Wii priced and dated, for US and Japan

Nintendo has dated and priced the release of its next-gen gaming console, for the Japanese and American markets at least. The Wii will be available, as expected, before the run-up to Christmas and will launch first in America on 19 November and then in Japan on 2 December. It will be priced at $250 (approximately ?133) in the States and 25,000 yen (approximately ?113) in Japan, the company has revealed. ...more

Kapersky reworks interface for Virus Lite 4.5

Kapersky has reworked the interface for its Virus Lite software, a consumer version of its PC virus protection software. Kapersky claims version Virus Lite 4.5 is more ergonomic and brings a three-fold performance improvement on previous versions. ...more

Nokia and Symbian steal a march on Microsoft and Palm

Nokia should have the edge over rivals Palm and Microsoft, as it is launching its combined mobile phone and personal organiser, the 9210 Communicator months earlier than products using Microsoft Pocket PC or PalmOS platforms. The Finnish handset manufacturer says that it will launch the colour, wireless device in Europe and Japan sometime in March or April, based on Symbian's EPOC OS. Microsoft says its Pocket PC won't be available in colour wireless products for another six months and, although the Palm III Series have colour screens, there's not yet a wireless version. ...more

And also today (29-October-2001)...

Here, in brief, are some of the day's other stories. Septer.Trojan Watch out for an email doing the rounds, posing as a donation form for the American Red Cross. ...more

Crossword-solving system strikes a blow for AI

A crossword-solving computer program has struck another blow for artificial intelligence by beating all 25 humans in completing two English-language puzzles and one Italian and English bilingual puzzle in a competition in Italy. Two different versions of the WebCrow software competed - one running from its 'home' machine at the University of Siena and a streamlined version installed on a lesser computer at the competition venue - and they took first and second place in the competition to finish the three non-cryptic puzzles in the quickest time. 'It exceeded our expectations because there were around 15 Americans in the competition,' Marco Ernandes, who created WebCrow along with Giovanni Angelini and Marco Gori told New Scientist said. ...more