Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • December Edifier Special: Now Available Online!

    Over the past few months, we’ve featured Edifier’s line of speakers both in this newsletter and our monthly retail newsletter “*Best in Showroom*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/bestinshow as well as on our blog “*Barkings!*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/ Clearly we’re big fans–we even use the Prisma every day in our Waitsfield, VT retail store.

    Edifier speakers are currently available for $10 off the regular price in our three retail locations, and we’re excited to announce that “*the entire Edifier line*”:http://www.smalldog.com/mfg/?MfrName=Edifier is available online for $10 off through the end of the month online as well. You’ll see the discounted price when you add items to the shopping cart.

    Edifier makes a variety of speaker systems for use with desktop or laptop computers, and they’ve recently introduced a retro-styled alarm clock compatible with iPod and iPhone.

    Read Taylor’s review of the Edifier Prisma from the September 30th issue of Kibbles & Bytes by “*clicking here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/kibbles/kb743/. Peter Gray’s review of the Prisma from the November issue of Best in Showroom is available “*here*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/bestinshow/bis147/.

  • Small Dog's Holiday Gift Giving Guide

    __Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring gift ideas from Small Dog staff members here and on our “*blog*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/. Stop by often to see what we think would make great gifts this year!__

    “*Chill Pill Mobile Speakers*”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=chill+pill+mobile+speakers: “Great speakers for anyone who has music on their cell phone or iPad. Works with any device that has an industry standard 1/8 inch audio jack.” –Rob Amon

    “*Apple Magic Trackpad*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/76695/apple-magic-trackpad/at_kb: “I don’t understand how I don’t own this yet!” –Rebecca Kraemer

    “*Kogeto DOT 360 Degree Video Recorder for iPhone 4/4S*”:http://www.smalldog.com/search/?find=kogeto: “The DOT from Kogeto is an amazing little device. It snaps right onto the back of your iPhone 4/4S and allows you to shoot full 360° panoramic interactive video. This incredible tool is good for anyone who wants to have full panoramic technology from their iPhone. The Looker app is the software that runs the camera and processes the video. This is available for free in the App Store.” –Taylor Amon

    “*Audioengine A5+ Speaker System*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/79290/at_kb: “Awesome sound, great looks.” –Hapy Mayer

    “*Twelve South PlugBug*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/79574/twelve-south-plugbug-10w-usb-ipad-iphone-charger-w-macbook-charger-attachment/at_kb: “Perfect for the Apple fanatic who has it all. Now they’ll be carrying one fewer charger. Simply attach the PlugBug to a MagSafe adapter and voila, they can now charge their MacBook Pro/Air alongside their iPhone/iPad/iPod off a single MagSafe adapter.” –Will Frascella

    “*LoJack for Laptops*”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77280/at_kb: “This is a great idea to give as a gift to anyone who has a laptop. Or if you are getting someone a laptop as a gift, this is a great companion product for it. If you happen to have the bad luck of having your laptop stolen, you really up your chances for having it returned when you use LoJack for laptops. You can figure out where your laptop is being used and even receive pictures via email of whoever is using the machine. It is a great price for the service that they offer.” –Jim Overman

  • Mouthing Off On Siri

    Everyone seems to have an opinion on Siri these days, from fanboys and girls to those who find the whole concept a little too sci-fi. (Kudos to you if you’re reading this thinking, “Siri who?”)

    Among those who use Siri on their iPhone 4Ss, there has been no shortage of Siri “experiments,” wherein the user tries to see how much she/he (or as Apple often says, “it”) really understands. Written commentary and YouTube videos range from the informative and productive to the smarmy and ridiculous.

    Last week, Adam Engst over at TidBits wrote a great response to the phenomenon that’s taken on a life of its own (kind of fitting, huh?). “*Check it out here.*”:http://tidbits.com/article/12653

  • !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2709.gif!:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple_Closeouts/

    Quantities are limited on Special Treats, so offers are only valid while supplies last.

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is another couple of weeks until the solstice and the days start getting longer again. Up here in the North Country, the days are pretty short right now. The mild weather continued this week so I was able to ride in December for the first time, but it snowed a bit last night and the temperatures are starting to drop again.

    This year’s hottest gift by far is the iPad, and we have been restocking daily to make sure we have plenty for the holidays. For many people, the iPad 2 is all the computing power that they need, and the rich content available in Apple’s App Store and iTunes Store makes the iPad almost indispensable these days. I’d say the iPhone and the iPod touch, both using Apple’s iOS 5, are next in line all and then come the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. We have some great deals coming on the previous version of the 11-inch MacBook Air, so stay tuned for those very soon.

    I am very proud to announce that within a few weeks all of the electricity for our S. Burlington store and a percentage of our electrical usage at our Waitsfield headquarters will be powered by the sun. Well, I guess just about any power source is ultimately solar in nature, but in this case we will be installing a series of solar trackers manufactured by our friends over at “*All Earth Renewables*”:http://www.allearthrenewables.com/. Ten of these arrays will be installed in the field next to our warehouse, converting sunlight directly into electricity. I was very active in the renewable energy field for many years in the ’70s and ’80s, and it is particularly pleasing to me that we can now install photovoltaics, generate power and, utilizing group net metering, provide all of the power to our flagship store. We will post pictures as the installation progresses. This is yet another initiative for the Planet portion of our commitment to measuring our success by the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit.

  • !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2710.gif!:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple_Closeouts/

    *Just in time for holiday gift giving, Small Dog has money-saving offers on previous generation MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. Each notebook comes with Apple’s one-year warranty and is guaranteed to stretch your holiday dollars!*

    Save up to $100 on selected MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models while supplies last.

    !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/2711.gif!:http://www.smalldog.com/category/Apple_Closeouts/

  • Clean Install vs. Deleting Users' Accounts

    Multiple customers approach our service counter weekly requesting their Macs be “completely wiped.” Normally, this means they would like their hard drive erased…

  • Repair of the Week: Flashing Folder

    It is every service provider’s goal to fix each computer quickly and completely the first time. Every so often, though, we don’t succeed. It is the rare intermittent issues that are almost impossible to accurately predict, diagnose and repair. We have the option to send laptops to Apple’s repair facilities at our discretion, and we do utilize the mail-in facilities when a diagnosis is not entirely clear. Because these facilities service all of the United States and Canada, it makes sense for them to warehouse most every service part available, making efficient and effective diagnosis much easier. Small Dog does keep many hundreds of diagnostic parts in stock, but it’s just not possible for us to keep a million-dollar service part inventory!

    With this in mind, this week’s repair is a MacBook that presented with the all-too-familiar flashing question mark when it was powered on. This generally means hard drive failure, file system corruption or an operating system in disarray. However, this case didn’t follow normal patterns: the sick MacBook’s hard drive booted another MacBook just fine. The decision was made to send this machine to Apple for repair. All mail-in repairs are sent in via FedEx’s early morning overnight service and are almost always repaired the same day they’re received, and this was no exception. The MacBook came back with its hard drive and, inexplicably, its SuperDrive replaced. It did boot right up when we tested it, so the customer was contacted and the machine picked up shortly after.

    Two days later, the computer came back with the same flashing question mark problem as before. Out it went again, and it came back with the hard drive, optical drive, logic board and hard drive interconnect cable replaced. It turned out that the serial-ATA bus on the main logic board was to blame for the failure, and, despite repeated trips to Apple, the MacBook is in perfect working order once again.

  • Reader Feedback: Cold Weather Care

    Matt,

    Great article on cold weather care; this might help your readers avoid repairs.

    I do photography for a living, and the way I avoid condensation problems in cold weather with my cameras should apply to computers as well. When I’m shooting in the cold, even in below-zero temps, I use clear plastic garbage bags or those grocery plastic bags. I keep the bags in my van or on the porch. When going in for the day, I insert the camera, laptop, video cam, etc. into the bag, wrap it up and take it inside. The condensation forms on the outside of the bag and not on the equipment. It will take a while for everything to warm up but no water problems. If I’m going in for lunch or whatever, then I leave the equipment outside. I’ve been doing this for years, even with $6,000 electronic flash power supplies that have huge capacitors inside, with no problems. Why do I use clear bags? I don’t want someone to think it’s garbage and pitch them. Hope this helps someone.

    Gary