BUSINESS

Apple Inc, Samsung and Microsoft's idea of putting a "kill switch" in smartphones to deter theft has been rejected by mobile phone carriers. According to San Francisco Attorney General George Gascon in his Twitter account, wireless carriers discarded the kill-switch proposal. Mr Gascon also suggested that carriers are thinking of income first before security of smartphones.

Optus starts trial for 4G home wireless broadband for home business owners

Optus, which is also known as SingTel Optus Pty Limited, has reportedly started its fixed wireless broadband trial in four Australian capital cities namely, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. This move was done in order to check if a reliable 4G signal can indeed replace fixed broadband connections in several urban areas.

Nowadays we all know it as term for mad discounts and shopping craziness, but above all, when it comes to business, as billions worth Black Friday deals.

The Australian share market is in the red for the fourth time this week, despite hopes we would see a rebound today.

Africa will have to spend between $200-350 billion a year in climate adaptation costs by 2070, if the current global temperature rises by more than two degrees Celsius, according to a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Tuesday.

Latest news could lead you to one conclusion: Seems like Elon Musk is having fire trouble in last six weeks.

As H.L. Mencken opined, 'The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.'

It is the task of today's Weekend Daily Reckoning to speculate on a profitable trade for 2014. But before we get there it helps not to forget that the whole financial system is rigged.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation) is out with its latest global outlook, warning Australia about the blindingly obvious. That is, labour costs and house prices are too high, which threatens our competitiveness on the global stage.

The central banks of Japan and the US are killing the private market for government debt. The massive and unprecedented bond-buying programs for Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) and Treasuries have driven yields so low that investors are now simply stepping aside from involvement in that market entirely.

Yesterday we promised to take a look at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory (WCB) takeover. It's one of Australia's largest listed dairy companies and it's the subject of a bidding war between Canadian, New Zealand and Australian dairy interests. (Nick Hubble's Money for Life Letter did quite nicely out of a pre-bidding war WCB tip.)

BlackBerry officials seem not to have learned the lessons of the past by continuing to push for their unpopular smartphones. The latest was the unveiling on Tuesday of the ultra high-end version of the Z10, which caused the share price of the embattled Waterloo, Ontario-based firm to go down below $6 at one point.

Blurred language out of the Fed has again poured cold water on the markets understanding of where it stands on the monetary stimulus component of its quantitative easing policy.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 66 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1781 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3%.

In US economic news, advance retail sales rose by 0.4pct in October, ex autos, gas & building materials sales lifted by 0.5pct. Headline CPI inflation dipped 0.1pct in October to be up just 1.0pct over the year - the smallest rise in four years. Core CPI inflation held steady at 1.7pct over the year. Existing home sales fell by 3.2pct in October, weighed down by higher mortgage rates and tight supply. But the median price of a previously owned home was up 12.8pct on a year ago.

Unlike in the U.S., German companies have a two-tier board structure, with a management board around the chief executive that runs the day-to-day operations and a supervisory board that is similar to a U.S. board of directors.

British Petroleum (BP) is firing up to 300 employees from its office in Melbourne, Australia. The sacked workers comprise about 24 per cent of the total 1,250 staff in Melbourne, although across Australia, BP has 7,500 workers.

Guide:The Short Report draws upon data provided by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) to highlight significant weekly and monthly moves in short positions registered on stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Novelty online shop KlearGear has gone into social media hiding after being bombarded with criticisms online. The whole fiasco started when it charged a customer USD3,500 for leaving them a negative feedback.

Apple has reportedly acquired PrimeSense, the Israeli fabless semiconductor company behind Microsoft Xbox Kinect Sensor, for $345 million. Israeli financial news Web site Calcalist reported that Apple has already finalized the acquisition, with plans for an announcement within the next two weeks.

The Australian sharemarket lost ground once again, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by 0.8 per cent. This takes the losses for the week so far to 1.7 per cent. The OECD cut its growth forecasts for the Australian economy from 3.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent for 2014. The DOW fell back from 16,000 points, after cracking through on Monday.

In a Pfeiffer’s report titled "2013 App Store Maturity Shootout”, Apple iOS App Store, Google Play (Apps) and Amazon Appstore were compared side by side

A $1 billion stock fraud causes former Apple Inc. (AAPL) trader to serve 30 months in prison

Shares of Air New Zealand dropped on Wednesday when it resumed trading, following the government's divestment of 20 per cent to the tune of $NZ365 million ($324 million).

Indonesia has been hit by a powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. No immediate reports of fatalities and damages have so far been reported on the temblor that struck off eastern Indonesia. The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency ruled out any potential tsunami occurrence.

The Australian share market is being sold off for the third time this week, down 0.8 per cent at lunchtime in the East despite only modest falls on the US Dow Jones Index overnight.

Canadian firm Ferus Natural Gas Fuels on Tuesday announced it has entered into a joint venture with a Chinese-owned liquid natural gas (LNG) distributor to build two liquefaction plants in Edmonton and Vancouver in Western Canada for $100 million.

Williams reckons there is only one outcome possible: hyperinflation. A year ago, he expected it in 2019. Now, he's moved up the schedule. He now expects hyperinflation to begin in 2014.