Configuring DiscountASP.NET IMAP Email on Android

[update: 2011-12-19 DiscountASP.NET has recently upgraded their SmarterMail system.  The latest version has sync capabilities beyond IMAP and POP/SMTP.  Options include SyncML or a SmarterMail Sync app-Exchange ActiveSync is not supported.  I recommend logging in to your webmail account and looking through the Synchronization Center to see if there is an option that might work better for you.]

Some combination of key words on my blog is bringing a bunch of people to my blog seeing how to configure DiscountASP.NET IMAP email with their Android phones.  It’s actually quite easy

First step—ignore the email app that comes with Android.  Pretend it doesn’t exist.  It stinks.  If Google knew shame, I’d say they should be ashamed for producing it.  Instead, you want to get K-9 Mail.  K-9 Mail is available in the Marketplace, or you can see it on AppBrain (speaking of things Google could do better…anyhow: http://www.appbrain.com/app/k-9-mail/com.fsck.k9).  K-9 Mail is apparently a fork of the original Email app, but is vastly improved.  It is the best email client I’ve seen on a mobile device (by my count, 12 apps on 6 devices in 13 years).  Kudos to the K-9 Dog Walkers!

Here are the settings you’ll need to know:

Incoming server

Username = your full email address
IMAP server = imap.<yourdomain>.<yourtld>
Security Type = None
Authentication Type = PLAIN
Port = 143

Outgoing Server

SMTP Server = smtp.<yourdomain>.<yourtld>
Security Type = None
Port = 25
Require sign-in = check
Authentication type = PLAIN
Username = your full email address

Beyond the basic settings, there are a gazillion additional settings–you can choose to subscribe to certain folders, automatically delete messages, push notifications, etc.  Spend a little time exploring the settings so you can take full advantage of the application.

Yahoo closing Delicious? What next?

First of all, the fact that Yahoo is closing the social bookmarking site Delicious cements Yahoo’s reputation as having the uncanny ability to become completely irrelevant.  Let’s take a walk down memory lane.

Yahoo started as a human-edited directory of links to websites.  Back in the mid-90s, that was easy to keep up with.  There weren’t that many sites.  What started out as a free listing, then became paid-for-faster-inclusion, and finally became pay-for-inclusion.

Just as the proliferation of sites was making human editable directories cumbersome to both edit as well as use, search engines began to be developed.  First up was AltaVista, from DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation).  AltaVista was basically word matching to show how fast DEC’s new AltaVista chips were.  Everyone was impressed, but not as much with the chips as with the service.  DEC didn’t stray from its core purpose, and now AltaVista is part of Yahoo (also on the chopping block) and DEC was consumed by Compaq, which was then consumed by HP.  The same year Compaq bought DEC, a research project known as Google was launched.  To supplement its directory results (which you can still find at http://dir.yahoo.com/), Yahoo began serving search results from AltaVista, and later, Google.

The short history of the Internet is littered with stories of companies that “get it”, and companies that don’t/didn’t.  Yahoo has shown, time and again, it doesn’t “get it”.  Despite having a stable of awesome web properties (like Delicious and Flickr), Yahoo just can’t figure out what to do.  That’s kind of pathetic, really.  Think of it this way–Delicious was a human edited directory of websites.  Instead of single entries, a site could be submitted as many times by many people.  What more zeitgeist do you need?  These data are a gold mine of trend analysis.  No one wants Yahoo to reveal the specific user information, but few people would care if Yahoo said (or sold) the aggregate facts—1000 people linked to Site A in the 12 hours after a story about it was posted; over time, 350 people have visited the site more than once, and 50 repeatedly visit the site.  Like Pecos Bill used to day, there’s gold in them thar hills!

Well, too bad for us Delicious users.  So what’s next?  This falls in line with my belief that you, and you alone, need to be in control of your data.  I broke this rule with Delicious, and now I’m paying the price.  The export functionality does not produce well formed or valid XML, so the output will be difficult to work with.  In the end, I want to control my own data again, so I’m looking for a Delicious-style script or site to use.

One option is PressMark, an older WordPress-based bookmarking site you can host yourself (bonus if there is an Android client) or is a cheap fees.  Sabros and Scuttle are open-source pojects which claim to be similar to Delicious.  Akarru, GetBoo and Feed Me Links also make similar claims.  The website Diigo is sort of a combination of Delicious and Evernote.  I’m not sure which way I’m going yet, so drop me a line if you have experience in one of these products, or in such a similar situation.

[update]

Lifehacker has a couple more options listed at http://lifehacker.com/5714329/the-best-services-for-migrating-your-delicious-bookmarks.

Our Book is Officially Published!

Nate and I received the official word earlier today:

Hi Guys,

I am delighted to say I have just clicked some mouse buttons, and officially published your book.

Congratulations!

The book will become available on Packtpub.com in the next hour or so, and channel feeds will kick in soon (Amazon, for example, is currently taking around 3 days).

Well done on all your hard work! It looks fantastic.

The direct link to the book on Packt is http://bit.ly/msazurebook.

Right now, I’mfeeling a great deal of excitement and a great deal of relief.  What an awesome experience.  Packt Publishing was fantastic to work with, we had total freedom to develop the book as we saw fit, and I’m proud of how it turned out.  We worked our tails off to make this happen, and I hope everyone who reads the book finds it very useful.