Just watched Inception and found myself with a few questions regarding the ending. These are spoilers people so DON'T READ unless you have seen the movie. Really.

Regarding my opinion on Inception: I love movies that make me think and want to discuss. So from that end I enjoyed it. I didn't like the uselessness of the female architect (she could have rebuilt the place at will right?). A few minor plot holes maybe, but overall fun and I was engaged the whole movie.

Questions:

Ok so at the end we see the top spinning. Is it about to falter? Does it go on for ever? Two contradictory items of evidence for us to ponder.

1) In the real world, or what we are to think is the real world, the top does in fact stop a few times. It shouldn't if they are not in the real world. Or maybe the top means nothing at all. Just a made up construct. Cobb is the only one to actually use it after all.

2) In the end the kids haven't aged at all and they seem to be wearing the exact same clothes. Are they doing the actual same pose as the dream sequences? Very unlikely to be reality.

So, does the fact the top proved reality before (by falling) but the end it doesn't - mean that he was still in limbo, but a new version (having dealt with his two ghosts)?

Did the movie just cut out too soon and the top was going to fall over (it looked like it could)?

Was this just a metaphor for accession to heaven?

My opinion is that in the end it was a dream. Or at least not reality. Metaphor for navigating through purgatory to get to heaven for committing suicide? Or something along those lines? Or was he actually fine until he got to limbo at the end, in which case he rebuilt it after his wife died to what he wanted.

I had some spare time yesterday and decided to put together what I think is a fun little single page website. It displays a random Chuck Norris fact. The fun part is that you can add your name to the site (or someone else) to make the facts about them.

Check out Chuck Norris Facts vs Betty White Facts vs Ben Nadel Facts for examples. My favorite is Betty White facts so far.

The code is simple. Some CF with ORM. Took about an hour to write the core including the admin module of the facts. In fact it took a lot more time to find facts then it did to code up.

Anyway, comment here if you have suggested Chuck Norris facts to add.

I worked on a project recently that was a bit different than the norm for me. The website is a directory of new and used buses for sale. In addition to buses, they also list limousines, motorhomes, trolleys, parts, and even have an employment directory. The business charges for some listings, but not all types. They also charge for certain enhancements to a listing. A few more dollars to add a few more photos for example.

We decided to create a virtual currency to help people purchase and renew listings. It is called BusBux. The idea is they can buy x amount of BuxBux and use that to renew listings, add photos, etc. This way the only actual credit card transaction is the purchase of BusBux, not for a $2 photo addition, or a small renewal every month. This adds quite a bit of flexibility in pricing for the client and end user.

Virtual currency is a hot item in the online game world right now. How soon until it makes more of a foothold into the general business market?

A friend of mine has been having trouble getting a particular ColdFusion security hotfix applied APSB10-05. He follows the instructions in the KB article, however scans indicate the vulnerability exists.

As it turns out, this fix involved replacing some .jar files in the CF lib folder. The instructions state to make a backup of the files. In this case my friend simply copied them to the same folder. So flex-messaging.jar became copy-of- flex-messaging.jar. He then put up the two new .jar files and started back up the CF service.

The trouble is, those copies were still being loaded. CF loaded all the jar files in the folder, and presto bad jars were again loaded. Once he stopped the service, took the old jar files completely out of the CF install, then restarted everything passed inspection just fine.

A couple things to consider.

1) Just because you applied a hotfix doesn't mean it is applied correctly. 2) You should run scans to confirm. I recommend Hack My CF.

For those not following the tech sphere you are missing out on some very interesting times. Facebook is becoming, or has become, the biggest website property on the planet. It is also facing a lot of backlash about its privacy stance. Apple is at the top of its game releasing fantastic consumer products, and is also facing a fair amount of criticism from many angles plus significan't mobile OS competition. Web standards have replaced religion as the new most contentious topic to debate. I am loving every bit of it.

At the same time we see some very interesting technology trends. The smartphone world is blowing up. Apple dominates the chatter, but is under heavy fire from Android which is growing quite rapidly. Apps have become the hot new thing, however most never see profitability. The future of apps is in contention, with Apple betting the farm with a walled garden and app store focused on apps, and Google creating a whole new operating system that does away with apps entirely (everything is a website).

There are many questions regarding the future.

Will Facebook keep it together? They are seen by some as biting the hand that feeds them by scaring users with privacy missteps, and forcing game companies to use their new virtual currency. Many regard Facebook as an indestructible force, but remember, MySpace was in their position not all that long ago. Giants can and do fall.

Is Apple's strategy a good long term strategy? Apple protects it's customers, and its revenue. You can't buy any app unless through their app store. And Apple approves every app. This is normal course for phone companies. Until Google came along. Google has changed the model, and is rising rapidly. Will Apple's model survive? Will Apple's heavy handed approach to Gizmodo, Adobe and other vendors end up with long term consequences? Will apps pan out as what users really want? Remember the time you went to a software store to buy software? How many software programs do you buy now? How many have you replaced with websites (gmail, google docs, mint.com, etc). Is the focus on mobile apps a short term blip or simply a natural course of action for the medium? How does HP's purchase of Palm change things? What about Windows 7 Mobile?

Is HTML5 actually what people think it is? Will it be adopted by a majority of browsers (and consumers) any time soon? Can't we all just get along? HTML5 isn't ratified, and wont be for many years. Even the video tag, which would be so very useful, is in contention. FireFox and WebKit use different video codecs, and IE doesn't currently support it at all. And that is just one tag of HTML5. HTML5 support on mobile devises is much more robust. Most new mobile smartphones use webKit and so at least offer the same supported feature base. What about H.264 video? It isn't an open standard. People must license its use. But it has become the most popular codec for HTML5, and is used in Flash. Speaking of Flash... Much of what Flash can do, isn't doable in HTML5. At least not yet. But Apple doesn't want to support Flash, and others are calling for its head. So what are developers to think? Do consumers really care? When do we get to start arguing HTML6? Why doesn't anyone argue about Silverlight or JavaFX these days?

Interesting times indeed. While I may, at times, express frustration at some of this I am actually quite in love with it. Innovation is moving at such a rapid pace simply going on vacation puts us behind. Just wait until we get to the really interesting stuff. Facial and voice recognition becoming a part of gesture support in devices. Images appearing on any surface or in mid air. Biomonitors embeded into clothing or even mini tattoos. Chemical sensor inputs into mobile devises. Could we finally have a real tricorder?

What questions about the future do you have? What future technology gets you jazzed?

A hotfix has been posted for CF versions 8 and 9 on multiple OS's. There is a cross-site scripting vulnerability. Just in case you may have missed others, you should check the full list.

If you are like me, you may not remember doing each of them, and 'probably' isn't good enough. So I also periodically run this website, hackmycf, against my server to double check.

As some of you probably know, ColdFusion Builder has been launched. ColdFusion Builder is an IDE for Adobe ColdFusion. I have been using it in beta form for months. So how much do I like it?

I know not everyone has a budget to buy it right away, but for a v1 product CF Builder is pretty great and certainly saves me time and money. Plus it comes with Flash Builder 4 Standard. Which makes it a pretty amazing deal if you ever wanted to look into Flex, or already work with it.

NCDevCon (this May 22-23) is shaping up to be pretty great. I had a great time last year and am eagerly awaiting the conference once again.

Today Dan Wilson posted something interesting about the conference. They have a LOT of registrations already, and of them a good portion are people who are brand new to ColdFusion. That is great for the CF community and presents a nice opportunity for other, more skilled developers, to help out.

NCDevCon needs speakers to review some basic tasks in CF. I bet everyone reading this blog could think of something they would be able to present on which would provide value to new CF developers.

If you are new to NCDevCon (formally CF in NC) it is a FREE two day conference on CF, Flash, Flex, AIR with JS and CSS mixed in. The event is very professional and has excellent speakers lined up. It is well worth the price of a flight/hotel to attend.

They just announced Flash Camp in Boston March 19th and it's free!

Ryan Stewart blogged about it and boy it looks exciting. They will be covering Flex 4, Flash Builder 4 and a bit of ColdFusion Builder. Doing the presentations are a good number of the engineers.

Register sooner rather then later, as these have sold out (free) in the past.

Personally I am most excited about Flash/AIR on mobile. It looks like the agenda doesn't fit much time in for that. Hopefully mobile discussion is a natural part of other sections of the agenda as well. If nothing else we can pin the engineers down during the breaks.

If that didn't sell you on the event (free) they will also "be providing the beer, food, prizes".