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About Me
I'm Michael Koby, and I love technology. I'm also a programmer, currently doing Ruby on Rails development for a small Houston startup. Here I talk about technology, programming, politics, movies, music, and anything else I feel I need to talk about. If you would like to know more, you can check out the About page.Popular Series
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links for 2009-04-06
Posted in Daily Links
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iPhone: The First Week
If you don’t follow me on Twitter, or my Facebook status then you probably didn’t know that I recently convert to the cult of the iPhone (iPhone Sellout). There were several reasons for this, but the main reasons are:
- Apps
- iPhone OS 3.0, which brings the iPhone (mostly) up to date on features.
I had been contimplating the jump to the iPhone for a while because I really do think that it is a nifty device, but I couldn’t get over the lack of a physical keyboard. When iPhone OS 3.0 was announced I decided that it was time to make the jump and my original plan had been to wait until June/July when (most likely) there would be a new model released, with upgraded hardware. The reason I decided to make the jump earlier was mainly a cost savings move. If I wait until the new models are out, I will most likely not get the capacity I want at a price I liked and would have had to settle for the current model anyway. Since I’ve done this, Apple will most likely end up release a new 16GB iPhone at $199 (the price of my refurbished 3G model). As you read this, please remember I fall into a group of people commonly referred to as “Power Users” in that I really like to use and customize my devices in a way that increases their ability to help me in my daily life.
And just so you’re warned, this post is lengthy.
links for 2009-04-05
Posted in Daily Links
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Tools I Use – 2009-03-18
I’ve never done a post where I discuss some of the tools that I use on a daily basis to help me accomplish the many goals I have. So today we’re going to look at some tools.
Windows Live Writer – Hands down the best blog editor available for Windows. Oddly enough it’s also written by Microsoft and will connect to just about any blogging platform available today (including the extremely popular WordPress). I use this to write posts for this website and my family’s site at TheKobys.com.
Digsby – I use Digsby to handle my computing IM needs and keep track of my Facebook & LinkedIn accounts. It connects to all manner of IM services (Google Talk, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc), does social networks like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, and all from the system tray. A fantastic piece of software if you need something for IMing and keeping up with your social networks.
Twhirl – I use this to monitor and update my Twitter account. I use this over Digsby because I do not Digsby’s Twitter implementation. Twhirl is simple and easy to use and makes updating Twitter a breeze.
KeePass – When it comes to password security, I’m a nut (even my wife says so). I’m crazy about using secure passwords and using as many different passwords as possible. To keep track of it all, I use KeePass Password Safe. This allows me to generate highly secure passwords and have a different password for each website. There is also a BlackBerry KeePass application that allows me to sync my passwords with my phone, so I’m never without my passwords.
Posted in Technology
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Consulting Consultants: Resolving Perception Issues
Nothing is worse than a bad first impression. When you first arrive at a client and something happens immediately ends in them having a bad perception of you. Maybe you were you taking a 10 minute break to look at a non-work related website, or you were caught writing a blog post because you didn’t want to forget the thought process, or maybe you had to take some time off right after you landed at the client (this one actually happened to me, I got sick 3 days after being boarded on at new client). Whether intentional or not, a bad perception of you was set. The client doesn’t have a ton of respect for you and your work is unfairly scrutinized, even if no error was found in said code.
What do you do? Well there are two ways to handle this. The easiest way is to bow out gracefully from the client. Simply state to them how you can understand why they don’t trust you and that in order for them to get the project done in a manner they would like it might be a good idea for you to leave once a replacement can be obtained. If you work for a consulting firm, see if they will back-fill the position at the client. This shows that you have the client’s best interest at heart and it might make them reconsider their opinion of you. If not, ensuring the client has someone they enjoy working with is major part of client satisfaction.
The other, more difficult option is to stick it out at the client. Prove to them daily that their initial impression of you was a false one. You can also converse with your client to find out where the problem is. If you continue to deliver high quality work, your previous infractions will begin to fade from their minds. The key her is to hyper-communicate, deliver quality work (both regularly and on time), and to ensure the client is aware of any issues as early as possible. You might have given them a wrong impression, the thing to do now is to show them that their impression was wrong. Taking the following precautions can really help:
- When you turn in work, ensure it’s your highest quality. If you need extra time to deliver the best work you can, communicate this to the client.
- Turn in any work on time. When working to fix a perception issue, turning in work early can really help. But again, make sure it’s quality work. Do not rush to get something in ahead of schedule if it means cutting corners on quality. This will do more harm than good in the long run.
- Hyper-communicate any issues, potential issues, or project stalls. Keeping the client informed helps them to see progress or lack of it (ie you’re waiting on someone else to finish a piece you need before moving on). Make sure the client is always aware of where you are at on a project.
- Keep non-client related work and web browsing to a minimum or do it during a lunch break, ensuring that the client knows you’re not on their time. Reasonable clients know that you occasionally have to check a personal email account, or do something that’s not related to them, but do not bill to the client for these things if they end up taking considerable time. Stay late if you have to.
- Ensure the client is aware of any time you might be taking off as early as possible.
Posted in Consulting Consultants
Tagged consulting, perception
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Michael Koby 
The RIAA, MPAA, & The PirateBay Trial
Over the last few weeks, there has been an ongoing trial taking place in which the popular torrenting site The Pirate Bay is being accused of among other things “making copyrighted material available for download” (the people who run the web site have been called some not-so-nice names during the process). As it stands right now, the founders and operators of the popular website are looking at either hefty fines, jail time, or both for their part in what content providers see as the largest site for infringing on copyrights since the post-Napster Kazza.
While I’m not going to debate if the people running The Pirate Bay are actually guilty of copyright infringement, I do want to look at something. The content creators’ undying need to 1) limit and 2) prohibit the consumer’s use of their products.
Since the invention (and eventual popularity) of Napster, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) became blatantly aware of a practice that was going on at least two, maybe three years before Napster. Granted movies weren’t being downloaded to the extent they are at this time, but music certainly was. Napster just made it easy for the average person to download songs, hackers and computer nerds had been doing it for years by that point.
With this discovery that their content was being made available with such ease, the RIAA took action. Their solution? Sue the living daylights out of anyone they could. They also added the step of prohibiting this practice by trying to make CDs harder to rip into the popular Mp3 format. When a company (Apple) attempted to move forward with creating an online digital music store, the recording industry demanded that the tracks be heavily locked down and the number of devices and computers also be limited. In a sense, they criminalized their customers. They immediately assumed that customers would but the tracks purchased from digital retailers online for download by the internet large. Problem is, most people who would legitimately buy their music online, were not looking to make it available on BitTorrent sites or other peer-to-peer networks. in fact, those aren’t the people putting the music out there to download. The people putting the music out on the internet to be downloaded, are the ones that are not buying the music in the first place.
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