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There are a lot more clips out there than what turns up using YouTube's keyword-search function. On sites such as Hulu.com, you can watch free TV shows and movies. And "vertical content" Web sites focus on single subjects, whether bird-watching or extreme sports.

Yes indeed. The sticker shock you're experiencing usually does translate to better performance. The priciest TVs are full-HD 1080p (the highest resolution). Less-expensive 720p sets still deliver an outstanding picture, and most high-def TV service is 720p or 1080i, but 1080p is your best bet for watching Blu-ray movies and for smoother up-close viewing. Telltale measurements such as contrast ratio (the range of bright to dark colors — look for at least 3,000:1) and the refresh rate (which reduces motion blur) can also improve demonstrably as the price increases. A 60-hertz refresh rate is common, but 120 hertz provides smoother fast-action rendering for sports.

Yes, and there are lots of ways they can do it. Web pages are a flexible platform for exchanging information, but that also means it can be easy to track what you’re looking at on them. The first method is through third-party content. Say Company A is an advertising or tracking firm. When you visit sites that display A’s ads or use A to track their visitors, A can identify your browser and see what pages you visit on those sites (and more).

Google's index reached a trillion pages last year, but that doesn't mean it (or other large search engines, like Yahoo) will always understand the exact intent of your search and yield results that have the information you really want.

It’s a fine time to ditch paper for good and move to an all e-mail- and SMS-based system. Start with Google’s online calendar (google.com/calendar), which lets you set up multiple alerts for one event—for example, a text message one week before Mother’s Day, then another the day before in case you still managed to put off sending flowers. New event pop up while you’re away from a computer? Add it to GCal from your cellphone by texting the event details to GVENT (48368).

The dreaded lost file syndrome: You know that somewhere on your hard drive, the file you seek is happily sitting, awaiting you. But you just can't find it, and you can't even remember the name of it.

Now what?

It’s easy. If there’s a knee-slapping viral video or an NFL highlight reel you’ve got to own, you can get it with just a little effort. To reduce the risk of legal trouble, don’t distribute it, though; keep it only for your personal use.

To the unconverted, Twitter is just a way to deliver mundane details of your life to many friends at once. The free service(
Twitter.com) is a social-networking site in which you post updates, or “tweets,” to a page where friends who “follow” you can view them. But since it lets users post and receive tweets via text messages, it’s actually a powerful platform for getting things done on the go.

Ah, that sinking feeling: You’ve just left for a business trip when you realize you’ve forgotten the PowerPoint presentation on your PC at home. No matter: With the right tools in hand, you’ll be able to retrieve your file regardless of where you are.

Not necessarily. It’s hard to ignore MS Office, but you don’t need to blow 400 bucks to get your work done. In fact, you don’t need to install any programs at all. Sign up for the free Google Docs (documents.google.com) or Zoho (zoho.com), and you can do everything in a Web browser. The programs look similar to Word, Excel and PowerPoint and offer all the same features (save for a few lesser-used ones like certain spreadsheet formulas). Zoho even kicks in a few extra applets like a Wiki-building tool. Best of all, these applications let you access your files from any computer that’s online.

If you don’t have reliable Internet access or are more comfortable installing programs on your computer, there’s no shortage of competition, either.