Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Apple news, tech tips, and more…

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  • SPECIAL: Go Mac to School (and in MA, Go Tax-Free!)

    We’re continuing to add to our Mac to School offerings for you this year. As Don mentioned above, we have $50 and $100 gift card specials when you buy an iPad and AppleCare+ and Mac and AppleCare, respectively. Additionally, every two weeks, we’ll be adding third party accessories and other gear at great prices so that we can be your one-stop-shop.

    Check out everything here: “*Smalldog.com/mactoschool*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mactoschool

    Plus, if you’re a Massachusetts resident, you’re set to enjoy a **tax-free** weekend of shopping! Of course, if you’re near the New Hampshire border, you’re not far from our Manchester retail store (where it’s Live Free or Die, baby).

    All of our Mac to School specials are featured in-store, and you’ll actually find more there, since sales of new iPads are restricted to retail locations. Happy shopping!

  • The 12 Most Essential Apps for College

    It’s officially August, and with this month comes the official countdown to heading back to school, or for the freshmen, off for the first time!

    Here are 12 apps that you won’t want to leave home without. These apps will keep you organized both in and out of class, prevent you from having a meltdown when you lose your wallet after a late night, and keep you from gaining that Freshman 15.

    (You’ve spent enough money on college as it is, so most of these are free, or in the $1-$2 range. Enjoy!)

    * “*Venmo*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/venmo/id351727428?mt=8 — Link your bank account and you and your friends can pay each other back without having to go and take out cash. Because, honestly, who carries cash these days?

    * “*Clear*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/clear/id493136154?mt=8 — Keep track of your many to-do lists. Then easily sync them with your other devices.

    * “*Snap2PDF*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/snap2pdf-scan-documents-share/id472940721?mt=8 — Take a photo with your phone of a handout you get in class or something from one of your textbooks and convert it into a PDF. This way you won’t have a bunch of binders sitting on your self in your dorm room.

    * “*Duolingo*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/duolingo-learn-languages-for/id570060128?mt=8 — This app will teach you and then test you on a language of your choice. You’ll be speaking French in no time.

    * “*Lemon Wallet*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lemon-wallet/id458730692?mt=8 — We all lose our wallet at least once in life…and it’s probably more likely to happen while you’re in college. Lemon Wallet is around to make sure you have all the contents of your wallet digitally!

    * “*Viber*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/viber/id382617920?mt=8 — Keep in touch with family and friends who are far away by using this free texting and phone app. Especially handy if you’re abroad!

    * “*SleepCycle*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm-clock/id320606217?mt=8 — Probably the most sleep-deprived time of your life (other than parenthood). Keep track of your sleep and your REM cycles with this handy app.

    * “*7-Minute Workout*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/7-minute-workout-high-intensity/id675459297?mt=8 — Freshman 15? No way! Who doesn’t have time for a 7-minute workout? This app includes video for you to follow along to.

    * “*Google Drive8*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-drive/id507874739?mt=8 — Google Docs are a necessity to the average college student. Get Google Drive on your phone so that you can access those docs from anywhere!

    * “*Mint.com*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mint.com-personal-finance/id300238550?mt=8 — College is insanely expensive, even if you have time for a job. Keep a budget with Mint to keep track of where all your money is disappearing to.

    * “*Chegg*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chegg/id385758163?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 — I wish this was around when I was in school because textbooks are expensive! With this app you can find cheap rentals of textbooks. Save hundreds!

    * “*Everest*”:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/everest-live-your-dreams-achieve/id581016826?mt=8 — College is a busy time, but that shouldn’t prevent you from losing sight on what your goals are for after college. Keep track of all of those with Everest.

  • From the Archives: Cleaning Up Your Mac: Detection

    This article originally appeared in Kibbles & Bytes newsletter “#812”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb812/.

    After some time of owning any type of computer, you might begin to collect large amounts of files. Just like in real life, it is important to regularly do some spring cleaning with your machine in order to keep things running smoothly.

    In computer life, when you run out of space, you run the risk of the computer accidentally overwriting very important system files — such as the ones that make your computer run. It is always a good idea to be proactive with storage management because once those files are overwritten, they are gone forever — only a clean install will guarantee their recovery. Therefore, first I want to talk about a few ways to monitor the amount of free space you have on your Mac.

    If you are using a Mac running OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) or earlier, you can easily check the amount of free space you have by selecting the hard drive icon on your desktop and hitting Command + I. This will open a new window with a section called General containing two lines labeled Capacity and Available. They will respectively tell you the total capacity of the drive and the total amount you have taken up of that drive.

    If you are using a Mac running OS X Lion (10.7) or newer, Apple improved the ability to discern what it taking up space on your machine a little bit better. To find this information open the *Apple Menu* by clicking the apple icon in the top left of your screen and select the *About This Mac* option. In the new window that pops up, click the *More Info…* button. Doing so will open up a different view of the About This Mac window. Clicking on the *Storage* tab will show a visual breakdown of a few predetermined types of files you have on your machine and how much space each is taking up.

    Now you may notice that there is a catch-all category called *Other* and wonder what that is and why it is so big. The short and sweet version is that it is a bunch of important system files that the average person shouldn’t really mess with. However, if you are still interested in figuring out what exactly the “other” category is, comprised of there is a free app called “*Disk Inventory X*”:http://www.derlien.com/index.html that I use to see a complete break down of every thing on my drive. It is sort of like the About This Mac utility on steroids and isn’t for the faint of heart. It even gives you the ability to delete things right from the app. However, I don’t recommend using it for much more than investigating what is taking up space so you don’t accidentally delete something important.

    So you’ve got all this information, now what does it mean? Well, Our IT department suggests that you have 10-20% of your total capacity free on your drive regardless of the type of drive (hard drive or solid state drive). This will ensure that no files are accidentally overwritten. By using these tools you can proactively monitor how close you are getting to that mark and adjust how you are saving or begin moving files.

  • MAC TREAT #215: Love Your Password (But Not So Much You Don't Trade It In for a New One)

    Last week, Mike wrote about how to reset your password securely (note: see an important addendum below!), so I wanted to highlight some best practices for creating and maintaining all of your passwords this week, since that’s where it all begins (and by “it”, I largely mean INTERNET SECURITY!).

    If you’re still using “password” as your password, take note and act immediately to secure those things up. Trust me, identity theft is a drag (and not just a sub-par movie).

    Here’s what you should *always* consider when setting your passwords:

    * Use a unique password for each of your important accounts (i.e. email accounts and sites for online banking)
    * Use a long password made up of numbers, letters and symbols (i.e. p@$$w0rd; however, I still don’t recommend that — get a little more creative, friends)
    * Set up your password recovery options and keep them up-to-date
    * Make them obscure, but it helps to have personal meaning
    * Rotate frequently

    One thing I do is have a set of passwords for each type of site/app/account I use; what that means is that I have a bunch of different active passwords at the same time, but I still rotate them frequently. I find that it helps me group certain types of passwords together.

    As Google notes, it isn’t always a bad idea to write down your passwords, but I don’t go that route. The trick would be to keep them in a super secure place, yet accessible enough that you’re encouraged to update the list as frequently as you update the passwords themselves. For all of us digital-types, try an application such as 1Password. (Note: If you’re already using 1Password and Dropbox, you may want to take advantage of their upgrade special. Through Friday, August 16, 1Password 4 for iOS is over 50% off at $8; it’s usually $18. “*See more here.*”:http://www.macworld.com/article/2046186/agilebits-offers-cheaper-1password-as-older-version-loses-dropbox-sync.html#tk.fb_mw)

    __Thanks to Google and other helpful online resources for aiding in the research of something so important.__

    *****

    *Addendum to Mac Treat #214:* Reader Dave helpfully pointed out that we should have mentioned the following important piece of info: **once you reset your password as described in the article, you no longer have access to your original keychain.** A word of caution when you go to reset that password!

  • Dear Friends,

    It is the dog days of summer, but August is feeling a little like September right now with temperatures lower than normal. Our Mac to School campaign is in full swing with special financing, low prices and specials. You can still get interest-free financing for 6, 12 or 18 months on your Mac or iPad purchase.

    Students get an even better deal, with a $100 Small Dog gift card with a Mac + AppleCare purchase or $50 with an iPad + AppleCare+ purchase. I think both are a better deal than Apple’s iTunes gift card offer because you can buy __any__ of our products or services and not be limited to Apps and music!

    We do require an AppleCare purchase to get those gift cards, but that should be pretty much what we call a “no-brainer” around here. AppleCare is nothing like those extended warranties that they try to get you to buy at the big box stores (which are usually full of loopholes and cost too much). AppleCare extends your Apple warranty from 1 year to 3 years for Macs, and from 1 year to 2 years for iOS products such as iPad, iPhone, iPod. The cost of AppleCare is less than just about any repair that we might do if your Mac was out of warranty.

    More importantly, AppleCare extends its 90 days of phone support to 3 years for Macs and 2 years for iOS devices. This support not only covers your Mac or iPad but also the Apple operating system, any other Apple software and Apple hardware (such as an Apple display, purchased with that Mac mini, etc.). Ask around and you will find a whole lot of people are really happy that they purchased AppleCare.

    With AppleCare+ for the iPad or iPhone, the coverage goes one step further and covers up to two accidental damage claims. There is a deductible of $50 in these cases, but that is better than shelling out $500 when you drop your iPhone in the sink (or worse).

  • Backing up is SO not Hard to Do!

    We have talked too many times about how important maintaining a backup of your data is and just how easy it might be…

  • The Trials of Data Recovery

    Data recovery is a service that doesn’t always yield results, and having done it a few times, I know that whenever a hard…

  • Are You Using Adequate Protection?

    Do you wonder if the data on your hard drive is truly protected from technological intruders? Apple has produced a variety of resources that can protect your files from unwanted hard drive peepers. However, just how secure are these methods of file protection?

    First, let’s look at the most common form of user file protection: the administrator password. Created when Mac OS is initially installed, this password prevents unauthorized users from accessing the files on your account… or does it? A simple click in the Reset Password Utility after booting from the Mac OS DVD proves otherwise. As long as the DVD is the correct version of Mac OS, it can boot any system with that corresponding OS.

    Resetting the password only requires entering a new password, which becomes the new administrator password. So basically, all anyone would need to access an account that is simply password protected is the correct version of Mac OS installation DVD (this can also be accomplished using a string of commands in Single User mode — no DVD needed!). *One thing to note is that the Keychain Access utility will not be viewable with this new password.*

    Here’s where the extra-protected Mac users say “Hah! everyone knows that. That’s why all my files are heavily protected by a firmware password.” In this case, the intruder could pull out one stick of RAM and boot the computer, bypassing the firmware password.

    So now, the real heavy hitters come out. FileVault is a file encrypting tool that works on the corresponding user’s home folder, encrypting it when the user is logged out. Nothing is foolproof, but as far as the research I have done, FileVault is basically un-hackable. Knowing this, if you decide to use FileVault on your account, you had better remember that password.

    So, are you using adequate protection? The first question I asked myself while trying to accurately answer this was: “Do I really care if someone could potentially have access to my files?” The answer is no. So in short, am I protected from potential technological intruders? Nope, not really; my information may be easily hacked into. However, is my protection adequate enough for the sensitivity of the files on my hard drive? Totally.

    Still not satisfied? Well, if you truly believe the data on your hard drive is sensitive enough to warrant it, then FileVault it up!

  • MacBook Troubleshooting Tips

    Troubleshooting your Mac when it acts up can be kind of daunting, but hang in there; I can give you a couple of steps to try before bringing the machine into us or Apple. These troubleshooting steps are the first things we try as technicians in order to fix an issue or make the system work.

    If your machine is unresponsive, and pushing the power button doesn’t do anything, the first thing you want to do is an SMC reset. This is different for all machines, but you can Google the correct method for your Mac using the AppleCare name of your machine (the size, kind and generation it was made, e.g. Macbook Pro 13-inch Mid-2012).

    For unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros, press and hold the *Shift+Option+Command* keys, then press the power button (holding all four down for about ten seconds or so) and release all four buttons at the same time to do the SMC reset. Then try to start the machine. If it doesn’t work, you will need to bring the machine in to see us.

    If your machine is having start-up troubles, won’t boot, or you get the gray screen, you can try what’s called a PRAM reset. This little trick is step number two that we try in the back. Just after hitting the power button on your machine, press and hold *Option+Command+P+R* keys. Hold all four keys down, and the machine will chime, then shut off, and start up again with another chime. It will continue to reboot itself until you let go of the keys (which you typically want to do on the third chime). This resets all of the startup settings which may have become corrupted or set incorrectly. If your computer starts, then you should be all set; otherwise you will need to bring the machine in for us to do more extensive diagnostics.

    If you have issues after logging in, then the troubleshooting is a completely different animal — we now have to figure out __where__ the problem lies. If you always have a program running when the problem occurs, try and reinstall the program or run software updates. A lot of the time, software updates will install bug fixes and solve minor problems.

    Along the way, if you have seen error messages pop up or prompt you to send information to Apple, be sure to capture that info as it can be helpful for us to have if you need to bring your machine in for service. Between those and telling the check-in person what you have done to troubleshoot the issue, we’re much better prepared to repair your machine quickly!

  • New AirPort Extreme + AirPort Time Capsule Options

    I have been a long-time fan of Apple’s AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule and I have configured hundreds of them for clients over the years. When the new models came out, I decided to upgrade my own network and backup system at home and purchased a 3TB AirPort Time Capsule.

    The setup was straightforward and the same as previous models, but I found a few new things while checking it out via AirPort Utility. First, there is a new Summary page which offers status information, including detailed statistics about connected clients that I haven’t seen before.

    The next item I noticed is on the Network tab under Network Options, and is a checkbox to “Enable IGMP Snooping”. This is a way to regulate multicast data and limit it to interested clients, and may be designed to improve performance with streaming video and audio. One of my colleagues speculates that this goes hand-in-hand with the new beamforming antenna array technology, so specific clients can be targeted with just the data they need to see.

    I haven’t found any documentation at Apple for this, but I found an interested article about multicast:

    http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/lanwan-features/30332-multicasting-and-the-small-network-part-1

    I’m really loving my new AirPort Time Capsule. The speed is great, the unit is quiet, and the tower design is cool.