A huge range of delights for you in this week's Technology supplement...
The websites nobody wants
Though the number of government sites is growing - against official policy - some attract barely any visitors. One saw just 77 people last year. Michael Cross investigates.
Read your mobile like an open book
Victor Keegan: Would you read a book on your mobile? It's surprisingly quick - a word at a time whizzing past on the screen. Could this be the way to the real e-book?
Television on your own terms
Video-on-demand - which lets viewers watch what they want, when they want - is catching on. But it's the cable companies providing it, not - as you might have thought - the computer companies and ISPs. Presently the cable companies have the lion's share, and it looks as though the computer companies will get the crumbs. By Charles Arthur.
If this suite's a success, why is it so buggy?
Andrew Brown explains how the OpenOffice project vividly illustrates the limitations of open source as a way of producing software - and people's refusal to deal with the evidence, rather than the myths, when considering what's better.
A file format that's worth keeping - forever
Microsoft is racing to have Open XML made a standard. But would an open rival be better overall, asks Jack Schofield.
With the public in charge, reality rules
Gamesblog: Community is an essential aspect in the race for the throne for the next generation of home consoles, says Aleks Krotoski.
Technobile
The always-connected wireless world of television advertisements is just the land of make-believe. Have you ever tried, for instance, to connect to the Web in a country where you don't have a phone acccount?
(Have you got some Technobile in you? Send it to tech@theguardian.com. Please include your address and telephone number.)
A pan-European ID card will make a bad idea even worse
Michael Cross: At a time when it is trying to persuade the British public of the merits of a national identity card, the government needs proposals for a European ID card like it needs an outbreak of bird flu. Unfortunately, that's just what it's got (the proposals, not the flu.)
The price of full feeds
Unwanted advertisements and commercial pressure are forcing some bloggers to offer just partial feeds of their postings. Find out why Good Morning Silicon Valley's blog was shortened abruptly one day, and whether full feeds are ever coming back. By Mike Butcher.
Read this week's letters & blogs
Send your letters, comments, questions and rants to tech@theguardian.com. When you do, please include your address and telephone number.
Ask Jack
Send your questions and comments to Jack.Schofield@theguardian.com. See the Ask Jack weblog for daily updates.
Innovations
Toshiba TS 803
It's hard to get excited about a mobile that's more about sound than style.
Pulsar 590A
Bluetooth headphones to listen to your phone and MP3 player are a good start.
Reddit.com
A new website makes it easier to sift the mountains of news content online - and learns what you like.
OpTag
A radio-tagged boarding pass could cut flight delays by tracking passengers around the airport.
