Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Susan Komen, Planned Parenthood and Birth Control

    *Start Soapbox*

    There appears to be a coordinated attack underway on women’s reproductive rights. Planned Parenthood, the women’s health organization, is a convenient target and it was apparent this week as Susan G. Komen for the Cure shot itself in the foot by cutting off their funding for breast cancer screening. Then, the rule that all health insurance providers must also cover contraception became a political football.

    As you know, Planned Parenthood is one of the non-profit organizations that we support in our charitable giving program. This is due to our firm commitment to women’s health and women’s rights. Planned Parenthood is the premier organization for women’s health in our country and in many cases, is the only medical provider that many women use on a regular basis. While Planned Parenthood is the focal point for those that would restrict a woman’s right to choose, the organization is so much more and the support they received as the Susan Komen blunder hit the news is a great indication of the organization’s value.

    With over 95% of all women utilizing birth control at some point in their lives, I would think that the debate over contraception was solved decades ago. It was safe and effective birth control that liberated women from the burden of unwanted pregnancy and worse, the burden of unwanted children. If you get your health insurance from your employer and that employer happens to have an objection to contraception, that does not mean that contraception should not be available in your health insurance plan. It always remains your decision whether to utilize birth control or not.

    The most remarkable thing about this whole news cycle was the demonstration, again, of the amazing power of social media in influencing public policy. Facebook and Twitter were abuzz with information, even as the organization imploded with the announcement that a handful of top officials and former boards members would resign.

    We are truly in an era of social media as an influencer. I think that is a great thing, but also something we need to be vigilant in protecting. It was not social media alone that influenced and ultimately changed events; it was the USE of social media by large numbers of people that were moved to take action. Petitions were signed, phone calls were made, donations flowed in and politicians heard from their constituents and change came at lightning speed.

    *End Soapbox*

    Want to weigh in? “*Leave your comment here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/susan-komen-planned-parenthood-and-birth-control/

  • Steve Jobs' FBI Background Check Released

    What could possibly prompt the FBI to run a background check on Steve Jobs? Perhaps any number of things in the notoriously “think different” icon’s past (“*lack of license plate notwithstanding*”:http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/239563/20111028/steve-jobs-drove-license-plate-got-arrested.htm), but specifically, it was his potential appointment to the first President Bush’s President’s Export Council.

    Jobs ended up being appointed to the council, which advises on international trade, in 1991. The FBI has just made his background check available recently, and it’s interesting to get a further glimpse into the life of the late Mr. Jobs.

    “*Check out the article in full, with excerpts from the FBI file and video here.*”:http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/02/09/what-the-fbi-had-on-steve-jobs/

    __via__ “__MacDailyNews__”:http://macdailynews.com/2012/02/09/steve-jobs-fbi-file-released/

  • New Feature + Feedback on Apple's Updates

    There’s a lot of news out there, and try as we might, there are stories and articles that we don’t get around to covering. We’re pretty discerning about the news we choose to post, though, and pride ourselves on unique content and stories that we know will be of interest to our readers.

    So, after last week’s debut, we’ve decided to include a new feature “*on our blog*”:http://blog.smalldog.com and in Kibbles & Bytes: a recap of all of the Apple and tech news found ’round the web. This week, however, we’ll feature some feedback and will get back to the pressing news in next week’s issue (after all, we’ve got Valentine’s Day and looooove on the brain).

    Reader Steve A. wrote to us regarding the two Apple updates featured in the article, mentioning that there were major issues for some users that we should have addressed. He writes,

    bq. “You mention two updates coming from Apple: AirPort Utility 6.0 and Mac OS 10.7.3. The one you don’t mention is the one that’s causing all sorts of folks big problems, including me. That one is the Security Update 2012-001 for Mac OS 10.6.8, which is actually part of the Lion update. This separate Snow Leopard update is causing Rosetta apps to crash upon opening, saving, or printing files. I have confirmed this myself on a Mac mini I have yet to upgrade to Lion, simply because the users of that machine still run PowerPC-era applications to get their work done. Having applied the update before the warnings started emerging, I must now admit that I jumped the gun on this one for none of the users of that machine can get their work done.”

    He makes a great point! Hopefully, many of you didn’t experience the same, but if you’d like to read more about said issues, check out Tuesday’s edition of “*Tech Tails,*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt805 where Glenn goes further in-depth.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    We are used to having a lot of snow up here in the north country, but this year we have just not had enough to even cover the ground. This is one of the most snow-less winters that I have seen. I just hope that it doesn’t all come at once in the spring. I am heading off for a break in a warm, sunny place so it would be a great time for winter to appear back here in the Green Mountains.

    An interesting thing that was revealed in the Apple financial results from a couple weeks ago was the continued rapid growth of the Mac market. While we see a lot of press and advertising coverage on the iPhone and iPad, the days of “I am a Mac, I am a PC” ads seems to be over. Nevertheless, Apple’s market share and unit sales growth is both consistent and spectacular. In fact, Apple is the only computer manufacturer that is growing market share. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery and the appearance of the “Ultra” notebooks from PC manufacturers is again a testament to just how far Apple is in the vanguard.

    We have some fantastic deals right now on the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air. These are brand new Macs with Apple’s one-year warranty; however, they are the discontinued models from last year. You can save hundreds and still have the lightest, thinnest and most fun laptop on the market.

  • Leather Folios for iPad 2 are Half Price Now!

    Bet you’re still selling iPad 2s, right? Everyone who gets one needs some protection for it, right?

    Your customers will love these Leather Folios because they protect the iPad 2 in a distinguished-looking cover. The genuine leather exterior, combined with a soft, scratch-resistant interior sets this Folio apart from all the others.

    *We are now offering our Leather Folios at half price ($16.50 each)!* (MSRP $59.99)

    “*View details here.*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_leatherfolio.pdf

    And, our *Buy 9, Get 1 Free* promotion is still running, and applies to these Folios as well!

    “*Don’t forget to shop our entire Hammerhead line here!*”:http://vendor.hammerheadcase.com/pricelists/SS_pricelist-vend_01.10.12.pdf

  • Puppy Bowl VIII Cuteness Hangover

    Apologies for being in a bit of a Super Bowl haze since Sunday—we’ve had an overload of fun things going on! Of course,…

  • TT SPECIALS | 2/7/12 – 2/14/12

    *Save $20 on Macs + AppleCare*
    Now, all Mac and AppleCare purchases on the same order are $20 off when you add to the cart together! Just find the Mac you want and click “Add to Cart with AppleCare.” The items will be added to the cart and savings will automatically be calculated!

    “*Shop Macs here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/macs

    *Save $10 on all Hammerhead Hard Shells*
    Pick your color–you’ll save $10 with the code *HH10off* in the cart. Now $29.99!

    “*Shop Hard Shells here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=hard+shell+case+for+ipad+2&refinecat=iPad_Accessories|Cases_and_Sleeves|By_Style|Hard_Case

  • From the Art-chives: What Does Your History Contain?

    __Originally featured in “*Tech Tails #724.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/techtails/tt724/

    Every internet browser I have seen or used includes a feature known generally as “history,” which is essentially a map of where you have been surfing (over the last session, few days or even months or longer if your settings allow it).

    This history list is something you can go back to and search if necessary–usually by day, week, etc. Perhaps to point someone to reference material you browsed by, or if you have to get back to that specific online auction listing you wanted to check on. Browser history is often a feature we take for granted or seldom use, but can be a needed tool to get back to where you were should the occasion arise.

    There are always limitations to what the history feature can reveal; however, I came across just such a case last week while researching some genealogy info online with an associate of mine. We had finished our previous session the week before, late at night, and simply closed the lid on the sweet MacBook Pro 17-inch refurb purchased specifically for this project.

    Upon reopening the computer the following session, and after checking on email etc., we tried to get back to where we had been using the History menu. It seems that the pay site we were subscribed to caches some of the information and documents that can be viewed, and that only certain pages were actually saved in the browser history.

    As frustrating as it was to search the cached history that was saved the day we were researching, we could not get back to the pivotal document about the person we were looking up. We had already closed and reopened new browser windows and could not simply hit the back button at that point.

    Needless to say, we learned a hard lesson about what the browser application can and cannot do for URL history. If the site(s) being visited have their own framework and cache their documents on their servers within your browser window, then your URL doesn’t change and new history isn’t being recorded. The pay site being subscribed to does have a “shoebox” feature which will be utilized much more frequently moving forward, and I expect to never lose out on an opportunity because of wrongly trusting the history feature.

    While we have yet to get back to the document for the 1890’s Haverford College registry listing H. W. B. Wood’s attendance, we know the file exists, and we’ll find it again eventually. In the meantime, we’ll be adding other important documents to the “shoebox” of documents since the browser history will not save the exact content being viewed. Lesson learned!

    __Image source: The History Channel__

  • Snow Leopard Security Patch

    In addition to the 10.7.3 Update for Lion, Apple also released a security update for Snow Leopard. Fixing many of the same issues, it also had an unfortunate side-effect: Rosetta based apps stopped working.

    Almost immediately, the support forums were filled with messages from people who found themselves unable to run programs like Quicken 2007 and AppleWorks 6. According to reports, the problem was sometimes limited to file access operations, but in some cases you couldn’t even start the program or it would crash on exit.

    Despite the various complaints and accusations, this was not an attempt by Apple to get people to stop using Power-PC applications. They would have given plenty of notice if this was their intent (although, as I noted in a previous article, plenty of notice was given about the lack of Rosetta support in Lion, yet a large majority of people still didn’t know about it until it was too late.)

    Within a few days, Apple released update 2012-001 v1.1, which has replaced the original patch. *If you already applied the patch from last Wednesday, go back to Software Update and download the 1.1 version. If you have not yet applied the original, then you only need to download the 1.1 update and you’re all set.* The 1.1 update removes the component that was causing Rosetta applications so much trouble.

  • OS X 10.7.3 Is Here!

    Last Wednesday, Apple released their first Lion update for 2012. In addition to various Security Patches, there were enough fixes and enhancements that Apple bumped up the revision level to 10.7.3.

    Among the various fixes are a few important ones that address issues I have heard on our support lines:

    * Better compatibility with Windows file sharing
    * Some early-model iMacs with ATI graphics would sometimes be slow after waking from sleep
    * Some laptops would occasionally have issues reconnecting to a wireless network after waking from sleep (I see this one a lot)

    There are a lot of security updates that address possible data manipulation due to malicious code as well. This patch includes fixes for QuickTime and X11.

    As part of this update, Safari has been updated to the latest version: 5.1.3.

    There were additional fixes on the Lion Server side, such as new Server Admin tools (which will come down as a separate download if you have them installed) and various components to iCal, Address Book, and the Apache web server.

    The original update made available via Software Updates apparently had some issues, the most notable of which replaced dialog box buttons with “CUI” and a line of question marks. The “*Combo Update*”:http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1484, however, did not have this problem.

    Apple has since removed the download from Software Updates, so if you want to download 10.7.3, you need to go to Apple’s site and grab the “*Combo Update.*”:http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1484 If you already applied 10.7.3 from Software Update and are having problems, you can install the Combo Update over the existing patch.

    __See last week’s other updates, etc.__ “*here.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/weekly-apple-news-recap-1-30-2-3/

  • Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and I am looking forward to spending a nice evening curled up on the couch reading to my cat. I hope all of you got to enjoy some time with your loved ones over the holiday season, and that it will continue into Valentine’s Day.

    It’s too bad that Valentine’s Day comes only once per year. I think we should make a day for every month that can remind us to spend time with our loved ones and to appreciate them for being in our lives.

    Thanks to all of you long time Tech Tails readers for your support. I hope that you know how much all of us here at Small Dog appreciate you!

    -Jason
    “*jason@smalldog.com*”:mailto:jason@smalldog.com