Monday, June 18, 2001		Lens on IT

AOL Time Warner chief executive Gerald Levin (L) and Liu Chuanzhi, chairman of China's top PC maker Legend Holdings, listens to the speech during a news conference in Beijing unveiling a $200 million joint venture between the US. media giant and top China PC maker Legend Holdings last week. The joint venture will provide consumer Internet services in China. 

Sony Bank President Shigeru Ishii smiles as he kicked off operations of Sony Corp's internet-based bank at an opening ceremony at Sony Plaza in Tokyo last week. Just like it wooed music fans with the Walkman stereo and excited game manias with the PlayStation player, Sony Corp aims to lure Japanese depositors with its cutting-edge online banking services started on Monday.

Actor John Travolta, one of the stars of the new action drama film "Swordfish" poses at the film's premiere in Los Angeles.. The film is about a dangerous spy hired by the CIA to coerce a computer hacker to help steal $ 6-billion in unused government funds. Cybercrime thriller "Swordfish" opened last week knocking World War II romance "Pearl Harbor" from the helm of the North American weekend box office. 

Presentation of the new interactive TV from Microsoft and Portuguese TV Cable Company. US software giant Microsoft Corp. launched its first commercial application of interactive TV software in Portugal last week. Interactive TV allows subscribers to receive e-mail, bank, shop, place bets and play games through a set top box as well as recording live programs, personalised viewing and displaying live programming frame by frame. 

— Reuters photos