How To

Editors' note, August 14, 2012: Sharon Vaknin just posted about Google's Account Chooser update that makes this even easier. They're still rolling it out, but it's easy to opt in to the service. Check it out!

Maybe we want to keep our work and social lives separate. Maybe we want to maintain multiple online identities (for perfectly legitimate reasons). Maybe we just like to confuse our friends.

There are plenty of reasons to keep multiple Gmail accounts, but until quite recently, our only option to keep them open simultaneously was to keep them in separate … Read more

If you're an Android Honeycomb tablet owner, you might be a little bit jealous about the official Facebook iPad app that was released a few days ago. There's no reason to feel like a second-class citizen, though. Here are three better ways to use Facebook on your Android tablet:

1. FriendCaster FriendCaster is an ad-supported app with a lot of features, including support for Pages and Check-Ins. The best part is, it's optimized for Android tablets. The Pro version removes ads and costs $4.99. Both the free and paid versions are available in the Android Market.… Read more

After much delay, Facebook finally rolled out a native app for the iPad, pleasing those who, until now, have relied on third-party apps and the regular Web site for Facebook stalking.

Because of the anticipation (and endless rumors) about the iPad app release, many people missed another exciting piece of news: Facebook also implemented a new mobile Web site for phones, which boasts a very attractive, easy-to-navigate HTML5 interface.

In proper fashion, Facebook didn't make the new HTML5 web app available for the iPad, leaving users to the bulky desktop site while browsing in Safari. However, with this trick, … Read more

Kids aren't always the best judges of what's best for them. Of course, that's true for all of us, but parents still need to watch out for their children until they leave home (or stop asking for money). Online hazards include scams, porn, malware, predators, bullies, and more.

While there's no perfect way to protect your children without falling off the grid entirely, there are still some tools that can help considerably. Windows Live Family Safety can help you watch what your kids are doing on the computer and lets you nip problems in the bud. … Read more

Members of the popular photo-sharing app Instagram are finding unique and creative ways to use their retro photos outside of the app. Casetagram is the latest to come along and provide another outlet for budding photographers to share their work.

Casetagram allows you to create a custom iPhone case, displaying your own personal Instagram photos. … Read more

As I sorted through several dozen newly arrived e-mails this morning I noticed one from "Provider Inc." with "Order Sales Order" in the subject line. "Damn phishers," I thought as I prepared to send the message to the digital Dumpster.

On second thought, I wondered what would make someone fall for a message that appeared to me like an obvious phishing attempt. Well, people respond to sales receipts even if they haven't bought anything online recently--nobody wants to be charged for something they didn't buy.

So "Sales Order" was the … Read more

One of the great things about the Chrome browser is the ability to customize its appearance with the use of themes. The Chrome Web Store has a decent selection of themes to choose from, but if you're not thrilled with the premade themes, you can create your own. Here's how: … Read more

Flickr recently released some handy tools like Photo Session and an Android app for their photo service, but they're geared toward the Web and smartphone users. If you love taking photos that require uploading to your computer, chances are you don't want to spend hours uploading them individually to your Flickr account for sharing.

Begin by downloading and installing theGood.uploadr. This is an Adobe Air app, so if you don't have that installed, you will need to download and install that as well. On your first run, you'll be … Read more

Do you check your Google Reader feeds every 5 minutes? If you want to save a little time,  check your unread Google Reader items, right from the Chome toolbar. Here's how:

Download and install the Chrome browser extension called, Google Reader Notifier (by Google). Once installed, you'll notice a new Notifier button next to your other extension buttons. If you have unread items, it will display the number of unread items on the button itself.

To choose how often Notifier checks for unread items, right-click on the Notifier button and select Options. You can then choose update … Read more