A laptop bag might not be as romantic as a bouquet of roses, but this is one modern accessory that both men and women can appreciate. The difference between a well-designed laptop bag--with quality stitching, comfortable straps, and lots of organization pockets--and a cheap one is huge. (So huge you feel the difference in your shoulders and your arms.) This Valentine's Day, consider giving someone special a bag to carry his or her laptop, phone, documents, and other everyday objects in style.

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This cheap app lets you use your iPhone as a modem for your laptop for the one-time fee of $1.99, no monthly charges. You can grab QuasiDisk on iTunes now, but who knows for how long, as tethering apps have had a history of being pulled by Apple. The folks at TheNextWeb report it works with a fair amount of tweaking. So download it while you can.

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Many smartphone apps are data hogs. News and weather apps like to update in the background constantly. Social media apps have a real internet addiction. The problem is more wireless plans are counting every little bit. If you're on a prepaid plan, especially, you'll want to monitor your mobile data usage, but there's also a neat trick that a reader emailed in which will stop your apps from draining your mobile data minutes altogether. It can come in handy if you travel internationally and want to avoid hefty data roaming charges.

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It was a historic, very political week on the web, with Wednesday's largest online protest in history to stop SOPA and PIPA and then on Thursday the Department of Justice shut down file sharing and online hosting service Megaupload and arrested seven employees of the company, also seizing several assets. Then hacking group went on a tear attacking several sites including the DoJ's, Universal Music Group, and the Recording Industry Association of America. So, some thoughts.

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AT&T's new data plans, rolling out on Sunday, give wireless subscribers more bandwidth at a lower cost per GB, but it's also a forced higher bill for new customers.

Current subscribers can keep their current plans if they don't don't want to change. Those options are now $15 per month for 200MB of data or $25 per month for 2GB of data.

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Data roaming rates are 500 to 1000 times more expensive than domestic rates, according to the European Commission (says Wikipedia), and after taking a look at the data roaming fees of the major US wireless carriers, I'm not really surprised that international data roaming is notorious for drawing incredibly high costs. I've previously noted some strategies for how to avoid data roaming charges and am in the midst of testing a new tip (should be up in the next couple of days) shared by a reader that can help you prevent your apps from trying to access data unless you're on a Wi-Fi network--useful if you're on a prepaid plan too.

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Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)

You probably already know the importance of securing your wireless network with a strong password using WPA2 encryption (WEP is basically useless). A new vulnerability, however, has been discovered that enables a hacker to bypass the WPA password: Using a free, open source utility called Reaver, anyone with just a little time on his or her hands can get into your router if it has Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) enabled, which most routers do.

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Namebench - find the best DNS server increase your web browsing speed

Everyone wants faster Internet speed. Unfortunately, if you just use the default settings from your cable modem, fiber, or DSL provider, you might be missing out on the top speeds you could be getting. Namebench is a free utility that might help you more than double your web browsing speed.

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Don't Break the Chain! A simple goal tracker that can keep you motivated.

It's that time of year again when many of us are thinking about the goals we want to achieve next year and the bad habits we should finally break. Several webapps can help you develop SMART goals, track your progress, and keep you motivated.

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Laptops are one of the most popular holiday gifts. If you got a new one this season, you're probably excited to get it set up and optimized for working and playing on in the future. There are five things I think are essential to do with any new laptop:

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