Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Once you have iOS 8 and begin to explore all the new features you will be able to activate one of the greatest…

We have several options available in all of our retail stores for hands-free freedom while traveling down the road! Our retail staff have been eagerly testing many of these devices and are ready to help you make the right choice on the solution that will best suite your needs and your budget.

“Jabra Tour”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86015/jabra-tour-bluetooth-in-car-speakerphone-black **$69.99**

This device is a staff favorite!

“Jawbone Era”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86040/jawbone-era-bluetooth-earpiece-silver **$99.99**

We know that many people need the freedom to be hands-free not only in their car but on the go as well! The Jawbone Era has amazing clarity and ease of use and is extremely comfortable to wear.

“Plantronics Earset”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86014/plantronics-m25-earset **$34.99**

You don’t have to break the bank to be hands free!

“Belking CarAudio Connect with Bluetooth”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85667/belkin-caraudio-connect-aux-with-bluetooth **$79.99**

Route your calls, streaming music, and iTunes playlists through your car speakers!

Over the past 2 months, we’ve been hosting a series of free basic courses on a variety of subjects. Our Tech Talk for the month of September was focused on iCloud, and the month before that was all about iPhoto on the Mac. Moving forward, we have lots of great subjects to tackle, but we’ll start with a repeat of iCloud for the month of October, in case you missed it. If you attended one of our recent discussions, and have follow up questions, feel free to reach out to our consultants to schedule a personalized, one-on-one lesson at one of our retail stores, or in your home:

**1-802-497-7171 x 515**
“**consulting@smalldog.com**”:mailto:consulting@smalldog.com

Our founding Tech Talk instructor’s name is “**Nate Poirier**”:http://blog.smalldog.com/authors/nathanpoirier. If you’ve ever visited our South Burlington store, you may know him, or maybe you’ve heard of Nate’s legendary lessons. For the past few years, Nate has been one of Small Dog’s shining stars, and conducts most of the South Burlington in-store lessons. His personal interests are seemingly limitless, but do include Apple Products, Digital Photography, Astronomy, and anything that flies and has a remote control. For all these topics and more, you can bring your questions and curiosities his way at the South Burlington store. To schedule an appointment with “**Nate**”:mailto:nathan@smalldog.com, call 802-862-1316 and dial extension 515.

Customers can shop at many different places for the products we sell. You could go online or shop at a big box store and probably find most of the products we offer at a lower price. So what’s the difference? Why should anybody buy from Small Dog if the big box has it for $20 less? The answer is simple: Here at Small Dog you aren’t just buying a computer, you are supporting your own community as well. While we may not be able to compete with some of the prices offered by big box businesses, what we can’t match in price we certainly make up for with charitable donations and support of our local communities.

For the month of October, Small Dog Electronics is continuing its charitable giving and commitment to its triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit by supporting **Domestic Violence Awareness Month.** Domestic violence is a serious problem that, regrettably, is often overlooked in today’s society. Although recently more people have been taking a stand due to the media attention surrounding the NFL and other high profile stories. This is especially the case since the shocking details of the now infamous Ray Rice incident were released to the public eye. The fact remains that these people are real victims and they deserve better than to be swept under the rug for somebody else to deal with. Small Dog Electronics, wants to bring this issue to the forefront of everyone’s mind by raising awareness and generating support for the organizations responsible for the outreach and care for these victims. We are extremely excited to be able to support such a wonderful cause and three amazing shelters/organizations in our communities. Shopping in any of our stores will support a local organization for that store:

**Waitsfield and Burlington:** “**Women Helping Battered Women**”:http://www.whbw.org/
**Rutland:** “**Women’s Network and Shelter**”:http://rcwn.org/
**Key West:** “**Domestic Abuse Shelter Inc.**”:http://www.domesticabuseshelter.org/

When shopping this October remember that the money you could save by shopping elsewhere can instead be donated to a great cause in your local community. With the purchase of a new computer, iPad, Beats headphones, Otterbox cases, and more we will donate $15-$50 of every purchase! However, if you do up end up shopping with one of our competitors, we urge you to please consider donating to your local shelter/organization on your own. These are good people that need our support in order to help others in need.

“**See more information here**”:http://www.smalldog.com/domestic-violence-month/domestic-violence-month

We would like to welcome Darek Ashe to the team at Small Dog Key West!

Darek was born in Key West and is thus an official “conch”. He has been serving the community in retail sales and customer service for over 15 years and we are excited to have him here at Small Dog. He has an extensive background with AT&T wireless and with Apple just launching the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus our customers are in excellent hands with Darek! Darek’s passion is learning about new technologies and loves to share this knowledge with his customers.

Darek has a beautiful family with his wife and 2 children and spends his off time enjoying his family and the Keys community.

The crew here in Central Vermont are enjoying temperatures in the 70’s and some spectacular foliage that never ceases to amaze no matter how long you have lived here. This is also a time where all of us get to regroup after a big back to school season and get our ducks in a row prior to the holidays.

October 1st is upon us which means Vermont’s hands-free cell phone law goes into effect. “**Click here for the details.**”:http://highwaysafety.vermont.gov/phonesdown Here at Small Dog, a bunch of us have prepped for this by picking up the “**Jabra Tour Bluetooth Speakerphone.**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/86015/jabra-tour-bluetooth-in-car-speakerphone-black

This item is easy to set up and easily slipped onto the driver’s side visor. I literally turned on the Jabra, started Bluetooth on my phone, and in seconds was paired to the speaker.

With incoming calls, the Tour tells you the name of the person calling if it’s programed into your address book or will recite the phone number that is incoming. Don’t want to take the call? Just say ‘ignore call’. The Tour has some other great features I hadn’t seen in other devices I looked at. Battery life is in the 10 hour range, partially because the device will automatically power on/off when I leave and enter the car. It will also notify me that the device is paired when I get in the car, and provide a battery status on my iPhone.

As a speaker, the sound is decent for it’s size. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and now instead of plugging into the auxiliary jack in my car, I’ll play them through the Tour, not something I would do with my music, but a nice option to have! Many of us drive vehicles that don’t have hands free integrated into them and this product easily integrates into any car no matter the age! 

Thank you for reading!

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