A Google/Android/firewall mystery

A few days ago, my Galaxy Nexus (ICS, 4.0.2) stopped syncing my Gmail. I could get to Gmail and fetch new mail, but push mail wasn't working. I could wait hours and not get new messages that were appear just fine on my laptop. I could use other services just fine, such as search, browsing, Twitter, etc. My home WiFi signal was strong; no other device was having problem connecting or browsing.

It also synced properly when I was away from home, either out in the wild or connected to another WiFi access point.

The forums weren't much help, although they did point me in the right direction, kinda sorta.  When sync was working, the signal icon was blue.

When I was connected to my WiFi, it was gray.



It was my WiFi firewall. I'd temporarily set up a VPN connection, closed it, and left the firewall enabled.

I haven't figured which port setting is enabling/disabling the synchronization connection to Google's servers. If anyone has any clues, I'd welcome them

Did Linux miss its moment again?

This morning's news includes a note that preorders are available for Spark, the open KDE tablet. To which the tech press, behaving like political reporters responding to the next not-Mitt,  proclaims that ebruary seems to be shaping up to be the month of Linux tablets.

Um, no.

Unless you think that two Linux tablet announcement is a big deal.

Linux users have been saying for years that this is the year that companies and civilians will adopt Linux for desktop systems.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Google Trends for Linux desktop"][/caption]

Even with new, slick renditions of Linux from Ubuntu, Mint, and others, it just never got the respect or traction that Linux advocates sought. It's too bad. Linux is a very good, solid, secure desktop operating system. It runs well on older, less powerful systems. It just never made it to your aunt's computer.

And, then came the iPad. The tablet runs a deeply proprietary operating system from Apple. It owns the mind share, even if its market share is slipping. Some forecasts suggest that tablet sales will pass desktop/laptop sales within three or so years.

Android, Google's tablet and phone operating system, is Linux-based and open source, but the interface is defined by Google and the hardware manufacturers. There are options to load various custom ROMs on tablets, of course. All the same, it's all still the province of hackers and hobbyists.

Linux still owns the server environment, including pretty much everything that makes the web the web. The story remains, however, is that not only did Linux miss the chance to claim the desktop, the desktop computer itself may be moving to the back of the pack.

Miss a minute, miss a lot.

Problems copying and pasting HTML links in Chrome browser

The release of Chrome beta for Android has led to, once again, try to use Google Chrome as my preferred web browser. It's fast, secure, and has a number of slick features that make it an enjoyable resource.

The biggest problem that I've had, and one that continues, is the way in which it handles copying and/or pasting of HTML and other rich text elements. Lemme explain:

When I am writing a blog post, I often need to link to other stories or sites. The Make Link extension for Firefox allows me to copy the page address and either selected text or the page's title. I can then paste it into my blog editor.

For example, if I want to include a link to a story on The Onion, I go to the page, use Make Link to grab the title and URL, come back to this window, and paste it so it looks like this: New Biography Reveals Einstein Devised Theory Of Relativity On Paper Because He Wasn't Smart Enough To Invent Microsoft Word | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Doing the same thing  with a comparable extension, such as Create Link, in Chrome results in this:  

<a href="http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-biography-reveals-einstein-devised-theory-of-r,27313/">New Biography Reveals Einstein Devised Theory Of Relativity On Paper Because He Wasn&apos;t Smart Enough To Invent Microsoft Word | The Onion - America&apos;s Finest News Source</a>

When I use a clipboard viewer, I can see that sometimes the info is created as an HTML fragment and, other times, it's just text. I'm not sure why Create Link or similar extensions aren't creating true HTML links.

Chrome on Android, I should note, is an excellent replacement for the stock browser on my phone.

VZW: the iPhone can't do that.

It's getting close to time for a new phone. My HTC Incredible keeps kicking the SD card offline. In a related failure, about half of the time, my phone will crash when I use the camera. The SD is unmounted, so the camera app freaks out and takes down the phone with it. I've missed many good pictures over the holidays while the phone was rebooting. (Yes, I've run error checks on the SD card itself, tried different cards, and reinstalled the phone's operating system. No joy.)

Because I also had a couple of questions regarding my account, I thought it best to go to the local Verizon store in Shrewsbury. The store was moderately busy for a weekday afternoon, attributable to the holidays. I signed in at the unhelpful kiosk and waited for my name to be called.

While waiting, I had a look at the iPhone 4s. I had a question about setting up a hotspot with the phone, a question answered by checking the Settings app. Another question popped up. Is there a way to synchronize my Gmail contacts with the iPhone's address book? The settings didn't offer an obvious path.

I heard a faint voice call my name. I turned and was greeted by a salesperson. I told her that I was interested in the iPhone, but had a question about Gmail contacts. She replied immediately that contacts are stored in iTunes.

I told her that I use Gmail for all of my email and contacts now and that synchronization is essential.

"The contacts are stored in iTunes," she repeated. "But, I can check." She disappeared around the corner for a few minutes and returned to tell me that there was no way to do this.

I shook my head and said I couldn't do without my Gmail contacts. She said that the Android phones would work. I nodded and said that I'd take a look at some of those. On my way across the store, I sent a tweet about my experience.

I was interested in two Android phones, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the RAZR by Motorola. I've heard bad things about battery life with 4G phones, but great things about the power and features of the phones themselves.

A woman was making a call with the one Nexus on display. I wandered around for a bit, waiting but trying not to be creepy about it. On she talked.

The RAZR was a few feet away. It was unavailable for other reasons.The woman was still talking on the Nexus, a good sign, I guess, about battery life.

I left the store to get on with my other errands of the day. Soon, I received a helpful tweet from @vzwsupport:

@RoasterBoy We would love to have you! I hope you haven't completely changed your mind.
I can provide you with instructions. ^CM

A quick check of Google showed several solutions for iPhone/Gmail contact synchronization. I should have thought of that first. (Let me google that for you.)  I might have even asked Siri. But, I'm only interested in buying a phone. I'm not in the business of selling them.

Stop and Shop app stops shopping

Stop and Shop has managed to make a difficult process unbearable. They've done so by taking it mobile.

Let's start with their apps. They have three.

The first one you search for and find is not the one you want. The first one tells you a few things that you almost want to know, such as coupons and specials that are available for you as a prized Stop and Shop online customer.

You see signs around the store about deals that are available with the Stop and Shop shopping app. You see the info everywhere except in this Stop and Shop app. There's a link in the app to Peapod Mobile so you can shop on the go. ("Peapod in your pocket" is their clever, if a bit creepy slogan.")  That's the second app. That's not the one you want, either.

Besides, you're in the back of the store where cell phone reception is one bar at best. There is a WiFi network available, but you can't connect to it because it's only available through the app that you need to install, the Stop & Shop ScanIt! Mobile app.

You go back toward the front of store where radio waves can make it through the produce section and download this helpful little doggie. You scan your Stop and Shop card to register the app. The app then connects to the WiFi and you're ready to shop.

Slowly. It's slow because you have to scan the barcode of each item. You're standing in the aisle, twisting the can of pumpkin to align the barcode to your phone's camera, and waiting for the little ping that says you've been successful. On to the dairy section to find heavy cream. (In case you're wondering, Sandra's making a pumpkin chiffon pie for Christmas dessert.)

People are tangled up in the aisles, looking for unfamiliar ingredients for a special holiday meal and you've got your phone next to an upside-down box of corn bread mix. Can you imagine Balthazar fumbling with his phone and a bag of frankincense so his app could record the purchase?

When you're done disrupting the movement of shoppers through the store, it's on to the checkout. Hold your phone up to the bar code near the register. Yay, we get the ping. Now, scan your frickin' Stop and Shop card at the register! Your order appears on the screen. Scan the things that you couldn't scan with the app, such as the oranges because they don't have a barcode to scan.

Press the Finish and Pay button. Press Credit. On the handy PIN pad, tell it (again) that you're using a credit card. Sign your name on the display and press the unreadable Done button when you're, um, done.

To complete the experience, wait for the coupon for deodorant because Stop and Shop thinks that you smell bad.

Keeping WiFi awake on my Android phone

The other day, I described a problem I was having with my Android phone. When the phone went into sleep mode, the WiFi connection would break. Even after setting the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy to Never, the connection would drop when the display shut off. It made listening to a music or radio stream or downloading anything pretty much impossible.  Security settings on my wireless router didn't matter. The only consistent workaround was to keep the phone plugged into a power source (wall connection or USB). When away from home, the WiFi connection seemed to work as intended.

None of the keep-alive apps had any effect, nor did reinstalling the phone's operating system.

I called Verizon tech support. Their conclusion was that there was probably something amiss with the phone. There were other reports in various forums around the 'net that supported this idea. Because my phone is out of warranty, I couldn't get a replacement. I started thinking about a new phone and gave the iPhone serious consideration.

One Android app, WiFi Analyzer, showed that the neighbors have a couple of access points that occasionally reach into our yard. All of the access points were broadcasting on channel 1.

With nothing better to do and nothing to lose, I switched my router to use channel 6.

Joy.

Since making the channel change, my WiFi connection has not dropped when the phone sleeps. Declaring the problem solved to the extent that anything is ever solved.

Configuration notes

Phone

HTC Incredible on Verizon Wireless
Android 2.3.4. (Gingerbread)
Build version 4.08.605.2 CL185897 2011

Router

SURFboard SBG900
Software version: SBG900-2.1.15.0-SCM00-NOSH 
Hardware version: 3

Bridge

Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS 
DD-WRT v24-sp2 (07/22/09) mini - build 12548M NEWD Eko

I hate computers, little ones even more

For a while, my phone (HTC Incredible) hasn't been able to keep a wireless connection when it goes into sleep mode. I've set the Wi-Fi Sleep Policy to Never, but it's had no effect. When the screen goes dark, the WiFi connection drops out. If I ping the phone from another system, I can watch it go away.

I've tried various configurations on my routers with no consistent good result. Y'see, sometimes it works as intended. The screen goes to sleep, but the WiFi stays connected and I can listen to music or news or whatever. Most of the time for the past few weeks and constantly now, there's no joy.

I've done several reinstallations of the phone's operating system (Gingerbread, for those who care).

Now, sitting in NuCafe, it works fine. Now, using an open access point, the furshlugginer thing works fine. I have less of an idea why it works here than why it didn't at home.

In the "Because we can" Dept.

An Android app, WiFi File Explorer, allows you to set up a web server on your Droid phone. You can then download or upload files via a web browser.