Kibbles & Bytes Blog

This year’s Worldwide Developers Conference was announced this past Monday, and tickets have already sold out. On sale for less than 12 hours, all $1,599 tickets were snapped up from Apple’s site by eager developers and Apple fanatics.

WWDC has become an increasingly popular event in the tech community, especially as Apple’s industry dominance and market share continue to grow. While this marks the fourth consecutive year the conference has sold out, it is likely the quick sellout caught a few developers off guard. While still impressive given the steep price of entry, last year’s conference took a full eight days to sell out by comparison.

This year’s WWDC invitation teases attendees with the tagline, “Join us for a preview of the future of iOS and Mac OS X.” Rumors have already surfaced claiming this message indicates a software-centric, hardware-free conference. As there’s really no chance Apple will fold its hand ahead of time, we’ll have to wait until the week of June 6 to find out what the company has planned. If you were lucky enough to snag a ticket in the 12-hour window of availability, you’ll see the Apple keynote–and much more–in person. The rest of us, however, will have to hope for a live stream so that we can attend in spirit.

WWDC 2011 is scheduled for Monday, June 6 through Friday, June 10 and will be held at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. Until then, stoke the rumor mills!

As the effects of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan continue to broaden in scope, the need for relief effort funding remains critical. On Friday, March 18th, Small Dog Electronics, the Mall of New Hampshire, and 95.7 WZID partnered in a “Drive Up & Drop Off” fundraising event in Manchester, NH, which brought in $4,061 to be donated to the American Red Cross’ relief efforts for Japan. The first 150 donors who contributed $5 or more received a $5 Small Dog Electronics gift card. The event was a great success, and the generosity of the community was inspiring.

There are still a number of ways to lend your support to this important cause. You can donate directly to the American Red Cross “*on their website.*”:http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_Donate_OnlineGiving You can also help by purchasing “*Songs for Japan*”:http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/songs-for-japan/id428401715 in the iTunes Store. Priced at just $9.99, the chart-topping album features 38 tracks from some of music’s biggest names. All proceeds from Songs for Japan will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

Image Credit: “James White”:http://blog.signalnoise.com/2011/03/17/help-japan-poster-available-now/

Today is April Fools’ Day, and pranksters everywhere are most likely messing with their friends, family, and co-workers. While classics such as the toothpaste Oreo, rubber-banded dishes sprayer, and decaf switch out–seriously evil–consistently get the job done, this year we thought it would be fun to compile a short list of (mostly) harmless Mac-themed pranks.

*Misbehaving Mice*

Quickly becoming a classic itself, this prank has officially replaced unplugging the peripherals from your victim’s desktop Mac. As more mice become wireless, it’s the only way to ensure chaos. Simply place a small piece of tape, the more opaque the better, over the optical “eye” on the underside of your victim’s mouse. While most users will figure this prank out within a few moments, less tech-savvy users will take considerably longer.

*Curse the Cursor*

Though intended to make OS X accessible to everyone, the Universal Access preference pane in System Preferences can be a prankster’s paradise. A harmless prank that will bewilder many unsuspecting users is the super-sized cursor. Navigate to System Preferences > Universal Access > Mouse and drag the slider next to “Cursor Size” all the way to the right. Your target will have no idea what to do with his or her jumbo cursor.

*A Negative View*

Here’s a quick but powerful prank that requires only momentary access to your victim’s keyboard. To invert the colors of any Mac’s screen, simply press the following combination of keys: Control + Option + Command + 8. Suddenly things will get very negative–especially your target’s attitude–unless you eventually fill them in on the secret key combo, which can also be used to revert the screen’s appearance.

*A New Home*

Although it’s among the more basic pranks on the list, never underestimate the comedic value of changing an unsuspecting co-worker’s homepage to something silly. While the process of reassigning a homepage varies slightly among browsers, it can be accomplished by visiting “General” in the preference menus of Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. As “*Rickrolling*”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0 has been a bit played out, may we suggest surprising your victim with a hearty dose of “*Billy Ocean?*”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvarxGzIU3M&t=1m15s Remember to crank the speakers!

_Dear Friends,_

Out like a lamb? Not in Vermont. We are expecting up to a foot of heavy wet snow today, just as the roads were drying out and I could see the first shoots of flowers by the side of my house. I guess that will delay my first motorcycle ride of the year by at least a few days. I know spring is really coming because I can see the steam and smoke from the sugar houses and the migratory birds are slowly making their way back to the Green Mountains.

I am very proud and very humbled to have been chosen as this year’s winner of the Terry Ehrich Award by Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. You can see more about this award at the VBSR website, but it is the most prestigious award for socially responsible businesses, and I join a very elite club of people from whom I have learned from and stolen a whole bunch of ideas. I had the honor of serving for a short time on the VBSR board with Terry Ehrich, who was the founder of Hemmings Motor News and the First Day Foundation. I have literally learned from each of the previous winners, including Will Raap from Gardner’s Supply, Jeffrey Hollender from Seventh Generation, my friend Pat Heffernan from Marketing Partners, Matt Rubin from East Haven Wind, my neighbor and “green” architect Bill Maclay, Melinda Moulton, Ted Castle, and Ben & Jerry of ice cream fame. You can learn more about the award “*here.*”:http://vbsr.org/index.php/pages/static/cat/terry_ehrich_award/

These past winners have been the source of inspiration and great ideas, but I also have to recognize Hapy as being so instrumental in helping me to make Small Dog Electronics a company that truly measures our success by the triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit! If you are in the area, you can join us at the “*Terry Ehrich Award dinner*”:http://vbsr.org/index.php/pages/event_detail/event_vbsr_2011_terry_ehrich_award_dinner/ aboard the Northern Lights Cruise boat on Lake Champlain.

When the iPod was first released, we talked a lot about the “halo” effect. This occurred when customers who bought iPods soon came back to see what other Apple products were available. Now, with the iPhone and the iPad, we see even more products that are driving customers to our stores. The number of “first-to-Mac” customers that we see and help make the switch to the Mac is growing every day. That is because the ultimate Apple experience is the Mac and Mac OS X. I say ultimate because in terms of sheer performance, ease of use, durability, and security there is no other platform that even comes close! We love selling you iPods, iPhones, and iPads, but if you really want to see my team glow with pride, ask them about a Mac!