Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • RAM vs. HD

    When it comes time to upgrade the RAM in your machine, it’s often a cause of confusion–the question we usually hear is “will this wipe all my data?” As many of you tech gurus know, the short answer is no, it will not.

    The long answer is no, because your data is not stored in RAM. The operating system, applications, your documents, pictures, and movies are all stored on the hard disk. The difference is important: a hard disk is (historically) a series of rotating platters that store data magnetically, and accesses this data through a read/write head similar to a record player. RAM (Random Access Memory) is used for temporary storage while your computer is running.

    Any time you launch an application, it is copied to RAM for faster access. When you load a document, it is copied to RAM as well. This is why you have to be sure to save your work from time to time–if something were to happen like a power failure, you would lose everything in RAM since RAM is cleared every time you shut down your system. (Note that RAM is not erased when your system goes into “sleep mode.”)

    The main purpose of RAM is to run applications. The more RAM you have, the more applications you can run at once. If you start to run low on RAM, then the operating system will start to swap out data to a space on the hard disk. This space is called a cache; Windows used to call it a swap drive. For example, if you have four applications running and try to launch a fifth, OS X will take whichever application you’re using the least often and put its data into the cache on the hard drive to make room for the new application.

    This is why occasionally you will switch to an application and it takes a few seconds to bring it up–the OS is copying data from RAM to the cache to make room for the application you selected, then it copies the data from the cache back to RAM. Adding more RAM means you can have more applications running so this swapping doesn’t happen as often. Most of the time this swapping is not too noticeable, but when you are dealing with large data files then it can show the infamous spinning beach ball.

    The hard disk, on the other hand, is where all your applications and data live. If you were to upgrade to a larger hard disk, then yes, your data would be gone unless you transferred it over. Changing out the RAM has no effect on the contents of the hard disk.

    I used the word “historically” earlier because up until the past few years, a hard disk was just that–a solid disk. In the last few years, a new technology has hit the market, called a Solid State Drive (SSD.) There is no spinning disk involved; instead it uses flash memory that is similar to RAM but does not lose its data when the system is powered down.

    It works similarly to a USB thumb drive–you can copy data to and from it, and it is retained when the drive is unplugged. SSDs are faster than hard disks, but don’t quite match up in terms of price and capacity. As an example, a 320GB hard disk for a notebook computer goes for about $110. A comparable SSD costs about $460 for a 240GB drive. A 1TB hard disk is about $140, whereas a 1TB SSD would set you back about $3700. Might wipe out your bank account, but your data is safe!

  • Holy cow! How did it get to be May already? The problem with living in New England is that summer can be very short. This year we have been blessed with a warm spring so that helps.

    The coming of summer means one thing for Apple geeks–WWDC! Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is June 13-15th this year in San Francisco. Since the demise of the MACworld EXPO, the WWDC is one of the few times the Apple faithful gather together. It’s usually a time when the new announcements or previews of future iOS and Mac OS are revealed.

    Some high points of the WWDC were:

    2002 – Xserve announced
    2003 – iSight Camera announced
    2005 – The move to Intel processors from IBM PowerPC was announced
    2008 – first WWDC to sell out, App Store for iOS launched
    2009 – iPhone 3GS released
    2010 – iPhone 4 announced. Tickets sold out in 8 days
    2011 – Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) debuted. Tickets sold out in 12-hours
    2012 – Tickets sold out in 2 hours

    Hopefully, if you wanted to go, you already have your ticket. If you have to scalp them, look for prices well over $2K!

    Dawn
    “*dawn@smalldog.com*”:mailto:dawn@smalldog.com

  • !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2932.gif!:http://www.smalldog.com/wag21260/at_dr

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  • Weekly Apple News Recap | 05.18.12

    iOS 5.1.1 Released Technically, this was last week, but we’ll include it in here anyway, in case you haven’t updated yet! In it:…

  • I have lots of chores this weekend. Grace had a minor crash on her motorcycle (any that you walk away from…) and broke her collarbone, so I am serving as her right arm as she recovers. That means some gardening and other chores–it is amazing how much Grace does!

    Nevertheless, I hope to get out on my bike for at least a little ride this weekend as it looks like a warm and sunny weekend.

    Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
    _Don, Kali, Dawn & Mike_

  • Reader Solution: Safari Black Screen

    I love it when readers write to ask a question and I can actually find an answer! A reader asked if I had heard of anyone having trouble when trying to view PDFs in Safari or Firefox.

    I tried launching the URL for a PDF that he had trouble with first in Google Chrome, and the PDF loaded fine. Then I went to the URL in Safari and though the PDF opened, for a second or two, the screen was black.

    With this info, I then searched for “Safari black screen PDF plugin” and with the power of the Internet, I found the solution. It turns out that there was an issue with Adobe Acrobat and the plugins that Safari had installed:

    In Safari 4.0.4, the screen turns black when you try to view PDFs…

    Solution:

    # Make sure that in your Adobe Acrobat or whatever Adobe you are using under *Adobe > Preferences > Internet “Display PDF in browser using:…”* is NOT active
    # Quit Safari
    # Open Finder: *Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins* and delete any plugins related to PDF (at least two of them: AdobePDFViewer.plugin and PDF BrowserPlugin.plugin)
    # Open Safari and ENJOY

    It seems that this is quite a common problem, so if you have experienced the same, this will fix it!

  • MobileMe > iCloud and Me

    I’ll have my account of the MobileMe to iCloud transition in a second, but I first wanted to mention an amendment to last week’s iCloud article. I included only a partial explanation of what happens to .me/.mac email addresses if you don’t switch, and I realized after a few of you pointed it out that it definitely read incorrectly!

    To clarify for current MobileMe email users: *Your .me/.mac email address WILL still exist, even if you don’t switch to Lion and upgrade to iCloud.*

    *Apple states:*

    bq. *”You can choose to keep using your mail after MobileMe ends, even on devices that don’t meet the iCloud system requirements. Just go to “*me.com/move*”:http://me.com/move and select the option to keep using your email after MobileMe ends. Once you have completed this short process, your mail will continue to work on devices that don’t meet the iCloud requirements after MobileMe ends on June 30th, 2012.”*

    Hope that helps all of you who have asked email-related questions, and I apologize for the confusion! Now, onward…

    About two weeks ago, I made the transition from MobileMe to iCloud. I had waited a while since the switch was announced, primarily because of my two machines (work and home), only one was running OS 10.7, Lion. The one running Snow Leopard was my work machine, and definitely the one I spend most of my time using.

    Like many of you, I was concerned about my iDisk, iWeb files and making sure that my contacts were all migrated correctly. However, I wanted to make sure that I started the switch in plenty of time before June 30th, so if anything went wrong or I had questions, I’d have enough time to address them (the same can’t be said for many other things in life, alas…).

    *Before I started, I made sure that a) both of my computers were running at least 10.7.2, and b) that I had iOS 5 on my iPhone.* Then, it was “*Go Time:*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2917.png I went to “*Mobileme.com/move*”:http://mobileme.com/move to start ‘er up.

    I found that the migration wizard was very straightforward–it was basically a series of web pages that look like “*this.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2918.png Note that there are services that Apple is waiting until the 30th to eliminate–Gallery, iDisk and iWeb–but also that there are services that __immediately__ cease to sync, such as Dashboard widgets, Keychains, Mail settings and rules.

    One of the most helpful instructions I found is the reminder to back up your contacts, calendars and bookmarks before moving. To do this, go to each app and select File > Export to save the file. (Hopefully, you won’t need it, but it’s great to have!)

    Once you’ve continued through the screens to set up your iCloud account, you’ll see “*this page.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2919.png At this point, you’re done with the computer portion of the setup, and each device that is running iOS 5 will have a handy little popup on it indicating that once clicked, the iCloud transition will be complete.

    I had no issues with my upgrade, but I’m still plotting what to do with my website created with (and hosted by) iWeb services. I’ll keep you posted and continue to address your specific questions.

    Again, here’s a helpful link to the MobileMe/iCloud FAQ:
    “*Apple.com/mobileme/transition.html*”:http://www.apple.com/mobileme/transition.html

  • Weekly Apple News Recap | 05.18.12

    *iOS 5.1.1 Released*

    Technically, this was last week, but we’ll include it in here anyway, in case you haven’t updated yet! In it: Bug and reliability fixes for AirPlay, Safari and more.

    “*Read more here.*”:http://www.tuaw.com/2012/05/07/ios-5-1-1-update-now-available-in-itunes-and-ota/

    *OS 10.7.4 Update*

    The latest update to Lion includes a patch for a serious FileVault bug and Safari 5.1.7, which contains stability improvements.

    “*Read more here.*”:http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/09/apple-drops-os-x-10-7-4/

    *Security Updates for Mac OS 10.5 Leopard*

    For those of you still running Leopard, take note of the security updates released this week from Apple.

    “*Read more here.*”:http://tidbits.com/article/13005

  • New Kid on the Block

    Greetings loyal Kibbles & Bytes readers! My name is Michael Scott Duplessis and I am the newest member of the marketing team at Small Dog. I have worked here since September of 2010, formerly in the Phone and Web department. If any of you have called our sales line (1-800-511-MACS) in the last year and a half there is a good chance that we have spoken.

    My history with Apple computers goes back to the 3rd grade when I started using an Apple IIe computer in the classroom. My favorite program was “*Logo.*”:http://el.media.mit.edu/logo-foundation/logo/programming.html I loved entering simple commands to create complex patterns with the turtle. Little did I know that, according to Logo creator Seymour Papert, I was increasing my body-syntonic reasoning skills the whole time. These days I use these skills to get three stars on Angry Birds.

    My other current interests include science fiction and science fact. I think that it is because of this that I was recently described by head marketeer Dawn as “the nerdiest member of the marketing team.” That is quite an accomplishment at a computer company, so I am very proud to have earned this honor. I am also a musician (guitar, bass, keys, and accordion) and use my “*13 inch MacBook Pro*”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple/MacBook_Pro/13in/ to record using “*Logic Pro.*”: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/logic-pro/id459578486?mt=12%26uo%3D6%26partnerId%3D30

    I look forward to writing more articles for Kibbles & Bytes. In the meantime, you can check out the articles I have written during my time at SDE:

    * “*Fine Art and the iPad*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/fine-art-and-the-ipad/
    * “*The Future Is Now*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/the-future-is-now/
    * “*Felis Catus and the iPad*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/felis-catus-and-the-ipad/
    * “*Space: The Final Frontier*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/space-the-final-frontier/

  • _Dear Friends,_

    This week, I did a presentation to one of Vermont’s outstanding companies, “*SymQuest,*”:http://www.symquest.com/ at the company’s annual meeting of their nearly two hundred employees. SymQuest’s president, Larry Sudbay, asked me to do it over lunch one day, and I admit that my first thought was, “how do I get out of this?” However, SymQuest is a great company and also one of the Deane C. Davis Award winners, so I agreed.

    I knew that I needed to make the presentation about something that I was passionate about, so my thoughts immediately went to socially responsible business, motorcycles and dogs; soon, though, I gravitated toward science fiction and settled on the theme, __Science Fiction, Science Reality.__

    It was fun putting together the presentation, and Dawn was a great help in finding clips from TV and movies to include. I showed how concepts dreamed up in sci-fi had found their way into reality. It also gave me the opportunity to show a bunch of Apple commercials to this PC-oriented crowd. (When I entered the auditorium, a woman came up to me and said, “I’m the only Apple user in the room…”)

    I started my talk with a survey: How many people had iPods? About 70% raised their hands. I asked about iPhones and iPads with nearly the same results, and even when I asked about Mac, the PC crowd appeared to have about 35% closet Mac users. That got the talk off to a good start–many years ago, as I was stressing about giving a public speech, my PR consultant, Peg Devlin, called me over. As I leaned over to talk to her, she scolded me for being nervous and just said “get up there, relax and have some fun.” Simple advice, but I think about it every time I give a talk.

    Larry and SymQuest made a $1,000 donation in my name as an honorarium and we gave that to “*ReBuild Waterbury,*”:http://rebuildwaterbury.org/ a non-profit aimed to help a nearby town hit very hard during Hurricane Irene. It was very nice of them to do that!

    I rode my motorcycle out to Minneapolis for the ASMC conference with Jason Lewantowicz, our Service Manager. We took 4 days to get out there and 3 to get back, traveling through Canada and taking the high speed ferry over Lake Michigan on the way out. The Apple Specialist Market Cooperative meeting was one of the best ever with great attendance, lots of vendors and good presentations.

    I was out in the hall chatting with some Apple folks when one of my friends came running out of the meeting and said “Don, get in here it is all about you!” So, I came in and on a 40-foot screen was a picture of my smiling mug with Hammerhead, my Bulldog. Gair Maxwell was giving a presentation called “The Branding Highway” and was using me and Small Dog Electronics as an example of how to do it right. He showed some of our commercials and it was great recognition.

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    The MacBook features an advanced NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card, a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and a Mack Extended Warranty that covers manufacturer’s defects for a full three years after the initial 90 days of ownership.

  • TT SPECIAL: Original iPads + Free Case = Deal

    Original iPads are still in stock, and we’ve paired the 64GB iPad with a free Contour case this week! Buy alone or with the Mack 3-Year Extended Warranty for just $40 more–you’ll save a bundle and protect your investment.