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   I still have to figure out a way to share my PC Internet connection with the Wii (without leaving home to buy a router, if at all possible), so for now I'll just trust the countless reports saying that the Wii Forecast Channel has already gone live, and can be used to get the weather forecast from around the world. It's a great little perk, and it's presented with a very cool 3D globe that you can spin around like crazy. Not to mention it's a great way for picking random holiday destinations!

   In order to get the new weather feature, you obviously need to have the Wii network going, and then choose "Update" on the empty Forecast Channel menu screen.

   Also this week, Nintendo will finally launch the Wii Opera browser, initially free of charge. The update is expected to be available this Friday, on December 22, thus confirming an earlier report "leaked" from the Nintendo Sweden website. The only bad news is that this will be a trial version of Opera, but it will support Flash-based websites, so no worries!

   The final version will probably be released in March 2007, and it will be free to download until June or July - at which time the browser will cost 500 Wii points, equaling a meagre $5.

   And while we're on the topic of online features, Akamai sent out a couple of press releases yesterday to announce that their worldwide network infrastructure was adopted for both the Wii and the PlayStation 3. Nintendo and Sony will both be using the Akamai content delivery platform for their network services (Wii Virtual Console and PlayStation Network), which should allow for top-notch performance in delivering their playful stuff online.