Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-10

Posted by Gabriel on Jan 10th, 2010 | no comments

• We have rented a new apartment in Brickell so shoot me an email if there are any great restaurants or attractions we need to check out. #

Popularity: 65% [?]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-03

Posted by Gabriel on Jan 3rd, 2010 | no comments

• So many things to be thankful for this yr but feeling overwhelmed with so much left to do #
• A little too harsh for me RT @SinTeeUh: How was it? RT @GabrielBodner: About to see Precious. #

Popularity: 2% [?]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

Posted by Gabriel on Dec 27th, 2009 | no comments

• Just saw the headline that actress Britney Murphy died. I was just commenting on how funny she is@ Blockbuster today. Sorry for her family #
• Ah, I miss the City and the snow. NOT!!! @SinTeeUh Am I the only one in Queens without cable and Internet because of the snow storm? #
• I miss cookies from Levan bakery on the Upper West. They are the best in NYC @SinTeeUh I've never made so many cookies in my life. #
• Eileen's Cheesecake on Cleveland Place in SOHO is my favorite., but Magnolia's has the fame. @SinTeeUh magnolia bakery!! #

Popularity: 11% [?]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-20

Posted by Gabriel on Dec 20th, 2009 | no comments

• Saw the Billy Crystal play 700 Sundays and thought it was excellent. If you can see it you should. #

Popularity: 100% [?]

Accidental Billionaires | The Facebook Story

Posted by Gabriel on Dec 17th, 2009 | no comments

Just finished reading the Accidental Billionaires book and I have to say that it is an excellent read, but it is also a great story of the importance of having legal protections in place when forming a partnership.  I can tell you from my own personal experience that partnerships can be extremely rewarding and other times can destroy the closest of relationships.  Sometimes, simply going through the exercise of drafting a contract about how your duties and profits will be split can reveal everyone’s intentions.

As for the book, I highly recommend it.  Ben Mezrich has written another fun and exciting biography about rare genius that inspires people to want to go out and invent something special.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Outsource to India (not a chance)

Posted by Gabriel on Dec 7th, 2009 | no comments

I was working on a tech solution that I had hoped to outsource. So I called a tech company in India that had a long list of Fortune 1000 clients. I also called a company based out of Chicago.

If you know me, you know that I am very open minded about outsourcing. I want my tech work done right but at a fair cost. Tech is global so the workforce is global and I don’t have a politically protectionist bone in my body. That being said, my experience with India is getting worst by the day. The tech support call centers are bad and the IT solutions are subpar.

The Chicago company I called had a human with a real phone (not voip) who understood what I wanted to accomplish and did a proof of concept for free over a web meeting. The Indian company wanted pushed for a sale over the phone, when I demanded a proof of concept their product proved inferior and they wanted to be paid more for it then the homegrown version.

Don’t get me wrong, I dealt with a call center in the Philippines that was great a few weeks ago, but for intelligent technology solutions you still find affordable and capable people in the US as compared to abroad. You may be able to hire someone in India or elsewhere for half the price of the US but sometimes you end up getting a non-working product that gets thrown away.

I can now laugh (knowing that it’s true from my own experience) about a friend who was building a classified website with a company from India. He had been working for a week describing what he wanted when finally the voice on the other end of a voip phone asked “What exactly is a classified?”. My friend told me that he almost pulled his hair out. If there was a question about what a classified ad was then why didn’t someone ask about it the first day.

Outsourcing is great, but just make sure you look at all the options and request a proof of concept before buying in.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-06

Posted by Gabriel on Dec 6th, 2009 | no comments

• Just went to the Atlanta aquarium. Very nice exhibits and lots of fun. #

Popularity: 3% [?]

Do your Legal Research on Google Scholar

Posted by Gabriel on Nov 30th, 2009 | no comments

Google has released a new site where you can do legal research.  I still prefer Precydent.com as a free solution over Google but I am sure that Google will continue to improve its search functions over time.  Check out Google’s legal research site at scholar.google.com.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-11-29

Posted by Gabriel on Nov 29th, 2009 | no comments

• About to see Precious. I can't say enough about how great it is to be disconnected from the office. It's nice not being chained to a desk. #

Popularity: 8% [?]

Why Fastcase may win over Lexis and Westlaw

Posted by Gabriel on Nov 28th, 2009 | no comments

Fastcase is the opensource solution for finding case law online.  It is cheaper and easier to navigate then Westlaw and Lexis.  It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Westlaw and Lexis have, but for lawyers looking who are tech savvy and need research done without billing their clients an arm and a leg for it Fastcase is a great solution.  Another newcomer to online legal research is Precydent.com.  For the non-lawyer looking for case law, I would try this out first and then go to Fastcase for a free trial.  The law should be open to everyone.  The public should not have to go down to the law library just to look up some cases and statutes that may affect their lives.  I believe that services like Precydent and Fastcase are finally opening up the law to everyone.

Popularity: 51% [?]