Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • January White Sale!

    **$10 off** in store lessons the month of January!

    **Save big on an Apple Time Capsule!**

    2009 Dual Band 2TB Time Capsule, **$179.99**

    These units are brand new and offer both great wireless coverage and peace of mind with automatic wireless data back up for your home or office.

    **50% OFF**
    White Chill Pill Speakers
    Reg Price $39.99
    **Sale price $19.99**

    Tune out the white noise with Urbanears or Coloud headphones!
    Save **$5 – $30** on these popular headphones!

    **FREE TIME MACHINE BACK UP** (By appointment) With the purchase of a silver 500GB Seagate slim drive. **$100 value**


    ??(Image color does not match promotional color)??

  • Troubleshooting Network Problems

    I own an 11″ 2011 MacBook Air and have never had a single problem with it, which is happily the experience of most Apple owners. Recently, however, I’ve noticed fussiness with Wi-Fi.

    See, technicians at Small Dog are tasked with not only repairing computers but also speaking on the phone with customers and potential customers who call into the support line. Most of us listen to music while we’re working but it’s hard to have a conversation with that background sound. I usually just pause Spotify (a streaming music service) when talking to customers and occasionally this pause can last up to a half hour. My device will then go to sleep because it’s on battery.

    For the past couple months, when trying to pick up where I left off on a particular song, I’ve observed that it will continue playing what has been buffered then abruptly stop where the network connection timed out. I then have to wait several minutes for it to reconnect to our familiar repair network by turning off Wi-Fi for a moment then turning it back on. If this happened every once in a while I wouldn’t care at all but it became a consistent annoyance. As a technician, I was inclined to try all sorts of crazy troubleshooting techniques but discovered a far simpler solution, one that I would have recommended to a customer calling with the same issue:

    **System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced.** Then select the Wi-Fi network normally used and click the “-” symbol to remove it from **Preferred Networks**. If it has a password, the next step is to open **Keychain Access** (in the Utilities folder), select the “login” keychain, order the list by **Kind**, and remove all AirPort network password types.

    ??**NOTE**: Do not attempt this unless you know what your wireless router’s password is or unless you know how to manually reset it if necessary! We have no way of knowing what that is so if you attempt this process and cannot reconnect we won’t be able to assist you.??

    See “**Apple support**”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4628 for your first line of troubleshooting network problems.

  • Mac Pro Now Available for Purchase

    It’s been talked about for years now, and it’s finally here. Mac Pro is totally redesigned from the inside out — and it is the most powerful Mac yet, starting at $2999.99. **Available for purchase today,** it’s easy to finance as part of your complete business solution, so give Rob a call to get started!

    So what makes the Mac Pro special?

    bq. __”Engineered around workstation graphics with dual GPUs, PCIe-based flash storage, high-performance Thunderbolt 2, new-generation Xeon processors, ultrafast memory, and support for 4K video, the new Mac Pro delivers state-of-the-art performance across the board.”__

    “**See the Mac Pro on our website**”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/Mac_Pro and call Rob for pricing and availability.

    Since the new Mac Pro became available for order December 19th, we have been eagerly waiting to get the chance to set one up in the store! While we still have to wait like everyone else right now, I have been searching around online and have found several reviews of the new machine. One of my favorite ones so far compares the machine to using the MacBook Pro Retina Display when it first came out. The article was written by Engadget, and they said that it felt “underutilized.”

    bq. __”Without belaboring the point, this brings me to one of my few concerns about the Mac Pro, which is that right now, at least, most programs won’t fully harness its graphics capabilities.”__

    Engadget also focuses on the new cooling system included in the Mac Pro. They say by focusing the design around the cooling core that the machines chassis does not get very hot, even while stressing out the machine, and the only place they noticed it generating heat was right next to the cooling vents at the top.

    bq. __”For lack of a better word, you’d have to provoke the machine to really be bothered by the heat: The warmest area is at the top of the chassis, and even then, you’d have to be sticking your hand near the vents to feel it.”__

    Seriously, I can’t wait until we have these in stock, and I have a chance to finally see the new dual graphics cards in action!

    __We’ll keep you posted on our “**blog, Barkings!,**”:http://blog.smalldog.com regarding shipping dates, but some configurations currently show availability in February 2014.

  • Happy New Year!

    It’s a brand new year and a brand new start! I wanted to take this time to reintroduce myself to our readers and customers. I have been around Small Dog for many years now — almost a decade in fact — and in that time, I have had the opportunity to work in several different departments around Small Dog (geez — where has all the time gone?!).

    With the start of a new year comes a new role for me; I am proud to be the new leader of our incredible retail and service team at Small Dog. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but more importantly, it now gives me the opportunity to travel to almost all of our retail locations and work with staff and customers alike — something I was not able to do easily in the past. Many leaders speak about how they wish they had more opportunity to get back to their roots and remember how they have grown to the person they have now become, so I am thankful to be able to continue to do the work I’m familiar with in a different capacity.

    I know that lots of customers think of Small Dog as the go-to place for everything Apple, but we don’t stop there! We are a true full service shop, and offer a variety of services from in store “**lessons**”:http://www.smalldog.com/services/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=bestinshow&utm_campaign=lessons, on site consulting services and “**business solutions**”:http://www.smalldog.com/b2b/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=bestinshow&utm_campaign=b2b

    Whether you’re looking for help with a new computer or iPad you got for Christmas, or are looking to upgrade equipment in your office, we’ve got you covered!

    I hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Year!

    Emily Dolloff
    “**emily@smalldog.com**”:mailto:emily@smalldog.com

  • Save money by purchasing Apple refurbished products — good as new! The AirPort Express can play iTunes music through your stereo or powered…

  • As we wrap up 2013 all of us at Small Dog Electronics wish you and your family the very best for a Happy and Healthy New Year! Thank you so much for your support and loyalty. We know you have an increasing number of choices of where to buy your Apple gear and I am very grateful that you continue to see Small Dog Electronics as “always by your side”.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes team,

    _Don, Kali & Stephanie_

  • SPECIAL | Buy One, Get One Chill Pill Mobile Speaker

    Designed for people who enjoy listening to music out loud and on the go! Meet the Chill Pill — a pocket-sized, self-contained capsule that transforms into two powered speakers. And now, when you buy one Chill Pill, get another set for *free*! How cool is that?

  • The Holidays Might Be Over…But Our Specials and Charitable Giving Are Not!

    There’s still time to shop our specials, while giving back at the same time! Charitable giving is an integral part of our business, and we believe that helping our community is especially important during the holidays. **A percentage of every sale in each of our retail stores goes toward helping non-profits in our community until December 31st!**

    We’re thrilled to partner with the “*Vermont Foodbank,*”:http://www.vtfoodbank.org “*Manchester Animal Shelter,*”:http://www.manchesteranimalshelter.org and “*Florida Keys SPCA*”:http://www.fkspca.org to ensure that they do what they do best –Help those in need. (And isn’t that what the holiday season is really all about?)

    Get a gift card or some extra cash for Christmas? Shop at Small Dog, and give back to the community while also getting some great gifts for your friends and family.

  • 2013 the Apple Year in Review

    I will do my annual review of predictions and events of the year next week in our New Year’s edition of Kibbles & Bytes,but this week I want to take a few moments to review the highlights of Apple’s 2013.

    In the past, the new year was always the time when Apple would attend the big MacWorld Expo in San Francisco and reveal new products. Well, that has certainly changed and the artificial date pushing new products has been replaced by a more strategic approach to new product introductions. While vastly better than years ago, product introductions this year also saw some significant supply shortages especially in the independent retail channel.

    The first announcement was in January, nevertheless, and with little fanfare, Apple released a new model of the iPad with 128GB of storage.

    *WWDC 2013*
    This year, Apple held its fire until the “*Worldwide Developers Conference*”:https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/ in June where both the mobile device operating system, iOS7 was revealed and the Mac OS “*Mavericks*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/84566/apple-os-x-mavericks-for-mac-app was also introduced. The conference itself sold out in a record 71 seconds with the audience anxious to hear Tim Cook updates. The first staggering statistic was that there had been over 50 BILLION app downloads with over 575 million accounts in the iTunes store which is the most customers of just about any store on the net (I don’t know Amazon’s numbers). All those downloads mean some profit for Apple but also that over $10 billion has been paid to developers which is the fuel for a creative eco-structure.

    This conference saw the introduction of new MacBook Airs with faster processors, faster graphics and vastly increased battery life. And I can attest to that improved battery life as I have recently switched to 13-inch MacBook Air and I am amazed by it. Calling it an “all-day battery” is no boast; it actually will last all day with my 13-inch claiming 12-hour life and the 11-inch up to 9 hours.

    Continuing in the hardware introductions in June, Apple introduced new sleek looking “*AirPort Extreme Base Stations*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83575/apple-airport-extreme-2013 and “*Time Capsules*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83573/apple-airport-time-capsule-2tb-2013 with the new 802-11ac WiFi which was also incorporated into the new MacBook Airs.

    Then came the big announcement that was at least 3 years in the making and long overdue. A new “*Mac Pro*”:http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/. The sneak peak at this new professional level Mac left everyone in awe of the small size, beautiful design and versatile power. It was not that big clunky tower anymore, but a glossy black cylinder with the fastest Intel Xeon Processors and standard with dual GPUs (graphic processor units). The best line from this introduction which will be part of Apple-lore for some time came from Phil Schiller as he introduced the Mac Pro and casually commented “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!” Tim Cook also announced that the new Mac Pro would be manufactured right here in the USA. Apple said deliveries would start before the end of the year and kept their promise with the first units arriving in customer’s hands this week. The Mac Pro is likely to be highly constrained throughout the winter but it was a huge announcement.

    The other announcement that was of significance at the WWDC was “*iTunes Radio*”:http://www.apple.com/itunes/itunes-radio/ which we often use here in our offices.

    *Apple by the Numbers*

    Financially, 2013 was a good news/bad news situation. Investors in Apple saw the stock fall from its high of $700 in 2012 to under $400 a share in April. Perhaps in reaction to Phil Schiller’s comment, but more likely in reaction to actual performance and new products and opportunities, Apple stock has recovered some of that and is hovering around $565 today. That’s the bad news for investors, which is full of promise for recovery. Apple continued to put up some very strong numbers for their fiscal year with over $170.9 billion in sales (which was record revenue), $37 Billion in profit and about $146 billion in cash. In other words, the company is incredibly strong financially and well positioned for future gains.

    *A Prolific Autumn*

    The first big event was in September where Apple again stepped ahead of the crowd with 64-bit A7 powered iPhones and iPads. Introducing the “*iPhone 5s*”:http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/ with fingerprint sensor, M7 motion co-processor and improved camera with a gold model joining white and black. Apple also introduced the colorful “*iPhone 5c*”:http://www.apple.com/iphone-5c/ and an upgraded iMac. These new iMacs with faster processors and graphics and the new 802.11ac WiFi protocol.

    One notable personnel announcement also was made in the fall: Angela Ahrendts, the CEO of Burberry, will be joining Apple as Senior VP of Retail and Online stores in April of 2014. After being essentially leader-less for a couple of years, she is a welcome addition to Apple’s team.

    In October, it was iPad day with the new “*iPad Air*”:http://www.smalldog.com/iPads/ipad/iPad_Air and “*iPad mini with Retina display*”:http://www.smalldog.com/iPads/ipad/iPad_mini being introduced. The iPad Air at only 7.5mm thick and one pound in weight also sported the 64-bit A7 processor, improved camera and M7 coprocessor. Mavericks was also released and Apple shocked the industry by offering the first *FREE* OS upgrade. Apple also introduced improved MacBook Pros with faster graphics and longer battery life at this event.

    Last week, was the latest big news with Apple and China Mobile finally announcing they have completed a deal to make the iPhone available to customers of the world’s largest cell phone network.

    All in all, it was a pretty amazing year for Apple with industry-leading products, immensely popular content and software services, astounding financial performance and new blood in the retail sector. This sets us up for 2014 with Tim Cook saying “We have a lot to look forward to in 2014, including some big plans that we think customers are going to love.”

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It was a white Christmas here in Vermont although there are so many micro climates here that the snow and ice varied widely. There was a major ice storm this week, but at my house on Prickly Mountain we didn’t get any ice. When I drove up to Burlington to the store, however, it was a different story by the time I went over the Duxbury Gap to Waterbury. There, the trees were covered with ice and glistened in the sunlight. That held true all the way north to Burlington where ice encased trees and cars!

    Our holiday giving program was very successful this year as we raised about $10,000 for the “*Vermont Foodbank*”:http://www.vtfoodbank.org and lesser amounts for the “*Manchester Animal Shelter*”:http://www.manchesteranimalshelter.org in Manchester, NH and the “*SPCA*”:http://www.fkspca.org down in Key West. It was definitely an iPad Christmas as we outfitted a bunch of people with new iPads, but we also see some growth in the Mac side of the business as well, with sales of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with Retina display keeping the team busy. All of our “*holiday*”:http://www.smalldog.com/holiday/tis-the-season?utm_medium=email&utm_source=kibbles&utm_campaign=holiday specials run until the end of the month so there is still time to take advantage of the specials and bundles that we are offering.

    It is always fun to take Hammerhead up to the store in S. Burlington. He works the floor like a pro, greeting every customer that comes in with a wag of the tail and making the kids and adults smile as he sprawls on the floor like a bulldog-skin rug. I think he might be our best sales asset as invariably customers smile and scratch his back before talking to the human sales folks.

  • Useful Commands for Terminal in OS X

    Terminal commands can sometimes do things much more quickly than finding and adjusting settings in the graphical operating system. Terminal can be found in *Applications > Utilities.* But the easiest way to open it (or any application not on your dock) is to click Command + Spacebar which opens Spotlight; then type in the first few characters of the application’s name (e.g. “term”).

    Before following any of the commands below, be sure your data is backed up. Any command requiring sudo at the beginning is asking for elevated permissions and should be handled with special care. Also note that changes are made between OS versions and not all commands (there are thousands of them and their iterations) are compatible with every version of OS X.

    Some tricks in Terminal include typing “clear” (no quotes) to clear everything currently on the screen. It’s especially useful in scripts, and you can usually break (stop) running processes by either typing Control-C or Control-Z.

    Showing hidden files can be useful for troubleshooting or looking for hidden Library files that need to be deleted to reset preferences for a troubled application. Note that they are hidden for a reason; if others access a computer the hidden files should be re-enabled when you are finished.

    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

    Change the default format for screen shots from .png to .jpg or .pdf if you prefer.
    defaults write com.apple.screencapture type file-extension
    Replace “file-extension” with the three letter abbreviation of your desired file format, e.g. jpg or pdf.

    Show drive labels for all mounted volumes even if they are not showing up in Finder or Disk Utility. This is useful if you have a CD/DVD, thumb drive or external drive that isn’t showing up Finder; you can at least see if the computer is recognizing the device on some level.

    diskutil list

    For more really useful options for diskutil, type “man diskutil” at the prompt and you can scroll through all the options. You can use “man” with any command to view all options for that command, it stands for manual pages.

    Add a “Recent Applications” icon to your dock for apps that you may use but aren’t necessarily on your dock. It’s a convenient way to clean up your dock.

    defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add ‘{ “tile-data” = { “list-type” = 1; }; “tile-type” = “recents-tile”; }’; killall Dock

    For laptops and a little extra security, you can add your name and phone number as contacts if it’s found; for businesses you can add a message regarding your logon or security policies:

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText “Hi, I am Mac”

    To undo it type:
    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText “”

    Again, always be sure that your data is backed up. There are many useful Terminal commands, to explore them just Google something like, “Mac useful Terminal commands.” Before long, you could be a script wizard!