Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • iPhone 5 Case Options

    If you are one of the lucky few who have received your fancy new iPhone 5, then you’re probably bouncing around with excitement. Hopefully, you aren’t bouncing so much that you’ve already dropped your piece of Apple gold. Yep, that’s right — the iPhone 5 is just as susceptible to gravity as its predecessors were.

    Luckily for you, cases for the iPhone 5 are coming out fast. We carry a wide variety of cases, from the streamlined slider style to robust protection. And of course, I can’t forget my favorite case — the CandyShell by Speck.

    I want to take this opportunity to have a little heart-to-heart with you. I am in love with the way Apple designs their iPhone look. It is absolutely gorgeous and if I weren’t Mr.Butterfingers, I would roll with my iPhone 4S case-less. Alas, after breaking my 1st Gen. iPhone, I haven’t had the courage to use my iPhone without some type of protection on it. Currently, I use a Speck CandyShell Card case and it works great.

    So to highlight a few options that you have “*PDO*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=PDO,%20LLC&page=1&refinecat=iPhone_Accessories|Cases_|iPhone_5 continues to make their “*Slider Case.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/81835/pdo-silk-slider-case-for-iphone-5-black/at_kb This lil’ guy gives you some scratch protection and a moderate amount impact protection. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to get these in our stores but you can pre-order them on our website for $24.99 and we will get it to you as soon as we get them. Next up would be my favorite the “*Speck CandyShell*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=Speck&page=1&refinecat=iPhone_Accessories|Cases_|iPhone_5. Hard plastic outside, soft rubber inside and it won’t melt in your hand or your mouth (Just to be clear I advise against eating you iPhone). The Speck CandyShell will set you back $34.99 and give you the best balance of protection and streamlined design I’ve seen in a case yet. The final case I want to mention is the “*OtterBox Defender.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/81580/otterbox-defender-series-case-for-iphone-5-glacier/at_kb Now “*OtterBox*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=OtterBox&page=1&refinecat=iPhone_Accessories|Cases_|iPhone_5 has been protecting electronics for some time now, and they are darn good at it. Wanna show your friends how far you can throw your iPhone? I suggest putting it in an OtterBox Defender before letting it rip. The drawback of the Defender is that it adds so much bulk onto the device that it doesn’t look as nice as a bare iPhone and getting it in and out of pockets can be tricky.

    Whether you like your iPhone with a small, medium, or large amount of protection, Small Dog has a variety of options for you to choose from. I highly recommend stopping by one of our three locations or checking out what we carry on our website. Here’s to a cracked glass-free two years for all of you with the iPhone 5!

  • MAC TREAT #191: Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Audio Setup

    Here at Small Dog, we sell a sweet little cable that will connect your MacBook Pro to your HDTV. It’s called the “*Hammerhead Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Cable.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/76263/hammerhead-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-cable-6ft/at_kb I purchased one of these as soon as I got my Mac, brought it home and plugged it into my computer and TV. It was as simple as that to get video from my Mac to my TV.

    The problem came up when I tried to play a movie — sound was coming out of my Mac, but not my TV. Luckily, it is rather easy, and makes logical sense as to why it wasn’t working. Macs are so powerful that they let __you__ determine how you want you sound to be played — whether it be through the computer speakers or through external ones.

    All you have to do is go to *System Preferences* and click on the *Sound* category. This changes the window to the Sound menu. Along the top of the window you should see three tabs labeled *Sound Effects*, *Output*, and *Input*. Select *Output* and then from the list below select the Output with the *type* of *HDMI*. This will tell your computer to send the audio data through the Mini DisplayPort to your TV. That is it — From here, you should be listening to audio from your TV’s speakers instead of your Mac’s.

    Of course, these instructions have a few caveats. First, my machine is a 2011 MacBook Pro running OS 10.7. Your setup might be different and the Mini DisplayPort only started supporting audio out on the 2010 (and later) machines. The next important thing to ask is: Does your TV have an HDMI port in it? It’s also handy if your TV has speakers either built-in or connected to it.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    I got back from China on Wednesday night and my body is still quite confused about which time zone it is in. Even though the seats recline to a bed, I have never been able to sleep on airplanes, so I read a few books, answered email and watched a movie on the long 15-hour flight. It was over 24 hours of traveling from my hotel in Hong Kong to my home, so I got my sleep patterns totally confused.

    You would have thought that the iPad mini that is rumored had already been released with all of the accessories that were being shown. I even got a sample of an iPad mini case that had a very realistic mock-up of the iPad mini with it. I attended two trade shows in Hong Kong and then traveled to Dongguan and Shenzhen to visit our manufacturing partners and to talk about new products.

    There were a few companies showing Lightning connectors but when I asked, none of them had acquired Apple licenses for the products (although they were all hopeful). It is my understanding that Apple will not actually license the design, but will require these manufacturers to purchase the connector from Apple suppliers. For this reason — aside from the few companies that had the pirated cables — there were no Lightning accessories at the show.

    There was a huge selection of iPhone cases, iPad cases, speakers and other peripherals. It is a little like finding a needle in a haystack, however, because many companies have the same products and it takes some time to determine whether the company is a manufacturer or a trading agent. Nevertheless, I came back with a bag full of brochures and samples that may lay the groundwork for new Hammerhead and Chill Pill products.

    I noted that while I was gone we were able to acquire a bunch more of the “*Apple Certified Refurbished 17-inch MacBook Pros.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/MacBook_Pro/17in These all carry the standard Apple 1-year warranty and are eligible for “*AppleCare Protection Plan,*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/78291/applecare-protection-plan-macbook-pro-15in-and-17in/at_kb too. This is the last of the 17-inch MacBook Pros so if you are looking for a laptop with a big screen, this could be the best opportunity to get one at a highly discounted price (they start at $1349.99!).

  • Passbook and MLB

    As many of you know, I am a huge Orioles fan, have and try to make it to games whenever possible. I have…

  • You Don't Say….

    People have been talking (occasionally with expletives) to their computers since way before they could listen. And while speech-to-text has been technically feasible…

  • TT SPECIAL | Accessorize your iPad

    Get all the accessories you need and want for you iPad 3rd gen. A Capo Case and screen protector give you the protection you want and the stylus and bluetooth keyboard let you use your iPad like never before.

  • Private Browsing in Safari

    Everyone has their own personal internet browser preference. For one reason or another, you’ve chosen the browser that you currently use. Since I bought my first Mac, I had always used (and was satisfied with) Safari, because I didn’t see the point in trying out a different browser when it worked fine without issue.

    At some point, though, I tried out Chrome, which ended up replacing Safari due to the multi-function address bar (Google search, or type in a URL). For the past few years, I have only been using Chrome — until the recent release on Mountain Lion, which incorporated an updated version of Safari, and guess what one of those updates was? A Google-searchable address bar. I could finally go back to my first love.

    There was, however, one more hitch. Since I had started using Chrome, I had been using what’s called “Incognito” mode quite often. (Enough to warrant my memorization of the keyboard command that puts the browser into it.) Incognito mode basically involves using your browser as you normally would, but no information from the webpages visited is stored on your computer.

    As an example, I use Incognito mode frequently when using a communal computer in my house. It allows me to confidently log into a website (Facebook, Gmail, etc.), and know that none of that information will be retained. Another use would be if you have two different email accounts with the same provider, and would like to log into both simultaneously.

    Safari has an option like Chrome’s Incognito mode, called “Private Browsing”. To enable Private Browsing, simply click on “Safari” in the menu bar, and select “Private Browsing…”. A dialog box will pop up briefly explaining Private browsing, and asking you to confirm you would like to switch to it. You can bypass this dialog box the next time you enable it by holding the option key on your keyboard while clicking “Private Browsing.”

    To make enabling Private browsing even easier/faster, I set up a keyboard command for it in my Keyboard preferences, located within System Preferences. Select the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab, then click “Application Shortcuts.” Click on the + symbol, type in “Private Browsing” where it says “Menu Title”, and then type your keyboard shortcut in the second box. Hit “Add” and you’re all set. (Tip: if you weren’t aware of custom Keyboard Shortcuts, they can be used in most applications!)

  • You Don't Say….

    People have been talking (occasionally with expletives) to their computers since way before they could listen. And while speech-to-text has been technically feasible for decades, it has not reached widespread adoption. Apple’s recent investments in data centers has allowed them to deploy services such as iCloud and Siri.

    Siri’s lesser-known counterpart is simple speech-to-text dictation. This service is available to any Mac with Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion, as well as the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, 4th generation iPod touch, and 3rd generation iPad.

    On your iOS device, tap the microphone to the left of the space bar and start talking. On a Mac, make sure that dictation is turned on by navigating to the “Dictation & Speech” preference pane in System Preferences. Then, whenever you need to enter text, select a text field and press the fn (Function key) twice. You can speak continuously for up to 30 seconds at a time. When you are finished speaking, click Done or press the fn key twice again.

    Dictating to your technological artifact is almost exactly like speaking to humanoid interlocutors, except for a few key differences. Computers have yet to master the intricacies of the more implicit parts of human speech, which means that punctuation, special characters, and symbols must be made explicit.

    In order to become a better understood by your device, I would recommend devouring “*this knowledge base article.*”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5449

    Did you know you can say “smiley” and dictate a smiley emoticon? 🙂

  • No More Waiting

    Have you ever gone to install an app or an update for an app and found that it says “Waiting” and then never changes? It’s probably one of the more irritating things I find in iOS; thankfully, it doesn’t occur very often for me. I’m going to give you all a few tips on getting around this bug if this happens to you.

    One possible fix is to download the app on your computer using iTunes and try syncing it to your iDevice. Typically, this will fix the issue but we mobile users don’t always have the luxury of having access to our home computer to sync the device.

    The second possible solution is to tap the icon so that it will pause the update. Then, go to the Updates section of the App Store and click on the button that says “Update.” This will resume the download and may unstick the app.

    Thirdly, you can tap and hold on the app until it starts jiggling and delete the app. Then, re-download it from the App Store. This nuclear option will delete any custom settings you may have had, provided that you’re just doing an update to a preexisting app.

    Lastly, go to Settings and then to iTunes & App Stores and log out of your account. Then restart your iPad and log back in.

    Hopefully, one of these tips will help you out of the bind and get you back up and running.

  • Hello all,

    It seems this year doesn’t quite know how to proceed, at least here in the Champlain Valley. Last week, we saw flakes through the South Burlington window. Yesterday was downright balmy, and upon looking at the upcoming forecast, I’m thinking about reseeding my lawn in addition to my other fall projects I didn’t get done (like insulating my basement and raking my leaves).

    I have recently been inspired to get up and get moving again, however, by two things: one is this week’s jump from the edge of space by Felix Baumgartner, and the other is “*James May’s Manlab,*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_May’s_Man_Lab a series dedicated to getting up and doing things rather than…not doing things. Good fun and good stuff. Hope your fall projects are going well for you.

    Thanks for reading!

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

  • Save over $200 on the ultimate 17-inch MacBook Pro bundle — (and that’s on top of the $900 savings on the Apple factory…