Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Grace has been down in Key West so I have been hanging out with the dogs and celebrating national dog day with the pups. Normally, Grace lets Max, our Papillon out early in the AM and it has been a bit disconcerting to be waken up every morning with him licking my face but I have convinced him to institute a “snooze-lick”.

School is in but our Dog Days of Summer and back to school sales are still going on until Labor Day so it is not too late to take advantage of the specials!

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Dean, Scott_

As I look through my photos from time to time I notice a bunch of accidental screen shots from my iPhone or Apple watch. I have not had any real occasion to use screen shots from my iPhone but in writing up the article above I needed some to illustrate so I wanted to show you how to do it. That way maybe you, too, can avoid taking unintentional screen shots and do really good intentional ones.

It is really simple. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on the top or side of your iPhone and then immediately press and release the Home button. You will see the screen flash or hear the shutter click and then you will find your screen shot in the Photos app.

Anybody who has a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. knows that Wednesday was National Dog Day. As news feeds clogged with puppy pics, tags such as #nationaldogday and #happydogday held the top spot of the trending lists all day long. Here at Small Dog Electronics, we celebrated with our pups and welcomed yours into our stores with a treat and a good scratch behind the ears, which actually happens every day because we think Dog Day should be every day!

It’s good to be a dog in today’s tech-driven society. With all of the dog-friendly apps out there it’s easier than ever for owners to train their pup, monitor their health and even find other dogs in the area in need of a good home. I was able to find some really cool apps in the app store that do all of those things and so much more.

The first app that I came across was an app called “**PetCoach**”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/petcoach-ask-vets-trainers/id799167181?mt=8. PetCoach serves as a platform for users to ask verified vets, trainers and other pet experts their pet-related questions for free. Whether Buster got into your bag of chocolates or he just won’t stop peeing inside the house, PetCoach will be there to help with helpful training tips or crucial diagnosis quick. You can also browse topics on the forum or schedule appointments with trainers and/or vets in your area.

We love our dogs and wish that we could take them everywhere with us, but sometimes that just isn’t possible. With the app, “**DogVacay**”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dogvacay/id595856620?mt=8, it takes a little bit of the trouble away from finding somebody to watch your dog while you’re gone. DogVacay allows the user to find a certified dog-sitter in their area to watch their dogs while they’re away. One of the coolest features of this app is that the user can reserve and pay the dog-sitter right from the phone and it requires the sitter to to send daily photo updates to the owner so you can travel with peace of mind. Forget the kennel; leave your pup in a real home with fellow dog-lover!

Some dog-lovers are still looking for that special dog to come into their lives. “**BarkBuddy**”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/barkbuddy-adopt-a-dog-near-you/id875026451?mt=8 makes that easier than ever as it connects you with cute pups in search of a good home. All that you have to do is fill out an easy application and once you’re approved, you can browse dogs up for adoption and find the perfect one based on your preferences. BarkBuddy also allows users to become matchmakers and connect other users with pups in need of a good home.

We would love to hear about how you celebrated National Dog Day and hear your reviews of these pup lovin’ apps!

I have written about my experiences with Costco’s Kirkland Signature 6.0 hearing aids in past issues of Kibbles & Bytes. Several of you have asked for an update and as my 90-day return window closes soon, I thought it would be a good time. Long story short, I am not returning them. Recent updates to the iOS 9 beta software have corrected the problem where they would not pair with my iPhone so I have full functionality of the Bluetooth connection.

Let me go back a bit and talk about my journey to adopt these Costco hearing aids. I was noticing that I was having trouble understanding some speech on TV, especially British accents and I decided to get my hearing checked. I have a friend whose hearing was so bad that you could talk about him without him noticing and he was too vain or lazy to get help. Well, I wasn’t going to be that way so I visited an audiologist and discovered that I had hearing loss mostly in the high frequencies. I am going to go on a bit of a rant here as there seems to be some sort of insurance exploit with audiologists. I was quoted over $7500 for hearing aids that were manufactured by the same company that supplies Costco. Costco sells them for $1799.99. When I asked the audiologist about the price difference, the only response I got was that she could not discount them because of “insurance” i.e. they want to maintain the high prices that some insurance companies pay.

As I was researching, I found that there are really only three companies that make high quality digital hearing aids and only two of them had worked closely with Apple to implement Bluetooth connectivity with iPhone and iPad. One of these companies, ReSound, makes the Kirkland Signature 6.0 and the Kirkland software, too. Surprisingly, when I called Costco, not only was the hearing testing free but instead of the $7500 it was $1800 and included free checkups, adjustments, warranty and accidental damage.

The first night when I got home from Costco, I was amazed at all the sounds that I was missing. I could hear the brook bubbling, the songbirds singing and the wind in the leaves of the trees. Oh yeah, I could also understand British accents on TV. I am definitely a success story, hearing aids have restored some part of my life I was missing. I never thought that the signs hearing loss would be so subtle and gradual. It ends up being a loss of the connection and interpretation that your brain makes from the sounds it can hear. So, as you lose some of those sounds that connection is broken and doesn’t get better unless you deal with it.

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I do not have to do much adjustment to the hearing aids but the Kirkland app for my iPhone is front and center. It utilizes Bluetooth to connect to them and also the GPS function to know where they are. This can be handy as it then knows when I am in the office, when I am at home and can adjust the settings automatically.

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It also has a “find my hearing aid” function so that in the unlikely event that they are lost you can find them. In addition to this location-based setting, the app allows you to adjust volume, bass and treble and monitor battery life. But there is more, you can set “favorites” which are basically hearing aid settings that are tied to GPS locations. So instead of having to adjust my hearing aids when I get to the office, it knows I am there and adjusts them.

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Apple also have a built-in hearing aid app which is accessed by triple-clicking the home button. This app also allows you to adjust volume, monitor battery life and change between presets.

But there is more. Since I am connected by Bluetooth I can stream the sound from my iPhone to my hearing aids. This comes in very handy with everything from answering phone calls (the audio comes right to my ears, but I do have to use the iPhone microphone), listening to music or watching the Cubs game. There are add-on devices that would also allow you to stream TV output but I don’t need that.

This all sounds pretty good and it is but there are some items on my wish list. ReSound has an app for the Apple Watch that has not quite made it to Costco and that would add even more functionality to the hearing aids. Battery life is okay but depending upon how much you stream, you may be replacing batteries twice a week. They are about $0.20 at Costco so that isn’t too bad. Costco can set various programs for you i.e. noise, outdoor, party, etc. which make settings automatic. I use noise at the office because the air handlers sound really loud in the background otherwise but that setting is also useful at restaurants with a lot of background noise – it makes the microphones on the hearing aids more directional. I would love to be able to manipulate these settings without visiting Costco and save other programs, however, I really only use three…normal, noise and off.

Costco is a competitor for Apple products but I can wholeheartedly recommend the Kirkland Signature 6.0 if you are noticing some hearing loss. With a free hearing test you will know for sure and they let you try them out and walk around the store a bit during your visit.

_Dear Friends,_

Time seems to go faster and faster, and the older you get the faster it goes. I remember as a child enjoying the endless summer and yet, now, it seems like a blink of an eye. Here we are at the end of August, the kids are mostly all back at school, random maple trees are already showing some red tinges and Apple has their fall announcements all queued up for just after Labor Day. Apparently, Apple has some interesting stuff to report as they have reportedly rented out a much bigger auditorium for this presentation.

The stock market “correction” this past week concerned a lot of people who were watching their retirement accounts but the impact upon the growing Chinese middle class was much more dramatic. The Chinese stock market is quite different from our market in the USA but it has been attracting investment from the young entrepreneurs that are helping the world’s second largest economy grow. While we were correcting, many in China had their new wealth disappear in that market’s crash. Apple stock also took a big hit as many investors read the impact on Apple from the upheaval in the Chinese markets wrong. Apple remains one of the strongest and most valuable companies in the world with cash reserves that exceed the gross national product of many countries. I think we may see some of that vitality when Apple shows us what they have been working on lately.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Special features the Outdoor Tech Orca earbuds. I carry a pair of these on my Indian Chieftain to take advantage of the built-in Bluetooth on the bikes radio. These lightweight earbuds have great quality sound, built-in microphone and Bluetooth connectivity. I have tested them extensively and I get a good 6 hours of music on a charge. I can highly recommend these and they are on sale this week for only $99.99 and we will also send you a free Belkin Armband for your “*iPhone 5*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001936/dog-days-of-summer-free-belkin-armband-for-iphone-5-5s-5c-with-purchase-of-outdoor-tech-orcas or “*iPhone 6*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001937/dog-days-of-summer-free-belkin-armband-for-iphone-6-with-purchase-of-outdoor-tech-orcas-earbuds.