BUSINESS

With Apple's share prices down to less than $400 from a peak of $700 more than a year ago, it appears that South Korean tech giant has written off the California-based firm as its main competitor. It appears that the Samsung vs Apple rivalry, which has reached courts in different continents, would soon become history.

The power of creative minds plus the benefits of Photoshop led to the creation of this picture that appears to depict Apple's sorry state 18 months after co-founder Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer.

Newest figures on UK retail sales are certainly unsatisfactory. The unprecedented chilly weather in March had a negative impact on retail sales as it significantly discouraged British customers to go shopping. Thus the ONS survey also added to disturbing signs about the UK economy.

It was out of the blue when Hargreaves Services informed that would be backed by institutional investors, to the tune of £42 million, to once begin mining in England.

Murray's working theory is that the Yen could get a lot weaker much more quickly than markets expect. What happens next is the big question.

Even giants such as Diageo Plc are vulnerable to hard economic conditions in crisis-hit Europe. The newest findings of the London-based drinks company showed, however, that weak demand in the EU was partially offset by a strong results recorded in the US market.

The QWERTY keyboard uses in mobile phones and computers was an adaptation from the typewriter, which assumes the use of the 10 digits on both left and right hands to type words and numbers.

by Marc Lichtenfeld, Investment U Senior AnalystLast Friday, John Waggoner wrote in USA Today that he didn't believe Treasuries were in a "bubble.

A photo leaked by case manufacturer Tactus, published by NetworkWorld, further fueled speculations of a low-cost iPhone. It showed a plastic shell, which is consistent with previous rumours about the upcoming device.

Certainly, the Dish Network's rival bid for Sprint Nextel Corp. was a big surprise for SoftBank Corp. which thought that its offer was a safe bet. Everything indicates that we might see a steadily growing escalation of a competition between SoftBank Corp. and Dish Network Corp.

For a country notorious for cheap but fake imitations, it is not surprising to hear that some Chinese are taking advantage of Apple's warranty to create real iPhone 4S units with fake ones.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) heeded the call of its global shareholders to put in place austerity measures for executive remuneration. Unfortunately for incoming Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie, it would be during his term beginning May 2013 that the pay cuts would start.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 81 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P lost 0.7% to 1541 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.

An afternoon of accelerated selling on rising volumes saw local stocks end with a substantial loss. Investors remain concerned about the outlook for commodity prices in the face of rising supply and falling demand against a backdrop of a weakening global growth pulse. Bringing a sharper focus to these concerns in the last 24 hours has been the head of the German central bank who warned that the European recovery may take up to a decade. These themes drove the aggressive selling seen for mining s...

After much anticipation, South Korea informed that it had prepared a 17.3 trillion won ($15.4 billion) extra budget aimed at spurring its recently fragile economy. Indeed, the Asia's fourth economy has lately witnessed a slowdown in its economy due to the weakness of yen and escalating North Korean threats. All recent initiatives of the South Korean government are designed to boost the country's economy and support its exporters.

Chocolate manufacturers, it seems, are following the model of smartphone, tablet and TV makers by coming up with larger models of their products.

The one-month-old supreme pontiff of the Catholic church, Pope Francis, continued to show his humane and humble side when he accepted, albeit giddy with excitement, a jersey shirt personally signed no less than by famous soccer player Lionel Messi of the Barcelona Football Club, a fellow Argentine compatriot.

Yesterday's brief reprieve for the Australian market was short-lived, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.7 per cent at lunch. This is the third session of falls this week, with the mining sector the major industry to blame.

Attaining one's ideal weight level is hard enough, much more to maintain it. But the French has invented a high-tech fork that will not only be useful in picking up our food, it will also buzz every time you eat too fast.

South Korean tech giant Samsung literally rolled out the gigantic 85-inch ultra-high definition TV on Wednesday night in Sydney. The $40,000 device, soon to be available in retail outlets in Australian this month, features an Australian accent.

After 18 long months, state teachers at Victoria have finally clinched a deal with the government, entitling them to a pay rise of between 16.1 to 20.5 per cent over three years. About 45,000 state teachers are expected to benefit.

Marine Park Tour Operators in Australia are questioning the exclusion of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia by travel guide Lonely Planet. At the same time, some groups are questioning the inclusion of smaller dive sites in the list.

Fears further escalated that the new avian influenza A H7N9 may indeed be transmitted through human contact after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared that some of those currently infected in China did not have had any contact at all with poultry.

Because of the buzz over an upcoming Android OS that started in late 2012, among the 10 things that techies are expecting in the May Google 1/O is the roll out of the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.

-CIMB doesn't like recent acquisitions-Macquarie isn't sure-Citi has some reservations-Moelis sees share price upsideBy Andrew NelsonM2 Telecommunications ((MTU)) looks like a real puzzler as far as analyst perception goes.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 138 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P lost 1.4% to 1552 as the Nasdaq tumbled 1.

By Ashley Jessen, director of LearnCFDs.com and author of CFDs Made SimpleWeak leads from overseas markets provided a gloomy start to the day and, despite a minor blip to the upside on open, our market gathered momentum in only one direction and that was down.

The local stock market has closed above the 5000 mark, albeit by a modest margin, after several days of commodity induced weakness. The ASX200 rose by one per cent, although mining and energy stocks remained on the outer with investors, being the only 2 sectors to end the session in the red.

An interesting job vacancy ad was posted in Weibo, China's counterpart of Twitter. The ad announced that a third-party security company in Beijing called Anquan is looking for a Chief Pornography Identification Officer.