Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Apple Product Announcements

    As Emily mentioned above, Apple made some exciting new product announcements today. Here are the highlights:

    *Apple Pay*

    Apple’s new mobile payment system will be officially rolled out on Monday. This system will allow you to tap your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus (and when it comes out in early 2015, your Apple Watch) to pay at over 220,000 stores nationwide. Today it was also revealed that Apple Pay will work as in in-app payment system on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus and the newly announced iPads (see below) by using the fingerprint sensor. Small Dog is working to make our website and stores compatible with this payment system and we will be sure to let you know when we roll this out.

    “*See more details here.*”:http://www.apple.com/apple-pay/

    *OS X Yosemite*

    The next OS for the Mac is available now and following Apple’s new system is named for a location in California, in this case “*Yosemite National Park.*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park There are many design and feature changes in Yosemite. The most exciting of these more closely connect to the iOS experience. Some of these include: making phone calls from your Mac; moving seamlessly between your iOS device and Mac in Mail, Safari, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, and Contacts; creating a mobile hotspot from your Mac; and wirelessly sharing documents between iOS devices and Macs. All of these features require an iOS device with iOS 8 installed and most require a newer Mac model.

    As always, *make sure that you do a backup before installing* as OS upgrades can cause data loss and may cause compatibility issues with your current third-party applications and devices.

    “*See here for features and hardware compatibility.*”:http://www.apple.com/osx/

    *Mac mini*

    The most affordable computer in the Apple line (if we don’t count iPads as computers, but given all of the advances I will discuss below, perhaps we should) has just become an even better deal. The Mac mini has been improved with fourth-generation Intel Core processors, a flash storage option that’s up to 50 percent faster, wireless performance up to three times quicker than its predecessor, graphics performance up to 90 percent faster than the previous generation and great connectivity features like Thunderbolt 2 and support for HDTV. It has also dropped in price to start at just $499 which is pretty incredible considering what a powerful machine this is.

    “*See all of the specifications and upgrade options here.*”:http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/

    *iMac with Retina 5K display*

    The newest member of the iMac family is the iMac with Retina 5K display. The “5K” refers to the over five thousand pixels across the screen which, combined with the vertical resolution of 2880 pixels, means that there are almost 15 MILLION pixels on the screen. This is four times as many pixels as the standard 27 inch iMac screen and yet somehow this display uses 30% less power. On top of this, the iMac with Retina 5K display (we’re going to need a shorter nickname for this…iRet5K perhaps?) is available with up to 4 GHz of quad-core i7 processing power, 32GB of RAM, and a 3TB Fusion drive.

    “*See Apple’s very cool interactive iRet5K (see, it’s catching on!) website here.*”:http://www.apple.com/imac-with-retina/

    *iPad Air 2 and mini 3*

    Last, but certainly not least, Apple has also announced new iPad models: the iPad Air 2 and mini 3. The Air 2 weighs less than a pound, is 18% thinner than the original iPad Air, has 2.5 times better graphics performance, a 40% faster CPU and implements 64-bit desktop-class architecture all while maintaining a 10 hour battery life. Best of all, this latest iPad, like it’s predecessors, starts at just $499. The mini 3, starting at at $399, also has a 64-bit processor and has been improved all around. As stated above, both of these models have Apple Pay compatibility (in-app only, no NFC yet for tap to pay) thanks to the addition of the fingerprint sensor. Apple is keeping the original Air and the mini 1 and 2 around as well, with pricing as low as $249.

    “*See the full iPad comparison chart here*”:http://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/

    All of these great new items are available to order at Small Dog today! Come in to any of our retail stores, give us a call, or place and order at “*smalldog.com*”:http://www.smalldog.com now.

  • _Hello Friends,_

    Emily Dolloff here in Don’s absence. Don is on his way south for the winter so I am doing my best this week to be his surrogate. Thankfully I am avoiding writer’s block as there is certainly no shortage of things to talk about this week!

    I told Don I felt he was headed south a little too early this year as the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here in the Green Mountains for October and especially over the last week or so. I am going to hang on tight to the memories of this week sitting in my living room at 10pm and still having windows and doors open throughout my house. There is something different about the warm fall breezes and their ability to make you forget how the cold and the snow are just around the corner! However, there is a chance that in the next few days we could see snow here in Vermont at the higher elevations. How crazy it is to think that in the same week we could see both 80 degrees and snow. I guess this is exactly why we say around here “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes, it will change”. I will say I have been thankful for all the beautiful weather as it seems the tasks that need to be completed outside before winter comes are never ending and I always feel more inspired to get a few more things done outside the better the weather is out there.

    It’s not just the weather has been exciting around the office. Apple made some great product updates yesterday as well! Yosemite, iOS 8.1, new iMacs, updates to the iPads and Mac Mini and more. Apple always does a great job keeping us all in suspense coming up to these announcements and as a result our imaginations tend to run wild. Several of us were talking around the office about a rumored addition of either a 12 inch MacBook Air or a larger 12 inch iPad and the rumor sites only fueled our conversations. Well in the end, rumors turned to be just that, rumors. There was no 12 inch iPad or Macbook Air, but what Apple did announce was still pretty incredible and I am pleased to see that the overlooked Mac Mini finally got an long overdue update. I am not sure I will be adding the new 27 inch iMac with 5K Retina Display to my home office just yet, but it’s very likely my 2007 MacBook (still cranking right along!) could be replaced with the new Mac Mini. I have been debating replacing my MacBook with a Mac Mini for a few years now as my ability to be portable around my home has significantly changed since adding several iPads around the home. I will have to put the new iPad on my Christmas wish list!

  • Riley Sullivan

    Hobbies / Interests: Play Station, PC Gaming, resolving computer problems. Favorite Bands: Metallica, Rise Against. Favorite Podcasts Favorite TV: S-Town, Planet Money. Favorite…

  • A Different Kind of Business

    Small Dog Electronics has launched a promotion in our retail stores to funnel donations to women’s shelters in each of the communities where we operate. With several participating brands we will make a donation for each sale to the local shelter. Why would we do this? Yes, we have an interest in combating domestic violence and want our employees to be safe at work or home but we have a commercial and philosophical reason too. As you may know, the margins on our products is very low, in many cases below 10% and you have a wide variety of places to buy these same products. It is difficult for us to compete with big box stores that use Apple products as “loss leaders” by discounting to below cost or online resellers that do not charge sales tax. While many companies will simply suck it up and discount their products to compete, we have decided upon a different direction.

    While we cannot compete solely on the basis of price, Small Dog Electronics wants to give you many reasons to choose to buy your next Mac or iPad from us. One way we can effectively compete is through community involvement. Instead of discounting the products we will make these donations to leverage our “money machine” to help the communities where we live. While we have our on-going customer-driven charitable contributions program where we match donations, we feel that the giving generated by these special promotions not only raises awareness about important issues but also lets our customers and our company make a real difference. I hope you agree!

    Find out more about this program here.

  • Shellshock Vulnerability

    Over the past year many new security scares have popped up causing IT departments all over the world to scramble to protect their most vital data. One of the more recent ones, discovered in mid-September called Shellshock actually affected all machines that run the Unix shell Bash. Bash is the software behind the text-based utility called Terminal on Mac OS X systems. It gives the user access to all services that the computer has to offer and is also used on most Linux systems. It can be installed on Windows but doesn’t come standard, and requires a little bit of effort to get it to work on a Windows based system. Within hours of the discovery and announcement of the vulnerability, hackers took advantage and began creating extensive networks of vulnerable computers called Botnets, that when given a command from the controller can do just about anything without the owner/user of the infected computer knowing what was happening.

    This vulnerability within Bash allows commands to be run as administrator when the command is inside another command as a variable. It gets complicated but essentially if you have a long command that doesn’t require root access, there is a way to embed another command within that first and the embedded command will run with root access without having to input the root/administrator password. This sort of vulnerability is a major flaw and allows complete access to a system to install or use whatever resources are connected to the vulnerable machine without the need to authenticate as an administrator.

    Since the discovery, a method has also been discovered to determine if your machine has the flawed Bash version. Open Terminal (it’s in /Applications/Utilities or use Spotlight to find it) then copy and paste this command and press enter:

    @env x='() { :;}; echo vulnerable’ bash -c “echo this is a test”@

    If your system contains the vulnerability it will output two lines: one says “vulnerable” and the second line says “this is a test”. If you don’t have the vulnerability then all it will say is “this is a test”.

    Make sure your computer is up to date. There are websites out there that will allow you to download a patch to fix the vulnerability. If you want to do it yourself rather than wait for a fix to come through your software updates, make sure you trust the source you’re downloading from. Who knows what else you’re installing into your machine when you try to patch it yourself.

    “*See this article from our Director of IT & Development Morgan Aldridge for some further advice on patching this vulnerability.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/diagnosing-treating-bash-shellshock/

    I’m a big advocate of knowing how to protect yourself, be it your identity, your data, or your privacy. Shellshock is a backdoor to your computer and your digital life. Whatever you do make sure you are taking the most precautions possible. Use two-factor authentication on all of your internet accounts when its available. Never use the same password twice. Use encryption on your personal computer and your external hard drives. Encrypt your cell phone backups. Don’t share personal information when you don’t have too. If someone with malicious intent is interested in getting into your life, don’t make it easy for them!

  • Migration Assistant in 10.9: Disk Image Troubles

    If you have been a long time Mac user, there is a good chance that you have used the tool Migration Assistant at some point or another. If you haven’t, the general premise is that it takes your data (be it from an old Mac, or a backup), and transfers it to your new Mac. Working in repair, I have to back up customer data frequently, and after wiping it off of the machine, restore it once the repair has been completed. The way that I do this primarily is: pull the drive out of the machine and plug into a known good computer and back it up to my server in a file called a disk image or .dmg.

    Up until 10.9, you could create a test account, mount the disk image and restore the data through Migration Assistant, but in 10.9 Migration Assistant now runs as the root user of the computer and as a result logs you out of your newly created account, thus un-mounting any disk images that may have been mounted. There have been a few work arounds that we have used here that make it work, through different terminal scripts and apps made by people online. Well today I found a new tool that makes it all so much quicker, and all it requires is typing a basic command into terminal.

    *sudo hdiutil attach /Path/To/Image.dmg*

    What this does is it mounts the disk image to the root user of the computer, which is not logged out when using the Migration Assistant tool. For the ??path/to/image.dmg?? part, the easiest way to replace that with the correct path is to locate the file then click and drag it right into the Terminal window.

  • 8.0.2

    Vermont’s namesake iOS software version was released shortly after 8.0.1 (which was only available for a matter of hours) was released. 8.0.1 was an update to iOS 8 intended to resolve some third-party keyboard issues, Family Sharing problems, and other small glitches.

    Immediately after Apple introduced 8.0.1 for user devices, it was found that the update caused loss of cellular network connectivity and Touch ID on Apple’s newest devices: the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. No iPhone 4s/5/5s was affected in this manner. Apple stated approximately 40,000 users were affected.

    The only resolution for these iPhones was to reinstall iOS 8.0.0 from scratch and then restore from a backup of the device (hopefully they had one).

    iOS 8.0.2, the current operating system, is for the most part stable with many problems having been resolved, including the 8.0.1 issues if users happened to still be on that operating system.

    As always, have a backup of your phone! I recently signed myself up for the $12/year iCloud Drive 20GB plan to make sure there was always enough room for my iPhone to have an automatic backup. A backup of my phone is one thing I’ll never have to worry about now. Alternatively, one can backup their iOS device by using iTunes and connecting the device directly to the user’s computer.

    For more help on choosing a backup method for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod, and instructions on setup, visit “http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5262”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5262

    A full list of the iOS 8.0.2 and a list of new iOS 8 features are available at “http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1758”:http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1758

  • I often make jokes about starting a Smash Mouth tribute band called Smoosh Mouth. We will cover all their greatest hits (or rather their two hits) “All Star” and “Walkin’ on the Sun” but also more obscure gems like the a capella ““Days Like These,””:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaYvCKaqPsM which makes me cringe with laughter every single time. But these are jokes, and Smash Mouth is terrible, so when Steve Harwell’s vocals started floating over my wireless speakers, I was concerned.

    Was someone crouching in the bushes, hacking their way onto our Wi-Fi network, and AirPlaying the offending noise? Was it a neighbor stealing our Wi-Fi from the comfort of next door? Both scenarios were unlikely as our network was securely password protected. This had to be an inside job. I did some interrogating of my housemates, but to no avail. Whoever was committing this nefarious crime would not spill the beans. Luckily, I had one more security option available, which is the AirPlay password that can be “setup in Airport Utility.”:http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5141

    One secure password later, I no longer have to worry about the sounds of the band’s 1999 album Astro Lounge playing through the house and for that I am truly grateful. Keep reading for some useful information about iOS 8 updates, pro tips on using the Migration Assistant tool, a look at a recent security flaw in OS X and how to see if you are vulnerable, and a note from Don about Small Dog’s support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

    -Mike D
    “miked@smalldog.com”:mailto:miked@smalldog.com

  • Diagnosing & Treating Bash "Shellshock"

    OS X is a descendant of a long lineage of UNIX operating systems, from which it inherits its incredible stability and enhanced security….

  • Lots of work to do before Grace and I head south to be snow birds. I’m putting some lime and rock phosphate on…

  • KB Exclusive | LaCie Rugged 1TB with Kingston Gold Flash Drive

    As Don mentioned in his intro, it is crucial to back up your data. With these two drives, you can take your backups on the go and make sure that you always have two copies of important documents, pictures, movies, and more! These drives are orange and gold, so they are nice and bright so you won’t lose or forget them. Plus they will remind you of Vermont foliage!

    *Save $20 on these fantastic portable drives!*

  • Buying a Used iPhone

    Apple is constantly working to improve the iPhone and we have been seeing new releases every year as of late. Many people upgrade at every chance they get. For those of you out there that don’t need the latest and greatest (I myself just bought a 5S instead of opting for a 6 or 6 Plus), this means that there is a robust market for used iPhones. But how can you know if the phone is stolen or is locked down preventing you from using it?

    Thanks to “*Find My iPhone*”:https://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my-iphone.html iPhone thefts are way down because there is little motivation to do so. If this service is active, the owner can track the thief and even completely erase the phone. This prevents the phone from being set up as a new phone. However, the legitimate owner may also forget to turn this service off on a phone, making it impossible for a buyer to set it up as a new phone.

    You can confirm that this service is off by going into the Settings, going to iCloud and making sure that this service is off. To double-check, or if you are buying a phone sight unseen (hopefully from a reliable source) Apple has set up a website to check that the Activation Lock has been turned off:

    “*https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/*”:https://www.icloud.com/activationlock/