IT Buoy

If you’re in the market for a netbook — the gimpy kittens of the laptop jungle — know this first: on the inside, they’re all basically the same. Making the little differences all the more important! And yes, they do add up. For our Battlemodo, we decided to look only at netbooks powered by Intel’s Pine Trail (Atom N450) processor. Netbooks sporting older processors are a bit cheaper, but they’re also a little slower and don’t achieve the same impressive battery life as Pine Trail. And they’ve been reviewed to death elsewhere. Read the rest of this story

With so many e-readers on the market, what should you be looking for? Plus, Sony makes a move into Wii-like technology. Walt Mossberg and Dan Gallagher join Stacey Delo on Digits to discuss. Follow @staceydelo on Twitter.

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Digits Live Show: Seeking the Best E-Reader

Finally, after much advance leakage, the Federal Communications Commission will unveil its National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, March 16. The two key questions about the effort to get the United States up to speed, so to speak, with decent digital access: Will it be toothless or not and will there be any money to pay for it, given the cash-strapped federal government? A possible highlight of the plan concerns whether spectrum should be allocated for a free or inexpensive high-speed wireless service. It was a notion mentioned by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at a meeting in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. This is not an idea that telecom providers have warmed to in the past, of course, since they so enjoy sticking it to consumers with spotty service and high prices. And if the report proposes the restoration of some regulations lifted in the previous Republican administration, you can be sure the Prada-wearing political lobbyist brigade will be at the ready. What the FCC opus will surely point out is the obvious: The U.S. needs high-speed access to improve dramatically across the nation, especially for poorer citizens and in rural areas

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If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be the National Broadband Plan–If Your Connection Isn’t Too Slow, You Can Tune In Online

The Internet has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 — but should it be? AFP/Getty Images An Internet sign outside a shop in Paris The nomination was proposed by the Italian version of technology magazine Wired and has so far been endorsed by 11 people including 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop Per Child. Backers of the Internet’s candidacy for the prize cite its achievements in bridging differences and promoting dialogue among different nations. On the promotional site for the Internet’s campaign, called Internet for Peace , supporters contend that the Internet “is much more than a network of computers; it is an endless Web of people.” But critics question whether the Internet has actually brought people closer — and whether the Internet as a tool is even eligible for the nomination. The Guardian’s Bobbie Johnson argued that the Internet may have created more rifts among people than consensus because of the wide range of opinions that users post and exchange on it every day. But he concluded that if President Barack Obama managed to win the prize “without doing anything,” then the Internet could win too. The CNN SciTechBlog is one of many posing a legitimate question: Who would accept the prize if the Internet happened to be the winner? Suggestions include LOLcats and Al Gore.

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The Internet: a Candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize

Microsoft bigwig Bill Gates got hip-checked off the top perch as the richest man in the world by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim (pictured here), on the annual Forbes list of the world’s Richie Riches. Slim came to the rescue of the New York Times (NYT) a year ago, forking over $250 million to help the cash-strapped media company. Often in the No. 1 spot, Gates actually got shoved off in 2008 by megainvestor Warren Buffett (now No. 3), with whom he is good friends. Gates returned to the top rank in 2009, and now Slim–a telecom-and-more tycoon–has surpassed Gates’s net worth of $53 billion slightly with a $53.5 billion kitty. Here are some of the other U.S. tech dudes–mostly based in Silicon Valley–on the list, in the Top 100: No.

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Rich Dude Who Backed New York Times Bumps Tech’s Gates as World’s Wealthiest Man