Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

KB Dog

  • Dear Friends,

    Okay I did turn on the heat at the house the other day. We have always had our unofficial rule of no heat until after Labor Day, but I had dinner with Hapy the other night and he claims the rule is no heat until after Halloween. Well, that ain’t happening…

    We are thinking of all the folks in the path of Florence. Stay dry and stay safe, please! I look at the National Hurricane Center almost daily and if a storm looks threatening I move over to Mike’s Weather Page for more detailed information. Anyone that does not believe that these mega-storms are a result of climate change is just hiding their head in the sand.

    There were big iPhone and Apple Watch announcements this week which we will cover in detail. I have thought a lot about upgrading, being the spoiled Apple fanboy that I am. I think I will get a new Apple Watch because I really like the idea of the ECG on my wrist. I am still mixed on the new iPhone since I love my iPhone X so much.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive is the MacBook Pro 15-inch w/Touch Bar. It features a 2.9GHz i7 Quad Core Intel processor,16GB ram, 512GB SSD and the RP560 4GB video card. It is silver and one of our bad box specials – the shipping box has a dent but the contents are perfect and comes with the Apple 1-year warranty. This unit is eligible for AppleCare + and if you ask when you place your order we will offer you AppleCare + for $40 off too! This unit is selling on our website for $2399.99 and we have only 4 available. This week for Kibbles & Bytes readers it is $250 off at $2149.99 first come, first served.

  • We have a constitutional crisis and people are burning their Nikes? It is completely racist to turn a peaceful protest of police violence against black people into some huge patriotic kerfuffle. Just how would YOU protest if you saw your neighbors, children and friends being victimized by the police? Argh..

    I am test driving a Tesla Model 3 while I am in Boston. It is strange but one of my biggest hesitations in buying a Model 3 is the lack of Apple CarPlay. I think I am way too much of an Apple Fanboy.

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

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • Top Features of iOS 12

    Feeling left behind because you don’t have the latest iPhone or iPad? Don’t, because Apple has a present for you in the form of iOS 12. The new operating system promises to increase performance, particularly for older devices as far back as the iPhone 5s and iPad Air.

    But iOS12 offers more than just a speed boost. Apart from adding fripperies like new animoji, text efforts, and camera efforts in Messages and FAceTime, iOS 12 helps you use your device less. That’s important, as it becomes increasingly obvious that many people spend more time than they’d like on addictive social media apps, games, and cat videos.

    Screen Time

    The marquee feature for helping you control device usage is Screen Time. Found in the Settings app, Screen Time reports on how much time you spend using different apps, how often you pick up your device, and how many notifications interrupt you. You can check it anytime and get weekly reports, and use this information to help you reduce undesirable usage.

    Screen Time has two helpful options, Downtime and App Limits. With Downtime, you can specify a time period when you can only receive phone calls and use specific apps you set in Always Allowed. App Limits let you set how long you may use certain categories of apps. You can ignore that limit, extending it for 15 minutes or for the rest of the day, but that’s cheating, right? Even better, you can set Downtime and App Limits for a child’s iPhone or iPad, ensuring that they can’t play games after bedtime or text their friends during dinner.

    Notification Management

    It’s easy to become overwhelmed with notifications, especially if you have chatty friends in messaging apps. iOS 12 can reduce the impact of non-stop notifications. On the Lock screen, iOS 12 now groups message threads and multiple notifications from the same app. Tapping a group expands it so you can see the details. Plus, with a feature called Instant Tuning, you can change notifications settings for an app right from a notification. Swipe left on a notification and tap Manage. Instant Tuning also lets you send notifications to Notification Center silently so they don’t interrupt you but are available later.

    Do not Disturb

    In the “it’s about time” department, iOS 12 beefs up Do Not Disturb so it works more the way people do. When you bring up Control Center and force-touch the Do Not Disturb button, it expands to let you turn on Do Not Disturb button, it expands to let you turn on Do Not Disturb for 1 hour, for the rest of the day, or until you leave your current location. The beauty of these new options is that they disable Do Not Disturb automatically so you don’t have to remember-and potentially miss important notifications. Plus, a new Bedtime option in Settings > Do Not Disturb dims the display and silences overnight notifications until you unlock your device in the morning.

    Siri Shortcuts

    Another new feature, Siri Shortcuts, aims to help you use your device more effectively. As Siri learns your routines, it will start suggesting shortcuts for common actions, either on the Lock screen or when you pull down on the Home screen to search. You can see its suggestions in Settings > Siri & Search > All Shortcuts, and for those that seem useful, record a custom phrase that will invoke the shortcuts. Plus, a new Shortcuts app lets you create more complex shortcuts that can run multiple steps at once.

    Smaller Change

    Those may be the most significant changes in iOS 12, but they’re far from the only ones. Here’s a sampling of other refinements you’ll notice:

    • Apple has redesigned the iBooks app and renames it Books
    • The News, Stocks, and Voice Memos apps also received redesigns, Stocks and Voice Memos are now available on the iPad, and all three have made the jump to the Mac in Mojave, with their data synced via iCloud.
    • A new Measure app uses augmented reality to help you measure objects in the real world.
    • In Settings > Battery, iOS 12 shows graphs of battery usage and activity for the last 24 hours or the last 10 days.

    iOS 12 has even more minor improvements that we’ll be sharing in the coming months, so watch this space!

  • Dear Friends, The temperature got up to 100° on Wednesday. Then I looked at the Weather app and it tells me it is…

  • It is getting to be Apple picking season again. We started doing “Apples to iPods” with the State of Vermont and the Apple Growers years ago. Each year, to encourage people to get out and pick apples, a wooden apple is hidden in each participating orchard. One lucky apple picker gets the prize when they find that apple. In the past, it was iPods but now it is Apples to iPads as the winners will receive an iPad mini when they find the wooden apple. The state of Vermont dropped out of the promotion but this year we are working with the Vermont Fruit Growers Association to keep the tradition alive.

    I hope that you have an awesome Labor Day weekend. I have some brutal relaxation planned!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • Notes!

    I have been a fan of Notes for years! I started out using the sticky note program on my mac and used it for everything, and sadly, I mean everything including usernames and passwords. Thankfully I learned many years ago safer means of account login storage and abandoned my sticky note ways on my Mac.

    What I missed most about my sticky notes was a quick and all in one location for things I needed to jot down; hello and welcome Notes! Notes has been out for many years and it’s certainly nothing new on iOS or macOS. Notes is an incredibly versatile program and one that I rely on heavily as another tool for keeping me organized and in order. I’ve written in the past about reminders, but I admit, try as I might I just can’t get away from Notes and I find its versatility in features to be something that reminders just can’t compete with. There are several features within the Notes program that go beyond just taking a simple note, and I want to share some of my favorite features.

    Syncing

    I think the ability to sync my notes across all of my devices is hands down the number one reason I use and just can’t break away from this handy little app. I can write a note on my computer and it automatically sends the note to my iPad and iPhone. With iCloud turned on and note syncing, your notes update across all devices that are logged into your iCloud account. There is one catch to the auto syncing that is new in the last year or so. In order for your iOS devices and your Mac to get your notes you do need to make sure that in addition to to iCloud being turned on, all of your devices need to be running the latest OS. Last week I had an issue where my notes were syncing from my iOS devices to my Mac, but not from my Mac to my iOS devices. A quick look at my devices revealed I hadn’t run my most recent software updates.

    Drawing

    Did you know that you can draw within the Notes program? Notes allows you to actually write a note in your own handwriting, and also allows you to draw. There is even a handy ruler so you can draw straight lines. There are a variety of colors to choose from to add a pop of color, and you have a choice of a pencil or two marker options. The details aren’t as responsive or detailed as that of, say, the iPad Pro, but this little feature allows for handy on-the-go creations. You can easily and quickly sketch out an idea via e-mail, text and even social media. This feature only really works on the iOS but you can do some similar actions on the Mac via Mark Up.

    Mark Up

    Within Notes you can insert a pictures from your photo library (on the Mac you can just drag and drop the image into your note) and then you can mark it up! You can draw over the image, add text, shapes and more. I recently used this feature specifically when I was working to re-model and paint a room in my house. We took pictures of the room and used the mark up feature to finalize what colors and changes we were going to make in the room.

    Locking Notes

    Another cool feature with the Notes program is that you can lock the notes. The only information that is viewable in the note is the title. A passcode must be entered on the computer or iOS device in order to see what is in the note. This is a great way to keep things just a little bit more secure on your devices. While you should keep things like passwords and account information securely stored in your keychain, this is another option. Admittedly if you’re given a code or access to something and need the information temporarily, it’s more practical to jot it in Notes and lock it. Likewise if you’re a busy person and you find yourself making notes about a special event or gifts, it’s nice to know you can keep wondering eyes away from your information and keep the surprise.

    Notes, the little app that does so much!