UPDATE: (0030 GMT) All fixed, after only two hours of downtime.
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Several people around the ‘Net are reporting that they can’t download their Gmail messages.

Mail.app reports the SSL certificate for Gmail’s POP server has expired. Mail.app presents you with a screen saying that your SSL certificate has expired and offering you the option to continue, to view the expired certificate or cancel.

When I clicked continue, I found that I got the spinning wheel and no mail, as other have reported.

I then disabled and re-enabled my Gmail account in Apple Mail‘s preferences and that has brought it back to life temporarily.

Why does this work? I don’t know, but it does.

Gmail knows that there is a problem and is “working diligently” to fix it, as Bob Monsour reports.

iSynCal is a stand-alone app that syncs iCal events and To Dos between Macs without the need for a .Mac account.

An updated version (5.4) has been released which adds support for WebDav over SSL, so that iSynCal can now automount network volumes.

Also, the help files have been updated and it has also recompiled as a universal binary.

iSynCal is shareware (USD 25) and is available from the developer’s web site.

.Mac accounts support SSL connections.

This was news to me. I can’t find any reference to it in the online .Mac help file, but after trying it on a whim this afternoon, it is working for me.

Is this something new? Or have people being doing this for ages, and I am only now catching up? Wouldn’t be the first time ;-)

Anyway, you might as well use it too. A bit of extra security never hurts.

All you need to do is go to the Advanced tab on your .Mac account and select the Use SSL checkbox. Your Preference screen should then look something like this:

My work has just set up external access to its IMAP server, so that I can work as easily from home as the office. Excellent.

The external access is secured with a self-signed SSL certificate. Unless you import the certificate into your Keychain you get endless annoying error messages. And importing it wasn’t as easy as you might expect.

In the end, I offered to write up a walk-through for other Mac users in the College, and I’m posting it here too. It’s all documented in Apple Mail‘s help file under “I’m getting a certificate-related error message” but visual learners will appreciate the pictures.

How to accept a self-signed SSL certificate in Mail.app permanently (with screenshots) after the jump.

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