Okay, so we’re huge foodies here at ScreenTek. Any chance we get to cook, bake, or even look at food we take. Gilt Groupe released its Gilt Taste app  Tuesday, and we got our hungry little hands on it. I spent more than a few hours playing with it, and even trying out a couple recipes.

Now I must say, prior to downloading the app, I was initially skeptical. I thought, “Okay so I’m going to download a free app that’s going to make me want to spend way too much money on a bunch of designer kitchen gadgets I don’t need.”  I was actually delighted to start up the app and see how incredibly clean it was. I mean, I knew with a Gilt app the interface was going to be clean, but man was it sleek! You’re greeted by a massive collage of absolutely mouth-watering images of food. Man are they great pictures, from perfectly grilled steaks to sweet, shiny cups of compotes, and baked goods you can practically smell.

I was even more surprised to find that the shop was more food focused than gadget (The prices were still way above what I’m willing to pay although I don’t dispute the quality of the food). You can purchase some pretty bizarre stuff from kangaroo loin to soy lecithin, which I actually ended up buying since I like using it to make vinaigrette. It’s a fantastic emulsifier so it… Well, that’s an entirely different blog. “”

Next I hopped over to the stories tab, which was full of relevant, timely content. Gilt thought of some great articles, many with questions and ideas I’ve never even pondered. Not only that, but every story is easy to read, and easy to share as well. While the stories might at first seem to appeal to the more culturally savvy and culinarily advanced, if you do decide to take a look at the stories, you’ll find that many of them contain recipes and even techniques to help you become a better cook.

Lastly, after containing as much excitement as I possibly could, I hit the recipes tab. I wasn’t disappointed. The recipes looked gorgeous, read well, and many of them highlighted simplicity or speed. There were classics like Spaghetti Carbonara, and pancakes, but my absolute favorite was the unnecessarily luxurious recipe for Garlic Thyme Duckfat Popcorn. Truly a novelty if there ever was one, but a novelty I was excited to try in the future. I spent a little bit of time flipping through recipes and finally came a cross a recipe for Lobster Rolls which are a personal favorite (I substituted the lobster for some leftover frozen crawfish. It is the south after all).

One of the best things about Gilt Taste is that it provides general tips for more experienced cooks, and in addition breaks down a step-by-step for those who are just starting out. It’s all easy to read, and easy to follow. The coolest feature is found once you start cooking. When you bring up the recipe, you can enjoy a hands free experience. The app uses the front-facing camera on the iPad 2 and the New iPad by allowing you to swipe your hand over the iPad to turn the page on the recipe. So if you’re busy kneading dough or suffering club hand from a fish fry dredge gone wrong you won’t have to worry about cleaning your iPad off later.

The recipes are just as easy to share as they are to follow, making Gilt Taste one of the most intuitive, comprehensive food apps I’ve ever used. The app is suitable for those who have been cooking for years or days, and it looks great. The recipes are seasonal and modern, and of course delicious. So go get your hands on Gilt Taste right now! Of course, thanks to Gilt hands are completely optional, now aren’t they?

Security is a really big issue these days. We put all of our information out into the internet from our phone numbers and our biggest turn-ons to our credit card numbers and addresses. We want all of our information to be safe, right? Well in order to keep your accounts from being hacked, you need to have a better password. It’s long been debated, but in my opinion, the best password is the one that even you can’t remember. That’s right, I said it. Your best bet on keeping your info secure is using a long password that has no meaning whatsoever.

Well how do you keep track of all that stuff? Simple. Use password management software. These programs allow you to store all of your passwords to all of your sites in one spot and this in turn can be secured with a master password. Most of these programs even feature random password generators where you can specify alphanumeric characters, capitalization, and special characters. This allows you to store a different password for every single site you access making it harder for a hacker to get his or her hands on all of your information. The best part is, with a master password, you only have to remember one to access them all. “”

Now I know what you’re thinking, what if my master password gets hacked? Well, if you do your due diligence and make it a password that’s difficult to crack (such as XKCD’s correct horse battery staple), you shouldn’t have any problem. Another advantage of using password management tools is that many people get hacked by keyloggers, which are malicious applications that get information from what’s been typed on your keyboard. Because password management software doesn’t use any keys, these programs will be useless.

So which password management program should you use? Personally, I like using 1Password. It has all the features I’ve listed above, and it has a browser extension so that I can automatically input my passwords in my browser with a simple click. There are other programs such as LastPass and others, but 1Password is by far my favorite. Your information is your own, and you should do everything you can to keep it safe. You don’t HAVE to use password management, but I’m pretty paranoid, and the peace of mind is something I like. Not only that, but I have so many site logins, that having a program to remember all of it works for me.