Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • Safeware!

    This summer we started offering an exciting new protection plan from SafeWare. As you may know, Burlington is a major college town, so at the South Burlington store we see our fair share of accidental damage on Macs. Unfortunately, the standard AppleCare warranty does not cover drops, spills, or cracks. We all like to think that we’re immune to this type of damage, but the fact is, it happens to the best of us!

    With the purchase of a new Mac, and AppleCare, you can add SafeWare’s accidental protection for just $99. You have within the first 30 days of you purchase to add the SafeWare coverage, and after the initial cost, there are no hidden fees. If you do make a claim, there is a $250 dollar deductible, but considering the average cost of this type of repair is over $800, the savings is significant. The coverage lasts 3 years, or until the accidental claims have outweighed the total cost of the computer.

    Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a major percentage of our customers adding this coverage, and its no surprise. If you’d like to know more, feel free to stop in the store or visits SafeWare’s website for details. Remember to keep your Mac elevated above any beverages on the same surface, and in general, try to keep it out of the hands of a toddler!

  • The Dog Days of Summer are here!

    It’s mid July and it’s a draw around the office if the dog days of summer should be cause for celebration or if we are seeing it as the inevidible end to summer. For me the dog days of summer means I still have plenty of time to lounge around the campfire at night and spending my days enjoying the fresh air at the local lake or walk through the woods with my family. I admit that last summer ended for me with a list of regrets and things I had wished myself and my family had checked off our summer to do list. This summer is not one of those years for us. I have made it a point to unplug, kick back and take in all that summers have to offer us here in Vermont every chance that I get. I am determined to get the most our of the now warmer and dryer weather in the green mountains.

    At Small Dog we want you to get the most out of both your summer and your budget! Starting now we have some great deals running in our retail stores. While the kids might not be thinking about what they need when they return to school, we know many parents are wanting to check a few items off their lists and get back to enjoying summer. Visit any of our retail stores and grab some great deals! Buy any new Apple computer with Applecare and get three years of Safeware coverage for **FREE** and buy any Apple factory refurbished computer with Applecare and get a **$50 Small Dog gift card!**

    We have loads of savings running in all of our stores running now through labor day weekend, you can see a complete list of “**specials and promotions**”:http://www.smalldog.com/dogdaysofsummer/summer-sales by visiting our website or just stopping in.

    Emily Dolloff
    “emily@smalldog.com”:mailto:emily@smalldog.com

  • The new MacBook is here!

    With all the hoopla about the recent release of the Apple Watch, its been easy to overlook the release of the completely redesigned…

  • The United Airlines computer glitch that grounded all UA flights on Wednesday has had a ripple effect with lots of delays and cancelations. Three of my team that were down in Philly for Apple training had to rent a car to get home and other flights had long delays meaning missed connections. Flying is getting tricky even when it is not winter.

    I broke the temperature sensor port on my radiator for my Sprite so I will spend some time this weekend replacing the radiator and flushing the cooling system before I can take the little car out for a spin. Working on my car and my motorcycles is stress relief for me as I deal with rusted bolts and grease instead of my normal duties at Small Dog.

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

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Dean & Scott_

  • Everyone Loves Accents

    I try to be as accurate as possible when writing things in blogs and forums online. One of the problems I’ve always had has been typing accented letters correctly. English doesn’t really have any accented letters, but there are plenty of words you can use in an English sentence that do. Think words like “cliché”, “fiancé”, “français”, and “el niño”. Lots of people don’t bother figuring out how to type those characters and will just write “cliche” without the accent. Normally it doesn’t matter, and it sure is faster to just ignore it, but I really like to be as correct and accurate as possible.

    The first time I remember learning how to actually get a computer to type those characters was back in high school French class. We were using some French teaching software and if you didn’t type the word in spelled correctly including the accent, it wouldn’t accept it. Back then, at least on Windows, the best way to do it across any program was to hold the “alt” key and then type in the number of the accent you wanted. I don’t know if those numbers were unicode (I don’t think they were), but this was a really arcane process. I still remember getting an “é” required holding “alt” and pressing “1” “3” “0”.

    The good news is that Apple has your back if you want to be cool like me and type accented letters correctly. I knew that in iOS you could hold down a letter on the onscreen keyboard and any accented variations would pop up above the letter. Want an “é”? Just tap and hold the “e” key and you’ll get all the different possible accented “e” characters. That’s really easy, but I’m not typically doing a lot of typing on my iPad. I’m also pretty sure that my brother isn’t going to notice or care that I accurately spelled “cliché” in Messages.

    In OSX the only way to type these accented characters used to be using a method that was similar to the arcane Windows method. Up until Mountain Lion you had to hold down “option” while pressing a letter indicating the type of accent you wanted and then typing the letter to be accented. So if you wanted “é” you would hold “option”+”e”, release both keys and press “e”. Gross! Fret no more though. If you have Mountain Lion or newer, you can simply hold down the “e” key just like on your iOS device. A little popup will show up with all of the available accented letters. While still holding the “e” key, press the number of the one you want! So easy!

    !{display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4453.png!

    Now when I want to tell someone that I’m listening to a new band called “**Moodoïd**”:http://moodoid.com I can show off my sophistication by spelling it correctly with ease. Sadly, if you want to be even cooler and write foreign words using a different alphabet entirely, you have to add an international keyboard layout in System Preferences > Keyboard > Input Sources. Even that isn’t too hard though: маленькая собака электроника

  • Cut Across Shorty, Cut Across

    Keyboard shortcuts are handy ways of using simple keyboard commands to handle tasks that might require multiple clicks of your mouse or trackpad. Sometimes using these shortcuts can save time and make your work flow easier. As an example, from time to time I grab screen shots to include in Kibbles or to send to customers. I can launch the Grab app to capture these screen shots but I can also hit ⇧⌘3 (shift/command/3) to capture the screen. Easier yet, if I frequently use that key combination I can customize the keys I use or make one of my function keys do the screen grab. Here’s how you would do that:

    # Choose System Preferences -> Keyboard->Shortcuts
    # You will see a bunch of shortcuts that are already there
    # Select Screen Shots
    # Pick the one you want – i.e. Save Picture of screen as a file and select it
    # Click on the existing key combination until it is highlighted
    # Enter your new key combination

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4451.png!

    You will get a warning triangle if you choose a key combination (or function key) that is already in use.

    You can also add key combination shortcuts that are specific to an App. Selecting the App Shortcuts will take you there. Unless you have already set up some shortcuts, you will see only the key combination for “Show Help Menu” for all applications. To add a new shortcut to your favorite application you hit the + sign and a dialog box will pop up to allow you to select an app. From there you can set up the new shortcut:

    # Choose your App – or select all Apps if you want to set the key combination for the same menu command that appears in many Apps.
    # Type in the menu command for which you want to create a shortcut. VERY IMPORTANT – You must type the command exactly as it appears in the Application menu, including ellipses and any other punctuation. To type an ellipse, use three periods without spaces.
    # Click in the Keyboard Shortcut box and type the key combination or function key you wish to use and click “Add”.
    # Quit and restart any Apps that are open for the new keyboard command to take effect.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4452.png!

    If you assign a shortcut that already exists for another command or another App, your new shortcut will not work and you will have to find the menu command that is using that shortcut and change it.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    The big Warren, VT 4th of July parade was a huge success and once again the Prickly Mountain float was the hit of the parade. It was a gigantic Bernie puppet rocking the SS. Status Quo. We had our traditional strawberry daiquiri party and my hands were stained red from cutting berries. It was great to see family and friends celebrating the birthday of the USA.

    I am beginning to like Apple Music a lot. I might be the only one at the office that isn’t that impressed with Beats 1 but I do like the new paradigm of dealing with music. I have access to Apple’s entire library and get some pretty good suggestions for new music and playlists the match my tastes. I think that I will make out fine with the $14.99 family plan because I tend to buy more than that each month in music and now I can just download whatever I want. It will broaden my musical experience, too, as I will try a lot more music if it doesn’t have a dollar sign next to it. Now that the 3rd beta of iOS 9 is out I can enjoy it on my iPhone, too.

    The latest beta versions of El Capitan and iOS 9 were released this week and aside from the normal bug fixes the first two things I have noticed is that this latest version of iOS 9 includes the News app which allows you to customize your news feed. I started playing around with that and can see how that will easily become one of my most used apps. Also, this version activates Apple Music for iOS, too. There is a new setting in Settings that allows Apple Music to stream high quality over cellular – but watch your data plan if you activate this!

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a home automation special. I use Kevo Bluetooth locks on my homes and I love them. Opening and locking the door is as easy as touching the lock. No more fumbling for keys. As long as you have your iPhone on you the lock will open and close when you touch it. Installation is simple, especially if you already have a deadbolt lock on your door. Better yet, you have electronic keys that you can send via email. You can send an eKey to anyone and enable or disable that key remotely. You can also pre-set when that key is going to work and when it stops working so if you have someone that needs to get in to your house to fix something, you can send them an eKey to let them in and when they leave that key is no longer active. The Kwikset Kevo also works in conjunction with the Nest thermostat for even greater home automation it senses when you come home and asks if you want to adjust the thermostat. Normally $219.99, these locks come in polished brass, satin nickel or Venetian bronze. This week for Kibbles & Bytes readers you can “**get this simple and versatile lock**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001889 for only $189.99!

  • I am looking forward to the sun and the 4th of July coming up this weekend. I’m ready to toast the USA and celebrate our independence!

    Grace and our friend Deborah and I are riding out to Sturgis, SD for the 75th annual bike rally at the end of the month so we are preparing our route and trying to figure out just what we will pack for the 2-weeks on the bikes. Should be a good time and hopefully some great weather out by Mt. Rushmore.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Dean, Scott & Bronson_

  • Electrostatic Discharge

    Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is the sudden flow of electricity between to charged objects(i.e. your hand and that new RAM chip you just bought). Most electronic devices can be damage by ESD.

    Try to think back when you would run around in your socks as a kid and the second you touch the door knob…ZAP!!! The same thing happens with electronics except that the door knob is a a cheap piece of metal compared to a complicated, expensive RAM chip. Think of it as tiny lighting that travels through the electronic component looking for the shortest path to ground. Ecmweb did a study on this and found in a recent investigation that “the human body and its clothing is capable of storing between 500V and 2,500V during the normal workday. This is far above the level that damages circuits yet below the human perception threshold”. This means you could shock and destroy your Macbook without knowing anything occurred. That is why ESD safety precautions like grounded anti-static mats and ESD wrist straps are used when working on computers or other sensitive electronics. For more info visit “http://www.nfpa.org/”:http://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/document-information-pages?mode=code&code=77

  • iOS 8.4

    iOS 8.4 came out last week and I want to share with you some quick thoughts with you.

    Apple Music: One of the biggest reason to download iOS 8.4 is to get access to Apple Music. I plan to write an article all about Apple Music soon but I will not lie, it was the reason I updated my iOS devices. Some quick things you should know about Apple Music is you can try it free for 3 months. A selection of 30+ million songs on your devices is pretty awesome. I recommend giving it a shot.

    iBooks Update: iBooks saw a few touch ups including:
    * The ability to listen to audiobooks within the app itself
    * Some new setting option including turn off Auto-Night theme in your library and being able to pre order books in a series from you library
    * New Chinese font

    There is off course the traditional bug fixes that each iOS update has. The only warning I have to give you is if you use Home Sharing you will not want to update. iOS 8.4 has disabled Home Sharing and this is not a bug but a deliberate choice made by Apple.

  • Apple Music

    Recently Apple announced its new music streaming service called Apple Music. Apple Music is the “new iTunes” according to some, while others just see it as an extension of iTunes. Either way, Apple Music gives you access to stream any song from the iTunes Store, at any time, any number of times. Apple Music doesn’t only give you the best streaming flexibility, but it also gives you access to Beats 1 Radio, the only Radio Station that is on 24/7 all around the world. With DJs located in LA, NYC, and London, there is always someone there either interviewing artists, taking calls from listeners, and most importantly, playing some of the world’s greatest music.

    Apple has always been knee deep in the music industry for years, but they are taking the plunge with Apple Music. Apple has always sold music from the iTunes Store and has supported iTunes Radio, a radio service very similar to Pandora and Songza, however they have always steered away from streaming services such as those similar to Spotify and Google Play Music. With today’s technology people are buying devices with less and less internal storage capacity, and more and more data to support their devices, so a music streaming service is not only key if you want to have access to all of your music, but also the most convenient option if you are always connected to wifi or a data network. I have been a Spotify user for several years now, and it has always been my favorite way to stream music simply because of the convenience and the availability of different and new music. However, with the release of Apple Music I have discovered that it is both more convenient and has a greater selection of music and radio stations.

    The main thing that sold me on Apple Music was the interface, and how seamless it is on all my devices. As you probably know, all of my devices are Apple devices. Therefore I have iTunes on EVERYTHING, whereas Spotify is something that I have to install on everything. Even then, there are some devices, such as the Apple TV, that don’t support Spotify. So the fact that I can effortlessly have all my favorite music on all of my devices is simply AWESOME! I can simply add music to my iTunes library directly from Apple Music, and it will show up with all my other music that I have purchased in the past, thus allowing me to sync my iPhone or iPad and have access to all the new music offline if need be (ideal for long road trips and for those flights that don’t have wifi). All in all, Apple has once again had a major influence on the music industry!