Kevin's Blog

One of the beautiful things about Harvest is that since day one, Harvest was created for the most part by interns. Not only is that a fun little "tid-bit" of information, but it's also very satisfying as an intern to know we were able to accomplish something so useful.

However, with that, there are a few things in the application that need to be addressed. A big thing is ensuring the code is optimized and only as tedious as necessary. I am about to dissect Harvest and look for any areas that may cause concern, or are unnecessarily verbous.

With that I wanted to ask an interesting question...

When comparing two strings, or checking to see if a string exists inside of another, what are some of the best ways to do so?
Obviously, there is string.Compare() and string.Contains(), but what if I want case-insensitive comparisons?
I know string.Compare(string A, string B, bool ignoreCase) exists, but what about for string.Contains()? Is string.ToLower().Contains() the best way to do this?

As some of you may or may not know, the Telligent internship program has fired up again and things couldn't be more exciting!  With six new interns starting over the course of the next few days, amazing things are guaranteed!

As for a little update:

Andrew, Howdy, and I haven't left. We're still here cranking away on Harvest 2.0... (shh... no teasers yet, big surprises though!)

After my first write up, some very interesting things have happened around Telligent that I can go without mentioning.

First off, Jason Alexander has now officially taken the plunge into iPhone land. Can't wait to read his review after being such an avid MotoQ user.

Also, Shane Henderson of SixFires and JobBurner took the plunge as well! Except, he has something super special in store for all you phone junkies! (Sorry, but I just couldn't spill the beans for him! :-D)

Additional Apps installed

I have a few new apps that I've installed in the last few days that are worth mentioning.

1. Nikotalkie: I'm very new to this app, but it at the very least has the ability to record a message and email to a contact. Great to email yourself little voice notes while you drive.. (try and keep off the keyboard as much as possible when your hands should be on the wheel.) This deserves an updated review after I get a chance to really take it out for a spin!

2. iLevel: I know I know!! It sounds silly, but it actually came in use today!! Ado was getting ready to tape another episode of Tellicast, and needed a banner leveled.. 20 seconds later, I had iLevel installed, and just like that, the banner was nice and flush! GENIUS!

Now that we have even more iFollowers in the office, I have to ask again, what apps are others using, and if you aren't hacked yet, what type of applications would you like to see, either web-based, or after the SDK is released?

In one of the reporting pages, I set up a couple of RequiredFieldValidators to keep users from leaving fields blank when entering in information. Be careful though when using them, because other ASP.net controls will look to those validators to ensure the page is valid before performing their desired function.

If you have other controls on the page, such as an asp:button, and it doesn't have anything to do with your validation fields, don't forget to add the  CausesValidation="false" attribute. Had I known that, it would have saved me 30 minutes of unproductive time :-D.

I hadn't planned on writing a review of Fusion just yet as I'm just booting up for the first time and haven't really had a chance to play with it yet. However, with my unbelievably horrifying experience, I just had to post something about it for anyone else about to do what I did:

I started by downloading the free eval. off of the VMWare site, and installed it. (I can get it at school for $39, so why spend $40 more to wait for a $20 Rebate) If I like it, I will go and buy it to make it a full license.

This is where things start to go hairy...

Fusion automatically recognized my Boot Camp partition, and gave me the option to run it, so... that's what I did :-D... or not... as soon as the machine booted, I "blue screened" with a hard-disk error. Oh great...

So I shut down the VM, quit Fusion, then restarted to see if I could still boot directly into XP... NOPE! same error.. Oh crap! (I was really starting to get worried... I was going to blow steam if I had to reinstall XP, then VS, then SQL, then Office, then my school stats software...)

Finally after about ten different google searches, I find someone else who had the same problem... and had a resolution..

When booting into the VM, instead of booting normally, boot into the "last known good configuration".

SWEETNESS it's back... catastrophe avoided.

My question is... why does VMWare edit the drive if you end up just having to select the last known good configuration anyways???
 

With Rob's recent post about the Apple store experience, and my phone calls over the last three days with VerizonFios, I decided to talk a little about Customer Service, and why it is so important to keep the basics in mind.

Verizon

After a month of having an ongoing problem, (whenever I would try and download a large file, be it an iTunes movie, or Adobe Flash CS3 trial, the internet connection would die completely, and I would have the hard-boot my modem/router to get anything back up.) I decided to call and get it fixed. After an hour of getting pissed at the automated phone system... I was finally connected with Carlos who said he would be happy to help me. I explained the problem, and conveniently, he said he had been experiencing the exact same thing. First, Carlos emailed me an update to the Firmware for my modem/router. I had it installed in seconds, and then gave the ol' 400MB CS3 trial a try. Violla!! 15Mb down!!! only took 3 minutes! So nice! But then, to top things off, Carlos said he would send me an updated version of the modem/router that had a better WiFi range, and was more reliable. Wow! Thanks Carlos!

That arrived today, and after 2 minutes of setup and a quick phone call to Verizon to get their systems updated with my new device ID, I was in business.

So, with the good mood I was in, I decided to see if I could give them more business. I saw a commercial last week for their new "symmetrical" service that offers 15Mb/s down, and 15Mb/s up! Why not, that's 8 times faster then my current 2Mb/s upload speed. This is where it all starts to go wrong:

The "sales" department's phone system drops my call the first time, so I have to call back. Then on the second try I get in touch with a sales rep who proceeds to try and explain to me that I already have the "symmetrical" service. After I explain to him that I know I don't, he transfers me to the Fiber Solution's Center where someone else might be able to help me with my request. The kind young-lady on the other end then checked my area to see if 15/15 was available, and it wasn't. Even though their fully automated site said it was! Huh?? She said she would put a notice on my account to notify me when the service was available, and that was the end of that.

Customer Service

I wouldn't say I'm a true expert in CS (not the community server kind of CS), but I have worked retail for 3 years, and been everything from a Cashier to an Assistant Manager. One thing my previous employer always tried to emphasize were ways to keep the customer. If this means going the extra mile to win them back after we screw up, then so be it.

In my above situation, Carlos definitely did this. He went above and beyond and got me the patch I needed immediately, and then went the extra step and sent me a new router to help prevent any further issues. His co-worker... the unnamed man above was quite the opposite. It seemed to me his only goal was to get me off of the phone so he wouldn't have to deal with something he didn't know anything about. If you're being payed for the number of hours you work, and not the number of people you talk to, then why wouldn't you try and make everyone happy? Instead of dumping me off to "another" sales rep, why not try and go the extra bit and find out; especially if you make commission on the sale of an upgrade!

I fear that associates are increasingly caring more about their paycheck, and less about the job they signed up for. If you signed up to be a customer service associate, then be one. Help people. You'll find that helping them will always reward you in the long-run and it will give you a sense of pride knowing your customers are better because of you.

Why this post

You're probably wondering why I decided to post about Customer Service when I don't speak to customers anymore, but you're wrong, I do! My customer's are my co-workers. Be it Rob, Jason, Scott, KevinH, David, my fellow interns, or any other Telligenti, I am a service provider to them. When Rob sends a requirements email, he is asking for my service to help him in getting what he needs. I take pride in knowing that I can make him happy, that I can give him the results he's looking for, and maybe even get a "COOL" from him! If I didn't help him, he would find someone else... namely my replacement!

So, Thank You Telligent for letting me be one of your Customer Service Associates.

 

Realizing that I started blogging again without any indication as to what has happened over the last few months, here it goes:

Telliterns:

Some of us are still here :-D! Adam and Blake N both flew home at the end of August, but Howdy, Andrew, and I are still chuggin' away! Blake N still does a little work for us here and there (he really must not have anything to do in the middle of nowhere :-D), and suspect we will see both of them again next summer.

Andrew is now working on something super secret that I don't think I can tell you about because it's super secret, so just remember it must be cool if it's this super secret!

Reporting Server:

Howdy and I are still putting the finishing touches on Reporting Server and if everything goes well.. you'll see it very soon! For those of you who can't wait, you can always check out the constantly-updated demo site here. Also, if you have any questions, we now have a dedicated forum on the Community Server Forums for Enterprise Reporting.

I know we said we were going to have a beta out for you to try close to the end of summer, but after some very appreciated feedback during the CSDC, we (Rob, Jason, Scott W., David, Kevin Harder, and the interns) decided that we had something more than just a Community Server add-on. We're all very excited about what we will have to offer and hope you will be just as impressed as we are!

In conjunction with Jason Alexander's "Must have apps and answers for windows mac converts", and since more and more Telligenti are getting iPhones, I've decided to blog about the applications I have installed onto my iPhone and why.

First off, let me say that I am still running 1.1.1 on my iPhone, and used JailBreakMe.com to hack it. The jailbreak was SUPER easy, and only took a matter of minutes. (I managed to do it while in class sitting in the front row :-D) This exploited the TIFF vulnerability and installed Installer.app onto my phone. From there, I can install any number of applications from a community of fellow iPhone developers.

Second, let me point out that I install a lot of stuff only to uninstall it 10 minutes later because I find it boring and useless. If it's on my list, I use it almost daily..

Last, these are not in any particular order: 

Utilities

1. Services: This is going to be a life saver come this Christmas when I travel to Denmark to visit family. After hearing about some of these ridiculous $1,000 phone bills from someone taking their iPhone to Europe, I started to get worried. Every time the iPhone is "awakened" it connects to the EDGE network. This constant data trickle over the time of a trip adds up VERY quickly, and can put a BIG hole in it's users wallet. With Services, I can turn off the EDGE antenna, WIFI antenna, and Bluetooth antenna, independently, thus preventing me from have to sell my car when I get back just to pay my phone bill!

2. Taskbar Notifier: It seemed so stupid that my iPhone wouldn't tell me in the taskbar when I have new emails or text messages. Every other phone I've had up until now did this for me. On the iPhone, you have to actually unlock the phone and look at your Mail icon or Text icon to see if a number has appeared indicating you have unread messages. With Taskbar Notifier, I only have to wake my phone to see if I have new emails or texts. Ahhh simplicity.

3. iGolfXP2: Being the avid golfer that I am, and wanting to be more "green", I decided to try out iGolfXP2 to track my score instead of using a pencil. It work's pretty good, and I think it's easier than having to dig out that stupid little pencil.

4. Customize: Not to be confused with SummerBoard (My theming app), I use Customize to make little visual and audio tweaks to my phone. The program will let you install new image sets or sound sets to alter system images and sounds. The most notable one I use is the Halo 3 icon instead of the At&t logo in my taskbar :-D.

System

1. SummerBoard: An awesome theming app, SummerBoard handles skinning your iPhone to fit your personality better. I personally enjoy the "Phiberglass" theme, but you can decide for yourself. You can see them here.

Productivity

1. Sketches: At first, I thought this app was kind of "cheesy". Yeah it might be cool to have an etch-a-sketch again, but come on.. seriously? But wait.. now I see.. you can take pictures and draw on them! See that stupid street sign.. want to emphasize that misspelled word? Snap the picture, circle the word with your finger, and Woosh - send it off in an email!

Network

1. MobileChat: I tried Apollo at first, but didn't really like it. I felt like I was always asking myself, "Why does it do that"? So after week I uninstalled and stuck with Meebo's wonderful internet iPhone Chat client. I got tired of having to constantly log on though, so I gave up... until I saw MobileChat in the app list. So far (two weeks of use), I like MobileChat. Visually it's more appealing to me, and I find it to be more simple than Apollo.

2. Navizon GPS: Before you say, "Why would you need a cell triangulation device on your cell phone?", think of this: have you ever been stuck in traffic out of town and have no idea where you are, and how far until you exit, and just wish you could see yourself on a map and find another route? Sure.. you could buy a GPS device, but then you would have two devices to carry around... now, iPhone handles it for you. Note: it also has a friends feature, so I'm thinking you can sync and see where your friends are around you, but I haven't gotten it to work yet.

Games - I don't play games a lot, but I like to have a small assortment available when I'm trying to kill time waiting for class to start, or sitting in the airport waiting on a plane:

1. FiveDice: iPhone Yahtzee! Very clean, and easy to play. Hours of fun!

2. iBlackjack: The name says it all. finger motions control the whole game, be it a "Double Down", "Hit Me", or swipe to "Stay".

3. Labyrinth: Last but not least, this game deserves the most attention. Remeber the classic labyrinth game made from wood with two tilt knobs. The goal was to roll the steel ball along the course without falling into a hole?? Now it's on iPhone, and you actually tilt the phone to move the ball. Amazing what someone can do when they gain access to the real-time accelerometer values from within the phone.

I know this is a long post, but if you've made it this far, tell me what your favorite iPhone apps are. Maybe I'll adopt a few!

I'm now going to call out Tom and Sean to see what their favorite hacked-apps are! 

I know I haven't posted in a while. Fell off the blogging train... again. :( So here we go to get back on!
 

As most of you know, I'm one of the increasing family of Mac owners at Telligent, and for the last few months, I've been running with my laptop next to my two desktop monitors. I started by using the laptop to run Outlook, so I could have VS on one of the desktop monitors, and IE/Firefox on the other. I started with two mice, and eventually learned to deal with the trackpad so I wouldn't have two mice in the way of each other on my mousepad.

After a few weeks of that, I reorganized my USB setup so I would only have to unplug one cable and plug it into my laptop to get the keyboard and mouse working. I stuck with this solution for the next month, but as of this morning, I decided I was finished with that nonsense!

So I started searching for KVM (Keyboard, Video, Mouse) switch that would help me in not having to unplug anything but still be able to use the same keyboard and mouse on both machines. After a few minutes of "google-ing" (Yeah that's right... Google is so cool it has it's own verb :-D) I stumbled across a review for an open source piece of software called Synergy. Figured why not, I'll check it out.

After some pretty convincing statements about how great it is, I had to try it. (Note: this whole time, I had only intended to use it while booted into XP with BootCamp.) So I followed the download, ran it, and after a few trial and error settings. I ALMOST FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR!

Running in the background, and using your local network, Synergy detects when your mouse hits a monitor edge, and based on your settings switches to a different machine. Genius! I had finally found that one product that solved my problem, and the best part, IT WAS FREE! Developers Unite!

Being the nerd that I am, I immediately ran over to David Penton's office and had him install it. Same with Kevin Harder. As far as I know, they are both kept it installed.

But wait... there's even more! They have a Linux isntall, and......... OSX! YIPPEE!!!

Again, after a few minutes of trial and error with the settings, I was pointing and typing in OSX with the keyboard and mouse connected to my XP tower! SO Cool!

So, if you're like me and have two seperate machines and are tired of using two different keyboard and mice, give Synergy a try. 

Yeah that's right! You know something is coming together when you have .CSS and HTML markup back from the design team! It's starting to look so Friggin Cool! This is going to rock!

On another note, it was kind of sad in the office today. My fellow interns are back at school, and it was just BlakeN and I... oh well we will all be back together tomorrow!
 

No not this one, but my other one! I am now exclusively a Telligent employee!! HORRAY!!

I spent most of last week just making little tweaks here and there to fix bugs in our reporting. It's really starting to come together! I'm really getting excited about the feedback we'll be getting soon. Wish us luck!

On a sad note, Bill's leaving us soon. I've known Bill for a while, and without him, I wouldn't have even interviewed for this internship. He has opened the door for me and for that I am grateful! Thank's Bill! Good Luck to you!

Kevin

I know, I broke my promise. I have no excuse, I just fell out of the blogging bug for a few days. Back on it again though! So much to tell, but don't worry. No novels here like Mr. Intern Yorsaner. Things are starting to get really busy before the big release! Everyone is just taking what they can to get the product polished! I even started to help Andrew finish the Detailed Queries!

We now have a new fun filled feature that will make everyone go.. "Oh Sweet!".. <!-- TEASER -->

Jason was out for the last two days and I hope he doesn't think we slacked off tooo much! :)

More later.

Kevin

So it's official. We are usnig the repeater. Bill was right. On other notes, the grid's just keep getting cooler and cooler now that we are adding click through capabilities to everything. Three of us got into our first serious discussion today where there wasn't one clear winner. We were discussing how to create the click through capability, and each of us had really good ideas, but we kept finding problems with each specific implementation. We finally decided on a more simple approach and hopefully the problems we do run into will be small enough to not cause us any headaches.

We went to Fred's today for lunch, and even though it wasn't as great as Jason was making it out to be, it was still really good. If you are ever in the area of 15th and Custer, stop by Fred's Cheesesteak shop for some goodness.

I put my two weeks notice in at Office Depot Sunday. That was a big deal for me! I've been with the company for over two years! My manager was deeply saddened to see me leave, but he knew that working the only two days I could have off at a job that isn't anywhere near my desired career path is just not in my best interest.

Tomorrow should put a cap on the Repeater bid-ness. Let's see what else is in store ;)

-Kevin

Yesterday Blake and I spent most of the day getting to know the repeater control. It look's good, and after a little brainstorming, it was up and working! I think if this works, it will open up a whole new door of possibilities of what we can add to our reporting... Oh... and Andrew broke the build.. again! Let's see what happens today! :)

Last night was our intern outing to D&B and wow was it awesome! Blake N. turned in to a gambling machine playing any coin/ticket game in sight, and YES, WE DID get Rob to take a shot! I knew he still had some college spirit in him :-D!

Today we spent the morning making tweaks to the site and prepping it for the 3:00pm review. For the second week in a row, things were good and Rob is really liking where we're headed! One small little problem... he wants a BIG change... which we are now going to devote most of next week trying to implement. YIPPEE!!! Who's up for a challange?!?

-K