Turning an iPhone into an iPod touch - keep the original SIM!

The kids had used old iPhones as IPod touches without trouble, but apparently I'd never done a factory reset.

If you do that, the phone can't be used -- until it's activated.

You need a SIM card that was either originally used to activate the phone, or that works with a currently active phone:

Using an iPhone without a wireless service plan

Follow these steps to use your iPhone without a wireless service plan:

Insert the SIM card from your new, activated iPhone or one that was previously used to activate the original iPhone.

Connect the iPhone to iTunes on a computer connected to the Internet.Once iTunes activates the device, you're free to use the iPhone as if it were an iPod touch.

... It may be necessary to repeat this process after updating or restoring the device.

Yikes. If I'd known that then, when I got my 4S, I'd have asked to keep the old SIM card and had them give me a new SIM. Instead we just swapped the old SIM. (Not sure if AT&T will do this, it's an advantage of ordering you iPhone from Apple for home delivery.)

Lesson: When you upgrade your iPhone, keep the SIM card that was previously used to activate the device.

Update: On the brighter side, iOS 5 allows use of FaceTime and iMessage without a SIM card. You can't use them in airplane mode however.

Update 11/30/2011: iMessage behavior is flaky in a SIM-Less iPhone. More on that later. In a separate experiment on another phone I found a SIM card that had previously been used in a different iPhone worked to get pasts the iTunes check even though the number no longer existed and the SIM card was no longer valid.

Update 3/5/2012: iMessage was much better by mid-December and has worked well since.

Google's 2-step verification is (almost) the spawn of Satan - iPhone upgrade edition

Two months ago I decided Google's 2-step verification was an incomplete mess unsuitable for use by non-geeks.

Today I decided it's the spawn of Satan.

This is what happens if you refresh an iPhone running Authenticator - either a new phone or restore from backup

1. Restore iPhone from backup
2. Authenticator settings gone
3. Per directions to account page for 2-step verification settings.
4. Discover, despite 30 day authorization, my computer wants authenticator token today.
5. Fortunately, I have my old phone. That works.
6. Realize that there's no support for authenticating a new phone. Ok, I'll just turn off the iPhone ...
7. Get the QR code. That works ... but
8. All the friggin' application specific passwords are gone -- all revoked.

Do you know how friggin' long it takes to enter all those application specific passwords across multiple machines and operating systems?! Can I scream now?!

Friends don't let friends use 2-step verification.

Update: A few minutes later and, for now. I see my (not) application-specific passwords and they still seem to work. So only almost the spawn of Satan. Google needs a workflow to support migrating from one iPhone to another.

See also:

• Gordon's Tech: Implementing Google's two factor authentication - early days
• Gordon's Tech: The massive security hole in Google two factor authentication - problems
• Gordon's Tech: Making the most of Google's alternative "2-step" verification model - more problems
• Gordon's Tech: Google Chrome sync does not work with 2-step verification - still more problems

 

Good habit: review sites with access to google services

Through your Google Accounts page you can edit "connected sites" and "application-specific" passwords (they aren't btw).

I did this tonight. I was surprised at how long my list was. How did Facebook ever get access to my Google Contacts? They are diabolical.

I deleted most of  the items on the list. This is one practice I want to make a habit.

AT&T sells iPhone cables for $10 with 3 for 2

I've never come across an AT&T store bargain - until today.

Turns out AT&T sells their own iPhone/iPod/iPad charge/sync cable - for $10. As of today they also have a "buy two get one free promotion", so I bought 3 for $20.

Excluding obviously counterfeit $2-$3 cables (caveat emptor), I've not seen these cables on Amazon for less than $20. Griffin's powerblock/cable combo for $23 or so has been the best deal.

Since Apple's last two years of cables have been absolute garbage (separation at iPod end), my family needs some extra cables. Now we're flush.

ifttt, Google Reader Share, and Wordpress

ifttt has a WordPress channel, including a post action.

Google Reader's share RSS feed is still active, and can be exposed with the Keakon extension.

So using iftt could I blog to Wordpress by clicking the Keakon-Share link in Google Reader?

Be a fun experiment anyway.

Google Chrome sync does not work with 2-step verification

As best I can tell Google's two-factor ("2-step") verification is incompatible with Chrome sync. There are two ways it fails:

1. During initial authentication you are required to enter a full access password, the Authenticator token won't work. (Laughably, Google calls these 'application-specific' passwords. That's a lie. I wish they'd stop repeating it.) This defeats the value of the Authenticator's keystroke-logger protection.

2. You can't use your Google account authentication to encrypt your sync store. Maybe it uses the 'application specific password'. When I try this, Sync hangs - but tells me it has succeeded. Using a separate sync password works.

There are lots of similar bugs with use of two-factor. It's really not finished; I wonder if it's one of the projects that Page has terminated. I still use it, but I don't recommend it to anyone else. The illusion of security may be worse than no security.

Microblogging and Google Reader: Tumblr Fails

I got pretty far along on the Tumblralternative to Reader Shares. I even created a kateva.org subdomain with a Tumblr IP A Record to give my Tumblr blog a kateva.org URL.

I tested with Google Reader Mobile and desktop, but the workflow for micro-sharing was too awkward. That looked promising, but all the posts were going to my original Tumblr blog, not the full powered one I'd setup for sharing.

What was up with that?

That's when I discovered the weird world of Tumblr primary blogs ...

Help Center | Tumblr

... What is my “primary” blog? Your primary blog is the one created when you sign up for Tumblr. It represents you (with its name, link, and avatar) when you follow or like other Tumblr blogs. You can read about blog management to understand the differences between your primary blog and additional blogs. Can I switch my primary blog? It’s not currently possible to switch or move your primary blog to another account. You can read about blog management to understand the differences between your primary blog and additional blogs....

Cue the ominous music. I could see where this was going ...

Blog Management | Tumblr

Each Tumblr account comes with a primary blog. A primary blog can fully use all of Tumblr’s social features including Follow, Like, Reply, Ask, and Submit. But, a primary blog cannot be password-protected and cannot be multi-user.You can also create additional blogs on your Tumblr account. An additional blog can be password protected for privacy and security and can be multi-user. But, an additional blog cannot fully use all of the Tumblr’s social features...

The primary blog that is made when you create your Tumblr account will always be the primary blog for the account. It is not possible to reassign which blog on your account is the primary blog. And, due the way in which Tumblr is architected, it is unlikely that we will be able to support reassignment of the primary blog in the foreseeable future. It is also unlikely that we will be able to support password protection on primary blogs....

Yes, it's all about that d*mn closed-world money-making social stuff.

The primary blog is the one that receives my shared items from Feedly. It won't do for what I want.

So now, like Posterous, Tumblr has failed.

Only Twitter and, perhaps, WordPress microblogging, remain.

Oh, and, of course, HiveMined.

No. Please. Not ... not ... Blogger!

See also:

• Tumblr - a Google Reader social replacement?
• Gordon's Tech: Posterous - a Google Reader social replacement?
• Gordon's Notes: Dapocalypse now: Google's day of infamy
• Gordon's Notes: How to replace Google Reader
• Gordon's Notes: The end of Google Reader shares and the rebirth Gordon's twitter feed