A new search engine

Cuil.com (pronounced "cool").  And here's a good reason to use it (or StartPage) instead of Google:  http://newstrust.net/stories/2685319/toolbar?ref=hp

Private surfing

by Don

I've mentioned startpage before, but I found out that if you go to https://startpage.com/ (note the s after http, which means it's a secure connection, like they use for credit card transactions) it hides your searches even from your internet service provider (ISP). And of course if you install the proxy toolbar, with every search you can click on Proxy with every search to have it bring up the page so that even the page you're looking at can't log your IP address.

Free online storage

This could come in VERY handy! I very reluctantly plug anything Microsoft does, but this is a great service. It's called SkyDrive. Free 25 gigabytes worth of storage. The only thing required is that you create an account. You don't even have to create a Hotmail or MSN account. I used my gmail account.  It's not the same or as good as online backup, but, hey, 25 gig!  And if this is all you have as a backup, you'll thank me if/when your hard drive crashes.  The only question is, do you trust Microsoft with your personal documents?

Here's the link: http://windowslive.com/online/skydrive

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Your outgoing mail server

Hopefully yours is listed here, anyway.  :)

http://www.amailsender.com/support/smtpserver/

Video download sites

A couple of useful sites here for downloading videos for later viewing.  I know I often want to watch a video later, not right then and there.  Anyway, here are a couple of links:

http://www.splandoo.com/

http://www.videosnag.com/

There are probably a hundred others.  :)

In a similar vein, here are a couple of online graphics editing sites:

http://friendsnews.com/wordpress/online-editing-sites

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Software updater

CNET has created a fantastic new service called Tech Tracker that I wish I'd come up with. It tracks and keeps up to date all of the software on your computer!  Mac or Windows!  The only catch is that you have to create an account on their site and give them your email address. Hopefully it's worth it. Here's the link:

http://www.cnet.com/techtracker

One thing it got wrong, I just noticed, was that it thought I had Office 2007 installed.  It must have found remnants of a trial installation that has long ago expired.  Anyway, otherwise it looks very useful.

UPDATE:  It doesn't really keep anything up to date, it simply tells you what's out of date, leaving you to do the update yourself.  At least they give you the link.