GameCube rains on Xbox's parade

The battle of the superconsoles warms up with news that Nintendo has announced the street price of the GameCube and that it will be $100 (?70) cheaper than the Xbox. In a move that could signal the start of a pricing showdown, Nintendo announced that the new GameCube will be available in the US three days before the Xbox on the 5 November and will cost $199 (?140). There will be six game titles available on that launch date, retailing at an expected $49. ...more

Yahoo! to add Wiki power under new agreement

Yahoo! has announced it will help support the Wikipedia project, providing the open source encyclopaedia initiative with servers and bandwidth. In return, presumably, it will be on the inside track to index and search the Wikipedia content. The user contributed online encyclopaedia consists of 195 language editions and contains approximately 1. ...more

Cypress, Infineon and Micron announce first CellularRAM samples

The CellularRAM co-development team of Cypress Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies and Micron Technology have announced the availability of 32Mbit CellularRAM devices for wireless handsets. Samples are available in both asynchronous and burst modes. Last year, the three companies announced an agreement to co-develop specifications for CellularRAM products, a new multi-generation family of low-power pseudo-static RAM (PSRAM). ...more

Kids get ID cards - Blue Peter badges revived

Blue Peter badge holders will soon begin receiving ID cards that restore their free access to almost 200 attractions across the UK. The BBC childrens' programme suspended the badge scheme in March after it discovered that they were being traded on eBay. Previous badge winners will need to fill in a form at bbc. ...more

IT lure of London is second only to San Francisco

London is second only to San Francisco as a location for technology companies, according to a new survey. More than 43 per cent of senior California-based ICT executives cited London as a global centre of convergence for the technology and creative industries, ranking the UK's capital second only to San Francisco. 'Global brands born in California, such as Apple and Google, have established international operations in London because the core components of convergence and business success - access to capital, talent, markets and infrastructure - come together here,' said Michael Charlton, chief executive of Think London, the foreign direct investment agency for London that commissioned the study. ...more