A few notes about the results before we begin: The SurfSpeed application was designed to measure the real-world speed of your browser—the speed at which you surf the Internet—not the absolute speed of your Internet connection. Most line tests measure speed by sending you large files, and seeing how long it takes you to download them.

SurfSpeed application measures the time it takes your computer to visit several popular Web sites, giving you a real-world measure of your connection speed. As such, that result will differ, in some cases dramatically, from the number quoted by your ISP.

Bandwidth testing sites download a single large file, initiating a single connection. SurfSpeed grabs pages (and page elements) from multiple sites with varying amounts of bandwidth. In addition, just like a real browser, SurfSpeed initiates multiple connections to get all of the page elements. Each connection takes time, and that becomes a part of the SurfSpeed equation.

This behavior gives a unique measurement that more accurately reflects how you spend 90 percent of your time on the Web: surfing or waiting for a page to load.

In other words, this information should serve you as a guideline when you're selecting an ISP but is by no means an absolute rating of speed.

President Bush on Tuesday signed the Child Safe Viewing Act, requiring the Federal Communications Commission to explore the market for technologies that allow parents to censor the programming their children watch.

The new law requires the FCC to issue a notice of inquiry to examine what advanced content-blocking technologies are available for various communication devices and platforms. It also calls for the FCC to consider how to encourage the development and use of such technologies without affecting content providers' pricing or packaging.

The term "advanced blocking technologies" is defined in the law as technology that enables parents to protect their children from "any indecent or objectionable video or audio programming, as determined by such parent, that is transmitted through the use of wire, wireless, or radio communication."

The FCC will have to report its findings to Congress within 270 days.

The bill was introduced last year by Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark. It passed unanimously in the Senate and passed without objection in the House in October.

said by zod5000 :

Vista doesn't really bring anything new to the game. Except overreaching security and transparent windows.