Useless government IT adds self-nomination features

And all shall have prizes… Although the New Statesman magazine’s annual New Media Awards (NMA) don’t quite match up to the EFF’s annual Nepotism Award - nothing quite does - they’re still a rich source of humour and embarrassment. Continued

Linux meets Microsoft Not content with simply revamping its Razr, Motorola has updated its Rokr handset - the original iTunes phone - this time bringing it more in tune with the latest Moto look. Continued

Letters Phone fury (and carrier cringes) After my piece lamenting how Nokia’s high end phones had lost their ease of use and reliability, we got a letter from reader Brendon McLean. “It’s not just Nokia!”, wrote Brendon - “but an industry-wide problem”. And he encapsulated his complaints very succinctly. So we invited him to expand a little, which he did here yesterday. Continued

Review As capacious as an elephant’s scrotum - and as visually appealing? You can go too far to be consumer friendly. Making a device straightforward to set up and get running with some clear, simple guidance is all very well, but it’s easy to overdo it and come across chirpy and brainless. Seagate has come perilously close with its FreeAgent Pro external hard drive. Continued

Musical convergence RealNetworks, the firm behind the Real media player and Rhapsody download site, made a significant move yesterday when it bought Sony NetServices, the Japanese giant’s European mobile music outfit. Continued