nets

CNET Tech Voters' Guide 2012: Romney vs. Obama on the issues

Technology topics can mark a rare bipartisan area of political agreement: Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama say they would make cybersecurity a priority, and both like to talk up government funding of basic research.

If you look a bit more closely, however, differences emerge. They're perhaps most marked over federal regulation, where the two major parties have long-standing disagreements, but also exist on topics like WikiLeaks, copyright legislation, and whether to levy a new tax on broadband providers.

Keep reading for CNET's 2012 Tech Voters' Guide, in which we highlight where the four candidates -- we've … Read more

Optimize your Wi-Fi network with NetSpot

While it's easy to understand the benefits of using a Wi-Fi network, it's not always a simple process to get one set up correctly. NetSpot is a tool that aims to help you map and understand your existing network or plan and set up a new network.

The program's professional, easy-to-follow user interface guides you through the survey process. By using sample maps or hand-drawn maps, NetSpot users get visual feedback of their network's signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), with a simple color map. Red is used for the best SNR, and blue for worst. As the publisher … Read more

NetZero subscribers can share free data with Facebook friends

Facebook friends can now share data with one other courtesy of a new promotion from NetZero.

The new 4G Data Share plan lets NetZero subscribers dole out 1GB of data each month to fellow subscribers on Facebook, with up to five friends getting 200MB a piece.

To partake in the promotion, you need to subscribe to any one of NetZero's five 4G mobile broadband plans, starting at 200MB for free and going up to 4GB for $49.95 a month.

You'll also need to buy NetZero's 4G USB stick or its 4G hotspot device. Both items are … Read more

The 404 1,140: Where 99 problems is still a lot of problems (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Artist encourages Apple to "Think Different" with Steve Jobs action figure sculpture.

- Man mistakenly sexts entire contact list, lands in jail.

- Jay-Z helms star-studded Barclays Center opening.

- Today is the 30th anniversary of the first CD sale in Japan...Steve Guttenberg reflects.

- Key set available for $150 on eBay provides an all-access pass to NYC.… Read more

App.net will begin paying out $20K monthly to app developers

App.net, an alternative social network, today rolled out a financial incentive plan to persuade developers to build on apps on its APIs.

Next month, the program will begin distributing $20,000 a month to eligible App.net developers, with payouts to individual developers varying based on user satisfaction with the apps, App.net founder Dalton Caldwell said in a company blog post detailing the program.

"The goal of this program is to financially reward the development of great App.net applications," Caldwell said.

Deciding on a metric to determine which developers deserved the greatest reward for creating &… Read more

AT&T faces Net neutrality complaint for FaceTime over 3G

A trio public interest groups intend to file a formal complaint against telecom giant AT&T over a decision to require a specific wireless data plan to use Apple's FaceTime video chat over its 3G network.

In a notice today, Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute said they intended to file a complaint against the carrier with the Federal Communications Commission asserting that AT&T has violated Net Neutrality with a policy that requires users to be on a specific data plan in order to use Apple's FaceTime video … Read more

Why Net neutrality is incompatible with 'Internet freedom'

commentary These two words -- "Internet freedom" -- are ricocheting around cyberspace almost as fast as neutrons and protons bouncing around inside an atom's nucleus. Well, almost as fast.

Both Republicans and Democrats -- and most everyone else -- proclaim to be in favor of Internet freedom. Here's a Fox News article, "The 2012 Political Tug of War for the Internet," that describes the political effort to capture the "Internet Freedom" flag. The article points out that the Republican Party platform has a plank expressly headed, "Protecting Internet Freedom," and … Read more

AT&T defends FaceTime restrictions amid sharp criticism

In a blog post Wednesday, AT&T defended its new policy of restricting use of Apple's FaceTime app so that only customers on its Mobile Share plans can take advantage of it. But consumer advocates still say AT&T is violating the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet rules.

Last week, AT&T confirmed that it has plans to make the popular video chat app FaceTime, which is preloaded on all iPhone 4 devices and newer iPhones, available for use on its 3G and 4G networks. Previously, the preloaded app worked only on Wi-Fi networks, but … Read more

Five apps for scanning documents on your iPhone

School is back in session, meaning students have folders full of syllabi, schedules, and other paperwork you're likely to reference as the semester goes on. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to carry all of it around with you all the time, without overloading your backpack?

Thanks to a handful of iOS apps, you can scan whatever paper documents you might need easy access to and store them on your iPhone, in the cloud, or on your computer with just a few taps.

I've found five apps that will help you quickly scan and organize documents. … Read more