Beer Review: Breckenridge Brewery Oatmeal Stout

Overall 6.7/10 - Breckenridge Brewery Oatmeal Stout is an excellent beer. It has a mildly bitter, yet sweet front end with an intense cocoa and bitter finish. The beer is smooth and full bodied.

Appearance 1.2/2.0 - Dark, Black, very little color variation, not head when poured out of the bottle, and not much fizz.

Smell 1.6/2.0 - Light smell, sweet, and with a strong smell of cocoa

Taste 2.5/4.0 - Bitter/Smooth start, cocoa/oatmeal finish, mildly bitter, and very smooth. It is complex with a variety of flavors (bitter, sweet, cocoa, oatmeal). I find the finish to be a little bitter and slightly oaky.

Mouth Feel 1.3/2.0 - Smooth, full bodied, mildly carbonated, no burn.

Pairing - The oaky/cocoa flavor would go well with any crispy dish. An ideal meal would would be fried chicken or a pecan crusted trout with a side of mac-n-cheese.

Beer Review: Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout

Overall (8.6/10) - Samuel Smith's Organic Chocolate Stout is a delicious and full flavored chocolate stout that I would go out of my way to purchase. It has a sweet chocolate flavor and is smooth from beginning to end. Samuel Smith's is brewed in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. It is Yorkshire's oldest brewery, founded in 1758.

Appearance (1.6/2.0) - Thick head with nice lacing, caramel color foam, dark black body.

Smell (1.6/2.0) - Robust and sweet, not floral, you can smell the cocoa chocolate.

Taste (3.7/4.0) - Amazing and instant chocolate flavor. Sweet, smooth, and almost malty. Very strong front end with a more mild yet still strong finish, lightly metallic.

Mouth Feel (1.7/2.0) - Lightly carbonated, thick, smooth, and malt-like

Pairing - A thick steak cooked medium rare, baked potato with butter and lightly salted. Would also be a good dessert beer with a pastry.

       

IBM: New Speed Record For Big Data

IBM announced an invention that will speed data transfers to 200-400 Gbps. To put this into perspective it made headlines on February 14th when Google announced it would increase it's fiber network speeds up to 10 Gbps.

According to phys.org:

"At this speed 160 Gigabytes, the equivalent of a two-hour, 4K ultra-high definition movie or 40,000 songs, could be downloaded in only a few seconds."

For companies managing, examining, and transferring infinitely large data sets  I can only imagine the efficiency this would add to their business. For companies like Facebook, Amazon, IBM, Taradata, or even the Government - who examine billions or trillions of bits of information with embedded metadata - it could make it viable to accurately examine, sort, and share the information in minutes rather than weeks or months. Other companies like Netflix would benefit too. They could easily add the option to purchase or stream high definition videos and movies with almost no buffer time.

The question for the average consumer might be: If speeds like this become available to the public, will ISPs throttle their networks or allow their customers to reap the full benefits of lightning fast internet connection?

New Device Tracks All Human Interactions

A new device developed by Hitachi will give employers the ability to virtually track employees every move. The wearable badge is marketed to enhance efficiency, but is capable of doing far more.

According to Bob Greene:

"The device looks like an employee ID badge that most companies issue. Workers are instructed to wear it in the office.

Embedded inside each badge, according to Hitachi, are "infrared sensors, an accelerometer, a microphone sensor and a wireless communication device."

Hitachi says that the badges record and transmit to management "who talks to whom, how often, where and how energetically." It tracks everything.

If you get up to walk around the office a lot, the badge sends information to management about how often you do it, and where you go.

If you stop to talk with people throughout the day, the badge transmits who you're talking to (by reading your co-workers' badges), and for how long.

Do you contribute at meetings, or just sit there? Either way, the badge tells your bosses."

If anyone isn't comfortable being micromanaged this device sounds like a nightmare.  And for any employer concerned about maintaining talent they should probably forget about implementing such a device.

Perhaps employers should practice the golden rule and "treat others how they want to be treated" instead of focusing on making the workplace more like a prison. If a company fosters the right culture and treats their employees fairly most folks will go out of their way to do an excellent job.

What Else Could The Device Be Used For?

For anyone even mildly concerned about privacy or security this has to throw up a red flag. How easily could a malicious individual or organization track a private citizen and what safeguards are in place to prevent such a device from being utilized to commit fraud? 

Beer Review: Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier

Overall (7.0/10) - Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier is a widely available and delicious beer. It has an almost cotton candy smell, sweet notes, and a blackberry aftertaste. It is highly drinkable, not too heavy, and doesn't take much to "develop a taste" for it. Blackberry Witbier is great for people who enjoy sweeter, less bitter, beers with a fruity finish.

Appearance (1.25/2.0) - A deep orange color that is just barely transparent. There are visible carbonation bubbles and no head.

Smell (1.8/2.0) - Samuel Adams Blackberry Witbier excels when it comes to smell. There is a slightly sweet smell that is highly aromatic, but not overpowering. It has a smell that is a cross between a blackberry muffin, cotton candy, and beer. The smell compliments the taste and really adds to the beer drinking experience.

Taste (2.85/4.0) - Blackberry Witbier is easy to enjoy and doesn't require a well developed beer drinkers pallet to enjoy. The taste is quite naturally excellent. The beer has a mildly bitter front end followed by a sweet blackberry finish that hangs around for a while.

Mouth Feel (1.1/2.0) - A medium body and medium carbonation. The fizz is not overwhelming, but apparent.

Pairing - Since the beer has a fresh and fruity taste it would go with a variety of food options. Including steak or fish. An ideal meal would be a lean steak (sirloin) cooked medium with a loaded baked potato with all the toppings.

The Weak Link In Tech Security Is Human

Recently, hackers used social engineering techniques to convince Paypal and Go Daddy tech support to hand over enough personal data to extort Naoki Hiroshima out of his @N Twitter handle (valued at $50,000). The interesting thing is that the breach wasn't via weak password settings or shortcomings in source code, but because of human error.

According the the story:

...Hiroshima reported that someone was attempting to hack into his Paypal account. Hiroshima had two-factor authentication set up, and when the attacker attempted to reset his password, he received a text message requesting his approval for the change, which he ignored. 

Unable to get through Paypal’s gates, the attacker took a surprising next step, attacking Hiroshima’s personal domain name through his registrar, GoDaddy. The hacker got through GoDaddy’s security measures by calling a representative on the phone. The hacker claimed to be Hiroshima and said he was having trouble accessing his account. GoDaddy asked for the last six digits of his credit card number on file as proof of identity, which the hacker miraculously was able to provide. 

How’d he do that? Again, via a simple phone call...the hacker had also called Paypal’s support staff and used social engineering tricks to get that representative to tell him the last four digits of the credit card he had on file... 

The hacker then took those four digits and was—amazingly—able to parlay that into the last six digits. How? According to Hiroshima’s narrative, the GoDaddy support agent simply let the hacker guess them, two by two, until he struck upon the right combination, unleashing the keys to the account. The hacker reported to Hiroshima that he told GoDaddy he’d lost his card, but remembered the last four digits, opening the door for the guesswork operation. The hacker got it all done in one call..."

Common Sense Customer Service VS. Security 

From a business perspective these type of social engineer hacks are difficult to overcome because there is a careful balance at play - that of providing good customer service to honest people and also protecting their data. 

How many real customers call in each day that have lost their password or credit cards? I'm sure every tier one tech support agent receives dozens of these calls a day. And if a company is preventing business owners from accessing their data when they need it - which is NOW - then many customers will simply find somewhere else to do business. 

So maybe the problem is not just with the shortcomings of companies like Paypal and GoDaddy, but also with the expectations of the average user. It seems like the security culture of the average person has to change - a change that gives tech companies that want to protect your private data a little more leeway to be a little more strict when it comes to privacy. Even if that means being a little angrier at tech support some days. 

Beer Review: Highland Brewing Company's Black Mocha Stout

Overall (7.2/10) - Highland's Black Mocha Stout is a mildly sweet, coffee flavored beer, with a caramel color. Brewed in Asheville, NC.

Appearance (1.4/2.0) - Caramel body, black/brown beer, medium head, head dissipates fairly quickly

Smell (1.2/2.0) - Mild smell, not strong, mildly sweet

Taste (3.2/4.0) - Bitter, mildly coffee-like, hoppy middle and end, malty, has a very clean/fresh taste for a stout, not too heavy

Mouth Feel (1.4/2.0) - Smooth and fresh, not as thick as other stouts, almost feels like an IPA, medium carbonation

Pairing - Would go great with a thick salmon filet. Side of buttery spinach.

South Korea Fines Google For Illegal Data Gathering

It seems like South Korea is coming down hard on personal privacy violations. Just last week I wrote an article about new legislation South Korea is implementing banning bloatware on mobile phones - now they are fining Google $196,000 for illegally collecting private data - and more importantly demanding that Google turn over all of the illegally collected private data.

Via Ryan Huang -

"Google has been fined 210 million won (US$196,000) by South Korean regulators for collecting personal data when it was setting up its Street View service...The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) also ordered the Internet giant to delete all personal information it had gathered without consent and post a progress update on its site...[Google] not only collected 360 degree views of the streets but also picked up plenty of personal data along the way such as Internet IDs, passwords, network addresses, text messages, and credit card numbers, according to KCC."

It's nice to see a crack down on companies collecting people's private data, but this is nothing new.

"Google has already been fined in Europe and the United States for similar infringements. Last year, it was fined €145,000 (US$189,000) in Germany, €100,000 (US$136,000) in France while it settled in the U.S. for US$7 million."

Considering Google earned $50 billion in revenue in 2012 alone these relatively tiny fines do almost nothing to stop the company from collecting whatever information they please. A better question might be: Why does Google want all of this information in the first place? Moreover, is it ethical that they collect it?

Thought Controlled Computers Are Coming

While the rest of us are still trying to get caught up with the abundance of tech options available to us today R&D groups for major technology giants are working on the future. That future, according to Dell's head of research and development, includes thought controlled computers.

"Thought-controlled input is a project we started 6 months ago. The notion here is that through some sort of device that you put on, by measuring alpha [brain] waves and so forth, you can actually be able to tell your mood for example: whether your happy or sad. That can then drive the device to, for instance, play music. If you're sad, it can choose music to cheer you up, for example. If the research proves successful, the product may end up being something physical [a device] or maybe someone else builds the sensor headband and we partner on the software side."

I wonder if we are moving too fast? With the recent and seemly more frequent data breaches (Target, Yahoo, and others) how can users gain enough comfort to literally 'share their feelings' with their computer? This technology is probably a few years off, but I think we still have a long way to go on the security and privacy side of the house before anyone is going to plug into their computer.

How To Effectively Block Online Ads & Enhance Privacy

I wrote a post last week revealing that AdBlock Plus, probably the most popular ad-blocking extension on the web, actually allowed ads from over 4,000 websites.

To most of my tech savvy friends this came as no surprise. They even suggested a gamut of effective tools and extension that will almost completely eliminate online ads and most privacy concerns.

Tools You Should Install To Eliminate Ads & Enhance Privacy

1. AdBlock Plus

Though AdBlock Plus does allow some ads it is still a highly effective (and easy) way to eliminate the majority of online ads.

Note: It was brought to my attention that you can change the settings within AdBlock Plus by un-ticking the box within the options to "block all ads" that will correct this problem. Some users claim that each update to the broswer and/or the application the box is re-ticked, which again allows some ads through. You then have to re-untick the box after the update.

2. FlashBlock

FlashBlock "automatically blocks flash content on webpages. Each flash element is being replaced with a placeholder that allows you to load only selected elements on a given page. You can also manage a whitelist of allowed websites via a configuration panel."

3. Hosts File

Using a Host file is probably the most complicated (but most effective) way to "block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and even most hijackers."

If you are interested in implementing this tool visit this website to download the file and get going.

4. Disconnect Extension

The Disconnect Extension is less of an ad blocking extension and more of an anti-tracking tool. The Disconnect Extension "lets you visualize & block the invisible websites that track you" such as Facebook, Google, and even cookies.

With the growing concern over privacy and what type of data websites are collecting from their users applications like Disconnect are becoming more valuable (and popular) than ever.