Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Happy Tuesday,

    All of us at Small Dog thank you for stepping up to donate to Doctors Without Borders in this time of extreme need in Haiti. I’m thrilled to report that we’ve raised about $20,000 for this excellent organization, and are sending an additional $10,000 through our donation matching program.

    The response to our call for help on Facebook, Twitter, and around the Internet was, and continues to be, truly amazing. While we’ve reached the threshold for matching charitable donations, you may continue to donate through “our site”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/42760/donation-to-doctors-without-borders.

    In Apple-related news, Apple is holding a press event next Wednesday to reveal their “latest creation.” Hopefully this creation isn’t just an updated iPod touch with built-in camera (though I am still waiting for that!), but rather the long-fabled Apple tablet computer. No one knows what’s coming, but watching Steve Jobs command the attention of a giant room of reporters and Apple faithful is always a treat. We’ll cover that announcement in depth on “our blog, Barkings!”:http://blog.smalldog.com next week.

    Until then, thanks as always for reading, and keep in touch.

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

  • Because we want to give you the best deals AND stay in business, Deal Retriever deals are valid for one week only and…

  • The Juicetray by Flying Cherry

    With the New Year among us, I wanted to take a minute to introduce one of my new favorite products of 2010! The…

  • The Invites are out!

    Apple sent the invites out to the press and others for the big January 27th unveiling of their “latest creation”. There is so…

  • MAC TREAT #110: Manage To Do Items in iCal

    There are dozens of time/task/project management applications for the Mac, iPhone, and iPod touch. I really like Things for powerful task management. It’s…

  • About the Onyx OS X Maintenance App

    Several times I’ve mentioned that Onyx is my primary OS X maintenance program. It’s free and easy to use. Click here to visit…

  • All the parts for my Norton restoration project are now finished. I am heading up to Quebec to pick up the chrome parts…

  • FEATURED SPECIAL | 01/15/10 – 01/22/10

    With recent reports of record Mac sales (and strong sales of computers in general, click here to read about this), you wouldn’t think we’d expend energy on bringing Macs to your attention. However, to us, it seems that people are only talking about it the iPhone and the rumored, so-called iSlate.

    This week, we’re back to focusing on Macs. In my measured opinion, Apple’s never offered a more incredible line of computers before now. To help promote them, we’re offering simple, streamlined bundles that will make it easy to choose the right Mac. We’re offering upgraded RAM for a discount, and also offering AppleCare bundled in for less than buying it separately. You’ll save anywhere from $35 – $600 by buying a bundle from us than Apple. Plus, we don’t charge tax on orders that ship out of Vermont (saving you even more), and we don’t change shipping on any computers.

    Not only that, we are glad to help you choose the right Mac for your needs in person on the phone (800-511-6227) or via email (sales@smalldog.com). Let us know if you have any questions—we’ll be glad to help!

    You can see some selected Mac bundles below, or click here to view them all. Look for the green “specials” link to view bundles and offers.

  • MobileMe Gallery App Released For iPhone, iPod touch

    Yesterday, Apple announced the release of the MobileMe Gallery app for iPhone/iPod touch. I have been in the process of auditing (read: deleting and reorganizing) my iPhone apps (again),* so when I saw this, I downloaded it immediately.

    Apple explains:

    bq. “The new MobileMe Gallery app is a great way to view the photos and movies in your MobileMe gallery right on your iPhone or iPod touch. You can browse your photos with simple tap, flick, and pinch gestures, and even view your friends’ albums, no matter where you are. And the MobileMe Gallery app automatically stores photos after you view them so you can quickly access them again, even without a network connection.”

    The bottom line is that the app is a nice Apple-esque way to view your MobileMe Galleries, but it’s not designed for much more than that. That’s fine by me–the best features by far are the ease-of-use and that I can bring in friends’ Galleries as well (below).

    The MobileMe Gallery app for iPhone and iPod touch requires a “MobileMe account”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74171/apple-mobileme-individual-retail-package-1yr-subscription-renewal (duh) and is “available free through the App Store here.”:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobileme-gallery/id350223710?mt=8

    __*Every other month or so, I try to streamline my apps–you know, get rid of redundant ones or ones I don’t need and add bigger and better ones. One could say I’m slightly obsessed. I’ll have a whole new lot of apps that have made the cut for review in coming issues!__

  • Exploring the Onyx Maintenance Program

    Several times I’ve mentioned that Onyx is my primary OS X maintenance program. It’s free and easy to use. Click here to visit the developers web site or click here to read about the app on Apple’s website.

    A few people have inquired about the best way to use Onyx. It actually has a great help file that explains all of its different functions, scripts, and utilities. TO view this help file without making any changes to your Mac, simply launch the app, then click Cancel when the Checking S.M.A.R.T status menu pops up, then click Cancel again when the Verifying startup volume menu pops up. Enter your password at the prompt, then click “Help” in the menu bar.

    Onyx is a great app for basic maintenance. What apps do you use to maintain your Mac? Let us know and we will post the results in next week’s Kibbles.