Networking

There has been a lot of debate in Washington over something called network neutrality on the Internet over the past year.  But few people outside the technology and telecommunications business have been paying much attention, or even understand what the debate is all about.  Now Cablevision customers are getting a good demonstration of what network neutrality is intended to prevent.

Yesterday, I started testing Clear's WiMAX home broadband service as a replacement for our cable modem for Internet access.  Today, I took the show on the road with Clear's mobile service, which I purchased bundled with the home service.  With a USB device that looks like some sort of alien growth coming out of my netbook, I set out to see exactly how mobile and how fast Clear is.

The team behind the Twitter "micro-blogging" service is redesigning its website. The brand new design will make Twitter easier to use, flashier, and a lot more like Facebook. And maybe it will finally find a place in the online lives of those of us who've been reluctant to jump into the tweet-storm.

One of the things that's unattractive about those cool smart phones is that they usually come with some substantial strings attached—cell phone contracts that can tie you to your provider for a long, long time.