Archive for February, 2009

Security Break Live!

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

I’m starting a new Internet radio show, Security Break Live. Starting tomorrow at 11:00 Central, and every two weeks after that, I’ll be hosting a half-hour call-in Internet radio show discussing data security topics.

Tomorrow’s topic is “ATM fraud in broad daylight,” and for the occasion I’ll be dissecting the various ways that Bad Guys try to steal your credit/debit card information in order to seal your money, and most importantly, how to defend against it!

Each week I’ll be joined by a guest co-host. Tomorrow’s guest will be John Quain, New York Times columnist and frequent contributor to a number of tech publications, including PC Magazine.

The best part – it’s a call-in show! Call tomorrow between 11:00 and 11:30 – 646-929-2482 – and ask anything. Hecklers welcome! ;-)

Posted in PhoneFactor, Security, two-factor | No Comments »

Unrelated news: HFCS isn’t so great

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

I read a study about high-fructose corn syrup today, after being amazed by another article I read about how they make the stuff. (The Wikipedia entry has a lot to say too.)

Here’s the kicker: at least some HFCS has a higher mercury concentration (0.56 ppm) than most* fish you eat. So, if you’re someone who shouldn’t be ingesting much mercury, HFCS is probably a bad idea too. Don’t take my word for it, though, read the study.

There are two processes for producing HFCS, and one of them generally leads to undetectable levels of mercury, but unfortunately, you can’t find out what you’re getting just by reading the ingredients list. And while 0.56ppm is the worst sample they found, again, you can’t tell you’re not getting that level too.

Contrast that to fish: most people watching their mercury intake know which kinds of fish to avoid and which are safe. There are recommendations on how often you should eat which kinds of fish. With HFCS-containing products (which, by the way, is soooooo many things), it’s simply a blind guess. 

It wasn’t immediately obvious that the FDA regulates mercury levels in HFCS, although it looks to me like they didn’t even know about it until this study.

So, the bottom line is that if you’re on a mercury-restricted diet, you should at least think about this issue. 

[*Details: the study detected a concentration of 28µg mercury per 50g HFCS (or, 0.56 ppm) in the worst sample. Compare to the FDA's list of mercury levels in fish.]

Posted in General nonsense | No Comments »