Authenticate your Google Apps email - and help finish email spam

The web is overwhelmed by splogs and garbage sites full of noiseware (emphases mine) ...

Why We Desperately Need a New (and Better) Google

... Content creation is big business, and there are big players involved. For example, Associated Content, which produces 10,000 new articles per month, was purchased by Yahoo! for $100 million, in 2010. Demand Media has 8,000 writers who produce 180,000 new articles each month. It generated more than $200 million in revenue in 2009 and planning an initial public offering valued at about $1.5 billion. This content is what ends up as the landfill in the garbage websites that you find all over the web. And these are the first links that show up in your Google search results.

Google is falling, because it's trapped by its own business model.

It looks bad, just as bad as email spam was just three years ago. Today, though, email spam is dying.  The cure was clear by the late 90s, but it's taken ten years to really work. The answer was differential filtering based on the managed reputation of an authenticated sending service. Today we call that Domain Keys Identified Mail or DKIM. DKIM doesn't identify the sender, it identifies the sending service. The sending service then assumes responsibility for the sender (they know who the sender is). If the service doesn't police its users, it gets a bad reputation -- and starts being filtered aggressively.

Gmail accounts have used DKIM for a while, but Google Apps email has made do with SPF -- an inferior solution. Google has only now rolled DKIM out to Google Apps users. If you use Google APps you should enable this (it's not automatic yet). Without it the email you send will be increasingly "second class" and more likely to be filtered out.

It took about two minutes  activate DKIM for our free Google Apps family domain. We were able to use the automated method because that domain is managed through Google's Registrar partner - eNom. It sounds like it might be trickier to activate for domains managed by my favorite registrar/hosting service - DreamHost though I expect it will eventually be automatic everywhere.

We beat email spam. It wasn't that hard, though the fix did take a long time implement. It's clear we could do the same thing with garbageware sites. That fix, however, may require a company other than Google ...

Replacing a broken 3G iPhone screen: what iFixit doesn't tell you

I used the iPhone 3G Front Panel Assembly from iFixit $70) to successfully replace a broken 3G iPhone screen. I followed the iFixit assembly directions, watched a video for a related procedure and improvised when both omitted critical steps.

You shouldn't try this. I estimate the average non-obsessive geek has a 50% chance of ending up with a fixed phone, a 30% chance of ending up with a more broken phone, and a 20% chance of ending where they started less $70 or so. Once you do this successfully once the odds of success increase dramatically, but the learning curve is steep. If you insist, then please read this post carefully. It will boost your success rate to 75%.

I recommend finding someone who's done this before and paying them to fix your phone. Or see how much you call sell the broken phone for, the buyers will easily fix it. Or buy a 3G display assembly instead ($100) and avoid about 30% of the repair hassle.

I did not attempt the $40 front panel procedure. iFixit rates that as "difficult". In English this translates to "impossible".

Lastly you can pay Apple $200 and they'll do a perfect job. Keep in mind that a new 4G iPhone costs about $700 out of contract and a new working 3G is probably worth at least $350.

If you do proceed consider also replacing the battery at the same time. About half of the hardest steps are common.

I hope by this time you've stopped, but perhaps you're already committed. Or maybe you want to make a business out of this. That would make sense, especially for someone in college where broken iPhones must be common. Here's what I learned (this supplements, but does not replace, the video and the ifixit directions)

Ordering and shipping

• The front panel assembly does NOT include tools. I missed that, because I started out looking at the insane option of the "front panel" only kit. You definitely need the plastic spudger. You could use a very slender flexible knife or a scalpel blade in place of the metal spudger. I had a magnetic 00 philips screwdriver, I don't know if their's is magnetic.
• It's surprisingly hard, with a worn black 3G iPhone, to identify that it is, in fact, a 3G iPhone! Elders will need a magnifying glass.
• The model numbers on Apple's site are only for the first batch of devices. I visited Apple's site and followed their external identifier directions.
• The assembly came inside loose bubble wrap and a simple envelope; I'm surprised it made it.
• The parts don't say Apple anywhere.

Preparation

Here's what I laid out. I was able to make up for the parts I didn't order, I had an old spudger that was fine. I think the screws are all the same but I had a different bowl for each and a picture of the step behind each bowl. The tweezers and compressed air were essential. The white paper is sticker backing to hold the cursed black tape removed during the procedure. I wish I had had a magnifying glass, but I'm 51. A bright light source should suffice for the under 40 crowd.

It took me about 2.5 hours to do this with several breaks when I ran into problems. An expert could do it in under 20 minutes.

iFixit front panel assembly directions

Read the directions very carefully several times and watch the video for the similar but harder front panel assembly. This is what they left out:

• My panel came with a screw in place. Look for this and remove the screw. If you don't know this you'll discover the screw when you do the reassemby; and you'll have to take it all apart again.
• The panel has plastic covers you'll want to remove only at the time of assembly.
• The video is an edited series of cuts. It omits several key operations.
• Reassembly is harder than disassembly.
• I wore latex gloves (powder free) to reduce hand oils and sweat getting on things.
• The relevant portion of the video is from about 1:13 to 2:06. Watch that several times, unfortunately key parts were excised.
• Manufacturing changes over time. There are differences between the very first 3Gs and later models.
• There are two forms of cable connection. There's a standard pressure join and there's the iPhone destroying FPC connector (see below). When reassembling you really need to visually line up the pressure connectors. It takes a modest push to seat them; you will then feel a soft but obvious "thunk". If you don't clearly feel this they're not really connected.

The treacherous black tape

• Study this carefully before your remove it.
• At one point you are instructed to remove some black tape. This is very hard to do, I had to work one end up. A scalpel might help. Use tweezers. The tape will curl; but mine curled in a benign way. Leave the curled loop on your paper. When you reassemble, either have someone hold the phone for you or put it in a clamp of some sort. I think the best approach would use a light locking clamp to hold the tape and tweezers. Reposition it, hold it in place, try to flatten it out.

The FPC connector

As of 1/2011 there is a key image missing from the assemblydirections at "step 6". if you haven't done this before you will have NO idea what is meant by the "PFC lock"

I have tried to capture it below, but I should have used a macro lens. It is that small. The PFC lock is a 1mm x 3-4 mm white bar that sits over the distal end of cable 3 as it emerges from a black connector cover. It is shown here in the unlocked, upright position. A simple flick of the plastic spudger will flip it up. Then cable 3 will slide out.

To reinsert cable 3 I suggest using fine tweezers on the black cable sheath to push it into the black housing above until the white line on PFC cable is about at the proximal side of the black cable cover. Then flip the PFC lock down.

Good luck.

Kensington USB hub maxes out at 4 iPhones

3 kids, 2 parents = 5 iPhones (2 used as iTouch, 2 with data plan, 1 voice only).

Charge and sync is a pain. I tried connecting all five to one Kensington 7 port dome USB hub. It worked ok until the fifth connection, then the newer iPhones (4, 3GS) started complaining that they couldn't charge of an unsupported peripheral.

So four is the practical maximum for this hub. I suspect that's about as good as any hub will do.

How to reset a passcode locked iPhone

After I got home with my stolen iPhone I found I couldn't reset it. iTunes told me I had to enter the passcode. What could I do?

Cough. Ok, seriously. For the 2nd time our good friend C. has given one of our kids her ex-iPhone [1]. C. is a wonderful person, but she has been heck on iPhones. This one has a broken screen, I'll attempt a FixIt repair after I've tested the phone. I didn't want to bug C. for her passcode (after all, it could be her bank PIN too), but Apple documents a procedure for initiating recovery mode on a device that won't mount in iTunes: iPhone and iPod touch: Unable to update or restore.

Be sure to hold the home button as you connect the cable. If you do it correctly the recover dialog appears quickly.

[1] When both her brothers had iPhones, it was clear my daughter's wrath was building. That is not something any sane human would choose to face. Getting this one for free was a lifesaver.

What can you redownload from Apple's iTunes store?

You only get one download of songs, videos (includes movies), iPod games and albums ...

iTunes Store: Purchased songs, videos, iPod Games, and albums can be downloaded only once: "When you buy a song, video, iPod Game, or album from the iTunes Store, you are entitled to download it only once...."

On the other hand, iOS apps can be redownloaded as long as they are still sold [1] ...

How to redownload purchased apps from the App Store

Click the Buy button. ... You will then see a dialog similar to one below. Click OK to continue with the download.

The rules variation is a bit confusing. There have been reports, by the way, of Apple allowing redownloading of lost music under some circumstances. Those reports, however, reference a form that no longer exists.  I suspect Apple has discontinued that service.

At 1-2 GB each movies can add up fast. If Apple were to allow redownloads we could delete movies we don't often watch, and retrieve them from Apple. Of course this may not be Apple's decision to make, I suspect the rights holders are the issue.

This policy is one reason I prefer DVDs to iTunes purchases, though I fear the days of the DVD are numbered.

[1] It's not easy to find a record of all purchased apps, but if you keep the invoice emails Apple sends Spotlight will help.

 

 

Rogue Twitter/Google feedburner connection - a casualty of the Great Google Identity Integration Initiative

My Google Reader Share Twitter (re)stream is being updated -- but the posts are coming from a rogue Feedburner bot. None of my Google Identities have control of this feed burn. I think I've run into a bug related to the (covert) Great Google Identity Integration Initiative (GGIII) of 2011.

What, you may wonder, is the Great Google Identity Integration Initiative of 2011? Why do I say it's covert  (covert)? I'll provide some background before I give my take on this alleged bug.

The GGIII is covert, first of all, because Google hasn't named it, much less documented what's going on. Three Google articles provide some limited context (emphases mine) ...

More Google applications - Google Apps Help

After your Google Apps accounts are converted, your users will have access to most Google products. Previously, many Google products -- such as Blogger, Reader, and Picasa Web Albums [jg: and Feedburner] -- were available only in personal (consumer) Google Accounts...

Get ready to transition - Google Apps Help

... If any of your users have a conflicting account, they will be required to rename their conflicting accounts the next time they sign in to their personal Google Account...

... Any Picasa Web Album, Profile, or Wave usernames cannot be moved from an existing account to your Google Apps account

If your users used Picasa Web Albums with personal Google Accounts, they will not be able to reuse their old Picasa Web Album display usernames. They will have to sign up for new display usernames....

Known Issues - Google Apps Help

Reading between the lines there are two aspects to GGII ...

1. Unification of usernames across Google properties where username is an email address. (example - jgordon@kateva.org). So if this username is used for both a Google Apps account and a traditional Google Account then the two accounts will be unified.
2. Tie all Google services to a Google Profile. This was recently mandated for all Picasa web album users, even paying customers. Not all customers were happy about this.

Phew. So, if you're still with me, this is what I think happened to a feedburner bot associated with jgordon@kateva.org. That "identity" used to be split between a Google Apps domain (email, etc) and a true Google Account (blogging, feedburner). When I (carefully [1]) activated "More Google applications" for my Google Apps domain kateva.org Google merged two distinct identities that shared a single "name"

• jgordon@kateva.org - Google Apps kateva.org
• jgordon@kateva.org - Google Account

My guess is there's a bug with this process when a user has a Feedburner bot linked to a Twitter account using the Feedburner "socialize" feature. I think I have two feedburner services associated with jgordon@kateva.org, but one of them is unreachable.

I doubt there's anything I can do, I just have to wait for Google to fix this. In the meantime I've posted questions with somewhat different angles on two forums ...

• How can I identify the feedburner source of a Google/Twitter integration connection? - Google Groups
• Feedburner configuration no longer accessible - Google Apps Help

See also:

• Gordon's Tech: Tweeting Google Reader Shares and Notes via feedburner
• Gordon's Tech: Twitter feed for my Google Shared Items

-- fn --
[1] I expected problems. Since this is going to be mandatory in the next few months, including for our family domain where we have similar distributed identity issues, I chose to make kateva.org a test case. I expected bugs like this.

Update 1/2/2011: The problem stopped. I suspect it was related to another Google identity of mine, and so this is probably not a Google bug ... (see below)

Update 1/3/2011: Mary, in comments, points out that this article has more details. It in turn references an article on "conflicting accounts" that tells us

Account merge and data move options : Basics and getting started - Accounts Help

Unfortunately, it is not possible to combine two accounts or to merge data.

Except that Google also tells us ....

Moving product data : Managing and using Google products - Accounts Help

... In most cases, it's not possible to move products from one Google Account to another ... This may change over time, so check back here for updates...

Right. Clearly, this is a flaming mess.

So what happened was that the feedburner configuration in my google (jgordon@kateva.org) account was vaporized when the transfer process destroyed that account's data, but it took a while for the bot to die. Hence the duplicates.

This transition should be avoided as long as possible. If you do make the merge I suggest:

1. Give the old account a new email address (you'll have to dig one up somewhere).
2. Delete the old account after you've gotten all your data out of it and after you've ensured that any associated blogs have an admin user with the new identity.

Farewell to Nisus Writer Pro?

Fleeing Microsoft Word, and wary of proprietary file formats, I started using Nisus Writer Express in 2005. Years later I switched to Nisus Writer Pro. It's improved along the way, but import/export remains a real problem. Today I tried using NWP to do a yearly solstice letter. It did a nice job formatting the letter, it even let me create hyperlinks.

When I went to export as HTML however, all I got was text. The images were attached in a subfolder, but not referenced in the HTML. PDF export gave me the images, but no hyperlinks.

I had to dump the HTML ouput text into Word 2007 (Windows, more's the pain) and recreate the letter from the source images. How humiliating.

Nisus Writer Pro is a wonderful product, but they've been stuck for years when it comes to import/export tools. I really need decent HTML export.

It's time for me to try iWork. Then I'll have a really tough choice -- the unreliability of Microsoft Office or the data lock of iWork. Neither choice appeals.

Update: iWork doesn't export as HTML at all. So in this regard it has no advantage over Nisus. I'll wait and see what the expected 2011 version of Pages will include.