Here's a couple of clear explanations of some of the in and outs of multiple Apple accounts with iOS5:
Clean install:
Ok as I install and configure and use iOS5, I plan to post any tips I figure out, here (in the blog), with a title that starts with “iOS5 tips”, and with a tag of iOS5. I’m not going to attempt to classify or organize them, I’m just going to plop them here.
Here’s two to get the ball rolling:
If the iCloud (@me.com) mail account is failing to send mail:
- Open the Settings app.
- Choose “iCloud” and then the email address next to “Account”.
- Scroll down to Advanced and choose the email address (yourid@me.com) next to “Mail”.
- Choose whatever is next to “SMTP” (for me it is “iCloud SMTP Server”).
- Choose “Add Server”. Put in “smtp.me.com” for the Host Name, the part before the @sign from your @me.com email address for the User Name, and your iCloud password for Password (even if the iCloud and @me.com account names are different, even if you never set up the email password).
- “Ok” your way out, open mail, delete the one that was failing, and create a new mail. If it doesn’t send again, try a full restart (by holding down the power button and the button on the bottom of the screen all the way until you see the apple signifying it is restarting. Try to send mail again.
Actually the second tip is embedded already in the first – but I’ll point it out again because it’s tricky. If you elect to go the multiple Apple accounts route ( a different account/email address for iTunes than for iCloud, and a non- @me.com email address for the iCloud account, and you want the iCloud mail – then you end up with a new @me.com email address that you are never required to set up a password for. Trust me on this, the password is the same as the one for your iCloud account, despite the fact that they are different email addresses. In fact I think you can use the @me.com email address to log in to iCloud too, which is weird because it doesn’t technically seem to be an Apple account.
There's been some progress with free, easy to use, relatively secure remoting (screenshare) programs since I last looked into the category. Here are three I am interested in. I'm currently using Teamviewer. Join.me comes from Logmein, and the Chrome plug-in is from Google.
John C. Dvorak calls Facebook "the next AOL".
This was on Leo LaPorte's Twit podcast #320 ("Sign Both Petitions"). - http://twit.tv/show/this-week-in-tech/320
The impression is that he is quoting a piece he wrote some time previously.
If you remember AOL in it's heyday then I don't need to say anything more. He nailed it.
I’ve been waiting impatiently for this one. The Ori iPad case has finally been updated for iPad 2 -
http://joby.com/gorillamobile/ori-2/video
This lightweight aluminum composite thing-a-ma-jig is a case and a stand. Not only do you get a really strong case, but the stand functionality is like nothing else I’ve seen – while other stands only seem to go halfway to being useful, this one gets the iPad where you want it, at angles that save your neck. And I think the price has dropped a little.
Today I’d like to take a break from the tech topics I usually discuss, and veer into literary territory. Harry Potter and Doctor Who have two interesting characteristics in common, and I’d like to present them as a shared compliment and criticism.
Let’s start with the compliment. I believe the authors of these two media properties owe their success almost solely to their understanding of a key concept. We identify with the underdog. We invest in that plucky fighter who never gives up, who the odds are always against, who is always one step away from certain defeat and death. There are all these micro-cliff-hangers throughout because of these overwhelming odds, that juice us on adrenaline and keep us hooked. And then, wow if that guy (or girl) somehow snatches victory at the very last second despite everything, that makes us happy.
And if that every-man, rag-tag, too small, no skills, picked-on, kicked around, out-numbered loser does end up losing in the end, well don’t think about writing a part 2. We feel betrayed. But even worse is a heroes’ hero, strong physique, flies, every bad guy is two steps behind him. We don’t invest in him because we don’t identify with him. There are no challenges so we get bored. The only reason comic book super-heroes have hung around is because they developed weaknesses.
Speaking of comic books, they also illustrate my second point, my criticism, as do Harry Potter and Doctor Who. As I mentioned above, we invest and identify with these plucky underdogs. Therefore the one thing you cannot do is betray us. Besides having them lose in the end, there are several other “writing devices” which constitute betrayal in my opinion, such as having the character die and then bringing them back to life, or having the character lose and then turning back time, or saying it was somebody’s dream, or events in an alternate universe. These are cheap cop-outs. We invest in those events as much as the characters, and snatching them back like an “indian giver” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giver kills an amount of trust each time. Sure I get writing yourself into a hole, when you have to up the ante each time, but I expect better.
PS. No need to comment that Doctor Who is a TV show not a book. I meant literary in the sense that each episode is written down before it is directed 
http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/zune-2/zune-pass-heads-canada-140761
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/09/29/microsoft-taking-zune-to-canada-revamping-zune-pass/
Don’t read those blog posts wrong, Zune is not lowering the price, it is raising it. Currently I pay $14.99 for the monthly subscription PLUS 10 free song downloads per month. Starting in October new subscribers will pay $9.99 for the monthly subscription with NO free song downloads. (It appears I will be able to keep my plan if I want.)
If we postulate that average song downloads cost or are worth about a dollar, then $10 out of my $14.99 each month was for the downloads, meaning I was paying $4.99 for the subscription service. That was a great deal! Now they want to charge me twice as much? Boo.
Is this a chance for Spotify to swoop in, undercut the new price and steal my business, my money, my loyalty, my heart away from Microsoft? (Sorry for the dramatics, they are aimed at motivating Microsoft.)
It actually isn’t Spotify’s big moment, but as usual the devil’s in the details. Spotify on my iPhone is only available (after the trial) with the $9.99 plan, not the $4.99 plan they also offer. Furthermore according to Spotify’s website, if I am reading it correctly, the premium account only extends to 3 devices (phone or pc).
My current Zune plan includes 3 pcs and 3 devices, but it looks like the new Microsoft plan is for 4 devices total (new users losing 2). However they have thrown in some music videos (psh).
The number of tracks each has seems to be roughly equivalent – today I saw mention of 15 million on Spotify’s site and 14 million on Zune’s. I’m sure that goes back and forth. And I’m sure that the depth on particular kinds of music varies between the services.
Bottom line, this is a bad time for Microsoft to raise the price, because they put themselves on par with Spotify, which was more expensive, but doesn’t require a Zune or Microsoft phone. That said, I’ll probably stick with them while my Zune hardware lasts and I can keep my plan for $4.99/month. After that I’m a free agent!
I had to research Group Video Chat for a teenager. Free and easy were the requirements. I figured all the big social sites had it by now. Turns out that is not true yet, though soon I’m sure. Here’s the current state:
Facebook – Facebook has group chat and video chat (through Skype), but the two don’t meet. However there’s a third-party app for Facebook called “Social Hangouts” that provides group video chat for 20 people, it’s free, and is supposedly pretty standard for a Facebook app.
Skype – Skype has free group and and free video chat, however the group video chat is a premium feature, and at least one person in the chat has to have a paying or business account.
Google+ – Google does provide group video chat, for free, in a feature called “hangouts”. It’s supposed to be really easy to use as well.
There are lots of other chat and video products/sites/companies, but this really has to be quick and easy, and the teenager already has some experience with the ones mentioned above.
