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Anthony Bourdain (CP)

My Oscar Picks: Anthony Bourdain

nyti.ms/AB_Oscars

FORMER chef (Les Halles), author (Kitchen Confidential, Medium Raw) and TV host Anthony Bourdain has never been afraid to share his opinion, whether it be about other celebrity chefs, cities he has visited, places he has worked and now the Oscars.

While the sharp-tongued New Yorker is known as a punk-rock-loving foodie, he is also a diehard film junkie and comes from a family of "huge, huge, huge film nerds." From a young age, Bourdain was exposed to a wide range of cinema. His father worked at Willoughby's Camera Emporium and would hold private 16mm screenings for his family.

"I grew up in a house with lush picture books about films; my parents were both very serious about them. Foreign, art, everything," explains Bourdain.

On a break from his Travel Channel show The Layover (which is pretty similar to his other show, No Reservations), Bourdain is scheduled to appear as a guest programmer for Turner Classic Movies in April. He also sat down to discuss the Oscar contenders this year and give his picks for the annual awards show.

Change Your Password

lifehac.kr/time_to_change

MORE and more of our lives are being lived online, but how secure is the information we have stored in the cloud?

From banking and email to photos and social networks, pretty much every site we frequent online is only as secure as the passwords we use. You can complain all you want about online services when they screw up and are hacked (see Sony Playstation network), but sometimes when sites are breached, it's because the users were sloppy with their passwords or decided to use something like straightforward like 123456 on all the sites they visit. Sure, passwords like that are easy to remember, but they are about as secure as leaving your front door wide open when you go away for a week of holidays.

Feb. 1 was Change Your Password Day. If you haven't changed your passwords in a long time -- or in some cases, ever -- it might be time to take a look at Lifehacker's password guide. From creating secure passwords, to using centralized lockers to keep all your passwords secure, spending a few minutes today could save you headaches down the road.

Facebook Still Not Deleting Your Photos

bit.ly/FB_photos

LOVING Facebook's new Timeline feature? Eager to upload hundreds of pictures to fill in the social story of your life? Wondering if you should delete those photos from your week-long bender in Vegas?

You may want to think twice about what photos you put online, as it appears that Facebook still isn't as keen to delete photos as users may be. This isn't anything new: for the past three years, users have been upset that deleted photos can still remain online, despite the user wanting the photos removed. It's just become a hot topic again as the push towards moving users to the new Timeline page is underway.

Facebook claims that deleting a photos is like emptying the recycle box on your computer. Even though the company claims no one else will be able to view the photos, that hasn't always been the case and there have been numerous reports of photos still being available through direct links, even after they were apparently deleted.

Until the social media giant sorts this out and has a more clear policy on content uploaded to the site, think twice about the type of photos you want online.

Anthony Augustine is a freelance music, technology and pop culture writer who spends way too much time in front of a computer. Got a site you think he should see? Email him at anthony.siteunseen@gmail.com or follow him at twitter.com/anthonya.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2012 E3