BUSINESS

Public nurses and midwives across the state of New South Wales in Australia have decided to take their employment-rant related concerns to a higher level. Patients confined at NSW state hospitals and community health service centres may expect work disruption as the nurses have voted to a state-wide strike action on July 24.

By Jonathan BarrattCopper has managed a bounce from what many thought would have seen the commencement of another major leg lower.

By Jonathan BarrattCopper has managed a bounce from what many thought would have seen the commencement of another major leg lower.

Windows-based PC sales continue to decline but Chromebooks are experiencing otherwise. For the last couple of months, shipments for Chromebooks have been increasing. Analysts expect the shipments to increase by as much as 200% to 300%. This trend now shifts the focus of companies. As Lenovo, HP, Acer and Samsung capitalize on launching Chromebooks, can Windows 8 devices survive?

American upscale fashion retailer Nordstrom recently admitted that they are experimenting with Wi-Fi and advanced video surveillance to track customers as they shop.

Although China's Internet penetration rate was 42 per cent as of last count, the South Asian giant continues to hold on to the number one post in terms of users. A report from China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) released on Wednesday said the penetration rate went up by 2 per cent to 44 per cent as number of users rose to 591 million.

The Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the tablets that reportedly will have a next-generation model, which is why tech experts recommend for people who are on tighter budget and want to take advantage of price cuts on 2012 models to consider this gadget.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 18 points or 0.1% while the S&P gained 0.3% to 1680 and the Nasdaq added 0.

FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a guage similar to the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

It seems Android will be taking the market by storm. Several devices running on the Android OS will hit stores this week and the coming months. Namely, Sony just introduced the Sony Xperia Z LTE, LG will be unleashing the G@ and HTC One will be featuring pure Android or Sense.

The pattern of trade seen this morning continued over the remainder of the day as investors turned over the possibilities to emerge from Fed Chairman Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to the US Congress later tonight local time.

U.S. carrier Verizon has scheduled an event on July 23, Tuesday, and hinted it would be the release date for three Motorola DROID phones.

The market previously only offered a limited number of tablet-sized smartphones. Gone are those days as companies like Asus and Sony reveal their plans about releasing phablets some time soon. Specifically, Sony will introduce Xperia Z Ultra whereas Asus will release the Fonepad Note FHD 6.

Regional markets have started Wednesday's session in cautious fashion as investors wait for US Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to the US Congress. The Bernanke testimony is split into 2 parts: Prepared remarks are released at 10:30pm AEST; and the committee hearing, which includes the Q & A session commences at midnight AEST. The prepared remarks will likely reflect the views of the FOMC as a group. To this end Mr Bernanke is likely to reiterate the perspective th...

Sony refuses to play safe in the smartphone market. The Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, and the new Xperia Z Ultra boosted Sony’s position in the market emphasizing that the company is a formidable competition for leading phone manufacturers. With already three devices out, Sony is not stopping. The company wants to release another smartphone called the Sony i1.

The PC market has been in a slump for quite some time now and chipmakers especially Intel (INTC) is losing sales. Analysts expect Intel to post another declining sales record for the fourth consecutive quarter.

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) will appeal a decision by the New South Wales Supreme Court ordering the company to play Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, $200 million.

Sony's Xperia Z waterproof smartphone will soon hit stores through T-Mobile. As reviews for the Xperia Z offers positive response from the market, the question now is whether Sony’s Xperia Z waterproof line can compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S4?

Steve Jobs was a genius and the brain behind many breakthrough technologies, thus it's no surprise that the trailer of his biopic 'Jobs' is the world's first Instagram trailer. The 15-second trailer has scenes of Ashton Kutcher, who is playing the role of Steve Jobs, and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 32 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1676 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.

It was another quiet day for the Australian market, with only a 3pt rise for the All Ordinaries index (XAO). On a positive note, equities managed to rise for the sixth session, making it the longest winning streak since mid-January for local shares. Since the start of the year, the XAO is up 6.5 per cent while the US Dow is 18 per cent stronger and the stimulus fuelled Nikkei 39.5 per cent higher.

Consumers shouldn't assume that "baked" means freshly baked, according to Coles. The supermarket chain has defended the allegations made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that they have been misleading the public with "baked" bread labels.

Samsung is popular for releasing several variants of any smartphone offering they have. From the looks it, the company will continue to uphold this tradition. A recent leak indicates that the Korean tech giant is working on dual-SIM version of the Galaxy Mega 6.3.

Today, just two weeks after the end of the June quarter, China will release its second quarter GDP statistics. It's a miracle of statistical compilation.

Start-up companies and small businesses in Australia and New Zealand will have the opportunity to enter Facebook's small business accelerator program.

Australian wine marker Treasury Wine Estates will destroy gallons of wine recently because of weak wine sales in the U.S. The company said it would charge the losses, estimated at $145 million, against its U.S. business for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

With the 28th World Day of Youth (WDY) just a mere six days away, the Vatican has released the itinerary of Pope Francis for the anticipated global event to be held in Brazil from July 23-29.

Since Google's coup with Woolworth's, the tech giant has added thousands of enterprise users in Australia. Among the companies that recently signed up for Google's corporate solutions are Woolworths majority-owned Australian Hospitality & Leisure and top women's fashion retailer Specialty Fashion Group.

Apple and Samsung relationship has been on the news for quite some time. Both companies claim the other violated legal provisions. As the tension continue to intensify, Apple started sourcing out to other parties for the components of their upcoming iPad mini 2 and iPad 5. Can Apple really ditch Samsung and produce their upcoming mobile devices successfully?