Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • Unexpected Products at CES

    We all expect to see crazy new gadgets like giant TVs, fancy cameras or cars that can drive themselves at CES. Here are some products that might be a bit more unexpected for CES, but still kinda cool!

    Would you expect to see:

    *A Toothbrush?*
    The company Kolibree rolled out a sweet electronic toothbrush that can be connected to your device via Bluetooth — obviously! By connecting it, you can monitor and evaluate your brushing style, no longer such a simple task. The data recorded will let you know how long you brush for, how rigorous it was and whether or not you reached all of your teeth.

    The company will plan on releasing several different kinds ranging from $100 – $200. And let’s be honest, there are some people out there who might just need this app to help with their dental hygiene.

    *A Slow Cooker?*
    I love my Crock-Pot. Like. Love. You put a bunch of stuff in there, set it for 8-10 hours and come home after a day of work to the most wonderful smell and your dinner ready to serve! However, some recipes don’t call for that much time, so I’ve always wished I had a Crock-Pot that I could somehow set to start in the middle of the day so that when I come home at 6, my dinner has been slowly cooking for the past 6 hours.

    During CES, Belkin introduced a crock pot that you can turn on or off from anywhere. This might just be one of my faves from CES so far. Is that sad?

    Like I mentioned before, you are able to turn it off or on from your iOS or Android device. You can also get reminders about the state of your meal, change the temperature and use built-in calculators for time and temp. And, the most amazing part? It’s actually not that expensive — retailing for $99.99.

    *A Dishwasher?*
    A fancy new appliance by Samsung that could be the next hot thing appliance-wise, debuted at CES as part of the “Chef Collection.” They are highlighting the “WaterWall” feature of the dishwasher which basically is the car wash of the dirty dish world.

    A linear wall of water moves back and forth during the cycle to make sure that every nook and cranny of your dishes are clean. This dishwasher also includes all sorts of fancy buttons, lights and has a built-in LED display to keep you informed on the stages of your wash cycle. Neato!

    If you aren’t quite as excited about all of these gadgets as I am, check out everything else that has been introduced at CES on “*cnet’s site!*”:http://ces.cnet.com

  • MAC TREAT#222: Addendums & Other Ideas!

    Thanks for all your feedback on “*last week’s Mac Treat*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb861/ about how to open unidentified apps. Many of you suggested a less permanent (and more cautious) approach:

    Robert wrote:
    __”Another way to open apps from an ‘unidentified developer’ is to right click on the download and select ‘show’ in Finder (or just go to your Downloads folder). Then, right click to open. You will be prompted to open or not.”__

    Matt wrote:
    __”Regarding this tip, I think the average person should not turn off the unidentified developer warning. It’s a useful line of defense against trojan horses and other nasty malware. As an alternative, you can right-click or control-click on the application and select Open from the popup menu. You will still be warned that the developer is unidentified, but you will be given the option to open it anyway. And once you open an application once you will not be warned about that application again.”__

    Jeff wrote:
    __”The reason for the Unidentified Apps balk is for security — specifically called Gatekeeper. I’m not sure that disabling it is the best recommendation you can make to the general public, as it disables one check & balance against malware, viruses, etc.. Disabling it is NOT recommended by most folks. A more simple option is to right click or CTRL-Click on the app and choose ‘Open’. You have to do this every time you open an Unidentified app, but how often does that happen, really? It’s a much safer way to go.”__

    Great points — thanks so much for the feedback!

  • Happy 2014!

    It’s been a little while since I’ve intro’d for Don (yes, I’m going to call that a word today). Don is in Las Vegas with Hapy and Jason, checking out the latest tech toys at “*CES*”:http://www.cesweb.org this week. (At least that’s what they tell us.) 2014 is projected to be a huge year for “wearable tech” and we’ve already seen a slew of outrageous offerings that these manufacturers are hoping will catch on with the masses. __Google Glass is so 2013.__

    Of course, the masses are more “middle of the road” when it comes to technology in general, so CES often feels like an over-the-top futuristic fantasy (fitting to be in Vegas, right?). Either way, it’s fun to see what’s possible, and Steph has outlined some of her favorites from this year’s show.

    It’s an even year, so that means the Olympics are coming, and this year, it’s the Winter Olympics’ turn. If you get excited about the competition (and let’s face it, the athletes’ sometimes heart-wrenching stories), I’ve outlined how you can follow the action below. Hope you like this week’s issue!

  • How RAIDS Are Beneficial, and How They Suffer

    As media takes ever-growing amounts of space, storage has become something that is sought after more and more — and people are buying RAID drives to get what they need. RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks. “Redundant” is key here, as the original purpose of RAIDs was to have multiple drives storing the same information at one time (referred to as RAID 1), so that if one fails the others will retain the same data.

    However, the RAID needs to be configured for redundancy. Many people use RAID systems for speed of drive access, and keep a separate backup. This would be RAID 0, in which the data is striped across all drives, decreasing access and write time if the unit can write a single file to two drives. However, in a RAID 1, there is no backup. There must be a separate backup kept elsewhere.

    Thus, if one has bought a RAID unit and just started using it without setup, it may not be configured for what he or she is looking to use it for. It’s important to be very selective, as if you’re looking for redundancy, RAID 0 would result in no redundant copies. Worse still, if one drive in a RAID 0 fails, the rest of the raid is generally lost, as it strongly relies on the missing pieces copied to that failed drive.

    RAID 5 or 6 is a great compromise between 0 and 1, where all but one drive in the RAID is striped with “parity”, that being there are redundant copies of files copied across the drives, and the speed advantage of striping data across multiple drives is more or less retained. If one (or two in RAID 6) drive fails, the data is still intact across the remaining drives.

    If you’re looking at RAID enclosures for your storage needs, pay close attention to what type of configurations it supports, and ensure it’s configured properly before copying any data to it, as it needs to be erased and rebuilt each time the configuration is changed. If you do opt for a striped (RAID 0) setup, ensure you have a secondary RAID as a backup.

  • No Trouble Found

    Lately there has been a trend going on with computers being checked in. Many of them have the same symptoms, and are unable to turn on when you press the power button. This can be caused by a number of things: power surge, spilled liquid, physical damage, not working top case, dying battery, or something unknown. The ‘unknown’ has been happening lately, as in the computers that come in don’t work…until they get checked in.

    South Burlington has been slammed with repairs in the last several weeks, and several of these ‘no power’ machines have had their batteries drain completely, which, in essence, performs an SMC reset. A SMC, or “System Management Controller”, reset will send a reset signal to the controller that manages the power flow through the machine. When the machines were plugged in on the technician’s desk, they automatically powered on, which is normal when all power to a laptop was severed and restored. All diagnostic tests were run on these machines, and they would always pass with flying colors!

    The reason why this happens is hard to pinpoint — unfortunately, when the SMC reset occurs, there is nothing wrong for the test to find. This isn’t always the answer that the worried customer is looking for, because without any other information and all our tests passing, there is no way to replicate (let alone diagnose) any problem that the computer had to begin with.

    Per our agreement with Apple, in order to be able to replace any part or fix a computer, the problem must be replicated. We are unable to replace any parts that are not showing any issues. We do have a lot of tests that we run on all diagnostics, but intermittent problems and power issues solved by an SMC reset typically don’t register.

    To perform an SMC reset on a machine on your own, press and hold the *[Shift] + [option] + [control]* and the power button. The machine will turn off if on, and or the magsafe light may come on if it was off. Attempt to boot the machine after performing the reset.

  • iOS Single Controller Segues

    ??Note: This is Scott’s first article for Tech Tails. Scott works in our Waitsfield, VT location in the IT department as a developer. He’s one smart cookie, so be on the lookout for future articles from him!??

    I was recently developing a simple iOS application based on a single view controller managing two scenes in a storyboard. The main goal was to have a form in two parts — one on the first scene, and the next on the second scene. After collecting the form data from the first scene’s form, I needed to collect the rest from the second scene and then submit the whole package up to a server.

    The problem was in getting the partial data from that first scene to be available in the second scene. Looking at some tutorials, it seemed like the correct way to do this is to attach onto the *(void)prepareForSegue:(UIStoryboardSegue *)segue sender:(id)sender* method and basically grab the data from the departing scene and push it along to the second scene. Unfortunately, every single tutorial I read had the setup of two separate view controllers. So in leaving the first scene, you were also leaving one view controller. It made sense in some of the tutorials to have two view controllers, but there were others where it didn’t make any sense at all. My project certainly didn’t need a second view controller. It was just one form split into two scenes to make for a better user experience.

    At first, I thought I could simply create a member variable for my single view controller and just set it to the departing form’s data. This frustratingly does not work. The reason is because in transitioning to the new scene via the segue, a totally new view controller instance is created. In my case, this was a bit confusing because it was still the same view controller that was being created. The original instance, where the *prepareForSegue* method is running, is lost. So anything you store in it will be lost as well.

    The solution is the same as if you had a different view controller managing that second scene. Within the *prepareForSegue* method, you can grab a handle to this new view controller instance by calling *[segue destinationViewController]*. It’s this view controller object that will be used with the second scene, so you need to set any member variables on it. When the second scene loads, the controller running it will have all the data you set before running the segue.

    This process still feels a bit counterintuitive, since it seems like there should only ever be one instance of the view controller running the entire show unless a scene with a new view controller is loaded. I’m convinced that using a single view controller in my project is the right thing to do, and passing the data through the segue should be fine. And to all those tutorials out there: Don’t use extra view controllers unless you really need to and there’s a good functional reason for doing so.

  • Winter’s greetings and Happy New Year!

    Hope everyone in the Northeast has been able to keep warm! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks for us with all the snow that has accumulated as well as how cold it has been. It would be nice to have a Mac Pro next to me with that Thermal Core to keep cozy and blaze away on some Adobe Master Suite…

    I watched a teardown of the Mac Pro recently on “*ifixit.com*”:http://www.ifixit.com and it was amazing how this machine is built. To think that the creative minds of Apple were working on this great design here in the US and then even manufactured it in the states is great stuff. It should be a message to companies all over as well as Apple itself that we can make it work here.

    Enough with my Mac Pro day dreaming. We have an awesome newsletter for you today to help you warm up and possibly get out of that tech rut. Great reads on both iOS and RAIDS, as well as a more personal article from Kyle. Hopefully you learn something new — though don’t hold back if you have other tricks or tips for us!

    Have a great week and let’s have a great 2014!

    Barry
    “*barry@smalldog.com*”:mailto:barry@smalldog.com

  • New Year, New You

    …OK, so that’s a little hokey. I’m of the belief that a few resolutions are a good thing, but that they shouldn’t be…

  • Hapy, Jason and I are heading to Las Vegas and the annual Consumer Electronics Show for meetings and to take a peek at the latest technology coming up for 2014 and beyond. Kali and Stephanie will take care of Kibbles next week while I am on the show floor.

    Happy New Year to all of the Kibbles & Bytes readers!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
    _Don, Kali & Stephanie_

  • Consumer Electronics Show 2014

    Next week is the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Don, Hapy and Jason will attend to check out what’s coming up electronics-wise for the new year. CES features more than 3,200 exhibitors with as many as 20,000 new products launching during the show.

    Marissa Mayer was announced as the keynote speaker for the show. For those who don’t know her, she’s the CEO of Yahoo and one powerful lady. Microsoft is said to return to the show after taking a year off and is planning on having a large presence at the show. Should be interesting to see what they have in store.

    The theme of the show this year seems to be TVs, cameras and fancy cars. Here are a few highlights of the show that one might find intriguing:

    * Toyota is using CES to showcase their latest concept for a “*Fuel Cell Vehicle*”:http://ces.cnet.com/8301-35289_1-57616506/toyota-makes-fuel-cell-vehicle-star-of-ces-2014/ that will combine pure hydrogen with air to create water.

    * LG will have a “*77-inch curved OLED*”:http://ces.cnet.com/8301-35303_1-57616443/lg-oled-tvs-come-to-ces-in-multiple-sizes-curvatures-and-resolutions/ (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV on display. These curved OLED TVs usually have a price tag of around $8,000 but are the next generation of television viewing!

    * Samsung has a “*few cameras*”:http://ces.cnet.com/2300-35292_1-10019230.html they will be showing off at CES. Using mobile-broadband-connected and running Android 4.3 Jellybean, Samsung seems to really be pushing these cameras.

    I’m sure when Don gets back, he’ll have a few things to comment on as far as what his favorites were, etc. Sounds like it should be a great show!

  • New Year, New You

    …OK, so that’s a little hokey. I’m of the belief that a few resolutions are a good thing, but that they shouldn’t be so grand that they’re wildly out-of-reach. For me, details always help, but the more detailed they are, the fewer I should commit to. Example: __I will make the time to hike Camel’s Hump this year.__ It’s not too realistic with my schedule to also plan to do Mt. Mansfield, Mt. Abe, and Mt. Elmore since there are only about 12 days of summer in Vermont anyway, am I right?

    Anyway, I also believe that technology can aid in one’s resolve to be better in the new year. (Case in point: I was surprised to find out that my mom had a FitBit Wristband; she still uses a flip phone that’s about 10 years old and has no desire to upgrade. However, when the time comes, I think she’d love the integration with the app…just sayin’.) I’ve compiled a list of five apps that just might help you get things started right in 2014.

    “*LiveStrong MyQuit Coach – Dare to Quit Smoking*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/livestrong-myquit-coach-dare/id383122255?mt=8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=New-Years – Free ($.99 ad-free)
    If you’re still a smoker, this should be goal #1. I can’t say I’ve tried this myself, but it gets high ratings from users, and I’ve polled some ex-smokers about the interface and what their biggest obstacles were to quitting. MyQuit Coach is physician approved, and it helps you set attainable goals to finally quit the habit.

    “*Smoke Free*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smoke-free-stop-smoking-now./id577767592?mt=8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=New-Years – Free (It’s worth including a second one since it’s such a good resolution!)
    Smoke Free’s interface is also very clean, and its approach includes a monetary angle — it’s pretty sobering to see how much you’ve been spending on cigarettes, and gives you “total $ saved” data along with positive statistics to help you stay on track.

    “*Lose It!*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lose-it!-weight-loss-program/id297368629?mt=8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=New-Years – Free ($39.99/yr for premium features)
    There are a lot of calorie counting and weight-loss apps out there, and I’m partial to Lose It. I’ve always liked the interface, and I find it easy to navigate and add custom foods and meals. It’s a great way to really see just how good/dysfunctional your daily habits might be when it comes to food and exercise. I’ve had this app for several years, and I’m planning to accelerate my goals in 2014 to get back to a pre-baby, pre-mid-thirties weight.

    “*Simply Being*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simply-being-guided-meditation/id347418999?mt=8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=New-Years – $.99
    Maybe it’s the Vermont getting to me, but I’ve found that it’s nice to slow down a bit to keep relaxed and centered. The biggest challenge for me is to turn my brain off, and get away from distraction, including feeling tethered to my phone. Ironically, I’m turning to Simply Being to do that. You can choose from four meditation times, and has the option to listen to guided meditation with or without music or nature sounds. Bonus: It’s been recommended by The New York Times, Huffington Post, Yoga Journal and others. Mmmmm…I’m relaxed already.

    “*iHome+Sleep*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ihome+sleep-alarm-clock-app/id346249053?mt=8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=New-Years – Free
    Keeping with the relaxation theme, iHome+Sleep is a great app to track your sleep habits and ultimately, reap the health benefits of a good night’s sleep. It’s a fully-featured alarm with multiple settings and options. I’m not a morning person…at all…and I’m a firm believer that waking gently keeps you better prepared for the day. iHome+Sleep also allows you to log your sleep times, giving you a better sense of how much time you actually spend in quality slumber.

    Try ’em out. You can’t lose (except maybe a few pounds).