Kibbles & Bytes Blog

We had our first major 2009 holiday meeting yesterday. Like Don, I’m usually meeting averse. However, we met at Geoff Blanck’s house (our marketing constant), which was great. Fall colors were blazing outside, we had a fire in the fireplace, and we spread out with our computers on comfy couches. It was the least stressful, most productive meeting I’ve had in months.

With the tough economy we’ll be working harder than ever to deliver excellent value to our loyal customers this holiday season. It’s always a demanding season for us, but also very exciting.

I hope all of you have a great weekend and upcoming week! Enjoy apple season!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Kali & Ed_

This week we have a special offer on new, never used closeout 15-inch MacBook Pros. This is the premium MacBook Pro 15-inch with the 2.66GHz processor, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive.

Since this is a previous-generation machine (one generation back from the current generation), it does not have the SD card slot; however, it DOES have the ExpressCard Slot. People who use ExpressCard media readers (pro photographers, for example) or people who have invested in a cellular internet ExpressCard will be glad that this machine is still available from us.

We’re offering this machine for “$1899.99”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/73305 ($100 less than the current machine with the same processor, RAM and hard drive) or for just “$2149.99 with a free sleeve and the three year AppleCare plan!”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag19493/

To honor Apple, __er,__ apple season in Vermont, we’re reprinting Grace Mayer’s famous and oft-requested apple pie recipe. Email “grace@smalldog.com”:mailto:grace@smalldog.com with feedback. I’ve made this pie and it’s always a winner!

*CRUST*

* 2 cups flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons very cold butter
* Grated rind 1/2 lemon
* 2 eggs
* 2 tablespoons ice water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small bits and add to flour mixture. Using your fingers, cut in the butter until it has the texture of coarse cornmeal. Add the lemon rind. Separate the eggs and set the whites aside. Beat the yolks with the water and add to the mixture, stirring quickly with a fork.

Gather the dough into a ball and place in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

*FILLING*

* 8-12 McIntosh Apples
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 1/2 cut brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon flour
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Take one quarter of the dough and put it back in the refrigerator. The remaining piece will be the bottom crust. Roll out the crust between two pieces of wax paper. The crust should be as round as possible and should fit into the pie plate with the edges hanging over.

Carefully peel the wax paper off one side and lightly lay the paper back on. Flip the dough over and carefully peel the wax paper off this side. Place in the pie plate and carefully peel off the remaining paper. Fit the dough into the plate and cut off any extra from the edges.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pare the apples and cut them into thick slices. One apple should yield only about 8-10 slices. Place the sliced apples into the crust. Dot the top with the butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar, flower and cinnamon over the top. Set aside.

Roll out the remaining dough between two new pieces of wax paper. Make this piece as square as possible. Peel the paper off the bottom crust. Use a fork to flatten the edges.

Brush the top of the pie with the leftover egg white and sprinkle lightly with some sugar. Place in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Watch the pie for the last five minutes. It may need a little more or less time. depending on your oven. When it is evenly browned, remove and cool before slicing.

*Strictly McIntosh, strictly the best!*

I really didn’t need it. I couldn’t completely justify it. But I absolutely love it. I’m talking about the new iPod nano with built-in video camera, FM radio, pedometer and more. I already own an iPhone, which I (used to) use all the time to listen to music and podcasts, including in the car and exercising. So, the nano seemed superfluous.

However, after using the nano for the past two weeks, my iPhone is back to being a great phone and essential PDA, but only occasional iPod. I find it easier to browse music on the nano versus the iPhone, especially while driving in the car. The nano’s clickwheel interface and big screen is snappy and direct. This is also true while walking or running–not to mention the smaller size of the nano is more manageable while exercising.

I am also really enjoying the little goodies in the nano. The video camera has decent quality, and I’ve used it to capture some funny scenes I’d otherwise have missed. I let people play with the new nano at a party last week, and while people were impressed by the video quality, they were more impressed by the technical accomplishment of squeezing a camera into an iPod nano. They found the camera easy to use, and more than a few people commented that the new nano would be perfect to use while skiing or snowboarding.

Next week a few Small Dog Electronics employees are putting together a 3-minute movie to be recorded on the nano. It’s a crime picture with lots of action. We’ll post the link when it’s up. In the meantime, if you haven’t already seen it, I created a brief video comparing the quality of the iPod nano video to the FlipHD, “which you can see by clicking here.”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB76K8hHMqA

I also enjoy the nano’s built-in pedometer. While I generally use Nike+ to track milage and fitness, it’s fun and useful to activate the pedometer on casual walks. The FM radio is a nice bonus. I’ve mainly used it to listen to the news while on the go.

With an excellent interface geared to playing, browsing and selecting music, a few useful “extras,” and a lightweight (and cool-looking) design, the new iPod nano is easily my favorite new Apple release since the introduction of the iPhone 3G. “Click here to learn more about the iPod nano at Smalldog.com”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/Apple|iPod_nano or drop into one of our stores to see them in person. As people learn about the new nano, I bet it will become one of the biggest gifts this holiday season!

In the spirit of all addicts in recovery, “My name is Ed and I am a serial demo software downloader.” I can’t help it. When I hear of a promising or interesting new application for my Mac, I rush online and download it. In the past week alone I downloaded demo versions of “iStopMotion”:http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview, “BoinxTV”:http://www.boinx.com/boinxtv/overview, and “Pagehand”:http://pagehand.com.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m grateful we live in a time where is it’s very easy to try a software title before you have to buy it. It used to be that you bought software in a box and if you didn’t like it, tough luck–opened software is never returnable.

On the other hand, all this demo software downloading gobbles hard drive space and clutters your Mac’s Application Folder. In some cases, it’s easy to delete an application–grab the icon and drop it the Mac’s Trash. In most cases, however, when an application is installed, it distributes many small files throughout your Mac’s hard drive. Even when you think you’ve fully deleted an app, orphan files may still persist on your hard drive.

In order the completely, thoroughly, and safely delete an application — demo or otherwise – I use a free program called “AppCleaner”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner. “AppCleaner”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner finds all the small files associated with applications and safely deletes them. “AppCleaner”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner itself is a very small program, and is easy to use. You can also use it to uninstall and delete Dashboard widgets. It also has a feature to prevent your favorite apps from being deleted accidentally.

“Click here to download the free AppCleaner utility”:http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner.

Oh wow! Did you know there’s a new version of Bento now, Bento 3? Think I better download the demo to try out.

_Dear Friends,_

This week it’s Edward Shepard writing for Don. Usually when Don is away, I have fun writing ridiculous scenarios for his absence. I’ve written that Don has been lost in La Mancha, away on a vision quest in Las Vegas, kidnapped by a vengeful all-female biker gang, hiding in his basement because of a botched spray-tan, even abducted by aliens.

But this time, the real reason for Don’s absence is actually very interesting: he’s in China meeting some of Small Dog Electronics’ supply partners. He’s also taking the opportunity to inspect the factories where the goods we import for sale are manufactured. I know Don is taking photos during his travels in China, and I hope we’ll be able to share them on our blog “Barkings!”:http://blog.smalldog.com/ soon.

Here in Vermont, it’s not only peak foliage season but also peak apple season. (After years of working at Small Dog, it’s virtually impossible for me not to capitalize the word “apple.”) Vermont has some of the finest apples growing in the world. The long, northern summer days, sloping mountain terrain, and crisp autumn nights make for amazingly flavorful fruit. Also, the moderate scale of many of Vermont’s orchards–along with the pleasure many Vermonters get from eating local food–allows our apple farmers to experiment with interesting new varieties, as well as maintain heirloom or heritage cultivars that have vanished in most the world.

Every autumn, my local grocery store features an array of these unusual cultivars, alongside the more familiar versions. Cultivars I spied the other day include Crimson Crisp, Crimson Topaz, Roxbury Russet, Golden Supreme, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Gravenstein, Zesta, Esopus Spitzenburg, Creston, Pound Sweets and Haralson.

It’s a treat to go in and browse this ever-changing array of local, seasonal fruit. Many of these cultivars aren’t suitable for long-distance shipping, or else their peak production period is too brief to allow mass distribution. Also, many of the older heirloom varieties don’t look “pretty” and wouldn’t sell in most grocery stores. Their skin may be mottled, their shape disfigured, or their size unconventional. But they sure do taste good!

Ok, I should stop writing about apples and write about Apples!