Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Get up to a $100 Small Dog Gift Card!

    This year, we want to give you no doubt about why you’d get that Mac you need to go back to school, or the iPad or iPhone you’ve been waiting to buy from Small Dog.

    Starting today, *buy any new Mac and AppleCare, and get a $100 Small Dog gift card.* It’s valid online and in-store until September 15. Additionally, if you buy a new iPad or iPhone with AppleCare+, you’ll get a free $50 gift card! All new iPads and iPhones are included, and sales of these are exclusively in our retail stores.

    We have a full selection of Macs in stock — any new Mac or previous generation Mac that is eligible for AppleCare is eligible for this deal.

    “*Find a store here!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/retail

    Shopping online? Click a category below:

    * “*View MacBook Air 11-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000829/mac-2-school-11in-macbook-air-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Air 13-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000830/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-air-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Pro 13-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000831/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Pro 13-inch __with Retina Display__ bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000832/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-w-retina-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Pro 15-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000833/mac-2-school-15in-macbook-pro-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Pro 15-inch __with Retina Display__ bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000832/mac-2-school-13in-macbook-pro-w-retina-bundle
    * “*View MacBook Pro 17-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000835/mac-2-school-17in-macbook-pro-bundle
    * “*View Mac mini bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000827/mac-2-school-mac-mini-bundle
    * “*View iMac 21.5-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000825/mac-2-school-21-5in-imac-bundle
    * “*View iMac 27-inch bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000826/mac-2-school-27in-imac-bundle
    * “*View Mac Pro bundles here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900000828/mac-2-school-mac-pro-bundle

    Better still, this deal is open to everyone — from students on paper to students of life (which begs one of my favorite quotes, “I am still learning” – Michelangelo). Now, you have no excuse!

  • Why Soapbox?

    __From the Archives: Originally featured in__ “*Kibbles & Bytes #730.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb730/

    Long time Kibbles & Bytes readers will know that I have been writing editorials in the newsletter for some time. Many times when I write a soapbox, I will provoke some thoughtful discussion on our blog, Barkings!. There will usually be a few customers who advise me not to “mix business and politics” in case I hadn’t thought about the implications of expressing myself in my newsletter. Some have even gotten angry that I share my views.

    That was the case this last week and I want to thank everyone who shared their views … furthermore, I thought it would be good to give you some perspective on the “why” of the soapboxes. I look at our electronic newsletter as a periodical that we send to our subscribers, and while our main interest is everything Apple and how you can use the amazing products coming from Cupertino, I also view it as a newspaper that might have advertisements, pictures and of course, editorials. My soapbox is the equivalent of the editorial page of a newspaper.

    But even more importantly, I believe that our commitment to social responsibility in business practices requires us to speak out on issues that face us today, especially those that impact business, our employees and our customers. I have long been an advocate for non-violence and for issues such as human rights, women’s rights, gay and lesbian rights, health care reform, dog welfare and environmental protection. I speak out on these issues, I testify in the legislature and I feel that it is totally appropriate to let you, my customers, know how I feel. It is really a part of our marketing plan — to make Small Dog Electronics personal and personable.

    Sure, I could avoid upsetting any customers and be pure pablum but that is not who Small Dog Electronics is — we are an active and contributing member of our community and I want you to know how we think. Before you decide you will never buy from us again because I tell you how we feel, you should consider where other companies put their money and what their commitment to their communities is. Providing the soapbox is a forum for civil discussion of issues that impact us all and will help you understand how Small Dog Electronics measures its success by our commitment to people, planet and profit.

    I encourage you to join the discussion at our blog and assure you we never intend to insult, only to provoke careful consideration. The soapbox is part of Kibbles & Bytes and will be for some time to come.

    Interested to read old issues? “*Check out the HTML archives here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/ and go even further back (to the beginning!) “*here with our plain text archives.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/kibbles/

  • Smalldog.com Updates: Specials & Product Views

    Some of you savvy online shoppers may have noticed a few changes around our website in recent weeks. Well, those little code monkeys we employ at Small Dog have been hard at work creating some changes to give our website a fresh new feel to keep up with the ever-changing trends of web design.

    If you haven’t already, check out our slight makeover of the “*Specials page*”:http://www.smalldog.com/specials after you’re done reading. It’s gotten the grid treatment that our product listing pages now offer (more on that below), which we like to call a carousel view. You can now scroll through our specials horizontally by hovering over the arrows, which is ideal for smaller screens — including mobile devices, obviously. More updates are coming to this page soon, too.

    Additionally, we’ve rolled out what’s called “product lines” in our specials, which really just means that you can now choose your computer model options within an individual ‘wag.’ In other words, if you’re looking for a 15-inch MacBook Pro, you can just click on one of the 15-inch MBP specials and there will be a dropdown menu where you can customize the exact version you want. (As long as each option is applicable to the special advertised.) So, if you want to take advantage of the Mac to School special with a MacBook Pro, AppleCare and free $100 gift card, you can either choose what we have in stock or a CTO version within the same window. Since each page incorporates multiple models, the price will indicate a range.

    You might recall that our product listing pages had a tendency to be long, even when broken up by pagination, so we gave them the grid treatment as well. The result is much more dynamic, both visually and in practicality. You’ll see larger photos with detail, which is ideal when comparing two computers that may look the same at a glance. Don’t worry — if you prefer the traditional list view, there are two buttons to the right which allow you to toggle between the two options.

    Check it out: “*Smalldog.com/macs*”:http://www.smalldog.com/Macs

    We really hope that you like these new changes — we’re continuing to develop under-the-hood, and we’ll keep you posted about what’s new. Feel free to let us know what you think and what you’d like to see at “*hello@smalldog.com.*”:mailto:hello@smalldog.com

  • MAC TREAT #211: Including Extensions in Contacts Addendum

    Last week, I wrote and article about how to add an extension to your contacts. This article received a lot of attention, and I wanted to clarify a few things for our readers.

    I had one reader set me straight with the facts about the pause and wait functionality. It is something that has been around for a while and isn’t new or exclusive to iOS (though it was new to me). The second thing most users wrote back about was the inability to add the extension to their contacts in OS X. I am sad to say that, at this time, it is impossible to do it on your Mac. This is a feature that’s exclusive to the Contact app on iOS devices and doesn’t work in the Contact app on your Mac.

    If you missed last week’s Mac Treat you can read the entire issue “*here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb834/ Thanks to everyone who wrote back and keep reading!

  • Mac, iOS, and Technical Training for Businesses

    Small Dog is excited to announce that we are offering three upcoming training sessions for businesses and IT professionals in July and August.

    * “*iOS For Business,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83600/ios-for-business
    Tuesday, July 30, 9am-12pm
    * “*iOS Technical Training For IT Professionals,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83601/ios-technical-training-for-it-professionals
    Tuesday, July 30, 1pm-5pm
    * “*Mac OS X Technical Training For IT Professionals,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83602/mac-os-x-technical-training-for-it-professionals
    Tuesday, August 6, 9am-5pm

    All classes are held at KnowledgeWave, 30 Community Dr. #5 South Burlington, VT 05403.

    “*To learn more, and to register, click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/training?utm_medium=email&utm_source=blast&utm_campaign=kw

    __*Note: Participants are encouraged to bring their own iPads and iPhones.__

  • _Happy 5th of July!_

    It’s Kali writing for Don this week, as he recovers from yet another Prickly Mountain 4th of July get together, which no doubt was full of strawberries (in daiquiris, both virgin and non), croquet, lively company and the Warren parade festivities. I know that he was disappointed not to ride this year due to his electric bike being out of commission, but I expect he’ll have it raring to go next time.

    I know it may feel a bit early to start talking “back to school” so we won’t __fully__ dive into that yet (you can have a few more weeks of summer without thinking about the ‘S’ word — you’re welcome), but we’re excited to announce that we are offering an awesome gift card deal. And it starts today!

    *Buy any new Mac with AppleCare and you’ll receive a $100 Small Dog gift card from now until September 15.* This offer is valid online and in stores, and full details are below — plus, if you’re near one of our retail locations, there’s a $50 SDE gift card up for grabs when you purchase a new iPad or iPhone with AppleCare+. Summer lovin’.

  • SPECIAL | Targus Gives You The Edge

    The Targus Lap Chill Mat provides a comfortable and ergonomic work surface to keep you and your laptop cool. The Chill Mat rests on your lap and disperses heat, using dual fans to provide ventilation which can be obstructed if the laptop is used on a pillow or comforter.

    No longer will you have to decide which accessory gets to be plugged in and which one gets left out. With the Targus 7 Port USB Hub you can have all of your devices attached to your Mac including the Targus Lap Chill Mat.

  • SPECIAL | Bluetooth-ify Your Favorite Dock

    WaveJamr is an ingenious accessory that will simplify your life and extend the life of your favorite speaker dock, dockable alarm clock or automobile mobile device integration.

    Simply connect WaveJamr to your speaker system’s docking port and enjoy your music, movie sound-track or audio books wirelessly from up to 50 feet. Breathe new life into those old 30-pin docks that don’t work with your new iOS devices that have the Lightning port.

  • KnowledgeWave Classes in July/August

    Small Dog is excited to announce that we are offering three upcoming training sessions for businesses and IT professionals.

    * *iOS (iPad/iPhone) For Business,* Tuesday, July 30, 9am-12pm
    * *iOS (iPad/iPhone) Technical Training For IT Professionals,* Tuesday, July 30, 1pm-5pm
    * *Mac OS X Technical Training For IT Professionals,* Tuesday, August 6, 9am-5pm

    Why register? If your business is new to Mac or iOS, or if you’d like to maximize how ‘going mobile’ can improve your productivity, these business-centric trainings are ideal. You’ll learn how to seamlessly integrate Macs, iPads and iPhones into your business.

    Along with our standard curriculum, we’re happy to integrate any specific apps your company is interested in.

    __*Note: Participants are encouraged to bring their own iPads and iPhones.__

    All classes are held at KnowledgeWave, 30 Community Dr. #5 South Burlington, VT 05403.

    “*To learn more, and to register, click here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/training/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=KB-kw

  • Wi-Fi Signal Troubleshooting

    Pretty regularly, customers will bring in a Mac that is intermittently dropping its Wi-Fi signal. This is a very frustrating issue, and it can also be a difficult one to diagnose. Every basic home network setup is different in that the environment, the hardware used, the ISP and the amount of load/strain can all vary. All these factors must be considered to produce a solution.

    Nine times out of ten, this issue is not replicable on our service department Wi-Fi network, and therefore cannot be definitively diagnosed. Sometimes, changing basic network settings within System Preferences will resolve the issue, but that’s not always enough. Often, the best troubleshooting of wireless issues involves doing the work while the machine is in its home environment. That means either doing it yourself and doing the research, or hiring someone to attempt to resolve the issue for you, be it via an on-site visit or phone support.

    So what do you do when you have done pretty much everything? One possible resolution for a slightly more advanced user is to adjust the size of something called the MTU, or Maximum Transmission Units. The MTU determines the maximum amount of data each packet can carry through the network. 1500 is typically the default for most Macs, and also the largest allowed by most basic networks. This means up to 1500 bytes can be carried in each packet over the network.

    Generally, the larger the MTU size, the better your network efficiency, and I think Apple would agree with that, considering their default size is the maximum usually allowed. However, in some cases, the MTU size set on the computer can conflict with the some aspect of the network, causing it to intermittently lose its signal. This can be resolved by altering the MTU size slightly within Terminal.

    As always, use your best judgement when playing around in Terminal. Things can quickly go from good to bad if you you don’t know what you are doing. Now, with the usual disclaimer out of the way, follow these directions.

    Open a Terminal window and type:

    * @networksetup -getMTU en0@
    * hit Return

    Note: You may need to type en1 instead; it depends on which connection you are using. You can find out using Network Utility. This will tell you your current MTU size.

    To change the size, type:

    * @networksetup -setMTU en0 XXXX(new size)@
    * hit Return

    You can input whatever size you want; I would recommend keeping it relatively close to the original MTU size. For example: 50 fewer units (1500->1450). This setting is easy enough to change and test as part of your troubleshooting. Nothing is permanent, as you can easily change the MTU size back to what it was originally (using the aforementioned command) if this does not resolve your issue.

  • SSD Installs Continued

    I want to take some time this week to revisit an article I wrote a couple of weeks back. I got a lot of great responses from our readers about SSDs and their experiences as well as trials. Overall, I would have to say that switching to SSD storage is the next best boost on computer performance after memory. That’s definitely the new technology trend most machines are being converted to.

    The new Apple laptops all have SSD options and very few actual HDD options anymore. One great response I got was from Winston, who wrote in about extending the life of his PowerBook. PowerBooks are classified as “obsolete” by Apple, yet his is performing like a new machine with a new, low power SSD. That is great feedback, and I’m glad to hear that the older machines can get a few more years out of them with an upgrade like this.

    Another response I got was from Tarik, an IT specialist for a junior high school, who has a lot of experience with prolonging the use of older MacBooks with SSDs in a school environment. Also, the reduced disk failure rate from kids throwing the computers into their bags is a blessing. This feedback was very helpful and informative — as of this writing, I’m simultaneously downloading Chameleon SSD Optimizer for my Crucial 256GB SSD to play around with!

    Working in the tech department, I get to see all types of issues with computers. Something I didn’t expect to see was a failed SSD. I don’t see that happen too often, but when it does, there isn’t a whole lot we can do to recover the data on the failed drives. If the customer absolutely needs the data, at that point, we have to hand it over to DriveSavers, the company Apple uses for forensic level data recovery. They aren’t a cheap service, but if anyone can get data on a failed drive, they can.

    __*Ed. Note:* We can never stress enough how important it is to back up your computer. Even if you have the latest SSD, failures can still happen. So, if you don’t want to be shelling out the big bucks for data recovery, then back it up faithfully!__

    So far, I have been extremely happy with my SSD in my little 13″ mid -2009 MacBook Pro. The SSD has given it new life over the standard HDD in conjunction with using external HDDs for storage. I am a data packrat and have terabytes of information on multiple hard drives that I’m constantly accessing or moving around. Despite my thirst for speed, I don’t have any SSD externals (yet).

    Switching to an SSD was the best decision I have made for my current MacBook Pro. I hope I’ve helped answer some questions and I would like to thank everyone who wrote in with responses to my original article. To those I didn’t mention in this article, I have read your responses and I thank you.