Monday, May 13, 2002		Lens on IT

Japanese toymaker Tomy Co's pet robots called micropets squeak to each other in conversation as they are demonstrated at company headquarters in Tokyo. The Micropets, which react to voice commands and can take walks and move around, sing, and fall asleep will go on sale in Japan July 20 for 1,280 yen ($10). Tomy advises they will also be launched in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

A Korean woman talks on her mobile phone as another uses her phone's text messaging function in downtown Seoul. Korea announced a $4-billion stake sale plan for telecoms company KT Corp last week, mapping out a key step in Seoul's privatisation drive to ensure market principles continue to power reform of Asia's third largest economy. 

SolaScan, a new device to detect skin cancer, is demonstrated at its launch in Sydney. The SolarScan works by capturing an image of a patient's skin spot then image analysis software compares features against images of melanomas and non-melanomas in a database. Melanoma is the most common form of cancer in men and women aged 15-44 and is the most deadly form of skin cancer, killing around a thousand Australians a year.

Chinese youngsters play online games at an Internet shop in Shanghai lat week. Chinese authorities have shut down almost 200 Internet bars, called "Wang Ba" in Mandarin, that were operating without licenses, a Shanghai daily reported. Some 1,400 computers were also confiscated during the sweep. Government figures say that some 30 million of China's 1.3 billion persons now log on to the Internet, up from 4 million just three years ago.

Co-Chief Executive Officers of Navision Preben Damgaard (L) Jesper Balser (R) attend a press conference with Microsoft Senior Vice President Doug Burgum (C) in Copenhagen. Microsoft said last week it offered to buy Danish enterprise software firm Navision for 10.8 billion crowns ($1.33 billion) in one of the biggest takeovers by the U.S. software giant.

— Reuters photos