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Give your iPod, iPhone or iPad some juice while your on the road! Equipped with a LED power indicator
and sleek and compact design! Does not include a power cable so be sure to grab one of those. And check out our Lightning cable’s below!
Enjoy *free shipping* for the next week!
Small but Powerful! Charge your iPhone, iPod or iPad on the road with the Belkin Car Charger with included Lightning to USB cable. Get unlimited play and standby time with the low-profile design that sits flush in your dash.
Enjoy *$10 off* for the next week!
The new Beats Studio is lighter, sexier, stronger, and more comfortable, with precision sound, Adaptive Noise Canceling, a 20-hour rechargeable battery, and RemoteTalk. It has all the energy and excitement you expect from Beats, plus a powerful, reengineered sound. Available in black, red and white.
*Purchase Beats Studio 2.0 and Receive a $50 Small Dog Gift Card!*
*Hurry! Our trade-in promotion is ends Monday!*
Have an old computer that’s just not working for you anymore? Don’t go crazy — trade it in!
*From 4/7 – 4/21, you’ll get an extra $100 in trade-in credit on your old Mac or PC when you purchase a new Mac!* That’s right — you’ll receive at least $100 for your old computer, and in most cases, much more. Just bring your computer in, and we’ll get you a competitive trade-in value. See an associate for details!
Plus, if you buy any new Mac along with AppleCare (same invoice), we will transfer the data from your old Mac to your new one for *FREE*! There’s no need to stress, fret, or worry about how you’ll get all of your important documents and pictures to your brand new Mac.
??*Transfer promo requires a working Mac with OS X 10.5+.??
Hopefully by now, most people have heard about Heartbleed. No need to panic (“*click here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/heartbroken-about-heartbleed/ for steps to take if you haven’t already), but it was a serious issue in the tech world. If nothing else, it’s really shone a light on all sorts of computing security practice vulnerabilities. Many experts have suggested now is a great time to update passwords you use online.
When I started studying computer science in college, the older students often talked about this “hacking challenge” that one of the professors liked to do in his course on operating systems. It didn’t seem real…a challenge where the goal was to hack into a system? When I finally found myself in the operating systems course, I discovered just how real the hacking challenge was.
There were two parts: In the first part, we students took on the role of the defenders. In real life, most of us are defenders trying to keep hackers away from our private data. For this challenge, we were defending a system from attacks by the professor. In the second part, we assumed the role of the attackers. We were the bad guys trying to get into a system that the professor was defending.
In the defending role, the only thing at stake was pride and bragging rights. In the attacker role, in addition to pride and bragging rights, a hefty number of bonus points were offered up as added incentive. We were successfully able to defend the system against the professor’s attacks, but only barely. We underestimated his deviousness, and a key logger was nearly our undoing.
The more interesting part was when we assumed the ‘attackers’ role. As in love and war, nothing (within the rule of law) was off limits. There were a number of “checkpoints” we could reach in compromising the system, and we received points for each unencrypted password we were able to successfully identify. Each identification was met with exasperated groans from the professor as we called him to report it. The ultimate prize was an encrypted file that we needed to find and decrypt. Ultimately, we were able to compromise the entire system including the root password, and given more time, we were on our way to recovering and decrypting the encrypted file.
What did I learn from this challenge? I was taken by complete surprise how devious and clever we all became trying to break into that system. I also learned just how easy it was to break reasonable length passwords. Dictionary words? Might as well just hand your data to us on a silver platter. Proper nouns? No problem. Numbers added in? No problem. Weird characters? Slight inconvenience, but still doable. In many cases, we didn’t even bother being clever at all. Computational power and speed has become so ubiquitous and cheap, “lazy” brute force attacks on some more common hash and encryption algorithms are almost trivial. Just three or four of us requisitioning about 15 computers in a lab to do our bidding for a few hours was all it took.
Full disclosure: We had physical access to the machine in this situation. No one wanted to be responsible for us picking locks or otherwise trying to get into a locked office. Physical access allows attackers to bypass many of the network security speed bumps. The machine was also running a version of Linux, which uses similar security features and technologies to OSX. Windows is (or was) theoretically even easier to compromise. I expect newer versions don’t use the easily breakable hash algorithms of versions past.
*So what would I recommend?* Good complex passwords are important, but if it’s so complex you’re just going to write it on a post-it and stick it to your monitor, it’s too complex. There are tools to help keep track of your passwords, and I’ve used things like Keychain Access to help with that, but ultimately, the longest, or most complex password you can memorize is the best policy. Many companies and organizations use a password expiration policy, but these policies are somewhat outdated. They cause frustration for users and admins, and discourage people from memorizing passwords (more post-its on monitors). Nowadays if someone gets your password, they aren’t going to wait. They’re going to start looking for where it will work immediately. I know I would.
My personal recommendation is to go for the longest password you can, as that’s what I do. The web comic XKCD had a great strip about “*long passwords*”:http://xkcd.com/936/ a while back. Another good idea is to check if your favorite password shows up in any “*password leak*”:http://www.darkreading.com/risk/phpbb-password-analysis/d/d-id/1130335 or “*common passwords lists*”:http://gizmodo.com/the-25-most-popular-passwords-of-2013-god-help-us-1504852434.
??Disclaimer: The hacking exercise described here is an example of “*white hat hacking*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_hat_(computer_security). We were authorized to hack into the system as part of a learning exercise. You should never willfully hack into any system or attempt to steal passwords from anyone. For one, it’s highly unethical, and in many cases, it’s also illegal and could result in heavy fines or jail time. Even “*grey hat*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_hat or activist hackers often find themselves on the “*wrong side of the law*”:http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/15/jeremy-hammond-anonymous-hacker-sentenced.??
Last week, I experienced a scare when I couldn’t find my -right hand- iPhone after a series of stops in Burlington. At the point at which semi-panic set in, I found myself digging through my car, desperately trying to locate it, for the better (nope) part of half an hour. To my dismay, it wasn’t there, and I had to plan my next steps.
I made my way back to the S. Burlington store to get online to use Find My iPhone with the hope that it would show me exactly where it absconded to (sorry for ending this sentence with a preposition — I couldn’t resist the opportunity to use the word “absconded.”) Anyway, I logged into “*iCloud.com*”:https://www.icloud.com and got to sleuthing.
I clicked on Find My iPhone, and it located it within a minute. It was in car, moving swiftly down the highway. __Not my car.__
I’ll spare you the details since this was likely the result of a misunderstanding and get to the part that you’ll need to know/have if this ever happens to you. Everyone knows that the Find My iPhone app/technology is cool, but until you have to use it, you never realize just how much, and that the process of retrieving your phone if it’s actually with someone else rather than lost in your couch cushions requires certain info.
Here are my tips to protect yourself:
*Register your phone when you buy it.*
This not only protects your warranty, but it also provides a way for you to look up your serial number if it’s ever stolen. The police ask for this as part of their report, and you have access to your serial number no matter where you are — so even if your receipt is stored at home or you’ve thrown it (or the original box) out, you can get that crucial (and time-sensitive) data to the authorities when they need it.
*Set up Find My iPhone.*
Duh. I’m so glad I took the time to do this because it let me know exactly where my phone was once I accessed it in iCloud. There are three options once you locate it: Play Sound, Lost Mode, and Erase iPhone. It’s important to note that the latter two will render your phone untrackable; I chose not to select those because I wanted to still see where my phone was headed. Whether you choose to use those or not depends on your situation. Playing the sound would also potentially alert the person with the phone to the fact that you know it’s gone, so evaluate that as well. Find My iPhone also displays your battery’s charge, which was extremely helpful for me because I knew that its time on was numbered. Once the battery goes dead, it’s also (obviously) not trackable.
*Bookmark* “*this site.*”:http://supportprofile.apple.com
Log in to Apple’s Support Profile page with your iCloud information, and there, you will be able to view all of your (registered) Apple devices and computers. This was my saving grace, since I didn’t have my serial number accessible any other way when I was at the store. (Note: We record a device’s serial number on the original invoice, but I had swapped out my iPhone 5 for another model recently, so the data wasn’t accurate.)
All’s well that ends well, and I got my phone back that day. It was a great lesson in why registering your valuables is essential!
_Dear Friends,_
They say that winter is not really over until the April snowstorm has hit Vermont, and we had that this week with a reported five inches up at my house on Prickly Mountain. Hopefully, the roads will now dry out and the rivers get back in their banks!
Hapy, who has been waiting very patiently for his new “*Mac Pro,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/84464 is now sporting the diminutive powerhouse on his desk. I really do not know what he will do with all that freed up desk space, but I am sure it will be covered soon. I hope I can twist his arm to write a review next week for Kibbles!
Normally, this time of the year Jason and/or I are in China for the trade shows, but we decided to skip the spring shows this year as there were no compelling new products for us to source. I have heard, however, that some of the manufacturers over there are already showing cases for future, unannounced products. That is always risky as specifications (and more importantly, dimensions) frequently change at the last minute.
We have three job requirements of all Small Dog employees that help us to manage the business. Each employee writes a weekly report to their manager and copies Hapy and myself. In these reports we are looking for a report of work accomplished, work planned for the next week, obstacles encountered, resources needed and any general commentary. With sixty employees, sometimes it takes me awhile to read them all but I find them incredibly valuable.
The second job requirement is that each employee, whether they are sales people, shippers or accountants, takes the series of Apple online training modules and achieve the designation of Apple Product Professional. We may be the only company that has 100% of our staff with this designation. I really want whomever answers your call or email to be very well-versed on the products we sell.
The third job requirement is that employees take a paid day off each year to perform community service. The only requirement here is that they send me an email describing their work. Community service has run the gamete from helping with the clean-up from hurricane Irene to working the Special Olympics or helping a neighbor stack wood.
My Kibbles & Bytes special for this week is the MacBook Air 11-inch model featuring a 1.3GHz Intel i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256GB of solid state storage. This is the ultimate in portable Macs! Weighing in at only 2.38 pounds, it is the lightest Mac you can buy. I am bundling this MacBook Air with AppleCare, of course, so that you have the protection for three years instead of just one, and three years of technical support from Apple instead of just 90 days. Two more items in this bundle provide more protection for you. The Hammerhead 11-inch Leather Envelope is a great case for this Mac and you need backups (yes, you NEED backups!) so I am including a Seagate 500GB Backup Plus Slim drive that will make it easy with Time Machine to have all of your data backed up! This lightweight portable bundle is available exclusively to Kibbles & Bytes readers for only $1,449 for this week (while supplies last).
“*Purchase this bundle here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900001372
Beats Pill portable speaker brings the party with you, wherever you go. The Beats Pill is lightweight, portable, and completely wireless. For the next week, purchase a Beats Pill 2.0 and receive a *FREE* Beats Pill Dude — a *$50 savings!* Your choice of black, red or white.
The thin, light design makes iPad 2 comfortable to hold. It’s got a powerful dual-core A5 chip, yet has the same 10 hours of battery life — and at an all new, low price of $299.99! Available in black and white.
??While supplies last!??
My “*last article*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt902/ detailed the arguments for and against anti-virus or anti-malware software on Macs. It turned out to be pretty popular because I got a good deal of feedback and further questions that fell into pretty much two groups; one set was about “beyond anti-virus,” which is what other measures can users take to keep their computers safe. The second group of questions were about pass-through viruses (e.g., infected attachments, documents and files that are harmless on a Mac, but if forwarded to Windows users or networks, can be harmful to the receiver).
For the first set, there are definitely some extra measures that aren’t time consuming and Mac users can take to enhance their security.
# *Don’t have your regular users running as Administrators.* This is really not a great inconvenience; if you need to install and update or make preference changes, you are prompted for the Admin user name and password. This is really easy; just create a single Admin account on your Mac in *System Preferences* under *Users and Groups* and then change your regular user’s account settings to *Standard User*. It means you’ll be prompted for any system changes.
# *Keep OS X up-to-date.* This doesn’t necessarily mean upgrading to the newest OS X version if you aren’t ready, but do readily check Software Updates *(Apple menu > Software Update > ??from there it depends on the OS X version you have, but it’s intuitive??).*
# *Keep non-Apple plugins and web browsers up-to-date.* When you get that notice about an update being available, let it run.
# *Confirm and legitimize links (this is for all personal computer and mobile device users).* This is a bit of social engineering — always be sure that a link is legitimate (whether in email or on a Web page) BEFORE YOU CLICK. In most browsers, you can confirm the root of the link (with the exception of more advanced hacks) by simply placing your mouse cursor over the link. Make sure it starts with amazon.com or keybank.com or paypal.com, etc. And never fill out forms directly in emails; go to the requesting site.
# *Avoid using secure websites on non-secure (read: public) connections.* Sniffers can easily monitor data flying over these semi-open networks. If you’re planning on banking or filling out taxes (it’s that time of the year) etc., on public networks (like at the local library, Starbucks, etc.) do that type of work at home on your own secure Wi-Fi! This is not just for laptops, but for phones and tablets as well.
Regarding passthrough malware, to answer the questions I received about this, there is really very little information about it being a vulnerability in my searching. Essentially, if you inadvertently send malware to a susceptible system (like someone with a PC) it’s really the responsibility of the receiver to have taken their own appropriate steps to avoid infections. If it’s any level of corporate network that is receiving it, they will almost certainly have sufficient firewalls and internal malware filters running. Also, the type of malware any anti-malware software is going to be looking for on your Mac is not going to be checking for Windows vulnerabilities. So I’m completely unpersuaded that it’s a valid reason for installing anti-virus on a Mac.
The other day I was going through a box of old technology. Behind the CD-ROM copy of the Sierra Entertainment classic, the Incredible Machine, and a series of floppy disks for long forgotten version of Microsoft Word, I found a dusty CD-R simply labeled “videos.” After a double glance over my shoulders, I loaded the disc and delved into its contents.
Like the forgotten mediums of floppy disks and CD-ROMS I had uncovered that day, this disc was rife with video formats of the past: __The Simpsons__ for QuickTime, my cousin’s wedding as a .wvm…far, far too many videos for RealPlayer. How, exactly, am I going to watch all of these?
Format wars aren’t new to the scene (VHS vs. Beta-Max is a classic example). Finding a technology that can handle multiple formats, however, is not so common. Luckily for us, a 1996 student project at a Parisian engineering school birthed what we know today as VLC media player. Version 1.0.0 of this packet based media player was released in 2009 and watching videos has never been so easy. Forget about formats and codecs — this application has handled any video or audio track that I’ve ever thrown at it.
It can stream half-downloaded files from P2P networks, bypass DVD region coding, play video from disc image files, track subtitles forwards and backwards by the millisecond, amplify audio past operating system limits; the list goes on and on to offer features for the most hardcore of users. VLC media is available for free at “*www.videolan.org.*”:http://www.videolan.org
During my tenure as the full time technician assigned to our headquarters in Waitsfield, VT, I’ve seen our repair diagnostics fee rise from $50 to $65. It’s safe to say that whenever any price goes up, whether for taxes, or rent, or products and services, nobody is jumping for joy.
I’d like to use my article this week, however, to explain what that $65 does for you and defend it as a reasonable fee for what we, at Small Dog Electronics, provide.
Our service technicians are Apple Certified. This may not mean a whole lot to some, but for us, it means many hours of personal time and dedication reading manuals, articles, and studying procedures. It also means that Apple officially provides, endorses, and underwrites our training and allows us to perform warranty and out-of-warranty work on their products at our company so you don’t have to send your computer to Apple directly and be without it for weeks. It’s not possible to have someone log every moment we spend studying and training for our job outside of work, so in order to quantify this knowledge and expertise, there needs to be a baseline. That’s where your $65 starts.
At the check-in counter, our staff is trained to determine whether an issue is best resolved on the spot, with a consultant, during an in-store 1-on-1 lesson (not to be confused with Apple’s 1-to-1 service!), or whether a device needs to be checked in to be diagnosed and worked on by a technician. We have had customers mention that they didn’t understand the $65 charge for what may seem like a “quick/5-minute” diagnosis, but I should clarify that, should a device come through the service department, it is never merely tested for five minutes.
Instead, here is what happens…
We start by attempting to replicate the issue. In some cases, when there is a clicking sound indicating hard drive failure or a flashing question mark folder, we may bypass an attempt to boot the system and immediately run diagnostics externally. Once we’ve found the root cause, we make a judgment about how most efficiently to move forward. Often, this means finding an applicable diagnostic part to test with. If this does not resolve the issue, we then see that something else is wrong or that we’ve tackled the problem from the wrong angle. Eventually, we will discover what needs to be replaced or reinstalled and, if it is not covered under warranty, we call the client to discuss costs and what is involved.
Over the past year, we have made significant efforts to raise the bar with regard to customer-technician communication. We are always open to questions, concerns, and feedback about the service and are happy to explain why a certain part is needed or why something is not covered under warranty, etc. Careful documentation and internal communication is part of the $65 that you pay for diagnostics — it allows us to take care of you, quickly and properly answer your questions, and keeps everybody on the same page. So many times, because of humanity’s busy schedules, we need to leave voicemails and play phone tag with customers.
For example, if you call in to check the status of a repair in South Burlington and I, in Waitsfield, answer the phone, I can tell you what you need to know or find out immediately. Your money goes toward that efficiency and customer service, even if the employee you’re talking to is in a different location than where you left your device off. Often I will counsel customers who brought their devices elsewhere in purchasing a new computer or in choosing one of several options the technician has laid out for them.
Finally, when we are diagnosing a computer we ??will?? test the integrity of the whole system and make sure that when you receive back the device it is functioning within established parameters. This means testing everything beyond the initial issue and symptom set. Of course, we like to give systems back to users in better condition than they arrived. As you can imagine, by the way, none of this takes a mere 5 or 10 minutes but is really stretched across multiple people, multiple hours, and quite honestly multiple days. It is a team effort to get your product back in your hands so that you can go back to enjoying it. And when you do get it back, you have access to technician notes summarizing what was done, any important communication you may have made, and of course a breakdown of price by part and labor.
Whenever you own something that doesn’t work and needs to be worked on by a professional, you can get a little crazy. I’m no different than anybody else who has ever brought in a device and wanted, nay ??needed??, it back as soon as possible. Your perception of time becomes distorted as anxiety pervades.
My hope with this article is to put into perspective that we all do unequivocally appreciate your plight and, though things may sometimes seem expensive or delayed, we do the very best we can for every single customer and we do care that you are more than satisfied with our work. If there is an unexpected delay or issue, we’ll set it right. We stand by service excellence here at Small Dog and are always prepared to raise the bar.