One good deal comes to an end

So many cloud storage deals, now one has ended.  The Amazon cloud service no longer offers the promotional offer that if you buy an MP3 album from Amazon, you get 20GB of free storage.  They have changed that to if you pay and upgrade to 20GB then any music you store on the cloud drive will not count against your storage limits.  It was good while it lasted, at least for those who took Amazon up on the offer.

Do you have one of the 25 worst passwords of 2011?

Internet users never learn. No matter how many times we hear about obvious, hackable passwords, people keep using them. And the situation doesn't seem to be getting better.  I have a whole section on this dedicated to passwords, but the world doesn't listen!, oh well, here is the top 25, I bet you have at least one.

• password
• 123456
• 12345678
• qwerty
• abc123
• monkey
• 1234567
• letmein
• trustno1
• dragon
• baseball
• 111111
• iloveyou
• master
• sunshine
• ashley
• bailey
• passw0rd
• shadow
• 123123
• 654321
• superman
• qazwsx
• michael
• football

For more, check out the full article from SplashData

Linkedin and eHarmony are the latest Hacked sites

Posted on the Internet for the whole world to see were 8 million passwords.  You've probably heard about the 8 million passwords leaked from LinkedIn and a dating site (likely eHarmony) that appeared on the Internet today. 12345 itself wasn't used, but that's only because LinkedIn requires passwords to be at least six characters. 123456, 1234567, and 12345678 were all leaked, as were the usual contenders for worst passwords such as, well, "password."  

If you type a password into LeakedIn's search box, you'll be told whether it was leaked and cracked. In some cases, you'll be told a password was leaked but not yet cracked. The site uses JavaScript to hash your passwords and then checks the hashed version against the leaked password lists. Hashes that have been cracked were prepended with "00000" by the people who run the site to tell them apart from those not cracked by hackers yet.

If there's one positive, it's that typing awful passwords into LeakedIn and seeing what's been leaked is tremendous fun. My own LinkedIn password was leaked (OK, that's not so fun), as were others I might have conceivably used, such as "supermario," and "frodolives."

If you haven't already changed your LinkedIn password, go ahead and do that now. After you're done, feel free to search LeakedIn for a bit. What are the worst passwords you can find?

How to get Homeland Security to start watching your online activities..

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are among the thousands of sites monitored for suspicious activity by the Department of Homeland Security, and the government agency was recently forced to tip its hand. As part of a freedom of information request made by watchdog group Electronic Privacy Information Center, DOHS recently published a list of hundreds of words and terms it watches for on social media sites. Some are obvious, such as Al Qaeda, terrorism and domestic nuclear detection, while others are potentially a bit more innocent such as Mexico, social media and burst. Innocent or not, the wrong combination of the terms published in this list could result in a user’s online activity being monitored by DOHS — and if they don’t like what they see, users could end up being watched more closely. A spokesperson for the government agency called the list a starting point used to maintain situational awareness of natural and man-made threats, rather than an endgame.  Check out the article here for some of the words that can get you in trouble.

Verizon Doubling Down on FIOS!

Verizon today said it will double its highest FiOS Internet speeds to 300 megabits per second. That's faster than any cable offering, and faster than many of the wireless routers powering our homes. (If only FiOS was available in more places...)

The new speeds will be available in June, and offer a big boost to both upload and download times across most FiOS service levels. The biggest increase percentage-wise comes in the 50Mbps tier, which will triple to 150Mbps, as you can see in this chart provided by Verizon:

The vast majority of existing Verizon customers will be eligible for the upgrades. Unfortunately, Verizon may be stopping any major expansions of its FiOS infrastructure, so if cable and its 100Mbps max speed is your best option today it will likely stay your best option. But for existing customers, Verizon will provide free equipment upgrades (including faster routers) when necessary.

Windows 8 Release Preview in the wild

Windows 8 Release Preview Leaks to the Web in China

Microsoft wasn't quite ready to tip its hand with a Windows 8 Release Preview until sometime next week, but ready or not, someone leaked the Chinese version to the Web. With the cat out of the bag, the Windows 8 Release Preview has been making the rounds, giving us more than just a glimpse at what the next build has in store, including an updated boot screen.

There was some initial question as to whether the build was the real deal, but after giving the 3.34GB download a test drive, Canouna from WinUnleaked delcared on his Twitter account that the build is "100% legit."

You can find a whole bunch of pictures of the build over on PCBeta's forum, which reveals the new boot screen, wallpapers, multi-monitor support, new Metro apps, and other tidbits. Based on the screenshots, it also appears that you'll be able to enable Aero Glass, if you want to.

Image Credit: PCBeta