Delicious stuff, but the word Kvass (Russian word for leaven?) seems more like a sound of exasperation than a delectible treat. I highly recommend it, not least of all because the ingredients are just so darn simple. Rye, sugar, water. Either some Ukranians have found a way to make real food for real people, or they are being incredibly modest about the ingredients (perhaps to hide corporate secrets about the true chemical makeup required to mix tasty beverages). Best tasting soda I’ve had in ages. Taste some yourself and see…
Commercial cell phone spying
Pre-orders are being taken by a company called FlexiSpy that promises the ability to spy on Symbian, Pocket PC, and Blackberry devices. It apparently gives you the ability to remotely monitor a phone’s log/history as well as tap into real-time data:
FlexiSpy Pro allows you to specify a phone number from which you can call their mobile phone, and rather than the phone ringing, FlexiSPY PRO activates the microphone on the phone, so you can listen in to what is happening where ever the phone may be or whatever they may be doing. Call their phone, and you now are the ‘fly on the wall’ that we’ve always wanted to be sometimes listening in on their conversations, actions, etc.
Might be handy to spy on yourself to keep a log of all activity…
Free backup tool for Windows
The announcement by Comodo has been sitting in my inbox for a while, but I just had a chance to start taking a look. Seems like excellent features for a great price…
Comodo BackUp is free to download and use and comes with a free, lifetime license. Users can download from http://www.backup.comodo.com
Hong Kong Police DB leaked
This report suggests some serious issues are afoot with security in Hong Kong:
The database contained complaints made from 1996 to 2004. As you would expect in such a database, it wasn’t just information on the complainant that was compromised, but also the name, age, gender, rank and station of the police officers against whom the complaints were made, and specifics of the complaint and the outcome, including any action taken against the officer, up to dismissal. Other index tables seemed to record the occupation of the complainant, their educational attainment, and whether they had a criminal record. Also, if the complainant had been charged with an offence, then the type of offence was recorded, and the outcome of the prosecution, including the type of sentence.
One table seemed to classify nationality into either Chinese, Mainlander, Vietnamese, Filipino, Pakistani or Others. Complaints were also categorised into causes (presumably the cause was concluded after investigation), including “tactical complaints” and “political complaints” – imagine who gets that category.
[…]
In our view, the Government will not escape blame in this episode. The IPCC secretariat apparently allowed its data to be taken off-site by a consultant, reportedly for the purpose of conversion of the database from one format used by COPA to another used by the IPCC. The person who worked for the consultant then reportedly left the consultancy, and took the data with him, storing it on the commercial server. An alternative explanation might be that the consultancy outsourced the work to him.
Ouch. Do you suppose people might just be afraid to complain about exposure of complaints?