SHA-3 competition - round 2

For the crypto types: NIST has published the "Status Report on the Second Round of the SHA-3 Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Competition". Short version:

• five finalists remain
• comment period for round two is one year
• finalist to be chosen some time in 2012

The report discusses how the five were selected from the fourteen from round one. For those that worry about it, Skein (the one that has Bruce Schneier as a team member) is still in the running.