Weekly round-up: 24-28 September

The next version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system goes on sale at the end of October

Apple's forthcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is finally nearing completion. The firm released three updates for the operating system in just six hours last Friday, indicating that a Gold Master copy could be on the cards soon. Apple has previously said Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will ship at the end of October.

We reported that Virgin's new Virgin 1 Freeview channel is set to challenge Sky One. It will mainly carry US TV imports, just as Sky One does.

Price cut for PS3

In gaming-related news, we finally got word that the new 40GB Sony PlayStation 3 gaming console is set for a £100 price cut. That would put it at £299, which sounds like a much more reasonable price tag than the launch price of £425.

The president of Sony PlayStation said that the Sony PlayStation will definitely reach its projected sales target of 11 million units sold by the end of the current financial year.

We also reported that Microsoft's Xbox 360 is set for a record sales boom coinciding with the launch of the Halo 3 game this week. It's expected to be the biggest game of the year.

Nintendo Wii becomes a media centre

We told you that the Nintendo Wii is set to become a media centre next month. The new X-OOM software will enable you to stream music, movies, and photos from your computer to the Nintendo Wii.

Young people aged between 16 and 24 got the chance to get free mobile phone calls and texts this week with the launch of ad-supported mobile phone network Blyk. Users will get 217 free text messages and 43 minutes of free calls every month, as long as they are willing to receive advertising messages.

We also mulled over whether it's all over for the 802.11n wireless standard, reporting that a patent battle over the standard could go on for years.