BUSINESS

Australians who love to take pictures using their smartphones would be happy to know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom is landing in the Land Down Under next week. The device would cost $699.

BlackBerry officials are ecstatic that while their smartphones don't sell, their messaging app for Android and iOS phone owners had reached 20 million downloads in one week.

As abstract as love can be, two researchers claim that a method called Facebook mapping on couple's mutual friends can predict if couple - whether in a relationship, engaged or married - will likely end up falling apart and separating.

Despite giving back some of the more significant gains recorded at midday, the Australian market still managed to rise for the fourth time in five trading sessions and for the 10th time in 12. Chinese economic data out over the past few weeks has been largely promising while the political situation in the US is in better shape for now.

Frequent fliers of China Southern Airlines to Sydney now has another reason to commute via the Chinese airliner with the launch of its Airbus A380.

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook remained positive for new Apple product line-up for 2014

Facebook, Inc. is very interested in Snapchat, a photo messaging application, and is offering $1 billion to acquire it.

Northeast Syria is now under threat of a polio outbreak. The UN's health agency World Health Organisation on Tuesday said there are now at least 10 confirmed cases in the country, which has a very big potential to spread and encapsulate the entire Middle East region.

After a 0.5 per cent fall yesterday, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is now up by 21pt or 0.4 per cent. Local stocks have only fallen on two occasions over the past 12 trading sessions; rising by 4.5 per cent since mid-October.

The embattled Canadian phone maker BlackBerry may have found a financial saviour in Facebook, the world's largest social media company. Reports said that BlackBerry and Facebook officials met last week to discuss a possible buy-in.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares slide after fourth quarter earnings report

The gods are angry. In this case, it is the Filipino conservationists versus professional wakeskater Brian Grubb who claimed he was able to conquer the Banaue Rice Terraces because he had been given permission no less than by the tribal leaders guarding it.

At least 139 of the artworks seen in various Dutch museums were determined to have been stolen from the Jews during the 1933 to 1945 World War II invasion by the Nazis.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportLast week, Investor Mutual's Anton Tagliaferro was quoted saying he was expecting a correction, which, given our 25% plus rise since November 2012 on the stock market, does not look outlandish.

Choice’s Shonky Awards had named and shamed SimCity producer EA Games, Kleenex's Mansize tissues and Qantas Frequent Flyer Toolbar among Australia’s dodgiest products.

In US economic news, retail sales fell 0.1pct in September, but excluding autos, sales rose 0.4pct, in line with forecasts. Producer prices fell by 0.1pct in September, but excluding food and energy, prices rose 0.1pct, in line with forecasts. Consumer confidence fell from 80.2 to 71.2 in October. And the Case Shiller home price index rose 0.9pct in August to stand 12.8pct higher than a year ago.

There was no surprise on Tuesday when IDC released its smartphone market report for Q2 2013. As expected, Samsung dominated the top spot, followed by Apple with market shares of 35 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively.

Samsung rules in the global smartphone market. While Apple reported on Tuesday impressive 4th quarter results of $6.9 billion earnings, broken down into $31.2 million for the iPhone, $14.6 million for iPads and $3.8 million for Macs, the South Korean tech giant easily trounced the Cupertino-based firm's accomplishment.

Sellers continued to hold sway over the 2nd half of Tuesday's session. The weakness seen in the morning refocussed on the bank stocks which were outperforming in a falling market in early trade.

In the latest attack by Chinese media on global companies, Starbucks and Samsung have both come under fire for allegedly bullying Chinese customers and over-charging them. Leading the charge China Central Television (CCTV) and the China Daily. This comes after iPhone maker Apple was blasted by CCTV earlier this year for not repairing customers' iPhones for free.

Despite a dearth of educational institutions, the government of Bohol, stricken by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Oct 15, has announced it will resume classes on Nov 5.

On the heels of a strong start to the week sellers got some modest traction at the outset of trade on Tuesday. One of the factors helping sellers was the weakness in US futures the start of the Asian session after the Apple result, post the close of Wall St.

The energy demand of the world's second-largest economy has been forecast to slow down by 1.8 per cent as China strives to tackle the cleaner, greener road.

The V-Tex Technology Drink Chiller which cools drinks in just 45 seconds was recently unveiled by Enviro-Cool (UK) Limited (Ltd). It is designed to reduce energy consumption by 90%.

After a full-packed schedule last weekend, the 86 Miss Universe contestants are gearing up for another ride as they race around the track test driving the Mercedes Benz AMG cars.

The ASX is now up 5.81% in the last 14 days and October looks like it will be the third best month of the year, and well ahead of the average monthly rise in 2013 of 1.3%.

Apple Inc. FY 13 Q4 Results announced iPhone sales growth at 26 per cent, Cook hints retina iPad Mini supply shortage and dividends payable to shareholders on Nov 14

In US economic news, industrial production rose by 0.6pct in September, above expectations for a gain of 0.4pct. But the pending home index fell by 5.6pct to 101.6, weaker than the 0.1pct expected gain.

By Greg PeelA month ago there appeared to be some building interest from buyers in the short-term uranium market, and sellers were thus encouraged to hang back rather than let product go at low prices.