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A fair number of companies that read our product reviews tell me that they take our criticism to heart to improve their wares. That's flattering to hear, but I don't think the message is getting to the right people. How do I know? Companies continue to send us new laptops, tablets and smartphones that exhibit the same annoying design flaws over and over. Consider this list a polite but forceful intervention. Laptop Mag's Mark Spoonauer has a few gripes with the way gadgets are designed. What are the most annoying ones? Keep reading. Imagine if your car's door had a protective cover around the keyhole. Why? Exactly. I can understand if you're targeting the military, field workers or outdoor adventurers who need a device that can withstand water splashes and dust storms. But otherwise there's no need to cover up that microUSB port - or any other port - with a flap. It just gets in the way. Every time I see a covered port, I instantly take points off the review. T...

Colleen Taylor is based in San Francisco where she is a reporter for TechCrunch TV. Previously she worked for GigaOM, where she reported on startups and Silicon Valley. Earlier, Colleen reported for Mergermarket, an online newswire and subsidiary of the Financial Times focused on M&A. Before that, she was a contributing editor for Electronic News, the semiconductor industry trade newsletter. Colleen... ? Learn More New Enterprise Associates, the global venture capital firm with headquarters in Silicon Valley, confirmed today that it has raised $2.6 billion for NEA 14, its fourteenth venture capital fund. TechCrunch reported it was raising the fund back in May. NEA is known for raising large funds, but this one takes the cake: It’s easily NEA’s largest ever, and it may well be the largest in venture capital history. The only one that comes close is the $2.56 billion fund that Oak Investment Partners raised for its twelfth fund back in 2006 — but that was arguably not quite a ventu...