Kibbles & Bytes Blog
Apple news, tech tips, and more…
Apple news, tech tips, and more…
I have written about Apple’s commitment to accessibility in their products and, in particular, their MFI Hearing Aid program. Apple has worked with top manufacturers to create hearing aids and sound processors designed specifically for iPhone and iPad. These advanced hearing devices provide outstanding sound quality, offer many helpful features, and are as easy to set up and use as any other Bluetooth device. You can quickly access the features and settings of your paired hearing device by triple-clicking the Home button. Glance at the battery status or change the left and right volume, together or separately. And quickly apply your audiologist’s environmental presets as you go outdoors or enter noisy locations, like restaurants, without having to rely on additional remotes.
I first corrected my hearing with MFI hearing aids four years ago. I discovered that I was not understanding voices, especially British female voices on TV and Grace kept having to repeat herself (not that she is British). As I went to get my hearing checked I discovered that it is not so much the sounds I didn’t hear but the fact that my brain was not interpreting the sounds I heard because they were not clear enough. Hearing aids are actually aids to your brain to interpret the sounds you hear.
I went to an audiologist and was told I needed $7500 hearing aids. Well, that sticker shock turned to annoyance when I discovered that high prices at audiologists were just an insurance scam. I say this because I went to Costco, got the exact same hearing exam and ended up buying Costco hearing aids for $1799. When I confronted my audiologist she basically admitted that she kept prices high so she could charge that higher price to those that have insurance.
This is going to sound like a commercial for Costco and I guess it is but I cannot be happier with my experience with the Costco Hearing Center. The first hearing aids I got back then were made by Resound and were basically identical to those $7500 ones the audiologist wanted to charge me. Costco does the exam, the fittings and all the programming, but their excellence doesn’t stop there. They provide an annual hearing exam and will replace domes, sport loops and clean them any time you want. Their warranty cannot be beat and the best place to buy hearing aid batteries, bar none, is Costco. But they really exceeded my expectations when I asked them if I could give my old hearing aids to a friend that could not afford them. Not only did they encourage that but they told me that they would re-program them for him and treat him like a new customer for free. They even let me leave them with them so he could pick them up at his appointment at Costco.
Long ago, they made me a customer for life. That is why I returned for new Hearing Aids since I wanted the updated technology. I found that Costco’s price dropped a couple hundred to $1599 and now their HAs were made by another Apple MFI supplier, Rexton. You can see all the Apple MFI Hearing Aid suppliers here.
I bought the new Kirkland Signature 8 and I am very happy with the new hearing aids. The Rexton Smart Direct app is easy to use; they paired immediately with my iPhone. One of the great benefits of the MFI hearing aids is that they stream phone calls, messages and music right to your hearing aids. I was having trouble with my older hearing aids not streaming immediately; when someone called me I would have to ask the caller to wait while the streaming got its act together. These newer models stream immediately. Even better, I played some music and, while the older HAs sounded sorta tinny and were not good for listening to music, the KS8s sound like a good quality ear bud. I guess I will be going through batteries faster as I secretly listen to Maria Brink and In This Moment in my ears and know one will be the wiser!
Live Listen is another great Apple hearing enhancement. Let’s say you are in a crowded hall listening to the new Democratic candidate for Governor in Florida, Andrew Gillum and can’t hear too well. You can activate Live Listen on your iPhone and place your iPhone on the podium or near the speaker and it will act as a microphone for your hearing aids. Pretty cool.
How to Pair and Connect your Hearing Aids
When you pair a Made for iPhone hearing aid to your iOS device, audio from your iOS device goes to your hearing aid. To pair your hearing aid, follow these steps:
Controlling Your Hearing Aids
The Rexton Smart Direct app is very full featured and allows you to control volume, bass and treble, as well as a host of other features such as a remote microphone (live listen), alert tones, switching between program, presets and much more. My Costco fitter set me up with 4 of the available 6 programs. I have found that I only use two, one is “automatic” which seems to cover 90% of the situations and the other was “restaurant” which basically makes the microphones more directional in noisy situations. I now have automatic, Noise/party, Live Music and Outdoor/Traffic. There are also settings for Cafe, Cinema and Group Conversation.
The Apple iPhone hearing app in the accessibility system preference will also allow you to control many of the features of your hearing aid. You can use a shortcut to get to that screen by triple-clicking the home button or on the iPhone X the side button. You can use your iOS device to see your hearing aid’s battery life, adjust the volume, turn on Live Listen, and more. To control your hearing aid, use Settings or the Accessibility Shortcut.
Set preferences for features that you control with your iOS device by going to Settings > General > Accessibility > Hearing. Then tap MFi Hearing Aids.
Play Ringtones
You can play ringtones through connected hearing devices.
Audio Routing
Choose the default device for audio playback.
Control Nearby Devices
Use your iOS device to adjust the settings of hearing aids that are on the same WiFi network and connected to your iCloud account.
Audio Handoff
Continue listening to media through your hearing aid when you switch between your iOS devices. For example, if your hearing aid is connected to your iPhone but you start watching a movie on your iPad, the hearing aid automatically switches to the iPad.
Control on Lock Screen
Quickly make preset and volume adjustments on your hearing aid right from the Lock Screen on your iOS device.
You can also tap your hearing aid’s name in Settings to:
Between these two apps, Apple’s MFI hearing aids and Rexton Smart Direct you have a lot of control over your hearing. In real life, while I do use these from time to time, I can also change programs and volume by the little rocker buttons on the hearing aid itself.
Apple has made a real contribution with MFI hearing aid compatibility and it has come a long way in the few years that it has been available. As you know I am a beta tester for the new iOS and some versions have broken MFI hearing aid compatibility in the past. A real testament to Apple’s commitment to accessibility is just how quickly Apple engineers jumped on the problem and solved it after my bug reports.
Are you saying “what?” a lot? Are you pretending to hear and just nodding? Don’t put off getting your hearing checked. There are great solutions, especially at Costco that will stimulate your brain and let it interpret those sounds coming into your ears. One of my greatest memories from when I first got my hearing aids was suddenly hearing the beautiful sound of the birds singing and the creek bubbling that I had all but forgotten existed.
Dear Friends,
Don’t like the weather, here hold my beer. It was nearly 100 degrees yesterday with very high humidity and now tonight temps supposed to drop down to the 40s. I can see some tinges of red on the maples and now that school has started it sure seems like summer is over. Well it is NOT! Labor Day weekend is upon us and then we can put a stick in it.
All of Small Dog Electronics stores and offices will be closed on Monday to celebrate Labor Day.
No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence. – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of course, our website will be working and orders will ship again when we re-open on Tuesday.
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is my HomePod/AirPod bundle. Take your choice of a White or Space Gray HomePod along with a set of Apple AirPods. Both of these “pods” are some of Apple’s best creations. The AirPod has been incredibly popular and a sorta status symbol these days. The HomePod has been a bit slower to gain popularity but I have to say that I love my HomePod! I also have Amazon devices but our go-to source in my home is Siri on HomePod. HomePod can be your HomeKit hub and Siri will answer your trivia questions, but it really excels at cranking out the tunes. You will be amazed at the sound quality and how it adjusts to fit your room. This week only take $20 off the combo at only $489.98
It is sweet corn season. Artie and I used to have a contest to see who could eat the most cobs at a single sitting, but in my old age I am pretty much down to just 2 or 3. I like jumping on my motorcycle and just riding until I find an interesting farm stand to buy freshly picked corn. I gave up growing corn years ago. I would grow great sweet corn, and, with just one more day to pick it so it was at its peak, the raccoons would come and eat it all! And then have my chickens for dessert! It just wasn’t worth all that labor to be so disappointed.
Our garden has suffered a bit this year with Grace’s broken hand. There is still some great food hiding out there in the weeds but not our best year for veggies. Lucky for us there is a plethora of organic vegetable stands here in Vermont so we are not suffering at all!
Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don & Emily
Over the past week, I have had several interactions with iOS users complaining of poor battery performance or overall slow performance with their iOS device. In many cases, these issues can be easily resolved by either adjusting how you might be using the device, running software updates, or by updating forgotten settings.
Battery Health
Apple introduced new features in iOS 11.3 with battery health, a quick glance can let you see a snapshot of what apps are most frequently used. You can find the battery information by simply tapping on Settings where you can easily see which apps are using your battery the most. In some cases, you might realize it’s a specific app. Perhaps you haven’t realized your child or grandchild grabbing your phone and you discover they’ve been watching YouTube. This was the case with my brother. His son was using YouTube (with permission), but what my brother did not realize is that YouTube was refreshing the content in the background, accounting for even more drain on the battery. I have several news apps which I have set to notify me of breaking news. Depending on the news day, I can have a significant amount of battery life going to my home screen lock being overrun with notifications. With my iPad, my notetaking program clearly dominates my battery usage. Because I use my iPad primarily for notes, there isn’t much I can do to reduce the battery drain and I know I need to charge my iPad every night during heavy usage. In the case of my phone, turning off my news notifications when I need to extend my battery life can provide significant improvements.
Background Refresh
Background refresh, the secret battery killer. I say this because this is a setting that I recommend checking often. In the case of just about every app you might download, the default refresh setting is to automatically refresh in the background. You can check this setting by going to Setting> General > Background Refresh, and consider turning off any or all apps. You can tell that an app is set to automatically refresh if the button to the right of the app is switched to green. Social media apps and streaming apps will use the most battery power with background app refresh, so I do make sure those are turned off. Another note, these settings don’t migrate over automatically to new devices so you might find, to your surprise, all your apps are set to refresh in the background.
Web pages or e-mail open slow
I spoke to a customer the other day who indicated that when she refreshed her e-mail the “dotted circle” just spins for a minute or so and then her e-mails download. This is something that you just might not be able to control and might not even be a problem with your iOS device. How fast your iPad or iPhone refreshes, downloads and browses is related to your internet speed and the wireless router you are connecting to. If you are finding your iPad is slow to refresh mail, or when browsing the internet or refreshing an app when you are away from your home or office, there is really nothing you can do. It does not mean you have a slow device, it just means your network access is likely slow. When it comes to your home or office, you might just need to update your wireless router. If you have not updated your wireless router in several years, this could be the motivation to upgrade that equipment. Manufacturers such as eero and Linksys have added features of dual and tri-band systems. These dual and tri-band systems allow all users to connect and browse at the fastest speed their device and network can provide, giving everyone equal enjoyment of the network.
Update the iOS and apps
Many users might find apps quitting unexpectedly or perhaps getting a slow response time when tapping on an app or general navigation. Often times this could be related to the iOS, and, in many cases keeping the device up to date, just like your computer, can help with performance. Generally speaking, you do not have to worry if those updates will have the opposite effect and slow down the device significantly for the next few years.
Updating the different apps on your device is also important. Like iOS, the app developers also release updates to fix bugs within their apps and can help with performance. I do recommend automatic updates when it comes to apps, unlike your computer’s software, these rarely have any effect on usage or worry about compatibility. After all, the apps are mini versions of the software.
I recommend checking settings often on your devices as a variety of instances can cause settings to change or perhaps you missed the release of an update. In the end, however, our devices have their limits. You can only charge the batteries so many times and even with the best practices reduced battery life will inevitably occur. Eventually, you will reach the limits of software updates and the time will come when your hardware simply needs to be updated. However, until then, these simple steps can help you to ensure you have minimal performance issues or at least properly identify if you do have an issue with your device.
I used to prefer trackballs over using a mouse but when Apple came out with useful trackpads I was hooked. I use a Magic Trackpad 2 on my home office set-ups and also at the office.
A trackpad is not a mouse. In some ways, that’s obvious—you swipe your fingers on it, rather than dragging it around. Less obvious, however, are the many gestures that make using a trackpad on your Mac faster and, I think, more fun. These gestures aren’t limited to laptop users thanks to Apple’s Magic Trackpad 2, which brings gesturing goodness to any desktop Mac. Emily talked a bit a few weeks ago about the trackpad, but I think she omitted some important features beyond the traditional two and four finger swipes.
Three Fingers on the Trackpad
What if you swipe vertically with three fingers? Swipe up to enter the All Windows view of Mission Control, which shows all open windows as thumbnails, plus desktop spaces in the top bar. Click any thumbnail to switch to it, or jump to any space by clicking it. You can also click the plus button at the upper right or drag any window into the top bar to create a new space. To move a space’s apps back to the current space, hover over a space on the top bar and click the close button that appears. To exit All Windows view, swipe down with three fingers.
If you haven’t invoked All Windows view, swiping down with three fingers instead invokes App Exposé view, which displays thumbnails of all open windows in the current app. Click any one to switch to it. Swipe right or left with three fingers while in App Exposé to switch between apps.
Here’s another one that I use every day – three-finger drag. Here’s how to turn on three finger drag if your Mac has a Force Touch trackpad or you are using the Apple Magic Trackpad 2:
#From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
#Click the Accessibility icon.
#Choose Mouse & Trackpad from the options on the left.
#Click Trackpad Options.
#Place a checkmark next to “Enable dragging.”
#From the related pop-up menu, choose “three finger drag” so there’s a checkmark next to it.
#Click OK.
Finally, on older MacBooks that don’t have Force Touch-capable trackpads, tap with three fingers on words to look them up, on files to preview them with Quick Look, and more. With newer MacBooks, if you have “Force Click and haptic feedback” enabled in System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click, you can instead “force click” with one finger for these features. That involves clicking on something and then pressing firmly without letting up.
Two Fingers on the Trackpad
The two-fingered gestures are easy to get your head around. You might be surprised what else you can do with two finger swipes.
In Safari, swipe left on a page to go back in that tab’s page history or right to go forward. Also in Safari, tap two fingers on the trackpad to zoom in on the content. Another two-fingered tap zooms back out.
In Photos, and some graphics apps, zoom in and out by pinching with two fingers, and rotate selected objects by putting two fingers on the trackpad and turning them. A two-finger pinch also zooms the page in Safari.
To open Notification Center quickly, swipe left from off the right-hand edge of your trackpad. Swipe back to the right to close Notification Center.
Changing Your Preferences
If you need a refresher on all these gestures, open System Preferences > Trackpad. Look in the Point & Click, Scroll & Zoom, and More Gestures panes to see a handy video for each gesture. You can also adjust which ones are active and how many fingers they require.
With so many gestures on offer, it’s worth your time to explore everything you can do with your trackpad. You are likely to discover something you didn’t know about, even if you have been a user for years.
Dear Friends,
Schools are starting the new school year, and, if we look out the window in the conference room here at Small Dog Electronics world headquarters there is already a couple of sugar maples showing red leaves. Too soon! Jezebel likes this time of year as the big apple tree that we planted outside my office window starts to drop its apples. She grabs an apple each time I let her out and brings it in with her to eat. Cuts down on my dog biscuit budget!
President John F. Kennedy wrote a book in 1957, Profiles in Courage, that talked about eight courageous US Senators in US history that stood up for their beliefs without regard to political consequence. We need more of that from our legislators but it sure seems that they are stuck in a political Ground Hog of campaign contributions, gotcha politics and maneuvering instead of working for the people that they represent. Perhaps we will see some new blood. Have you voted in your state’s primary? Will you vote this November? It could be the most important vote ever.
Costco announced that they are now taking ApplePay at all their stores. I was up at Costco buying new hearing aids and was able to pay using my watch for the hearing aids that I can control from my watch. Pretty cool, eh?
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features a Demo iPad Pro 9.7in, 32gb in Rose Gold with cellular. This iPad originally sold for over $500, and I have a few units left over. This iPad works with Apple Pencil and lets you connect to the internet no matter where you are. This week I have bundled this iPad with an Apple Smart cover for $399.99.
I have been playing nurse for Grace as she recovers from her hand surgery which was a lingering issue from her motorcycle accident this spring. We think she is all fixed up but has some recovery time as a one-handed girl. I don’t much like having a broken wife but we are a team and I have often said I am her right-hand and so I really am now. I have been cooking some not-so gourmet meals and putting on her Apple Watch every morning.
We won the 7 Daisy award for the 10th year in a row as the Best Place to Buy a Computer. We also did a press release about our search for some new capital or partners and received some good press.
Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don & Emily
I have been using my iPad Pro much more frequently lately. I have even set up my Kinesis Bluetooth keyboard to be able to access either my Mac or iPad with a simple keystroke. Frankly, I sometimes forget and start using my finger on my MacBook Pro screen and get frustrated and have a laugh when it doesn’t react.
At the office I primarily use my Mac, but if I go into a meeting I will usually grab the iPad to bring along. At home, though, I am primarily using my iPad(s). I have an iPad Pro that I use for mostly web surfing, email and things like controlling my Spark drone. I also have an iPad mini that generally stays by my bedside for reading.
Here’s a random collection of seven iPad tips that might help you get the most out of your iPad!
1) Scan, Sign and Send
This is primarily for the iPad Pro or new iPad 9.7-inch users that have Apple Pencils. One of the most frustrating things is when someone sends you a document to sign and you want to quickly sign and return. In the old days (last week?), you would fire up your Mac, print out that document, sign it and then fight with your scanner to get it back to digital form and email it back.
With your iPad and your Apple Pencil is is easier. Here’s the steps:
Of course, if you are a Preview pro, you already have your autograph digitized and can just e-sign your doc but this is a great way to sign that doc that is laying on your desk.
2) Copy and Paste using Universal Clipboard
Moving documents or pictures between your iPad and your iPhone has never been easier. In the past, you might have emailed them to yourself but with Universal Clipboard you can let your fingers do the copying!
Let’s say you have a picture on your iPhone that you want on your iPad. Follow these steps:
*On your destination iPad choose where you want that picture and do a long tap in a blank space and you will see the “Paste” button to copy the picture
3) Faster Editing
You are typing a text to a friend on your iPad and you notice that you made some presidential-like spelling errors. How do you get the cursor back to where you want to correct? You can try to use your finger and press and try to position it correctly or:
*To quickly move the insertion point, drag two fingers on the keyboard to where you want to edit text.
4) Use Apple Pay Cash to Send Money
Khadija and I use this all the time, well mostly in one direction, but you can now send cash easily right from the Messages app. If Khadija were to message me saying “Gramps, I really need $20 for this text book” I can simply press on the $20 text and up pops my Apple pay window that gives me the choice of “Request” or “Pay” and gives me the ability to adjust the amount.
You can also click of the Messages app button in the bottom left of the message and then on Apple Pay and do it from there.
While the funds will instantly be in the other person’s Apple Pay Cash account, getting that cash into a crisp new Andrew Jackson is a bit trickier but usually, the recipient can just pass the Apple Cash along.
5) Ask Siri to Translate!
This works great on your iPhone, too. Let’s say you are in Peru and need a couple tickets for the train but do not speak Spanish. You could just use sign language. Grace and I have done that many times in our travels, but if you have your iPhone or iPad you can use Siri to translate for you. Just ask her.
Siri can translate English into Mandarin, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Siri speaks the phrase aloud to help with the pronunciation, too.
6) Quickly scan QR codes
I will be honest, I seldom bother with QR codes but sometimes you want to see what’s hidden behind that code.
With the camera in either Photo or Square mode, point the camera at a Quick Response Code. Tap the notification to perform the action. On some notifications, you can swipe down for more actions.
7) Get Rid of Website Distractions
Reader in Safari makes articles easier to read. When you see the Reader button in the search field, tap it to see just the text and photos — without ads.
Dear Friends,
I went out for my annual golf match with three very special friends yesterday; Larz Barber from Merrill Lynch is one of my oldest friends that has worked with me in some way in many of my business ventures and was my first hired employee way back in the windmill company days. Dave Sellers is a famous and brilliant architect and also my mentor and friend. He designed my house and was my professor at college and partner in the windmill days. Melinda Moulton is an amazing lady who basically designed and developed the Burlington waterfront. I know her because she is a very focused and active supporter of many awesome organizations such as Planned Parenthood of NNE. We all are not that good but Dave and I have consistently beaten Melinda and Larz in our matches, and Dave now claims that just because he is over 80 years old that he gets to use the senior tees so this year we should be able to maintain our streak. I do know that we will be laughing our asses around the course.
We have instituted an appointment system for service in our S. Burlington store. There has been an enormous volume of repairs as students return to Burlington to start the school year. Rather than have customers wait in a long line, we now have a queue system where you can make a specific appointment to check in your machine so that we now are able to stick to a 1-3 day turn-around time.
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features the Apple Configure-to-Order 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. This model has the 3.5GHz i7 processor, 16GB of ram and a 512GB SSD drive. Here’s an opportunity to get a 13-inch MacBook Pro fully configured with 16GB ram and 512GB storage in silver for a great bundle price. We have only 4 available. We are bundling it with AppleCare + and a set of Apple AirPods, too! This discontinued bundle would normally cost $2928 but first come, but you can snag this deal for $2529.96!