While there are a variety of resources to help you download video content, KeepTube offers a wider array of video sites including YouTube, Google Video, DailyMotion, Mega Video and more. Plus it will grab the highest quality of video including HD.

KeepTube is a free web-based tool, that also offers a Firefox extension. Visit KeepTube.com to learn more.

Most of the time we’re working to make sure we don’t accidentally lose information or get a virus that wipes out the computer. But there are times in which you want to erase a hard drive. Perhaps you’re selling or giving your computer away and don’t want traces of your files left on it. If you watch any forensic science show, you know that simply deleting a file isn’t enough to get it off the hard drive. But using a free resources such as DBAN can wipe the drive clean.

When you download DBAN you need to burn the file to a CD and then use the CD like a boot disk. You can learn more and get your free copy at DBAN.org

Who doesn’t have old cell phones, game consoles, digital cameras, and MP3 players taking up space in a junk drawer? Now you can turn your electronic junk into cash by selling it to BuyMyTronics. The process is simple:

1. Enter information about your model number into the area that says “Sell Your ElecTronics for Cash”. Then click Search.
2. Next enter the condition of the items and any accessories included to calculate the price you can get for it.
3. If you approve, click “Sell Now” to add it to your “Recycle Cart”. Add more gadgets or click on “Checkout” and enter your payment (check or Paypal) and contact information.
4. You will receive a label or a shipping box in the mail that includes postage. Simply ship your item to BuyMyTronics using the label/box it sends.
5. If your items is as good as you said it was, you’ll receive the agreed amount of payment within 5 business days.

To learn more or to start selling your electronic gizmos, visit BuyMyTronics.com

Need to keep in touch with a group that’s on the go? Tatango offers a text messaging service that can send your message out to everyone in your group. Messages can be composed and sent from a computer or by phone if you’re on the go as well.  Depending on the plan, you can a variety of groups, subgroups and message allotments. Members can use “keywords” which allow people to easily join your group via text or through a link online. Current users include athletic teams, religious organizations, real estate agents and sororities.

Tatango offers a free-30 day trial. Plans vary from basic at $19 a month for 400 messages and unlimited members all the way up to the premium for $199 a month for 5000 messages and few other perks (there are two plans in between). To learn more or test out a free trial, visit Tatango.com

Not sure what your teenager just texted to you? Visit Transl8it.com to get the translation. Simply enter the text message, click translate and get the English version. You can impress your teen by typing in a message in English and have Transl8it.com translate the message into text.

Visit Transl8it.com to check it out.

There is an old adage that says, “You can never be too safe.” When it comes to the digital world, it’s very true. Cyber hackers and hijackers are lurking everywhere to steal digital information. And while it’s a piece of cake for them to get passwords and other sensitive information, for the rest of us, keeping track of login information is a hassle especially since everything needs its own password. It’s too much and eventually passwords get forgotten.

Forgetting a password isn’t that big of deal when you’re online as there is usually a way to retrieve it or reset it, but what if you’ve password protected your documents? Well if it’s an Excel document, you’re in luck.

Excel allows users to password protect entire documents or individual workbooks. You can even allow people to read the document but not make changes without a password. So what happens if a colleague moves without giving you the password to his work-related Excel doc? Or you simply forget your password? Over at Petri IT Knowledge Base you can find complete details and a free download for Excel Password Recovery. It takes you step-by-step through two recovery options and even provides an alternative Pro solution if needed.

Bandwidth, transfer allowance, CGI, SQL and so on and so on. Knowing what these mean is only part of the work that goes into selecting a web host. You also need to know if and how much of these you need. Then there is price and level of technical support. You need a notebook to keep track of all the features of each web host in order to compare. Or you can visit WebHostingReport.com.

WebHostingReport.com evaluates and ranks web hosts on a variety of factors to help you pick the best one for your needs. It evaluates hosting based on price, uptime, customer service, and user feedback.

Looking for domain hosting?  WebHostingReport.com lists its top five and includes a review so you can see why it liked it. It also ranks web hosts that provide dedictated web hosting if you don’t want to share servers with other websites. Or if price is an issue, you can search for cheap hosting.

More than just ranking and reviewing web hosts though, WebHostingReport.com also provides information for beginners, tips on choosing a web host, and advice on why free hosting is not a good idea. Its a great resource for learning about web hosting as well as advice on choosing the web host that will best fit your needs.

These days, it seems no one leaves home without their cellphone. As work-at-home professionals, we have so much going on in our daily lives, that it’s easy to use our cell phones as our primary organizational tool. Unfortunately, many cellphones have features that never get used at all. We’re going to show you seven simple ways a cellphone can help you keep your work-at-home job more organized.

*Set unique ringtones for each major contact*

Know who’s calling without looking at the phone. For each major contact, such as clients, your spouse, child’s school or daycare, doctors, co-workers, etc. set a different ringtone. Whatever you choose to use is up to you; just make sure you can keep track of who’s who with the ringtones you set. You can grab free ringtones pay for real music ringtones or make your own. If you have an iPhone, sync iTunes with your contacts.

*Use your address book*

For contacts you use frequently but don’t receive calls from, such as the local pizza delivery company, the salon, and the pharmacy, keep them in the address book. This will save you time, because you won’t have to look them up in the phone book or remember their phone numbers. To keep things organized, you can create groups in the address book, too. You can even take the advice from our first tip one step further and customize a ringtone for each group, in case the pizza place has to call you back. Learn more on how to setup groups for BlackBerry, iPhone, LG Shine, and HTC Ringo Mobile software.

*Use your calendar to keep track of appointments*

Take time to place appointments in your cellphone or web-hosed calendar like Google Calendar. This way, you can glance at the calendar each day to get an idea of what needs to be done and when. Your phone will send you a reminder about the appointment at a time you choose, usually all the way up to 15 minutes before the appointment. This is especially helpful for work-at-home parents who have multiple appointments and people to account for. Set your reminders with enough time to get to each appointment though, because getting a reminder 15 minutes before you’re supposed to be in the doctor’s office isn’t always enough time to make the drive.

*Use your alarm feature*

Set alarms on the phone to get up in the morning, to remember to take medication, or to remember to get dinner out of the oven. Many cellphones have the ability to store more than one alarm and to choose a repeat frequency such as: Everyday, Monday through Friday, Once, or Never. When setting up the alarms, be sure to choose the frequency that works best for you, or expect to be bothered the following day when it’s no longer applicable.

*Use the voice recorder to record reminders*

Most new cellphones feature some sort of voice recorder. Use the voice recorder to record reminders like, “We need bread, milk, and eggs from the grocery store,” or “Reminder: Make reservations for dinner on Monday night.” These voice recordings will save to your phone for you to review later. Most phones do not allow for more than 30 seconds of recording time per note, so keep this in mind as you record. If you need something more powerful, consider using a voice-to-text service (see our review of Jott) that syncs with other mobile and web-based apps to become a cloud computing workaholic.

*Use the notepad or text messaging to take notes while out*

While you’re out and about running errands or spending time with family, if an important phone call comes through or you see something you want to remember later, use the notepad, or a draft text message —whichever you prefer— to make note of it. When things slow down a bit and you get time, go through the notes or messages to remember what you noted. This works better than the voice recorder when there are large numbers of people around.

*Keep a to-do list on the notepad*

Remember more than just your appointments. Keep a to-do list each day on your notepad or with a task management app like Remember the Milk. If you need to keep a strict timeline, you can use the calendar to schedule each task of the day. As you accomplish things, cross them off the list. Taking time to setup a to-do list each night will help you see just how much you can get done in a day and significantly improve your time management and make it easier to get things done in the long run.

Whether you use all seven of these tips, or just a few of them, you can be sure you’ll become a more organized work-at-home professional.

About the Author: Caitlin Douglass is a freelance writer that specializes in technology, productivity and mobile news. Caitlin is available for content development at caitlin.douglass [at] gmail.com.

During my vacation my blog went down. The situation was made worse by the fact that I was not staying in a place with wi-fi. It took me half a day to get to a location (a library) to get online to figure out what happened. Even worse, the fix was more complicated and time consuming than I wanted to deal with. So I paid someone to fix it for me. But had I had IT support on board already, it would have discovered and fixed the problem leaving me free to enjoy my vacation.

So how do you find great IT support?  IT Support Los Angeles has a great article on “6 Things You Need to Know When Choosing a Partner for IT Support and IT Consulting”. It not only emphasizes the importance of accessible help personnel when needed, but also having your systems monitored and issues resolved remotely when needed.

In fact, I wish I lived in the Los Angeles area as IT consulting Los Angeles has a great maintenance care program that could have saved me time, hassle and worry while I was on vacation. In small business, there is so much focus on marketing, sales and product or service delivery, that often the maintenance of systems is overlooked…until it goes down. Although we know technology can cause problems, we don’t anticipate them or have safe guards for when they go on the fritz. The problem is that when technology does fail, often everything else about the business comes to a stop.

But with a resources such as the Dependable Computer Guys of LA, your IT systems can be monitored and serviced to avoid problems that can put your business on hold. It provides a team of IT people who provide weekly maintenance on servers and systems, remote support for servers and work stations, and they can even assess your company’s need to determine the best IT solutions to maximize your business. It is an ideal resource for small business computer service in the Los Angeles area.

Lifehacker has a great post today on how to go paperless. I’ve been trying to use more and more digital and online resources although I have found that for somethings Iprefer paper. Still going paperless makes organizing, tracking, and storing information much easier. And its better for the environment.