Lion Mail 5.0 can't send e-mails through Gmail SMTP

I just had the following problem: Whenever I would send a mail in Mail 5.0 it would go straight to outbox and stay there forever without being sent.

Every once in a while a message popped up asking me to reauthenticate with my password, but doing so did no good. The connection monitor (found in the menu "Window") showed mail trying to connect to the gmail smtp server for long periods of time, but without success.

I finally resolved it by forcing the port for the SMTP server connection to be 587 as is suggested here.

Tracking your 2011 MacBook Air for UK orders

About a week back, I decided to indulge myself and ordered the new 2011 MacBook Air with a i7 custom-to-order (CTO) configuration. I received a shipping notice 3 days after ordering, and have since then spent half my waking time on the Apple order tracking page, only to be stuck with the following, rather vague information:

Estimated Delivery Date (Subject to change)	09 Aug 2011 (Subject to change)
Current Delivery Status	In Transit to Customer - Shipment on Schedule

and

Carrier Tracking Number

In transit to final destination - carrier details to be updated shortly.

Assigned Carrier

In transit to final destination - carrier details to be updated shortly.

Dammit! I need to know where my MacBook is right now! What's the point of buying a luxury product if you can't indulge your inner 5-year old with pointless requests for information.
A quick internet search reveals that a webpage called apecode is supposed to be the answer to my suffering. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this, apecode is down. Further googling brought me to this thread on a Dutch message board which seems to list a number of logistics companies that Apple is known to use for shipping to Europe.

Indeed, the first link worked out for me: The site at expo.expeditors.com allows you to enter the number that shows up on your order tracking page under "Our delivery reference number" and receive a tracking update. I got the following info:

Criteria:	Tracking Number: XXXXXXXXX
Data as of:	01-Aug-2011 19:37:18 GMT

Ready for Delivery - #XXXXXXXXXXX

SHANGHAI, CHINA TO LONDON, ENGLAND

Import Customs Release: 01-Aug-2011 11:23:00 GMT

It seems my MBA is napping in Heathrow at the moment, together with 231kg of other Apple equipment. Fingers crossed I might get it before the weekend.

If this post helped you out, leave a quick comment. This blog is an experiment to start posting my solutions to all the little everyday problems I solve after an hour of googling in order to speed up the process for other people, so I'm curious whether anybody finds their way here.

Edit: Just for your information. My macbook arrived in Oxford on the 3rd of August, 5 days before Apple's estimate and 2 days after customs release at Heathrow.