A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network not only covers a larger geographic distance, but generally involves leased telecommunication circuits. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are the two most common technologies in use for local area networks. Historical network technologies include ARCNET, Token ring, AppleTalk; the increasing demand and use of computers in universities and research labs in the late 1960s generated the need to provide high-speed interconnections between computer systems. A 1970 report from the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory detailing the growth of their "Octopus" network gave a good indication of the situation. A number of experimental and early commercial LAN technologies were developed in the 1970s. Cambridge Ring was developed at Cambridge University starting in 1974. Ethernet was developed at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1974. ARCNET was developed by Datapoint Corporation in 1976 and announced in 1977.

It had the first commercial installation in December 1977 at Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. The development and proliferation of personal computers using the CP/M operating system in the late 1970s, DOS-based systems starting in 1981, meant that many sites grew to dozens or hundreds of computers; the initial driving force for networking was to share storage and printers, both of which were expensive at the time. There was much enthusiasm for the concept, for several years, from about 1983 onward, computer industry pundits would declare the coming year to be, "The year of the LAN". In practice, the concept was marred by proliferation of incompatible physical layer and network protocol implementations, a plethora of methods of sharing resources; each vendor would have its own type of network card, cabling and network operating system. A solution appeared with the advent of Novell NetWare which provided even-handed support for dozens of competing card and cable types, a much more sophisticated operating system than most of its competitors.

Netware dominated the personal computer LAN business from early after its introduction in 1983 until the mid-1990s when Microsoft introduced Windows NT. Of the competitors to NetWare, only Banyan Vines had comparable technical strengths, but Banyan never gained a secure base. 3Com produced Microsoft produced MS-Net. These formed the basis for collaboration between Microsoft and 3Com to create a simple network operating system LAN Manager and its cousin, IBM's LAN Server. None of these enjoyed any lasting success. In 1983, TCP/IP was first shown capable of supporting actual defense department applications on a Defense Communication Agency LAN test bed located at Reston, Virginia; the TCP/IP-based LAN supported Telnet, FTP, a Defense Department teleconferencing application. This demonstrated the feasibility of employing TCP/IP LANs to interconnect Worldwide Military Command and Control System computers at command centers throughout the United States. However, WWMCCS was superseded by the Global Control System before that could happen.

During the same period, Unix workstations were using TCP/IP networking. Although this market segment is now much reduced, the technologies developed in this area continue to be influential on the Internet and in both Linux and Apple Mac OS X networking—and the TCP/IP protocol has replaced IPX, AppleTalk, NBF, other protocols used by the early PC LANs. Early Ethernet used coaxial cable. Shielded twisted pair was used in IBM's Token Ring LAN implementation. In 1984, StarLAN showed the potential of simple unshielded twisted pair by using Cat3 cable—the same cable used for telephone systems; this led to the development of 10BASE-T and structured cabling, still the basis of most commercial LANs today. While optical fiber cable is common for links between network switches, use of fiber to the desktop is rare. In a wireless LAN, users have unrestricted movement within the coverage area. Wireless networks have become popular in residences and small businesses, because of their ease of installation. Most wireless LANs use Wi-Fi as it is built into tablet computers and laptops.

Guests are offered Internet access via a hotspot service. Network topology describes the layout of interconnections between devices and network segments. At the data link layer and physical layer, a wide variety of LAN topologies have been used, including ring, bus and star. Simple LANs consist of cabling and one or more switches. A switch can be connected to cable modem, or ADSL modem for Internet access. A LAN can include a wide variety of other network devices such as firewalls, load balancers, network intrusion detection. Advanced LANs are characterized by their use of redundant links with switches using the spanning tree protocol to prevent loops, their ability to manage differing traffic types via quality of service, their ability to segregate traffic with VLANs. At the higher network layers, protocols such as NetBIOS, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk and others were once common, but the Internet protocol suite has prevailed as the standard of choice. LANs can maintain connections with other LANs via leased lines, leased services, or across the Internet using virtual private network technologies.

Depending on how the connections are established and secured, the distance involved, such linked LANs may be classified as a metropolitan area network or a wide area network. LAN messenger LAN party Network interface controller

The Duke Plays Ellington is an album by American pianist and bandleader Duke Ellington featuring trio sessions recorded for the Capitol label in 1953. The album was rereleased with additional tracks on CD as Piano Reflections in 1989 The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow awarded the album 4½ stars and stated "Ellington sounds modern and shows that he could have made a viable career out of just being a pianist".:All compositions by Duke Ellington except as indicated "Who Knows?" - 2:37 "Retrospection" - 3:58 "B Sharp Blues" - 2:47 "Passion Flower" - 3:05 "Dancers in Love" - 1:56 "Reflections in D" - 3:35 "Melancholia" - 3:20 "Prelude to a Kiss" - 3:04 "In a Sentimental Mood" - 2:30 "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" - 2:56 "All Too Soon" - 3:08 "Janet" - 2:15 "Kinda Dukish" - 2:32 Bonus track on CD reissue "Montevideo" - 2:33 Bonus track on CD reissue "December Blue" - 2:40 Bonus track on CD reissueRecorded at Capitol Studios, Los Angeles on April 13, April 14, December 3, 1953. Duke Ellington – piano Wendell Marshall - bass Butch Ballard - drums Dave Black - drums Ralph Collier - congas

Little Honey is the ninth studio album by Lucinda Williams. It was released in 2008 on Lost Highway Records and includes guest appearances by Elvis Costello, Susanna Hoffs, Matthew Sweet and Charlie Louvin. "Circles and X's" was written in 1985, around the same time was "If Wishes Were Horses," while "Well Well Well" dates from 1991."Real Love" was released to radio and digital outlets as the first single. The album debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200, selling 35,000 copies that week, thereby becoming her first Top 10 album; the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album. "Real Love" – 3:45 "Circles and X's" – 3:40 "Tears of Joy" – 4:27 "Little Rock Star" – 5:42 "Honey Bee" – 3:05 "Well Well Well" – 4:29 "If Wishes Were Horses" – 5:40 "Jailhouse Tears" – 5:28 "Knowing" – 6:00 "Heaven Blues" – 5:23 "Rarity" – 8:43 "Plan to Marry" – 3:26 "It's a Long Way to the Top" – 4:56 Bonus tracks "Jailhouse Tears" – 4:49 "Rarity" – 7:35 "Knowing" – 4:42 "Circles & X's" – 3:58 "If Wishes Were Horses" – 4:55 "Real Love" – 3:39 Released on October 28, 2008, as a Digital-Only EP featuring 4 live tracks: "Masters of War" "For What It's Worth" "Marching the Hate Machines Into the Sun" "Bone of Contention" Lucinda Williams – vocals, acoustic guitar Butch Norton – drums, percussion David Sutton – electric bass, double bass, cello Chet Lyster – electric and acoustic guitars and table steel Doug Pettibone – electric and acoustic guitars, pedal steelAdditional musicians Rob Burger – wurlitzer, piano, Hammond organ Matthew Sweet, Susanna Hoffs – backing vocals Charlie Louvin, Jim Lauderdale – backing vocals Elvis Costello – vocals Susan Marshall, Gia Ciambotti, Kristen Mooney – backing vocals Kristen Mooney, Tim Easton, Susan Marshall – backing vocals Jim Lauderdale, Susan Marshall, Gia Ciambotti, Kristen Mooney – backing vocals Bruce Fowler – trombone Walt Fowler – flugelhorn Albert Wing – tenor sax