Kibbles & Bytes Blog

I’m sure you’ve seen “PRODUCT RED”:http://www.joinred.com/Home.aspx special edition products that, when bought, the manufacturers donate a percentage of the profits to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. (Apple’s red iPod nano and shuffle are good examples–if they would let us carry them, we would!)

*GREAT MUSIC, DELIVERED WEEKLY, SAVES LIVES*

Now, there’s more to (RED), and more ways to help! Their new weekly digital music magazine, (RED)WIRE, launches today. With each issue, you’ll receive exclusive music from artists around the world, and people living with HIV in Africa will receive the medicine they need.

“Sign up now and get two free issues.”:http://www.joinredwire.com/givegettry.html

How it works:
Every Wednesday, you’ll receive your new music via the (RED)WIRE player – which also places each song automatically in your iTunes. All music is yours forever, since they are unprotected digital files. You’ll be able to play them on your computer, iPod as well as burn them to CD or DVD.

It’s all only $5 per month (that’s about what you’d pay for iTunes music anyway in a month!) and half your membership fee goes to buy medicine to keep people living with HIV in Africa alive.

What you’ll receive:
* You get an exclusive song from a major artist.
* A song by a showcased artist.
* A fun or inspiring piece that’s not music–a short video of someone telling a story, a slideshow of great photography, someone reading something they love.
* And frequent updates from Africa–a window into the culture of the people getting the medicine.

“Check out (RED)WIRE here!”:http://www.joinredwire.com/
“Shop (PRODUCT) RED.”:http://www.joinred.com/Shop.aspx/

In a few days, many thousands of people will unwrap shiny new iPods. iTunes and the iPod are fairly easy to use, with fairly intuitive interfaces, but first-time iPod owners may still be confused about how to use them. This is espeacully true for people who rarely use a computer.

Also, even long-time iTunes/iPod owners might not be getting the most out their iPods. For example, many iTunes users don’t know they can manually manage songs and playlists on their iPods, rather than having iTunes automatically sync media (which sometimes results in media being improperly removed from the iPod). Following are a few links from Apple.com that will help new and experienced iPod owners to get the most out of their iPods.

* “New User’s Guide For iPod”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1345
* “iPod tutorials from Apple.”:http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/tutorials/
* “Apple’s iPod Support Page”:http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/
* “Syncing Content to iPod”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2209
* “Using iPod with multiple computers”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202
* “Safely disconnect iPod”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1853
* “Adding and Deleting Songs and playlists from your iPod”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1855
* “How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer”:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329

Mac Treats are meant to be quick and easy “how to” tips for getting more from your Mac on a daily basis. Many of these Treats elicit a “wow, I didn’t know you could do that!” reaction from readers. I find it oddly satisfying to discover, harness, and share the seemingly hidden features of Mac OS X. Occasionally, I stumble across an OS X feature that all my fellow Mac users seem to know – except for me.

For example: in Apple’s Mail program, did you know you can easily color code email messages in your inbox? This is useful if you want to flag certain messages for appropriate responses.

I just learned that you can manually do this by selecting an email, then pressing Command-Shift-C. The Apple color chooser window will pop up. You can use the color wheel to choose a color, but for this task I prefer the “crayon” view in the color chooser. In Mail, you can also get the color window to open by navigating to the menu bar at the top of the screen and choosing “Format > Choose Colors.”

It’s also easy to get Mail to automatically flag email by color as it enters your inbox. For example, lets say you’re married but have a boyfriend or mistress, and you don’t want their emails to get mixed up. Wait, no, don’t use that example.

Let’s say you want email from your boss to be flagged with green. In Mail’s menu at the top of the screen, click on Preferences, then in the window that opens, click Rules (note that sometimes the Rules button is hidden far to the right, and you have to drag the window larger to see it). Click “Add Rule”, choose the input criteria, and under “Perform the following actions” choose “Set Color of Message” in the drop-down menu. You may need to adjust the input critereia to make this work perfectly.

This is an easy way to make sure important emails stand out in your probably-swamped inbox. Feel free to flag Kibbles with red, meaning “read now!”

_Dear Friends,_

Every year at this time we push our systems and our team to the limits to make sure that we get all of the orders out promptly and maintain our standards for customer satisfaction. This year is no exception, and the great deal on the MacBooks, Chill Pills and iPods combined with our first-ever free shipping promotion has given new meaning to “all hands on deck.” I am pleased to report that despite some absences due to flu and cold, the Small Dog team has really risen to the occasion. It is the team effort that gets the job done and I could not be prouder of our team.

The big news this week is that Apple has announced that this year’s San Francisco Macworld will be their last. They also announced that Phil Schiller will be giving the keynote address at the beginning of the Macworld Expo. This has created a furor of rumors and speculation. I fully understand Apple’s decision to cut back on participation in trade shows, especially this annual gathering. Trade shows are “old” business and enormously expensive for the huge presence Apple has each year at the show. Perhaps more importantly, the timing of the show immediately following the most intense sales period for Apple is not particularly ideal. Their stock tanks if they do not meet or exceed everyone’s expectations for new and innovative products, which sometimes results in premature product announcements (in which they don’t ship immediately), product spec changes (by the time they do ship) and an artificial deadline for product development. When Apple sold most of its product through their resale channel, perhaps a trade show made sense; however, with Apple’s retail presence and web presence, a trade show is no longer necessary to get the word out. It is also clear that Apple can create–almost at will–a media event to announce a new product and get as much (or more) buzz on their own schedule.

It will be disappointing not to have Steve Jobs address the crowd at Macworld. I am sure glad that I didn’t pay the $2000 for a guaranteed seat at the keynote! Naturally, the speculation is that the reason for Steve’s absence is his health but I doubt that is the issue; he is clearly in charge and doing well at Apple. There has been pressure for Apple to address succession plans, and I think that is exactly what Apple is doing by giving some of the other outstanding members of their executive team some high-profile opportunities. Phil Schiller, Tim Cook, Jonathan Ives and others are superstars in their own right and I think it is a smart plan to move Apple from being the “cult of Steve” to the “cult of Apple.” I do not think that the change in keynote presenter necessarily means that there will be fewer or different products introduced. I just think that Apple is working on their schedule and has learned from past mistakes regarding premature product releases.

I don’t know what I will do with my first week of January after next year, and I’ll certainly miss the opportunity to hob-knob with vendors and Apple folks at meetings and parties. The social nature of Macworld will be missed; however, at least for Apple, the huge expense in materials and personnel will not be. I’ve been to just about every Macworld and have great memories stretching back over 20 years, so it will be sad to see it go, but change is good and we will find new ways and venues with which to network.