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In its ongoing quest to give a fair hearing to any and all things broadband-related, the Federal Communications Commission today turned its attention to energy efficiency.

Specifically, the smart grid.

"Smart grid and broadband are first cousins," said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The idea, sensibly enough, is that the same high-speed, ubiquitous connectivity that gives us zippy file downloads and high-resolution streaming video could also link up household appliances and power meters, breathing a form of intelligent management and energy conservation into an electrical grid that proponents remind us would look very familiar to Thomas Edison.

"It is an electricity Internet that we're talking about," Rep. Ed Markey said in introductory remarks at the field hearing the FCC held at M.I.T., the research jewel of Markey's district.

The chief executives of Google and Intel have joined the executive committee of TechNet, a lobbying group representing the technology industry.

TechNet announced the appointments of Google's Eric Schmidt and Intel's Paul Otellini along with word that Rey Ramsey would be taking over as the group's CEO in January.

Ramsey has been serving as chief executive of One Economy, a nonprofit that focuses on delivering technology training and Internet access to low-income people.

In his role at One Economy, Ramsey has figured prominently in the broadband policy discussion, frequently appearing at FCC proceedings and congressional hearings.

Cisco CEO John Chambers, who co-founded TechNet and currently co-chairs the group, called Ramsey's selection "an inspired choice."

Schmidt and Otellini will join tech luminaries such as EMC CEO Joseph Tucci, Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson and Symantec President on CEO Enrique Salem on TechNet's executive committee.

In a town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai Monday morning, President Obama tried to strike a diplomatic tone when asked about his views on China's less-than-stellar record on Internet censorship.

"I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said. "This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions."

The question was submitted, fittingly, through the Internet, as the town hall meeting was also available as a live-streaming Webcast.

In defense of a free and open Internet, Obama referred to his success as a candidate organizing supporters online, and alluded to his support for Net neutrality rules, citing everyone's favorite example of the proverbial garage startup that changed the world.

"If it had not been for the freedom and the openness that the Internet allows, Google wouldn't exist," he said.

Next week is shaping up to be a busy one for the tech industry on the Hill, with at least four hearings slated to examine a variety of issues, some with bills attached, others with legislation still being drafted.

Tuesday morning kicks off the festivities. Then, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is set to consider a bill the Universal Service Reform Act, a measure introduced by Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) that would revamp the fund the FCC administers to subsidize phone service for low-income Americans to include broadband.

Boucher and Terry's bill revisits legislation they had introduced in previous sessions of Congress, and follows a similar USF reform bill authored by Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) earlier this year.

At the same time, and the other side of the Capitol complex, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are set to take up cybersecurity, specifically looking into the terrorist threat. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) is scheduled to chair the panel, which has lined up officials from the Department of Justice, FBI, NSA and Department of Homeland Security to testify.

There's not even an official merger yet, but already an opposition coalition is preparing for a big fight.

Taking aim at the widely anticipated but still-unannounced merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, media-reform group and Washington busybody Free Press today hosted a press call to kick off its preemptive protest against the deal.

"We've never seen this kind of consolidated control over so many platforms," Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver told reporters, referring to the players' leading positions in broadcast and cable TV and the Internet.

Sen. John Kerry is continuing his push to accelerate the adoption of electronic medical records.

The Massachusetts Democrat on Tuesday introduced legislation to spur family doctors and small-scale practitioners to migrate their paper records to digital format, a goal that most everyone agrees would improve care and lower costs, but one that entails a significant initial expense.

"Electronic medical records and prescriptions are the common sense solution to restricting costs, reducing errors and reforming a broken system," Kerry said in a statement. "Doctors don't need convincing -- they've seen the results."

Kerry's bill, the Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act, would make small-scale doctors eligible for grants from the Small Business Administration to move to electronic records.

"This legislation helps small practices acquire the technology that will allow them to be more efficient and to focus on patient care," Kerry said.

For parties concerned with the outcome of the Google Book Search saga, today was supposed to be a big day.

But alas, the high drama that was expected to accompany the release of a revised settlement agreement with authors and publishers will have to wait till the end of the week.

In a letter to the federal judge in New York presiding over the settlement, an attorney for the parties said the new settlement agreement would be delivered on Friday, not today, which had been set as the original (albeit soft) deadline.

Attorney Michael Boni said that the parties had convened multiple meetings with lawyers at the Department of Justice, including one last Friday, and took Judge Denny Chin up on his offer of delaying submission of the update agreement.

A pair of bills that would require businesses to notify consumers in the event of a data breach cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday, moving on to the full Senate for consideration.

The Data Breach Notification Act, sponsored by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), would authorize the attorney general to bring civil actions against firms that failed to notify people whose personal information had been compromised in a breach. It would also extend notification requirements to government agencies.

The more comprehensive Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, introduced by Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and co-sponsored by Utah Republican Orrin Hatch and others, would also set notification requirements, as well as tighten criminal penalties for identity theft and willfully concealing information about a breach.