diff --git a/app/models/photo.rb b/app/models/photo.rb
index 5c0c57080dee350ada3e7505676976d8683b5ae1..706570903eb68e0b6b0d7880302b1a83f9c08665 100644
--- a/app/models/photo.rb
+++ b/app/models/photo.rb
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ class Photo < Post
     photo.image.store! image_file
 
     unless photo.image.url.match(/^https?:\/\//)
-      pod_url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].dup
-      pod_url.chop! if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
+      pod_url = AppConfig[:pod_url].dup
+      pod_url.chop! if AppConfig[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
       remote_path = "#{pod_url}#{photo.image.url}"
     else
       remote_path = photo.image.url
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class Photo < Post
   end
 
   def ensure_user_picture
-    profiles = Profile.where(:image_url => absolute_url(:thumb_large))
+    profiles = Profile.where(:image_url => url(:thumb_large))
     profiles.each { |profile|
       profile.image_url = nil
       profile.save
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index d95ebd32647ff62a010b27aba7af775837cf4649..456fce36e507301ec04b5f3a67c3f530d7395327 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ class Post < ActiveRecord::Base
       known_post = user.visible_posts(:guid => self.guid).first
       if known_post
         if known_post.mutable?
-          known_post.save_update(self)
+          known_post.update_attributes(self.attributes)
         else
           Rails.logger.info("event=receive payload_type=#{self.class} update=true status=abort sender=#{self.diaspora_handle} reason=immutable existing_post=#{known_post.id}")
         end
diff --git a/spec/lib/tasks/migrations_spec.rb b/spec/lib/tasks/migrations_spec.rb
index 1dd6a6aa840b3878502a6fa1c7eb95b31b64e123..49e281121fe171f3d9f1a13f3fa75ec016f6121d 100644
--- a/spec/lib/tasks/migrations_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/lib/tasks/migrations_spec.rb
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe 'migrations' do
         photo.url.match(/$http.*jpg^/)
       end
 
-      @photos[0].remote_photo_path.should include("http://google-")
+      @photos[0].remote_photo_path.should include("http")
       @photos[1].remote_photo_path.should include("https://remote.com/")
     end
 
diff --git a/spec/models/photo_spec.rb b/spec/models/photo_spec.rb
index d2aa63572653e374627bde6a2e6051b27c773951..3609e84d724c801355e3c49371c79ad3ec769d59 100644
--- a/spec/models/photo_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/photo_spec.rb
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ describe Photo do
     end
     it 'sets a remote url' do
       image = File.open(@fixture_name)
-      photo = Photo.instantiate(
+      photo = Photo.diaspora_initialize(
                 :person => @user.person, :user_file => image)
       photo.remote_photo_path.should include("http")
       photo.remote_photo_name.should include(".png")
diff --git a/spec/models/profile_spec.rb b/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
index 863785126400131142dc8d6ff4313d880c823a2c..44182b519c25630aa6edbd9bdfd124370f876c26 100644
--- a/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/profile_spec.rb
@@ -52,16 +52,18 @@ describe Profile do
       lambda {@profile.image_url = ""}.should_not change(@profile, :image_url)
     end
     it 'makes relative urls absolute' do
-      @profile.image_url = @photo.url(:thumb_large)
-
-      @profile.image_url.should == @photo.url(:thumb_large)
+      @profile.image_url = "/relative/url"
+      @profile.image_url.should == "#{@pod_url}/relative/url"
+    end
+    it "doesn't change absolute urls" do
+      @profile.image_url = "http://not/a/relative/url"
+      @profile.image_url.should == "http://not/a/relative/url"
     end
   end
   describe 'serialization' do
-    let(:person) {Factory.create(:person)}
+    let(:person) {Factory.create(:person,:diaspora_handle => "foobar" )}
 
     it 'should include persons diaspora handle' do
-      xml = person.profile.to_diaspora_xml
       xml = person.profile.to_diaspora_xml
       xml.should include "foobar"
     end