The Problem with 1Password

UPDATE: this is a clever solution. (thanks Mark)

I recently wrote about the problem with PwdHash and have started making the move to 1Password as a result of my deliberations. I’ve discovered that 1Password has it’s own primary flaw: you need a device to access your passwords.

With PwdHash I could always generate a password via my web interface. With 1Password, I need to have my phone, iPad or laptop with me in order to access a stored password. This created an interesting chicken and egg situation as I tried to get an Android device set up to access some of my various accounts. I first had to install Dropbox and manually enter my Dropbox password from my phone before I could access 1Password from the new device.

Overall my switch to 1Password has been just OK. The Chrome extension seems to fail way too often at its primary purpose of filling password fields so I end up using copy/paste way more than I expected. I’m continuing to change my passwords over though, I’m not reversing course at this point.

This post is part of the thread: Passwords – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

The Rule of Awesome →

So we instituted a new rule: If we are hiring you because you are awesome, then you have 30 days to do something awesome. And awesome is simply defined as me (or your supervisor) thinking to him/herself, “man, that’s awesome!” just once.

I really like this idea. I think it would encourage a new hire to feel less tentative – that they are allowed take initiative and pursue an idea. New ideas can be incredibly valuable to an organization.

Signing up for MLB.tv is Hard

It took me four days to successfully sign up for MLB.tv.

The first three days, I kept getting this:

Validation Error

I tried different phone number formats. I tried to sign up with a credit card and via PayPal. I used different email addresses. I tried for three days.

I recently started using 1Password instead of PwdHash. I was generating a password for my account using 1Password’s tool.

Password Generator

I finally guessed that perhaps my password was “too secure”. Sure enough, that was the case. I made the password less secure and was finally able to sign up.

Annoying, but whatever…

Then I tried to sign in via the iPhone app. I entered my email address and the less secure password, but couldn’t log in. I used the “Reset Password” link in the app and MLB.tv sent me a new password in clear text via email. :facepalm:

So then I went back to the MLB.tv site to try to change the password again. I clicked on the “current subscriber” link in the upper right several times but it just kept reloading the current page. Finally that same link magically logged me in without me entering any credentials (the page was still open from my initial payment and registration) and took me to a page where I was “logged in”. From there I had an account link I could access and change my password.

On the form for updating my password – my suspicion was confirmed:

Your new password should be 6 to 15 characters long and contain only numbers and/or letters.

I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that developers that don’t accept secure passwords for their service’s accounts are the same developers that create a lousy user experience with vague and confusing error messages.

UPDATE April 17, 2013: So then I tried to log in on an Android device…

Android Login Failure

This post is part of the thread: Passwords – an ongoing story on this site. View the thread timeline for more context on this post.

Franklin Gutierrez Is Baseball →

Yeah, the Astros look dreadful. But in truth, the Astros are amazing, and the talent differences between the Astros and the, I don’t know, Reds, individually, are barely there. The players on the Astros are among the very best baseball players in the entire world, and if you watched them just practicing in your neighborhood or something, you’d be blown away.

I love how this post encourages us to take a step back and look at the big picture.

The Apple Stores’ Value

Her: Do you know of any applications that are easy to use to make a one-page flyer? Me: Do you have a Mac or PC? Her: A Mac. Me: I’d take a look at Pages. Her: Yeah, I’ve heard of it. Me: It’s Apple software, so if you have questions you can go to an…

OH: Someone called me out for trolling but I like to think of it more as… parody.