Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • It is sweet corn season. Artie and I used to have a contest to see who could eat the most cobs at a single sitting, but in my old age I am pretty much down to just 2 or 3. I like jumping on my motorcycle and just riding until I find an interesting farm stand to buy freshly picked corn. I gave up growing corn years ago. I would grow great sweet corn, and, with just one more day to pick it so it was at its peak, the raccoons would come and eat it all! And then have my chickens for dessert! It just wasn’t worth all that labor to be so disappointed.

    Our garden has suffered a bit this year with Grace’s broken hand. There is still some great food hiding out there in the weeds but not our best year for veggies. Lucky for us there is a plethora of organic vegetable stands here in Vermont so we are not suffering at all!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • When iOS devices run slow

    Over the past week, I have had several interactions with iOS users complaining of poor battery performance or overall slow performance with their iOS device. In many cases, these issues can be easily resolved by either adjusting how you might be using the device, running software updates, or by updating forgotten settings.

    Battery Health

    Apple introduced new features in iOS 11.3 with battery health, a quick glance can let you see a snapshot of what apps are most frequently used. You can find the battery information by simply tapping on Settings where you can easily see which apps are using your battery the most. In some cases, you might realize it’s a specific app. Perhaps you haven’t realized your child or grandchild grabbing your phone and you discover they’ve been watching YouTube. This was the case with my brother. His son was using YouTube (with permission), but what my brother did not realize is that YouTube was refreshing the content in the background, accounting for even more drain on the battery. I have several news apps which I have set to notify me of breaking news. Depending on the news day, I can have a significant amount of battery life going to my home screen lock being overrun with notifications. With my iPad, my notetaking program clearly dominates my battery usage. Because I use my iPad primarily for notes, there isn’t much I can do to reduce the battery drain and I know I need to charge my iPad every night during heavy usage. In the case of my phone, turning off my news notifications when I need to extend my battery life can provide significant improvements.

    Background Refresh

    Background refresh, the secret battery killer. I say this because this is a setting that I recommend checking often. In the case of just about every app you might download, the default refresh setting is to automatically refresh in the background. You can check this setting by going to Setting> General > Background Refresh, and consider turning off any or all apps. You can tell that an app is set to automatically refresh if the button to the right of the app is switched to green. Social media apps and streaming apps will use the most battery power with background app refresh, so I do make sure those are turned off. Another note, these settings don’t migrate over automatically to new devices so you might find, to your surprise, all your apps are set to refresh in the background.

    Web pages or e-mail open slow

    I spoke to a customer the other day who indicated that when she refreshed her e-mail the “dotted circle” just spins for a minute or so and then her e-mails download. This is something that you just might not be able to control and might not even be a problem with your iOS device. How fast your iPad or iPhone refreshes, downloads and browses is related to your internet speed and the wireless router you are connecting to. If you are finding your iPad is slow to refresh mail, or when browsing the internet or refreshing an app when you are away from your home or office, there is really nothing you can do. It does not mean you have a slow device, it just means your network access is likely slow. When it comes to your home or office, you might just need to update your wireless router. If you have not updated your wireless router in several years, this could be the motivation to upgrade that equipment. Manufacturers such as eero and Linksys have added features of dual and tri-band systems. These dual and tri-band systems allow all users to connect and browse at the fastest speed their device and network can provide, giving everyone equal enjoyment of the network.

    Update the iOS and apps

    Many users might find apps quitting unexpectedly or perhaps getting a slow response time when tapping on an app or general navigation. Often times this could be related to the iOS, and, in many cases keeping the device up to date, just like your computer, can help with performance. Generally speaking, you do not have to worry if those updates will have the opposite effect and slow down the device significantly for the next few years.

    Updating the different apps on your device is also important. Like iOS, the app developers also release updates to fix bugs within their apps and can help with performance. I do recommend automatic updates when it comes to apps, unlike your computer’s software, these rarely have any effect on usage or worry about compatibility. After all, the apps are mini versions of the software.

    I recommend checking settings often on your devices as a variety of instances can cause settings to change or perhaps you missed the release of an update. In the end, however, our devices have their limits. You can only charge the batteries so many times and even with the best practices reduced battery life will inevitably occur. Eventually, you will reach the limits of software updates and the time will come when your hardware simply needs to be updated. However, until then, these simple steps can help you to ensure you have minimal performance issues or at least properly identify if you do have an issue with your device.

  • Let Your Fingers Do the Tracking

    I used to prefer trackballs over using a mouse but when Apple came out with useful trackpads I was hooked. I use a Magic Trackpad 2 on my home office set-ups and also at the office.

    A trackpad is not a mouse. In some ways, that’s obvious—you swipe your fingers on it, rather than dragging it around. Less obvious, however, are the many gestures that make using a trackpad on your Mac faster and, I think, more fun. These gestures aren’t limited to laptop users thanks to Apple’s Magic Trackpad 2, which brings gesturing goodness to any desktop Mac. Emily talked a bit a few weeks ago about the trackpad, but I think she omitted some important features beyond the traditional two and four finger swipes.

    Three Fingers on the Trackpad

    What if you swipe vertically with three fingers? Swipe up to enter the All Windows view of Mission Control, which shows all open windows as thumbnails, plus desktop spaces in the top bar. Click any thumbnail to switch to it, or jump to any space by clicking it. You can also click the plus button at the upper right or drag any window into the top bar to create a new space. To move a space’s apps back to the current space, hover over a space on the top bar and click the close button that appears. To exit All Windows view, swipe down with three fingers.

    If you haven’t invoked All Windows view, swiping down with three fingers instead invokes App Exposé view, which displays thumbnails of all open windows in the current app. Click any one to switch to it. Swipe right or left with three fingers while in App Exposé to switch between apps.

    Here’s another one that I use every day – three-finger drag. Here’s how to turn on three finger drag if your Mac has a Force Touch trackpad or you are using the Apple Magic Trackpad 2:

    #From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
    #Click the Accessibility icon.
    #Choose Mouse & Trackpad from the options on the left.
    #Click Trackpad Options.
    #Place a checkmark next to “Enable dragging.”
    #From the related pop-up menu, choose “three finger drag” so there’s a checkmark next to it.
    #Click OK.

    Finally, on older MacBooks that don’t have Force Touch-capable trackpads, tap with three fingers on words to look them up, on files to preview them with Quick Look, and more. With newer MacBooks, if you have “Force Click and haptic feedback” enabled in System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click, you can instead “force click” with one finger for these features. That involves clicking on something and then pressing firmly without letting up.

    Two Fingers on the Trackpad

    The two-fingered gestures are easy to get your head around. You might be surprised what else you can do with two finger swipes.

    In Safari, swipe left on a page to go back in that tab’s page history or right to go forward. Also in Safari, tap two fingers on the trackpad to zoom in on the content. Another two-fingered tap zooms back out.

    In Photos, and some graphics apps, zoom in and out by pinching with two fingers, and rotate selected objects by putting two fingers on the trackpad and turning them. A two-finger pinch also zooms the page in Safari.

    To open Notification Center quickly, swipe left from off the right-hand edge of your trackpad. Swipe back to the right to close Notification Center.

    Changing Your Preferences

    If you need a refresher on all these gestures, open System Preferences > Trackpad. Look in the Point & Click, Scroll & Zoom, and More Gestures panes to see a handy video for each gesture. You can also adjust which ones are active and how many fingers they require.

    With so many gestures on offer, it’s worth your time to explore everything you can do with your trackpad. You are likely to discover something you didn’t know about, even if you have been a user for years.

  • Dear Friends,

    Schools are starting the new school year, and, if we look out the window in the conference room here at Small Dog Electronics world headquarters there is already a couple of sugar maples showing red leaves. Too soon! Jezebel likes this time of year as the big apple tree that we planted outside my office window starts to drop its apples. She grabs an apple each time I let her out and brings it in with her to eat. Cuts down on my dog biscuit budget!

    President John F. Kennedy wrote a book in 1957, Profiles in Courage, that talked about eight courageous US Senators in US history that stood up for their beliefs without regard to political consequence. We need more of that from our legislators but it sure seems that they are stuck in a political Ground Hog of campaign contributions, gotcha politics and maneuvering instead of working for the people that they represent. Perhaps we will see some new blood. Have you voted in your state’s primary? Will you vote this November? It could be the most important vote ever.

    Costco announced that they are now taking ApplePay at all their stores. I was up at Costco buying new hearing aids and was able to pay using my watch for the hearing aids that I can control from my watch. Pretty cool, eh?

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features a Demo iPad Pro 9.7in, 32gb in Rose Gold with cellular. This iPad originally sold for over $500, and I have a few units left over. This iPad works with Apple Pencil and lets you connect to the internet no matter where you are. This week I have bundled this iPad with an Apple Smart cover for $399.99.

  • I have been playing nurse for Grace as she recovers from her hand surgery which was a lingering issue from her motorcycle accident this spring. We think she is all fixed up but has some recovery time as a one-handed girl. I don’t much like having a broken wife but we are a team and I have often said I am her right-hand and so I really am now. I have been cooking some not-so gourmet meals and putting on her Apple Watch every morning.

    We won the 7 Daisy award for the 10th year in a row as the Best Place to Buy a Computer. We also did a press release about our search for some new capital or partners and received some good press.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily

  • Seven Practical iPad Tips

    I have been using my iPad Pro much more frequently lately. I have even set up my Kinesis Bluetooth keyboard to be able to access either my Mac or iPad with a simple keystroke. Frankly, I sometimes forget and start using my finger on my MacBook Pro screen and get frustrated and have a laugh when it doesn’t react.

    At the office I primarily use my Mac, but if I go into a meeting I will usually grab the iPad to bring along. At home, though, I am primarily using my iPad(s). I have an iPad Pro that I use for mostly web surfing, email and things like controlling my Spark drone. I also have an iPad mini that generally stays by my bedside for reading.

    Here’s a random collection of seven iPad tips that might help you get the most out of your iPad!

    1) Scan, Sign and Send

    This is primarily for the iPad Pro or new iPad 9.7-inch users that have Apple Pencils. One of the most frustrating things is when someone sends you a document to sign and you want to quickly sign and return. In the old days (last week?), you would fire up your Mac, print out that document, sign it and then fight with your scanner to get it back to digital form and email it back.

    With your iPad and your Apple Pencil is is easier. Here’s the steps:

    • Launch Notes app on your iPad
    • Hit the + sign on the bottom
    • Choose scan a document
    • Line up the document and take a picture
    • Use the Apple Pencil to sign it
    • Use the Share button to send it

    Of course, if you are a Preview pro, you already have your autograph digitized and can just e-sign your doc but this is a great way to sign that doc that is laying on your desk.

    2) Copy and Paste using Universal Clipboard

    Moving documents or pictures between your iPad and your iPhone has never been easier. In the past, you might have emailed them to yourself but with Universal Clipboard you can let your fingers do the copying!

    Let’s say you have a picture on your iPhone that you want on your iPad. Follow these steps:

    • Make sure you are signed into the same iCloud account and wi-fi Network and that Bluetooth is on on both devices
    • Do a long tap (just hold your finger down) on the picture and slide up slightly until you see the “copy” button to press

    *On your destination iPad choose where you want that picture and do a long tap in a blank space and you will see the “Paste” button to copy the picture

    3) Faster Editing

    You are typing a text to a friend on your iPad and you notice that you made some presidential-like spelling errors. How do you get the cursor back to where you want to correct? You can try to use your finger and press and try to position it correctly or:

    *To quickly move the insertion point, drag two fingers on the keyboard to where you want to edit text.

    4) Use Apple Pay Cash to Send Money

    Khadija and I use this all the time, well mostly in one direction, but you can now send cash easily right from the Messages app. If Khadija were to message me saying “Gramps, I really need $20 for this text book” I can simply press on the $20 text and up pops my Apple pay window that gives me the choice of “Request” or “Pay” and gives me the ability to adjust the amount.

    You can also click of the Messages app button in the bottom left of the message and then on Apple Pay and do it from there.

    While the funds will instantly be in the other person’s Apple Pay Cash account, getting that cash into a crisp new Andrew Jackson is a bit trickier but usually, the recipient can just pass the Apple Cash along.

    5) Ask Siri to Translate!

    This works great on your iPhone, too. Let’s say you are in Peru and need a couple tickets for the train but do not speak Spanish. You could just use sign language. Grace and I have done that many times in our travels, but if you have your iPhone or iPad you can use Siri to translate for you. Just ask her.

    Siri can translate English into Mandarin, French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Siri speaks the phrase aloud to help with the pronunciation, too.

    6) Quickly scan QR codes

    I will be honest, I seldom bother with QR codes but sometimes you want to see what’s hidden behind that code.

    With the camera in either Photo or Square mode, point the camera at a Quick Response Code. Tap the notification to perform the action. On some notifications, you can swipe down for more actions.

    7) Get Rid of Website Distractions

    Reader in Safari makes articles easier to read. When you see the Reader button in the search field, tap it to see just the text and photos — without ads.

  • Dear Friends,

    I went out for my annual golf match with three very special friends yesterday; Larz Barber from Merrill Lynch is one of my oldest friends that has worked with me in some way in many of my business ventures and was my first hired employee way back in the windmill company days. Dave Sellers is a famous and brilliant architect and also my mentor and friend. He designed my house and was my professor at college and partner in the windmill days. Melinda Moulton is an amazing lady who basically designed and developed the Burlington waterfront. I know her because she is a very focused and active supporter of many awesome organizations such as Planned Parenthood of NNE. We all are not that good but Dave and I have consistently beaten Melinda and Larz in our matches, and Dave now claims that just because he is over 80 years old that he gets to use the senior tees so this year we should be able to maintain our streak. I do know that we will be laughing our asses around the course.

    We have instituted an appointment system for service in our S. Burlington store. There has been an enormous volume of repairs as students return to Burlington to start the school year. Rather than have customers wait in a long line, we now have a queue system where you can make a specific appointment to check in your machine so that we now are able to stick to a 1-3 day turn-around time.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features the Apple Configure-to-Order 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. This model has the 3.5GHz i7 processor, 16GB of ram and a 512GB SSD drive. Here’s an opportunity to get a 13-inch MacBook Pro fully configured with 16GB ram and 512GB storage in silver for a great bundle price. We have only 4 available. We are bundling it with AppleCare + and a set of Apple AirPods, too! This discontinued bundle would normally cost $2928 but first come, but you can snag this deal for $2529.96!

  • Grace is having hand surgery to repair lingering damage from her motorcycle accident in March. She is worried that I won’t be able to be a good nurse. I asked her what she was worried about and assured her she would not starve and would have some of Don’s special gourmet meals. It turns out one of her biggest fears was that I would not fold the laundry to meet her standards. I am a good spouse, I think, but she may just have to live with my folding job.

    We had a great time at the concert in Maine, even though we got caught in the rain. I did manage to get a selfie with a rainbow sprouting from Grace’s head. The music was great, too. We did feel a little like the two old guys that escaped from the retirement home to attend the heavy metal festival in Europe, but, hey, you’re as young as you feel.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes! You are not our product but you are our lifeblood, and we appreciate each and every customer as we strive to make you customers for life.

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    Don & Emily