Internet Computer Network

The nation's chief telecommunications regulator on Wednesday reiterated the Obama administration's call for rules to ensure the free flow of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the data traveled over wired Internet connections or over wireless cellular networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, in a speech to wireless-industry executives attending the CTIA conference here, said the administration's goal in creating rules would be to eliminate "confusion" over the nation's so-called net neutrality policy, which has existed as a guideline rather than a mandate.

More times than he can count, Gregory Day has been asked where guests of Shutters on the Beach can buy the rolling shutter doors that inspire his Santa Monica hotel's name. "I must get 10 requests a week for all kinds of things," says Day, general manager of the $500-a-night hotel. "They want to know where they can get our light fixtures, the hotel's rental bicycles, the uniforms the staff wears."

Call it the anti-Hulu. Media giants Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. are expected to announce this morning they are teaming up on a new venture that would make it harder for people to watch TV shows online for free. Motivating the two companies is the emergence of online video as an alternative to TV. Hulu, the video website owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and soon, the Walt Disney Co., has become an overnight sensation with its plentiful supply of TV shows for free.

The post office doesn't deliver mail to Steven Stark's Santa Maria home anymore. It's not that Stark, the 36-year-old owner of an Internet company, is unpopular. He just decided that he'd rather deal with all of his correspondence online. Millions of Americans receive online versions of their bills and bank statements. But Stark is one of tens of thousands who have decided they don't need any physical mail, be it love letters or advertising come-ons.

A Missouri woman is accused of cyber-bullying for allegedly posting photos and personal information of a teenage girl on the "casual encounters" section of Craigslist after an Internet argument. Prosecutors said Elizabeth A. Thrasher put the 17-year-old's picture, e-mail address and cellphone number on the website in a posting that suggested the girl was seeking a sexual encounter. St. Charles County police said the victim was the daughter of Thrasher's ex-husband's girlfriend.

Plucking the already tense string that binds new media and old, the Associated Press announced an initiative Monday to protect online versions of its news content from what it called "misappropriation" by a variety of online news outlets. At its annual meeting in San Diego, AP Chairman Dean Singleton said the news syndicate would pursue "legal and legislative remedies" against entities that it believes are unfairly borrowing its content.

Could this be the first Twitter baby? Twitter Chief Executive Evan Williams and his wife, Sara Williams, just had their first baby, an event shared with more than 16,000 of her Twitter followers from the time her water broke to baby's first diaper. The wildly popular micro-blogging website allows people to send out messages, each at a maximum of 140 characters -- about the length of a major contraction. But through it all, she kept up the tweeting. It started Monday at 8:46 p.m. when she messaged: "Dear Twitter, My water broke.

China has moved to restrict videos online, allowing only state-controlled sites to post any -- including ones shared by users -- and requiring Internet providers to delete and report certain content. It wasn't immediately clear how the new rules would affect YouTube and other providers that host websites based in other countries that are accessible from China. A spokesman for YouTube, based in San Bruno, Calif.

Few online entertainment ventures today make money. Yet that has not deterred striking Hollywood writers, eager to bypass the studio system, from forming start-ups to distribute their work on the Web. At least three start-ups, each with a different business approach, are unveiling their corporate monikers and the names of their founders as they intensify the search for venture capital and top management. With names such as Hollywood Disrupted and Virtual Artists Inc.

Netflix, seeking not to be bypassed in the transition to digital distribution of movies, removed limits on how many films and TV shows subscribers can watch over the Internet. The move comes as Apple Inc. is set to unveil plans for users to rent major Hollywood movies online through its iTunes Store. Netflix, which pioneered the online movie rental business in 1997, had capped the number of hours available to its 7 million subscribers based on the price of their monthly plan.