Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple released free updates to both the Mac OS and iOS this week. iOS 8.3 adds a lot of Emoji faces with better organization, skin tone modifiers, and a bunch of flag, phone, computer, and watch Emoji. The evolution of the smiley face emoticon continues… 🙂

Other changes in iOS 8.3 include dozens of bug fixes and some new features. Wireless CarPlay is one of these and enables the connection of your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled system without attaching a Lightning cable. Siri has gained some new languages plus the ability to make phone calls using the speakerphone.

In Messages, there is now an option that will allow you to separate messages from friends from iMessages from strangers. This update also adds support for Google two-step verification, which is a great step for those heavy Google App users. For Apple Pay users, Passbook now separates Apple Pay credit cards from other Passes. And one of my favorite new features removes the annoying requirement to enter your Apple ID password when you are downloading free apps!

Mac OS 10.10.3 also adds over *300* (!!!) new Emoji characters and a bunch of bug fixes. The most significant update, however, is that 10.10.3 includes the new Photos app. This new app was first shown at the 2014 WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference) in June of 2014 and is designed to be a replacement for iPhoto and Aperture. I promise a more comprehensive review of the new Photos app once I have had a bit more time to play with it. It does enable iCloud Photo Library, which will allow you to store your entire photo library in your iCloud account but that may also mean you will quickly fill up your free 5GB of storage. The next two options for iCloud storage are $0.99 a month for 20GB or $3.99 for 200GB of storage. I find the organizing and editing tools to be a big improvement over iPhoto and having my library on my iCloud account means I can find that one picture I want to show from any of my devices.

Both updates are free. The iOS update is accessed through the Software Update screen in the General settings and the Mac OS update is available from the App Store. As always, make sure to back up your computer and/or iOS devices prior to installing any updates.

_Dear Friends,_

More snow in Vermont and the Small Dog team (with the exception of Artie) seems to be getting really tired of waking up to snow covered roads and porches. I am getting tired of all the pictures of snow-covered decks on Facebook, too. It has been a hard, cold, and long winter but warmer temperatures, spring flowers, and mud season are surely coming soon!

This week we have some recollections from our first employee, Art Hendrickson. I remember the long debate that Hapy and I had when we considered hiring Art 19 years ago. We questioned whether we had enough work but eventually decided to take the risk. Boy am I glad we did! Artie has pretty much done every job in the company and has been a leader using his example of hard work and focus to push the company forward. In the early days, we would hold our management meetings in the hot tub on my deck and then Art would climb into the Chevy Blazer to ferry Macs up Prickly Mountain in mud season. Art now manages our warehouse, buildings, and grounds and is responsible for inventory control but he has been a shipper, a salesperson, a technician, a truck driver, a purchaser and many times a good intentioned gadfly. Thanks for an awesome 19 years, Art!

This coming week Apple will start taking orders for the Apple Watch, which I hear will be available initially exclusively online and at the Apple Store. Unfortunately, at this time Small Dog Electronics will not be offering the watch but I’ll be one of those ordering one today to see if I will like wearing a watch for the first time since I was about 12 years old.

Also this week, Apple will release and begin shipment of the new Macbook. We have been told that we will be receiving very limited stock and the new Macbook will be in very short supply initially. We can take your order and have your Macbook delivered right from Apple as the fastest way to get this new product. We are sourcing new USB-C accessories and should have demos of the new Macbook in our retail stores very soon.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes special is one of our 20th Anniversary special values. If you are like me ,you spend a lot of time in your car and having a good charging solution can give your iPhone or iPad that boost it needs to last more than an 10-hour day of heavy use. We are bundling the Hammerhead 17-watt 2-port USB Auto Charger with a Hammerhead USB to Lightning 1-meter Braided cable with MFI license for only $38.97. That’s $20 off our normal price and we will ship it to you for free, too!

“*Check it out here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001804