It took a little while for me to get into using Markdown text editors, but once I did I really started to like them. For me it combines the simplicity of Notepad with the formatting options offered by rich text editors. Markdown syntax definitely won't be for everyone, but for some situations that's my go-to method for jotting things down.

There is no shortage of services that want to help you store and share files, and many of them all have the same clunky feel. When I came across Droplr, however, it immediately felt a lot more polished than other services I've used.

If you've worked at a web development company with many clients I'm sure you've had a bunch of different domains for each of the various sites. Creating the DNS entries for each of the different sites can be a pain, and after a while I'm sure you get to the point where trying to cleanup unused DNS entries would be a nightmare.

I have always been a huge fan of using text-based todo lists to help manage the things that I need to get done. The reason I've chosen to use a text-only todo list is the simplicity of being able to update and organize items the way I need to. The free Holly web app is catering heavily to everyone that falls under the same umbrella as me.

I'm always looking for fresh new desktop wallpapers to use on my machine, but it can be a pain to find really good quality ones that fit my taste. I recently signed up for the free Desktoppr service though, and so far I'm extremely impressed with the quality of what's being uploaded.

Wouldn't you like to have a central interface you can use to track the status of the packages you are waiting to get delivered? That's exactly what the free web-based PackageTrackr service was designed for. With it you can enable notifications so that you get an email/SMS/Twitter alert when the package is delivered or when an exception occurs.

Google has so many services out there that many users tend to forget about some of them. A good example of one that falls into that category is Google Moderator, which is a service Google released back in 2008 as a way for users to create a suggestion-focused website.

It's not too often that we write about WordPress extensions, but since I know there are many of you out there running your own WordPress installations I thought I'd give you a heads up about an awesome security-related extension. It is called WordPress File Monitor Plus, and as the name implies it monitors your site for changes in files.

You probably don't give much thought to the apps and services that you've granted access to some of your accounts over the years. If you're anything like me I had dozens of different apps and services I don't even use anymore that still had access to my account.

It's not a lot of fun when you're caught outside in a storm without an umbrella, but the awesome If This Then That (IFTTT) service can be used as an advanced warning system for rain and thunderstorms. For those of you not familiar with IFTTT it's basically a website that is able to tie multiple online services together.

One of the best things about using XBMC as my chosen media center software is the community behind it that develops plugins and software to make it easier to integrate throughout my household.

We've covered a couple of DNS tools in the past, such as the DNS propagation checker, which are useful for anyone that owns a domain. The problem is that you generally have to jump around to a bunch of different sites in order to do simple things like reverse IP lookups, traceroutes, Chinese firewall tests, propagation checks, and more.

Google has long offered an awesome way for Android users to share links from the desktop to a mobile device. The Chrome to Phone extension is something I've wanted for a while on iOS, but I figured Google wasn't going to make an effort to bring it to iOS.

I'm sure you've come across computers that feel like they have an extra slow Internet connection, and so you start digging through a crazy amount of settings trying to figure out what could be the culprit. In the end you're left wondering whether your machine is actually the problem, or whether it has something to do with your ISP.

If you are a WordPress developer or just want to play around with your own local installation there is a free package called Instant WordPress that will get your own site up and running in under a minute.

Want to throw a quick shape collage together using online image sources such as Facebook, Instagram, or a simple Google Image Search? Loupe has to be one of the best tools for doing that. In just a few clicks you can have dozens of images related to any subject pulled in and formed into a variety of shapes.

Earlier this year we wrote about an online syntax highlighter that could take a block of code and format it in a way that makes it easier for people to read.

Have you ever had to switch the DNS on one of your domains and wanted to know if the rest of the world is seeing the change? It's virtually impossible to test the change for every single person that might be making a request for your DNS entry, but with What's My DNS Propagation Checker you can get a pretty good idea of whether the rest of the world is picking up the change.

If you're running a website and are trying to minimize the amount of bandwidth being used then one of the things you might be looking at is compressing the images on the site. It may be worth running some of the key images on your site through the Yahoo! Smush.it tool to see what kind of magic it can work on them.

It's been over four years since we last covered the music streaming service called Songza, and in that time it has been drastically changed over and over again. Back then it tried to leverage the music selection available on YouTube to stream almost any song on demand, but it has since transformed into a playlist-powered free music streaming service.