Tag: google+

Migrating email to GMail

I recently moved extricate.org to sit on Amazon EC2. This meant I had to decide what to do with my email. Should I just leave it on Dreamhost and access it via IMAP?

In the end, I decided to enable Google Apps for my domain. Free for 10 users or less so that will do nicely. GMail has a fantastic interface nowadays and after using it for a while I was happy that I would use it instead of IMAP, although IMAP is on offer should it ever be needed.

Getting up and running was straightforward, with the main element being to point my DNS to the new servers. Google walk you through all this via their setup wizard, so well played to them there. One immediate issue was that my new email address already existed as a ‘personal’ Google account, and that conflict needed to be resolved. In the end I renamed that account, started a ‘blank’ new one, and migrated the data across.

I transferred most of my email from Dreamhost by using Thunderbird. Having enabled IMAP on GMail, the folders could be consolidated and dragged between accounts. This wasn’t particularly fast as it was reliant on my home broadband connection. When it came to larger folders, I needed a better way!

Take it to the cloud…

It made sense to perform the copying via my Amazon EC2 server, as it wouldn’t be constrained by my home network connection. It did mean finding some suitable Linux command-line software. I decided upon imapcopy. I downloaded it straight from the home site.

However, this software is quite old and does not support secure connections, as required by GMail’s IMAP servers! This is where stunnel came in, which may be installed from the Amazon Linux AMI repositories:

sudo yum install stunnel

Configuration guide: stunnel and imapcopy.

I then just needed to configure imapcopy (ImapCopy.cfg). Naturally, the DestServer had to be sent to ‘localhost:1143’ so that the routing occurred through the new tunnel. I also explicitly stated what I wanted to happen:

copyfolder INBOX.Sent
DstRootFolder “Migrated”

It was then just a case of running imapcopy and away it went! It worked flawlessly which meant that all my email was now accessible within GMail.

A successful migration!

Google+: Moving in Circles

I have been playing with Google+ for a fair few days now. The number of people I recognise finally getting to sign up is increasing at a great rate. As a result, I am putting more and more people into Circles.

To begin with, I just saw Circles as, well, ‘different’ but I am starting to think that they are pretty neat. Let’s start off with Google’s own video about them:

The summary is simple: You can place people in as many different Circles as you like. When you share content, you decide which Circles get to see it. No-one ever knows which Circle you have put them in. If someone has put you in a Circle you are under no obligation to do the same to them.

Most people find their comfort zone in Facebook, so how does it all stack up?

  1. IT’S EASY. People can be added to Circles with just a few clicks or by a drag ‘n’ drop interface. It feels very intuitive.
  2. PRIVACY IS EASY. Have you tried using Facebook’s privacy controls recently? They are a bit of a nightmare to navigate. I love the Circle Sharing system that Google+ has as anything at all that you decide to share can be sent out to whichever Circles you want. Or you can go fully public. The choice is yours and it is easy to see at a glance what you have been doing.
  3. STOP BORING PEOPLE. There is no need to just share everything with everyone. Family pictures? Share them with your ‘Family’ Circle. Some really geeky social media stuff? Perhaps share them with ‘Social Media Geek Squad’. Your secret love of kittens? ‘Kitten lovers anonymous’. All the Circles are fully customisable.
  4. IT’S YOUR SECRET. No-one will ever know which Circles you have placed them in. Be careful though, as people do talk to each other, so someone who is NOT in your ‘Kitten lovers anonymous’ Circle may work out your terrible secret eventually…
  5. BE CAREFUL. There has to be a strong warning here which is a standard Internet one. Once you have shared ANYTHING on the Internet, even with a select few people, the assumption has to be made that one day absolutely EVERYONE could read it. It all depends on whether those select few people decide to share it! Think ‘Internet gossip’. Tools can block the ability to click ‘Share’, but ultimately you are at the mercy of cut and paste.

I hope that you have found this useful and would love to hear about how you are getting on with Circles or any other aspects of Google+.

p.s. There is a Facebook group called ‘Kitty Lovers Anonymous’ – who knew? 🙂