Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Dear Friends,

    We have just gotten a few dustings of snow so far here in the north country, which were soon followed by warm weather and rain. They are making snow up on the ski slopes, but looking out my window here at the office down the Mad River, I still see green. Most of my co-workers are skiers who are looking forward to lots of snow but the mild winters of the past few years seem to be a trend, at least so far this year. I do have a goal of getting out on my motorcycle once in December.

    Sometimes I wonder why I live here in the cold and snow. I don’t ski — never been downhill skiing in my life and have no interest in sliding down a steep mountain slope in snow and skinny pieces of plastic. I tried to take up snowmobiling thinking it might be like motorcycling in the winter, but nope, there were only about a dozen days to go out and it was not at all like motorcycling. I’m also over making snowmen. I guess it is the dues I pay for being in Vermont, but whenever I leave the state in the winter, I am thinking about why anyone would live in the ice.

    Rebecca and I made a presentation via Messages to the Naples Florida Mac Users group that was a lot of fun. It was on our “Western Wear Wednesday,” so Rebecca and I showed up in our cowboy gear and told the story of Small Dog. I took care of the history and our mission, and Rebecca talked about our current projects and capabilities. If your user group would like to do something similar, we would be happy to do so. Don’t forget you can also tune into our radio show, “Small Dog Speaks,” every Thursday from 1pm-2pm on “*WDEV.*”:http://www.wdevradio.com You can even call in toll-free to ask questions and answer our trivia question giveaway.

    We have the new iMac now in stock and WOW, it is beautiful. If you are looking for a desktop machine, these new iMacs are simply stunning and wicked fast! And I hear that some are now being assembled here in the USA, too.

  • Resend An iMessage As Text

    I believe iMessage is one of the greatest things Apple has released in recent months (I’m sure many of you will disagree). However,…

  • Hammerhead is Here for You

    *Hello all,*

    Hammerhead/Chill Pill Audio prides itself on its fantastic product line. We have some great new offerings which include: “folio cases for the iPad mini,”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_ipad-mini-folio.pdf “Bluetooth Chill Pill speakers,”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_CP-BT-speaker.pdf “Bumpers for the iPhone 5,”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_bumper_dealer.pdf and new lines of screen protectors for the iPad mini and iPhone 5.

    See our full 2013 Dealer Price List “*here.*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_dealer-pricelist_12.12.pdf

    The most important thing we provide, however, is fantastic customer service. We are here for you and want to do everything in our power to help you succeed. We are always willing to go the extra mile to make sure that you and your customers have the latest and greatest accessories and are fully satisfied.

    Don’t just take my word for it, though. Here are some kind words from two of our top dealers:

    bq. “When looking for a vendor there are a lot of things you have to take in to consideration, but most importantly they have to be your partner. They must be willing to work together with you to provide quality products, great margins and be ready to deliver at a moments notice. Hammerhead has set the bar for vendors in the Apple Specialist world going above and beyond exceeding every mark every time.” – *Jim Orman*; “*MacAuthority*”:http://www.macauthority.com

    bq. “At PeachMac, we love Hammerhead products. But more than the products, we love that we’re dealing with ‘one of our own’. There is something to be said for doing business with a peer who gets the unique opportunities and challenges that come with being in the Specialist market. The great thing about Tony and the whole Hammerhead team is that they really pride themselves on treating you with respect. You don’t feel like you’re dealing with a business that does good customer service. You feel like you’re dealing with friends who care. That may sound cheesy. But it goes a long way with us. So yeah . . . the products are great. But it’s working with friends that keep us coming back.” – *Josh Brown*; “*PeachMac*”:http://peachmac.com

    Let us show you what we can do for you. Call or email anytime for quotes, samples, or just to chat! If we haven’t met in person, I would love to come meet with you. Give me a call or send an email and we can schedule a time to get together.

    I look forward to becoming your vendor, partner and friend!

    Thanks for reading,

    *Tony*

  • TT SPECIAL | Apple Refurbished iPad & Extras

    Purchase an Apple Refurbished 64GB iPad (1st gen) with AppleCare+ to extend your existing 1-year warranty out to 2-years with accidental damage protection and receive not one but TWO Hammerhead Verso cases.

  • Temporary Image Burn-in on 15" Retina MacBook Pro

    A customer recently dropped of their 15″ Retina display MacBook Pro for an issue I had not yet seen with this particular laptop. When transitioning from a lighter image to a darker one, the screen would experience temporary image burn-in. Every time, the burned-in image lasted about 30 seconds total, and would gradually fade-away. This proved to be very distracting to this customer, as they were working with high-resolution images/graphics, and bought a MacBook Pro with a Retina display for that very reason.

    I understood the customer’s frustration, as the computer was only a few months old. We checked it in for repair, and I ran our readily available Apple Service Toolkit diagnostics on it. One of the tests bundled in the toolkit, is an “image persistence” evaluation, which basically tests for this exact issue, image burn-in. Sure enough, the test failed, and those diagnostic results were then sent to Apple.

    Having failed the test, Apple considers the display defective, which is most certainly covered by the warranty. I ordered a replacement display, and installed it the following day. The image burn-in was no longer present with the replacement display, and the computer now passed all diagnostics. The customer was very happy to receive their computer back in a timely manner, and I was glad that it was resolved so easily.

    Please feel free to stop by any of our stores if you think you may be experiencing a similar issue, and we’d be glad to run the test and take a look at it.

  • Resend An iMessage As Text

    I believe iMessage is one of the greatest things Apple has released in recent months (I’m sure many of you will disagree). However, it is not without its faults; when Apple’s iMessage servers are down, for example. Another is when an iMessage will not send because of poor signal. Sometimes in these cases sending the message as a text will work just fine.

    Luckily for all of us that use iPhones there is an easy way to resend the failed iMessage as a text. Just tap on the text bubble and choose ‘Send as Text Message.’ The message should be sent as a text immediately and the bubble will go from blue to green to show the change from iMessage to SMS. To my knowledge, this only works in iOS 6.

    Another more permanent solution for sending failed iMessages as SMS is to go into your settings. Then scroll down to select Messages — located in the 4th chunk of menus. You should see a switch named “Send as SMS”. If you turn this on then whenever an iMessage fails to send your iPhone will attempt to send as a SMS instead. This is only recommended for those who have unlimited texting or keeps track of the number of texts sent because text overcharges can add up quickly if you aren’t paying attention.

    As a side note it should be mentioned that this article’s information only applies to iPhones. iPod touches and iPads (even those with data plans) which can send iMessages do not have the ability to send SMS.

  • John McAfee

    John McAfee is one of the pioneers of antivirus software. Starting in the late ’60s, he did programming and systems work for a number of high-profile ventures including NASA, Univac, Xerox, and Lockheed Martin.

    It was while working at Lockheed in the 1980s that he was given a computer virus known as the Pakistani Brain to work with. The Brain was created by a software firm in Pakistan and was the first known virus to affect MS-DOS. It worked by replacing the boot sector of a floppy disk with a startup error message and a phone number to call. The creator’s intention of the brain was to stop illegal distribution and copying of their medical software however, the virus had a major design flaw. It was supposed to just infect users that were pirating their software but instead also infected legitimate users as well, causing, as you can imagine, a lot of negative feedback from customers and the press!

    McAfee started work on a piece of software that could scan for and stop the virus. He started McAfee Associates in 1987 to further research and develop antivirus software and by 1989 had quit Lockheed altogether to focus on his company. He left McAfee in 1994 and went on to other ventures, mostly unsuccessful, but always on the cutting edge, such as a company he started in the ’90s to develop a pretty sophisticated chat program called PowWow. It went nowhere, mostly thanks to the efforts of AT&T, it seems. His latest ventures have gone in an entirely different direction, trying to develop natural antibiotics.

    The iconic company that bears his name is still at the forefront of antivirus software and will probably continue to be, as it seems unlikely viruses and malware will stop being spawned.

  • Hello all,

    After a brief dip into winter that brought some seasonal-type cheer last week, we are back to more “normal” wet and grey stuff. So it goes.

    Last week also marked the departure of our good friend Jon Spaulding, a fixture at Small Dog and longtime Tech Tails contributor pictured here with his two favorite “hobbies.” He has moved on to the next step in his career, and we send him off with best wishes and many thanks. You have certainly read his articles here, and if you have called us, there is a good chance you have spoken to him. I learned a lot (and I do mean a lot) from Jon about customer service and computer repairs. He will be sorely missed.

    You will see some new faces in Tech Tails over the coming… __forever…__ as well as more of some familiar ones as we try to fill the huge hole left by Jon. Let us know how we are doing.

    Thanks for reading,

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

  • 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…

  • Last week, we weren’t satisfied with our Cyber Monday Deal Retriever issue. So, we’ve decided to do it again this week — but…

  • Bring a Toy, Get $15

    This year in our retail stores, we’re collecting toys for those in need this holiday season. As an extra incentive, *if you bring in a new toy between 11/23 – 12/23, you’ll get $15 to spend toward a $50 purchase.* You must use the coupon the same day you bring your toy.

    In both our *Waitsfield and S. Burlington locations,* we’ll be taking donations for the “*Rutland County Women’s Network.*”:http://www.rcwn.org/ In our *Manchester location,* all toy donations will benefit the “*YWCA.*”:http://www.ywcanh.org/

    If you’re in the area, bring by a new toy for a child in need, and perhaps take care of some of your holiday shopping list at the same time!

  • Need To Amp Up the Volume?

    We received the “**iFrogz Boost 2.0 Speaker**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/81019/ in-store the other day and it immediately won the award for “Coolest Product on the Floor.” To describe this product with one word, it would have to be…magic. I am not talking Gandalf and elves, I am saying that I can not comprehend the system used to make this happen.

    The speaker is a black rectangle that has a flat surface to rest your iDevice (iPhone or iPod touch) on. It really only works with iDevices with speakers that are used to play the music. iPads can be used, but you have to balance them in such a way that would scare most iPad users.

    Put three AA batteries in the box, turn it on and play your music through your phone. Then, and this is the magic part, simply lay your phone on top of the Boost 2.0 Speaker. You will hear sound coming out of the box. The volume is controlled by the iDevice and you are off and listening.

    There are no cables, no syncing, no connectors: just audio. The speaker uses what is called Near Field Audio (or NearFA) to capture the sound and amplify it out to the speakers. Sure, you can use the built-in aux jack, but that isn’t cool at all. You can also power it by USB, but that really diminishes the portability of it. Just use it in its intended state, free of wires and limitations.

    Every time I show a customer the **iFrogz Boost 2.0 Speaker,** it is purchased. It is a neat little device that does exactly what you want it to and by magic. **It is a steal at $39.99.**