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_Dear Friends,_

The trip up the the Everglades was pretty uneventful although we did see alligators and eagles as we were watching nature go by. Grace wants to go back up for an airboat ride so we will have to put that on the list.

I am very happy to report that Small Dog Electronics now offers Go-Pro cameras and accessories. It took us many tries but I was able to meet with someone that could make a decision at CES in Las Vegas so we are now all set and Go-Pro should be in all of our stores. We’ll feature skiing and motorcycling kits up in the Green Mountains and some surf-oriented bundles down in Key West.

I guess this should be in a soapbox but I just want to make a quick statement that I feel that Tim Cook and Apple are 100% correct in resisting the government’s attempt to force them to create software to defeat the encryption inherent in the iPhone. One of Apple’s most valuable commodities is safety. You know when you buy an Apple product that your data is safe. Safe from most viruses, malware, ransomware and also that your private data remains just that…private. While I certainly sympathize with those investigating the horrible San Bernadino terrorist actions, I do not feel that we should pay an even higher price and sacrifice our liberty and privacy as a result. Bravo to Tim Cook and Apple.

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is the “**Tempus Pro Weather Station.**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002092 This complete wireless weather station has been one of out best selling devices. It combines an indoor monitoring station with an outdoor instrument and an iPhone or iPad App to give you complete weather information. It includes sensors for indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, rainfall and wind speed. It is simple to install and works by Bluetooth between the outdoor and indoor sensor and Wi-Fi to your iPhone. This is normally $159.99 but for this week for Kibbles & Bytes readers it is “**$25 off at $134.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002092

I hear they are having a big football game on my birthday this year. I might catch some of it just for the commercials but will probably just go out to dinner with Grace to toast another year on this blue planet. Thank you so much for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team

Don, Dean, Emily & Scott

Way before Barack Obama broke the color barrier to become president of the USA, Thurgood Marshall broke that barrier for another of the most powerful and important positions in the country, that of Supreme Court Justice. After graduating from high school with honors he applied to the University of Maryland law school where he was not accepted because he was black. Instead, he went to Howard University and received his law degree in 1933.

Before being appointed Supreme Court Justice, he had a stellar career from 1934 to 1961 as a lawyer for the NAACP where he won landmark civil rights cases. Beginning in 1940, Marshall won 29 of 323 US Supreme Court cases. One of his first big cases was Smith vs. Allwrite in 1944 which overthrew the South’s “White Primary”. The White Primary was a practice of excluding African Americans from the Democratic Party. It was most common in a state where that party controlled the state government.

In 1954 Marshall achieved a landmark victory with the case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. This Supreme Court decision demolished the legal basis for segregation in the USA. It also made state-enforced racial segregation in public schools invalid.

In 1961 he was appointed the the US Court of Appeals by President Kennedy. He was the first African American on the Court of Appeals and went on to be appointed to the Second Court of Appeals. President Johnson made him the Solicitor General in 1965 and later in 1967 President Johnson nominated him for the Supreme Court.

On the Supreme Court he was a steadfast supporter of positive gender and racial action policies and in his 24 years on the court he became a vocal liberal on a conservative-dominated court. He was an ardent supporter of Constitutional protection of individual rights, in particular the rights of criminal suspect versus the government. Marshall’s backing of Affirmative Action led to his strong dissent in the Regents of the University of California vs. Blake in 1978. Justice William Brennan was Marshall’s most reliable confederate who voted with him against the death penalty.

Citing poor health, Thurgood Marshall stepped down from the court in 1991 and remained a vocal critic of the court until his death in 1993 at the age of 84.

_Hello Friends_,

It is hard to believe that it is February already. There is almost no snow up in Vermont and Artie is reporting that farmers are already gathering sap from the maple trees to make syrup. The Iowa caucuses have come and gone and on Tuesday the first in the nation primary is next door in New Hampshire. Being a leap year my granddaughter, Gracie, will have her 4th real birthday on the 29th. She was recently chosen as guest composer on Vermont Public Radio. You can hear her interview and one of her “**compositions**”:http://digital.vpr.net/post/student-composer-showcase-gracie-bangoura#stream/0 online. 

February is also Black History month and each week in Kibbles and on our “**blog**”:http://blog.smalldog.com we will be honoring Black History. It is fun researching and writing these little bios of Black American heroes and heroines.  

Florida’s governor declared a state of emergency in four counties regarding the horrible tragedy unfolding in Brazil with the Zika virus. One thing that is not being widely reported is the apparent link to genetically modified mosquitos and the microcephaly disaster. Apparently, Brazil was the site of a massive experiment with genetically modified mosquitos that were released into the wild. They were proposing a similar release for here in the Florida Keys but it has not happened. The Zika virus has been around since 1947 and this is the first big outbreak of microcephaly. You can “**read more about it,**”:http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2987024/pandoras_box_how_gm_mosquitos_could_have_caused_brazils_microcephaly_diasaster.html regardless of whether that analysis is true, I think releasing genetic mosquitos is a bad idea.

I am happy to announce that Small Dog Electronics will be offering GoPro cameras and accessories in our stores this month. We have had lots of requests for these action cameras from our customers and we finally have secured the line for our stores. We will talk more about GoPro as we get them into stock.  

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes special is a “**Hammerhead charging bundle**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002149/special-save-20-on-hammerhead-charging-bundle As you know we manufacture rugged braided lightning cables that are certified by Apple with their MFI “Made for iPhone” designation. This means that our manufacturer has passed all the tests with Apple and use genuine Apple lightning connectors. You do not have to worry about compatibility with MFI designation. This bundle includes two of these braided cables, our Hammerhead 2-port home charger and Hammerhead 2-port car charger. Each of these chargers have the capacity to charge an iPhone and an iPad simultaneously. Sold separately, this bundle would be $72.96 but exclusively for Kibbles & Bytes readers this week you can have this handy bundle for only “**$49.99!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002149/special-save-20-on-hammerhead-charging-bundle 

I have been hosting phone bank parties for Bernie Sanders at my house as we head into the first caucuses and primaries. It is fun talking to folks out in Iowa and now New Hampshire to see who they are supporting and to tell them about the Senator from Vermont. I like being involved and feel if you are not involved, informed and voting you do sacrifice your right to complain about the results.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes! We know it is YOU, our loyal customers that ultimately pay our wages and appreciate the support!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,

_Don, Dean, Emily & Scott_

Last week a typo slipped by our proofers. Command+M is not open a new document but that command is Command+N. Sorry about that. To make up for it here are a couple more keyboard combinations you might find handy:

**Command-Option-Esc** – If an app stops responding, you might need to force it to quit. You can do that with a right click on the app icon in the dock, but it’s even easier if you hit this keyboard shortcut. This will bring up the Force Quit dialog, which you can then use to make that non-responsive app quit. You might need to Command-Tab you way out of an active frozen app first, though, or use **Command+Shift+Option+Esc** to quit the currently active app.

**Command-Option-P and R** – Here’s one that might challenge your fingers dexterity. Fortunately, you will hardly ever have to use it but it is used to reset your non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM). Information stored in NVRAM can include speaker volume, screen resolution, start-up disk selection and recent kernel panic information. If you are asked to reset your P-Ram or NVRAM here’s how you do it.

1) Shut down your Mac
2) Turn on your Mac
3) Immediately after you hear the start up sound, hold down the command, option, P and R keys
4) Hold those keys down until you hear the start up sound again and then release them.

Apple posted record earnings and profit for the holiday quarter disappointing those analysts that predicted less than stellar results. Of course, the realistic guidance for the next quarter sent Apple stock plummeting while those same analysts maintain a price target that is $40-50 higher than the current price of the stock. Okay, so Apple’s profit and revenue were all time records for the company but the remarkable tidbit is that no public corporation ever has posted that much profit in a single quarter. Let’s see how Apple did that.

First of all, Apple sold 74.8 million iPhones in the quarter. Not too shabby and that revenue is nearly 70% of Apple’s total. The average sales price (ASP) for the iPhone was up to $691 which also led to slightly higher gross margin. To put that is some perspective that is an average of 34,000 iPhones sold per hour 24/7 for 13 weeks.

They finished the quarter with about $215 billion in cash which represents about $39/share. Macs sales were down a bit at 5.3 million units and the iPad continues to do moderate in sales with sales dropping year on year from 21.4 million units to 16.1 million units.

Currency “headwinds” have caused some of these results to be muted. With the exceptionally strong dollar it is more difficult to export US goods and sales suffer a bit. The Euro and British Pound were down double digits and the Canadian and Australian dollars were down 20% or more. It gets worse. The Russian Ruble is down by 50% and Brazilian Real is down 40%. Apple estimated that if it were not for these global currency fluctuations that their revenue would have been over $80 billion representing an 8% increase. But despite those headwinds, Apple posted their best quarter ever.

Other high points were service revenue which was the highest ever at over $6 billion. Wow, $6 billion in just iTunes, App store and a few other things. That is more revenue that quite a few well known companies and a 24% growth year over year. Other products which include the Apple TV, Beats and Apple Watch also were strong with $4.5 Billion in sales.

In another milestone that just points to the success of the services side of Apple’s business Tim Cook announced that they now calculate that there are more than 1 billion Apple devices in use worldwide which is up 25% year over year. That is simply incredible considering that there are only 7.4 billion people on the planet!

What sent Apple stock down was Apple’s realistic prediction that iPhones sales in their 2nd fiscal quarter would decline year over year by as much as 15-20%. Last year’s 2nd quarter was strong because of supply issues that moved some revenue from the 1st to 2nd quarter and the impact of the global currency situation has caused some price adjustments. Apple remains very bullish on the iPhone market and pointed to the fact that in China over 50% of the iPhones sold were to people buying their first iPhone. Apple pointed out that the growth of the middle class in China is unprecedented with the middle class comprising about 50 million people in 2010 and now it is projected to be $500,000,000 by 2020.

Even if Apple sells “only” the 40-45 million iPhones in this quarter that would still be more revenue that most companies earn overall in a single quarter. To put this in perspective, Apple books more revenue at strong margins, than Amazon, Facebook, Google or Microsoft generate from all of their operations.

All in all the financial results that Apple announced were an incredible testament to the quality and innovation of Apple products and of a company doing things right. Congratulations to the entire Apple team!

_Dear Friends,_

I have become super aware of mosquitos with all the news about the Zika virus. For some reason biting insects just love me whether they are super tiny no-see-ums here in the Keys or slightly larger ones in Vermont they seem to be attracted to me. The first thing that I noticed about the mosquitos down here is that they are tiny compared to the ones that come out every year in Vermont. Seriously though, this Zika virus seems like a very serious health epidemic with the World Health Organization calling it a crisis. They have a pretty serious mosquito control program down here with guys that go door to door to look for standing water and spraying year around.

Apple announced their holiday quarter financials and they beat the estimates on the street and posted the most revenue and profit ever for Apple and in a truly remarkable factoid, the most profit generated in a quarter by any public corporation, EVER. I will talk about the financial results below but let’s just say if Apple has reached a plateau it sure is a lofty one! Just to contrast that a bit against the other guys, Samsung reported a 40% decline in profits. They posted about a $15.8 billion profit for the entire year which Apple crushed in a single three month period!

This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive features the “**Apple Certified Reconditioned 21 inch iMac**.”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002135/special-apple-certified-reconditioned-21-5in-imac-2-7ghz-w-applecare-for-1099 This iMac is configured with a 2.7GHZ i5 processor 8GB of ram and a 1 TB hard drive. This model has the latest 802.11ac wireless protocol and comes with the same 1 year warranty as new iMacs. We are bundling it with Applecare so instead of a 1 year warranty you get 3 years and instead of 90 day days of free Apple technical support you get 3 years too. Kibbles & Bytes readers can purchase this special bundle for “**$1099!**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002135/special-apple-certified-reconditioned-21-5in-imac-2-7ghz-w-applecare-for-1099 That’s the lowest price ever for a warrantied iMac with Applecare!

My visiting family went out dolphin watching today taking advantage of the sunny day. The dogs and I are hanging out at my home office and I am listening to some Eagles music as I work.

Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

_Don, Dean, Emily & Scott_

I am the kind of gal that admittedly likes gadgets and accessories just because they are cool, I don’t even need to have a use for them to make me want one! If there is a new iPad case, a new speaker, a new product announcement from Apple, I want it. This has resulted in a vast collection over the years of all kinds of gadgets, gizmos and some stuff that I just hang onto for no good reason other than I might need it one day. Some things have been a bit of a fad, others have stood the test of time. Over the years I have found that I few items in my collection of gadgets that have either become invaluable or the kind of item that really stands the test of time.

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My first must have and favorite gadgets are portable bluetooth speakers, and I have had several over the years. The battery powered speakers from Skullcandy I had were one of my most favorite pocket sized speakers! It took up little room in my bag and I could have my music wherever I wanted. You never realize how much you miss having music wherever you go until you start to use these kinds of speakers and then suddenly don’t have them! I eventually outgrew my little Skullcandy speakers and upgraded to a larger but still portable Altec system. This speaker system went everywhere with us. In fact, it still travels with us in our camper even though it features a 30 pin connection for our phones. What I loved most about this set up was that it had a rechargeable battery, so unlike my little Skullcandy speakers I didn’t need to worry about carrying around spare AA batteries. It also allows me to use a 3.5mm headphone cable and an FM radio. I recently started to use the “**Outdoortech Turtle Shell**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/85338/outdoor-tech-turtle-shell-2-0-rugged-wireless-boombox-electric-blue speakers to replace the old Skullcandy speakers for immediate portable sound, and as a huge bonus this speaker is bluetooth, something none of my previous portable units had. I will admit, I still haven’t found a better replacement for my aging Altec portable speaker as far as sound quality goes, but I will also admit finding a newer solution would require my having to let go!

My second must-have gadget is an airport express base station. You might be surprised that it is not the Airport Extreme. Why do I love the “**airport express**”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/80932/apple-airport-express-base-station-802-11n-wi-fi so much? Well part of it might be a bit nostaglic. It was my first introduction into wireless speakers. How cool was it to plug in my Harmon Kardon speakers, simply tap my iPhone while sitting on the couch, and my speakers came to life like magic? But the great features don’t stop there. It’s a really powerful and inexpensive wireless router. For many, we don’t have huge areas we need to cover with wireless. Maybe it’s just a small apartment, or perhaps your house just isn’t that big. When I first started to use the airport express the one draw back was that the only ethernet port had to be designed (in most cases) for your internet modem, but in recent years Apple has added a second ethernet port allowing for more flexibility and versatility with this little gem.

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iPad and iPhone cases are another huge weakness of mine. I probably have no less then five cases for my phone and for my iPad. You could say I collected cases like some girls collect shoes! But on a serious note, this is a very important accessory for your iPhone or your iPad. Some folks prefer form fitting and minimal, others prefer a more rugged case. I have come to prefer several cases. However, I think cases that combine both slim form factor and serious protection are the “**Lifeproof**”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag900002119 cases. I have one for my phone and one for my iPad. What I love most of them is that they come off easily! I don’t always want a heavy duty case on my devices, but have found that many cases that offer greater levels of protection end up being very difficult to take off your device.