Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Whether it’s time to upgrade, add to the -shrine- collection, or purchase your first Mac… look no further! Don’s got a special I can hardly resist. The 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina Display is portable and reliable with impressive processing power. And did I mention the dazzling Retina display? Purchase this computer with AppleCare and put Apple’s technical support on speed dial for the next three years.

*Only $1149!*

! Purchase any iPod Nano or iPod Touch with a pair of Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones and receive a *free twenty five dollar iTunes gift card*!

What’s not to love about this deal? “*See this heartfelt gift here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001729

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Every year after one of the most masculine days of the year (Super Bowl Sunday), we have Valentine’s Day to maintain balance in the world. That’s right it’s that time of year again. If you’re an extremely prepared individual, you most likely have every aspect planned out for a extraordinarily romantic Valentine’s Day. However, if you are like many of us, you just realized you still have nothing planned: no card, flowers, dinner reservations… Keep reading, because we are here to help! You’re just a few taps and swipes away from making it look like you spent months putting together the perfect day.

Here are just a few apps to get you thinking about the upcoming celebration.

1. “*Red Stamp – FREE*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/red-stamp-cards/id414561551?mt=8&at=11lb7k

Email, text, tweet, post to Facebook and Instagram, or go old school and mail personalized paper photo cards or notes right from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. The perfect way to say “I’m thinking of you this Valentine’s Day.” Red Stamp is packed with hundreds of modern artistic designs to set your Valentine’s Day card above the rest!

2. “*OpenTable – FREE*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opentable-restaurants-reservations/id296581815?mt=8

It’s mid-afternoon on Valentine’s Day and your date asks you where the two of you are going for dinner. You reply that it’s a surprise, and it is. The problem is, it’s a surprise to you too since you forgot to make reservations. See what local favorites are still serving and save yourself a seat with OpenTable.

3. “*Vivino – FREE*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vivino-wine-scanner/id414461255?mt=8&at=11lb7k

Impress your date with how much you know about wine and find the perfect complement to your home cooked meal. Vivino uses your phone’s camera to help you research wines while you’re at the grocery store wine aisle.

4 “*Yummly – FREE*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/yummly-recipes-grocery-shopping/id589625334?mt=8&at=11lb7k

A recipe discovery app that allows you to filter recipes by the ingredients you have on hand. Because who doesn’t want to come home to a home cooked meal?

5. “*8 Tracks – FREE*”:https://itunes.apple.com/app/id346194763?mt=8

Get lost in the music! Simply enter any artist, genre, activity, or mood and 8 Tracks will find a playlist just right for the occasion.

6. “*Match – FREE (offers in-app purchases)*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/match-dating-app-to-flirt/id305939712?mt=8&at=11lb7k

If you’re single and would love to spend the holiday on a first date then it is the perfect time to get on that dating site that your friends keep recommending. There’s no harm in putting yourself out there.

And as always there are many, MANY more apps out there to help you plan a special day. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Bundle up, friends! This is going to be a cold one!

We’ve been in a bit of a deep freeze here for a few times over the past few weeks. For those not in the New England region, “deep freeze” (to me anyway) means anything solidly below zero degrees Fahrenheit. There have been a few mornings when I have started my car and the temperature on the dash says horrible things like -15F. I am not too bothered by the cold though, and I like watching “cold start” videos on youtube. This one of a man “*starting his 2005 Subaru Impreza WRX STI*”:http://youtu.be/dIsG_8TVokw at -44C (-47F) in Yellowknife, NT, Canada is one of my favorites. That’s so cold that he cannot even engage the clutch with the transmission in neutral because the oil in the gearbox is too thick for the engine to turn it.

I guess you could say when it gets cold here, rather than imagining places that are warmer, I imagine places that are colder. The city of “*Yaktusk*”:http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/photos/7-of-the-coldest-places-in-the-world-to-live/yakutsk-russia in eastern Russia is one of the coldest cities in the world. In January, the average __high__ temperature is only -19F! The coldest temperatures outside of Antarctica occur in the nearby Yana River basin. Inside the city itself, the coldest temperature recorded was -83.9F. In the winter there is often constant fog enveloping the city caused by the cold air and exhaust from heating.

You don’t have to go all the way to Russia for extreme temperatures and conditions. The summit of nearby Mt. Washington has some of the worst weather on the entire planet including low temperatures and high winds. At one point, the summit held the world record for highest directly recorded surface wind speed of 231 mph recorded in 1934. If I want to feel a bit warmer, I visit their “*current summit conditions*”:https://www.mountwashington.org/experience-the-weather/current-summit-conditions.aspx site. A few weeks ago, during a cold snap here, I happened to check it and thought it was broken. It was reading a standing temperature of around -15F and a steady 90 mph wind, which when combined made for quite the wind chill!

Even closer to home, Vermont holds the record for lowest temperature ever recorded in all of New England (yes, even beating out the coldest temperature recorded at the Mt. Washington summit). On December 30, 1933 in “*Bloomfield, VT*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomfield,_Vermont a temperature of -50F was recorded. This record stood unchallenged until 2009 when it was tied by a temperature recorded along the Big Black River in Maine.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this look at some of the colder conditions possible in our region and beyond. I bet our “*Key West, FL store*”:http://www.smalldog.com/keywest/macs-ipods-iphone-gear-apple-service-in-key-west-florida is all too happy to avoid these kinds of conditions.

I know I have talked about AppleCare before but a refresher is needed for all of our new readers. I am always very skeptical of the “extended warranties” that are sold by most stores and car dealers. Usually they are overpriced, full of exclusions and simply not worth the bucks. So, why is AppleCare different? I think if you consider AppleCare just as an extended warranty you are missing the boat!

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Yes, AppleCare does take the 1-year Apple Warranty on new and factory-refurbished Macs and make it 3 years, but it also does a lot more! Most significant is the extended free technical support from Apple. Apple’s technical support has won numerous awards and covers not only your Mac but also the Mac OS, questions about iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. If you bought an AirPort base station or Time Capsule, USB SuperDrive or Apple Display, it covers those items too, for 3 years of hardware and software support.

Take it from me, I do not know of very many out-of-warranty repairs that cost less than the cost of AppleCare. So many times customers come in with issues that would have been covered by AppleCare but they had not purchased it so we have to give them the bad news.

One other thing to keep in mind as you consider AppleCare: AppleCare provides global coverage so even if you are far afield in another country you are protected!

_Dear Friends,_

When people think about Apple’s success they normally think about iPhone, iPad and Mac but there are a bunch of other success stories for Apple technology that are overshadowed by the huge numbers of iPhones that are sold. I read a story today about how one half of all the top hospitals in the USA are starting to use Apple’s HealthKit apps on a trial basis to monitor patient health. The ability to monitor things like blood pressure, weight, heart rate, or glucose levels remotely could help to control the rapidly rising cost of health care. Just imagine that you have this information and do not need to go to the medical provider or hospital but just push “send” and your health stats are sent for review. “*Learn more about this here.*”:http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/05/us-apple-hospitals-exclusive-idUSKBN0L90G920150205

HomeKit is also becoming more and more accepted as a standard for home automation apps. While I love home automation, it is frustrating to have to open several apps to open the door, turn on the lights, adjust the thermostat, etc. With HomeKit that may become a thing of the past. Independently of HomeKit, Nest and Kevo lock have teamed up to integrate their products. Now when I leave the house and lock the door, I get a notification asking me if I wish to set the Nest thermostat to “away”.

There were reports this week of “*strange Apple vehicles*”:http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/04/mysterious-apple-car/ with several cameras prowling the streets with speculation of enhanced mapping or maybe even driverless cars. There was also a renewed report that Apple was negotiating with content providers to create a “*web-based TV service*”:http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-said-to-be-working-on-web-tv-service-like-dishs-sling-tv/?tag=nl.e798&s_cid=e798&ttag=e798&ftag=CAD4dc88c8 which I am sure will happen eventually. I think that the need for cable or satellite will diminish fairly quickly.

There was also good news this week on the net neutrality front. The Chairman of the FCC laid out his proposal to treat both wired and wireless data services a public utilities. This would ensure that all internet service providers treat all traffic equally rather than creating “fast lanes” for those that pay more. Sure, there will be opposition from those that might profit from different classes of service, but in all respects, it is my opinion, that the internet is indeed a public utility and the concept of net neutrality is vital for a free and open net.

Pssst…don’t tell anyone but I have a great deal for this week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive. The MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina is one of the most popular Macs available and we are fortunate to have a good supply of Apple Certified Refurbished MacBook Pros that feature a 2.4 GHz i5 Intel processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD drive. These also feature the stunning Retina display that has over 4 million pixels and 2560 X 1600 resolution. This unit has a battery that will last up to 9 hours between charges and the latest 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. With a backlit keyboard, Thunderbolt 2, and an HDMI port this is an ideal laptop. I am going to make the bundle simple: purchase this MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina with AppleCare for only $1149. That’s $100 off our normal prices and $300 off the price of a new one. AppleCare gives you Apple’s 3-year warranty protection as well as 3 years of free Apple technical support. This is a great value! “*Snag this deal here before it is gone!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001739