TECH IT EASY

WEBBY AWARDS: TECHIES IN TUXES
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences has announced nominees for the 5^th Annual Webby Awards. Hailed as the "Oscars Of The Internet," the Webby Awards honor websites across the world who’ve excelled in one of the 27 categories ranging from Politics to Music to Weird. Oddly, hitsdailydouble.com didn’t earn a single mention. We can’t imagine why, it will surely remain one of life’s mysteries--unless Billboard finds the answer here. The awards presentation will be held July 18 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco and webcast at webbyawards.com at 7 p.m. PT. The Academy expects over 3,000 technology experts and web designers to attend, especially since they offered ticket discounts to Star Trek Convention pass-holders.

Though overlooked, we won’t playa-hate, but instead, playa-congratulate Webby Award nominees including, for best Music Website, Erykah Badu, Live365.com, Motown.com, SonicNet and sputnik7. And congrats go out to BBC News Online, CNN, Inside, Salon and CNET News.com for Best News Website nods. Feed Magazine, Mother Jones Magazine, Nerve, Plastic and The Position.com were nominated for Best Print & Zines Websites, and for Best Weird Website, the nominees are Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization, Disinformation, Fortean Times Online, Peter Pan’s Home Page and Weird N.J.

REAL LOVE
RealNetworks has announced that Real.com has driven over one billion users to its media and programming partners. The Internet media delivery company also said the site was the most popular entertainment website among U.S. users in the month of February, according to Media Metrix. Other sites have claimed the shining