Since I can't really black out Posterous ... and I can't really be bothered to change my DNS temporarily to point to americancensorship.org, I'll just point you over there to educate yourselves!

WARNING:
This post has been censored by the US Government due to violation of H.R. 3261 Stop Online Piracy Act. Any actions taken to circumvent this notice will result in fines and potential federal prosecution. Any links to circumvented material will result in fines and potential federal prosecution.

For more details, visit http://americancensorship.org

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via core77.com

Very cool design for a Fish and Chips bag!

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(Sent from Flipboard)

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via feedproxy.google.com

I'm a sucker for cool designs.

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(Sent from Flipboard)

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via lifehacker.com

Actually a really good guide on setting yourself up with Google Music. I've been using it for months and realize there are quite a few things to "fix" ... but anything that gets me away from iTunes is good!

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"Pizza Pesto Cherry Buckets" by my 10yo son using the Songify iPhone app.

Pizza_pesto_cherry_buckets.m4a Listen on Posterous

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Matt the Electrician - Faithfully (buy)

Originally by Journey

01_Faithfully_(Journey_cover).mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Kay Pettigrew - Fresh Prince of Bel Air (buy in iTunes)

Originally by Wil Smith

06_Fresh_Prince_of_Bel_Air_(cover).mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Note: I do NOT have any Google+ invites to hand out. Even if Google gives me any invites, I have enough friends and family that want an invite that I likely won't have any to give to anybody who reads this blog. Sorry.

I was lucky enough to score a Google+ invite. I honestly hadn't heard any of the buzz about Google+ before receiving the invite, I just happen to have a friend at Google who was kind enough to think of me. Once I'd clicked the link and learned more about what this service was ... I really got excited.

I immediately tried to sign up using my Google Apps account, but to no avail. The current implementation only works with Gmail accounts. Not a huge deal, I've been told that Google Apps accounts will work by the time they launch. I dug out my old Gmail account and signed up. Once I was in, I was presented with the "Circles" page.

Circles
Circles are how Google+ helps you keep people organized. You can create circles for anything: friends, family, college buddies, whatever. Circles are visual, drag-and-drop, and just plain easy. They're a fantastic way for me to keep people organized into groups that I'll remember. Facebook has groups, and I've organized all my friends into groups in Facebook ... but somehow the implementation was clunky and almost an afterthought. Google+ uses it everywhere and it's seamless.

Huddle
Honestly, I haven't tried using a Huddle yet. From what I gather, it's basically chat. Maybe when more people are on and there's a native iPhone app, this feature will be more relevent to me.

Hangout
This is basically a video chat room with multiple users. You create a Hangout and open it up to one or more of your circles. Again, this might be more relevent to me when I have more friends using Google+. 

Sparks
Sparks are kind of like a basic news feed in your Google+ stream. You do a search for some topic that interests you. Using Google's amazing search, you get relevent news articles presented to you. You save this "spark" and have an instant link available at all times. Then it's a snap to share an article with one or more of your circles.

Things I Like:

• Easy peasy - everything is just so easy to use. Things are in the right place, they're intuitive, they look good, and it just feels right. Facebook always seems to have to grow on you. Every little change Facebook makes drives people nuts until they get used to it. Google+ just worked right from the start
• Notifications - Up in Google's new tool bar, there is a little red number icon when somebody comments or posts about you. It's out of the way, but prevalent and easy to check updated posts in your stream (or others' streams)
• +1 - +1 is the new "like". I never got into +1ing links in Google because it never seemed to work when I was signed in with my Google Apps account. I also use Google at work where I'm not typically signed in. So I'm a little late to the game, but I still dig +1

Things I Don't Like:

• Gmail only - I've been told Google will work out the kinks and allow Google Apps accounts as well as Google accounts ... so this is only a minor inconvenience right now
• No Native iPhone app - Again, this is coming ... so only temporarily inconvenient
• It's too new - Facebook has years of apps and websites integrating so that everything I do I can somehow share with friends on Facebook. Google+ is so new, I can't quite do that ... yet. I know it will come with time, but I'm impulsive and want it now now now!

So that's it ... my quick and dirty review on my first 24 hours with Google+. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more playing to do! Oh, and if you do have an account, add me: teejayhanton [at] gmail [dot] com

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I thought Facebook never went down ... I can't wait until there's a viable alternative to Facebook.

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Girls Aloud - Jump (buy)

Originally by The Pointer Sisters

01_Jump_(For_My_Love)_(Pointer_Siste.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Please note: this is part three of a three-part series. I walked through setting up the profile in part one, delved deeper into the password settings in part two, and will now explain how to deploy the profile here, in part three.

Now that you've decided on the settings for your security or password policy, you need to deploy the configuration profile created in the iPhone Configuration Utility to your iOS device. The configuration profile you created is a package that needs to be installed on the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. This file details your settings in a manner the iOS device understands and then enforces those policies. There are four ways to get the configuration profile you created onto an iOS device:

1. Use the iPhone Configuration Utility
2. Email the configuration profile
3. Distribute the configuration profile on the Internet
4. Distribute the configuration profile wirelessly

Let's look at each one in-depth to allow you to decide which method works best for you ...

Use the iPhone Configuration Utility
This method requires you have the iPhone Configuration Utility installed (which you should if you created the configuration profile in the other parts of this series) and that you have the iOS device on-hand. Simply connect the iOS device to the computer with the iPhone Configuration Utility installed, open the iPhone Configuration Utility, and you will see the device listed under "Devices". Follow these steps to install the configuration profile through the iPhone Configuration Utility:

1. Click on the device, then on the Configuration Profiles tab (see images below)
2. You will see a list of available and installed configuration profiles; locate the configuration profile you wish to install and click the "install" button
   Note: you will be prompted to unlock the iOS device if there is already a passcode installed and the device is locked. Type the passcode on the device and click "install" again.
3. You will then see a pop-up window on the iOS device asking if you wish to install the configuration profile, along with some details and the signed code; you can click Install
4. You will then be prompted with an "are you sure" pop-up; click Install Now and you will be prompted to enter your new passcode
   Remember: your passcode must follow the rules you specified in your configuration profile (length minimums, special characters, et

See the full gallery on Posterous

Email the Configuration Profile
This method will create a .mobileconfig file that will be emailed using Outlook (Windows) or Mail (OS X). This will allow you to send the configuration profile to remote users, multiple people, and keep a backup copy of the configuration profile should you wish to share it again. Follow these steps to install via email:

1. Highlight the configuration profile you wish to share, in the Configuration Profiles section of the iPhone Configuration Utility
2. Click Share 
3. You will be prompted to choose the security from the following choices:
   1. None - the configuration profile will be sent in plain text; any iOS device will be able to install this profile
   2. Signed - this option digitally signs the configuration profile from your computer; any iOS device will be able to install this profile as long as the file is not altered
   3. Create and sign encrypted profile for each device - this option digitally signs and encrypts the profile so that it may only be installed on the device you encrypt it to; this option is recommended if you include any passwords in your configuration profile
4. Click Share and select the profile you wish to use to sign the file
5. An email window should pop-up with the configuration profile (in .mobileconfig format) attached
6. On the iOS device: check your email and click on the attachment, then follow steps three and four listed under "Use the iPhone Configuration Utility" above

See the full gallery on Posterous

Distributing Configuration Profiles on the Web
This method is essentially the same as email the profile, except you will export the profile instead of share the profile. Follow these steps to install via the web:

1. Highlight the configuration profile you wish to share, in the Configuration Profiles section of the iPhone Configuration Utility
2. Click Export
3. You will be prompted to choose the security from the following choices:
   1. None - the configuration profile will be send in plain text; any iOS device will be able to install this profile
   2. Signed - this option digitally signs the configuration profile from your computer; any iOS device will be able to install this profile as long as the file is not altered
   3. Create and sign encrypted profile for each device - this option digitally signs and encrypts the profile so that it may only be installed on a the device you encrypt it to; this option is recommended if you include any passwords in your configuration profile
4. Select a name and location for the file; the file is now ready for sharing on your web server
5. On the device: click the link to the file, then follow steps three and four listed under "Use the iPhone Configuration Utility" above

See the full gallery on Posterous

Distributing Configuration Profiles Wirelessly
This method requires a Mobile Device Management server either in your organization or from a third party. This method requires a great deal of setup and is a little more in-depth than I can go into in this tutorial. If you would like more information about setting up a Mobile Device Management server, check the Apple support site. 

Congratulations, you now have an iOS device with a strong(er) password than the default four digit PIN. If at any time you wish to uninstall the configuration profile (perhaps to modify a setting based on personal preferences), follow these steps:

1. Click on the Settings app on the iOS device
2. Click General
3. Click Profile
4. Find the profile you wish to remove and click Remove
   If you set the configuration profile to require a passcode to remove, you will have to enter that passcode before proceeding

You now have the skills and knowledge to create configuration profiles. I recommend delving deeper into the profiles and reading some of the links on the Apple support site for more information. Also, feel free to ask questions here. If I don't know the answer, I'm sure somebody does!

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Please note: this is part two of a three-part series. I walked through setting up the profile in part one, will delve deeper into the password settings here, and will explain how to deploy the profile in part three. 

In part one of this blog, we created a simple password policy in the iPhone Configuration Utility. Simple passwords are just slightly better than a four digit PIN. While true that the more characters your password has, the difficulty of guessing it gets exponentially harder. But, simple passwords allow repetition of characters, don't require special characters, and don't require you to change your password regularly. 

So a strong password is good, but a policy that is too strong can be overkill. For your personal iOS device that likely doesn't contain corporate or government secrets, requiring a password that is 15 characters long, needs three special characters, and must be changed every 15 days would be ridiculous. There is certainly a balance somewhere in between the extremes. By knowing more about each setting, you'll be able to find your happy medium.

Allow simple value
If this box is checked, it allows the use of repeated or ascending/descending sequences such as "abc123" or "5555"

Require alphanumeric value
This setting requires at least one letter in the passcode, meaning you couldn't use "5555", but could use "a5555"

Minimum passcode length
This dropdown requires a passcode be at least 1-16 characters long

Minimum number of complex characters
This dropdown allows you to require up to 4 complex characters such as $, #, and !

Maximum passcode age (1-730 days, or none)
This requires the password be changed after the specified number of days

Auto-Lock (1-5 minutes, or none)
This setting specifies how long the device waits without being used before locking the screen and requiring the passcode to unlock

Passcode history (1-50 passcodes, or none)
This setting "remembers" passcodes and won't let you use up to 50 previously used passcodes

Grace period for device lock
This is the amount of time (from none to 4 hours) that you can lock and unlock the screen without having to re-enter the passcode

Maximum number of failed attempts
Specify how many failed passcode attempts, from 4-16, can be made before all data on the iOS device will be deleted. If you don't change this setting, a time delay is imposted after six failed attempts instead of erasing data.

As you can see, there is a lot of flexibility available with the iPhone Configuration Utility. You need to weigh ease-of-use with security and decide what restrictions you're willing to live with in order to protect your data and device. 

In the last part of this series we'll look at how to get the configuration profile onto our iOS device.

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Please note: this is part one of a three-part series. I will walk through setting up the profile in part one, delve deeper into the password settings in part two, and explain how to deploy the profile in part three. Also note that all included screenshots were taken in OS X, but the Windows version of the iPhone Configuration Utility is very similar.

Mobile devices are an integral part of our lives now. We keep them with us everywhere and store a lot of personal data on them. What would you do if your mobile phone was stolen or lost? What information would somebody be able to get about you? Would they be able to log into your Facebook or Twitter account easily? Call your friends? Show up at your house? Did you have a password to lock your device? 

So, how do you keep your mobile device "locked up tight?" Ever since the iPhone came out in 2007, we've only been able to use a four digit PIN as our passcode. While not the strongest security, it at least provided some protection. However, when iOS 4.1 was released in September 2010 with stronger Enterprise features, Apple also released their iPhone Configuration Utility. This utility provided many Enterprise class features that businesses needed in order to manage IT devices, including the ability to require a Passcode instead of a PIN.

This utility isn't limited to just businesses, however. It's a free tool available from Apple's support site. I'm going to walk you through the steps of using the iPhone Configuration Utility to configure a "profile" that will require a stronger password on the iOS 4 device (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). While iOS 3 did have some Enterprise features, including stronger passwords, it is safe to say that iOS 4 is a more secure operating system by virtue of it's stronger encryption available, ability to use SSL VPN, and more. If you're not using the latest iOS version, I recommend upgrading for both new features, and better security.

Step One: Download and install the iPhone Configuration Utility

The iPhone Configuration Utility is available to download on the Apple Enterprise Support Site for free for both OS X and Windows. I'm not going to walk through the steps of installing a program here, but feel free to ask if you get stuck.

Step Two: Create a new "Configuration Profile"

1. Click on Configuration Profiles under "Library" on the left side
2. Click New at the top
3. In the General settings, set a "Name" and "Identifier"
   1. I used "Strong Password" and "strong.password" respectively
4. Now click Passcode
5. Click the Configure button to see all the settings available for password policies
6. Check the Require passcode on device box

See the full gallery on Posterous

For basic passwords, you're done. If you want to require stronger passwords (like most companies do), you'll want to delve deeper into the settings in part two.

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