We've all experienced that sinking feeling when you can't find your cell; it's more than just a communication device these days. It's a device that holds a lot of personal information, especially if you have loaded up on banking, shopping, and instant purchase apps. Don't let your cell go unprotected this Spring (or ever again) — password-protect your home screen so hackers can't access your private info if your phone is lost or stolen. Find out how below.

• For iPhone: from the home screen, select Settings > General > Passcode Lock
• For Android: from the home screen, choose Settings > Security > Screen Lock and set an alphanumeric password for your home screen
• For BlackBerry: from the home screen, select Options > Security Options > General Settings > Password > Enabled

We are excited to announce our next One of a Kind series starring designer and Milly founder Michelle Smith! Michelle has dressed everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Victoria Beckham to Beyoncé in the iconic brand known for its exquisite colors and prints, and now she wants to style you! We are giving away a trip to NYC, where you'll get one-on-one fashion advice from the designer and come away with a one-of-a-kind look courtesy of Michelle herself. Entering is simple; click here and describe your favorite outfit and why it showcases your one-of-a-kind style. Good luck!

These days, you live your life online. With digital profiles ranging from banking to social networking, keeping your accounts safe should be of the utmost importance. So why are you still using a lame password that any hacker (or creative thinker) could compromise? Changing your passwords on a regular basis and using unique phrases with a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols for every website is ideal. I know you're thinking that you'll never remember all those different passwords, but creating hacker-proof passwords is easier than you think. Check out the quick tutorial below and set a reminder to change your passwords again in three months!

1. Choose a phrase — This one time at band camp
2. Change words to numbers — This 1 time at band camp
3. Pick first letter of each word or number — T1TABC
4. Add special characters — T1T@BC
5. Customize by adding a suffix for each site you register with — (example: for Amazon) T1T@BCAMA

For much of the country, Spring isn't quite here yet, but that extreme weather has an upside: more time to practice the art of photography in the snow. Cameras aren't great at capturing the bright whites of a day spent on the slopes or making snowmen in the backyard, but as I learned during a Sony-sponsored photography event in Park City, UT (a city that knows its snow as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics), taking a colorful picture in freshly fallen snow doesn't require years of professional experience.

Make the most of the season's final flurries with simple tips on taking a great snow shot. And, in freezing weather, don't forget to treat cameras and gadgets with extra care.

• Exposure Compensation — The monotone white of snow actually underexposes, typically as gray or blue. This can be fixed by increasing the exposure, which on most cameras is denoted by a dial with a + / - symbol. From a neutral 0, boost the number to between +1 to +2 stops. You'll now see a change from a grayish scene to a crisper white wonderland.
• White balance —While the exposure trick will go far in bringing up the whites in your picture, you may also want to adjust the white balance. Switching to your camera's cloudy or snowy shooting scene can help to decrease the blues.
• Flash — We tend to think of flash as a nighttime-only tool. But with the sun's and clouds' reflections off the snow, a human subject can appear shrouded in shadow. Turn the flash on to make subjects as bright as their surroundings.

Want to share your snow photography? Upload it to Instagram and share with us using the #CoolCapture hashtag.

Hassling friends to chip in on a surprise party or getting roommates to pay the utilities bill can be such a struggle. Stop splitting hairs with debtors by splitting the bill with group texting app GroupMe, which introduced an in-app money collection feature during this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX.

GroupMe's payment platform is easy and fast, but what makes it different from other money-collecting methods is digital peer pressure: when someone chips in, everyone on the group text gets notified.

The texting app's latest update, version 4.1 for iPhone and Android (free), includes the new feature, called Split. Users can now attach a "split" to their texts, just as they would add a photo or location.

To create a split, GroupMe texters will need the update, but anyone can pay, even without the app. The purchaser inputs an amount to be paid per person or the total bill, and the app creates a custom link that can be accessed by anyone with an Internet connection and a credit card. Cards won't be charged until the purchaser is ready to collect the money, which will then be deposited into a bank account.

Convenience, of course, costs money: split contributors will pay four percent plus $1 per transaction. But in honor of SXSW, GroupMe is waiving the charge and offering Split transactions for free until the end of the festival, 11:59 p.m. CDT on March 12.

• Why the world's most advanced robot is going to destroy us all — Cracked
• Meet your pocket-size personal trainer — Brit + Co.
• Tablets now eclipse smartphones in web use — ReadWrite
• The state of the Internet as told with cats — BuzzFeed
• The new SimCity isn't going so well — HuffPost Tech
• Sheryl Sandberg has Marissa Mayer's back — Newser
• Watch the Wreck-It Ralph mockumentary — /Film
• Is Minecraft the ultimate educational tool? — Geekosystem