Kibbles & Bytes Blog

Though it does not happen often with Apple computers we all know how frustrating it is to have an Application start misbehaving. Whether it quits unexpectedly or flat out stops responding, it can be incredibly aggravating. When an Application unexpectedly quits you can lose data and, quite often, your patience. Unfortunately, you can not predict when an Application might unexpectedly quit. The only thing that we can do in that case is to save and save often.

If you are like me you find it a bit cumbersome to move from the keyboard to the mouse and back again. One handy trick that I use is the keyboard shortcut for save which is command-s. This allows me to quickly save what I am doing without removing my hands from the keyboard. This is one of many keyboard shortcuts that can come in handy for quickly maneuvering around the Mac. Some examples are command-q which will quit the selected application, command-i will provide you with information regarding a selected file, and command-delete will move a highlighted file to the trash.

Please ask about our keyboard shortcut cheat sheets at any of our retail locations. You can also find a complete list of keyboard shortcuts on Apple’s “website,”:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1343?locale=en_US and “all mentions of keyboard shortcuts on our blog.”:http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=keyboard+shortcut+site:blog.smalldog.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Over the years there’ve been reports from various end users that Apple’s packaging of service parts is preposterously and unnecessarily large for the product inside. Of particular note was the recall of the latest form-factor USB power adapter for iPhone. The first version had a defect that could cause dangerous failure, and anyone who’d bought one was urged to send it back for a replacement. Replacements were sent in boxes that could fit dozens of the adapters.

Of course, this is an extreme example. That service part was just so tiny, and mailing labels can only be made so small, that smaller packaging may not have been feasible at the time. There’s also the issue of using packaging that already exists in a recall situation for the sake of speed. Some time after an initial burst of bloggers’ discontent, and in the midst of Greenpeace’s attack on Apple, the packaging was revised to be something much more reasonable.

Of course, a 27-inch display will be shipped in a very large, very sturdy box. But small top cases for early MacBooks used to ship in boxes much larger than necessary. We kept those boxes, and reused them to ship orders taken on “smalldog.com”:http://www.smalldog.com and to create a homemade solution to laptop storage in our service departments. Recently, though, these boxes were made much, much smaller, reducing Apple’s shipping costs and allowing more stuff to fit on the hundreds of FedEx airplanes delivering service parts around the world. The same thing is happening with the latest-generation equipment. The current MacBook Air logic board comes in a very thin, small box; older MacBook logic boards now come in very durable corrugated plastic boxes that can be reused indefinitely.

With each new generation of Apple product, the service part packaging gets smaller and smaller, while the actual part sizes remain more or less the same. This is a trend that is mirrored with Apple finished goods like new laptops. Six years ago, iBooks shipped in boxes almost big enough for a dorm room mini-fridge; MacBooks now come in very smart, completely recyclable, very compact packaging. There’s a ways to go, but Apple is clearly taking their packaging seriously as both a driver of increased customer delight and decreased per-unit carbon emissions and disposal complications.

With the release of the iPhone 4 last summer came the ability to multitask between applications in iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. In the following months it would also make its way to the iPod Touch and the iPad. The ability to quickly switch between apps, pause and continue a game, finish downloads and keep GPS/music running on third party apps became a reality. A simple double-click of the home button on any device brings up a new “dock” or “tray” that shows all currently running apps.

“So every app that I open stays open? Doesn’t this affect my phone’s performance and battery life?” The simple answer to this is no. Like we’ve seen with some other Apple releases, they aren’t always the first to do it, but they’re the best. The reason Apple hesitated on multitasking is because it can be a resource hog with the processor, RAM and battery. Part of Apple’s strategy is to suspend apps in the background so they aren’t necessarily running, but they pick up right where you left off as if they were.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t remove them from the tray. If you’re like me and use 1,000 different apps every day (ok, that may be a bit exaggerated) you wouldn’t want the extras getting in the way of the commonly used ones. Simply tap and hold an app icon just like you would to rearrange your home screen. They’ll jiggle and each will have a red minus symbol on the top left. Just tap the symbol and it is gone until the next time you open it. Just make sure you finish the level of Angry Birds you’re on first!