Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • REVIEW | SwypeGear SwypeGlove

    Here at Small Dog, we are always on the prowl to find fun and interesting accessories to accompany your Apple products. With winter rolling in fast, the first thing that came to my mind is staying warm. I hate having to remove my gloves to answer a text, change the song, or settle a debate with friends on my iPhone. There are a lot of different makers of iOS-compatible gloves, but “*SwypeGear*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=SwypeGear is one of a few that have gotten it right.

    ??*’The Good’*??
    When I say “*SwypeGear*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=SwypeGear has gotten it right, I mean it! Some other manufacturers of iOS gloves have little metal dots on the tips of a finger or two which I find frustrating to use. On the other hand (…pun intended), “*SwypeGear*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=SwypeGear actually weaves metallic thread into all five fingertips, giving you full access to gestures and a more accurate use of your fingertip. The other thing I love about these gloves is that they come in a variety of fun colors — from bright green to pink and classic black for all of the iPhone ninjas out there.

    ??*’The Bad’*??
    Depending on where you live, these gloves might not be suitable for the sub-zero temperatures in the dead of winter. They are slightly thicker than your typical cotton knit stretchy gloves. So I wouldn’t use them in a snowball fight or while cleaning off my car in the morning. However, I would use them while in the car (not while driving of course), or watching the Sabers beat the Canadiens (if the league ever gets its stuff together). If I had to put a number on it, I’d say these gloves are good until the temperature drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

    ??*’The Ugly’*??
    There really isn’t anything ugly about these gloves. As I said before, I love the colors, but I have to share a horror story with you. After using my “*SwypeGear*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=SwypeGear gloves for a few weeks straight, a hole began to form in one of the fingers right where the normal thread met the metallic thread on the fingertip. Luckily, it was on the middle finger which I rarely use when operating my iPhone. In “*SwypeGear’s*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=SwypeGear defense, I do own a pair that are a size too small for me. So be warned — make sure you are buying a size that is appropriate for your hand or your glove might burst at the seams.

    Overall, I would definitely recommend these as the perfect stocking stuffer, office gift, or present to yourself. As an added bonus, these gloves won’t break the bank, coming in at just $19.99. If you are close to one of our retail stores, then stop in and try them out for yourself.

    Here’s to warm hands and answered texts this holiday season!

  • SOFTWARE UPDATE | iTunes 11

    Yesterday, Apple released the latest version of iTunes: iTunes 11. It boasts a new interface and more streamlined, and arguably simpler, features. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new.

    *MiniPlayer*
    The minimized view of iTunes, MiniPlayer, is the change I’ve noticed most so far. It’s taken a little getting used to, but the buttons actually work in a much more logical way. Did anyone think it was strange that the green button was the one that activated MiniPlayer before? (Even though no other window used this same action?) Well, I did, and now that’s gone. MiniPlayer now uses a more universal symbol for maximizing and minimizing the window. It also utilizes the mouse hover to show more/different information about what’s playing. Overall, it’s a slick improvement.

    *iCloud*
    By using iCloud, you can access your content on all your devices, which is key for iTunes content. So, when you buy an album, song, movie, or TV show on any device, it’s instantly accessible in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC. As Apple says, “just double‑click to play. Or if you’re going offline, click the new Download button and bring a copy with you.” I’m in full iCloud mode between my work MacBook Pro, home iMac, and iPhone, and it’s been so nice to have my content available wherever I am.

    *Additional Views*
    iTunes has incorporated a simplified view of what you’re looking for in your library. For example, if you just want to view movies, click that in the window, and it’s all you’ll see. I think it has a decidedly Netflix-like browsing view, and that’s not a bad thing. There are also expanded views of your albums, so you can select an album icon and it will expand in place. Apple states, “That means you can see all the songs on the album, click Play, and keep right on browsing without having to click back to your library.”

    *Resume*
    “Pick up where you left off. We’ll save your place.” Finally, Apple! iCloud will remember exactly where you stopped listening/viewing to a podcast, audiobook, show, movie , or iTunes U lesson. I still have a streaming Netflix account, and I use this all the time — with two computers in the house and two iPhones, it’s nice to be about to queue up Sesame Street wherever we are.

    iTunes is available for both Mac and Windows. Macs require an Intel Core processor
    OS 10.6.8+, 400MB of available disk space and ideally, a high-speed connection to access the iTunes Store.

    Download iTunes 11 by accessing Software Update or by “*clicking here.*”:http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

  • FROM THE ARCHIVES | Accent or Exaggerate?

    Oddly, I have been asked several times in the past couple of weeks how to disable the feature in 10.7+ that keeps one from typing multiple letters in a row. (Guess I know a lot of Drama Queens (and Kings).) I wrote a Mac Treat about this a little while ago, so the following is from “*Kibbles & Bytes issue #747.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb747/

    ****

    This week’s Mac Treat is a two-parter. “*A while back,*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb738/ I wrote about how to type accent characters on your iOS device. Well, for those of you using Lion, the same steps you take on your iPhone (or the like) are now applicable.

    *To produce an accent on your Mac using 10.7,* press and (briefly) hold the letter that needs the accent mark. Your accent character choices will then appear, and you can navigate to the one you need.

    However, I must admit, it took me a little while to get used to this on my Mac. Why? Well, let’s just say that sometimes I can be a little dramatic in my correspondence…I mean, sometimes “noooooooooooooooo!” just gets the point across better than a simple “no.”

    If you want to preserve your right to exaggeration, you can turn this feature off by doing the following:

    Open Terminal and type:
    defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

    Then restart your computer. Your letter repetition will be reactivated for your melodramatic pleasure.

  • Dear Friends,

    First off, special congratulations to our own Jason Wu on the birth of his twins, David and Elizabeth — the newest Small Doggers born on Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, but I don’t think you can top that. Grace left on Black Friday to help out with the twins while I started out early and went to all three of the Small Dog stores. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are all shopping frenzy days. So as not to leave another day of the week out, I decided we should have a Western Wednesday and next week so the Small Dog team can “cowboy up.”

    We have some great bargains throughout the holidays with great savings. We just got in some Apple Certified Refurbished original iPad 64GB models. These carry the Apple 1-year warranty, are eligible for AppleCare+ and we are bundling them with not one, but two of our genuine leather Verso cases — all for only $299. That’s a *64GB iPad for only $299!* (See below for the special.) We also have a great selection of 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro Apple Certified Refurbished units that are over $900 off original pricing, and we’ve included them in additional savings.

    These refurbs and any of our new Macs and iPads qualify for our special throughout the holidays. If you buy a new or Apple refurbished Mac with AppleCare and an essential backup hard drive, you get the choice of a *free set of Chill Pill speakers or a $25 Small Dog gift card.* You also save $20 when you buy AppleCare with your Mac, plus our most popular drive brands, LaCie and G-Tech, are eligible for additional savings with coupon codes *10offlacie* and *10offgtech*, respectively. See “*our Holiday page*”:http://www.smalldog.com/holiday for more details.

    For those of you who are shopping locally, we have ongoing savings on any new iPad or iPad mini as well: If you buy an iPad in one of our retail stores with AppleCare+, you will receive a $10 Small Dog gift card or $10 off any Hammerhead accessory. We also have over 25 products that are $25 or less, so you’re sure to find a stocking stuffer or small gift for everyone on your list (all available on our website, too!). Stay tuned next week for our Small Dog Gift Guide.

    We are also launching an exciting toy drive in all of our retail locations. We are collecting new toys to give to homeless and underprivileged children here in Vermont and New Hampshire. If you bring in a new toy to any of our stores, you will not only be bringing some holiday cheer to a needy child, but we will also give you $15 off your purchase at Small Dog that same day!

    This is especially important for us, as our own Jen Mayer lived in homeless shelters as a child and knows first hand how important this holiday cheer can be. We are very proud of Jen’s initiatives to help the less fortunate. Her efforts in Asheville, NC are very impressive and included building a new park for over 200 children in the Klondyke Homes Community. Klondyke resident Harriet Tobe sums it up: “Jennifer has done some wonderful things with these children over the years; she puts everything aside to help them and has poured her heart out. I am so proud of her for helping the kids in this community stay out of the streets.”

    Wishing you a happy start to the holiday season!

  • TT SPECIAL | Free Swag with an iPad

    Get a *FREE* Hammerhead Verso Leather Case in Black and a *FREE* Silver Hammerhead Stylus when you purchase an Apple Refurbished 64GB iPad (1st gen).

  • TT SPECIAL | The Ultimate iPad Accessories Bundle

    Get all the iPad accessories you could ever want with this bundle and *SAVE $25*!

    * Hammerhead Stylus to make using your iPad that much better
    * 5 watt Car Charger to stayed topped off with power while on the go
    * Apple Juice screen cleaner to keep those pesky fingerprints away.
    * Brenthaven Prostyle Sleeve to keep your iPad protected when in transit

  • TT SPECIAL | $5 Three Year Warranty

    Get the Mack Worldwide Diamond Service 3 year warranty for just $5 when you purchase a *used* White Unibody 13-inch MacBook 2.4GHz with 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive.

  • Stop Bugging Me Software Updates!

    You’d be surprised at how often I hear a customer complain about being bugged by Software Updates. I’ve even had one customer who refused to run them because of the inconvenience. Running software updates can often be vital to having a smoothly running machine and we always recommend running them.

    The chances of having problems from a software update are typically very remote and shouldn’t keep you from running them. If you’re really concerned about something like that just wait a few days and read the tech blogs to see if anyone is reporting a problem with the update.

    Now that the standard admonishment to run your updates is out of the way, I can tell you how to temporarily get Software Update to stop bugging you. These tips are specifically for 10.8; some of the tips definitely will not work in other OS’s, and others haven’t been tested for an older revision.

    Option number one is to just disable Notification Center for the day. There are two ways to do this: the first is to option-click the Notification Center icon and it will turn grey. You can also swipe downwards from within Notification Center to show the on/off toggle. This will disable Notification Center for the day and you won’t get any reminders including Software Update.

    Option two — when you get the pop up notification in the upper right corner of your screen, just swipe to the right on the banner and it will be ignored for the next few hours.

    Option three is a semi-permanent method that is done from the update tab in the Mac App Store. Just right click on the update you want to ignore and choose Hide Update. This is only semi-permanent however. You can get the update back by pulling down the Store menu and choosing the Show All Software Update option to see all your hidden options.

    Your final option (which should work for all revisions) is to just go into System Preferences, choose Software Update and then uncheck the box for Automatically Check for Updates.

    I don’t recommend options three or four, but if you’re dead set against running updates then these two are your best options.

  • Remote iOS Configuring

    If you’re like me, you regularly remotely control one device from another. Using one of a variety of VNC viewing applications I can usually gain access to my Mac(s), either from across the room or from across the country. I also use Apple’s Remote Desktop application in order to login to a remote server and Citrix’s GoToMeeting software in order to remotely control a client’s Mac from afar.

    With the prevalence of iOS devices and the sometimes more complex software configuration needed, it would be great if Apple added the VNC service to iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches not only to control them, but for the critical task of configuring them, either for an individual or say, for instance, every person in your company?

    If you’re keen to jailbreak your device, there’s nothing stopping you from installing a VNC server on your phone and remotely controlling it. For the rest of us, Apple has made no indication that they would like to make available the necessary ports and protocols. So what are your options for remotely configuring an iOS device –perhaps that one you intend to gift to your parents this holiday season?

    First, grab a copy of Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility for your Mac or for your PC. Apple’s iPCU can be used to create configuration profiles, carry payloads which can configure what Wi-Fi networks the iPad can automatically join, what email accounts are configured, and what restrictions are put on the device. For a complete support document on what it can do, visit: “http://help.apple.com/iosdeployment-ipcu/mac/1.0.”:http://help.apple.com/iosdeployment-ipcu/mac/1.0/

    After you’ve made your configurations, export the configuration profile and deploy it to the device. You can plug it into your Mac or PC, email it, or host it on a website. I will often put the .config file in my public Dropbox folder and send the link to the recipient. Once they tap the link in their mobile Safari browser, the iOS device will prompt them to install it and automatically configure their device. Apple’s iPCU is an invaluable tool as an Apple Consultant.

  • Upgrade That Which 'Can't' Be Upgraded

    When Apple released the prior redesign to the iMac back in 2009, I had been running on a much older eMac. So needless to say, I jumped right on that bandwagon and got myself the best 27″ Apple had. What a change that was. I went from a 17″ CRT display to a massive 27″ LED backlit LCD. “Awesome” in every sense of the word.

    Several years have since passed, and while I still love this computer, its graphics card could be better. This computer shipped with an ATI Radeon HD 4850 with only 512MB of VRAM. At the time, it was fine and comparing it to my older computer, it was a world of difference. A year (maybe even less) later, Apple made a pretty hefty revision to the computer and released one with a much better graphics card. Much to my dismay. This is the way it is with computers — as soon as you get your top-of-the-line machine, a new one is released a year or less later and it’s better.

    In the case of most Macs, the video card isn’t a separate part. In all of Apple’s laptops and with the Mac mini, it is a chip that is attached to the logic board and can’t be changed. In most iMacs, it is a separate card but they use what is called a mobility card; these are smaller graphics cards that are typically used in PC laptops. These cards connect to the iMac’s logic board in the same way that a tower style machine has PCI slots for cards.

    The problem with upgrading these in an iMac is that the heat sink and radiator are often customized to that card and the frame of the iMac is designed in such a way that it only accommodates the cards that originally came with the machine. This makes it effectively impossible to upgrade in most cases. The late 2009 27″ iMac is an exception.

    The form factor of the ATI Radeon HD 4850 is identical to the 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5750 that came with the Mid 2010 27″ iMac. This is a better card with twice as much VRAM. Upon learning this, I decided to test it out to see if I can get a minor upgrade to my computer. Turns out it works. I did have some issues with the display not lighting up but this was resolved by reinstalling the OS from scratch after having the new card in there. The only thing I can figure is that it was a driver issue.

    Repairs like this will definitely void your warranty; if the iMac is still under warranty, there is some risk. A part like this bought directly from Apple often doesn’t come with a warranty because it doesn’t actually match what is available for the computer. So, you can expect to pay around $400 or so for the card itself and for our service center to do the actual repair would cost around $200 for the labor. I would not consider this a user-installable repair because you need to fully remove the logic board to do the repair. If you damage that part, you can say hello to a $1,400 to $2,000 repair.

    What you’re using your machine for will determine what kind of change you’d see with the upgrade. In my case, I was able to max out all the graphics settings in Guild Wars 2 (my current video game addiction) and that went up from most settings being in the mid to low range — a noticeable difference.

    My next step is to replace the optical drive with an SSD and set it up to mimic Apple’s new Fusion drive. I’m planning on doing this step in the coming months and I’ll detail how it goes in an article.

  • Hello all,

    The last couple of days, it has seemed like November has finally arrived and with it the certainty that winter is coming, in some form or another. I always have a sudden realization that ALL the leaves are gone. There is crisp cold air, days of slate-grey skies with wisps of clouds scudding past in the continuous breeze, the smell of maple wood smoke, and this morning, an inch of snow here in the Champlain Valley.

    People here in the Northeast seem happier when snow comes in winter, for the most part. It gives you something to talk about when the days are short and kids love it until shoveling is needed. I also try to remember that like winter, spring is on its way as well. I can usually keep that good feeling going until about mid-March when I foolishly convince myself that it should be here already!

    On to the goods — Dave and Carl offer up some good stuff this week, going places we haven’t gone very often here, but will be more often: hardware mods and enterprise-level stuff that you can apply to your own iOS world. Let us now what you think.

    Thanks for reading.

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

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