Octavia Butler was an acclaimed science fiction author who, among other honors, won both the Hugo and Nebula awards multiple times. Born in Pasadena, CA she started writing sci-fi at age 10. An outspoken critic of racism and a feminist, Ocatvia Butler was a prolific writer with award winning books such as Kindred, Xenogenesis, Bloodchild, […]
I’ve got the same projects yet to complete this weekend as last weekend, and I might just have to catch the Super Bowl, too. A little construction, some gardening, some motorcycle mechanics and hopefully just a bit of laying in the hammock reading my latest fave sci-fi author, Elizabeth Moon.
I was struck by Elon Musk’s Boring Company foray into flamethrowers. With a video of Musk playing with one, they sold 20,000 units in five days. I have a lot of respect for Musk and his sci-fi into reality ideas but I condemn this detour! Who needs a flamethrower? Just what we need…. more weapons out there! What is he doing preparing for the zombie apocalypse? What a waste.
And that is my editorial comment for this week! Thanks for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don & Emily
Octavia Butler was an acclaimed science fiction author who, among other honors, won both the Hugo and Nebula awards multiple times. Born in Pasadena, CA she started writing sci-fi at age 10. An outspoken critic of racism and a feminist, Ocatvia Butler was a prolific writer with award winning books such as Kindred, Xenogenesis, Bloodchild, and hundreds of others.
Her female heroes were fascinating and her social criticism was detailed and relevant. She envisioned a true multiracial future.
She met science fiction writers Harlan Ellison and Samuel R. Delany at a Screenwriter’s Guild of America workshop and soon after sold her first story Child Finder. She was the first science fiction writer to win the MacArther Fellowship in 1995. She once described herself:
Who am I? I am a forty-seven-year-old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer. I am also comfortably asocial—a hermit…. a pessimist if I’m not careful, a feminist, a Black, a former Baptist, an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty, and drive.
Octavia Butler passed away in 2006, but I have long admired her and enjoyed her visions of the future! If you haven’t had the pleasure of her work, why not try it?
I caught a news story about how archaeologists have used new laser technology to discover a huge Mayan settlement in Guatemala. A huge city with elevated streets, canals, etc. Elevate became the word to describe Apple’s 1st quarter financial results. The newswire was full of stories about how Apple was not going to hit their numbers, that no one was buying iPhones and then, boom, the facts are released.
Apple posted the best-ever quarter in the company’s history with sales of $88.3 billion and a profit of $20 billion on those sales. At a profit of $3.89 per diluted share both revenue and earnings were a record. Keep in mind that this year was a 13 week quarter vs. a 14 week quarter a year ago when Apple posted revenue of about $10 billion less and $0.50 less earnings per share.
Apple sold 77.3 million iPhones in the three months and their installed base of devices is up to some 1.3 billion units. Tim Cook said that the iPhone X, which everyone had been trying to say was a failure, has been the top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped.
Apple Watch was also up significantly. Although Apple does not report unit sales of Watch they did indicate that this was the best quarter ever for the Watch with Apple Watch Series 3 sales up more that 100% over Series 2 sales last year. This is our first year of selling the Apple Watch, and I have been amazed at just how strong the demand is for the Apple Watch.
This was also the third consecutive quarter of revenue growth for the iPad, with an astonishing 13.2 million iPads sold. Mac sales slumped a bit with sales down about 4.8% with 5.1 million Macs sold. We are seeing more and more customers that are finding that the iPad meets all their computing needs so increasing iPad sales and declining Mac sales are not that surprising.
Apple services revenue was up by 18% year over year at around $8.5 billion and other products which include Apple Watch, Apple TV, Beats, iPod and a few others was up 36% at $5.49 billion.
Apple guidance for the next quarter (ending in March) was a bit below what some prognosticators are pulling out of their ears. Apple projects revenue of between $60 to $62 billion which is still about 12% higher than last year’s numbers.
Apple also indicated in the follow-up call that they will be re-patriating their cash horde and paying $38 billion in taxes to do so. With about $163 billion (net of debt) in that stockpile, Apple indicated that their goal was to get to net zero on the stockpile of cash and will be updating their capital return program and M & A activity.
Congratulations to the entire Apple team for a job well done and an amazing record-smashing quarter. Apple is one of the world’s largest companies and owns some of the world’s most important social responsibilities because of its huge impact upon society. I am pleased to see Tim Cook recognize that when he said business can be a force for good in the world.
Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe we are already in February. My gardens down here are really flourishing now that the nutrient-sucking Ficus tree is gone. We have tomatoes, cilantro, basil, hot peppers and lemons all coming in and the farmer’s markets seem to have more and better produce.
I miss Vermont but not that much when I get a call from the heating oil company saying they can’t get up my driveway because it is a sheet of ice! We did get the driveway sanded and the truck was able to make it up to deliver the fuel. I also asked Hapy to go over and change the batteries in my Arlo cameras, which he did. My cameras allow me to always enjoy winter from here!
We now have an iMac Pro on display at our S. Burlington store. Come on it and check out the fastest Mac ever!
News manipulation is nothing new but the blatant propaganda we are all learning about is really the tip of the iceberg. Stock manipulators have been messing with the news for some time, leaking tidbits of unverified news that might influence the price of a stock. With Apple, this week it came with a highly unreliable report of production cuts on the iPhone which got picked up and amplified just before Apple released its financials. Suspicious? Yeah. Meanwhile, Apple sold over 22 million iPhones in the 1st quarter, has a 44% market share and just posted the most sales and profits of any quarter ever! Those are facts, folks.
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes Exclusive features the configure-to-order MacBook Pro 13-inch non-TouchBar unit. It has a 2.4 GHz i7 processor, 16GB ram and a 256GB SSD drive. It is silver in color. It is a demo model with a 1-year Apple Warranty and we are bundling it with AppleCare+ to extend the warranty to three years. This includes accidental damage coverage (with deductible). This week only for Kibbles & Bytes readers the bundle is only $2079.99!
Motorcycle mechanics, yard work, crafts fair, Academy Awards movies and a party are all on tap this weekend down here in Key West. I am going to build a foundation for the garden shed we are replacing and we have to hit our favorite garden center up in Big Pine for some plants to grow on our newly installed trellis.
I wish I had a HomePod but I guess I have to wait until Apple decides that their partners are worthy of selling this new product. I understand that Apple has its own outlets and that those guys with the blue shirts are a big customer, but I would expect a little more loyalty to the channel that stuck with Apple during the darkest hours and are the most adamant evangelists for the brand. But then again, the older I get the more patient I become (isn’t that sorta backwards?) and I know it won’t be long before HomePod is on our shelves.
Thank you so much for being loyal customers of Small Dog Electronics and for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don & Emily
Let’s say you are out to lunch with some millenial friends, one of whom picks up the check and says, “Just send me your share via Apple Pay Cash.” Say what?
Apple Pay Cash is Apple’s new person-to-person payment service, designed to make it easy for individuals to send and receive money. It’s perfect for repaying a friend who buys concert tickets or a relative who picks up some groceries for you. Or rather, it’s perfect if your friends and relatives use iPhones with iOS 11.2 or later—for green-bubble Android acquaintances, you can rely instead on cross-platform services like Venmo, Circle, and Square Cash. I’ve been sending money to my granddaughter at BU with Apple Pay Cash instead of Venmo and it works great..
Here’s how to start using Apple Pay Cash:
First, if you haven’t yet enabled Apple Pay, go to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Add Credit or Debit Card, and follow the prompts to add at least a debit card. You will also need two-factor authentication turned on in Settings > Your Name > Password & Security—regardless of Apple Pay, two-factor authentication is essential for security. With Apple Pay enabled, tap Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay > Apple Pay Cash and run through the setup process. You might also be asked to verify your identity after setup—it just might be necessary to send or receive more than $500 in total for that really fancy meal you are having.
When you’re done, you’ll end up with a new Apple Pay Cash card in the Wallet app. It’s a virtual card that stores money you receive and works like any other debit card for payments. If it doesn’t have enough money on it to cover a payment, you can choose any other debit or credit card you’ve added to Apple Pay. You can also add money to it or withdraw money to a linked bank account. You’ll want to use a debit card when adding money or paying beyond your balance with Apple Pay Cash, since then there is no transaction fee. A credit card incurs a 3% fee.
To send or request money via Apple Pay Cash, you use Messages. While in an iMessage thread (blue bubbles) with the person with whom you want to exchange money, make sure the app drawer is showing (tap the app button if necessary) and then tap the Apple Pay button in the drawer.
A panel appears with a dollar amount, + and – buttons, and buttons for Request and Pay. Use the + and – buttons to set the amount, or tap the dollar amount to show a keypad where you can enter an exact amount, with cents if necessary. Then tap Request or Pay to insert the transaction into the message. It won’t be sent until you tap the black send button, so if you change your mind, you can tap the little x to delete. Lastly, you’ll be prompted to verify the transaction in the usual Apple Pay fashion, which means authenticating with Face ID on the iPhone X or Touch ID on all other iPhones.
You can even use Siri to initiate transfers—“Send my mother $15.” or “Ask my sister for $4.99.” And if you have an Apple Watch with watchOS 4.2 or later, you can also send money from the Messages app, or send or request money via Siri. On the watch, double-press the side button to confirm the transaction.
The recipient can store their money on their Apple Pay Cash card and use that to pay for stuff or transfer right into their bank account. I discovered when sending money to Khadija, that it takes 3-4 days for the money to be successfully transferred to the bank account so if you need immediate cash that might not be the best way.
Frankly, the only downside to Apple Pay Cash is that it works only within the Apple world. But as long as you want to exchange money with Apple-using friends and relatives, it’s fast, easy, reliable, and one less reason to visit the ATM.
Dear Friends,
Apple’s long awaited HomePod got its release date this week and it looks like supplies will be limited. Apple is not releasing them to their independent resellers just yet but we will certainly let you know when we have them for sale. I look forward to checking out Apple’s entry into this smart speaker market. Check out Emily’s report below.
I was disappointed to learn about the misguided action to slap a huge tariff on solar panels. A 30% tariff means that the cost of solar electricity just went up substantially. That is very shortsighted as there has been some real progress with the installation of solar renewable energy for electricity. This installed capacity is an insurance policy for the future. We installed a large array at our headquarters about 7 years ago and it has provided most of the electricity that we use at our facilities in Vermont. We have severely limited our carbon footprint by installing this array. There is no way we could have afforded to do that if the prices were 30% higher. This is a mistake that undermines the world’s efforts to combat climate change.
The big strangler fig tree in our yard that got damaged by Irma is gone. It was quite the project that culminated with the big stump grinder that turned it into mulch. I think that tree was sucking all the nutrients from our yard and everything seems to be growing much faster now. We even have some lemons on our tree!
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive takes off on the HomePod home automation features. Did you know the the HomePod can replace your Apple TV or iPad as your HomeKit hub? This week’s exclusive is a home automation starter kit. This kit includes a Philips Hue starter kit, an August lock and a Honeywell Lyric thermostat. Each of these items is HomeKit compatible and can be the start of your smart home! Normally this bundle sells for $449.97 but for our Kibbles & Bytes readers it’s only $389.99
Projects, projects and more projects. Grace and I have loaded up on projects for the next couple of weeks. We have some repair to her BMW motorcycle that I will be doing this weekend. We are planning a road trip to New Orleans in a couple months so I want to be sure that bike is in tip-top shape.
We got rid of our garden shed that was damaged by the big Ficus tree in our yard. Several huge limbs from that tree came down during Hurricane Irma, and we also discovered that it was damaging our neighbor’s house, so we took the tree down. Our next project is to work on getting rid of the huge roots sucking up every bit of nutrients from our yard. We are planting some Confederate Jasmine to cover the fence, but of course that means another project, painting and hanging some trellis. And then there is the new garden shed which the manufacturer says will take two people at least two days to assemble. I liked erector sets as a youth so I am looking forward to this one.
So it looks like no rest for the wicked with all these projects!
It has been chilly down here in the Keys, it did not make it to 60 today. I have become acclimated to this climate because if it was 60 and sunny in Vermont in January I would be wearing sandals and shorts, but here in Key West I am bundling up in my Vermont winter gear.
Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!
Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
Don & Emily
I have found that I am paying for Cable TV and that I use it less than 20% of the time. This may have to change in the near future! Most of the time when I am watching TV, I am using my Apple TV. Because my Apple TV also acts as my Apple Homekit hub, it must be on all the time so that when I’m away, I can adjust the thermostat or unlock the doors. Or I can play practical jokes on Grace by randomly turning on or off lights (she really does not like that!).
Here are seven handy tips that you might find useful for your Apple TV.
Force a Reboot
The other day for some strange reason my Apple TV froze. I was too lazy to get out of my chair and go unplug it to reboot it but remembered that I could force a reboot by simultaneously pressing the Home and Menu buttons on the remote. If you need to do this, the light on the front of the Apple TV will start blinking rapidly. Let go of the buttons and it will reboot.
HomeKit Control
Apple TV will configure itself as a HomeKit hub and, as long as you set your Apple TV not to turn itself off, you can control your Apple HomeKit devices remotely. You can also control your HomeKit devices using the Apple TV’s Siri remote. Just say, “Siri lock the front door”, or if you are like me and have set up more automation, you can even be more complex. When I say “Hey Siri, good night” all the lights in my house will turn off (except in the bedroom and the TV), the doors will lock and the thermostat will set to my set sleeping temperature.
What Did He Just Say?
Okay you could hit rewind on your DVR and go back to try to hear that important line in the movie but Apple TV goes one step further. This is the most useful command for the Apple TV. If you’re watching a movie and you didn’t understand what a character just said, you can hold the Siri button on the remote and ask, “What did he just say?” The video will rewind to a point before the last person started speaking and Closed Captioning will be temporarily turned on so you can not only hear it again, you can also read what they said. Pretty cool, eh?
Mirror Mirror on the TV
You may have this giant flat screen TV with the Apple TV and yet you look at web sites or pictures on that tiny MacBook screen. Whether it is shopping on Amazon or looking at the latest pictures from the grand kids, screen mirroring is very handy and very simple. You can mirror content from your iPhone, iPad or any Mac running the latest OS versions. Swipe up from the bottom of your iOS device to access Control Center and tap AirPlay, choose AirPlay under the display option on your OS X Menu bar or in the share icon. You’ll be asked to choose the correct Apple TV if you have more than one and once you’ve done so you’ll be able to mirror the action on your screen.
You Have More Remote
If you surf over to the App store and download the Apple Remote App you can control your Apple TV with your iPhone. If you have an Apple Watch you can control your Apple TV with your watch, too. You can even use your iPhone or Watch as another game controller when playing a multi-player game on Apple TV.
Hey! I am Trying to Sleep
Sleepless nights got you restless and you want to get up and watch Artificial Intelligence gone wild in the Terminator series? But you don’t want to disturb your partner? Apple TV makes it possible for you to listen to the volume up high for all that action by pairing a set of BlueTooth earbuds or earphones. If you are lucky enough to have AirPods you can just pair them and listen in comfort. You simply navigate to the Bluetooth settings – Settings > Remotes and Devices > Bluetooth and pair ‘em up.
On Screen Keyboard Hell
The on screen keyboard is not so much fun to use. But there are options! You can hold down the Siri button on your remote and dictate whole words or individual letters. That makes entering your very secure 27 character password much easier. Or if you have downloaded the Apple Remote App, you can use your iPad or iPhone keyboard making it even easier.
