Easy Strain Relief Mod
All cables have the potential to fail due to something called strain relief. Essentially, the joint where the cable meets the connector can…
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Easy Strain Relief Mod
All cables have the potential to fail due to something called strain relief. Essentially, the joint where the cable meets the connector can separate and fray after being pulled at sharp angles and twisting constantly.
There have been a couple techniques in cable manufacturing that help prevent this outcome. The most common, which can be seen on any Apple cable you own, is a thin rubber tube acting as a stiffener for the cord in this region. It also protects the cord housing from rubbing against the connector body. A method used on higher-end devices is a wire spring tightly wound acting as the rubber tube does.
As it turns out, even the strain relief prevention methods doesn’t always help. These cables don’t self-destruct, and this type of wear is very preventable. However, a cheap and easy way to prevent this from happening in the future is by using shrink tubing. This is a cheap rubber tube that slips over a wire and shrinks snugly onto the cable when heat is applied. Slip it over both the connector housing and the first half-inch of the cable itself. This will act as a stiffener and protect the cable from strain relief damage.
??Disclaimer: We do not recommend doing this to any cables under Apple warranty; it will void it. We also don’t recommend doing this if you don’t have previous experience with shrink tubing. Small Dog Electronics takes no responsibility for voiding of warranty or damages caused by modifying your cables.??
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Stuck Between a Black Screen and a Cursor?
Lately, some customers have found themselves with a machine that is close, but yet so far away from working correctly. The specific symptoms are described as “a black screen with a mouse cursor that will only deliver the ‘donk’ sound,” which usually just indicates incorrect input.
Don’t fret, your hard drive has not crashed and trojans have not infiltrated your system. You’re simply experiencing a glitch caused by the OS X software updater.
Apple forums user ??jesseinma?? was experiencing the same issue, and fortunately had Apple Support provide a solution. Here are the steps as found on this “Apple Support Communities page”:https://discussions.apple.com/message/25132425#25132425:
# Shut the computer down by holding the power button for 10 seconds.
# Restart the computer and press shift at the same time until you see the progress bar start moving.
# Once you reach the point where your screen goes dark and you see the cursor, type the first letter of the username for your computer, then hit Enter, then type your password, then hit Enter.
# After a moment, you should see the spinning beach ball.
# Your screen should then move on to something along the lines of “Completing OS X Installation” (or something to that effect). Let it finish. After that it should go to your normal desktop and the issue should be fixed. (If your screen goes pitch black during this process, hit the space bar. I thought it wasn’t working, but the screen was just sleeping.)I’ve had this solution work for a number of machines I’ve come across lately, but I will say that knowing your correct username and password are essential. A little bit of patience helps as well — I didn’t always get it right the first time.
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Common iPhone Problems and How to Possibly Fix Them
*Problem: Unable to send email*
Some people have found that they are unable to send emails after the iOS 7 update. They can still receive emails, but when they try to send emails, it doesn’t work. For some people it’s failing to send with an error message, for others email appears to send, but never arrives in the recipient’s inbox.This seems to occur intermittently and it can potentially happen on various types of email account. There are a few things you can try.
*Workarounds:*
* Double tap the Home button and swipe the email app up to close it. Then try restarting it again. It may work properly for a while.
* Restart your iPhone by holding down the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button until you see the Apple logo.
* Enable Airplane Mode and wait 30 seconds then turn it off again and try again.*Potential solutions:*
* Select the email account that’s giving you problems from *Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars* and tap on the Account section at the top where your email address is listed. Now tap on Outgoing Mail Server listed at the bottom and then tap on the Primary Server at the top of the next page. Make sure your email address is listed under *User Name* and then tap on the Password and re-enter it, even if it’s already filled in.
* You could try deleting the problem email account. Go to *Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars* select your email account and tap the Delete Account option at the bottom of the screen. Now make sure you have all the correct setup details and go to *Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account* to add it again.
* Go to *Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings* and set up your Wi-Fi connection again.*Problem: Can’t make or receive calls*
If you’ve run into problems with making or receiving calls after updating to iOS 7, you are not alone. You might find that people are trying to call you, but your iPhone is not ringing, or perhaps you are unable to make a call.Some people report calls apparently connecting, but the line seems to be dead and they can’t hear the other person. Assuming you’re not just in a dead spot (try making the call from another location), there are a few things you can try.
*Potential solutions:*
* Go to Settings and toggle Airplane Mode on for five seconds and then turn it off again.
* Make sure that *Do Not Disturb* in Settings is not turned on.
* Go to *Settings > Phone* and make sure Call Forwarding is not turned on.
* Go to *Settings > Phone* and check under Blocked.
* Make sure you have the latest carrier update by going to *Settings > General > About.* If there’s something available then you should be prompted to download it (make sure you’re connected the Wi-Fi and your mobile network).
* Make sure there isn’t another iOS update by going to *Settings > General > Software Update.*
* Try removing the SIM card, make sure it’s clean and replace it carefully.
* Try resetting your network settings via *Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.*
* Go to *Settings > Cellular* and try toggling Enable LTE and/or Enable 3G.
* Contact your carrier and make sure there’s no problem on their end.
* Try “*factory resetting your iPhone.*”:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414*Problem: Rapid battery drain*
Many people are finding iOS 7 is more power hungry than iOS 6 was. You can find some general help by referring to “*Apple’s documentation on how their iPhone batteries work.*”:http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html. There are also a couple of specific fixes worth considering.*Potential solutions:*
* Disable the parallax effect that gives the home screen that 3D look by going to *Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion.*
* Turn off the background app refresh for at least some of your apps by going to *Settings > General > Background App Refresh.*
* Turn off AirDrop by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and selecting the toggle in the Control Center.
* Go to *Settings > Notification Center* and toggle off any apps that you don’t want to include.*Problem: Keyboard lag*
This one seems to be a problem for iPhone 4 owners, but it may not be limited to that model. Sufferers have been complaining about lag with iOS 7 in general, but also some serious delays when typing on the virtual keyboard.*Potential solution:*
* Go to *Settings > iCloud* and turn Documents & Data off.
*Problem: Camera not working*
If you updated to iOS 7 and encountered a problem with your front-facing camera or your main rear-facing camera, you’re not the only one. Some people report that the main camera keeps freezing or refuses to load; they just get a black screen.Others are complaining that the front-facing camera is excessively blurry. This could be down to an app or it could be a hardware failure. Here’s what to try:
*Workaround:*
* Close the camera app, double tap the Home button and swipe the camera app up to close it completely, then reboot your iPhone and try loading the camera app again. This will work for some, but it doesn’t mean that the issue won’t return.
*Potential solutions:*
* Go to *Settings > General > Restrictions* and make sure “Allow: Camera” is on.
* If an app is causing the problem then removing it might fix your camera. Remove third-party apps one by one, reboot the iPhone, and test the camera. It’s a good idea to start with anything that obviously uses the camera.
* Take it into an Apple Store and show them the problem. If you’re still under warranty then you should get a replacement without any hassle. -
So how about those new operating systems at WWDC?! While we didn’t get any real glimpses into any new Apple products, the updates will offer awesome integration between Mac OS X Yosemite and iOS 8. I love the ability to finish on my Mac what I started on my iPhone, and features like iCloud Drive and AirDrop between Mac and iOS will only satisfy what users have been wanting for years.
Some of the smaller features will be welcomed as well. Are you in 15 person mass-texts that you wish you weren’t in? You can leave the thread. Don’t like the iOS keyboard? Install a third party one. Need to send a large attachment? Now you can with Mail Drop.
Great Apple announcements, beautiful Vermont, and Trader Joe’s frozen pork buns (seriously, I think I’m addicted to these things) make for a pretty good Small Dog life. Keep reading and you’ll find solutions for some common iPhone problems, another take on the black screen with cursor issue that was recently discussed, and a tip for prolonging the life of your portable’s power adapter cable.
– Mike
“miked@smalldog.com”:mailto:miked@smalldog.com -
Lightning Technology Sees an Update
In 2012, Apple introduced the Lightning connector, a small, digital 8-pin connector for iOS devices. Overnight, the consumer backlash seemed overwhelming because these…
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Grace finally got home after dealing with a flat tire just outside of NYC, and it is good to have the house full of dogs and wife again. We got her motorcycle out of storage and will be heading over to Lake George to the Americade motorcycle touring rally on Saturday.
I’ll be able to check out some of the iOS 8 features as I mount my iPhone on the Indian and use Maps to find new ways to get over there.
Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes! We know it is YOU, our loyal customers, who ultimately pay our wages.
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali & Stephanie_ -
Upcoming South Burlington Events
Our Memorial Day weekend sale went over pretty well, so we figured we’d bring it back with some additional inventory for those of you looking for great deals! We’re searching every nook and cranny we can to add more items at deep discounts.
**Starting today, Friday, June 6th, and running through Sunday June 8th,** South Burlington will host another special 3-day sales event during “*normal store hours.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/burlington
We’ll have all kinds of items on sale; most iPhone cases will check in around $5 and iPad cases can be found for as low as $10, but some items will even be **as low as $1!** These are discontinued items, customer returns or items that simply have damaged packaging. If you’re a bargain hunter, then this is the weekend for you!
__For all of our non-local fans of the Garage Sale, don’t worry — we’ll have details for you soon on our next one!__
*Customer Appreciation Event — June 12*
Mark your calendars **Thursday, June 12th from 5:30-7:30** — it’s Customer Appreciation Night at our South Burlington retail location! With **Dads and Grads** promos, refreshments, giveaways, demos, and special **one night only** deals, you won’t want to miss out!
We’ll be raffling prizes throughout the evening, and of course, we will have plenty of staff on-hand to help you with your shopping list. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you on this special evening, because without you, our loyal customers, we would not be your local one-stop shop for everything Apple.
If you haven’t already, become a fan on Facebook so that you can get up-to-the-minute store news there, and if you’re a local customer, be sure to sign up to receive our “*Best in Showroom newsletter (sent monthly).*”:http://www.smalldog.com/newsletters
* “**Small Dog HQ Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/hellosmalldog
* “**S. Burlington Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogsbtv
* “**Rutland Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogrld
* “**Key West Store Facebook page**”:https://www.facebook.com/smalldogkw -
Finance Your Dads & Grads
Huh? Well, really what we mean is that our “*Dads & Grads promos*”:http://www.smalldog.com/dadsandgrads/ are still happening (until *6/30*) and with our special in-store financing back in action, it’s easier than ever to get your grad or dad something special.
The best part? (You know, aside from no-interest payments for up to a year and a half…) Every product in the store is applicable (excluding services). There’s no minimum requirement for 6-month financing, and if you purchase an iPad or Mac, you may qualify for either 12- or 18-month financing, pending approval.
* *6* month offer: No minimum amount
* *12* month offer: Purchases of $499 – $998
* *18* month offer: Purchases of $999 and up (until 10/31)*How to Apply*
Come in to any of our retail locations — “*Waitsfield*”:http://www.smalldog.com/waitsfield, “*S. Burlington*”:http://www.smalldog.com/burlington, “*Rutland*”:http://www.smalldog.com/rutland, VT, or “*Key West, FL*”:http://www.smalldog.com/keywest — and any of our helpful Specialists can assist you with the application. Or, you can fill out the application online beforehand (see link below) and bring it in to any store. It can take as little as five minutes to receive approval for financing!Click here for more details: “**Smalldog.com/finance**”:http://www.smalldog.com/finance
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WWDC News: OS 10.10 Yosemite
It seems funny to type that — 10.10 — but Apple’s newest OS incarnation is just that: the 11th version of the OS X operating system (pardon the redundancy). In his keynote, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, talked about the “future of OS X: “Yosemite.”
My first thought: How can the successor to Mavericks top itself? I’ve loved the cleaner, more iOS-like interface of Mavericks, and especially loved the changes to Finder and couldn’t make the switch fast enough, especially since it was free-of-charge to Snow Leopard, Lion or Mountain Lion users. However, along with the beneficial features and the fact that it kicked off a new OS naming scheme dedicated to notable California locales, it also had a few hiccups (“*most notably with Mail*”:http://9to5mac.com/2014/02/26/even-after-os-x-10-9-2-mavericks-update-users-still-complaining-about-mail-issues/) that could stand to be improved upon.
*From the looks of Yosemite, it delivers and then some.*
So, what will users see in the latest Mac OS? For starters, Yosemite also includes a user interface redesign, further adding iOS 7 (and iOS 8!)-like visuals to your desktop. Yosemite boasts a more seamless integration between all of your devices as well as major new features focusing on seamless integration between Mac and iOS devices, a storage system called iCloud Drive, which is essentially iDisk coming back but with enhanced cloud features, and phone and text features added to your desktop.
* *New Interface and Notification Center*
* *Continuity*
* *Spotlight*
* *iCloud Drive*
* *Safari*
* *Mail*There was a ton of information included in the keynote, so we figured it might be better to expand more on it on the blog. “*Head on over to our blog, Barkings!*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/wwdc-news-apple-announces-os-1010-yosemite/ for all the details and to check out some screenshots of the new software.??
Both Yosemite and iOS will be available for free to the public this Fall.
I’m really excited to get this on my (personal) iMac, since we’ll be restricted from using Yosemite until IT clears it — likely beyond the official Fall release date. I plan to renew my Developer account, so we’ll see. In the meantime, since Don has already installed it on his personal machine, we’ll be pestering him for details that we’ll make sure to share in future issues of Kibbles & Bytes.
In the meantime, check out what other users with Developer access to the beta have been saying about Yosemite so far:
“*Mashable’s Article: With OS X Yosemite, the Mac Comes of Age*”:http://mashable.com/2014/06/05/os-x-yosemite-preivew/
“*Apple Insider’s Article:OS X Yosemite first look: Spotlight search*”:http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/06/05/os-x-yosemite-first-look-spotlight-search
“*MacLife’s Article: OS X Yosemite: The 8 Best New Features*”:http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/os-x-yosemite-8-best-new-features -
WWDC News: iOS 8
So WWDC happened on Monday.
With WWDC comes the opening keynote that most Apple nerds (and even non-Apple nerds) get all excited about because this is when they announce their new software and hardware. The two-hour keynote today consisted mostly of software announcements: Yosemite and iOS 8, baby!
While Kali will cover all the juicy details of Yosemite below, I’m here to give you a quick coverage of highlights from iOS 8. While it’s keeping the same flat design of iOS 7, it has been updated with features that will make your experience [even] easier.
iOS 8’s tagline reads, “Huge for Developers. Massive for everyone else.” Apple provided developers with deeper access and more tools. Such things like keyboard options and more ways to share content are just some of the things they can get their hands on.
Here are some of the other improvements we’ll see when iOS 8 is released this fall:
* *Photos:* Now every photo you take and edit will live in your iCloud Photo Library.
* *Messages:* You can now add your voice to your messages, share your location and send multiple photos and videos at once.
* *Keyboard:* Now suggests contextually appropriate words to complete the sentence you’re typing
* *Family Sharing:* Share data from your phone among six people in your family.
* *iCloud Drive:* Work on your files anywhere, anytime.
* *Health:* A new iApp (the ones you can’t ever delete from your phone or iPad) provides you with all sorts of health information.
* *iPhone, iPad and Mac are now all connected:* Now all of those devices are connected in such a way that if you start an email on your iPhone, you can finish it on your Mac at a later time.
* *Spotlight:* It will give you suggestions from Wikipedia, trending news and offers you answers that are in the context of where you’re located.
We’re sad we have to wait until Fall to check this out (well, at least I do, since I’m not a Developer). And if there’s any trend we are seeing from Apple these days it’s that they are making it easier than ever to own multiple Apple products.
??To read a more expansive version of this article, “*head on over to our blog*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/just-announcedios-8/ and check it out!??
Also, check out what other people around the web have to say about the coolest, best and most important features of iOS 8!
“*Tech Crunch’s Article: The Coolest iOS 8 Features Apple Didn’t Talk About*”:http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/02/the-coolest-ios-8-features-apple-didnt-talk-about-today/
“*MacLife’s Article: iOS 8: The 8 Best New Features*”:http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/ios-8-best-new-features#slide-0
“*Mashable’s Article: The 18 Most Important Features in iOS 8*”:http://mashable.com/2014/06/04/ios-8-features/ -
Lightning Technology Sees an Update
In 2012, Apple introduced the Lightning connector, a small, digital 8-pin connector for iOS devices. Overnight, the consumer backlash seemed overwhelming because these new adaptors were incompatible with the thousands (upon thousands) of accessories out there that were made for the original 30-pin connection.
However, many cheered at the discontinuation of what was considered a ‘dinosaur’ in technology terms, and was long overdue for a change. Apple also released a “*Lightning to 30-Pin Adaptor,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/81561/ which enabled users of the old cables to adapt without buying all-new Lightning cables. I, for one, jumped for joy at the possibilities of what the Lightning connector could do.
But alas, two years later, not much else has been done to further utilize this technology. It hadn’t yet brought anything new to the table; it was smaller, and I could plug it in on either side (something the 30-pin connector couldn’t do), but that’s about it. The accessories hadn’t changed (though the Apple Dock was initially dropped until the 5s brought it back) and it wasn’t any faster (despite the name). USB 3.0 was announced for laptops that same year, but no, Lightning didn’t have USB 3.0 capabilities, either.
You’ll have to excuse my rant — as a fanboy, I had expected more. I’m a cable freak, and the Lighting cable — like Thunderbolt — had much more potential than they were using. So, as my co-workers can attest to, when I read that Apple introduced Lightning Cable MFi Specs for headphones, I lost it! This is the first time we’ll see Lightning reach greater potential.
With the Lightning connection, we can now increase to a higher frequency of digital music, and power our noise-canceling headphones from our phone, or vice versa (power our phones from the backup battery in our headphones). It means that apps like VLC, Plex and of course, iTunes can begin to work with 5.1 surround output on video. App developers will have access to this for who knows what else — can you hear my excitement?
The speculation is endless…did this development come from the Beats acquisition? Personally, I think yes; Beats Music claimed to have higher bit rate than Spotify, but who cares if you’re plugging in via a headphone jack. It’s like having a built-in DAC (digital to analog converter) on your iPhone.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, active noise canceling headphones have always required power, and Beats has two headphones in their lineup that require power for noise canceling. These now can theoretically use a Lightning connection to lighten the load of an onboard battery.
Lastly, Don, took the speculation a step further and wondered, “when do you think they’ll introduce Lightning ports on computers?” Boom, mind blown. I can’t wait to see where this leads, and as always, I’d love to hear what our readers think.
“*Email me your thoughts!*”:mailto:will@smalldog.com