Residents devour news, and a busy network of bloggers has sprung up.

ECONOMIST: New Orleans is recovering its energy, but not its people

Perhaps appropriate for a film about Facebook, The Social Network functions as a busy crossroads of cultural referents, many readily recognizable, others unstated but nevertheless present.

FORBES: The Lonely Network

Mobilcom, which charges a flat rate of DM0.19 a minute for long-distance calls in Germany (a third of Deutsche Telekom's peak rate), is so popular that most customers trying to reach its network find only a busy signal.

ECONOMIST: Deutsche Telekom

This allows home network administrators, who are often busy parents, to see and control home Internet usage, even when they are away.

ENGADGET: Insert Coin: Skydog brings cloud-based networking to the home

The opponents each have a presence on a host of digital communities, including streaming music service Spotify, image-sharing network Pinterest and the Facebook-owned picture network Instagram - where Mr Romney has been busy posting pictures of himself at home with his family.

BBC: Barack Obama Facebook campaign sees 'likes' soar

Visa, for example, is busy linking Rwandan shops and cash machines to its global network.

ECONOMIST: Business in Rwanda

The network is able to prioritise traffic, ensuring that guarantees are honoured during busy periods.

ECONOMIST: MONITOR

Fox has been quietly busy over the last few days, unveiling plans for a 24-hour sports network that may be the biggest challenger to ESPN's throne, and adding new features to its mobile apps.

ENGADGET