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The sun is out here and other than the people walking by with coats on you could not tell it was in the 50s. On the other hand, Emily tells me that the snow is coming down, the temperatures dropping, and we are getting notifications from UPS of delivery and pick-up delays.

I will be heading out to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show this week. I have a number of meetings but I am mostly going to see the new stuff and get a handle on what the future of technology might be. I remember several years ago when the first drones appeared at the show and now there is literally a complete hall for drones. I wonder what will be new this year. Okay, I am also going to place my annual $50 bet at the sports book on the Cubs and the Celtics.

Jezebel loves the dog park so much that she strained a muscle playing with all the other dogs. When we get to the park she immediately runs to greet every dog and then runs all out with the dogs until she is so tired she asks to leave. Well, a little too much roughhousing got her a strain, some pain and she can’t see her buddies for a few weeks while she heals.

Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

Don & Emily

I got the Magic 8 ball and gave it some upgrades so I am ready for my annual predictions:

Apple

Apple will become a $1 trillion dollar company in 2018 by market capitalization Apple will bring back its $200 billion from overseas and make an out-of-character acquisition Apple HomePod will ship and will make Alexa seem like a “Chatty Cathy“

Politics

• Donald Trump will not be President by the end of the year
• Dems will regain control of both the House and Senate
• A bi-partisan infrastructure bill will pass
• Some prominent Republicans will publicly break from supporting the President

Weather

• Vermont will get a lot of snow and have a horrible mud season but a wonderfully hot summer
• No hurricanes will touch the Florida Keys
• More words like bombogenesis will be created to name weather phenomena

Sports

The Boston Celtics will win the NBA championship over the Warriors when Gordon Hayward returns to play the 6th man for the playoffs The Chicago Cubs rebound from the World Series hangover and win it again The North Koreans will win a gold medal at the Olympics The USA women’s hockey team will win an Olympic medal The Patriots will lose, please Hockey? Who cares? Okay, I’m going for the Detroit Red Wings because they toss octopuses on the ice!

Space

Yes, folks this WILL be the year for confirm alien contact (see the politics section) Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy will launch gigantic payloads as the most powerful rocket ever There will be one death from space debris

Since my Chevy Volt has Apple CarPlay I usually use my iPhone and the Apple Maps App for navigation. Lately I have noticed that every time I launch Maps it wants to take me to the location “Key West Personal Chef” which happened to be the first entry in my destinations and a random pin that I had dropped on the map. This was frustrating to me and, try as I might, I was not able to delete that pin. Grace said that might be an interesting Kibbles article so here we go.

Tip 1 – Removing a Pin from Apple Maps

This has changed when Apple improved and updated the iOS. It is not as easy as I thought it would be, swiping on it didn’t work, hitting the info button didn’t work and 3D touch was not effective. I did some research, and found to remove a pin or previous destination simply swipe up to see the list of destinations and swipe left to remove. This is different if it is a previous destination or a pin that came from a search. Previous destinations can just be swiped away but those from a search have another step. You must first click into the search box and then you can swipe to remove the pin.

Tip 2 – How to Find Where you Parked

I actually have several parking applications. Some pay for meters and some remember where the car is parked (if you’ve remembered to mark the location). But, to make things easier, if you have paired your iPhone with your car via Bluetooth or through CarPlay it will remember where you parked. You will have to make sure some things are enabled for this to work. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services to make sure it is turned on. While in Location Services, go to System Services, and turn on Significant Locations. When your phone disconnects from your car, you will receive a notification and now Parked Car will show up on your map.

Tip 3- Turn on Compass Mode

It has taken me some time to get used to looking at maps where north is not up. I used to participate in these really tricky map rallies called the St. Valentines Day Massacre and that set my compass with north up! But with Apple Maps, because you may not know which way is up, you can activate “compass mode” easily. Simply tap the blue location arrow to find your current location and then tap it again and you will see a little compass showing your orientation. If you don’t want to see the compass, simply tap on it and it will go away.

Tip 4 – Clear your Location History

Let’s just say you search for directions to some places you don’t want anyone to know about, like the gift shop for your wife or you are a secret agent and want to cover your tracks. Apple Maps will keep track of where you have been, but you can clear that history easily if you want to. Go to Settings, select Privacy, and then Location Services. Tap on System Services, which can be found at the bottom of the list, and then tap on Significant Locations to see your travel history. You can clear your location history by tapping on Clear History at the bottom or selectively edit your locations by selecting that location and swiping left.