Google Apps and Google Account integration problems

Over the past year Google has been consolidating previously separate Google Apps and Google/Gmail accounts.

For example, consider kateva.org. At one time if I wanted the Google Apps users jgordon@kateva.org to have Reader access, I had to create a Google/Gmail account with the username jgordon@kateva.org. They were separate services. After the merger they are supposed to be unified. The merge process was, unsurprisingly, rocky. Some things could transfer, some not. Relics of the discarded identity may remain in an orphaned Google/Gmail account with a peculiar URL.

It's still not working. Emily, for example, has problems authenticating with some Google services. Relics of her old identity produce odd error messages, especially with Google Reader. Some third party apps, don't work at all. Reeder.app for example. Seems she's not alone ...

Reeder

... Having issues signing in with your Google Apps account? Some users reported that changing the password did the trick. If this does not help, enabling 2-step verification and creating an application specific password should get Reeder working again. Please see this help article (Getting started with 2-step verification) for more information...

I wonder if current problems are tied to Google's troubled and incomplete migration to two factor authentication.

We'll try Reeder's fixes, though two factor is not something I want to inflict on Emily. I fear James Fallows and Ezra Klein greatly overstate the usability of Google's work.

Beyond this immediate glitch, these problems reinforce my sense of where Google 2.0 is going. The train has changed direction, and I need to get off. Unfortunately, Google 1.0 crushed the competition, so there's nothing to get off too. It's a 100 mile walk through the Sahara to the next watering hole. It will take years for niche vendors to move into the spaces Google has opened up.

Update:  What I did to try to clear up the Google Apps vs. Google authentication issues.

First I found the email notification services associated with the account merger we performed in July 2011.

After the merge/migration of last July her old account data was associated with a modification of her old Google/Gmail username.  The domain is gtempaccount.com, the username is the old email address with % replacing @:

emily%kateva.org@gtempaccount.com (not her real domain).

I entered her old password was taken to a set of dialogs similar to those I saw in July. The dialogs told me data was successfully migrated. There were bugs of course; Google is supposed to be able to show data associated with her current accounts and that failed. Nonetheless I felt reasonably sure what we cared about had been migrated. So I found the tiny "delete account" link, walked through the warnings process, and deleted the remnants of  her old independent Google/Gmail account.

Then, a few minutes later, I tried logging into Reeder. It worked.

I never changed her Google password and I didn't try two step verification. All I did was delete the remnants of her old account.

I think this Google bug shows up after account mergers between Google Apps and Google/Gmail when the same password was used for both.

Navigon and the dark side of the iOS marketplace

One of the downsides to the iOS App Store model is that vendors can change the rules -- and it's very hard to avoid an update.

NAVIGON used to bundle maps withe the purchase price. At $50 it was a good price, and even though there was no commitment to map updates they were updated. Yes, it was a 1.8 GB download -- but that was a rare event.

The price is even better than it appeared, because if a family shared an iTunes account the $50 covered all family iOS devices.

Now Navigon has moved to the in-app purchase model. The default "update" is "free" and only 48MB, but the maps are in-app purchases and they are not free. Old maps are removed during the "update" (and so are "favorites", which is not nice). I am not certain, but I suspect in-app purchases are tied to a phone and iTunes account, not to an iTunes account alone. So each user in a family will buy their own maps. (I seem to be the only one whose noticed this.)

This may not be a terrible deal for new users, but old users are moving Navigon to a 1 star rating.

Unfortunately there's no way to prevent app updates and no way to keep an old version of an app. iTunes will nag forever. So I made a copy of Navigon 1.8.2.ipa and put it in a safe place. That way when it's "updated" I can delete the update and restore the original.

PS. What should Navigon had done? Forget the evil "update" trick. Create and sell Navigon "Pro" as a separate app and stop updating Navigon 1.

See also:

• How to Ignore iPhone App Updates: Prevent App Updates from Reappearing on Your iPhone
• How to edit version number to prevent app update - xSellize

Update 11/19/11: I tried a few experiments

• I "locked" NAVIGON 1.8.2.ipa in the Finder then tried updating. Alas iTunes ignored the Finder lock, it just deleted 1.8.2 and kept v2.
• I dragged 1.8.2 into the iTunes app window and iTunes let me replace v2. It, however, put v2 back on my free update list.
• I changed permissions on 1.8.2 so I had read-only permissions. Then I tried the Update again. This time iTunes installed v2 and showed it in the app list. However the 1.8.2 file was still in Mobile Applications. I quit iTunes, deleted 2.0 (must put in trash and empty trash) and restarted. iTunes still listed 2.0, but when I tried it I was asked to locate the missing file. I pointed it to 1.8.2. The available update appeared again.

So it looks like while I can't truly fool iTunes, by changing permission I can protect 1.8.2 from deletion. If I accidentally update to 2.0 I can revert.

Another iCloud sync issue - Google Calendar side effects ...

Three lessons from this recent Google/iCal/iCloud synchronization problem

Google Calendar Known Issues - Google Calendar Help

... Setting up iCloud sync caused events to be unexpectedly wiped from Google Calendar for some of our users who were syncing information between iCal and Google Calendar. This unwanted deletion took place between 10/11 and 10/14. We have since restored deleted events and invitees. Please note we’re only able to restore invitees who are Google Calendar users; guests who are non-Google Calendar users (i.e. Outlook users, Yahoo! users) could not be recovered and will need to be re-invited manually. In response to the above issue, we have stopped deleting events if the delete request comes from iCal. Until further notice, deleting any event in iCal on Mac OS will not remove this event from Google Calendar, but all other requests like creating events or changing existing events will be synced properly...

Synchronization is H... Ok. You knew that.

iCloud has bugs. Ok, you knew that.

Google 2.0 doesn't give a s*. That's different.

My reader shares are back for now - thanks to Keakon.

My Google Reader shared items are back. My memory is transiently restored ...

How To Restore Sharing Options And Old List Spacing In Google Reader

Reader Sharer is a simple Chrome add-on that restores the sharing functionality to Google Reader..

It's in the Chrome extension store...

Implemented features:
1. The "Your shared items".
2. The "People you follow" view.
3. The "Notes" view.
4. The "Your liked items" view.
5. Share/unshare an item (keyboard shortcut: Shift + F).
6. Share/delete an item with note (keyboard shortcut: Shift + D).
7. Like/unlike an item (keyboard shortcuts: L).
8. Display whether an item has been shared/liked or not.
9. Support both list view and expanded view.
10. Recover some old style for improving readability.

Features unavailable yet:
None?

Can't implement features:
1. Add/delete/display comments for an item. It seems the comment API is not available now.

Source code:
https://bitbucket.org/keakon/reader-sharer/

Currently has 6,400 users. That's far higher than I'd expected.

Source code on Atlassian bitbucket. I think a Firefox version is pending.

The author is "keakon". His blog is Chinese, Google tried to translate it for me but froze. I don't think Google translate likes Blogger's new dynamic pages.

Now if I could figure out a way to save this microblogging archive ...

iOS Calendar list view has a two year limit

It's Nov 2011, and we needed to schedule an event in June 2014.

Emily tried her 4S with iOS 5. She tapped through to 2014 in the Calendar view.

In the List view, however, the date was Nov 12 2013, exactly two years from today. There's no way to schedule or view a date more than 2 years in the future in List view, even though Month view extends at least 3 years ahead.

Our iPhones sync with Google Calendar, so perhaps this bug only shows up with ActiveSync. It might be related to a perennial iOS bug: Event displayed under wrong date in "List" view on iPhone - Calendar Help.

Definitely a bug. I confirmed it's also present in iOS 4. It's been said before, but it bears repeating -- Apple sucks at calendars.

iCloud: how is it going?

Apple, for about the fourth or fifth time, is trying to deliver network based services (their early attempts predate the internet).

This time it's iCloud.

I don't have any personal experience with iCloud. My family is still on MobileMe; at the moment I use it only to sync Contacts between iPhone, multiple OS X machines, and even an instance of Outlook running in an XP VM [1]. To Apple's credit, they extended our service period after introducing iCloud [2].

I haven't moved to iCloud because, although Apple 3.0 did well with iTunes, it has an abysmal track record with things like Calendars, Contacts, and Tasks. I don't know why. I assume it's because those were career killers at Steve Jobs' Apple. Maybe he wasn't interested, maybe he assumed the considerable problems were trivial compared to the things he cared about.

I'm hoping Apple 4.0 will do better, but iCloud is a Jobs-era project. So I don't expect it to start well.

So far there haven't been many iCloud reviews I trust. I suspect the people I do trust don't trust Apple -- so they're hanging back. Tidbit's Rich Mogull posted on his experience. It was miserable...

... within minutes I realized the enormity of my error as all my calendars, on all devices, simultaneously disappeared. Lacking a corporate calendar server, this meant years of old appointments, and months of upcoming appointments, were all gone...

... Since I’m good about backups, I figured I could restore from Time Machine. In a few minutes my calendars were back to normal... and a few seconds later they were all gone again. “This,” I thought to myself, “is bad.”...

... but as anyone who experienced a sync conflict could tell you (which was pretty much everyone) each device maintained its own data and made its own decisions...

Yep, that's what I expected. It's not that Mobile is any good -- Rich isn't joking when he wrote that every MobileMe user has had sync problems. Synchronization is Hell, after all. Rather that there's been no reason to expect Apple 3.0 to do better with iCloud than they did with MobileMe.

Elsewhere Calendar Swamp has given up on iCloud. That's two.

On the other hand, nobody has anything good to say about iCloud support for Contact, Task and Calendar synchronization.

So my best guess is, iCloud is doing as expected. That is, badly.

Now we get to see what Tom Cook cares about. Will he invest resources to make iCloud work? Heaven knows, these days I really want an alternative to Google.

I'll check back in about 2-3 months.

[1] Where one can use Access 2003 to manipulate calendar data. I use Google Calendar for our family's 15 (total) calendar subscriptions. It works pretty well, though I fear for its future.
[2] That's the way to sunset a service. Google hasn't done nearly as well with its recent service terminations.

iPhone alternatives to AT&T's texting fees

AT&T is facing the end of SMS. So it is mandating data plans for even unlocked smartphones while raising SMS costs.

In our case, our unlimited texting fees are equal our family's two new and unwanted 200MB/month data plans. So we're looking for SMS alternatives. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I revised reviewed Facebook Messenger last week, but it's really more of an IM app than a texting replacement. Fortunately, SMS alternatives are a popular topic these days. Lifehacker did a review for iOS and another for Android recently; in fact both reviews are of interest to iOS users. Here are some of the services they listed and others I know of. I don't like ads, so I'm listing ad-free costs where applicable.

• Google Voice: free (for now). Emily and the 3 kids all have GV numbers, though currently only i use the service regularly (I have two GV accounts).
• Textfree: The web site is virtually content free. The iPhone app is TextFree with Voice, a year of ad-free texting is an in app purchase for $6. Phone numbers are also purchased in app. Facebook chat.
• HeyWire: ad supported. iPhone app has ad-free in app purchase ($5/year) and option for "premium number" ($1). Facebook chat support.
• textPlus: $3 to remove ads, $1 for premium number, credits cost money (for what?).

I gather the ads in these products are not necessarily child-safe.

Plugging these strings into Google turns up some related products (most can't receive SMS, some can send)...

• Kik Messenger: No SMS, this is an IM app like Facebook Messenger
• Yahoo Messenger
• AOL Messenger

If an app doesn't come with a number though, it's not what we're looking for. We need to be able to receive SMS messages.

Lastly I came across some useful articles in my research:

• New Trends in Messaging - William Dudley: An inside industry perspective.
• How to Send Free SMS Text or MMS Picture Messages: most comprehensive review

From Dudley I learn that services with a phone number are called NUVOs (Network Unaffiliated Virtual Operators) and OTT (Over-The-Top) service providers, and that in the telecomm industry Sprint's decision to integrate Google Voice into their Android phones was a really big deal (giving up on SMS early). I also see why Apple's iMessenger is much more acceptable to AT&T than, say, Google Voice.

For our family I think we'll begin with Google Voice, even though it's not nearly as elegant a solution on the iPhone as it is on Android. My next choice is probably HeyWire, simply because two friends use it.

Update 11/13/11: I checked out iTunes reviews on PingChat!, Kik, and WhatsApp.

PingChat! and Kik seem to have high ratings, but the majority of the reviews are "13 yo girl seeking chat" (hopefully an FBI agent seeking pedophiles, probably a con man). WhatsApp costs $1, that seems to be enough to eliminate the "personals" reviews. WhatsApp is a Silicon Valley telephony app. I think I'll give that one a try first.

We may also create FB accounts for <13 yo children (COPPA violation) so they can use FB Messenger, but not give them the account passwords.

More on WhatsApp

• WhatsApp bucks convention, quietly builds a messaging titan GigaOm 11/11/2011
• Best App for Group Texting: WhatsApp (5/11 - Beluga did well, but was acquired by FB).

I like the look and feel of the app, but it has one killer bug. The point of using this app is to eliminate SMS use, but it uses a text message to verify accounts. (Correction: if you don't have texting it will time out and confirm by voice call. It does require a phone number however, which is a definite drawback.)