How important is fast Internet access? Here’s a hint: The number of households with broadband connections nearly doubled in a six-month period, while those using POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) to access the Internet via dialup, dropped. Current estimates say that 9.4 million homes have high-speed access, which includes DSL, cable, and satellite. About 30% are DSL, and 70% cable modem (satellite still too small to matter in these stats). And here’s the kicker: Those with high-speed access are 50% more likely to make purchases online than their counterparts with dialup access.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has approved .biz and .info domain names for implementation. Other new ones that you can reserve include .tv, .cc, and .ws. (Note that these new names can cost more than the traditional .com and .org.) That means registrars may begin making these new names available. The earliest is expected to be available by August. Most registrars are expected to give preference to trademark holders in an attempt to limit cybersquatting. Thus, don’t count on getting ibm.biz, or coke.info, for example.

The FTC has concluded that Amazon and its subsidiary, Alexa, probably made deceptive statements about their privacy policy, but likely won’t be punished because the problem has been addressed. The issue centered around Alexa’s ability to store personal data, and at least one class-action lawsuit had been filed, which was settled while Amazon continued to deny any wrongdoing. Amazon also denied that it deliberately stored such data, but admitted that it could be stored inadvertently. How’s that for doublespeak? Of course, things could change in the future.