The creators of new technologies — radio, TV, the Internet — all hold forth their great educational possibilities. And somehow we wind up with “American Idol” and scabrous home videos on YouTube.

Ken Colburn, Data Doctors

Ken Colburn, Data Doctors

Q: I got an e-mail from a company that claims that they found negative comments about my company on some websites and can get them taken off for a fee. Is this just another scam? - Jill

Ken Colburn: By following a few simple rules, an Internet-based transaction can actually be one of the most secure ways to use your credit card.

Q. I no longer have a fax machine and only need to send and receive faxes on occasion. Any suggestions on the cheapest way to send and receive faxes once in a while from home? - Anne

Data Doctors: Q. I no longer have a fax machine and only need to send and receive faxes on occasion. Any suggestions on the cheapest way to send and receive faxes once in a while from home? - Anne

Yavapai Elementary School students have access to technology during the school day. But after the final bell rings, an estimated 92 percent of students can’t log on to the Internet at home.

A $3 million plan to blanket Lompoc, Calif., with a wireless Internet system promised a quantum leap for economic development: The remote community hit hard by cutbacks at nearby Vandenberg Air Force Base would join the 21st century with cheap and plentiful high-speed access.

LOS GATOS, Calif. - Netflix Inc. will start showing movies and TV episodes over the Internet this week, providing its subscribers with more instant gratification as the DVD-by-mail service prepares for a looming technology shift threatening its survival.

A lot of great music was released in the fourth quarter of 2006. But as usual, none of it is being considered for tonight’s Grammy Awards. As a comprehensive overview of the year that was in music, the Grammys always were a little slow to recognize the best music at the height of its relevance.

LONDON - Worldwide sales of music via the Internet and mobile phones hit $1.1 billion last year, triple 2004 sales and accounting for 6 percent of global record company revenues, the industry said.

TUNIS, Tunisia - A summit focusing on narrowing the digital divide between rich and poor residents and countries opened Wednesday with an agreement of sorts on who will maintain ultimate oversight of the Internet and the flow of information, commerce and dissent.

NEW YORK - The dawn of Kevin Federline's hip-hop career has begun, though it remains to be seen if it will last past breakfast. A track by Federline was posted on the Internet by Disco D, the producer of his upcoming album, "The Truth," to be released next year. Though the song has since been taken off Disco D's Web site, it has popped up elsewhere, giving a glimpse of Mr. Britney Spears' rhyming, um, abilities.