Users prefer polite computers, according to this article from the New Scientist.

This is something I bang on about when we're talking to our clients about design: that overall tone is important, particularly for mobile phone applications which are:

(a) not perceived as being computers (I overheard a friend of mine this weekend talking about how phones are "practically computers' these days).

(b) used by people who will be frightened or intimidated by technology; despite wishful thinking from some quarters about operators becoming pure data pipes, they perform a valuable function of bringing together complex devices, radio networks, and billing relationships and presenting these in a (reasonably) consumer-friendly way.

Want more convincing? Read The Media Equation, an excellent book which Jay recommended to me years back and which delves into how people react to machines and computers.

REPORT DAMNS POLITICAL BLOGS screams the Guardian:

"In the frequently damning report, the society says political blogging is still in its infancy. While it still has great potential to engage the electorate, the authors say, blogging forms a very minor part of public debate."

So what the report (which summarises a survey of eight - EIGHT! - people) actually says is: there's not much of it, but it could be great. Hardly "damning".