Category: Tech

Moving Your Domain from Google Domains to WordPress if You Use a Free Google Workspace Account for Email

So way back in the day, I started using Google Workspace (then known as Google Apps) as a method to allow me and my family to use our newsome.org email addresses with Gmail. Google Apps were free, and, while it was annoying to be denied some Google features that weren’t made available to Google Apps users (for example, we still cannot family share YouTube TV), things were solid and reliable for a long time.

In order to make your email work with one service (Gmail in my case), and your domain (e.g., website) to be hosted by another service (WordPress in my case), you have to configure your DNS settings a very specific way. To simplify things (or at least to reduce my web travel), I moved all of my domains to Google Domains.

Things were cool for a while.

Then Google decided to charge for Google Apps, but grandfathered us long-timers and allowed us to keep our free accounts. Then Google decided to end the free accounts, presumably to make a few extra dollars. After we all simultaneously begged and lost our shit, they decided to keep the free plan.

All was cool for a minute.

Then Google decided to exit the domains business, and sell Google Domains to Squarespace. I have no desire to be a Squarespace customer, so I decided to move all my domains to WordPress. WordPress (smartly) makes it very easy to do, and even pays the transfer fees and adds an extra year to your domain registration.

Moving the domains is simple, takes maybe 3 minutes, with little or no interruptions whatsoever.

But what about the (now renamed to) Google Workspace account? Would I lose my free account if I transferred newsome.org? Would my email (via the Gmail front-end) stop working? Would my kids angrily descend on me when their email stopped working?

I inquired with both WordPress support (very helpful and responsive) and Google Domains support (pretty responsive, no doubt at least partially due to a “don’t piss off our prospective customers” clause in the Squarespace purchase agreement). Both gave me fairly encouraging- though not unequivocal- responses.

So after texting my family to chill if they experienced any temporary problems, I pulled the trigger on the newsome.org transfer.

With one small hiccup (which I’ll get to in a minute), no problems whatsoever. The transfer took just a few minutes, email was not affected, and my website remained in place and reachable.

Cool.

Until this morning when this happened:

“Safari can’t open the page newsome.org because Safari can’t find the server newsome.org.”

After digging around some, I realized that, because of the DNS configuration I mentioned above, I had been using custom name servers (at Google), and that custom configuration transferred over to WordPress (exactly as it should have). Once I changed the setting at WordPress to use WordPress’s default name servers and waited a few minutes, the problem resolved.

So the moral of the story is that grandfathered, free Google Workspace customers who use Google Workspace for their domain’s email addresses can transfer their domain to WordPress without any interruption or loss of their email service.

Just be sure to check those name servers.

BlueJeans Blues


In a classic example of trying to strike while the iron is hot, the business unit of Verizon is acquiring BlueJeans. If you’re not familiar, BlueJeans is a video conferencing app like Zoom.

via Engadget


More: Verizon, WSJ

My firm uses BlueJeans as its default video conferencing tool. At first, I really didn’t like it. I found it unreliable and non-intuitive. I still don’t like the user experience, but it seems more reliable, at a time where I’m sure its traffic has skyrocketed. Still seems to me like chasing another train that already left the station, but time will tell.

I’m a Verizon wireless customer (much better reception at the farm and surrounding areas), so maybe there will be some beneficial integration, though at the moment I can’t imagine what that would be.

For more tech news and Kent’s real-time reading list, follow him at Twitter.

Better Screenshots on Your Mac


Of course, you could also just hit Command + Shift + 5 in macOS Mojave or later to pull up its screenshot app, which gives you plenty of options for customizing what you’re taking a picture of, where the resulting file will save, and whether you’d like to enable a timer or not.


More: Customize Your Mac Screenshots With These Hotkeys

I use Command + Shift + 4 multiple times a day. But, somehow, until the other day I did not know about this screenshot app. Very handy!

For more tech news and Kent’s real-time reading list, follow him at Twitter.

Evening Reading: 3/3/19


Evening Reading: 2/15/19


A Happy Day for Mac Lovers

All of this Mac and Apple display news today made me so happy, I wondered if perhaps it was a belated April Fool’s Day prank.  Thankfully not.

Apple is currently hard at work on a “completely rethought” Mac Pro, with a modular design that can accommodate high-end CPUs and big honking hot-running GPUs, and which should make it easier for Apple to update with new components on a regular basis. They’re also working on Apple-branded pro displays to go with them.

I’m a devoted MacBook Pro user, but Apple’s commitment to Mac Pros, and the software that runs them, is fantastic news for all Mac users.  And I’ve long felt that the Mac Mini is an under appreciated gem, so I’m delighted it will remain in the lineup.

There are good times ahead for Apple.

W3C, Big Media, Cats and Bags

The EME-DRM war wages on, while those of us who just want Flash and Silverlight to die long-overdue deaths and to continue watching videos in our browsers await our fate.

It’s difficult to imagine that any content distributors that are currently distributing unprotected media are going to start using DRM merely because there’s a W3C-approved framework for doing so.

The usually reliable Ars Technica.

Are you kidding?  That’s exactly what’s going to happen.  Big media companies are conscripting the mostly powerless W3C in their war to stuff the cat back into the bag.  And anyone who doesn’t think opportunistic content providers will take advantage of the destruction of the open web is dreaming.

Time will tell how this war plays out, but it looks to me like consumers will be the casualties.

The EFF has a good FAQ, for those who want to see what’s at stake.

All About the New Apple File System

 

“Once APFS becomes available, Apple plans to make the process of switching to the new file system incredibly simple. You won’t need to back up your data and start again with a fresh OS install, thank God. Instead, there will be an option to seamlessly transition all your devices without losing any of your files.”

Cult of Mac (who I still haven’t completely forgiven for this).

appleclassicApple (and those of us who rely on its products) needs a new, modern, uniform file system.  No, it’s not some sexy new feature.  But it is integral to the efficiency and future of the devices we use.  All we can ask is that the transition is as painless as possible.  So far, it looks like it will be.