Instagram has inked its first major ad deal with an agency, and it’s big.

The photo- and video-sharing site is rolling out a paid advertising program with a year-long commitment from Omnicom to spend up to $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

You knew it was coming. If you didn’t, you should have.

.

Many thanks to CocoaConf for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop. What do you get when you take some of the best Apple dev authors, trainers, and speakers and combine them with the most passionate, engaged developers in a region? You get a learning and networking experience that will not soon be forgotten! You get CocoaConf!

CocoaConf is back this Spring and better than ever! We’ll be bringing the newest and best iOS and Mac developer technology training to five U.S. cities over the next few months:

Since readers of The Loop are just the kind of attendees we’re looking for, we’re offering you a special discount. Register for any CocoaConf event and use the promotional code LOOP to save 20% on your ticket!

Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity—tickets are going fast!

He’s just an odd fellow.

An easy to use new “Remote Administration Tool” malware package for Android offers to infect users, steal their photos and text messages, secretly capture audio or video, record their calls, download their web browser history and steal their email, Facebook and VPN account information.

I’m shocked.

Not skipping a beat, Chen was quick to throw a few jabs in Apple’s direction, answering that iPhone users are constantly searching for power outlets because battery life on the iPhone can’t even last a full day.

“I call you guys wall huggers”, Chen remarked in jest.

You make shit and can barely give your devices away.

This is great.

This is funny as hell.

There are some interesting designs here, but more than anything I think this shows how companies are recognizing the importance of packaging. Apple led the way with this a decade or more ago.

Atlee Clark talking about the affect hosting the Olympic Games had on Canada:

However, there are less obvious but equally powerful outcomes from hosting the games. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver had a deep impact on the Canadian psyche, creating a brazen, publicly demonstrated drive to win. That ambition rippled into the entrepreneurial community and has influenced much of the current crop of business leaders who are dedicated to keeping Canada on the proverbial podium.

So sorry.

Mercedes told us its “goal is to offer an after market solution by the end of the year.”

Great news.

You have to watch it now.

It’s no surprise that some organizations are raising safety concerns about Apple’s forthcoming CarPlay technology, but the ship has already sailed on their main concern: distracted drivers. The fact is, CarPlay will help alleviate many of the biggest distractions in cars today.

Unmark was just released today and I signed up. The interface is very nice and it’s really easy to use. If I had one complaint, it would be the window that pops up when you save something to read later—I don’t need that, but I don’t see a way to turn it off. An FAQ on the service has been posted too.

As the web gets more commercial, more companies want to track and know the real you. The backlash against this — and the desire to have “ephemeral” interactions in the digital world — is why Andrew Busey, the creator of iChat 19 years ago, has built Banter, a chat app with no names and little storage. The app lets people sign up with any user name and discuss … well, anything they want.

LG’s newest commercial is… odd.

I don’t disagree, but Google seems a little bitter.

Benjamin Mayo:

This means that in the future Getty could replace your image blocks with other images, advertisements … or well anything. It also means that your site now has a dependency on Getty’s CDN uptime. If their servers are down, your site has no images.

Good points.

Fascinating.

There are conditions of course, but this is huge.

I like it—the site is minimal, but shows a lot of information in an easy to read site. I have some issues with the fonts used, but overall, a good job.

The Winklevoss twins — Tyler and Cameron — have bought tickets on Virgin Galactic using bitcoins, according to a blog on the Winkelvoss Capital website.

Or, to put it another way: Rich twins buy tickets on unproven spaceship using suspect virtual currency.

This has to be the cruelest product ever invented.

A behind the scenes look at Slash recording his new album.

If you’re talking tech with Americans, you may want to avoid using any jargon.

Sweet baby Jesus, this is scary and hilarious.

I missed this the other day, but it’s worth a look.

Interesting to see Media Temple get into this segment of the business. It makes a lot of sense, especially considering how popular WordPress is these days. I started The Loop on Media Temple and it was an absolute disaster, but I’ll keep an eye on this service. Shawn Blanc has some thoughts on the new service too.

I like this better than Google’s offering because it has an onscreen interface. While it doesn’t rely on a smartphone to control the device, it is an option, in addition to the included remote.

An interesting experiment, but apparently it didn’t work.