BUSINESS

About five online holiday shopping safety tips for consumers have been previously discussed, but because of the numerous scams and tricks cyber criminals use, it's best to be always prepared.

The dreaded H7N9 bird flu strain has reached Hong Kong. On Monday, health officials confirmed and reported the country's first patient to succumb to the infection.

Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd, the country's flagship carrier, has entered into a code share deal with China Southern Airlines Co Ltd, a first between the two airline firms.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 and the Asus Transformer Book T100 are similar looking gadgets that seem to have the same features, particularly the ability to use the devices in multiple ways. Both products are portable, flexible and ultra-versatile. But, which one is better? The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 or the Asus Transformer Book T100? Read on to find out in the specs comparison here.

The early hours of trade on Tuesday saw a tussle develop between buyers and sellers. The lows were put in place in the first half hour of trade. The index recovered thereafter although in the run up to lunch the market made news session lows, indicating that the afternoon could be spent exploring areas of technical support.

With the start of the Holidays comes the onslaught of holiday shopping for the season of gift-giving is just around the corner, not to mention the various sales and deals offered by almost every store this time of the year. However, there are a lot of scammers out there during holiday shopping too. They are taking advantage of shoppers who are rushing to buy items during a sale like, Black Friday or Cyber Monday. If you want to avoid getting scammed, check out the online holiday shopping safety ...

Retail banks' priorities are set to switch in the next year, with revenue growth taking precedence over cost-control and compliance management. New research* from Ovum, a leading global analyst firm, reveals that although cutting expenditure and complying with regulations will continue to be vital, retail banks must focus on revenue enhancement to provide a sustainable return for stockholders.

As with everything in the currency world, there are two sides to every trade.

In US economic news, the ISM manufacturing index lifted from 56.4 to a 31-month high of 57.3 in November, above forecasts for a result near 55.0. Construction spending rose by 0.8%, above forecasts tipping a 0.4% rise.

By Greg PeelThe Thanksgiving holiday interrupted activity in the uranium market last week and industry consultant TradeTech's capacity to report transaction data, however the consultant has pulled back its spot price indicator by US35c to US$35.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that he is open to the idea of the federal government increasing its stake in national flag carrier to provide it with financial power amid greater competition from rival air carrier Virgin Australia.

Lawyers for the 43,500 ANZ Bank customers who filed a class action lawsuit against the lender, seeking $57 million in damage, said the claims could balloon into multi-billion dollars.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 77 points or 0.5% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1800 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%.

The Australian sharemarket has eased for the second consecutive trading day, with the All Ordinaries Index slipping by 0.8 per cent.

China has blasted into space on Monday its first ever moon rover mission.

Wana taste flying on top of the dragon Smaug character in the second part of the Hobbit trilogy, 'The Desolation of Smaug'? Then fly Air New Zealand.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground despite a stronger open. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by 0.8 per cent, with just the energy players managing to remain slightly firmer.

With 21 trading days remaining in the calendar year, 2013 is looking like being the strongest year in terms of fund inflows since 2006, and could be the biggest market gain since 2009. With dividend returns hitting the books in ten days, it is highly possible that the ASX will finish the year positively.

In US economic news, foreign central bank holdings of US debt rose by $11.763 billion to $3.35 trillion in the latest week.

The prolonged legal battle among the Rineharts, Australia's richest family, took an uglier turn as Ginia, the youngest daughter who is the only child of billionaire and mining magnate Gina Rinehart, dug up and exposed her older sister's previous eating disorder.

The weekly closed last week on a downtrend for a second week. The market failed to regain 5400 and the weekly stop at 5387 held strong despite a number of tests.

Investors in Australia remain cautiously optimistic on prospects for investment returns via the Australian share market but they also show little intention of allocating more cash from the sidelines into Australian or global equities.

Pokemon X and Y, the popular role-playing video games that have been developed by Japanese video game developer Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS, have other online features for Pokemon players such as the Player Search System (PSS), Play! Pokemon, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection® (WFC) and the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) Online. Now, Pokemon fans can choose from cool Pokemon games in the Internet.

Here comes Cyber Monday 2013! Watch out for various online sales after Black Friday 2013 which officially start on Monday (hence, the name), Dec. 2, 2013. Black Friday 2013 has just ushered the 2013 Holiday shopping season and it has reached the weekend up to Cyber Monday 2013 where most people who weren't able to shop during the Black Friday weekend go online to look for sweet deals for the items that they are eyeing.

Apple and Google continue to battle it out for mobile OS supremacy. As Google steadily gains more users over the years, Android seemingly has surpassed the iOS. Google has achieved that in terms of downloads and better integration over the years but Apple has not been a tech leader for nothing. The strong user base and reliable ecosystem are major selling points of the iOS. Surprisingly, reports now suggest that iOS developers are making more money than Android developers. How is that possible?

Google may soon offer an assistant that will help those too busy to manage their social network accounts. The internet giant has reportedly patented a technology that can analyze how a user reacts or responds to feeds and messages on social media. Once the technology finishes analyzing, it can also post personalized responses for the user. Is this something worth looking out for?

Whenever a new Android comes up, users will need to go to Google Play or check with Nexus and the works. However, for many advanced users, particularly those who do not have the option to go to Nexus, the best option would be custom ROMs. Many developers tinker and explore Google devices and interfaces. A new set of nightly builds for Android 4.4 KitKat from OmniROM can be rolled to a range of Nexus devices – not just a few devices but 15 Android devices.

Despite a modest improvement from the lows hit at midday, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) still finished in the red by 0.25 per cent. The miners struggled this week; however a modest 0.5 per cent rise within the sector helped minimise the broader losses somewhat. The Aussie market slumped by 2% in November (only month of losses since June)

There are just so many perks with being a celebrity.