Categories
Tips & How To's

Security? Why Bother

I’ve been working on an internal information delivery system for an unnamed multi-national.

I just logged in to their production database to set up some new features. One of which involved updating their user database. While poking around, I noticed that all but 62 of their roughly 400 users had the same password hash (meaning they all had the same password)!

Seriously!

Categories
Podcasts

Podcasts I Subscribe To

…In alphabetical order:

  • Audible Ajax – Infrequently updated. Interviews with key figures in the world of AJAX. 3.3/5
  • Buzz Out Loud – Daily. Easily the best tech news podcast. 5/5
  • CBC Radio 3 Podcast – Weekly. An hour of good Canadian music. 3.5/5
  • Best of As It Happens – Daily. CBC Radio long running (40+years?) current events show in podcast digest. Mon – Thurs it’s the best segment of the day. Friday it’s a weekly recap. Listening to this makes me feel old. 3/5
  • Diggnation – Weekly. Video. You really should already know about this show. It’s getting a little old, I’m only going to give it 3.8 out of 5.
  • ExtraLife Radio – Weekly. Comics and nerd culture. 3.9/5
  • Gadgettes – Weekly. CNET podcast where ladies (+ Jason Howell) talk about tech. 3/5
  • The Instance – Weekly. World of Warcraft podcast, still listen to it even though I haven’t played in months. 4/5
  • Mailbag – Weekly. Video. CNET’s Molly Wood reads funny emails. 3.7/5
  • net@night – Weekly. Leo Laporte and Amber Mac talk about the internet, I’ve found out about MANY great Web 2.0 startups through this podcast. 4/5
  • Quirks & Quarks – Weekly. CBC Radio’s long running science show, in podcast format. 3.5/5
  • RCRD LBL – Weekly. Roundup of the best music on RCRDLBL.com. 4/5
  • Search Engine – On Hiatus/Canceled. CBC Radio’s EXCELLENT show about the internet. Even if it doesn’t come back on the air, the back episodes are worth a list. 5/5
  • Spark – Weekly/On Hiatus. CBC Radio show about culture surrounding the internet. Frequent contributions from Cory Doctorow and Merlin Mann. 5/5
  • tech5 – Daily. John C Dvorak’s take on the day’s tech news. 4.5/5
  • This Week in Tech – Weekly. Leo Laporte and friends discuss the week’s tech news. The guests are often really lame and it tends to drag on. But when it’s good, it’s great! 3.3/5
  • The 404 – Daily. The best way to discribe tihs is A Tech Morning Show. Usually hillarious. 4.8/5
  • White Coat, Black Art – Weekly/Currently on repeats. CBC Radio’s show about the Health Care Industry/System in Canada. Always interesting, sometimes a little dry. 3.7/5
  • Xbox Live’s Major Nelson Radio – Weekly. Xbox live’s Director of Programming provides an inside look into what’s going on with the xbox 360, with a good dose of general gaming banter. 3/5
Categories
Links Websites

A List Apart Annual Survey

A List Apart is running their annual survey “for people who make websites.”

Categories
Review Websites

Cuil Sucks

Ok. Cool…er Cuil. You’re not going to be a legitimate search engine until you strip raw HTML from your search results.

Categories
Review

KFC Launches Vegetarian “Chicken” Sandwich

Apparently PETA has somehow managed to strong arm KFC Canada into adding a “Classic Vegetarian Sandwich” to their menu. I don’t really understand how PETA is in any sort of position to convince a multi-national like KFC to do something like this, but that’s beside the point. You can read PETA’s press release (including a buy-one-get-one-free coupon) here.

Being the early adoptor that I am, I just had to try one.

KFC Vegetarian KFC Vegetarian KFC Vegetarian

I’m not sure what to say…
It contains most – but not quite all – of the greasy goodness that I’ve been missing out on over the past 8 years or so. The taste and texture seems fairly authentic. I say fairly authentic because it reminds me more of generic frozen chicken burgers you’d buy at a supermarket, then the greasier, crispier type of burger you typically get at KFC. In fact, I’m almost certain KFC is using Schneiders: Meatless Chick’ n Burgers (which might explain why they’re only available in Canada). It would have been nice if KFC had given it a more KFC-like treatment.

Other than that, the “classic sandwich” itself – meatless or not – mighty disappointing, with only mayo and lettuce as toppings.  Next time I’m going to order it “gourmet-style” with tomatoes and cheese.

In Conclusion
The sandwich is pretty tasty. If you’re going to be heading to a KFC, I highly recommend it to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. With meatless alternatives like this there’s really no need to slaughter cute little innocent chickens for something that barely passes as a meal in the first place.