Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Couch Surfing the Web (And More!) With Mobile Mouse Pro

    My home theater setup is pretty straightforward: my MacBook Pro (MBP) connected to a TV using a “*Hammerhead Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cable*.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/76263/hammerhead-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-cable-6ft/at_kb This worked great for watching movies on DVD or streaming from Netflix or TV shows on Hulu. However, every time I wanted to pause the show or select which commercial experience I would prefer (my current preference is the guy asking the kids if faster is better, although I don’t remember what company the ad is for so it is more successful as a short film than as an ad) I would have to get up off the couch to make the selection.

    I was considering a Magic Trackpad and an Apple wireless keyboard when I thought to myself: “The iPhone has a touch-screen interface and an on-screen keyboard, so there must be some way to make it work as a controller for my computer.” A quick Google search led me to “*Mobile Mouse Pro*.”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobile-mouse-pro-remote-trackpad/id289616509?mt=8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30

    This app is exactly what I was looking for. It combines a trackpad with a keyboard, is rated 4.5 stars at the App Store, and only costs $1.99. I immediately installed it on my iPhone and installed the free companion software on my MBP. I opened up the app and it connected almost instantly to my computer through the Wi-Fi signal in my house. The default screen is a trackpad on top and a keyboard below, so I was ready to test it out.

    At first it was a little difficult to move the cursor where I wanted, as very small motions would make it take large jumps across my TV screen, but with a little practice and an adjustment to the tracking speed in the preferences menu, I was able to keep it under control. The keyboard is very similar to the iPhone’s native keyboard, so I was able to get used to it very quickly. This app works great for media and surfing the Web from its default screen and also has specially designed screens for these functions, which makes browsing even easier.

    The movement of Mobile Mouse Pro’s cursor is a little clunky and the keyboard is pretty small, so if I were using software that required more precision in my movements, the Magic Trackpad and Apple wireless keyboard connected with a “*Magic Wand*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77851/twelve-south-magic-wand/at_kb would be a much better solution, but for my purposes this was exactly what I was looking for.

  • REVIEW | Seagate Wireless Plus

    A little while back, I was asked to test out this new portable hard drive we would be carrying made by Seagate called the Wireless Plus. At first, I was giddy like a schoolgirl to have an extra 1TB of storage space to move my media around. I then had to throw on my professional cap and get down to business.

    After getting it home, I started the unboxing process. The packaging was like any other, made of cardboard and sturdy enough to reassure me the drive hadn’t been bouncing around in transit. The drive’s outer shell, on the other hand, was made of plastic, which personally I always dislike. Sure it helps keep costs down and is probably better for the wireless signal, but it is far more flimsy than something made of metal.

    In the box, you will find a 1TB wireless hard drive, a USB 3.0 cable, a USB to DC power cable, a USB wall adapter and a quick start guide. Something I had fun admiring was this plate that let you replace the USB port once you had the drive set up to be a standalone wireless drive. So, I started playing around with the buttons and ports before reading any instructions (the typical thing guys do, I think…).

    After I had my fill of playing, I opened up the instructions and followed them “to a T.” The initial setup (where I connected the drive to my iPhone) was simple and straightforward, but when it came to wirelessly connecting the drive to my Mac, the directions were slightly more vague. This was disappointing, since my Mac was the device I wanted the drive to talk with in the first place. The directions said to install some software on the Mac, but didn’t tell you where the software was located. No discs were included with the drive, so I presumed that the software would be on the hard drive. I was right, but it would have been nice if that was explicitly mentioned in the guide.

    *Disclaimer:* It is not mentioned in the quick start guide, but the complete user guide available “*here*”:http://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/support-content/external-products/satellite/_shared/docs/Seagate%20Wireless%20Plus%20User%20Guide_EN.pdf tells you __not__ to use the Wireless Plus drive for backup with Time Machine when you plug it in for the ??first time??. Your Mac will attempt to reformat the drive and erase the software you are tying to install.

    Once I had the device up and running on my wireless network, everything seemed to work seamlessly. My preferred method of use for this device was just as an external hard drive to store more of my media on — but the Wireless Plus has more going for it then just that! You can view and play your media from the Seagate Media app. The only drawback is that there are some limitations on the types of files that the app can play. The list they give seems a bit light, but it’s what I found within the user guide, so I say try it with any type of media and see what works for you.

    Here is a break down of some supported file types:

    * Video: H.246 video, MPEG-4, Motion-JPEG
    * Audio: AAC, MP3, M4a Audible (formats 2, 3, 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF, WAV
    * Documents: Microsoft Office, iWork, Adobe Acrobat (PDF)

    Since we are talking details, I should mention the product specifications for the Wireless Plus.
    *Supported Devices*

    * iPad, iPhone, iPod touch running iOS 4 and above
    * Android-based tablets and smartphones running Android release 2.1 and above
    * Other Wi-Fi enabled tablets and smartphones (ed. note — could they be any more vague?)
    * Mac computer running Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later operating systems
    * Windows computer running Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP

    *Supported Web Browsers*

    * Safari 5 of later
    * WebKit
    * Internet Explorer 8 of later
    * Firefox
    * Google Chrome

    *Hardware Specifications*

    * Capacity: 1TB
    * SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port (the machine you are connected to will also need USB 3.0 to achieve the highest transfer speeds) or USB 2.0 port
    * Battery: Non-user replaceable lithium-ion battery
    * Battery Life: Up to 10 hours of continuous streaming (1 user); up to 25 hours of standby
    * Maximum Wi-Fi range: 45 meters (147 feet)
    * Drive Format: NTFS (the included software will help with making this drive a Mac format)

    With all that techie jargon out of the way, I have to tell you about my second moment of frustration. All of a sudden, the drive died one day. It had no blinking lights, wasn’t spinning up, nor mounting on my desktop. This really threw me for a loop since I had the device plugged in via the USB cable, so it should have been receiving power. I plugged in the included DC power adapter and that solved the problem. It seems as though the drive will not charge via USB like some other portable hard drives do. This isn’t a drawback by any means since you typically won’t have the drive plugged in via USB like I did, but it certainly was a moment of shock.

    Overall, I am very happy with the Seagate Wireless Plus. I don’t use all the extra bells and whistles that the drive is capable of, but as a wireless external storage unit, it is exactly what I would expect. When the weather gets nicer, I plan on testing the wireless capabilities by attempting to have my PS3 read movie files off it for my mini home-drive-in movie nights.

    You can find the Seagate Wireless Plus on our website “*here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/83044/seagate-wireless-plus-wifi-usb-3-0-1tb-hard-drive If you are in the market for a wireless portable hard drive, I recommend considering this one.

  • MAC TREAT #203: Creating a longer Passcode

    Are you the type of person who likes to keep a passcode on your iOS device to keep intruders from snooping around? Apple automatically defaults to a “simple passcode,” which is a 4-digit number and probably what most of you use. There is actually a way to make a longer passcode if you prefer it to contain letters and numbers, potentially making it a bit more secure.

    To do this, simply open up *Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Turn Simple Passcode off* on your iOS device. If your Passcode is currently off, you’ll need to switch it on and it will then prompt you to enter a new one. Make whatever passcode you’d like, whether it contains both letters and numbers, only numbers, or only letters. There isn’t a required set of characters that that passcode needs to include (i.e. at least one capital letter, one number and one punctuation).

    That’s it! It’s now pretty simple to create a longer, more secure passcode on your iOS device. Make sure you remember that fancy passcode though; if you enter an incorrect passcode too many times, “*the device will be disabled temporarily.*”:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1212

  • _Dear Friends,_

    I was down in Rutland this week to participate in a panel discussion on the technology sector in Vermont and of course, to check on the progress of the construction for our new store. With big employers in our state such as GE and IBM, we have a pretty strong technology sector that has spawned hundreds of new businesses. This includes some amazing success stories such as “*Biotek,*”:http://www.biotek.com/ “*dealer.com*”:http://www.dealer.com and “*mywebgrocer.com,*”:http://mywebgrocer.com as well as software developers in all of the nooks and crannies of the state.

    The biggest barrier that keeps Vermont from being more of a high-tech hub is the ongoing development of high speed broadband to all areas of the state. While some of the build-outs seem to look towards somewhat limiting technologies such as wireless, the most effective and only real solution to our rural and mountainous state is fiber optics. We are fortunate at Small Dog Electronics to have a forward-thinking local phone and internet company, Waitsfield Telecom, that has brought fiber to our headquarters a few years ago.

    We will start moving furniture, equipment and furniture in to the Rutland store starting next week. We have been training our newest employees for the store and are really looking forward to the opening of that new location.

    The sap buckets and pipelines are filling with sweet maple sap as the days are warm, and nights cool. All the predictions call for a banner year for maple syrup here in the maple syrup capital of the universe. Of course, this same weather makes for muddy back roads and cars that shimmy and shake as mud is caked on the wheels. Hammerhead likes to sit close on the bench seat of my pickup truck as we slog though the mud.

    We have some fantastic bargains on Apple factory-reconditioned 17-inch MacBook Pros. As you know, the big daddy of the MacBook Pro line is no longer manufactured, but these units have been refurbished by Apple to new specifications and carry the same 1-year Apple warranty as a new Mac. Plus, they are eligible for the AppleCare Protection Plan that extends that warranty to 3 years and takes the free tech support from Apple from 90 days to 3 years. *These 17-inch MacBook Pros start at $1099(!)* and if you are looking for a bigger laptop Mac, this is the best opportunity yet!

    “*Check them out!*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/MacBook_Pro/17in

  • Privatize Your Personal Data

    It’s useful to know, as a Mountain Lion user, what private data specific applications are accessing, and how to set/reset that. This can…

  • Google Maps: What's New In v1.1

    Google released the first major app update to Google Maps for iPhone on Tuesday, as part of their goal to make the app…

  • Raspberry Pi

    For those of you innovators out there looking for your next project, here’s something recently brought to my attention: the do-it-yourself Raspberry Pi….

  • SPECIAL | Ultimate Savings In Storage

    These days, consumers demand more and more storage space for their Macs. If you happen to be running out of space or want a beefy back-up solution, the LaCie 2TB d2 Quadra is the perfect solution for you.

    As an added bonus, we are including your very own Imelda head 8GB USB Flash Drive to migrate those important files between machines.

    Save $30 on this bundle before it’s gone!

  • Bowie in Space?

    Last week, an undersea exploration crew, funded and directed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, recovered two engines believed to be from Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The F-1 Rocket Engines were pulled from the sea floor of the coast of Florida about 2.5 miles bellow the Atlantic Ocean.

    Something interesting to me and hard to comprehend in today’s computer age is the power of the Apollo guidance computer that sent the astronauts to the moon 40 years ago compared to the power of modern computers.

    The processing power of the Apollo 11 computer was 2.048 MHz. Today’s average computer CPU processing power is 2-3 GHz with multiple cores which can double or quadruple that power. For interested minds, one gigahertz is equal to one thousand megahertz, which is thousands of times faster merely in the number of cycles per second.

    The Apollo computer had 32 Kilowords of fixed memory for storage and four Kilowords of usable processing ram. It is very hard to compare that ram to todays ram but if you did it would be millions of times more powerful. ??-editor’s note: four Kilowords is equal to 1.49e-5 GB.??

    Other advances in architecture of RAM and processors make any real comparison to modern day computers almost impossible. It would be like comparing the Wright flyer to the Saturn rocket that hurled Apollo 11 into space in the first place. Moore’s Law (created by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel) states that computer power doubles approximately every 18 months. That has held true so far; perhaps in another 40 years, we will wonder how we ever used something as clunky as a MacBook Air.

    “http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/jeff-bezos-apollo/”:http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/03/jeff-bezos-apollo/

  • My Favorite Software: Revisited

    A few weeks ago, an older article of mine was republished, and in it, I described some of my favorite third-party software. Since it’s a bit dated now, I think it is time to start a new list! I’m going straight to my Applications folder and see what stands out. Here are some of my favorites, in alphabetical order:

    *Ableton Live 9*: “https://www.ableton.com/en/live/new-in-9/”:https://www.ableton.com/en/live/new-in-9/

    I was an electronic music DJ from about 1993 to 2001. When I stopped buying vinyl, I started buying music production software, and Ableton Live was my first purchase. I think I still have my box from their very first version. I’ve just recently upgraded to the brand new version 9 and I really look forward to getting back into making music after a long hiatus. Ableton Live offers a different way to look at live performance and studio production, and the newest update offers some very cool additions.

    *BBEdit*: “http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bbedit/id404009241?mt=12%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30

    This is another program I have been using for many years, since well before OS X. While I have bought and enjoyed competitors like TextMate, I keep coming back to BBEdit for all of my text editing needs. Whether editing system files for work, or doing hobbyist web development at home, BBEdit is my go-to choice, especially since I can trigger it from the command line and easily save files that need root permission to edit. I don’t like word processing. I like text editing.

    *Carbon Copy Cloner*: “http://www.bombich.com”:http://www.bombich.com

    This is now my favorite hard drive cloning tool with its ability to create recovery partitions on Lion and Mountain Lion clones. I was happy to pay for it when it became a commercial app. It is worth every penny. “*SuperDuper*”:http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html comes a very close second.

    *Pixa*: “http://www.pixa-app.com”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pixa/id527618971?mt=12%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30

    I like to collect images, mostly cool desktop pictures, or sailing photos. While my own photos go in iPhoto, I like to keep track of my found images, and Pixa is a very useful tool. I’m just getting to know it, but I like the interface and the speed. You can use Finder folders, tags, and projects to organize your images.

    *Plex*: “http://www.plexapp.com”:http://www.plexapp.com

    I use Plex Media Server to serve up video files from my Mac mini to some of my devices in the house or on the road. The Plex client runs on Macs, PCs, Linux, iPad, iPhone, and jailbroken Apple TV. While I probably do more with iTunes and its sharing, Plex offers some unique features that cover a lot of ground that iTunes doesn’t. For instance, I can use it to watch an MKV format video on my non-jailbroken iPad, since the Plex software transcodes it in the mini before sending it over the air to my iPad.

    *Seasonality Core*: “http://getseasonality.com/core”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seasonality-core/id412771173?mt=12%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30

    As a sailor and road warrior, I like to know the weather. I like cylinder graphs for wind, particle animation for weather patterns, and being able to customize the interface. Seasonality does all these things and is fun to use. There is also an iPad app called Seasonality Go which I also like.

    *Transmit*: “http://panic.com/transmit/”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/transmit/id403388562?mt=12%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30

    Moving files to and from my web server calls for a reliable tool with an easy interface, and Transmit does the job very well. I have tried almost all the graphical FTP tools over the years, and Transmit has long been my number one choice.

  • The Only Intuitive Interface is…

    Speaking with an elementary school teacher friend of mine recently, I was somewhat saddened to hear his observations about human computer interaction exhibited by some of our youngest computer users.

    He revealed to me that his five and six year-old students, when asked to navigate to a website, enter www.google.com in the address bar of the web browser and then, in the search field below the colorful “Google” logo, enter the url provided. To me, and I suspect many of the readers of this newsletter, that anecdote will make you cringe a little bit. Along the same lines, he said that the children will often click and click again, expecting instantaneous response, without taking note of the loading indicators present within the web browser window’s interface.

    As someone who spends much of his time instructing users on how to more effectively interact with the technology around them, I come across some common misconceptions and bad habits among users born in the 20th century as well. While I haven’t performed any usability studies, fluency with computer technology is arguably dependent on whether or how early such technology was made available in your lifetime.

    This is not to say that a “digital immigrant” could not become more proficient or fluent than a “digital native” but I think you could expect a “digital native” to have less to adapt to (the technological norm that a younger person is born into does provide a certain advantage). The question is whether fluency increases linearly over time or if we have somehow done some disservice to our youngest digital citizens with our personal biases.

    Undoubtedly, computer technology has become more and more usable over time. Computers no longer require user assembly. Nor do they require users to write their own software. A combination of hardware, software, and network infrastructure improvements have resulted in a vastly lower barrier of entry than what was present ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, and thus, adoption rates of new technology are much faster than ever before. And it is the job of software developers and interaction designers to invite these new users into a better user experience. Hearing the anecdote from my friend, I believe we can call into question the linear nature of technological fluency as more people become “digital natives.”

    First, I think we can look toward software UI/UX design as still having a long way to go toward becoming more discoverable, more opaque, and more “intuitive.” The problem is complex. One could argue that a user’s visiting Google.com in order to navigate anywhere else on the web is not creating a poor experience (ultimately, the user is brought where they want to go, creating a positive reinforcement that is productive in perpetuating the behavior).

    However, it reveals a deficiency in one’s mental model of the technology one interacts with. I would argue that while software UI/UX design does have some distance to travel and can succeed in providing more user friendly interaction, the burden does not rest solely on the developers.

    While the origin of the quote is not entirely known, many technologists have argued something to the effect of, __”The only ‘intuitive’ interface is the nipple. After that, it’s all learned.”__ This means that it’s up to us to learn about the tools we use in order to become more proficient users. I believe that as computer technology does become more ubiquitous, in order for an individual to maintain an even basic understanding of the environment they inhabit, it will become even more important to become fluent. While the consequences of not being able to distinguish between an advertisement and a search result after submitting a query on Google are small, it’s an unfortunate thing to hear that some of our youngest users are not being taught some basic “web smarts.”

    By making technology more usable, we have gotten it into more hands, but we have not created more understanding. So how do we best combat these sort of depressing trends? I believe organizations like “*Code.org*”:http://www.code.org have the right idea — that bringing computer programming to educational environments will provide opportunities for children to gain an understanding of the world around them.

    Steve Jobs thought of coding as a liberal art — teaching one how to think. I believe that if we can introduce more people to coding, we can reverse technological ignorance and inspire more creative thinking in our world.

  • Hello all,

    Another week, and except on paper, we seem no closer to spring than we were in January. I think I am getting a touch of cabin fever…or perhaps am just anxious to get rolling on all the back yard projects that have been rattling around in my head.

    In the very near future, the service department will be busier then we have been recently. There are some exciting things happening in our department. (Exciting to me, anyway.)

    By way of her last job, my wife introduced me to the Toyota method of what is known as “lean manufacturing.” It is a collaborative method of reducing wasted efforts by considering every step of a process in the context that every action should contribute to providing value to customers.

    I find the the concept and practice fascinating and look forward to being able to serve our customers not only faster, but better as well. And soon in warmer weather.

    Thanks for reading,

    Liam
    “*liam@smalldog.com*”:mailto:liam@smalldog.com