Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Fling for iPad



    This patent-pending tactile joystick “Fling”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77639/at_bis, from TenOne Design, is a great way to have a physical interface on an otherwise button-free device. The Fling is made of a high-quality resin that is incredibly flexible and durable, as well as clear. This means that you can still see the action on the screen.

    The Fling adheres to the iPad by a suction cup, so it’s easy to remove the accessory when not in use. This is a great item for people who predominately use their iPad as a gaming device. Some apps that work well with the Fling are: “Battle Bears -1,”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fbattle-bears-1%2Fid373714084%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 “Call of Duty Zombies HD”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fcall-of-duty-zombies-hd%2Fid364159440%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30, “Geometry Wars,”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fgeometry-wars-touch%2Fid364175436%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 “Sonic 2,”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fsonic-the-hedgehog-2%2Fid347411942%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 and many others. _$18.99_

  • Working Around a Failed Optical Drive

    Many people don’t realize their optical drive has failed until they need to install a new piece of software or are having their computer “evaluated for trade-in”:http://www.smalldog.com/tradein. After all, more and more software titles are moving towards download-only, and the App Store is evidence that this trend is only gaining momentum. As with fans and hard drives, optical drives are one of the few mechanical devices within your computer that can fail logically or physically. A logical failure would be when the drive itself is not recognized by the computer, and a physical failure would be where the drive doesn’t accept disks, scratches disks, etc.

    If you must install software immediately and your optical drive is broken, you could always use Remote Disk using your network and another Mac. To begin, insert the disk into the Mac with the working optical drive. Then open System Preferences and select the Sharing preference pane. In there you will want to click on the DVD or CD Sharing box that appears first in the list. There is a secondary check box there that you can check to require your authorization before a remote Mac accesses your optical drive.

    With sharing turned on, turn your attention to the Mac requiring the software installation. Fire up Terminal and paste in the following commands exactly as they appear,pressing return between each command:

    defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser EnableODiskBrowsing -bool true

    defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser ODSSupported -bool true

    After entering the commands in Terminal, you can either restart the machine, log out and back in, or type “killall Finder” in Terminal. The next time you open a Finder window, Remote Disk will appear under the devices in the side bar. Click on Remote Disk, and it will post a request to the machine sharing the drive asking whether or not the connection and usage is to be allowed. Install your new Applications or import your new music. To remove the disk sharing option on the unit with the failed drive, simply enter the terminal commands once again and substitute false for true, and it will disable the practice once again. Don’t forget, you’ll need to log out and back in, restart your computer, or reboot the Finder by typing “killall Finder” in Terminal before any changes will become effective.

  • Twelve South Magic Wand



    In one hand I have my Apple Bluetooth keyboard, in the other I have Apple’s new Magic Trackpad. Now if only there was a way to attach these two wonderful devices to create the **ULTIMATE** Apple Keyboard…

    The wait is over. Twelve South waved their magic wands (_haha_) and POOF! created the “Magic Wand”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77851/at_bis, a new accessory that will attach the “Magic Trackpad”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77851/at_bis to the “Apple Bluetooth Keyboard”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74730/at_bis. A sleek package, the Magic Wand keeps your mouse and keyboard together in harmony. Plus, the final size once both accessories are connected isn’t much larger than the “Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/44253/at_bis

    This is an ideal product for anyone with the new Magic Trackpad, particularly those who are using their Macs on a HDTV. Mac OS X looks beautiful on the big screen; but once you’ve attached your Mac to your TV, you’ll probably want to sit on your couch, a few feet from your mouse and keyboard. No longer will this be a problem. With the Magic Wand, now you can put the same Keyboard and Trackpad found on Apple laptops on your lap. Surf the web, browse videos, and play Angry Birds from the comfort of your couch while using the “Magic Wand”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/77851/at_bis to keep your peripherals together. _$29.99_

  • Repair of the Week: Masking and Cascading Failures

    One of the challenges of troubleshooting is that the same symptoms can have multiple causes. Another is that failing components can cover up or mimic symptoms of other failing components. This is often called masking. We had a MacBook Pro come into the shop that, when powered on, got to the grey screen; the apple never appeared on the screen, and the machine never fully booted. With a symptom like this, the first thing that comes to mind is the hard drive, and the initial diagnosis seemed to bear this out.

    The machine passed Apple’s service diagnostics except for the hard drive tests. In fact, the hard drive tests weren’t even available, meaning that the diagnostic tool didn’t even recognize that there was a drive to test. Pulling the drive and testing it outside the machine confirmed that the drive had an abundance of bad sectors, a sure sign that it needed replacing.

    Running the Apple diagnostics also showed that the machine would boot from a known good volume–the test suite boots the machine with a version of OS X via one of the USB ports. With this information in hand, the technician ordered a replacement drive. But when the drive arrived the next day and was installed, the machine still refused to boot. The original symptom persisted: it booted to a blank grey screen. It was obvious at this point the problem went beyond the hard drive.

    After replacing the interconnect cable between the drive and the logic board and getting no change in the machine, a logic board was ordered. After installation the machine booted normally and was returned to the customer. This repair perfectly illustrates the concept of masking. In this case, even though the symptoms were classic for a failing hard drive, the real reason the machine would not boot was a logic board failure. The situation was further confused by the fact that the drive need replacing as well.

    As an aside, at pickup time the customer asked a question we get a lot in these kind of cases: Why does my new machine have two bad parts? Understandably, this can cause people some concern. After all, one of the reasons people choose Apple is the high reliability of the hardware. The answer is that the machine is an interconnected system, not a collection of separate parts. When a part fails, it can cause serious damage to other parts in the machine. In the logic board/hard drive interconnect there is also a power circuit in addition to the data circuits, so there is even more chance for a failure such as a short circuit to cause problems. In this case we would never be able to say which went first, but in my experience the failure of one of these components almost certainly caused the failure of the other, necessitating the replacement of both. We call failures of one component due to another “cascading failure.”

  • Greetings from Manchester, New Hampshire!

    **Hello Everyone!**

    Manchester SDE

    This is the _first_ edition of Best in Showroom from our new “Manchester, NH”:http://www.smalldog.com/nh location! We are very excited to be up and running in the Mall of New Hampshire and to have all of our new and existing customers stopping in.

    Expanding to our twin state was just right, as we have many customers in this region and can offer great Apple gear to area residents. No longer do you have to drive to Salem or Nashua for the Apple experience. We offer Sales, Service, and Consulting all in one place, and now we even offer the AT&T iPhone.

    We encourage you to stop in, say hello, and check out the new store. If you’ve shopped with us in Vermont, you will see some familiar faces here in Manchester. Will (from our Waitsfield store) and Michelle (from our S. Burlington store) have joined forces with Sean to make up our Management team here.

    Whether you want to shop around or learn about the Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, or newest Mac, we’re here to help!

    – “Manchester Crew”:http://www.smalldog.com/nh

  • Happy Tuesday,

    Well, last week’s updates to the MacBook Pro line were certainly significant. Huge speed increases are always welcome, particularly when there’s little to no effect on battery life. The big news to me is the completely new I/O port, formerly code named Light Peak, called Thunderbolt in its final implementation. At 10GB/sec it completely blows away USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 in every regard. Of course, with any new technology like this, the main stumbling point at first will be availability of peripherals to take advantage of the interface. Rest assured, Small Dog will carry a great mix of Thunderbolt-compatible devices as they are released.

    Apple has done this before with USB on the original iMac and FireWire on early PowerBook G4s. With Apple’s always-growing market share and enviable brand respect, I’m sure we’ll see swift adoption of this new technology in the weeks and months ahead.

    The new stuff will keep coming this week, as Apple announced a press event on the second. While unconfirmed, the graphic Apple used in their announcement makes it pretty clear the event will be focused on iPad. We’ll have analysis and commentary “on our blog, Barkings”:http://blog.smalldog.com when the time comes.

    As always, thanks for reading, and keep in touch.

    Matt
    “matt@smalldog.com”:mailto:matt@smalldog.com

  • What's New in Lion?

    Tossed into the myriad of Apple updates last week, was the biggest sneak peak of Lion—the next version of Mac OS X—Apple has…

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  • FaceTime Launches on Mac App Store

    In the midst of yesterday’s MacBook Pro updates, Apple quietly debuted version 1.0 of its previously beta FaceTime video calling software. The app—which…

  • I will be on vacation starting on Sunday so you will see some guest authors here in Kibbles & Bytes, but it will be Ben holding down the fort for the Kibbles team over the next couple of weeks. I’ll be heading down to Jamaica for 10 days of relaxation, reggae and reading. I’m taking my iPad for reading, movies and music and I hope that I don’t spend too much time in the mail app!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
    _Don & Ben_

  • Apple Previews Mac OS X Lion

    Tossed into the myriad of Apple updates yesterday, was the biggest sneak peak of Lion–the next version of Mac OS X–Apple has given to date. With the release of a developer preview build, Apple demoed several of the operating system’s new features in greater depth than at the ‘Back to the Mac’ event last year. Lion marks the eighth iteration of Mac OS X, and takes some of the best ideas from iPad and brings them back to the Mac. Though items such as Mission Control, Launchpad, new trackpad gestures and the Mac App Store had been previously announced, yesterday’s preview unveiled a host of brand new features too. Some of the newly announced features of Lion include:

    *Mail 5*

    Taking a cue from the iPad–and the popular “*WideMail*”:http://widemailplugin.com/ plugin–Apple has re-designed Mail’s default layout in Lion. This new view is specifically designed to take advantage of widescreen displays, and gives a full preview of a selected message while simultaneously displaying the inbox. In addition to the redesigned interface, Apple has improved search and message organization. Conversations–the final previewed new feature–threads and groups messages together to streamline a conversation making it easier to read.

    *AirDrop*

    AirDrop looks to make USB flash drive file exchanges a thing of the past. Instead of loading data too big to email onto a drive for a friend or co-worker, AirDrop sends it wirelessly. By clicking the AirDrop icon in a Finder window, your Mac will search for nearby AirDrop users–allowing for an easy wireless transfer to their downloads folder.

    *All-new FileVault*

    Apple has upgraded FileVault–a mainstay since Panther–to be faster, more secure, and less obtrusive. Upgraded to XTS-AES 128 data encryption, FileVault better protects your internal and external drives. Presumably borrowing a feature from “*Find my iPhone,*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Ffind-my-iphone%2Fid376101648%3Fmt%3D8%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 FileVault in Lion provides users the option to wipe their hard drive remotely should their Mac be lost or stolen.

    *Lion Server*

    IT departments rejoice! Apple has built in server functionality–traditionally a separate and pricey release–into the standard “client” version of Lion. The server component of the OS delivers easier setup and administration, better profile-based setup and management, the ability to publish and update Wikis and file sharing for the iPad.

    Though all of these newly announced features nicely supplement those disclosed last Fall, Apple likely has even more surprises in the works. To take a more in-depth look at some of the features of Lion, click “*here.*”:http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/