The Register reports on Nintendo's latest console, the iQue, for the Chinese market:

The device, which is due to launch before the end of the year in Shanghai, with other regions of China to follow later, is effectively a Nintendo 64 contained in a single control pad-sized unit. The system features an chip which integrates the entire functionality of the N64 onto a single die - based on a process.

It will come bundled with an AV cable, a power supply, a 64MB Flash card and one full game.

Note: The article probably has a typo when it says 7 euros as the price - should probably be 57, as BoingBoing points out.

The Playstation 1 also sells for USD 49 or so. So, why cannot we get a USD 50 thin client?

[via David Weinberger] Here. "The Phone Company always has a steady source of DC power available. Huge banks of storage batteries backed up by generators, supplying from 23 to 80ma of power on every phone line... for you to use whenever you want! Telco Powered Products convert the 48 Volts DC from the modular jacks in your home or office to a voltage that can be used to power the items you need to get on with your life, even if there's no power from the electric company." The solution to our energy problems?!

Even though the article begins by focusing on the issues that advertisers have with Google following a change in its AdWords service, the News.com article has interesting insights into the keyword marketing programs on search engines:

From April to June 2003, Overture said that advertisers paid 40 cents per click on average, up from 30 cents in the same period in 2002.

Prices for high-demand categories command high prices. Google and Overture don't display the prices that advertisers pay for listings, but some of Overture's keyword prices are listed by rival FindWhat.com. Information published recently on FindWhat's Web site showed GoToMyPC, which paid $5.10 per click, as the top Overture bidder on the term "remote access." PeerDirect paid $6 per click for "database management," and Cornell University paid $4 for "IT security."

According to a recent study from the IAB and Comscore, the average click-through rates for sponsored ads related to travel and finance were 18.3 percent for April and May of 2003. That compares with click-through rates of 4.3 percent for ordinary search results for related terms.

Sponsored ads also drove more sales than did ordinary search links, according to the research. About 1.4 percent of the people who clicked on sponsored listings became customers of the advertisers. In comparison, about 0.6 percent of the people who clicked on ordinary search results made a purchase.

Rediff reports on the Indian President's vision of a developed India, covering tourism, small-scale industries and rural development, excerpted from the inaugural address at the 23rd India International Trade Fair in New Delhi. Here is what he spoke about SMEs:

The small-scale industries sector plays a vital role in the growth of the country. It contributes almost 40 per cent of the gross industrial value added in the Indian economy. It has been estimated that the turn over to capital employed is approximately 4.62. The small-scale sector has grown rapidly over the years. The number of small-scale units has increased from an estimated 0.87 million units in the year 1980-81 to over 3 million in the year 2000.

The small-scale industry sector in India creates largest employment opportunities for the Indian populace, next only to agriculture. The SSI sector plays a major role in India's present export performance. About 45 per cent to 50 per cent of the Indian exports are contributed by the SSI sector. Direct exports from the SSI sector account for nearly 35 per cent of the total exports.

Besides direct exports, it is estimated that small-scale industrial units contribute around 15 per cent to exports indirectly. This takes place through merchant exporters, trading houses and export houses. It would surprise many to know that non-traditional products account for more than 95 per cent of the SSI exports. The product groups where the SSI sector dominates in exports are sports goods, readymade garments, woolen garments and knitwear, plastic products, processed food and leather products.

The strategy for enhancing the exports of goods and services from SSI sector has to be based technology upgradation, value addition techniques, credit support and export marketing zones.