iPhone Email Spam - Dealing with it Using IMAP

IMAP mail servers keep the files on the server, in addition to allowing external devices to access and download them. Basically IMAP allows you to synchronize your iPhone with your mail folder the same way you synchronize with your iTunes music. The beauty of this is that you can use a spam filtering program, such as Evolution or Mozilla Thunderbird to establish customized spam filtering rules. Overall, after about a days worth of tuning the spam filter rules, you can practically eliminate all mail spam that would typically go to your iPhone.

If you use Gmail, Yahoo mail, or another other mail system, you will first have to forward the emails to a mail server that supports IMAP. I believe Gmail offers IMAP, therefore you can probably set your spam filter rules directly in Gmail, and then synchronize your Iphone with your account. Yahoo I know does not currently support IMAP, therefore you will have to forward your email to an IMAP server, or settle with the SPAM filtering provided by the Yahoo interface. I find the Yahoo interface relatively limited, specifically compared to the elaborate parameters that can be set in Mozilla Thunderbird. Frankly I highly recommend just forwarding all mail to a local IMAP server, and have Thunderbird continuously running to filter out the crapola.

I am not going to get into setting up a mail server, as I have covered it extensively in the past. If your interested in setting up your own IMAP server feel welcome to search this blog in the upper right hand corner for more information. You do not need a domain name, as you can forward the email directly to your external IP address

Basically this concept only works with IMAP because POP will download the messages from the mail server, then clean the spam, and the mail will only be on the local machine in the Thunderbird directories. IMAP keeps the mail on the server, and Thunderbird will successfully clean out the BS leaving the mail accessible to other devices such as your iPhone.

Debian Locales Error During Boot

If you are receiving locale errors like file not found, during boot, you can repair your system with the following:

sudo /usr/sbin/locale-gen

If this command does not work properly you should first re-install the appropriate files:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall debconf

Then re-run:

sudo /usr/sbin/locale-gen

iPhone iPod Touch Battery Life Extensions

The easiest way to make your iPhone or iPod Touch last longer is to substantially decrease the brightness of the screen. I have observed upwards of a 50% reduction in battery life when the device is set to maximum brightness, and a substantial increase in battery life when the brightness is dramatically reduced.

Otherwise this device simply rocks. I love the instant transition between WiFi and the EDGE wireless network. This provides a seamless internet connection, allowing you to check your email, and access the internet anywhere where coverage is available. One major software issue is the lack of a spam filter directly on the iPhone. Also I have experienced trouble playing quicktime files, although the integrated YouTube feature is quite impressive. Also, an easy way should be provided for users to rip their DVDs to iTunes, and then sync them to their device; this feature should obviously be added to the iTunes software directly.

Overall if you don’t care about your credit balance, or somehow you miraculously have money in your life I officially declare the iPhone a killer device that consolidates many features into one single unit. Apple rocks, although since quality is proportional to cost, all Apple products are relatively costly.