Monday, November 19, 2001		Lens on IT

Bill Gates, (R) Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft plays an Xbox game with World Wrestling Federation star Duane "The Rock" Johnson in New York. Johnson took part in events surrounding the launch of the Xbox which goes on sale in the USA . Gates said: "The future of gaming starts today, and it starts with Xbox". 

Wives of Indian stock brokers offer prayers in front of a computer during 'Muhurat' (auspicious) trading to mark Divali, the festival of lights, at a brokerage firm in Mumbai. 'Muhurat trading' marks the beginning of the new trading year for the Gujarati community, who form the bulk of share brokers in India. 

NTT DoCoMo's new third-generation mobile phone "i-motion" N2002 plays a video clip while it is displayed at a news conference in Tokyo. DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile telecom operator, said last week it would begin delivery of video clips over the new, high-speed mobile phone "i-motion" service on November 19. 

Japan Tobacco Inc's Junji Ikezaki shows a prototype integrated-circuit card and cigarette vending machine using advanced electronics to allow only people over 20-years-old to make a purchase, in Tokyo. The Tobacco Institute of Japan and two other industry groups said they are launching a test programme next spring with vending machines that would require purchasers to insert an IC card encoded with their date of birth before making a sale. 

Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia Chairman and Chief Executive Jorma Ollila speaks at a joint news conference with Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo President and Chief Executive Keiji Tachikawa in Tokyo. Nokia and DoCoMo said on Wednesday they would collaborate to create a common, open standard for advanced third-generation phones. 

— Reuters photos