Apple TV or the USB dial-up modem but Grace has a good point – when am I EVER going to use those?

    Lots of chores this weekend but I know I will sneak out on the bike for a bit as the weather is supposed to cooperate. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Dean, Mike, Scott_

  • Apple Knows Power Efficiency

    Long-time Kibbles readers might know that I’m kind of an electricity/power/engineering buff. I’ve written articles for Kibbles before about “*solar power*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb872/, batteries and other “*power generation*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb870/ techniques. It’s easy to focus on power generation because it’s flashy, techy, and seems like the go-to place if you’re trying to use power that’s greener. We often forget about the less sexy side of the electricity use cycle: consumption.

    Fortunately, Apple hasn’t forgotten about the consumption side. When everyone else was drooling over the multitasking, Siri, and app improvements in iOS 9, I was combing over the notes about improved battery life (by 1 whole hour!) and low power modes. We all seem to have a good understanding and appreciation of power consumption on our battery-based devices because it means we can use them for longer without being interrupted for charging. That’s a good thing because with iOS 9 providing even more capability we’ll probably be using them for longer.

    What you may not know though is that Apple’s entire product line strives to be power efficient. One of the big selling points of the Macbook Air over the 13″ Macbook Pro for me was the lightness and extremely low power consumption. I hoped to be able to run and charge it using my small 50-watt PV power station. I can happily report that thanks to the efficiency and low power consumption, I am able to do that for most of the year.

    For you, dear Kibbles readers, I have taken to our showroom with a notepad and my “*Kill-a-Watt*”:http://www.p3international.com/products/p4400.html meter to report some other power consumption readings of various Apple devices that I don’t own personally.

    Coming in at the very lowest end are the iPhones and iPads. My iPad Air (first generation) charges effortlessly with my power station. The iPads use a 10-watt plug which basically means it’ll deliver up to 10 watts to the device (5 volts at 2 amps DC in the case of USB powered tablets). The AC to DC conversion is very efficient and can be virtually discounted from calculations. A 10-watt charger will never draw more than a little over 10 watts from the wall.

    Next up we have the new 12″ Macbook. For what is effectively a full desktop machine (it runs the full latest version of OS X, not iOS) the Macbook is extremely stingy with its power consumption. Fully charged and idling, it consumes only 6 watts. When active it spikes consumption to somewhere in the 8-20 watt range. Powered by a 29-watt USB-C adapter, it’ll never draw more than that from the wall. Maximum draw will be during charging.

    After the Macbook, we step to my realm with the 11″ and 13″ Macbook Airs. The 13″ consumes only 8 watts at idle. Since I use my Air with my power system, I calculate run times based off a 1-2 amp draw on my battery. With a 42-amp hour battery, that’s a long run time. The 11″ air will consume slightly less, but the only difference is in the screen size and power required to light it as all the hardware is the same. Macbook Airs come with 45-watt chargers, and so will not consume more than that. Maximum draw will again be during charging.

    The amazing thing though is that even when you move to the 13″ and 15″ Macbook Pros, power consumption is still remarkably low. I read the 15″ Macbook Pro at 18 watts during idle and around 30 watts during activity. The 13″ Macbook Pro was the same at about 30 watts during activity, but came in slightly lower at 12 watts while idling. Again, the hardware is the same, so the only difference is in power required to light a bigger screen. Macbook Pros come with either a 60 or 85-watt charger, and once again, they will not consume more than that from the wall. Maximum draw will be during charging.

    I wasn’t able to test Apple’s non-portables, but I know for a fact (we use them in our server room) that Mac minis are about as good on power as Macbook Airs. They use similar hardware. The latest Mac minis can park themselves comfortably down in the 10 watt range if they’re not doing too much work.

    A very new addition to my home tech collection is a 3rd generation Apple TV (yes, I know, why didn’t I just wait for the new one?). Actually, I got it because I liked the price and because it has optical audio output. With the new Apple TV, I’d need to split the audio signal from the HDMI somehow. Anyway one of the first things I did was test the power consumption of the Apple TV. 1-2 watts at the wall. That’s it. So basically I just leave it plugged into my PV power strip and plan to only ever power it using my generated solar power.

    I hope you’ve enjoyed this very brief rundown of power efficiency and consumption among Apple’s devices. Even if you don’t generate your own power like I do, choosing a power efficient device can mean a lot of cost savings in electricity bills, especially if you use the device a lot. For a detailed environment report for each Apple device, visit “*Apple’s Environment Reports page.*”:http://www.apple.com/environment/reports/

  • iOS 9 Making Things Easier

    I have been playing with the beta of iOS 9 for some time and I have already gotten so used to some of the new features that I no longer consider them new. But for most people these improvements will be a pleasant surprise. I definitely encourage you to download iOS 9 so you can check out some of them! Here are some of my favorites for the iPhone. We will cover the iPad and iOS 9 next week.

    h3. Multitasking – the App Switcher

    You still double click the home button to access the App switcher but it has changed. The screens of open apps are shown in large size and you scroll right to left in order of most recently used. On the bottom of the screen you will see an improved Handoff indicator. It is a thin tab that you pull upwards to open the active Handoff screen.

    h3. Go Back to App

    If you click on a Notification or a link from an email or Safari and it opens a new window for the new app you can now quickly go back to the previous app. The “go back” button will only be there for about a minute before it vanishes but if you just want to check something out you can quickly go back to where you were.

    h3. Folders for Photo App

    iOS 9 has new folders or albums for selfies and screenshots within the Photos app. The Selfies folder is basically all the pictures taken with the front-facing camera while the screen shots folder log all the screen captures you do by holding down the home button and clicking the power button.

    h3. Low Power Mode

    Running low on juice and no convenient charger? iOS 9 introduces Low Power Mode. This power saving mode switches off some of the battery-draining features such as visual effects, background app refresh, automatic downloads and email refresh. You can switch to Low Power Mode in the Battery screen of settings or once you reach about 10% you will be asked whether you want to go into Low Power Mode. Once you plug your phone in you it reverts to regular mode.

    h3. News App

    Apple has introduced their News App which is pre-installed. You can customize it from their variety of feeds and subscribe to stories from a variety of sources. I have found that News is more useful to me than many of the other news apps that I have used so it has a prominent place on my home screen.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4522.jpg!

    h3. Searching

    Swipe to the left from the home screen and you get to the search screen. Spotlight which uses Siri now can answer a wider variety of questions. It interprets your plain english typing. You can do currency conversions, look up sports scores, do simple math, etc right there. Even without typing you can see other listings. These are the “proactive” Siri suggestions where Apple tries contextually to find you some relevant information.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4520.jpg!

    There is lots more to discover with iOS 9 and plenty that is “under the hood” to improve speed and performance. You are going to love it!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is a heat wave! Temps have been soaring into the high 80s during the day and cool at night making for a perfect end for the last few days of summer. I went to a big get together at the home of Ben Cohen from that ice cream company for the VBSR Terry Ehrich award ceremony honoring Duane Peterson from SunCommon, the largest solar energy company in the state. It was a beautiful evening with some very interesting and engaged business leaders in Vermont. I was fortunate to win this award back in 2011 and many of the other award winners were present as we inducted Duane into our small club. VBSR is celebrating our 25th anniversary this year so it was also a big celebration of our continued commitment to the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

    It was a beautiful night and the event was outside. That is always tricky this time of the year. I remember several years ago that we held a Small Dog Electronics party outside on Labor Day. We had hired a great local singer and band and had great food. Unfortunately, it was like 20 degrees and rainy outside so the party was a bit of a dud. But we were rewarded with a warm night and a beautiful sunset for the VBSR event.

    iOS 9 was released this week and all of the new features for your iPhone or iPad are ready for your free downloading pleasure. If you tried to download right when the update was released you might have encountered some problems due to clogged servers with millions trying to download the same file simultaneously. By today, however, the update is fast.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a six-pack of our famous Chill Pill mobile speakers. These compact “transformer” speakers produce big sound in a small package and have a built-in rechargeable battery. Normally, these sell for $29.99 each but for this week only for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can get 2 black, 2 white and 2 Red Chill Pill Speakers for the cost of one! “*That’s right $29.99 gets you a six-pack of Chill Pills!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001955/special-chill-pill-six-pack-for-only-29-99

  • Small Dog Instagram Contest Winner!

    Recently we launched a contest giveaway via our Instagram. We asked our followers to take their best shot at capturing their Labor Day weekend adventures. The best photo submission won an “Olioclip 4 in 1 Lens”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86350/olloclip-4-in-1-lens-solution-for-iphone-6-6-plus-silver-black Congratulations to our winner **@mtb802** for this amazing photo taken over Labor Day weekend!

    **Follow us at @hellosmalldog!**