Digital Meanderings
Meanderings of a coder

If you’re a reader of my blog, or a friend of mine, you know I recently started working on a new project named BlackPing.  BlackPing is my first foray into BlackBerry development and what a bumpy road it’s been.  The BlackBerry API (for CLDC applications) is very robust and is written in Java. Java is a big part of my life, I’ve written thousands of lines of code and most of it has made it into a production environment.  But writing for the BlackBerry is different.  You may know how to speak the Java language but do you know the BlackBerry dialect?  Different APIs, different rules, different constraints to take into consideration.

Over the years I’ve learned a few different languages - C, C++, Java, Java Script, some PHP, some Perl, some Ruby-on-Rails, PL/SQL and a slew of other ones.  With all of them I learned through trial-and-error, by looking over a friend’s shoulder or by looking at code examples.  I only ever asked for help at 3am.  Once my brain was fried, my eyes about to bleed and I could barely write a coherent sentence let alone a technical paragraph describing the problem I was having.  Not a good, or fun, way to learn a new language.

This time I decided to do something different - instead of simply posting questions to a forum I found, I tried answering them.  A lot of the posted questions were well over over my head but I read them anyway.  I performed Google searches, I analyzed what other people wrote back.  I tried to understand, I asked questions about the responses not the original post.  By joining in the conversation I was able to learn a lot about BlackBerry programming.  More than I ever would have using my trial-and-error methodology.  By reading what other people had to say I found problems in my application that I didn’t know I had!  I was able to find cool coding tricks and learn what else the BlackBerry API had to offer.

By joining the conversation I was able to rapidly expand my knowledge of what the BlackBerry API allowed me to do.  I think this is the way I’ll try to learn every new language.

My friend Colin and I are often asked to speak at the Computer Science Career Day that our alma mater holds every year. The night before, after we’ve had a few beers and have caught up, the conversation turns to what we should talk about the next day. Every year we include the same idea: Stay Hungry.

Some students get into computer science because they think it’s a great gig, others have a passion for computers. The passionate ones are often labeled “geeks” or “nerds.” These are the people that I’m writing for. Those with passion, those who love computers, those who love to learn.

Computer Science exposes you to a broad range of topics. I was exposed to compiler design, database design, language design, AI, application programming and internet programming, just to name a few. Within each of these topics there are countless languages and perspectives and theories. One can literally spend their entire life researching computer science and still never know everything there is.

This is the beauty and the pain of computer science - computer science encompasses a vast world of topics and college skims the surface of most and delves deeply into a few. You are forced to know a limited number of things, just enough to grasp the important points of the subject matter and then you’re given a diploma and sent into the world.

You’re a graduate now and go out into the world and find a job. Often times your first job allows you work on one system, with one language, solving one particular problem. This is great for a first job. It teaches you the business world, which we all must interact with. It teaches you problem solving skills, which you probably haven’t been taught well enough in college. It gives you real world experience.

The problem is that life comes at you fast - climbing the corporate ladder, relationships, children, mortgages and so on. Soon you realize that your skill set is stagnant. The passion you had as an undergrad is gone and now you’re simply a cog in the corporate machine. Going to work, coming home, sometimes making love and plucking at gray hairs.

What happened? You forgot to stay hungry.

Remember those nights that you stayed up late trying to work out the one last bug in some application you were working on? Remember when your thirst for something new and interesting kept you reading and experimenting?

Innovation has not stopped. Computer Science is a living, breathing, mutating, evolving subject. A quick look at the world around you will prove this. Look at operating systems, mobile devices, the internet, or even the appliances in your kitchen! There is no reason to starve.

The important thing is to find something that piques your curiosity. Does AI sound interesting to you? Research it. Try to write a simple application. Are you sick of Java? Learn Ruby-On-Rails. Maybe you always loved electronics class, learn more about electronics.

Life comes at you fast. Do not go to bed 25 and wake up when you’re 50 and wonder where the hell it all went. Stay hungry.

I’ve seen many sad attempts at keeping someone on your page, but the attempt at Reunion.com wins the race. Not only did the page raise two javascript alerts but it also showed a fake chat dialog! See the screenshot below or check try the link yourself!

Note:

A tale of love lost and poor customer service.

The Backstory

I originally purchased Iambic’s Agendus in November 2004. Between then and now I purchased quite a few upgrades and their 3D Icon collection.

Up until recently I have been very happy with the application. I love the layout, I love being able to associate icons with tasks and appointments. I love Agendus! At least I used to love Agendus.

The Current Situation

I’ve recently run into a problem syncing with Outlook. Every time I associate an icon with a meeting Agendus it changes the meeting organizer to me! This problem is reproducible and very troublesome.

In my current job, meetings are scheduled and updated by a variety of people. So, when I sync my Treo 650, and the meeting has been updated, I don’t get the update. The update comes through Outlook and I accept it, but Outlook can’t find the meeting anymore. Therefore I have two choices - update the meeting manually or don’t worry about the meeting updated. Both are unreasonable in my opinion.

An Attempt at Resolution *

On 7/31/2007 I submitted ticket YNR-385653. The staff replied on 8/8/2007 asking for clarification on my issue, I replied to his request one day later. At the time of this article I have yet to receive a reply. In my opinion this is unacceptable for a few reasons.

1. I encounter this problem every time I add an icon. If Iambic can’t reproduce they should contact me.
2. If they are researching the issue, I should be alerted. There is no excuse for this utter lack of communication.
3. If they are able to reproduce it and are going to include a fix in a future release, I should be made aware of it.

Trying to Understand

I am a software developer. I provide customer support and I carry an on-call phone. I understand how it takes time to resolve an issue - research, coding, testing, etc. Developers are over-worked and support teams are often under-staffed. But in my experience there is never a good reason to leave a customer in the dark. It is unacceptable to leave a customer in the dark, especially for as long as I have been.

Important Reminders

For me, this underscores how important it is to keep my customers in the loop. The software I work on affects a person’s ability to do their job and it is my job to fix it. When a problem happens they understandably get worried and frustrated.

For the corporations out there, I hope they realize how important it is to keep communication between themselves and their customers.

In the case of Iambic, I think they tried but they unfortunately failed. The only means of communication I can find is their trouble ticket application. But what if, as in my case, I haven’t heard anything? Do I send another message through ticket application and have my request go to the bottom of the queue?

What I’m getting at is this - Iambic, please provide another means of communication. Have your support staff reminded of aging issues. If the support staff is too small, at least send some kind of automated notification. The best situation would be to provide a telephone number or an email address that goes to an actual person.

* My Email Communication with Iambic

7/31/07 - The First Email - Sent by Me

I’ve run into a problem when I sync Meetings between Agendus and Outlook. When the meeting is initially sync’d the “Meeting Organizer” is set appropriately to the person who sent out the meeting invitation. As soon as I change the icon associated with the meeting, the “Meeting Organizer” is set to me. Is there any way to resolve this?

8/5/07 - The Second Email - Sent by Me

It has been a few days and I have yet to hear anything from Iambic. I have even received a “Customer Satisfaction” survey but still no response. Is anyone looking into this?

8/8/07 - The Third Email - Sent by Iambic

I need to tell you a little bit about how our ticket support software works. When you create a ticket, it goes to the list. We work from the bottom in order to answer the oldest first. When you repost into the same ticket, it move to the top of the list again. I realize that you had no way of knowing this, so please just consider it information for the future.

Please explain - do you mean the Contact for the meeting? By what means are you sending out the invitations? Are you using the Attendees module over SMS? Or an Exchange Server? I don’t see a similar report in our bug tracking suite, but if you’ll give me the details, I’ll try to replicate and report it as a bug if we need to.

8/9/07 - The Fourth (and most recent) Email - Sent by Me

The company I work for uses Exchange Server 2003 and Outlook 2003 is
installed on the desktop. My operating system is Windows XP, SP2.

When a meeting request arrives from a co-worker and I sync Outlook with my
Verizon-branded Treo 650, the meeting in Agendus looks as expected. I like
to change the Category and the icon of the meetings I’m attending. I change
the Category in Outlook before I sync, I change the icon using Agendus and
then I sync again. After the second sync, I am set to the “Meeting
Organizer.”

Below are the steps I can use to reproduce the problem 100% of the time.

1. Receive and accept a meeting request. (Takes place in Outlook)
2. Update the “Category” of the meeting request and save it. (Takes place in
Outlook)
3. Sync. (Using Palm Desktop and the Outlook conduit)
4. For testing purposes, I sync again.
5. I look at the meeting in Outlook and the “Organizer” is the same person
that sent the meeting request.
6. I update that same meeting in Agendus to include an icon.
7. Sync.
8. I look at the meeting in Outlook and the “Organizer” is set to me.

If you need anymore details, please let me know.

By the way, the Agendus Issue System should alert a user if their update is
going to cause the issue to drop to the bottom of the queue. This is a major
iritation, and although it may be in the FAQ, this is an important thing to
make the users aware of.

I’ve been using Agendus for quite awhile now, and I’ve purchased many, many
upgrades. This situation is causing me to re-evaluate my relationship with
Iambic. I realize that nothing in this, or the previous, paragraph is your
fault, I just wanted to make mention of it.

Thank you for your time and your attention in this matter.

Updates!

Well it looks like Iambic has people monitoring Digg, Reddit, etc. Last night when I checked my email I received a note from the COO/CIO at Iambic. His message his posted below.

9/1/07 - Email from Adriano Chiaretta COO/CIO

Hello Zack,

I just wanted to personally follow-up to your blog’s post about your
recent misadventures when trying to get in touch with our Tech Support.

Please accept my apologies for what happened — we do our very best to
promptly and effectively reply to anyone contacting us, but at times
things just don’t go the way they are supposed to.

You can expect a follow-up on your problem from our Tech Support by the
end of Tuesday (since Monday is Holiday in US), at the very latest.

Best Regards,

- Adriano

———————————————
Adriano Chiaretta
–
COO
iambic, Inc.
1270 Oakmead PKWY STE 214
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
http://www.iambic.com
Redefining Productivity

9/2/07 - My response

Adriano -

Thank you for your email. I’m sorry that I had to resort to writing a blog entry regarding this matter but I had no other choice.

I’d also like to thank you for securing a follow-up for me. I look forward to their email.

Thanks again.

- Zack

9/4/07 - A Response From Iambic Technical Support

Hello Zack,
My name is Michael, and I am the iambic Support Team Supervisor.

Sincere regards,
Michael
QA/Support Team
www.iambic.com

9/4/07 - My Response

Michael -

- Zack

I am a developer working on the requirements and design of a large application so I spend a lot of time in meetings. For example, tomorrow I have 2.5 hours when I won’t be in a meeting. This equates to pages upon pages of notes. Some of these notes are minor, some require the application design to be rethought or updated and others require some clarification from the SMEs. As you can imagine scanning through these notes can be onerous. So I’ve developed a low-tech version of tagging.

My meeting tags are very simple icons that I put next to each note or group of notes. They enable me to quickly scan through my notes and grab out what I need to do, what needs to updated or even what questions need to be asked. Below you’ll find examples of my “tags.”

• Exclamation Point enclosed in a square - Important, requires immediate attentions.
• Question Mark enclosed in a square - Requires more information from another developer or a SME.
• Light-bulb enclosed in a circle - An idea for improving something.
• “PM” enclosed in a square - A note to keep for the project’s post-mortem.

There are other icons I use, but this should be enough to get you on your way.

Why not use a computer?
I have yet to find a good note taking application. I could use Word, but I’m pretty anal about how things are formatted, so I would spend too much time formatting and therefore less time paying attention.

Don’t the icons take a lot of time?
Not really. At first, it may take a few extra seconds to draw or remember which icon you use for what, but once you get used to it, it is really quite quick.

A few months ago I visited Mozy Pro, the business version of the popular Mozy online backup company. I was just browsing - looking at specs, checking prices, etc. I decided not to use their services. Today I got an email from someone at Mozy asking if technical difficulties with the site prevented me from signing-up.

Odd thing is - I don’t ever remember giving them any piece of information besides what get’s handed-off while surfing (IP address, etc). I even checked my email accounts - nothing from Mozy except for the email today.

The email, including the headers, looks legit. I wonder how they got my information? Or is this some kind of intrepid spam whereby someone just guesses you visited the site? Anyway, below you’ll find the email.

Hi [Redacted my full name],

I noticed you visited our MozyPro Business sign up page not to long ago, but didn’t complete the transaction. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t have trouble with the website or that there weren’t any additional questions about our company or product.

I don’t know if you had the chance to see, but we recently signed the 2nd largest company in the world, General Electric. The press release is very interesting and informative, and you can check it out at https://www.mozypro.com/mozy_pro/news.

If you have any further questions or concerns regarding our product, my contact info is below and I will be happy to help!

If you are ready to get signed up just follow the link provided below, and I will be able to keep track of your account, get you the 30 day money back guarantee, and take care of you personally if you need anything.

https://www.mozypro.com/ref/[redacted what looks like a referral id]

Thank you,

[Redacted name]

MozyPro Sales Consultant

Office [Redacted number] ext.203

Sales [Redacted number] ext. 203

[Redacted]@berkeleydata.com

https://www.mozypro.com/ref/[redacted what looks like a referral id]

A while ago I added a new “Friend” on Twitter named TwitterLit. The first line of his bio reads “Twittering the first lines of books so you don’t have to.” This sounded like an interesting idea at first - Twittering book teasers. Maybe I’d find something I’d like to read.

For weeks I’ve seen his tweets and never thought anything of it. Until today’s tweet when I clicked on the link that was attached. Turns out it isn’t a link to his book review, or to the author’s page - it’s a referral link to Amazon! No content, no review, just a link. Is that spam I smell?

Now this may seem contradictory as I have advertisements and use Amazon’s referral service myself. The big difference is that I’m not just posting a link to the site. If I link to Amazon, I’ve written a book review. If I display an advertisement on the site, it is marked as such.

Care to try to convince that I’m wrong? Want to add fuel to fire and help prove that I’m right? Post a comment.

Over on Arstechnica’s forum there is a verbal battle going on about Twitter. What is Twitter?

First off I’d like to describe Twitter. According to the Twitter’s website, Twitter answers the question “What are you doing?” I find this to be a succinct explanation. People post what they’re doing, where they’re going and what they’re thinking. If you’re an outsider looking in then this probably seems trite. You may be wondering why you should care about what people are doing and thinking. For strangers you probably wouldn’t care. But, when it comes to your friends, you probably do care.

In the times that we’re living in keeping in touch is hard to do. Each of us have different schedules and different responsibilities. Although email, cell phones, VoIP, IM and text messaging have helped us to work around this gap it still takes two. How often have you sent an email or made a phone call and not expected a reply? How often have you done either of these just tell someone what you’re doing? In both cases I’m willing to bet not too often, if ever. Enter Twitter.

Twitter allows us to tell our friends, family or even the world what we’re up to. Although Twitter has been described as an exercise in vanity, I don’t agree.

When we post to Twitter we do not expect a response. We are creating a log of what we’re doing, where we’re going and what we’re thinking. This log is viewable by the world or only those we choose. This log allows our friends to keep track of us and conversely, allows us to keep track of our friends. No dialog and no scheduling required.

In short, Twitter allows us to provide bite size glimpses into our lives and allows our friends and family, or even the world to view them.

invititis n: An inflamation whereby a person is overloaded with invitations to join different web sites, often sites used for social networking.

In recent history many sites have allowed users to join only after they have been invited. Some of the more notable of these sites include GMail, Orkut, Joost and Pownce. So many sites are only open by invitation that a community named Invite Share has been created so that people can get trade invitations!

Why are so many sites invitation only? The most used reason is that it helps to limit how many people are using the service. Since most sites that are invitation only are in beta, this is a very good idea. It allows the web site operators to give their application real world test while preventing the servers from being overloaded.

But I think there is another reason. Going “Invitation Only” gives the service a “cool” factor. If only a select group of people have access to site then those who have access are cool and those on the outside are not. It is kind of like standing outside a club in New York City begging the bouncer to be let in.

Invitations also create a buzz. If only a select group of people know what it’s like on the inside a lot of other people will want to know. There will be blog posts and e-mails and IMs set. People will be talking.

The most recent “Invitation Only” site that I’m aware of is Pownce. I have invites, I can’t give them away. No one wants them. It could be that Pownce is trying to break into a market that already has some heavy hitters - Twitter and Jaiku. Or it could be something that I like to call “invititis.”

As I mentioned above, invititis is an inflammation, an overload of invitations to join a web site. “If you’re cool you’ll join GMail.” “Hey you’re a loser if you don’t join Pownce.” It goes on and on. I think people are sick of being pressured to bounce from site to site. Tired of being with the in-crowd one day and waking up only to find that the new cool is somewhere else.

The Internet is supposed to be for sharing ideas and knowledge. If you create a website, and it needs to be tested then by all means open it up to a limited amount of people. But the idea of invitations is an exercise in vanity. “Look at how many people want to join my service. They’re even selling invitations on Ebay!”

I too have fallen prey to invititis. I scoured the ‘net for Gmail invitations. I quickly emailed someone when they announced that they had Joost and Pownce invitations. But I think the time has come that I back away from trying to catch the next wave as it is heading for the shore of common place.

It has been a long ride but here we are smack dab in the middle of “iPhone Week” and I couldn’t be happier. No, I’m not happy because the iPhone will finally be available for purchase, I’m happy because it means an end to all the annoying stories.

At first I was very intrigued with the iPhone. I would eat up all of the hype and all of the rumors. After over six months of this I am ready for an end. It seems that all of the Apple related blogs I read cover the iPhone more than anything else. On the front page of Mac Rumors there are eight different iPhone stories. On Arstechnica’s Infinite Loop there are thirteen different posts. Technorati is reporting over 300k iPhone posts! Even my favorite podcasts are filled with iPhone news. The utterance of the word “iPhone” makes me want to puke blood.

Thankfully I’m not the only one who feels this way. Do a search for “Sick of the iPhone” and look at the number of results that are displayed.

There’s a great articled titled “Anyone else sick of the iPhone?” on Shallow Thoughts that discusses how Apple seems to be losing focus. Even the Fake Steve Jobs hates all of the iPhone news!

Sure, the iPhone is going to be a huge hit. Yes, it looks like a wonderful phone. Yes, I would purchase one if ATT has service in Sioux Falls. But all of the hype is getting to me.

In the end, I’d love to have an iPhone or even just drool over one for awhile. But for now, I wish every one would just shut the hell up.