Michael Valverde's Blog

Earlier I was speaking with a friend about the new Microsoft 8 OS - HTML 5 / Javascript GUI mess that is coming. He made a good point that Microsoft has never been good when it comes to something new and original. They always need someone else to open the door, then they rush in and take over with great success! Here is just some of the projects Microsoft has started with other vendors that lead to great products... Sega Dreamcast running Windows CE = XBOX STEAM = Games for Windows Sybase Database = SQL Server Products Citrix = Windows Terminal Services Netscape = Internet Explorer Firefox = IE upgrades IBM OS/2 = Window iPod = Zune (okay - this one no so great!) Java = .NET (hiring they guy who made Delphi - a true VB Killer!) So now they are trying to get Windows OS on tablets (Windows 7 Mobile is going nowhere fast). The tablet market is a market that has bascially ignored them and is either iPad or everyone else (Android on generic hardware like HP and Samsung, etc). Well, ther

When I first started writing programs in C/C++ way back in the mid-90s, I immediately took interest in computer graphics. Well, after school and working as a software developer on database applications, I just never kept up with learning more about graphics and game programming in general. Well, a friend of mine who also went to college with me sent me a link the other day. The Allegro game programming library found here is still alive and well! We used this library on our trusty 486 DX2 PC's running Window 3.11 and Windows 95. This really brought me back to the past! If I can find the time, I plan to do more with this and see how things have changed since those good ole days!

Well, I was introduced to a new way of doing Security for web hosted applications. It seems, with current state of IT security (or lack of - just ask Sony) and hacking attacks across the web, simple username/password isn't enough anymore. This is were two factor security comes into play. Basically, two-factor means there is more than one (at least two) to validate the user. The most common is username/password and then a challenge question(s). That is how my bank does it... but there is even cooler way. That is were Phone Factor comes in to play. With Phone Factor you can easily setup your application to actually call and request a pin number from a user before allowing them entry. I've worked with their SDK and it takes about 5 minutes to get working! Check them out!

Well, I have been swamped on projects and life in general lately... but I wanted to take a moment to comment on a tool I have come to love. I have to admit I was skeptical and fearful of a tool that claims to generate an entire web app in minutes. But I have to say Ironspeed - http://www.ironspeed.com - has delivered as promised. If you are an ASP.NET programmer and not planning to move to MVC any time soon - then Ironspeed may just be the tool you need to help you know out projects! Later!