Kibbles & Bytes Blog

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  • Like a Regular Wave, Only Smaller

    In my last article about lasers, a reader pointed out that in the history of the laser started off as something called a MASER. These devices were identical in functionality to a laser, except the beam was composed of microwave radiation, rather than visible light energy. In researching for my article, I had actually come across this fact, and I thought I mentioned it, but in re-reading the article, it looks like it slipped through the edits.

    Obviously it’s easier to conceptualize lasers you can see. A MASER would be invisible since we can’t see microwave radiation. While the MASER didn’t really proliferate in the same way that lasers have, microwave radiation is one of the many things that makes our modern world work the way it does. To start off, let’s go to the obvious place, your microwave oven. Every single microwave oven in the world uses microwaves to heat food, but how does it work? First, we have to define what microwaves are.

    Microwaves are electromagnetic radiation (yup, that same ol’ spectrum). They are defined as having wavelengths between one meter and one millimeter and frequencies between 300MHz and 300GHz respectively. Microwave radiation at about 2.45GHz has a special property though. When it passes through dielectric molecules, like water, it causes them to rotate. This rotation is the absorption of the microwave energy by the molecules. If you remember back to an article I did on cooling and temperature, the heat we see in the molecules is the result of them now moving. So the microwave oven isn’t heating your food, it’s heating any water or moisture present in the food. You can actually see the wavelength of your microwave by removing any turntable and placing a plate of shredded cheese inside. Turn the microwave on for approximately 30 seconds and take the cheese plate out. You’ll notice that there are rows of melted and unmelted cheese. The space between the melted rows is the approximate wavelength of the microwave.

    Heating food isn’t the only use of microwaves though. Microwaves are the primary radio waves used for all modern communication. L band microwaves, from 1-2GHz are used for GPS, GSM mobile phones and amateur radio. S band microwave, from 2-4GHz are used for weather radar, microwave ovens, other mobile phones, WiFi, Bluetooth, and more GPS. The automotive radar I wrote about a few weeks ago is also a microwave. Some automakers will even call it “millimeter wave radar”. These microwaves are in the Q band ranging from 33-50GHz. Microwaves, unlike lower frequency radio waves, operate by line of sight and as such they are excellent for point-to-point communications.

    I wonder if anyone caught something in that last paragraph. “Hadley, are you saying that the same band used for microwave ovens is used for cell phones?!?!” Yes, it’s true. Many mobile phones operate in the same frequency as microwave ovens. This is partially what caused a lot of concern when cell phones first started to proliferate. Is there a risk? Technically speaking, yes, but the risk is so incredibly minute, it would take decades of talking on the phone with it right to your ear before your ??chance?? of experiencing negative effects even rose a little bit. The reason for this is power. You may know how much power your microwave oven is rated for. Many are in the 1200 watt range. That’s 1.2 kilowatts of power. That’s ??a lot?? of power. That’s more power than a hair dryer might use, and the only way for most of us to get that power is to plug into the grid. A tiny cell phone battery is not capable of producing even a fraction of that power, and devices like WiFi transmitters are regulated to only transmit a certain amount of power.

    Finally, why do we even call it radiation? Microwaves can’t cause chemical changes by ionization so they aren’t radioactive like plutonium is radioactive. This is one of the times we use “radiation” to mean energy radiating from a source. Technically you could call the light from a flashlight “light radiation”. The radiation itself is non-ionizing and therefore is not dangerous. The only danger from microwaves is if they are backed by sufficient power. Then your body could experience dielectric heating, just like in a microwave oven.

    Hopefully this was a helpful discussion of what microwaves are and what they aren’t, and maybe I’ve removed some of the mystery of certain technologies that use them.

  • This week I’ve had a longer than usual morning commute. As it’s the last week of my kid’s summer vacation we’ve been staying at our camp about forty minutes from work. Normally my drive is about three minutes to get to the office. In the past week, I’ve observed a handful of trees beginning to change color. I’m never sure what to think when it’s August and the leaves are starting to show hints of yellows and reds. After all, peak foliage season isn’t typically seen until early October. It’s a subtle reminder that it’s time to start thinking about all those projects we didn’t finish in the spring and that before I know it I’ll be turning in my flip flops once again for real shoes.

    This week’s “**Kibbles & Bytes exclusive special is the ultimate back to school bundle.**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002781/ This bundle covers all the essentials for whatever demands your next year has in store for you. I’ve bundled together an Apple Factory Refurbished MacBook Pro 15in w/Touch Bar 2.6GHz i7 QC 16GB/256GB with AppleCare+, a 2TB USB-C backup drive, and a sleeve to carry it around in. In addition to the savings, you’re getting with a factory refurbished computer, which has the exact same warranty as a brand new computer. You’re also saving another $200 on this bundle. “**This deal would normally cost $2459.96, but this week only (don’t tell Don) you can get it for $2259.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002781/kibbles-bytes-ultimate-back-to-school-bundle? This is an incredible deal with a limited supply so you don’t want to miss out.

  • Apple Pencil

    I am by no means an artist nor someone who has drawn anything beyond your standard High School art class. However something drew…

  • Avoid Phishing

    Unlike the band (depending on who you ask, I suppose) to get ‘phished’ is not as groovy, wavy, or as psychedelic as their malicious digital counterpart. 

    We’ve all no doubt heard of the blowback and headaches that notorious phishing scams can cause, but how can you stay alert and protected when you cross paths with a potential scam?

    I’m sure, right now, in your Spam inbox, you may find a number of emails from a sender masquerading as Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, etc… asking you to “verify” certain aspects of your personal information i.e. credit card number, address, phone number, and in some cases even your Social Security number. I’ve dealt with a few of these cases personally, where the victim, unfortunately, thought these requests were legitimate.

    Some things you can make yourself aware of if you feel a possible phishing email has pushed its way past your spam filter:

    Note the subject line of the email. How’s the grammar? Does it sound fishy (forgive the pun) if you say it aloud to yourself? For example, Apple will never let even the slightest grammatical/syntax error go unnoticed, so if you receive an email from “Apple” and it reads like the first draft of a fifth grader’s procedural essay, delete it.

    What’s the point of the email? Scammers are getting craftier by the day as cyber security measures are getting better and better at weeding out the malicious parties trying to swipe your personal info, so it’s unlikely that they’ll come right out the gate asking for your credit card number. Instead, they may try to get you to follow a link to their page to “verify” your personal info. Let’s just say, for the sake of this example, that you follow the link. Keep in mind, if it really is an email sent from Apple, the web address won’t look like this: http://appleid.apple.com.apple.givemeyourmoneyplease.4573949034.ithinkimsoclever.apple.com One thing to note here if you do click on their given link, Apple will never just use an ‘http’ address. All Apple websites are prefixed with ‘https’, with the ‘s’ meaning that a security certificate is in use to encrypt the communications between your device and the Apple web server. 

    Above all else, use your better judgment. If you have a sneaking suspicion that the email you’ve received isn’t genuine, call the company. If your account is really about to be deactivated, or your subscription is truly about to run out, a customer support representative of the company will certainly tell you. And please, don’t use the number listed in the email.

  • Technology Brings Us Together

    A few weeks ago Small Dog sent me to Key West to help with the Small Dog team in the southern most point. While I was there I met this wonderful Chilean. One problem though is that we do not speak the same language. She was raised speaking Spanish, English for me. Thanks to our quick thinking we were able to communicate via translators built into a few different apps. She was using an iPhone 6 with the Whatsapp app. I was using an iPhone 5s with google translate, and with a lot of patience, we were able to hold a conversation strictly relying on our iPhones.

    After I left Key West and went back to Vermont and her to Chile, we kept in contact via translators over Facebook. Until I realized that Skype had a translator built into the app, One problem it is Windows only! (Boo, Skype, Boo!). Lucky for me I already had the best windows laptop you can buy…a MacBook Pro!

    So I partitioned my drive and now Running Windows 7 and OS X, which lasted about a week before going back to just OS X. Now the setup I use is Skype running on MacOS 10.12 with google translate.

    The cool thing about Google Translate is that it has a speak option. So you type into one box and in the other box it would translate to Spanish, then just click on the sound button and google will speak in the language you translated to with a cool robot voice. The only problem that I have found with Google Translate is that they are not good with slang. I learned I use a lot of slang.

    Reflecting back on this whole scenario it amazes me that we are in a time of such great tech(slang), and we do not use it to its full potential.

  • The cool, breezy evenings have set in and we’re starting to feel the first wave of Autumn here in Vermont. It is a bittersweet feeling, as always. I hate to see summer go by so quickly. As I said in our last edition, we’re in the midst of our busy back-to-school rush, which affects every department in different ways.

    Going into the fall, we’re all gearing up to take tons of photos, especially here in Vermont. While I’m stocking up on color film and developing chemicals, I’m also looking into a better video rig. One of my coworkers has the latest GoPro Hero5, and I must say, the HD recording at 120fps is quite impressive. For the past couple of years, I’ve shot with a Canon 70D, which is well regarded for its video recording capabilities. This system is especially handy for filmmaking, as you can attach a variety of lenses to the body and achieve almost any cinematic look you desire. I’ve found for action video, this camera falls short for a few reasons. First of all, a larger camera body usually means less stability in the image. GoPros are so lightweight, you tend to have an easier time keeping things steady. In addition, recording 4K video gives you the resolution flexibility needed to apply heavy image stabilization in post-processing stages.

    When I purchased the 70D, I never expected an action camera at half the price would surpass it in terms of video capacity and ruggedness. I should add, the 70D still has a superior image sensor in so many ways I won’t get into here, but if you’re looking to shoot action without the larger camera body getting in the way of your participation in said action, I think a GoPro is a worthwhile purchase. I’m especially fascinated by the extended range of FPS (frames per second) options going all the way up to 240. If you have a minute search for 240FPS GoPro footage on YouTube. Yes, your iPhone can now handle super slow motion at the same capacity, but I’d rather not take my iPhone out water skiing, skateboarding, or strapped to a dog’s head, for example.

    Speaking of strapping to a dog’s head, we have a ton of GoPro mounting accessories at the South Burlington store, including the Karma Grip, which stabilizes even the most rocky footage, using an electronic gimbal. Very cool! If you’d like to hear more about these products, come see us at the store. If you happen to see Erich or Riley, make sure to ask them about their GoPro experience.

    Have fun with your last couple weeks of summer, we hope to see you soon!

    Patrick McCormack
    “patrickm@smalldog.com”:mailto:patrickm@smalldog.com

  • I will be off this coming week and Emily and Hadley will have to entertain you next week in Kibbles & Bytes. Heading south on motorcycles to view the total eclipse sounds like a very romantic trip but it is all about the ride. We love being on the road and the challenges of motorcycling.

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes! And don’t look at the eclipse without proper glasses!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

    _Don, Emily & Hadley_

  • How to Photograph the Eclipse with your iPhone

    I am leaving today for our annual motorcycle trip. This year we are heading down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville where we will visit our friend Jen Mayer, the owner of Charlotte Street Computers an awesome Apple Premier Partner and go to see the total eclipse of the sun. We got new tires for Grace’s Victory so we are ready to go.

    So, I will have to post the requisite picture of the eclipsed sun on Facebook and I was curious about just how to go about that. We did get the official eclipse glasses so we are set there but to snap a picture might be tricky. I had all kinds of questions, would the direct sunlight filter by the moon negatively affect my iPhone? Could I hurt my eyes looking at my iPhone as it is pointed at the sun?

    Well, Apple cleared that up by saying that the iPhone will not be damaged by direct exposure to the eclipsed sun nor would you damage your eyes looking at your iPhone screen. NASA put out a document about photographing the eclipse. One important tip is to make sure that the eclipsed sun is actually in focus. Because it will be a low-light situation for only about 2 and a half minutes you might want to practice a bit by taking pictures of the moon tonight.

    p{text-align: center;}. !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/5199.jpg!

    Okay, so what do you need to remember other than point and shoot.

    # **Turn off the flash.** I don’t know how many times I see people at baseball games or concerts taking pictures with the flash on, mistakenly thinking that little flash will light up that scene a hundred yards away. Take it from me, your little LED flash on your iPhone will not light up the moon which is only 238,900 miles from you.
    # **Turn off autofocus.** You will want to manually focus because your iPhone will have difficulty in the low light focusing on the sun. So, how do you do that? Easy, get the sun centered in your screen the way you want it and tap and hold on that image until the AE/AF Lock banner appears, that will lock in your manual focus.
    # **Reduce the exposure.** There is going to be a lot of stray light (maybe from all your friends with their flashes still on) so you want to reduce the amount of light. To do this is easy, too. Tap and hold on the eclipsed sun and you will see a box around the object and a small sun next to it. That sun is a slider that will adjust the exposure. Turn it way down.
    # **Use a tripod**. Okay, I am not bringing a tripod on my motorcycle and as a result I expect some blur in my photos but if you really want a good shot get one of the many tripod mounts to ensure that you shaking with excitement doesn’t ruin your picture.

    p{text-align: center;}. !http://blog.smalldog.com/images/5201.png!

    The NASA document recommends putting those eclipse glasses in front of the lens but I am skeptical. First, those eclipse glasses are not particularly optically wonderful so you would be degrading the quality of the picture. Second, they are making that recommendation because there was some concern that exposure to the direct sun might hurt some brands of phone cameras. Apple cleared that up by saying that it would not hurt the iPhone so keep those glasses for when you look at the sun directly, your iPhone does not need them.

    Telephoto? You can zoom some with the iPhone but Olloclip and others do make some add-on lenses that will give you greater telephoto capabilities.

    Getting the photo of the disc of the eclipse might not be the perfect photo. Consider taking that picture of your friends with their goony eclipse glasses on starring up at the sky. And by the way, there will be a couple bajillion photos of the eclipse but don’t you want to experience the eclipse? Put your phone down, pull on those goony glasses and enjoy this rare celestial event!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    Thank you to Tim Cook for calling out the hatred and violence in Charlottesville last week and putting Apple’s money where its mouth is by donating to Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League and shutting off white supremacist site. Tim said in a statement to Apple employees:

    “This is not about the left or the right, conservative or liberal. It is about human decency and morality,” Cook writes. “I disagree with the president and others who believe that there is a moral equivalence between white supremacists and Nazis, and those who oppose them by standing up for human rights. Equating the two runs counter to our ideals as Americans.”

    The horrific events in Virginia were frightening and shocking. A woman died at the hands of a nazi while peacefully protesting Nazis in the streets of a city in the USA. It was chilling to see torch-carrying men chanting nazi slogans marching in the streets. Small Dog Electronics condemns the hate and violence and the insensitive and inappropriate response of the president.

    We think that the official motto of Key West and the Florida Keys, One Human Family, is the only appropriate response. Like fingers of your hand we are all connected.

    This week’s “**Kibbles & Bytes exclusive**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002777/kibbles-bytes-exclusive-special-chill-pill-speaker-with-ipod-shuffle-product-red? is a tiny music system. “**We will combine the newly discontinued but very versatile iPod shuffle in (PRODUCT) Red with a Chill Pill Speaker for just $55.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002777/kibbles-bytes-exclusive-special-chill-pill-speaker-with-ipod-shuffle-product-red?

  • How to Avoid Phish

    Unlike the band (depending on who you ask, I suppose) to get ‘phished’ is not as groovy, wavy, or as psychedelic as their…