The beleaguered Edinburgh Festival Fringe box office looks to be back in business, two weeks after a computer crash forced its launch-day closure.  After a halting re-start earlier this week revealed a host of new problems, long-suffering Festival staff have ironed out the last few wrinkles - and recent reports suggest normal service has, at last, been resumed.

The box office is now open online, by phone or to personal callers at its headquarters on the High Street.  But - in an unusual twist, surely related to the earlier failure - even those who stop by the Fringe's city-centre outlet won't get their tickets right away.  Instead, everyone has to wait until they're posted out, on an unspecified date in July.

Despite the last-minute glitches, the Fringe says tens of thousands of punters have now booked through the system, and a brief flurry of problem reports on Internet forums looks to have quietened down.  All in all, we think it's safe to use the Fringe's services again.  If you're a Festival first-timer, we can tell you how.

More box office news in brief

Meanwhile, the controversial Edinburgh Comedy Festival has set out its online stall.  The new venture, the brainchild of four major venues within the Festival Fringe, has suffered its own computer woes - with its website for the last three weeks showing little more than a holding page - but from today, the new site's available for ticket bookings.  Going beyond its supposed comedy brief, it's selling tickets for all events at the so-called Big Four venues; booking fees are set at exactly the same level as the official Fringe website.

Finally, a word of congratulation for the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which managed a smooth launch on Friday.  In 2007, it was the Book Festival's turn to suspend online sales as its website struggled under unexpected demand.  They've obviously learned their lesson: this year, though customers faced a queue to get online, once logged onto the website it was plain sailing.  Popular tickets will be going quickly, so if you're into the written word, don't delay: we have more information on the Book Festival's launch.