If you own a small business, or a startup, then you absolutely need to use Google Apps. Hands down, Google Apps is the best tool to manage your business. There’s a reason over 4 million businesses have switched.
Your role as a startup owner is to run your damn business, not fiddle around with mail servers and worry about document backup. That’s where Google Apps comes in.
Google Apps is FREE for small business and startups who have less than 10 user accounts. If you need more than that you’re either funded, have revenue, or you have too many partners anyway. You can find Google Apps’ free page here.
Step 1:
Enter your domain name, obviously. Or you can buy one if you don’t already have it. I’ll assume you already own one.
Step 2:
Fill out the Account Administrator fields. I only fill out what is required. First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Phone, and Country/Region. Make sure your administrator email address is something you will never lose access to, you will need this if you ever have to reset your password, which has happened to me.
Step 3:
Select your administrator account email and password, I usually just pick eric (or admin if it’s a client). This counts as your first account.
Step 4:
Set it up! Your Apps account will prompt you to run through a setup wizard. If you think you’ll learn something then go ahead and walk through it. Personally I like to just learn as I go, so I just close the dialog box.
Step 5:
Before doing anything else you need to activate Google Apps. You can ignore anything else until you do this since there’s no point in using Apps unless your domain name knows what to do with it.
Google tells you that the recommended way is to upload a special HTML file to your server so you can prove you own the domain. But there are alternatives!
I prefer to select the
Since I use Media Temple to host my DNS records, even if I host the website elsewhere, I have to select Other since Google Apps doesn’t have instructions for how to verify a Google Apps account with Media Temple. Good thing I’m writing them here!
The instructions for verifying an account with Media Temple should be fairly similar to any other web host or domain registrar. I’m using Media Temple’s Grid Server service which lets me host up to 100 domains on a shared server for very cheap.
I edit the DNS Zone File so I can add the custom TXT record that Google has given me.
You will have various settings. Simply click Add a Record, select a TXT type for the record, leave the name blank, and paste in the TXT value that Google Apps gave you. Hit Save.
Media Temple’s DNS propagates instantly so as soon as I saved the new TXT record I can click the Verify button back in my Apps tab and it instantly verified my account!
Step 6:
Arguably the best reason to use Google Apps is for email. So let’s Activate your email. On the home dashboard for Apps you’ll see the different services that you have available to you. You’ll notice that there are some really ugly links like http://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/surrealwifi.com. Don’t worry, we’ll fix those in a bit.
For now, click Activate Email.
This next page has a ton of information. Google Apps does a good job of explaining how to set up your MX (mail exchange) records but again they don’t have Media Temple as an option. It’s all pretty generic anyway. Here are instructions on how to set up your Google Apps email with Media Temple’s Grid Service.
Remember that DNS Zone File that we were editing back in step 5? Yeah, we need that again. I start by clicking the Add a Record button 5 times since we need to add 5 MX records. Change each new record type to MX from their drop down menus.
Google Apps prefers if you set priorities for the records. Media Temple doesn’t have a specific field for this so we prefix them with their numbers. This of course could vary depending on your host. If in doubt, Google says to leave the priority blank and just make sure they are in the right order.
I use these:
- 10 ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
- 20 ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
- 20 ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
- 30 ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
- 30 ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
Leave the names blank, just change the values.
Save the new MX records and then click I’ve completed these steps in Activate Email screen for your Apps account. You will be taken back to the home dashboard and under email it says “We are checking MX records for your domain. This may take 48 hours to complete.” In reality it usually takes less than an hour.
Don’t close this tab, we still need it!
Now let’s change those ugly URLs that are set by default.
Step 7:
Click Settings from the menu bar at the top of your Apps account.
I mainly use Email, Docs, and Calendar, so let’s change those URLs. The latest version of Google Apps lets us change them all at once.
Click Change URL under the Calendar section.
Then click Change URLs for all domain services
For the heck of it let’s change all the URLs. I’ve left the default suggestions like docs., calendar., email., etc.
Hit Continue.
Head back to your DNS Zone File settings. If you’re like me, which is slow, your host might log you out for taking too long. That’s ok, just log back in and find those settings again! I actually reload the page just to make sure that I’m logged in, otherwise I might make a bunch of changes just to find out that I’m logged out, and that is a real kick in the teeth.
Add 5 more records. Change their types to CNAME.
In the Name section of each record enter in your custom URLs prefixes. I left them as default so I used:
- start
- calendar
- docs
- sites
Each record should have the value set to ghs.google.com. Save them. Your provider might spit out an error saying that you have two records the conflict. For me, Media Temple creates a mail record by default, so I just deleted their default one so the only thing left was my Google Apps record.
Click I’ve completed these steps in your Apps account and they should all redirect. This was instant for me but it all depends on your DNS.
At the time of this writing, Google Apps doesn’t support custom URLs for their Contacts feature.
Your Media Temple DNS records should now look like this!
Now would be a good time to test out your custom URLs. Just type http://mail.[yourdomain].com to try it out.
Step 8:
By the time I’d finished the custom URLs, the Email section on the page now said “Updating Google servers… This may take up to 1 hour to complete. We are updating Google servers to enable email for your users.” Hardly 48 hours, eh?
I suppose there really isn’t a step 8. You’re pretty much done. Plus this post is already over 1200 words… thanks for sticking around!
Google Apps has many more features to explore and they are really pushing their app marketplace. Personally I don’t use any marketplace apps, but you might find them interesting.
If you’re clicking around your Google Apps dashboard you might want to try the following:
- In Settings
- Enable Calendar labs to get the latest features.
- Enable the Preview for the new Contacts manager.
- Change the default document visibility in Docs so you don’t have to share it with your coworkers every time you make a new document.
- Enable Google Sync in the mobile section so you can add your new account to your smartphone the proper way.
- In Domain Settings
- Enable SSL to Automatically enforce Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connections when your users access Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Sites. In short, it makes your accounts a lot more secure if.
- Upload your own logo to customize the branding of your Google Apps account.
I would not enable 2-factor authentication. I had a really bad experience with it when I moved from Canada to Chile and time zones changed and my authenticator iOS app wasn’t working and blah blah blah. It was also really annoying in general.
This post is really long, and has 8 steps, but Google Apps is so worth it.
Please post any questions, comments, or suggestions below!
]]>We mashed together our own minimally viable product for a client and when I heard about Start-Up Chile (SUP) we decided to apply. The next iteration of our product, Surreal, was somewhat planned and we thought it would be a great opportunity to focus if we were in a foreign incubator.
So now here we are! We arrived in Santiago on July 14th. We stayed in a neat little place called Hostel el Castillo for a few days while we got our bearings. There are about 100 companies that were arriving around the same time so the SUP offices were packed and there was a lot of orientation to be done. It took a few days for us to go and get our RUT numbers, which is essentially the Chilean national ID card. That process took all day. The next day we opened a Scotiabank bank account when the bank executives came to the SUP offices.
Everything has been a bit confusing. SUP is still getting their ducks in a row and communication has not been the greatest, but they are doing their best and we think things will improve. Once we get our first reimbursement under our belts we will feel much better.
Last week we moved to Viña del Mar, which is a resort-like town near Valparaiso on the coast of Chile. Viña is only about 130km west of Santiago and the air is not polluted and the beach is our backyard.
We found a great apartment through a local real estate agent name Marcello Cresta. If you’re ever in Viña and you want to rent or buy a place for any length of time you should call him at +56-97931427. He’s been nothing but charming and any small thing we needed he took care of. Our apartment has three bedrooms with an en suites for each, a kitchen, laundry room, and it’s fully furnished, all for under $600 000 Chilean pesos, which is about $1250 at the time of writing.
Overall things are going pretty good. We’re finally curbing our spending now that we’re settled and we can easily buy groceries! Photos are being taken all the time and you can see our shared gallery with everything by going here: http://db.tt/2xlRFH8.
I hope to make a habit of posting more often. As you can see I’m terrible at it, so lots of questions and comments would be encouraging!
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All the stuff I need is on my desk 
Anyway, again, I’m still here. Midterms are done so I guess there goes my excuse for not posting. The cafe is still hanging in there and the Free WiFi Project is slowly growing. I need to really pound the streets in order to get some more nodes out there but finding the actual time during regular business hours is pretty tricky.
In other news I started yet another company, this one is named Campus Cards. We specialize in business cards for students. Cool idea, eh? That’s what I thought. I think that student business cards is a pretty untapped market segment so we’ve got a pretty good chance of doing well. The cool thing, in my opinion, about Campus Cards is how I set the site up to use fillable PDFs embedded in the page. Students fill these out and then pay through PayPal and I get a nice email with a PDF attached which is all ready to hit the printing press.
I started Campus Cards when I, in my position as “Director of IT” (yes, that’s in quote because I really just look after the website) with the School of Business at the U of A, was asked to look into helping our students get business cards. Realistically there are no printers around that will give you less than 250 colour cards for less than $30. Even if you find someone who is willing to do meet that price point you are still going to get dinged with design fees when your print ready art isn’t perfect and also shipping if they aren’t local. At Campus Cards we are offering students across Canada 100 colour business cards for between $15 and $20, inclusive of all GST and fees, and shipping is free.
This is sort of a unique opportunity. Doing the cards manually is time consuming, but I’m doing my best to streamline the process. Outsourcing isn’t really an option because of shipping costs. That’s one thing you can count against globalization: small transactions won’t survive international shipping fees.
Anyway, back to work at my new “home office” in the condo I recently moved into.
]]>First off, this thing was cheap. We shopped around and found a cutter from US Cutters on eBay (don’t buy from their website). After negotiating my own shipping the end price door to door was around $505. Not too shabby for a 36″ vinyl cutting monster.
The cutter itself is about 50″ long and it comes with a stand. Along with the tiny little cutting blades there is a pen plotting attachment that you can use to draw with.
We’ve cut a few things already, mostly stuff for Rob’s farm as you will see in the pictures.
Applying vinyl is pretty straight forward as long as you think things through in advance. It’s really sticky and once it’s on whatever surface you are using it’s not really coming off without being destroyed.
Anyway, with the amount we spent it’ll save us a fortune in sign making costs. Since cutting a few yards of vinyl ourselves will cost about $4/yard and having a shop do it would cost 10 times that.
An article was published in today’s Journal about the Free WiFi project I started.
]]>An Old Strathcona cafe owner hopes to blanket the area and eventually much of the city with what’s apparently Edmonton’s first free wireless Internet network created by a private group.
Eric Warnke of Free WiFi says the group has set up at least seven locations since June from which people can access the Internet with laptops, cellphones, new iPods and other equipment…
As part of my mesh network interests I’ve started up WirelessEdmonton.ca. This will serve as the main website and splash page for my free wifi initiative.
I am starting with Whyte Avenue, where my Internet Cafe is located. I have 20 Open-Mesh routers that need deploying. I will be going to different businesses along the avenue where I feel the network needs a boost and asking them if they will help out.
If a business hosts a repeater they will get a mention on the website. If they host a gateway they will get a specific ad on the front page indicating they are helping out.
In order to generate money I’ve put a simple 160×600 skyscraper ad on the right hand side of the splash page. For $75 a month an advertiser will get equal rotation on the front page. These are just rough numbers to start. As traffic and advertisers grow I’ll make adjustments. Right now the most important thing is to get people to carry my routers.
My buddy Mack was visiting with me the other day and we were doing some crazy brain storming into the future of a free network like this. We both think it has amazing potential and I can’t wait to see this thing explode.
]]>Here are a bunch of pictures of me opening them.
The setup was really simple, just like the Meraki routers. Basically you need to plug in on of the repeaters to an internet and power connection for 5 minutes so it updates and then the WLAN lights will start flashing, this means it’s ready to rock. Then you just log in to Open-Mesh.com and add the router’s MAC or IP address to the network and BOOM, it’s broadcasting.
To expand the network you just add more routers and place them around. A repeater doesn’t have an internet cable connection, it just picks up the closest wireless signal from the same network and rebroadcasts it. A gateway has an internet connection and therefore a stronger signal.
Right now I have one router sitting in the window at my cafe. I’ll make another post soon to explain why 
There are limitations, for example if you put a PDF with ‘.thumb’ in the directory it will try to link it as an image. This is ok for me because I’m controlling what goes in the directories. I suppose I could add a check for it later if I need to.
]]><?php
/* This little snippet takes the directory and looks for any files with ‘.thumb’. Then it takes out the ‘.thumb’ to link to the big image. Then it makes a nice little list. */
$dir = ‘gallery/gallery2/’; /* Point to the right gallery directory */
echo “<ul>”;
if ($handle = opendir($dir)) {
while (false !== ($file = readdir($handle))) { /* Loop over directory */
if (strpos($file, ‘.thumb’)) { /* Look for the .thumb */
$filebig = str_replace(‘.thumb’,”,$file); /* Remove .thumb for our big files */
echo “<li><a href=\”$dir$filebig\” rel=\”lightbox[1]\”><img src=\”$dir$file\” border=\”0\”/></a></li>\n”; /* Make the list with both file names */
}
}
closedir($handle); /* Finish */
}
echo “</ul>”
?>
Things have changed a little bit since then. Nexopia does friend searches from other services but there isn’t any real reason for someone to come to Nexopia and spend time building a complex profile.
Enter Data Portability. DP is
DataPortability is a group created to promote the idea that individuals have control over their data by determing how they can use it and who can use it. This includes access to data that is under the control of another entity.
With major sites like Digg, MySpace, and now Facebook introducing new methods for data portability it won’t hard to move yourself across domains. Throw in OpenID and you’ve got a good formula for letting new users come to your site quickly and efficiently.
My recommendation for Nexopia to start growing again is to keep an eye on these major players and when they open themselves up you should be waiting with a “1-click sign up” where your entire profile is created without you touching it.
Update: I changed the title to reflect the post and fixed some spelling errors.
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