Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • iTravel in Style

    The first time I flew anywhere, I remember my parents having a big envelope full of plane tickets. Each one was printed on card stock and seemed to be several pages long. Also, flying from Vermont to anywhere generally requires several stops, so it was a pretty good sized stack. These tickets were probably the most important thing to remember on the way to the airport.

    More recently, I have checked into flights by swiping my credit card at the now-ubiquitous digital kiosks, which has made the inevitable (at least for me) last-minute scramble out of the door a little less stressful.

    Now Apple has been granted a patent that when fully implemented should make travel even more convenient for all of you iDevice users out there. The patent is for a service that Apple calls “iTravel” in the application. Using near-field radio communication (NFC), your iDevice “will store and transmit travel reservations and traveler identifications using a travel management application. Various methods may be employed to acquire the reservation and identification information on the handheld device.”

    What this means is that once NFC readers become common at the airport, all you will need to do is wave your iDevice near the reader to check in or board the plane. In the meantime, it seems that this function will be handled by *Passbook,* which is one of the new features that Apple has announced will be a part of “*iOS 6 (due to be released this fall).*”:http://www.apple.com/ios/ios6/

    According to Apple: “With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, and redeem a coupon.” Their example image, which I have included with this article, shows that this will be accomplished via a QR code displayed on the screen.

  • Mac-o-Phobia

    bq. __”The great fear and paranoia of Apple’s Macintosh Computers and all related software, hardware, logos, etc.”__

    Well, at least “*according to Urban Dictionary.*”:http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mac-o-phobia

    What’s your biggest fear (technological or otherwise)?

    “*Tell us on our blog!*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/mac-o-phobia-and-your-biggest-fears/

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is Friday the 13th and for a moment there on my ride into work on the 1970 Norton I thought it was my unlucky day. I was enjoying the leisurely ride in when some doofus decided to make a left turn right in front of me. Fortunately, that antique motorcycle is light and agile and I was able to go wide around the guy in the shoulder. After uttering a few choice epitaphs and saluting the guy, I was back to enjoying the ride with nary a car in sight.

    It is July, and Apple has promised to release the next version of OS X this month. One of the features that I am very excited about is AirPay Mirroring. While you can mirror most content from your iPad to your big screen TV through an Apple TV device, the same is not true with your Mac. Mountain Lion fixes this and will allow you to wirelessly stream your content from your Mac to your TV.

    The last time I really wanted this feature was when I was doing a big Keynote presentation and wanted to practice while chilling on my couch. I ended up having to move the presentation over to the iPad to do what I wanted, and that was not all that easy. AirPlay Mirroring is coming to a Mac and living room later this month–it’s a great new feature of Mountain Lion!

    I am fighting off the birds from my ripening blueberry bushes but it looks like a great crop this year. I look forward to waking up and going outside to pick a bowl of berries, put a little granola on it and call it breakfast. I know that it has been very hot and dry in most areas of the country and drought conditions in many. Here in the north country we have had a few very hot and humid days, but mostly we have had dry and seasonable temperatures with cool nights and sunny days. Kinda perfect if you ask me! My solar photovoltaic array at my house was commissioned this week and I watched as my electric meter spun backwards. I should get a good percentage of my power from this array–at least this time of the year!

  • New Product (Coming Soon): Standalone Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard

    This is the same keyboard that you have come to appreciate in our Leather Bluetooth Keyboard Cases. We have packaged them as a standalone keyboard for your customers looking for a portable keyboard to use with their iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or any Bluetooth device. A soft carrying pouch is included.

    *Your cost is $30.00. MSRP is $49.99.*

    Please visit our “*website*”:http://www.hammerheadcase.com for a complete listing of our products.

    Our vendor site is also set up with vendor pricing, print and web-ready images and sell sheets for your use. “*Click here to view.*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/

    Hammerhead: Protect and Connect!

    Thanks for reading!

    Tony
    “*tony@hammerheadcase.com*”:mailto:tony@hammerheadcase.com

  • Retractable Silver Stylus

    Today, I want to let you know we’re having a BIG SALE on our Retractable Silver Stylus. These styluses have a slim design and a sturdy rubber tip. MSRP on them $14.99–your cost is $4.00! (Regular wholesale price $6.50!)

    “*Please see sell sheet here.*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_retractable-stylus.pdf I ask that you order in quantities of 20 or more.**

    __**Please remember that any order totaling $250 or more will ship for free! There will be a flat shipping fee of $10 on any order totaling less than $250.__

  • Enjoy summer even more with a great deal!

    Hello All!

    Hope you’re enjoying summer. We’re having one of those summers that Vermont is famous for: The mountains are green, the rivers are clear, and the skies are blue! Vermont is a vacation destination and tourism is huge in our state.

    Please let me know if you happen to be coming through Vermont and I will make sure to make some time to show you our corporate headquarters. We are very lucky to have a beautiful campus that we all enjoy very much.

  • SPECIAL: AirPort Express Closeouts

    We have a handful of closeout AirPort Express Base Stations left and they’re $20 off original pricing! Perfect for a standalone Wi-Fi router or for use as a repeater, they can not only transmit your wireless internet, but broadcast your wireless tunes or print your wireless masterpieces.

  • SPECIAL: Buy Any Mac, Get Parallels for $9.99!

    For a limited time, we are offering Parallels for $9.99 with the purchase of any computer.

    Parallels Desktop for Mac is the most tested, trusted and talked-about solution for running Windows applications on your Mac. With Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can seamlessly run both Windows and Mac OS X applications side-by-side without rebooting.

    Drag and drop files between Windows and Mac applications, launch Windows applications from your Mac dock, and do much more with speed, control and confidence.

    *PLEASE NOTE:* This special does not include a copy of Windows. See Windows 7 “*here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/search?x=0&y=0&search=windows+7

    To take advantage of this offer: Add any computer into your cart, add “*Parallels OEM*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/78997/at_tt into your cart, and enter coupon code *Parallels999.*

  • Voice-Only FaceTime Calls

    My family lives in Arizona, and I use FaceTime fairly regularly to stay in touch with them. Occasionally though, I’ve run into issues either with their network or mine where we’d get erratic video and poor audio.

    In a moment of frustration during a recent call, we discovered that FaceTime will continue to function as voice only on an iDevice if you bring yourself back to the home screen. Make your call as normal, and then once you’re connected, either press the home button to bring yourself back to your main screen or press the power button to put the device to sleep. The audio call will continue and you should notice a quality increase.

    In my case, I can continue to use bandwidth hogging applications (any other MMO players out there?) and still talk to my family.

  • Boosting Your Wireless Network Connection

    With wireless networking technology advancing faster than we can read about it, it’s always good to know that your Mac is accessing and transmitting data with your wireless network as best as it possibly can. To obtain this requires a little maintenance work on your part.

    Firstly, open up System Preferences, and navigate to “Network.” The side bar of the Network preferences pane will display all configured connections available on your Mac. Most of the time, especially with laptops, the user strictly connects via Wi-Fi. If this is the case, you can select any other connection types in that sidebar and remove them via the minus symbol directly below. Removing this network connection “clutter” tells your Mac what it should specifically be looking for as far as incoming connections.

    Second, located next to the plus and minus symbol is a little gear. Click on this gear, and select “Set Service Order.” A small window will pop up. Beginning from the top, this list tells your Mac in what order to search for these connections. You will want to click and drag “AirPort” or “Wi-Fi” (if using Lion) to the top of this list. Click “OK” to set this order.

    Lastly, and probably most effective in speeding up your Mac’s internet connection, is to configure your DNS servers. With “AirPort” or “Wi-Fi” selected in the sidebar, click on the “Advanced” button towards the lower right corner. Click on the tab labeled “DNS.” Now you’re going to add a few DNS server addresses into the box labeled “DNS Servers.” I, personally, have used Google’s public DNS servers for a while now with no complaints. Website addresses are resolved quickly and effectively in my experience using these servers, which are: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. You can also do some available DNS server research on your own, if you’d like, but I would highly recommend these DNS servers, as they have never let me down.

    Upon completion of this network maintenance, click “Apply” at the bottom right of the Network preference pane, and give your new configuration a test run!

  • Tech Tails Tidbits

    *Bad Chrome Follow-up*
    A couple of weeks ago, I “*wrote an article about Chrome crashing*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt825/ with kernel panics on machines with the Intel HD4000 graphics chip set (i.e. new MacBook Airs, MacBook Pros). “*Cnet verified this*”:http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57463603-263/google-yes-chrome-is-crashing-macbooks/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title soon afterward with an admission from Google, and hopefully this means that a true fix is in the works.

    *Free iOS App of the Week: Angry Birds Seasons*
    Everyone has played it by now, or at least a version of it via mobile device, Facebook app, etc. At our house, it’s been installed on pretty much every computer, and it’s an overwhelming favorite. This week, “*Angry Birds Seasons*”: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/angry-birds-seasons/id398157641?mt=8%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30 for iPhone is free, so hurry! Squawk!