Registration of phone number not possible for iMessage & Facetime

UPDATE: as of now (Jun 21, 9:00 am CET), phone# activation works again for both iMessage & Facetime. Didn't even have to re-enable any settings.

Just to jot this down, for Apple support or anybody else twisting their heads on the problem:

Currently (at least since 2 days ago, June 18, 2013) there seems to be a global issue with registering an iPhone's phone number for use in iMessage and Facetime: both screens remain in status "waiting for activation..." (German: "Auf Aktivierung warten...").
But: iMessage & Facetime both work fine with the Apple-ID.

Many similar complaints currently in the Apple Support Communities confirm the issue.
(Hint: this is on the latest and greatest iPhone 5 16 GB & iOS 6.1.4)


So...what gives?!?

Here's my chronology (all Pics in German, sorry):

Switching on iMessage & Facetime including Apple-ID usage shows the information expected:

But both status screens remain in "waiting for activation..." (German: "Auf Aktivierung warten...").

Also strange: since I switched SIM cards some days ago, my old phone number is still shown in the status screens, even though the phone itself works fine with the new number (both calls and SMS/text messages)!

Story gets even more funny: after yet another registration attempt on my side, I keep receiving text messages from the UK Apple Activation numer +44 7786 205 094. Not only 1, but at the time of this writing already 16 :)

Hint: the iPhone sends a silent SMS/text message to the above number on every activation try of iMessage and Facetime. This is not unusal. But receiving back not only one but many text messages is.

And by looking at the content of the message (hey, I'm a tech guy after all), it seems clear that it is a reply to an activation request:

And just for the record:

• yeah, I know of the Support Documents on how to associate your phone number with your Apple ID. Tried that manyfold: nada.
• yeah, I know of the Support Document on how to troubleshoot iMessage & Facetime, including the part on problems with activating the phone number. I tried that, including the suggested patient 24-hour-wait for activation. Guess what: nada.
• yeah, I called T-Mobile. All settings on my account are correct. I can receive and send SMS/text message, I can make calls. The iPhone really works fine - except iMessage and Facetime via the phone number.
• yeah, I called Apple Support. Yesterday, June 19. And they confirmed that there currently seems to be an issue with activating phone numbers for iMessage and Facetime. Yet the status support pages are all green - were yesterday, still are. Go figure.

ZF2 with macports' ZendFramework2 port

Quick Handreichung how to set up the skeleton application Zend Framework 2 (ZF2) on OS X, using macports' distribution of ZF2. Otherwise you'd have to download/install ZF2 every time for every project - redundancy and version confusion ahoi.
The ZF2 skeleton application is a good starting point for your own ZF2 development.

Quick facts:

• OS X 10.8
• ZF2 2.0.6
• PHP 5.3 (from macports - hint: will be installed anyway with macports' version of ZF2)
• Apache 2.2.23 (from macports)

$> cd /opt/local/ww
$> sudo git clone git://github.com/zendframework/ZendSkeletonApplication.git zf2.git

$> tree zf2.git

zf2.git
├── LICENSE.txt
├── README.md
├── composer.json
├── composer.phar
├── config
│   ├── application.config.php
│   └── autoload
│       ├── README.md
│       ├── global.php
│       └── local.php.dist
├── data
│   └── cache
├── init_autoloader.php
├── module
│   └── Application
│       ├── Module.php
│       ├── config
│       │   └── module.config.php
│       ├── language
│       │   ├── ar_SY.mo
│       │   ├── ar_SY.po
│       │   ├── cs_CZ.mo
│       │   ├── cs_CZ.po
│       │   ├── de_DE.mo
│       │   ├── de_DE.po
│       │   ├── en_US.mo
│       │   ├── en_US.po
│       │   ├── es_ES.mo
│       │   ├── es_ES.po
│       │   ├── fr_CA.mo
│       │   ├── fr_CA.po
│       │   ├── fr_FR.mo
│       │   ├── fr_FR.po
│       │   ├── it_IT.mo
│       │   ├── it_IT.po
│       │   ├── ja_JP.mo
│       │   ├── ja_JP.po
│       │   ├── nb_NO.mo
│       │   ├── nb_NO.po
│       │   ├── nl_NL.mo
│       │   ├── nl_NL.po
│       │   ├── pl_PL.mo
│       │   ├── pl_PL.po
│       │   ├── pt_BR.mo
│       │   ├── pt_BR.po
│       │   ├── ru_RU.mo
│       │   ├── ru_RU.po
│       │   ├── tr_TR.mo
│       │   ├── tr_TR.po
│       │   ├── zh_CN.mo
│       │   ├── zh_CN.po
│       │   ├── zh_TW.mo
│       │   └── zh_TW.po
│       ├── src
│       │   └── Application
│       │       └── Controller
│       │           └── IndexController.php
│       └── view
│           ├── application
│           │   └── index
│           │       └── index.phtml
│           ├── error
│           │   ├── 404.phtml
│           │   └── index.phtml
│           └── layout
│               └── layout.phtml
├── public
│   ├── css
│   │   ├── bootstrap-responsive.min.css
│   │   ├── bootstrap.min.css
│   │   └── style.css
│   ├── images
│   │   ├── favicon.ico
│   │   └── zf2-logo.png
│   ├── index.php
│   └── js
│       ├── bootstrap.min.js
│       ├── html5.js
│       └── jquery.min.js
└── vendor
    ├── README.md
    └── ZF2

Note the vendor/ZF2 directory above - comes in empty.

$> sudo port install ZendFramework2
--->  Computing dependencies for ZendFramework2
   <snip />
--->  Cleaning ZendFramework2
--->  Scanning binaries for linking errors: 100.0%
--->  No broken files found.

Now comes the the important part: linking macports' ZF2/library to the actual ZF2-directory of the git repository.

$> cd /opt/local/www/zf2.git/vendor/ZF2
$> sudo ln -s /opt/local/www/ZendFramework/library
$> ls -al

total 8
drwxr-xr-x  3 root  admin  102 23 Jan 16:04 .
drwxr-xr-x  5 root  admin  170 23 Jan 16:02 ..
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  admin   36 23 Jan 16:04 library -> /opt/local/www/ZendFramework/library

Configure /opt/local/www/zf2.git/public to be the DocumentRoot of your local webserver and you should see ZF2's starting screen.

Ta-Ta!!!

OS X 10.8: remove HTML formatting in messages.app for ICQ/AIM

Handlungsanweisung on how to remove the awkward HTML formatting that messages.app on OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) produces for ICQ or AIM accounts:

1. quit messages.app
2. open terminal.app
3. if ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist.lockfile exists,
   rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist.lockfile
4. in terminal.app, 
   open ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iChat.AIM.plist
5. (XCode will start)
6. Locate ICQ Account under root -> Accounts and set 
   ForceICQPlainText to YES
7. File -> Save
8. Reboot!
   Yes, seriously, boot your box. I know, feels strange on OS X.
   But if you start messages.app before rebooting, the setting above will not be saved. And you have to start over (-> goto 1.) again.

Now, happy plaintext ICQing.

LyX missing shortcuts

Update:
#insert Lyx note is also quite helpful

#⌥⌘n
\bind "C-A-n" "note-insert"


Here are my top 3 keyboard shortcuts that are missing in LyX's standard settings:

#insert reference (de: "Einfügen -> Querverweis")
#⌥⌘R
\bind "C-A-r" "dialog-show-new-inset ref"

#insert label (de: "Einfügen -> Marker")
#⌥⌘M
\bind "C-A-m" "label-insert"

#citation (de: "Einfügen -> Literaturverweis")
#⌥⌘Z
\bind "C-A-z" "citation-insert"

Being on a Mac, place them as user.bind in  ~/Library/Application Support/LyX-2.0/bind/
Restart LyX and off you go, saving yourself them awkward mouse-clicks.

macbook pro: HDD -> SDD

just replaced the internal 320GB HDD of my mid-2010 macbook pro (13'') ...

 ...with a 256GB SDD from Samsung:

maceinsteiger.de's article (sorry, German only) provided a good guide on how to do this.

Two caveats though:

1. you'll need a size 16 tork screwdriver. Otherwise you won't get the attachment screws of the HDD frame.
2. after booting from DVD, the system didn't recognize the SDD as a volume to install OS X on.
   Don't freak out: it's because the drive simply isn't formatted and partitioned yet.
   There's access to the Hard-Drive-Utility (funny...) from the install screen top menu. So just start, format, and -voilà- you'll see SDD as a possible install target.

hth again. someone. somehow.

excel mac:2011 "edit cell" keyboard shortcut

note-to-self: to edit the content of a cell in excel mac:2011, hit ctrl + U.
⌃U
(comment: that's the equivalent to F2 in Windows land)

SAP Passport on OS X / iOS

note to self: since it's nowhere to be found how to operate the SAP marketplace, support portal or SDN with a certificate in Safari (OS X) or an iOS device:
when receiving another of them SAP S-User, do the following to make the SAP passport (aka public & private key) work on OS X (Safari and the like) and iOS:

• use Firefox (here: 8.0.1), open the Support Portal and log in a subsequent fazillion times with your S-User-Id and password
• (sorry, German coming up) mein Profil ➔ Single-Sign-On Zertifikate verwalten
• put your password in the fazillionst time and generate your passport 
• Firefox will install your new SAP passport (aka public & private key) in the background and notify you upon completion (ignore the notifications about invalid Certificate Authorities and bla; it's all a big useless bloat of shady issuer-companies anyway)

Now in Firefox Advanced preferences, (you guessed it, German again) Zertifikate anzeigen. Locate your S-User-Id in (yep, German) Ihre Zertifikate, highlight and backup.

This will export your SAP passport (aka public & private key) in PKCS12-format - not so easy to do with any other browser, including the MS cripples. Because usually your private key remains hidden in binary wonderland somewhere in the proprietary niche of the browser. But you'll need both public and private key for use with the OS X / iOS keychain.

Launch the latter and import your newly exported .p12 file. 

Now happily browse the SAP marketplace, support portal or SDN via SSO with your browser certificate in Safari or your favorite iOS device.

q.e.d