Windows only: Create, save and play back YouTube playlists (they're even saved in classic Winamp M3U format) in your Firefox sidebar with Windows-only extension YouPlayer. After you install the extension, just open your YouPlayer sidebar to get started. From YouTube, you can drag and drop any video url from YouTube (like the search results page) and it's instantly added to your playlist. Of course YouTube has got its own built-in playlist feature, but with the YouPlayer extension it's easy to search YouTube and build playlists on-the-fly while videos are playing in the sidebar—making this ideal for building music playlists from YouTube. YouPlayer is free to download, currently Windows-only.

Anyone paying attention out there in the productoblogosphere knows that every week, there's a new web application that helps you keep your to-do list. But which ones are you actually using to, you know, actually do things? After the jump, cast your vote for your favourite web-based to-do manager.

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Windows only: Clean up and organise your Windows Start menu with free, open source application SMOz (Start Menu Organizer). With SMOz you can arrange your Start menu content by category through a simple, Windows Explorer-like interface. If you're not sure where to get started, try using one of the automated templates, which will move recognised applications (like iTunes) into pre-defined categories (like Multimedia). Granted, fewer and fewer of us still rely on the Start menu since the proliferation of application launchers like Launchy, but if you still prefer the old point and click of the Start menu, SMOz is an excellent tool to clean up the mess. SMOz is a free application, Windows only.

If you've ever scratched your head at dress code jargon for interviews or business meetings and still don't know the difference between "business casual" and "semi-formal," worry no longer: web site Dress Code Guide recommends all the appropriate articles of clothing for different situations. For example, if you're a male and need to know what counts as "business casual" garb, the site suggests a collared shirt with an optional jacket or tie, high quality pants and dark leather shoes. The guide suggests women wear pressed white blouses, knee-length skirts or slacks and closed-toe shoes (does this seem a touch archaic?). Dress codes can be difficult to nail down since they're ultimately very subjective, so share your interpretations of the casual to formal gamut in the comments.

When negotiating your fee for a job with a potential business client, it can be tricky to come up with a reasonable estimate. Web Worker Daily suggests that you estimate your numbers from small to large:

Estimate in inch-pebbles, not milestones. When you're faced with a large piece of work to estimate, don't try to come up with a single number to cover the entire job all at once. Break it down into pieces, and then break those pieces down into pieces until the pieces are small enough that you can see how you would do each one and put a number on them.

If you regularly estimate your costs for a potential job, please share your best tips for doing so in the comments.

You can head down to your local stereo store and get fleeced for about $150 (or more) to buy a good pair of noise reduction headphones; or you can watch this video demonstration from Metacafe on how to hack your very own noise reducing headphone set for around $20. You can find the headphones that the video talks about at any home improvement store—all together, this simple DIY project takes about five minutes (not counting your visit to the store). Definitely worth a try, especially since these things are so dang expensive.

You might be worried about your boss reading your email (it happens). You can't necessarily stop this practice, but you can at least prevent Big Brother from accessing the links that you include in your email by using HideLinks. HideLinks is a free service that operates much like TinyURL in that it shortens long internet addresses; however, it goes one step farther and lets you password-protect links as well. Of course, you'll have to figure out a way to get the password to your email friend—obviously, including it in the body of your encrypted super email sort of defeats the whole purpose.

This week's best posts include:

• Useful Command Line Tricks for Mac Users"If you've never launched the Terminal, you're missing out on a plethora of Unix tools that offer more control and options than any dialog box possibly could."
• Soup Up Your Xbox Media Center"The Xbox Media Center software has a bunch of configurable options, scripts and hooks into online services that can complete your XBMC experience."
• One OpenID to Rule Them All...or Not?"Decentralised online identification system OpenID can log you into thousands of social networking sites (and counting) using a single username and password."

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The CyberNet weblog details a reliable Windows standard: How to map an FTP drive in Windows Explorer using the Map Network Drive dialog. It's a very simple process provided you've already either got a hosted FTP server or set one up yourself, and when you're finished you'll be able to access your remote FTP server like you're browsing any other drive on your computer. The one thing you won't get is the ability to mount the FTP site with a drive letter that shows up in My Computer, so if you need that for some reason you might want to try out NetDrive instead. If not, this is a very simple, useful solution.

Learn to accept criticism—no matter how harsh—with aplomb by following tips from weblog Zen Habits. For example:

Thank the CriticEven if someone is harsh and rude, thank them. They might have been having a bad day, or maybe they're just a negative person in general. But even so, your attitude of gratitude will probably catch them off-guard.

I don't know how many times I've fielded extremely negative criticisms sent to the Lifehacker inbox with a "Thank you" and then received an apology. Of course, not all criticism is unfounded, and the post discusses how to handle the ego blow that comes with a critique and how to work toward improving where the criticism is valid. Let's hear how you handle criticism in the comments. Photo by Zara-Jay.