Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Live near Vermont or New Hampshire? Have some tech stuff to recycle? We’re holding FREE eWaste Events in both Vermont and New Hampshire this year, so come on down!

*Our Vermont event is scheduled for Saturday, May 14th at National Life Insurance Headquarters in Montpelier, VT.*
“*View website here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewastevt

*Our 2nd annual New Hampshire event will be held on Saturday, May 21st at the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH.*
“*View website here.*”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewastenh

Both events are completely free and are “all-you-can-ewaste!” Each event will take place between 9:00AM and 2:00PM. (While the vast majority of electronics are recyclable and will be accepted, there are a few exceptions–namely kitchen appliances and air conditioners.)

Make sure we can take it–see our list of accepted materials on either page. Read more about our “ewaste collection programs here!”:http://www.smalldog.com/ewaste

This Wednesday, Apple announced that the long awaited, and highly fabled white iPhone 4 would finally be available for sale beginning Thursday. Debuting nearly a year after iPhone 4’s initial announcement and release, many Apple fans had assumed the colorless phone would never live to see production. Plagued with manufacturing problems from the onset, initial pre-orders for the white iPhone were cancelled and the product was ultimately removed from Apple’s online store. When the company removed all remaining promotional photos including the white phone from its iPhone 4 page, many decided the phone had permanently disappeared.

Though rumor mills occasionally churned–claiming knowledge of the mythical phone’s existence, no concrete evidence was ever discovered. Apple maintained the vague release date of Spring 2011, but were otherwise silent. After the trail went cold earlier this year, many blogs–including ours–ceased coverage on the enigmatic phone. This past week, however, rumors once again began to surface after several European Apple fans began to post photos of seemingly factory sealed white iPhone 4. Duped on the phone’s release date several times before, we were hesitant to predict the phone’s imminent launch until Apple issued an official statement Wednesday morning.

Currently, white iPhone 4 models are available from Apple directly, AT&T and Verizon wireless stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers–including us! Phil Schiller–Apple’s senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing–offered the following on the phone’s approaching release:

bq. “The white iPhone 4 has finally arrived and it’s beautiful. We appreciate everyone who has waited patiently while we’ve worked to get every detail right.”

When questioned about the device’s numerous delays in a separate interview, Schiller admitted:

bq. “It was challenging. It’s not as simple as making something white. There’s a lot more that goes into both the material science of it–how it holds up over time… but also in how it all works with the sensors.”

The experience with the white iPhone 4 likely taught Apple a few important lessons. Though the company was eventually able to perfect the device’s manufacturing process, the phone has become available ten months after originally announced. For many iPhone users, this was too long to wait. Though the white iPhone 4 will undoubtably see decent adoption rates, its successes would have likely been much higher had Apple managed a simultaneous release.

Had you been holding out for a white iPhone 4? Planning on buying now that they’re available? Comment on the “*blog*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/white-iphone-4-launching-tomorrow/ and let us know.

Recently, Apple product releases such as iPad 2 and the white iPhone 4 have been overshadowed in the news with negative leaning press surrounding the iOS device location tracking issue. For those unfamiliar with the controversy that began last week, here’s a synopsis: Essentially a small file containing nearly a year’s worth of location data was discovered within the backup files of iOS devices such as the iPhone and 3G-equipped iPad.

This data, when plotted, yields incredibly accurate results showing the device’s travels. This means if you keep your iPhone on your person, your movements have effectively been tracked for up to a year. Purportedly an invasion of personal information, privacy concerns were immediately raised. Misunderstanding and speculation of Apple’s involvement and usage of collected data initially gave way to moderate panic in some users. In the days following the discovery, Apple was largely silent on the issue. Save for a characteristically blunt email exchange between Steve Jobs and a concerned user, the company refrained from issuing an official statement on the findings.

Wednesday, however, Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall agreed to a telephone interview conducted by All Things Digital. During the interview, Jobs explained the company’s initial silence, claiming it was due to Apple throughly researching the issue to best deliver the facts to its customers. Jobs explained:

bq. “We’re an engineering-driven company, When people accuse us of things, the first thing we want to do is find out the truth. That took a certain amount of time to track all of these things down. And the accusations were coming day-by-day. By the time we had figured this all out, it took a few days. Then writing it up and trying to make it intelligible when this is a very high-tech topic took a few days. And here we are less than a week later.”

The interview continued with further contributions from Jobs, Schiller and Forstall on how Apple deals with privacy–specifically location-based apps, whether or not Apple plans to testify before Congress on the issue, what Apple uses the acquired information for, and how the company’s privacy and security policies differ from its competitors. An edited transcript of the interview can be found “*here.*”:http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/20110427/qa-jobs-and-apple-execs-on-tracking-down-the-facts-about-iphones-and-location/

Sensing the growing controversy surrounding the issue, Apple published an official Q&A style “*document*”:http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html to its PR library detailing the facts of the situation. Although Apple claims the information is merely for maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around a user’s current location, and that any collected data is anonymous ad encrypted, it will be formally addressing the issue with a future software update.

Scheduled for release in the next few weeks, Apple plans to issue a free iOS update which will perform the following:

* Reduce the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone.
* Cease backing up this cache when synced with a computer.
* Delete the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.

While this news doesn’t exactly have people fitting their tin foil hats and smashing their iPhones, it is always a bit disconcerting to know big brother Steve is watching. As with the iPhone 4 antenna controversy last summer, we feel that by taking its time and formulating an accurate and concise response, Apple has handled this issue to the best of its ability. What are your thoughts on the issue? Is privacy something that should be traded in exchange for the technology we enjoy–and in many cases rely on? Feel free to share your thoughts on the “*blog.*”:http://blog.smalldog.com/article/jobs-apple-executives-speak-on-location-tracking-issues/

We’ve all been there. You’re in the middle of watching the latest “*Swinging Corgi*”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXEFMYfZQnc video on YouTube, when the boss comes around asking about TPS reports and missing cover sheets. In a situation such as this, you may only have a second to react before you find yourself explaining how the video was actually “important research.”

Luckily, OS X has a series of built-in shortcuts to help you out. Many Mac users are familiar with the *Command-W* (close active window) shortcut, but choosing it in this case would close the incriminating window entirely–causing you to miss out on precious seconds of cuteness.

The vast majority of Apple software included with OS X also supports *Command-H* (hide). This command instantly hides the active window while leaving the application running in the background. Alternatively, users can press *Option-Command-H* to hide all applications besides the one currently active. This can prove useful if you’ve managed to switch to something important looking like a spreadsheet and need to hide the windows behind it with one command.

Finally, applications can also be hidden using the mouse–though it can be a bit slower. Simply move the pointer over the application in the dock that you’d like to hide and click it with Option held down. This command has an identical effect to Command-H and is typically only useful if your hand is already on the mouse. Happy hiding!

_Dear Friends,_

We have finally gotten some warmer weather here in the Green Mountains, but my road is still stuck in Vermont’s 5th season–mud season. It has been the worst and longest mud season in my memory. Nevertheless, the trees have buds, the grass is growing and the lingering piles of snow in my yard are rapidly melting and revealing some serious yard work that I need to do.

Apple has now officially surpassed Microsoft in almost all financial reporting categories as their quarterly profit exceeded Microsoft’s for the first time since 1995. Apple’s $5.99 Billion in profit topped Microsoft’s $5.23 Billion for the same period. Apple is now clearly the most valuable technology company on the planet.  

The elusive White iPhone 4 is now shipping and we should have stock at our retail stores as we speak. We are an AT&T authorized retailer and offer the iPhone (in both black and white) at all of our retail locations.

I want to give a shout out in Kibbles & Bytes to our very first employee, Art Hendrickson, who has recently passed his 15-year anniversary with Small Dog Electronics. Artie has filled many roles here at Small Dog, and is one of the few employees who can probably do just about any job here. I remember well the long debates that Hapy and I had when we first considered hiring Art.  We were really concerned that we would not have enough work to fill his time. Silly us–Art hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped running since. We know it would take at least a couple of people to replace his productivity. Attaboy Artie! We gave him a watch when he hit 10 years at Small Dog, but this time it will be something orange (his favorite color)!