Back in the groove

You might think everything Apple touches turns to gold these days but you only have to look back to 2005 at its disastrous collaboration with Motorola on a music phone for evidence to the contrary - though the phone maker must take most of the blame. For its latest music effort, Moto has gone it alone and the lessons learnt serve the new Z6 well.

Its shiny design and (hallelujah!) updated menu system make for a worthy mid-market contender. Shame Moto doesn't include a standard headphone jack and boo to O2 for not supplying any memory card with it.

Update: 02 tells me now there's a 1GB card in the box - though customer support and their brochure insisted there wasn't at the time of the review.

Read the full Motorola Z6 in today's paper.

In games, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (all formats) successfully recreates the look and feel of Hogwarts but gameplay devolves constantly into repetitive fetch quests.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon marries bloodthirsty beat-em-up to Wiimote-waving, with slightly unpredictable results. Brothers in Arms DS has little to do with the PC/console versions of WWII warfare and though its first-person shooter schtick is technically impressive, the handholding linearity of its levels sap its enjoyability. Finally, Wartech: Senko No Ronde (X360) feels as if it's escaped from some crazy Japanese experimental lab, melding 2D shoot-em-up with 3D beat-em-up, and none of it making sense.

See the world in Parallels

Apple's switch to the same Intel CPUs that power Windows has created the delicious irony of Macs that run the Microsoft operating system as well if not better than machines from Dell, etc. You have two choices for running Windows on a Mac - natively via Apple's Boot Camp or virtualised with enabling software such as Parallels Desktop.

The experience of running Parallels for almost a year on my MacBook Pro has been uniformly excellent, with each version getting better and better. The latest version, 3.0, makes operating Mac and Windows side by side even more seamless. Read the full Parallels Desktop 3.0 review in today's paper.

In games, the Pokemon franchise unveils its latest two-headed monster with Diamond/Pearl, destined no doubt to dominate the charts for months. Gameplay is laregely unchanged since the series debut in 1997 but this DS version has charm to spare and, in a nod to the 21st century, sports some nifty online sharing/chat options. You may fondly recall PaRappa the Rapper from his PS2 incarnation 10 years ago but a new PSP edition does the music rhythm original a disservice with questionable timing and a meagre song selection.

Star Trek in your ear

Remember the original Star Trek in which communications officer Uhura had a cool earpiece resembling a small pine cone that contained both microphone and speaker? That was 1966 but, finally, 41 years later fiction has become fact.

The Motorola H9 Bluetooth headset, promised and delayed for nearly 12 months, could be mistaken for an oversized earplug but miraculously stuffs in all the required gadgetry for handsfree calls. Read the full Motorola H9 review in today's paper.

In games, Elite Beat Agents (DS) slots into that rare but beautiful category of music rhythm. In typical histrionic style, it mixes comic-book melodrama with touchscreen timekeeping as you attempt to save the world by tapping the DS stylus.

Megaman ZX (DS) remains true to the series' old-school roots, a 2D platformer with rock-hard difficulty, which could have been more enjoyable with a usable map system.

I can take time off? Cool

Annual holidays ... back soon.

None so blind...

When Apple introduced the iPod Shuffle in 2005, rivals sneered that it wouldn't sell because it lacked a screen and was unsophisticated. Millions of sales later and Creative seems to have had a rethink, giving birth to the Zen Stone. Clearly aimed at the Shuffle, its chief weapon is price - half the cost for the same amount of storage. Read the full Creative Zen Stone review in today's paper.

In games, Marvel Trading Card Game (PSP) does what it says on the tin - Top Trumps for the new generation - but suffers from excessive complication and tiny type on-screen. Super Rub-a-Dub proves the PS3's motion control lacks subtlety as it essays a Super Monkey Ball effort with water - it's downloadable only from the PlayStation store.