iPhone Application - Horizsontal Speedometer

It is a speedometer for your iPhone that does a bunch more: The coolest thing the app does is get your current weather conditions and temperature using you current GPS locaiton. The app also keeps track of your odometer mileage using fun little flip odometer animations. There is also a flip side view that gives you the current map of your location. Using the settings app on your iPhone you can switch between Metric (KPH/Celsius) and USA (MPH, Fahrenheit)!

I will put up a bunch more information later and update that app web site when I have a bit more time and am ready to start rolling out some kind of “advertising” so people can find it among the other 400,000 apps!

Keep in mind this will only work until I use up all my bandwidth at my host. Enjoy and let me know if you have any issues.

WoW-3.0.9-to-3.1.0-enUS-OSX-patch.zip

POP server: pop3.live.com
POP3 Port: 995
POP3 SSL required? Yes
User name: Windows Live ID, for example me@hotmail.com email address
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP Server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (your POP3 username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

You can also use this Hotmail POP3 setup information in Gmail to import your hotmail messages into Gmail and use Gmail instead to manage your emails.

For all the pictures we found check out our Sipe Family Picture Gallery.

I had a TERRIBLE time getting anything to work from my Mac for the longest time. For some reason all the OS X friendly browsers (Safari, Firefox) I was trying got this endless loop upon Live Mesh Windows Live sign-in attempts. Then once I did get in the Limited Tech Preview for Live Mesh Mac Client was not available. I finally grabbed it and have been pretty impressed.

I had an initial issue getting logged in from the Mac Live Mesh application with some 100% Microsoft error number … thanks very helpful. I managed to get logged in by quitting the application and then restarting. Some people have also said to clean out your Safari cookies, which sounds just crazy enough .

I am not sure if this is kosher but anyways here is the Live Mesh Developer’s Preview Mac Client dmg file for those who can’t seem to get a hold of it elsewhere. It is such a useful piece of software expecially for those like me who work on a PC and use a MAC at home to keep things up to date that I wanted to make sure as many people as possible use it so it continues.

Here is the complete procedure for setting up VNC over RSA Key protected SSH so you can remotely and securely connect to your Ubuntu PC from a Windows XP or Vista PC. It looks like a lot of steps but mostly because I have tried to explicitly document everything for those Ubuntu noobs like me!

Standard VNC is super unsecure / dangerous because your login credentials are sent over the wire unencrypted and it is a common target for hackers. SSH is a solution to the encryption problem but like VNC, it is a target for hackers as it is a commonly available door to your PC. Simple login / password authentication is too suseptable to a brute force automated attack. So, the solution I settled on was to protect my SSH through RSA Key Pair Authentication and protect my VNC by not making it publicly visible but accessible through SSH Port Forwarding.

Below are the steps I took to connect to my Ubuntu box from a remote Windows XP machine. The process actually goes very quickly and is pretty straight forward with not too much Linux magic };-). If you have any questions or issues post a comment and I will see if I can help.

1. Install SSH on your Ubuntu Box
Install openssh-server using Synaptic Package Manager

• a) Select Synaptic Package Manager from the System Menu – Administration
• b) Click on Search and type in “openssh-server”
• c) Right Click on the openssh-server element and click install
• d) Click on Apply in the upper button menu bar

Ubuntu documentation for SSH : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHHowto

2. Enable VNC on your Ubuntu Box

• a) System Menu –> Preferences –> Remote Desktop
• b) Activate “Allow other users to view my desktop” and “Allow other users to control my desktop” and “Require the user enter this password”
• c) Set the password to some secure and strong password. I like to make mine different from my Ubuntu or Windows user passwords.

Ubuntu documentation for VNC : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNC

3. Setup your router to Forward the SSH Port

• a) This varies depending on what router you have but it is usually under the Advanced Setup and then under Port Forwarding in the Web Interface
• b) On your Ubuntu box type ifconfig in a terminal window. Write down your ip address (will probably be 192.168.x.x)
• c) Forward Port 22 to the ip address from the previous step.
• d) While here look for the “Status” link on your Router Web Interface and write down your router’s Public IP Address

4. Download PuTTy and PuTTYgen on your Windows XP / Vista Box

• a) Browse to http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html
• b) Download putty.exe and puttygen.exe
• c) These are the actual executables and you don’t need to install anything. Just save them somewhere that makes sense.

5. Create your RSA Public / Private Key Pair on your Windows XP / Vista Box

• a) Open puttygen.exe
• b) Optional: Change the number of bits from 1024 to 2048 for extra security
• c) Click on the “Generate” button to generate your SSH-2 RSA key
• d) Move your mouse all crazy like in the white box to produce some random data to seed your RSA key.
• e) Under the key comment put something descriptive. I usually use a login-hostname so rich-workpc or similar
• d) IMPORTANT! Type a passpharase and confirm passphrase. This protects your RSA SSH key and is necessary for security.
• e) Click on the “Save Public Key” and “Save Private Key” and place the files somewhere “safe” that you remember.
• f) Leave this window open!

6. SSH into your Ubuntu Box from your Windows Box Using PuTTy
NOTE: Our purpose here is to setup our SSH RSA Key Pair that we created in step 5

• a) Open putty.exe
• b) In the “Host Name (or IP address)” box enter the public IP address of your Ubuntu Box (see step 3d)
• c) Click on Open
• d) Login to your Ubuntu box from the PuTTY terminal just as you would if you were sitting infront of it
• e) Type in: sudo su
• f) Enter your root password
• g) Type in: cd .ssh
• h) Type in: touch touch authorized_keys2
• i) Type in: chmod 600 authorized_keys2
• j) Type in: pico authorized_keys2
• k) In the puttygen window you left open in step 5f Copy all the text in the “Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file” onto your clipboard
• l) In the putty window you now have the pico window open in: Click on the last line.
• m) Paste the information from your clipboard into this window (Putty should allow you to paste the info from your windows clipboard into your open putty window and thus into yoru pico window)
• n) Hit: Control-O to save the changed file
• o) Hit: Control-X to quit pico
• p) Type in: cd /etc/ssh/
• q) Type in: pico ssh_config
• r) Find the following line:
  PasswordAuthentication yes
• s) Change to:
  PasswordAuthentication no
  UsePAM no
• t) Hit: Control-O to save the changed file
• u) Hit: Control-X to quit pico
• v) Type in: sshd reload
• x) Type in: exit

REFERENCES: http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-30709.html
http://sial.org/howto/openssh/publickey-auth/

7. Setup PuTTy to use SSH RSA Key Pair Authentication and Port Forwarding for VNC

• a) Open putty.exe
• b) In the putty menu browser on the left, click the + next to SSH to open the menu and Click on “Tunnels”
• c) Enter 5900 in the “Source Port” Field
• d) Enter the ip address of your Ubuntu Box you found in step 3b in the “Destination Field”
• e) Click on the “Add” button
• f) In the putty menu browser on the left, Select the menu item Auth under the SSH menu
• g) Under the “Private key file for authentication:” Header click on Browse and select your private SSH key file you created in Step 5e
• h) In the putty menu browser on the left, Select Session
• i) In the “Host Name (or IP address)” box enter the public IP address of your Ubuntu Box (see step 3d)
• j) Type in a Description under the Saved Sessions Box like My Ubuntu Box
• k) Click the “Save” Button
• l) Click the “Open” Button to try out your settings!

NOTE: You should be prompted to: “Enter passphrase for key” when you connect. Enter the password you set in step 5d and you should be connected.
If you have any issues connecting recheck your settings, double check that the Ubuntu Box has your RSA public key added to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2 as we set up in steps 6g-6o.

8. Setup the VNC viewer and VNC into your Ubuntu Machine!

• a) Download and Install TightVNC: http://www.tightvnc.com/
• b) Run TightVNC Viewer
• c) Enter: 127.0.0.1 as the VNC Server and Click “Connect”
• d) THAT’S IT! You should now be VNC’ed into your Ubuntu Box from your Windows XP/Vista PC and graphically be browsing your Ubuntu PC from afar!

NOTE: You MUST have your PuTTY session you saved in Step 7k running BEFORE you Connect to the VNC Viewer EVERY TIME because this creates your SSH Tunnel and allows the VNC connection.

I remembered seeing an iPhone stand built out of binder clips on Lifehacker and figured that would work out well at my desk at work. I did a quick search and found the original post at Clut of Mac but the details were sorely lacking. Since this isn’t rocket science it only took a minute or so to fabricate my own iPhone Binder Clip Stand and make a few “improvements” to the design.

Step 1: Procure 1 or 2 Medium Sized Binder Clips

Step 2: Bend one of the Wing Ends to make a J (Not a V now just a J to cradle your iPhone)

Bend One End Using A Desk?

Step 3: Enjoy Version 1.0 of Your iPhone Binder Clip Stand. Flip out the Bent Wing and Place it on the Desk with the Straight End Acting as the Vertical Support.

Bend up One End to Hold the iPhone

(OPTIONAL) I wanted to be able to have my iPhone in the stand vertically also but a single binder clip
didn’t provide enough support to hold up the iPhone vertically. So Binder Clip Stand 2.0

Step 4: Take the Second Binder Clip and Piggy Back it onto the First Stand.
Note: This is a bit tricky to explain but check out the picture for more information. The second clip should grab on the first clip and will end up being parallel to the desk. Setup the first one as if you have an iPhone on it and the from the back squeeze the second binder clip so it is wider than the first and go straight into the first until the front edge of the top of the clip is pushing the vertical iPhone support up a bit. You now have a double sized base and it will support your phone standing vertically.

Add Another Clip For Support

Mod It (OPTIONAL)
I had an orphaned USB Thumb Drive cap in my desk drawer and it fit perfectly over top of the end of the binder clip to provide a large pad for the back of the phone and a bit more stability.

Finished iPhone Binder Clip With Flair

Be Creative! Look around and see if there is something you can re-purpose to make your iPhone Binder Clip Stand more functional or with more style and send me a link of your creation.

[UPDATE] Check out my flickr iPhone Binder Clip Stand set for lots of proper hi-res photos. I am updating the photos on this post as well as I have time.

IMAGE GALLERY
I apologize for the crappy image quality but I took it with my iPhone and well you know …

Check out and comment on my Instructable also.

This tip is an easy way to delete emails from the iPhone mail application.

In the Inbox List View, swipe your finger left over the email summary/title. A delete button will appear on the right side of the email. Click delete and its gone!

This is an easier way to delete single emails as you are going through your in-box without reading them or clicking on the edit button selecting and then hitting delete. Plus it is oh-so iPhoney!

Thanks to my wife Steph for teaching me this one!

I tried unsuccessfully:

Turning SSL on and off
Various SMTP Servers: smtpout.secureserver.net, smtpout.secureserver.net:80, smtpout.secureserver.net:3535 with no luck. I also tried the AT&T SMTP Server with no success.

What worked for me for sending outgoing email on my iPhone 3G:

Under the SMTP Settings Set the Primary Outgoing Mail Server to the Following SMTP Settings:

Host Name: smtpout.secureserver.net:465
User Name: youruser@yourdomain.com
Password: yourpassword
Use SSL: OFF
Authentication MD5: Challenge-Response
Server Port: 80

The real snake oil here is the :465 at the end of the smtpout.secureserver.net SMTP server host name. I am not sure why specifying the port here as 465 works and also setting the Server Port in the Settings to 80?

UPDATE: Joe has been saved! Thank You! $1,826 was raised to pay Joe’s taxes and help send him on the Campaign Trail!