Ok, it’s time to have a serious conversation about your computer security. When 6.5 million passwords were hacked at LinkedIn, we all had a wake up call about our passwords and web habits. One of the most common mistakes we make, besides picking passwords that are too easy, is that we use the same password for multiple sites. And if a bad guy has our username and password from one site, he could try the password out on other sites and eventually get to some pretty valuable information.

YUCK!

It’s time to truly take charge of your password and internet security issues. LastPass is a free, cloud-based tool that allows you to create one master password to gain access to all your sites. Further, I love that as soon as you install it, it scrapes all the sites in your browser history to show you just how many you have and how insecure you really are.

I am registered on 121 sites right now, and 81 of those had the same password. Bad, bad nerd! I downloaded LastPass, and I’m slowly working my way through all the sites, changing the passwords and storing them in LastPass, which is accessible in any browser.

It’s a little disconcerting to put everything in LastPass’ hands, but cnet, PCWorld and lifehacker all give it a thumbs up.

My advice: Computer security can’t wait until you have a free afternoon to spare. Make time to make these changes this week so you can rest assured that you’re a little safer online.

Here’s a video overview of LastPass:

Click here to view the embedded video.

LastPass – Password Manager, Form Filler, Password Management.

I created this mockup of a CD for my webinar series in seconds with Online 3DPackage. Just choose a template (such as a book, a box or a CD), and upload your pictures. The site renders your 3D graphic in seconds, and you can download in PNG, JPG or GIF formats. Way cool and free, just like we like it.

Note… the site lets you download the graphics, but they have a lot of unnecessary white space and a watermark. I used Pixlr.com to crop the graphic in seconds.

Watch this 2-minute video for an overview.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Online 3DPackage

I’m excited to announce that my friends at Xobni have made one of my favorite tools even better. Originally an amazing tool for Microsoft Outlook, now Xobni organizes your contacts and more on your smartphones and in Gmail. Here’s an update the company sent me last week:

Not only can you use Xobni with Outlook, but you can also use Xobni with your iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.  Smartr Contacts by Xobni enables you to access all your contacts from any Xobni or Smartr App, when you’re on the go!

With these apps on your phone, you’ll never need to manage your address book again.  Smartr Contacts pulls in all the existing contacts on your phone AND it pulls in information from your email, calendar and social networks. Each contact is not just a name on your phone, but Smartr Contacts imports photos, and recent updates from social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Most importantly, it pulls all the information for a person into one contact–you’ll no longer have six entries for the same person and all these contacts are ranked contacts by those you interact with the most. Each contact profile is complete with all the email addresses and phone numbers for that person and a history of the most recent interactions and emails, and even a list of contacts you share in common.

Lifehacker named Smartr Contacts “The Best Address Book Apps” for both iPhone and Android. 

Click here to get started right away with Smartr Contacts:
Smartr Contacts for iPhone
Smartr Contacts for Android
Smartr Contacts for BlackBerry

Here are some videos if you’d like to see the apps in action:
Smartr Contacts for iPhone

Smartr Contacts for Android

Xobni | Your smarter address book is waiting.

Need a custom cartoon for your marketing? ToonDoo makes it easy — and free! They have hundreds of stock backgrounds, clipart and people, or you can create your own images. My masterpiece (above) took about 45 minutes. Way cool and super fast.

Nerd Life by askbethz – ToonDoo – Worlds fastest way to create cartoons!.

A few years ago I purchased a fairly expensive antique Coca Cola thermometer for my mother for Christmas via Ebay. It looked awesome to me when I wrapped it, and Mom adored it… until she saw that the mercury thermometer was broken, rendering the piece much less valuable.

Too bad WeGoLook.com didn’t exist way back then. For $49, a background-checked “Looker” will go check out any item you need to eyeball before you buy: furniture for your office, a car for your business trips, equipment for your company. They will go see the item (or property), confirm the existence and basic functionality, check out the details that validate your purchase and much more. They even take up to 10 pictures and include them in a report.

In addition, you can purchase add-ons, such as a video, shipping and more. It’s a worthwhile investment when you’re making a big purchase.

If you like this tool, try…

• Zaarly
• Elance

(PS — they’ll also go check out a date if you’re meeting people online — thus eliminating a potential creep factor!)

WeGoLook.com: Onsite Inspection of Auction Items, Autos, Properties, Field Services

Think of Zaarlyas a very organized, moderately safer Craigslist. It allows your neighbors to offer and request go

ods and services with the benefit of a moderated platform and a rating system. Need your house cleaned while you work at home? Post a free request, and within hours you’ll hear from a local provider who can help. Then pay via credit card through the site and get on with the real work at hand.

Not yet available in all US cities.

Platforms:

•  Online
• Apple iOS
• Android

Sites like Zaarly:

·         TaskRabbit:  Find household and office help in your area from providers who have gone through background checks.

Zaarly

Register Now! Top 20 Travel Tools for Nerds on the Go!

$30 registration includes a signed copy of the presenter’s book!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (Pacific Time)

If you travel, there’s no need to juggle printed itineraries, collect business receipts or feel disconnected from the office.

Beth Ziesenis, Your Nerdy Best Friend, will share the Top 20 Tech Travel Tools for Nerds on the Go! This special session will include free and bargain tech tools that help you stay organized, productive and in touch on the road.

BONUS!
Every attendee receives a copy of the presenter’s book, Upgrade to Free: The Best Free and Low-Cost Tools and Apps (rated 5 stars on Amazon.com — a $15 value), plus one lucky attendee will win a one-hour consultation with Beth to discover tech tools specific to his or her organization or lifestyle.

NOTE: Profits from this webinar will be donated to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of the presenter’s running buddy, Rebecca Reza, who lost her life to cancer this winter. Read her story here.

If you’re like me, chances are you have a pile of grocery, pharmacy and other loyalty cards in your wallet, and a couple of peeling, pathetic ones on your key ring. These are the cards you need to scan to receive store discounts and garner loyalty points.

At a recent conference, a fellow app-a-holic turned me on to Key Ring, a handy smartphone app that allows you to enter all your loyalty programs into your phone so you don’t have to carry the physical cards anymore. To enter your cards, just snap a picture of the card’s barcode, and your card is permanently and instantly cataloged in your app.

In addition, the loyalty programs frequently offer other discounts and specials through the app and makes it easier for you to sign up for new cards as well.

Key Ring

Sometimes we need a quick and easy image to illustrate a point. Says-It.com is an image generator that lets you personalize soft drink cans, old 45s, concert tickets and more. Way cool to play with and super easy to use.

Says-It.com.

Vizualize.me is a free site that lets you connect your LinkedIn profile to an online graphic resume. In seconds, you can have a fun, colorful representation of your skills, experience and education, plus a handy list of your recommendations.

Watch the brief video to see how easy it is to make…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Take your job hunting or networking a step further by turning your Vizualize resume into a t-shirt for about thirty bucks. Clever, clever.

vizualize.me.

My experience as a copywriter revealed to me the secret insecurities that many people have about their writing. Incredibly intelligent people with excellent communication skills would cringe when they handed me a first draft of a piece they wanted me to shape.

With visions of former English teachers in their heads, they fretted about grammar, spelling and word choice, forever concerned that they were making the mistakes that they made when they were in school.

Most of the time, they had nothing to worry about, but a clever, anonymous tool can help restore a writer’s confidence, no matter his level.

Just paste text into a text box at www.PaperRater.com and receive instant feedback about spelling, grammar, word choice and more. It’ll even analyze your sentence structure and vocabulary use to give you an overall grade, just like your English teacher used to give.

Designed to help students improve their writing, this tool is completely free and a little addictive. I ran several of my published pieces through the analysis and was surprised by the little errors I had missed.

Oh, and I ran this post through PaperRater — I earned a “B.” Harumph. Paper Rater Blog Analysis.

Paper Rater: Free Online Grammar Checker, Proofreader and More.

1. Send A Tagxedo Heart
   Get creative with a word art graphic from Tagxedo with key words about the one you love.
   
2. Record an Eyejot Email Video
   Eyejot is a super cool site that lets you create quick video messages to send via email.
   
3.  Customize a Candy Heart
   Use the Candy Heart Generator to create your own message on the classic candy heart!
   

Happy New Year!

If you’re like me (and most of the country), you’re probably making promises to yourself that this year you’ll eat less, move more and work more effectively.

Yeah, yeah. We’ve all heard it (and done it) all before. But I just discovered a tool that may help! Experts say it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, and 21habit is a simple tool to help you through it.

You set up a goal to do (or not do) something every day, and every day for 3 weeks you’ll get an email or check in at the website to report on your progress.

A free plan has no real ramifications, but sign up in Committed Mode, and you invest $21 toward your challenge. Every day you succeed, you get a buck back. If you fail (or don’t check in for three days), you lose a buck. Your money will be donated to a list of 21habit charities.

I’m committing to start getting in shape for my marathon (read the very important reason I’m doing it here), so I’ll report back to you in 21 days on my progress!

21habit

This morning I was using StumbleUpon to discover new tools, and I happened upon PhotoFunia. What fun it is! The site has a bunch of backgrounds onto which you can impose your own pictures, making it seem like people are looking at your portrait in a gallery or passing you on a billboard. 

It’s free, of course, and very, very easy to use. This video shows how I created a fun graphic in less than 50 seconds.

Click here to view the embedded video.

PhotoFunia

• Create a simple banner ad
• Write a customized limerick
• Make a tough decision for you
• Tweet your message to thousands of followers
• Record a voice over in a native British accent
• Add music to your video 
• Send your child a personalized letter from Santa Claus
• Create a QR Code
• And on, and on and on… Hilarious and fun!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get the book! Upgrade to Free: The Best Free and Low-Cost Online Tools and Apps is just ten bucks on Amazon.com!

We are looking for a free program like Print Shop.
You know, the old program that would let you make cards, posters, fliers, etc…
Please Help! Thanks, Susan

Happy to help, Susan. Here’s a quick video review of PagePlus, a free alternative to Microsoft Publisher and Print Shop. These types of low-cost desktop publishing tools are great for producing quick brochures, office signs, business cards, etc. Have your own question for Your Nerdy Best Friend? Ask it now!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s an easy, fast way to share a file. Just upload a file, and within seconds you have a link to the online version to share with colleagues. Seconds, I tell you. I just uploaded the latest version of the Quick Reference Guide… feel free to download and share!

Square is a tiny little card reader that slips into the audio port of your Android phone, iPhone or iPad. You set up a free account, get a free reader and can start swiping cards immediately. The system is linked to your bank account, and the money transfers in the next day. They charge no setup or maintenance fees, and take just 2.75% out of every transaction. They’ll even help you calculate and keep track of sales tax.

I’ve been practicing with the reader by charging the price of my book on my husband’s credit card. He doesn’t know it yet, but he is going to have plenty of copies to give away for Christmas.

See the full review here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Minutes.io lets you quickly and easily take live notes of a meeting then distribute them to a group of people with a click of a button.

I love that they don’t make you register for the site even though you have access to the archive.

Oh, and I also love that it’s completely free.

Watch my full review here: YouTube – Minutes.io.

One of my dear friends has cancer and is going through very painful and challenging radiation and chemo. I wanted to raise a little money to help her family, and I discovered ChipIn, a simple little widget that allows you to ask your network to… well… ChipIn!

ChipIn doesn’t charge you anything for the service, but the money is routed through PayPal (you need a free account), and they take out 2.9% plus $.30 per transaction.

ChipIn is great for raising money for friends like Rebecca, but it would also work if you’re asking staffers to pitch in for a Christmas party or the like. It’s  important to note that ChipIn donations are not necessarily tax deductible, unless, I guess, they’ve been set up by the charity.

Wanna see how it works? ChipIn a couple of bucks for Rebecca to find out!

ChipIn.

Enter to win now!

We’re giving away three Advance Reader Copies of Upgrade to Free on Wednesday. Enter to win now!

PS — Did you know Upgrade to Free is available for pre-order at a great price? Love those bargains!

Hi-LARIOUS! I can’t tell you how many times I run around the house looking for my cell phone. Frequently I pick up my husband’s phone and give myself a ring.

This clever, funny, easy tool solves that problem in a flash. Just go to www.icantfindmyphone.com and enter your number. Ring ring! The call comes within seconds, and a friendly robot woman says, “Looks like you found your phone!”

Love it.

I Can’t Find My Phone

We’re giving away 10 copies of the book on Goodreads, complete with a cupcake magnet and other goodies!

Enter to win the chance to be one of the first reviewers: bit.ly/U2Fgoodreadsgive