Connect 2400

Do Search Engines Recognize META refresh as a 301 redirect?

This thread seems to think so!  Therefore, I intend to implement a meta refresh of zero seconds on at least some of the pages of this blog, in order to test the theory and to ultimately move this blog, meager traffic and all, to its new domain which I mentioned a few days ago.

Typepad Support assured me that just by setting up and activating the new domain here at Typepad, search engines would recognize the new domain and it would start ranking, but I am not so sure it's that easy. So what if the site begins responding to DNS in a new way? The search engines will likely see this as duplicate content.

If this meta refresh approach works, perhaps I can keep a little bit of traffic while moving to the new domain. Unfortunately, this blog would probably have to have the second (target) set of files living on another Typepad instance or on another host entirely to prevent a circular redirect.

Doing so on a sitewide basis will only require a quick template change.... I may need to sleep on this as it's a pretty big step, yet it will be very interesting to see if the engines really do look at meta refreshing as the same as a 301 redirect.

Microsoft Buys Danger, Maker of Hiptop!

It's surprising in some ways, but it makes good sense in others - Microsoft has purchased Danger, Inc, the maker of the Hiptop platform which I've written much about.

Seems like Danger has some piece of the picture that Microsoft wants to paint for their mobile efforts. Could it be the Hiptop user interface? Could it be the client-server part? Could it be the human expertise in running a managed platform like the Hiptop platform?

Let's recap the basics of Hiptop:

• Only some data is held on the device. Data is stored on servers at Danger, Inc.
• Web pages are resized by Danger's servers to help operate their web browser.
• Third party apps are hard to come by, because of a tightly-managed software ecosystem, but the apps are all J2ME apps.
• The OS on the device is Java-based.
• The Hiptop is known for its killer form factor, QWERT keyboard and flip-out screen.

Could Microsoft be seeking to leverage this line of thinking into a Zune phone or some kind of Xbox mobile device?

With few details in any of the coverage out there, it looks like there are more questions than answers. This one is worth keeping an eye on with Windows Mobile as an established player, with iPhone being so buzz-laden, and with Google's Android platform making waves.

Apple Updates iPhone Line with 16 GB Model

Today I see that Apple is giving a storage bump to the iPhone product line. The iPhone will now be coming in 8- and 16 GB flavors.  With the formal release of the iPhone SDK and some way of getting third party apps onto the phone, it's looking very promising. Several guys in the office have them, and I am quite impressed with what I'm seeing of the stock iPhone models already; this storage bump only sweetens the deal more.

I'm still not sure if it's really going to be the phone for me when my existing contract is up in a few months, but I have plenty of time to observe and make the decision.  I note that the iPhone setup is similar in philosophy to the Sidekick, which I liked very much and even miss today (having converted to a low-end Blackberry), though the iPhone is much more powerful.

I'd like to add more to these observations but I must get my sleep.

Connect 2400 is Moving...

A quick announcement - this blog is moving! I found a couple of minutes to set it up as a subdirectory on my personal domain. Hopefully as a result of this move, I will be able to give the blog more of the attention it needs. I'm leaving it hosted on Typepad for the time being, so as to maintain traffic, so the new domain is simply pointing to this location. Once I've worked out all the details, I may move the entire blog to another host. I'm undecided on that aspect for now because there are many considerations to take into account such as broken links and search engine traffic.

The new home will ultimately be http://www.stephenelsner.com/connect2400/

The blog will respond at that address now, so please update any links in anticipation of Connect 2400's internal linking being updated.

Getting Firefox to Recognize Your GoDaddy SSL Certificate

From searching the web for a solution to the issue of Firefox displaying a scary warning message when visiting one of my sites that uses an inexpensive GoDaddy SSL Cert, I can see that the solution is out there but I want to make sure it's in at least one more place! Hopefully this post can save someone the searching time I spent.

Firefox needs to see an Intermediate Certificate. To get this Cert, visit the GoDaddy certificate repository.  In my case, the problem was with IIS, so I downloaded the very last file listed, right before the  CRLs: "Go Daddy PKCS7 Certificate Intermediates Bundle (for Windows IIS)

Once I got that file on my web server, I opened MMC, which in my case has the Certificates Snap-In already loaded. Add it if you don't - make sure it's set up for the Computer Account. Drill down on the Certificates, go to the Intermediate Certificates, right click, and do an import on that file I reference above.

The scary message should not appear after you have installed the Certificate Intermediates Bundle.