Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • Snow Leopard To Be Released This Friday!

    Surprise! OS 10.6 Snow Leopard will be released early, on Friday, August 28! Here at Small Dog Electronics we are very excited about Snow Leopard, even though Apple is not heavily promoting its launch with pre-press, etc.

    Snow Leopard is designed to make day-to-day tasks on your Mac easier, faster and more accessible. It delivers a wide range of enhancements, next-generation technologies, out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange Server, and new accessibility features. Snow Leopard is the most powerful and refined version of Mac OS X ever.

    *How to Purchase and Upgrade to OS 10.6 Snow Leopard*

    Snow Leopard is an upgrade for Leopard users and requires a Mac computer (duh) with an Intel processor, 1GB of memory (though at least 2GB is highly recommended), 5GB of available disk space, and a DVD drive for installation. “Visit our RAM Finder if you want to add RAM to your Mac before upgrading to Snow Leopard.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ramfinder

    If you’ve purchased a qualifying Mac or Xserve on or after June 8, 2009 that didn’t include Mac OS X Snow Leopard, you can upgrade to Snow Leopard for $9.95 exclusively from Apple via the Mac OS X Up-to-Date Program. “Click here to get details of this offer and download the PDF.”:http://www.smalldog.com/snowleopard

    If you have OS 10.5 Leopard installed on a Mac purchased before June 8, 2009, you can upgrade to the Snow Leopard Single User Edition, on sale for $29.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74329

    If you have multiple Macs running OS 10.5 Leopard, you can upgrade to Snow Leopard with the Snow Leopard Family Pack. This can be installed on up to five Macs and is on sale for $49.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74330

    If you have Mac OS 10.4 Tiger or earlier the only way to upgrade to Snow Leopard is with the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set. This includes OS 10.6 Snow Leopard, along with iWork ’09 and iLife ’09. Purchasing those separately would cost $289! See the Snow Leopard Mac Box Set on sale for $169.99 “by clicking here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74331

    The Snow Leopard Mac Box Set is also available as a Family Pack that can be installed on up to five computers for $229.99. “Click here to see this.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/74332

    Some of the most exciting new features and overall system enhancements in OS 10.6 Snow Leopard include:

    * 64-bit support, the next big step for the Mac. All key system applications are now 64-bit so they can take advantage of all the memory in your Mac.

    * Out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange. Mac OS X Snow Leopard delivers built-in support for the latest version of Microsoft Exchange Server, something even Windows PCs don’t have.

    * Smaller footprint. Snow Leopard takes up less than half the disk space of the previous version, freeing about 7GB for you–enough for about 1,750 more songs or a few thousand more photos.

    * The Finder has been completely rewritten using Cocoa to take advantage of the new technologies in Snow Leopard, including 64-bit support and Grand Central Dispatch. It’s more responsive from top to bottom, with snappier performance throughout the Finder.

    * Quicker Time Machine backup. Snow Leopard makes Time Machine up to 80 percent faster and reduces the time it takes to complete your initial backup to Time Capsule.

    * Faster to wake up and shut down. Your Mac wakes from sleep up to twice as quickly when you have screen locking enabled. And shutting down is up to 80 percent faster.

    * QuickTime X: As the next generation of media players, it’s built on new core technologies and advances modern media and Internet standards.

    * More efficient file sharing.

    * Multi-Touch gestures in older Mac models. All Mac notebooks with Multi-Touch trackpads now support three- and four-finger gestures.

    * A new technology called Grand Central Dispatch takes full advantage of multicore systems by making all of Mac OS X multicore aware and optimizing it for allocating tasks across multiple cores and processors.

    * Universal Access: Every Mac comes with built-in technologies designed to help people with disabilities experience it. Innovations in Snow Leopard advance accessibility even further.

    It’s a pleasant surprise that Snow Leopard is being released earlier than expected. We will feature in depth reviews of Snow Leopard in our newsletters as soon as it’s released.

    Not sure if your Mac qualifies for Snow Leopard? Email “sales@smalldog.com”:mailto:sales@smalldog.com with any questions!

  • School Year Software

    Somehow the summer has flown by and the back-to-school season is well under way. While I’m personally enjoying the fact that I am…

  • Happy Tuesday,

    In an unexpected move yesterday, Apple announced that Snow Leopard will be available on Friday. Most of us were expecting a late September release, so this is welcome news. A new operating system from Apple is always exciting for me, and I’ll be installing Snow Leopard during my lunch break on Friday. Ed has all the details on Snow Leopard below.

    Whether you are installing a major operating system upgrade like Leopard to Snow Leopard, or Tiger to Snow Leopard, it is pretty much mandatory that you have a current backup. While only a tiny fraction of these installations go awry, some do fail and result in data loss or a computer that doesn’t start up. Apple’s Time Capsule is the perfect backup solution, and we have plenty of Small Dog Refurbished Time Capsules in 500GB for the unbeatable price of $149.99–that’s less than the price of an AirPort Extreme base station, and you get a wireless hard drive in addition to all the base station functionality.

    Have fun with Snow Leopard if you choose to upgrade immediately. I’ll have an in-depth report on the new operating system in next week’s Tech Tails.

    Thanks for reading, and keep in touch.

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

  • OS 10.6 Snow Leopard Release Date!

    Surprise! OS 10.6 Snow Leopard will unexpectedly be released early, on Friday, August 28! Here at Small Dog Electronics we are very excited…

  • RapCap Review at Butterscotch.com

    The RapCap is featured in a video review over at Butterscotch.com They say “where other digital audio players come with a built-in microphone…

  • Apple Firmware Updates

    Apple just released two firmware updates: one addressing Bluetooth issues and one addressing disconcerting noises and system slowdowns in MacBook Pros with 7200RPM…

  • Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes. We know it is you our loyal customers that sustains us and we…

  • FEATURED SPECIAL: Vermont Tax Holiday – This Weekend!

    OK, this is focused on Vermonters. Everyone else who reads Kibbles gets to order tax free from Smalldog.com every day (we don’t charge sales tax on orders that ship out of Vermont.)

    As Don mentioned above, Vermont is having a sales tax holiday on Saturday, August 22. There will be *no sales tax on items that cost $2,000 or less.* You could buy five high-end MacBook Pros for $1999.99 and not pay sales tax on a single one of them. The savings can add up, as sales tax in Vermont is 6%, and even 7% in a couple of towns (South Burlington, Williston).

    We’re having a party to celebrate with special offers, extended hours in our Vermont retail stores, in our call center, and in our warehouse, where our shippers will be processing orders all day.

    “Click here to read our Vermont Sales Tax Holiday FAQ.”:http://www.smalldog.com/taxholiday

  • Site of the Week: A Resource for OS X Server Users

    This article is a little more geared to our Tech Tails readers, but I thought I would pass it on. If you manage Mac OS X based servers, did you know about osx.topicdesk.com and their great OS X Server-related newsletters? If not, you should definitely check them out.

    Osx.topicdesk.com features free software tools for enhancing Apple’s Mac OS X Server, step-by-step tutorials, and a FAQ section that answers many common questions about OS X Server. In addition to being an important resource for the open source community, server administrators can also turn to the site’s developers for consulting services.

    Apple’s OS X Server is a powerful tool for businesses of any size. OS X Server puts UNIX into the reach of non-UNIX experts. Osx.topicdesk.com helps many non-UNIX experts make the most of OS X Server, offering tools and information for beginners and seasoned professionals that extend the stock functionality of Apple’s Server software.

    One of the site’s most popular consulting options is the Mail Server Checkup. For a flat rate of $50, the site’s developers will run a full diagnostic of a mail server, report on its status, and make recommendations for improvements. Readers of Tech Tails, Kibbles & Bytes, and Small Dog’s blog Barkings will benefit from a 50% discount on the Mail Server Check or a 15% discount on standard consulting fees until Sep 15th 2009.