Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • Phone Calls on your Mac?

    If you haven’t upgraded to “**Yosemite,**”:https://www.apple.com/osx/ the latest version of OS X for your Mac, I highly recommend it. In addition to a beautiful new interface, it has a host of new features that will improve your experience with your computer. One of my favorites is **Phone Calls**. In a nutshell you can now take and make phone calls from your Mac. If your phone is on iOS 8, the two devices are on the same WiFi network, and they are logged into the same iCloud account, you are ready to go! From there you can initiate calls from your Contacts or from a valid phone number detected by Safari while surfing the web. Need to hit the road in the middle of a call? Hand it off to the phone and you are on your way. And yes, this functionality does apply to Messages as well! As with any OS X upgrade make sure your computer meets Apple’s system requirements, that all of your devices and software are Yosemite compatible, and **back up your data prior to upgrading!**

  • Putting a Spotlight on Domestic Violence

    Did you know that one in four women and one in seven men will experience domestic violence during their lifetime? October is **Domestic Violence Awareness Month,** and Small Dog has spent it fundraising for our local shelters.

    On Monday, October 27th Small Dog Rutland held an event dedicated to the Rutland County Women’s Network and Shelter (RCWN). The night started off with introductions by Jennifer Yakunovich who is the Administrative Director at the shelter. Jenn Firpo, legal advocate for the RCWN, introduced a couple who recently thwarted a domestic violence situation and gave them recognition and applause. Mayor of Rutland, Christopher Louras, offered supportive words to anyone involved in ending domestic violence and read a proclamation officially declaring this month as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Rutland. The group then went outside and held a candlelight vigil to honor all the survivors of domestic violence.

    The event also featured a fundraising raffle. Two ChillBoxes, two Beats Solo headphones, and a purple Coach Bag were raffled off earning the shelter an additional $202 in proceeds. Good karma showed up at the end of the night when the woman who foiled the domestic violence situation here in Rutland ended up being the raffle winner of the Coach Bag!

    We appreciate all the support that the community has given all of our stores over the month from Burlington to Key West and together we raised **Over $10,000 for Domestic Violence Awareness!**

  • Welcome Riley!

    Last week we welcomed our newest staff member, *Riley Sullivan,* to the South Burlington retail crew! Riley went to school for video production, he’s an active Mac user, and a Vermont native, so obviously he’s also a snowboarder. He recently picked up a new iPhone 6 and he’s loving the updated camera and larger display. In just a few short weeks he is already a certified Apple specialist. If you stop by the South Burlington location make sure to say “hi!” and welcome him to our team! 

  • Welcome to Stick Season

    Stick season is officially here and the temperatures have been dropping. I took the long way to work today so I could check out the snow on the top half of our local ski areas and will be dusting off my tuning equipment to start getting our skis ready for the season! While I love the fall, I live here to ski, and can’t wait for the snow!

    It’s not just the snow that has us excited around the office ( OK not everyone is thrilled about the coming snow ) but we are also very busy finalizing our holiday promotions and specials! We have lots of new products coming in like bags from Osprey, new speakers from AudioEngine, Budsleeves and more! We will be announcing our Holiday promotions and specials very soon so stay tuned.

    Thanks for your continued support of Small Dog, and enjoy this quiet time before the craziness of the holidays arrives!

    Stephen Andrews
    “stephena@smalldog.com”:mailto:stephena@smalldog.com

  • Grace is carving some pumpkins and getting ready for halloween. Unlike our remote house in Vermont where we never get any trick or treaters, I expect we will see some ghosts and zombies here in Key West. Perhaps you will see some photos of Small Doggers dressed up at our blog.

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

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Mike, Rachel & Dean_

  • KB | Stylish 16GB USB flash drive for only $9.99

    This stylish, ultra-thing drive with 24-carat gold-plated casing lets you easily use several drives side-by-side in USB ports. This particular drive stores 16GB, and it’s award-winning sleek design makes a strong first impression. DataTraveler GE9 is covered by a five-year warranty. Supports Windows® 8, Vista®, XP & Mac

  • KB | Stylish 8GB USB flash drive for only $6.99

    This stylish, ultra-thing drive with 24-carat gold-plated casing lets you easily use several drives side-by-side in USB ports. This particular drive stores 8GB, and it’s award-winning sleek design makes a strong first impression. DataTraveler GE9 is covered by a five-year warranty. Supports Windows® 8, Vista®, XP & Mac

  • KB | Kingston DataTraveler Rugged Shock & Water Resistant 32GB USB

    Kingston’s DataTraveler® R3.0 G2 Flash drive delivers USB 3.0 high-speed performance with 120MB/s read and 45MB/s write speeds to save time when transferring files. Its rugged, rubberized casing is shock- and water-resistant (up to 1 hour at a depth of 1 meter) to prevent damage, wherever you take it.
    *This week on special for only 23.99*

  • KB | Kingston DataTraveler Rugged Shock & Water Resistant 16GB USB

    Kingston’s DataTraveler® R3.0 G2 Flash drive delivers USB 3.0 high-speed performance with 120MB/s read and 25MB/s write speeds to save time when transferring files. Its rugged, rubberized casing is shock- and water-resistant (up to 1 hour at a depth of 1 meter) to prevent damage, wherever you take it.
    *This week on special for only 15.99*

  • New Small Doggers Just In Time For The Holidays

    I am so excited to introduce myself “*Rachel Narkewicz*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/authors/rachelnarkewicz and “*Dean Liebau*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/authors/deanliebau to the beautiful readers of Kibbles and Bytes. Together we will make up the Small Dog Marketing department. We’ve got some BIG shoes to fill, and couldn’t be more trilled to hit the ground running and help out in whatever way possible to gear up for the holiday season. But first let me say happy halloween, I have decided to be a butterfly, cause its time to spread my wings, and Dean well lets just say he’s rocking the captain of graphic designer look.

    I was born and raised in Rutland Vermont, and my love for all four season has kept me in VT. As well as the 4 generations of Narkewicz’s that have grown up here. Talk about some serious Vermont roots, more like weeds that just won’t go away! Here at Small Dogs I will be using my skills in social media marketing, and you can find me posting on our “*Twitter*”:https://twitter.com/hellosmalldog page as well as “*Facebook*”:https://www.facebook.com/hellosmalldog and much more. I am so happy to be a part of a team that is passionate about the community they live and work in.

    When I am not brainstorming a million new ideas for Small Dog social media sites, in store design elements, or writing these wonderful newsletters, I can be found on the ski slopes during the winter months and on my bike during the summer. My favorite pass time is taking scenic pictures, as well as friends and family members portraits. It makes for unique presents throughout the year. Now, drum roll please as I get to introduce my trusty partner and crime… Dean

    After graduating with his BFA in Graphic Design from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2013, Dean Liebau relocated to the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont in search of new experiences, and found colder winters. Before joining the Small Dog team, Dean worked as a freelance designer, designing everything from logos and business cards to snowboard graphics and cycling uniforms. Dean also spent two years working on a newspaper creating advertisements for local businesses.

    When he’s not designing, you can find him on the mountain snowboarding (maybe if your lucky you’ll find us together) or near his favorite stream fishing for trout, or really anything that will bite! Some of his favorite past times include spending long days on the beach at Presque Isle in Erie, PA and taking trips to Colorado to visit his cousin, and probably snowboard. He plans on bringing his passion for designing and enthusiastic attitude to Small Dog Electronics as the new Graphic Designer/Marketing Assistant.

  • Understanding The Apple SIM

    Cellular models of the new iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3 models come with the Apple SIM card rather than a SIM card from a particular carrier. This is a great move by Apple to both reduce the number of specific models that we have to carry and to make it more convenient for customers to move from one carrier to another or activate service when they travel outside of the country.

    Verizon customers who are not on a GSM network like AT&T, T-Mobile or others will have to go to the Verizon or Apple store to get a Verizon SIM to replace the Apple card. It was also revealed this week that if you sign up for AT&T service for your iPad that AT&T will lock your SIM card to their network. This sort of defeats the purpose of the Apple SIM card, however, Apple will sell you a spare Apple SIM to replace that locked card should you want to change carriers.

    While the participating carriers are somewhat limited now, AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile in the USA or Everything Everywhere in the UK, the convenience of choosing a carrier and plan right from your iPad is compelling. Since most of these carriers offer short-term data plans you can choose the length of time and plan according to where you are. I assume Apple will expand the number of international carriers and this will be big help for international travel.

    Even without the Apple SIM, if you are traveling internationally or into an area where service is better than your home carrier and plan to be there awhile, you should consider contacting that local carrier to get a SIM for your iPad that works with their network. It can save you a bunch in roaming charges!

    I would love to see this same convenience carried over to the iPhone, however, since most of the iPhone sales are still based upon a carrier subsidized contract basis that is unlikely for some time. I do believe that ultimately the carrier subsidized model may become less popular it does have a strong legacy.

    Removing the SIM from your iPad is a simple process. Your iPad came with a SIM eject tool which is basically a paperclip with an end that will fit into the release hole on the side of your iPad. The SIM is contained in a small tray.