Time and time again, we’re warned of the importance of having strong, secure online passwords. Phishing scams — where legitimate looking e-mails and websites try to trick you into entering in your sensitive login information to a bank site, e-mail host or social network — are bad enough when a scammer is able to compromise your account, but the result can be many times worse if you use that same password for a number of online accounts.

Likewise, when crackers breach servers for various web services and expose the user information to other ne’er-do-wells, your accounts could be at the fate of many shady characters.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to use strong, secure and unique passwords for each of your online accounts. Of course, that sounds great in theory, but the main reason we often reuse the same password or passphrase is because trying to remember 50 different logins, each with various alphanumeric strings, is just not realistic.

Fortunately, there are some great tools and services available to users to not only keep your passwords secure, but to also make them accessible and usable from multiple computers or web browsers. Here are five of my favorites.

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1. 1Password ()

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1Password from Agile Web Solutions is my favorite way to manage, create and securely access my passwords from a Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android () device. The program is $39.95 (a family license for 5 users is available for $59.95) but you can install it on as many of your own computers as you want. It’s a great way to create and fill-in passwords across the web.

The application has plugins for all the major web browsers — Safari (), Firefox () and Chrome (), and you can also pull up your passwords from the application itself. The app works like this:

When you’re on a website and you create a new account, 1Password will prompt you to save that account to its database. In the future, rather than having to type it in manually or rely on your browser’s built-in manager, you can just use 1Password to automatically fill in your username and password data.

Even better, 1Password includes a truly fantastic password generator that lets you create robust passwords of a length that you choose. You can generate a password for an account and then automatically save it.

1Password saves all of your passwords and login information into its own secure database that is stored on your computer, but where 1Password really shines is with its ability to sync with Dropbox (). Dropbox is a free service that lets you keep a cloud copy of anything within the Dropbox folder on your desktop. That folder is then accessible across computers and devices. Any change to that folder is synced across every connected computer. 1Password can use Dropbox to store its secure database, which means that if you use multiple Macs or want to have constant syncing on the iPhone, iPad or Android, you can.

1Password has a beta version of its app available for Windows. Like the Mac app, the Windows () version can connect to a Dropbox account and sync its database with other platforms.

1Password can even store other form information like credit cards, address information, server logins for your website and software serial numbers.

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2. LastPass

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LastPass () is a very popular cross-platform password manager that stores all of its data in the cloud. It works on Windows and Mac and in every major web browser. Like 1Password, LastPass can automatically save your logins, help you generate safe and secure passwords and automatically fill in your passwords when you visit a site.

The difference is that instead of storing its database on your computer or in Dropbox, it’s all stored on LastPass’s servers. LastPass actually has a really robust set of security around your data and if its center is compromised, your data still can’t be accessed.

LastPass is free to use but for $12 a year, you can gain access to LastPass’s many mobile apps (including iPhone, BlackBerry and Android) and gain access to priority support. It also means you get to skip any advertisements.

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3. KeePass and KeePassX

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KeePass and KeePassX () (which is KeePass but for Mac or Linux ()) is a free, open-source password manager. It works very much like 1Password, in that the database is stored on your local computer. Like 1Password, you can use Dropbox to keep KeePass synced across machines and profiles.

KeePass can run off a USB drive, which makes it a great choice for users who frequently work on different machines but don’t want to leave any of their personal data on those machines.

KeePass isn’t as user-friendly as LastPass or 1Password, but its dedicated userbase loves it because it can be extended and used in a variety of ways. Plus, it’s free.

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4. RoboForm

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RoboForm is very similar to 1Password, but it’s just for Windows users. It works with Internet Explorer (), Firefox, Google Chrome () and with Safari and Opera () via a bookmarklet.

RoboForm also has mobile apps for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian. Like KeePass, you can even run it off of a USB drive, which is great for users who want a way to keep their passwords with them and use RoboForm on various computers they use, but don’t want to have to install a program on each of those computers.

You can also use RoboForm with Dropbox, which makes using it across machines that much easier. RoboForm is $29.95 for a single-user/computer license and you can get RoboForm with two computer licenses for $39.95.

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5. Firefox Sync

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Formerly known as Mozilla Weave, Firefox Sync is a plugin for Firefox 3.5/3.6 that will also be an integrated feature in the upcoming Firefox 4. Firefox Sync is a pretty cool concept and it takes a slightly different approach to password management and syncing from the other tools in this list.

Firefox Sync securely syncs and protects your passwords, bookmarks and browser tabs (you can choose to sync all or none of these items). When you login to another computer with Firefox on it, you can just login to Sync and have access to your existing data and even pull up tabs that are open on your other computer. When you log out, all of that information disappears.

Sync also has iPhone and Android apps so you can bring your tabs over to those mobile devices. The upcoming Firefox Mobile for MeeGo and Android will let you access your passwords securely and remotely as well.

By being built into the browser, Sync is a great way for Firefox users to keep track of their passwords. Because it is part of Firefox, Firefox Sync is really designed for people who use Firefox as their primary web browser. If you use Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Safari, you’ll want to look at the other options listed above.

Do you use a password manager or syncing tool? Let us know in the comments and also share any of your best password tips.

Update: Several readers in the comments mentioned Passpack, a tool that’s really great for sharing and keeping track of passwords for teams and groups.

Want to know what’s happening anywhere in the world rightnow? Twitter is where it’s at. Want to know what’s beenhappening over time and in the context of other events? That’s where it gets a little more complicated.

Fortunately, Twitter’s open API means that Trending Topicsaren’t just for the network’s homepage. Developers can tap in and display data about popular tweets, terms, and URLs that allow us to compare and track trends over time and find out what’s hot or newsworthy beyond that simple top ten list.

Whether you’re tracking your brand, optimizing your content, or just plain curious about the way information is virally shared, you’ll want to check out these five web-based tools for keeping tabs on Twitter trends.

1. Trendistic

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Trendistic (formerly Twist) is a go-to utility for getting granular Twitter stats on any topic. Search for your term to generate a line graph that’s scalable over the day, week, and month. You can also see data spread over 90 and 180 days, but you’ll need to sign in with your Twitter account.

No matter the time scale you’re viewing, the stats are broken up hour-by-hour, showing the macro and micro trend at once. Drag your mouse over a section of the time line to zoom in and see exaclty which hour of the the day your term spiked or fell.

Searching for the phrase “World Cup” shows a healthy rumbling throughout May and June (around .10% of all tweets), and a huge spike on June 11th when the games kicked off, peaking at 2.41%.

While a term like this is somewhat predictable, it illustrates the power of a tool like Trendistic for measuring the hourly volume of any topic in the Twitterverse.

2. Twopular

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The Twopular home page offers up 15 to 20 of the most tweeted topics within the last two hours, eight hours, week, month, and ever since the site began aggregating data in December of 2008. If you’re looking to see what’s on top within a given time frame, throw a bookmark here.

But that’s not all that Twopular offers. What makes the site extremely useful for trend trackers is the unassuming “compare” link at the top of the page. Hop in there to see a dynamic line graph that compares up to 10 trends. It will start you off with the most popular topics, but you can add any 10 comma-separated items.

Compare the chatter about seven leading tech companies, or three competing television shows over any length of time, and zoom in on the data down to the minute, if needed. The versatility and simplicity of this comparison tool makes it a great way to quickly reference Twitter trend data.

3. Tweetvolume

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Line graphs not your thing? Do you prefer to visualize your data in plush, colorful bars?

Look no further than Tweetvolume, a super-simple tool for trend comparison over the day, week, and year.

It’s not nearly as granular as the tools mentioned above, but it’s a quick and dirty way to glean “all time” stats.

Say you want compare the popularity of three topics: Justin Bieber, World Cup, and Chicken. Pop them into the topic fields and hit “OK GO!” to generate a graph. Click the time frame buttons on the left to adjust.

As you might suspect, “World Cup” has been neck and neck with “Justin Bieber” over the last day and week, but a year-long analysis shows the boy wonder is far more popular with tweeters than the world’s biggest tournament. “Chicken,” while hardly competitive on a short term basis comes out way ahead when you look at the total tweets aggregated since the site launched in 2007. As we well know, tweeters enjoy talking about their food du jour.

4. PicFog

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As the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand tweets.” If you’re looking for the visuals connected to top Twitter trends (or any trend, for that matter), check out PicFog. It aggregates the photos shared on Twitter via popular sites like TwitPic, yfrog, TweetPhoto, and Twitgoo. The home page will send a flood of photos related to trending topics, but you can search for any phrase or hashtag to kick off a stream of relevant images.

The tool is a comprehensive way to tap the visual sharing power of Twitter around trends relevent to your interest or industry. The site is also popular with journalists looking for real-time images of breaking news events.

5. bitly.tv

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Want to know which videos are being passed around the Twitterverse right now? Popular URL shortener and social data hub bit.ly launched their video aggregation site about six months ago.

There’s no trend comparison data or search available here. Bitly.tv simply tells you what videos are being shared and the volume of sharing (through bit.ly) on Twitter. It provides a fluid interface for browsing and viewing them right on-site. You can page through the videos in real-time, or adjust the slider to see what’s been popular today, what people were tweeting about yesterday, and go back through up to seven days of video trends.

The results you see on Bitly.tv are not chosen or ranked by overall tweet volume, but rather by a proprietary algorithm that bit.ly calls “Bitrank.” It measures “retweets and other social gestures, as well as the number of times other bit.ly users have shortened and shared the same video,” according to the site’s description.

While bitly.tv may not be useful for gathering stats on Twitter trends, it’s a great discovery engine for video enthusiasts, and a window into the trends of Twitter’s visual psyche.