In case you were wondering, yes, Instagram is indeed owned by Facebook

Again, are we surprised?

In his (sort of) apology/explanation,  Kevin Systrom co-founder, Instagram, says: 

"Some or all of the service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you"

I was going to add some commentary but Randal Munro says it way better in xkcd

Cool example of Augmented Reality

Marco Tempest uses Augmented Reality to improve an old card trick
http://boingboing.net/2012/12/10/augmented-reality-card-routine.html
This is almost as good as his talk on Tesla

Oh yeah BTW, the Oculus Rift VR headset, (possibly the first mass market VR rig) is delayed until next april  :-/

md5crypt() no longer suitable for production use?

A 25-GPU clustered password-cracking computer has passed a new threshold in brute-force guessing, apparently making weaker password algorithms (like LM and NTLM) obsolete.  This has prompted Poul-Henning Kamp, creator of md5crypt() to state that it's not suitable for production use.

What does this mean?  Unfortunately I don't know, but will keep my eyes out.

Perry

What's a Web Proxy?

A proxy server is a computer that sits between your browser and the web site you're trying to visit.  It can do a number of things such as help with data security, make loading pages faster, keep access logs, etc.   It was put there either by your company if you're at work,  your ISP, or if you're at a hotel, by either the local hotel, provider, corporate, etc.

Unfortunately it can be used for evil purposes, either simply placing ads and other spyware activities, or real spying, reading your unencrypted traffic.

This article on SANS Internet Storm Center tells some more, really technical, information.   Contact me if you'd like more information.