Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Hearing Aid Update

    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.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4499.jpg!

    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.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4498.jpg!

    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.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4497.jpg!

    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.

  • 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.

  • Sweet corn season! I love it. It is always a great excuse for a motorcycle ride, although this weekend I am going to ride down to the Scottish festival to see Hapy compete in the Highland Games and probably pick up some corn from a farm stand on the way home.

    Hey, it is still the dog days of summer! Enjoy the late August weather!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Dean & Scott_

  • Camping with the versatile Torch 250 Flashlight

    Despite the heat wave we are currently experiencing, I am seeing the signs of summer’s departure become more evident each day and as much as I love fall, I am just not ready to say goodbye just yet.

    It has been a goal of mine to do more camping this summer and working at Small Dog has only fueled that desire. With all of the cool outdoor gear from companies such as “**LifeProof**”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/?mmfg%5B0%5D=LifeProof, “**Outdoor Tech**”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/?mmfg%5B0%5D=Outdoor+Tech and “**Goal Zero**”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/?mmfg%5B0%5D=Goal+Zero, I just want to try it all. This week, I was feeling extra ambitious and decided to take an overnight camping trip to “**Lake Willoughby**”:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Willoughby for my birthday. Due to the spontaneity of the trip I found that I was grossly unprepared, and going through the camping essentials checklist, I was coming up short. I was lucky to find a small store nearby with things such as hotdogs, water and even firewood. All that I needed for the quick trip were the basics: tent, sleeping bag and lantern. With the tent and sleeping bag covered, all that was left to get was a lantern or light source of some sort to carry around the camp site. That’s when I remembered the “**Torch 250 from Goal Zero**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86294/goal-zero-torch-250-flashlight-backup-battery-solar-recharging. I had been wanting to try this lantern/flashlight/backup battery tool for a while now and this served as the perfect opportunity to do so.

    !{display: block;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;}http://blog.smalldog.com/images/4493.jpg!

    Being that this venture was on a weekday and about an hour and half away from home, I wasn’t able to arrive at the ideal time and ended up getting there around 6:30pm. This gave me enough time to set up camp but it was just late enough for it to start getting dark in the cover of the trees. It was not long before I was using the Torch 250 as my lantern, preparing “dinner” and getting my sleeping arrangement together with plenty of light (250 lumens). As I was winding down for the night by the fire, I was flipping through the photos that I took that day on my iPhone and was prompted that I had less than 20% battery left. Normally, I would not be too upset with replacing the glow of the screen with the glow of the fire but in this case, I needed my iPhone to wake me up at 6am for work. After a little bit of stressing, I remembered that the Torch was also designed to charge devices such as my iPhone and was there to save me again. I grabbed my Lightning Cable, plugged into the Torch, and by the morning I was up for work with 100% battery.

    Though this camping trip was just an overnighter, next time I would love to really put the Torch to the real test on a multi-day trip. One of its most unique features is its many ways to recharge its lithium battery. Designed with a solar panel on top, foldable hand crank on the side and integrated USB charging cable, you can recharge in virtually any situation.

    Looking at the calendar, Labor Day is right around the corner and there is still plenty of time to gear up for the last hurrah. Swing by any of our locations and ask about a “**250 Torch by Goal Zero**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86294/goal-zero-torch-250-flashlight-backup-battery-solar-for your recharging needs today. It’s awesome!

  • Triple Bottom Line

    As I spent hours riding through S. Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, getting bored by the flat, straight roads and corn fields with occasional highlights of rural wind farms, I thought a lot about what makes Small Dog Electronics different. I am very fortunate that Hapy and I are on the same page as we measure the success of our venture by the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

    When Hapy and I started Small Dog Electronics, it was both because we had discovered that we could not work for anyone else (so we had to roll our own jobs), and that we wanted to demonstrate that a business can be more than simply a money machine.

    We have described before how we measure success by using the triple bottom line of socially responsible businesses — People, Planet and Profit — in equal measures. Early in my business career, I learned that profit was the key to being able to make meaningful change and achieve our goals for People and Planet, however, even in the hardest times, we have maintained the commitment to be a different kind of business.

    As you know, we speak out on issues that are important to us and our “*Charitable Contribution Program*”:http://www.smalldog.com/charity/smalldog-com-charity includes donation matching, where we match customers’ contributions to featured, diverse non-profit groups. We concentrate our efforts and funds in the following areas:

    * Women’s rights
    * Human rights
    * Relieving Hunger
    * Protecting the Environment
    * Gay & Lesbian Rights
    * Dog Welfare

    We have also been leaders in recognizing the important task of keeping electronic waste out of our landfills. We have held numerous eWaste collection events and I am pretty sure we are still the only electronics retailer that can claim to have recycled more electronics than we have sold (is that a good thing?). Our solar array at our headquarters here in Waitsfield, Vermont provides 100% of the electricity for our S. Burlington store and about 80% for our offices and warehouse here. We have an electric truck to ferry goods from warehouse-to-store and have regular discussions on how we can further reduce our carbon footprint.

    There is so much more that we would like to do both for the world we live in and for our employees, vendors and community. We are very proud to measure our success not solely on the number of dollar bills on the table but also upon who we are, what we do, and of course, how much fun we have!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is definitely my year for apples! After years of trying to grow apples, my trees are loaded and I’ve been grazing the mini orchard each day after work. It must have been the lack of a late spring frost that helped me out. We had a glorious trip out to S. Dakota with a major assist once we got there from Small Dog customer, Bonnie London who got us into the VIP section at Buffalo Chip so I could have my hearing totally destroyed by Def Leppard. But it was a great time with awesome riding in the Black Hills and the Badlands. We ended up logging over 4700 miles in the 2 weeks.

    We did end up in Chicago for a couple days on the way back and we got to catch a Cubs win over the Brewers. We grabbed some nice seats behind the Cubs dugout and for the first time I caught a foul ball that was sky high. I caught it in my bare hands and got a bunch of high-fives. I gave the ball to a young girl sitting nearby and it made her day as much as catching it made mine.

    We used our iOS devices a lot on the trip from planning out routes to finding hotels to stay at on the road but still my favorite “killer” app for my Apple Watch is Apple Pay. While I have used Apple Pay with my iPhone, the watch makes it so easy and is the way it should be. No more struggling to get my iPhone out of my pocket, just tap and hold the watch to the terminal and bingo I have paid for my groceries or that Vente iced Black Eye at Starbucks.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features the 11-inch MacBook Air. This Apple Certified factory refurbished MacBook Air has a 1-year Apple Warranty, just like new machines. We are bundling it with the AppleCare Protection Plan that provides 3 years of warranty and technical support and with SafeWare accidental damage coverage for those 3 years as well. This bundle normally sells for $1599. The MacBook Air comes with 4GB of ram and a 256GB SSD drive. This week for Kibbles & Bytes readers the “*Factory Refurbished 11-inch MacBook Air with AppleCare and SafeWare protection is only $1499*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001931/special-save-100-on-macbook-air-safeware-applecare-bundle!

  • Jason Bayne

    Pets: None Hobbies/Interests: Music, Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Art, Running Favorite Books: Dharma, Raptus, Everything That Rises Must Converge, Favorite Bands: Metal, Punk, I love…

  • Yes, Mac User, Viruses Do Exist!

    There is really big MYTH that Macs don’t get viruses. We know today that this is false. Apple malware has existed for Mac since 1987 with the appearance of the nVIR virus, which started with the sharing of floppy disks (remember those) that were infected. This is when the first anti-virus tools began to appear.

    Fast forward to 1998 when the AutoStart 9805 spread very rapidly in the desktop publishing community, once again using removable media. With the release of OS X just around the corner the bad guys would have to go back to the drawing board with their attacks. When OS X was released, the first malware script Renepo worm, also known as Opener was unleashed. This was a nasty one. It would disable your firewall then download the hacker’s dream software tools including but not limited to, password sniffers and crackers. This would give hackers admin-level access to your machine. The latest baddy was BlackHole RAT in 2011. This was a Trojan, and a lot like Renepo, it allowed unauthorized users to take control of your Mac.

    The most common malware I see is fake anti-virus or system maintenance software that boast they will speed up your mac or clean your mac. When it runs it finds all types of “problems” with instructions to call a number to get a resolution for problems that don’t actually exist. Enter the heroes of this story: the anti-virus software. This tech has two recommendations. The first one is Sophos. “Sophos”:https://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx stands out from the crowd with its light weight and updated virus definitions. It also looks for Windows based virus so you don’t inadvertently send something nasty to your DOS-based buddies. The next is ClamXav which is basically the same thing as Sophos, but it does not have the virus definitions update like Sophos.

    The biggest thing you to protect yourself from this is user education on what is going on with your Mac. I recommend you read this article from “lifehacker”:http://lifehacker.com/the-best-antivirus-app-for-mac-488021445. Surf safe, friends!

  • iOS 9 Public, iPhone 4s and Battery Life

    The iOS 9 public beta came out several weeks ago and I’ve been running it on my iPhone 4S. iOS 9 is really attractive to me (even while using my older phone) because of the under-the-hood refinements. I was hoping those refinements would mean things would be more zippy on this old phone. Many of those improvements don’t really trickle down to me on this hardware that’s three generations behind the current hardware, but it seems features like control center and notification center are more responsive to their gestures.

    There are a few things I’ve noticed that have changed in the day to day operations. The keyboard is different. It now has lower case letters on the keyboard. The keys don’t pop up like they used to by default, but that is a simple flick of a switch in settings. Siri looks dramatically different with really cool and has multi colored waves.

    There is now an iCloud app, but for that to appear on the home screen it needs to be enabled in settings. I like the app. It lets me see what I’ve got in there and allows me access to everything, just like many other cloud services’ iPhone apps let me do. There is a battery section in settings. While this is really cool, it gave me some information that I’m still processing and reeling in shock and disbelief of. Under the battery section of settings there’s a really cool and useful low power mode. It not as aggressive as just putting the phone in airplane mode. The battery usage section is what has me so worked up. It gives a breakdown of what apps are using battery power and a percentage. In that breakdown there were apps that I hadn’t even launched in 6 months that had been doing stuff in the background and gobbling up battery power and processor cycles. It used to be that installing apps wouldn’t bog down the device, but apparently that’s not true. Another experience that further confirms that to me is how often my phone was freezing up after years of installing apps and downloading many many gigabytes of data into every app. I restored it to factory settings, meaning all data that’s not the OS was removed. I then reinstalled all my critical apps, but nothing else. My phone has been a little more reliable, stable and faster since I removed all that stuff. Another detail that I’ve been working with most regularly is the 6 (that’s SIX, as in 2 more than 4) digit security passcode. A four digit passcode never seemed like enough for me, now I’ve got a little more security, without much inconvenience.

    iOS devices are really becoming more and more like full fledged desktops and I’m excited about iOS 9 and wonder how long until the next update to the beta will be released.

  • What happened to all my space?

    It’s been a busy couple of weeks for me here in the Green Mountains. I have spent a lot of time this summer being away on the weekend with various summer activities. It’s been great for my summer bucket list but I can’t say the same for my garden. I have never been much of a gardener and I give amazing praise to those who grow a bounty year after year. I thought I had it down by the end of last summer. I grew a garden just big enough to produce only what we could eat in a few days and only had to spend a few hours a week managing weeds. I even managed to make some amazing dilly beans and pickles. Well this year not even the zucchini grew. The weeds took over despite my utilizing filter fabric, and my tomatoes grew but they fell to blight. Next year I decided to grow just a few things and whatever I can’t grow I will just pick up at the local farmers market. Perhaps I am better off sticking with things I know and gardening is not one of them.

    Gardening was not my only struggle this summer. I also found myself in a bit of a bind with my Mac Mini. Recently I discovered that my Mac Mini was utilizing almost 250GB of space. Not a big deal except for the fact that I thought I had transferred over pictures and music when I recently upgraded from a 2007 MacBook to the new mini. Like many of us, when I get any new Mac I simply use migration assistant. As many of us know migration assistant has made our lives incredibly simple but sometimes can also cause a bit of a headache. I downloaded “Disk Inventory X”:http://download.cnet.com/Disk-Inventory-X/3000-2248_4-47967.html which I have used several times over the years. I like this program a lot. It really helps when you discover that your hard disk space is being utilized but it’s just not clear what is taking up the space. In my case I somehow had a 90GB textedit file! I searched and dug but could not find the file anywhere. I also did some basic disk repairs (even though there was no issue with the drive) and several other tricks, including a fresh restore from my recent Time Machine back up to try and free up this phantom space. Ultimately I ended up erasing my drive all together, reinstalling 10.10 and manually migrated the files I wanted from my Time Machine back up verses using migration assistant. Sometimes the easiest option is not always the most efficient!

    I hope you are checking off many of your summer bucket list items and as always, thank you for reading.

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

  • Driving to work this week I have noticed several Maple trees turning color already, a cold reminder that summers in Vermont will never be long enough. In looking at this weekend’s forecast and early next week it seems hot and humid weather will be making it return so I won’t let a few confused Maple trees get me down on summer just yet!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily, Dean, Scott_