Kibbles and Bytes – 501

Okay, one of my 2007 predictions has already gone by the wayside. It was -12° F at my house this morning and it never got above zero as I drove to Burlington this morning.   I just got a call from my neighbor who I share a water system with and it is frozen so we are thawing some pipes, too!    Yes, there is still a winter. Nevertheless, we are getting seed catalogs and the days are getting longer so it won’t be long and we will have broken the back of winter!

Anyone have a spare SuperBowl ticket?  Finally, all the New England Patriots fans in my office shut up.   Well, except for Rob Amon who, in a state of denial, declared “they didn’t really lose!”    This Bears fan on the other hand has two whole weeks to gloat and get ready for the SuperBowl.    Geoff tried to convince me to go to Miami but once I started looking at the prices of tickets on eBay, I decided that a SuperBowl celebration at my house will do just fine! All I can say is DA BEARS!

I was interviewed by TV and radio this week on Apple’s announcement of the iPhone.   The news story was that Vermont will be “left out in the cold” and as the resident Apple guy in Vermont everyone wanted to know my “take” on the story.   While I bemoaned the fact that Vermont has no Cingular/AT&T connection, I cautioned patience because you can be certain that the technology that makes the iPhone the 3rd revolution for Apple will find its way into many Apple products.  I asked people to imagine the day where every nook and cranny of Vermont has access to wireless broadband and posed the question about the necessity for cell phones when this comes to pass.     Yes, it is unfortunate that Apple has chosen to limit the iPhone to itself and Cingular customers but that is just the start of this technology revolution and there will be plenty of products coming out of Cupertino that will be available to even us hill folk in the Green Mountains.

I am taking a select group of Small Dog employees out to a fancy dinner tonight.   I was joined by five others in reaching the highest level of Apple training – Apple Sales Professional.   Rob Amon, Tony Amenta,  Daniel Hollister, Keith Clevenger and Logan Cooke all received special Small Dog/Apple Sales Professional fleece vests and will be the start of an annual tradition where I take all Small Dog employees who reach this distinction out for a private dinner right after MacWorld. Already, other employees are hard at work doing their Apple training so they can join us next year.

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Mac Treat #12: Use a Screensaver to Instantly Secure Your Mac (OS 10.4)

Small Dog is a 100% Mac based. We use Macs everywhere, and for everything – including our point-of-sale cash registers in our retail stores. In that case, we use a mix of G5 and G4 iMacs. These iMac have to be kept secure, even when the person acting as cashier is called out to the floor to help a customer. The fastest way to secure a Mac in a busy environment is to “require a password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver.”

Important note: this tip requires that you have set a password for your account on your Mac. This is the same password you enter when you install new software, or run the Software Update from Apple. If you don’t have a password, you should. Go to System Preferences > Accounts to set this up. DON’T do this tutorial if you don’t know your password – you’ll lock yourself out of your computer. That won’t be fun.

First, set up a screen saver. Click on the blue Apple in the upper left hand corner of the screen and choose “System Preferences.” In System Preferences, click on “Desktop & Screen Saver.” Choose a screen saver you like. Next, to really make securing your Mac superfast, click on the button that says “Hot Corners,” and choose a hot corner. Now, whenever you put your mouse in that corner, your screen saver will activate.

After the screen saver and hot corner is selected, click on the “Show All” button at the top of the System Preferences window. Click on “Security,” and select “Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver.” Important note: this is the password you’ve assigned yourself in your Mac’s user Account – see above.

Now, when you need to step away from your computer, and you want to quickly lock it down, simply mouse into the hot corner you’ve selected for your screen saver. The screen saver will activate, and won’t turn off until you’ve entered your password!

This is great tip for me. When I leave my computer, I can activate a locking screen saver so no one else in the office will know I’ve been surfing Digg.com all day, instead of  working…

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Barefeats.com Dissects The Apple TV and iPhone

Rob-ART over at Barefeats.com has posted a well-informed and provocative preview of the iPhone and the Apple TV over at his excellent Barefeats.com website. Barefeats.com features useful real- world Mac speed tests and reviews. Check it out at:

http://www.barefeats.com/appletv.html +———————————————————+

Who Says Sledding Is Just For The Kids? By Geoff@Smalldog.com Well winter is finally here and while the ski slopes are starting to get enough of the white stuff to cover all the trails there is now more than enough to hit the slopes in a different way.

This past weekend I went sledding with some friends and their kids. Wow – I think it had been about 15 years since the last time I embarked on such an excursion. Part of my motivation was to try out my new sleds from Mad River Rockets and part was to get my three year old and two year old out into the cold and enjoy all that winter has to offer in VT. They absolutely loved it and if it was not for me getting tired of carrying the sleds AND the kids up the hill every time I think we would still be out there.

The Mad River Rocket Company is located in Warren, VT – just down the street from Small Dog Electronics. It was founded by award winning architect/designer/inventor Dave Sellers. In his spare time from making homes he patented a new kind of sled that is designed to be used in the kneeling position with a strap over your calves (allowing a ton of control). The sleds are fully controllable to rip it up among trees and loaded for fun. You can check out their line at http://www.madriverrocket.com/products.html.

Here at Small Dog we always like to support other local and socially responsible companies and Mad River Rockets fits that bill. We also like to pass along great opportunities to our loyal customers. Mad River Rockets have been incredibly generous in extending an insane offer to all friends of Small Dog Electronics who would like to purchase a sled. FREE SHIPPING plus 40% off any sled! Just go to:

http://www.madriverrocket.com/products.html

After you order write “Small Dog Deal” in the special instructions field – 40% will automatically be deducted and Free shipping applied. You will receive an email with the new price that will be charged. Of course you can always pop into their headquarters in tiny Warren VT to pick one up as well!

Well if you have a Rocket or end up picking one up let me know what you think and we can compare war stories. I am heading out again this weekend for sure – I just hope my kids can pull their own sleds this time. Happy Rocketing!

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Important Note Regarding Epson Printer Drivers By Seth @ smalldog.com

The CDs that come with Epson printers have drivers for PowerPC Macs. If you install these drivers on an Intel Mac the printer won’t work with that machine. Furthermore, said software doesn’t come with an uninstaller. The removal process is very lengthy, and many people might find this difficult.

Please keep this in mind when buying an Intel Mac-Epson printer solution. You will need to download the Intel Mac drivers from Epson’s website. See this here:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/index.jsp?ref=haa

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Maximize Your iPod’s Battery Life By Jimmy @ smalldog.com
There are a couple things you can do to maximize the life of your iPod battery. The first thing that I would recommend to do is either turn off the backlight to set it to stay on for only 5 seconds. The backlight is really a battery eater and can cut down on the time between charges and the overall life of the battery. You can accomplish this by clicking on Settings from the main menu of your iPod and then choose Backlight Timer from the Settings menu.

The next thing you can do is turn off the EQ (Equalizer). As good as the music sounds with it on, the more battery you will go through using it. You can turn off the EQ by choose the Settings from the main menu on the iPod and going to EQ in the Settings menu. Turn it off by selecting ‘Off’.

Updating you iPod to the latest firmware (http://www.apple.com/ipod/ download/). Some new firmware updates can add power saving features. You can also extend the life of your battery by fully emptying your iPods battery. Load up some albums and just keep listening until the iPod dies from lack of juice! Pretty easy!

For more information about the iPod battery and maximizing it’s life check out this website:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipods.html

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Specials!

Here are the specials for this week, valid through February 2 or while on-hand supplies last. Be sure to use the wag URL to get this special pricing!

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$200 Rebate on Final Cut Express HD w/ Purchase of New Apple Computer!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17156/mymac

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Save $250 on the Xerox Phaser 6120N 5/20PPM Color Laserprinter – Only $200 after instant rebate and coupon!

http://www.smalldog.com/product/41855

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M-Audio Podcast Factory w/ Free 3 Day Express Shipping!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17144/mymac

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PowerBook 15in G4/1.5GHz 512/80/combo/AP/BT – Apple Refurbished, $1099!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag16302/mymac

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Belkin TuneTalk Microphone for 5G ipod Black – $54.00!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17186/mymac

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Shure E2C Sound Isolating Earphones (No returns) – save $20, only $79!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17180/mymac

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Marware Protection Pack for MacBook White – $16.00

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17170/mymac

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Marware Protection Pack for MacBook Black – $16.00

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17169/mymac

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Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Killer Tips – save $10.00 – only $19.99!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17162/mymac

LaCie Biggest Disk FW800 2TB USB 2.0 – $1579.00

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17161/mymac

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Nike + iPod Sport Kit for iPod Nano, w/ Marware Sportsuit (use Nike + iPod w/ any shoes) – $34.99

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17028/mymac

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LaCie d2 320gb Extreme w/ Triple Interface Firewire 800/400/USB – $166.99

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17201/mymac

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Lacie 100gb 5400RPM P2 Mobile Firewire and USB – $124.99

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17200/mymac

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LaCie 160gb 7200RPM FireWire P3 Porsche – $99.99

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17198/mymac

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MacBook 13in 2.0GHz 512/80/SD/AP/BT Black w/ 1GB PC2-5300 RAM! – $1349.00!

http://www.smalldog.com/wag10040/mymac

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iMac 20in Intel 2.16GHz 1gb/250/Superdrive/AP/BT, Epson Stylus C88 Plus w/ Free USB cable – $1588.00

http://www.smalldog.com/wag17179/mymac

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It looks like a very typical January weekend for Vermont with cold temperatures, wind and a little snow in the forecast. Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes and have a great weekend!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

Don, Geoff, Ed & Jimmy