Pinch to play

It's Wednesday, December 22nd. I'm Natalie Morris. And it's time to get loaded. The net is neutral or at least in theory it is. The FCC has officially adopted the controversial net neutrality rules. Of course they're right and ability to do this is still in question. But the rules did passed 3 to 2. I happen to think it is a good start. But it raises a lot more questions that it answers. And we will certainly see those questions play themselves out in 2011. eBay knows that it is too late to shop online so the company launched the site to help you shop offline. eBay's Gift Nearby is a resource that helps you find places to buy the gifts that you want. You enter in your zip code and it will check inventory at local retailers. You can find it at giftsnearby.ebay.com. Microsoft is looking to improve the resolution of Connect so that it can recognize finger gestures. Right now Connect only responds to large body movements but Microsoft hopes to quadruple the resolution so that it can perceive much higher detail in your movement. I guess this is helpful if you're playing someone a game and you want to pinch them. The new Four Square iPhone app lets you post comments and photos to your friends check ins so if someone goes to McDonald's too often you can tell them what you think of that. Or post a photo of their tight jeans from the night before you get the picture. This only works on iPhone for now. But will soon come to android and BlackBerry. And finally who needs to learn to spell these days, the state of Oregon has decided to let students use spell check before submitting their state exams. The rationale is that bad spelling detracts from essay content so with spelling auto-corrected test evaluators will be able to focus on the writing rather than just make snap judgments about bad spellers. Surely this move will not be popular with writing and grammar purists. This is your last episode of the Loaded for the year. Tomorrow we have our annual Blooper Real, that's right have a laugh at my expense. And then we are off until the beginning of next year. Your first new episode of Loaded will be from the 2011 Consumer Electronic show in Las Vegas on Tuesday, January 4th. Look for me there. In the meantime have a wonderful and safe holiday. Thank you for sticking with me this year. I really appreciate you more than you know. I will see you in 2011 in Vegas. I'm Natalie Morris for cnet.com. And you just been Loaded.