Gordon's Tech

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

iMessage use on an AT&T iPhone without a SIM card (iPod Touch mode)

iMessage is a very intriguing product. It's available as part of iOS 5 for iPod Touch, iPad and iPhone 3Gs, 4 or 4S.

On non-phone iOS devices iMessage provides non-SMS (iMessage) texting services to other iMessage users over either WiFi or, if supported, 3G services. That's like WhatsApp.app, but WhatsApp only works on a iPhone with an active voice service!

On iPhones iMessage has two modes.

In standard mode it supports SMS/MMS messaging as well as iMessage texting. iMessaging is the default when it's supported by the receiving device; you can see what will be used before you compose a message.

In an optional mode you can disable SMS/MMS messaging and go purely iMessage. You may want to do this, for example, if you choose not to pay for AT&T's extortionary "unlimited" plans. You will still receive SMS messages (20 cents each, including spam text), but at least you won't send any. (You can tell AT&T to turn off all but 'administrative texting' if you want to avoid spam SMS and spam SMS fees.)

In a world where SMS fees exceed AT&T's mandatory minimal $15/month 200MB/mo data plans, iMessage is subversive [1]. For our family, discontinuing our $30 month texting plan and using a combination of iMessage, Facebook Messenger and Google Voice/Text more than pays for my son's data plan and old 3GS.

Siri is nice (more on that in Gordon's Notes, soon), but iMessage is the biggest thing in iOS 5. I would love to know what AT&T thinks of it, and whether those thoughts are printable in a family blog.

Alas, not everything is quite perfect in iMessage and iOS 5.01. Apple's Discussion groups have many complaints about "waiting for activation". For example:

iMessage waiting for activation: Apple Support Communities
... To update on my iPhone-off contract, even though it says iMessage is waiting for activation, I can still iMessage my friend in Australia (and I am in the USA) So I don't know how it's working, but it's working great! Also, another one of my USA friends has an iPod touch with iMessage. It is working flawlessly..

We had no trouble at all with 3 iPhones with functional SIMs. In an SIM-free iPhone 4 in use as an iPod Touch, however, we got stuck at "waiting for activation".

The first time I used the device I think it sent messages, despite the notice. The next day, however, it could not send. I tried various tricks to no avail, including:

reboot phone
remove and restore my son's iCloud credentials and account.
play with location and time zone settings
create a contact card in iCloud with his migrated iCloud ID (@me.com) and specify that in iMessage

Nothing worked. A day later, however, his phone could again send and receive messages -- despite showing "waiting for activation".

I don't know how long it will keep working. Apple doesn't truly support use of a SIM-less iPhone as an iPod Touch, which further reduces the (suprisingly) low value of a used iPhone. I'm somewhat optimistic, however, that the current flaky behavior is a bug or a reflection of overloaded systems. I'll update this post as I learn more.

[1] If Apple integrates it with iChat on OS X, and provides a Windows 7 client ... hmm.

See also:

Martin's WordPress plugins

I think my microblogging experiments will likely end with WordPress. It's a complex world to learn however. For one thing, there are hundreds of "plugins" available for WordPress, and no obvious way to tell the useful from the disastrous.

So I'm grateful to Martin Steiger for sharing the ones he uses on different sites ...

Essential:

- Chunk Urls for WordPress
- Germanix URL (probably not necessary for you)
- WordPress Database Backup
- WP Super Cache

Essential for sites with comments on:

- Akismet (default WordPress plugin)
- Antispam Bee (in addition to Akismet)
- Subscribe To 'Double-Opt-In' Comments (if you provide comment subscriptions)

Useful / additional features:

- Better Delete Revision
- Better WordPress Recent Comments
- Comment Form Quicktags
- Comment Whitelist
- Contact Form 7
- Country Filter
- Exclude Pages from Navigation
- Get Recent Comments (depreciated)
- Google XML Sitemaps
- Intypo
- Limit Login Attempts
- No Self Pings (maybe no longer necessary)
- Optimize DB
- Posts By Tag
- WP Minify
- WordPress Popular Posts
- Yet Another Related Post Plugin

On the way out:

- AbsoluteRSS (no longer necessary)
- AntiVirus (too many false positives)
- Flattr
- Google Analyticator
- Google News Sitemap
- PubSubHubbub
- Really simple Facebook Twitter share buttons (sharing buttons slow down any site)
- Save Post. Check Links.
- RSS Cloud
- WP SUP

On my latest WordPress-based site, steigerlegal.ch, I use as few plugins as possible. Some are essential and some are needed if you wish certain features. In any case, I carefully read the reviews on WordPress.org and I try to use only plugins in active development. I have trust in some reputable developers such as Sergej Müller. I cannot review each plugin from A to Z but I never get plugins from dubious sources. Up to now, I have never had a security problem with any of my WordPress-based sites (although being careful cannot rule such problems out but it's a start).

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

iPhone cables and like things - Monoprice

I advertised AT&T's $6.50 iPhone cables on a corporate social site, and a colleague responded with an even better deal from Monoprice: only $3.55 each when QTY 50 purchased. They're a big $4 for less than 10. Monoprice sells a $7 wall charger too.

These aren't no-name or counterfeit cables, Monoprice specializes in this sort of product:

Monoprice, (DBA. MonoPrice.com) Inc. is an eCommerce leader specializing in high quality cables, components and accessories for computer and consumer electronics. Established in 2002, we have built our reputation by the word of mouth of our customers. The Monoprice brand's greatest claim to fame is our consistent ability to deliver premium quality products on par with the best known national brands at prices far below the retail average along with unmatched speed and service...

I'd be willing to try them. I'm told Monoprice's thunderbolt cables are less reliable, but those seem hard for everyone to make. I'll be looking at them for future purchases.

iOS 5 updates and lost game data: wait for iOS 5.1

I don't know how widespread this is, but it happened to us despite having a robust backup ...

Lost game data: Apple Support Communities

I just migrated my son from a 3GS to an iPhone 4 running iOS 5.01. I wiped the iPhone 4, reactivated it, then restored from a complete backup of his 3GS. His Harry Potter Lego saved game setttings were not preserved. He was, understandably, disappointed. I haven't evaluated his other games. In general iOS 5 migrations have been difficult, with more than expected work to reinstall apps, delete crashing apps and resume them, and restore accounts.

I suspect the problem is some combination of ...

a bug (of course), perhaps related to Apple's confused identity management infrastructure (Cloud ID, AppleID, StoreID)
a change in how applications are allowed to store data. If an app is not updated prior to updating, and the app stored data in a fashion that's no longer supported, then data will be lost.

I've moved three users from iOS 3 or iOS 4 to iOS 5, and it's been painful each time. Most credentials have to be recreated. ActiveSync account migration doesn't work at all; accounts have to deleted and recreated. Migrating Google Authenticator was particularly difficult (that's Google's fault though). Worst of all, for my son, is this data loss.

I don't know if Apple will fix this, but I recommend waiting for iOS 5.1 if there's no driving necessity to upgrade to iOS 5.

iOS 5 -- What Apple didn't fix

My personal list of things that are still broken in iOS 5 (to be expanded):

Migration problems:

ActiveSync accounts must be removed completely, then restored when updating from iOS 4 to iOS 5 (this may be a new bug)
My son's Harry Potter Lego game data was not saved when I migrated him a 3GS to iOS 5

Alerts: Now there is a birthday alert, but it's a 1 week alarm. We need 2 week alarms for all events.
Colors on Calendars: Still can't control color assignment, still get colliding colors with ActiveSync calendars, color assignment algorithm still doesn't look across multiple calendars

Migrating MobileMe family accounts to iCloud

I've started migrating family accounts to iCloud. This explanation from Apple Discussions is helpful ...

With a Family Pack, the master account holder and the sub-account holders can each migrate to an individual iCloud account by going to http://me.com/move and entering their email address and password (not www.icloud.com). The order they do this in is immaterial; if the master account moves first it can no longer administrate the sub-accounts. If a sub-account moves first the master account cannot create a new sub-account to replace it. Once migrated each account becomes a full iCloud account entirely separate from the others. The master account holder will get the 20GB storage upgrade free until June 30th 2012; the sub account holders will not, and will have only the basic 5GB.

I began with #2, currently using a SIM-less iPhone 4. He's got almost no data to lose.

I want him to continue to use my Apple ID however ...

... iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch must have iOS 5 or later. Note: When you are asked to provide your Apple ID during iOS setup, use your MobileMe email address and password. To use a different Apple ID for iTunes and iCloud, just go to Settings > Store on your iOS device after you've finished the iOS setup assistant...
... Inactive and expired MobileMe accounts do not need to move to iCloud. Simply use your inactive or expired account to sign up for an iCloud account and follow the onscreen instructions. See this article for more information...

and

When you first set up your iOS 5 device, enter the Apple ID you want to use with iCloud. If you skipped the setup assistant, sign in to Settings > iCloud and enter the Apple ID you’d like to use with iCloud.In Settings > Store, sign in with the Apple ID you want to use for store purchases (including iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match). You may need to sign out first to change the Apple ID.

Following this path I learned that #2 will still have MobileMe Gallery, iDisk and iWeb Publishing through 6/30/2012 -- even after moving to iCloud. Better than I'd expected. No keychain sync though. I hope that comes back in some form.

I had to enter his iCloud (same as MobileMe) credentials to setup Facetime and iMessage on his SIM-less device. Although the phone doesn't need a SIM for this, it can't be in Airplane mode.

So far, it has gone better than expected.

Update: Thinking this over, I realize I need to update my machines to Lion before I move Emily and I. So this will take a while ...

Monday, November 28, 2011

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.