BUSINESS

Quick, somebody tell the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) about natural gas. It's the new investment boom the bank is looking for, only it's already happening in the energy sector, not the housing sector. Even central bankers can't always get what they want.

A dedicated Android camera is what the Samsung Galaxy Camera is all about and the snapper has become more attractive, that is affordable because the new version is doing away with the cellular signal.

Reports of Nexus 5 arriving this year gained more traction as one Google official hinted that indeed the company has lined up handsets bearing the brand with ‘insanely great’ camera features.

Australia has enjoyed strong consistent economic growth (over 20 years of expansion), low unemployment and increasing living standards. Its old economy avoided the implosion of the new economy. Its economic performance was underpinned by strong growth in emerging nations, especially China and India, and demand for commodities.

In what could be his last final stand before actual resignation day, outgoing Pope Benedict XVI is mulling to implement last-minute changes to the 99-yea- old procedures surrounding a papal conclave in a bid seen to hold this year's much anticipated assembly of cardinals at a much earlier date, or on Mar. 10.

The Australian share market opened lower this morning after a late trade selloff on US markets. US investors sold out of stocks and commodities after US Central Bank (Federal Reserve - FOMC) minutes from its January meeting showed policymaker´s held further discussions on slowing its bond buying program. The US Fed has been restimulating the US economy by buying bonds (basically printing money) and pushing it back into the economy, but if they reduce this program is could stall or slow growth. O...

The European Union will imposed retroactive duties on Made-in-China solar panels and Chinese firms that export the PVs if proven that the panels were sold below production cost because of subsidies.

Supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl topped the annual supermarket survey as they were voted second and third most favorite while rivals Morrisons and Sainsbury were left lagging behind. The survey, which was conducted among the UK's nine biggest supermarkets, named Tesco as the least favorite supermarket.

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, cracked on Wednesday a joke about the Philippine migration phenomenon, telling a Filipina nurse at the opening of a ￡5.5-million cardiac centre that "The Philippines must be half-empty - you're all here running the NHS."

Newest data showed that China's foreign direct investment slumped as much as 7.3 percent in January on a year-on-year basis.

Search engine giant Google is aggressively branching out into new markets. In 2014, the tech firm will make available to the public Google Glasses.

Some things do not change. One of them is continuous rivalry among cities when it comes to the title of the most expensive office space. The highest prices give not only the prestigious title, but show which destinations are popular. And, to cut a long story short, London was awarded with the prominent title of the most expensive office space in the world, regaining it after several years.

More clues are emerging that Apple is cooking up the next generation iPad Mini with Retina display as reports emerged that suppliers of the tech giant have commenced work on the small tablet’s second serving, this time with a brighter screen display.

Samsung has reportedly scrapped the use of Exynos 5 Octa CPU for its upcoming Galaxy S4 because the new chip proved ‘too hot’ to handle, literally.

The South Korean tech company LG keeps on teasing mobile phone enthusiasts about their new upcoming smartphones for the Mobile World Congress this February 2013 in Barcelona, Spain. LG released a video recently previewing what will the company show on MWC 2013 with several smartphone models named after letters – L for style, G for greatness, V for Vu, and F for freedom.

In a bid to rise from its financial quagmire, Australian flag carrier Qantas will issue in the third quarter of 2013 a pre-paid credit card which will load 9 different currencies.However, Qantas reported on Wednesday a bit of financial relief when it logged almost a triple first-half profit of $111 million.The credit card, which could also be used as a travel card in 35 million locations around the world that would earn holders points on eligible purchases, would be issued to 9 million ...

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 108 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P fell 1.2% to 1512 as the Nasdaq dropped 1.

HTC One lands in Australia this week and the question pops: Is it worth going for or you’ll hold off a bit more for Samsung’s next flagship, the Galaxy S4, which is set to hit store shelves by early April?

Global consumers will get the 7.9-inch iPad Mini at a potentially higher price because fitting Retina display technology to the popular device means higher production cost for Apple.

Local stocks closed at fresh four and a half year highs today, boosted by positive momentum in offshore markets and generally strong earnings results. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 14pts or 0.3pct to 5115, its best level since early September 2008.

A few days from now, or on Feb 28 to be exact, Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th pope, officially steps down as head of the secular Roman Catholic religion.From then it begins the month-long arduous process of choosing and electing the next pope of the world's 1 billion Catholics.

Edge-to-edge screen seems to be the norm these days and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 was not spared being the subject of oversized anticipation and limitless imagination for those with too much time on their hands.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the third straight day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.3 per cent or 15.6 pts to 5116.6. This takes the gains so far in 2013 to 9.6 per cent. It isn't a huge surprise that markets are higher, with shares up close to 2 per cent overnight in Europe. This was partly thanks to some positive signs for the future outlook of the German economy.

A Google executive does not believe that working at home or doing “telework” is a best environment for ideas to flourish. .

In a CBS news programme, Microsoft founder Bill Gates has admitted that Microsoft had messed up its mobile tech standing in the market. He also shared his opinion on the Windows Phone and Windows 8 standing vis-a;-vis the competition.

Looking at the published specs, the HTC One has the chops that represent bumps up of the smartphone features we’ve seen before. Nothing new in terms of innovation?

The new Iriver tablet is expected to arrive in South Korea and define the meaning of out-of-the-box thinking and creative branding. It is one of brands new to the market and lands on the other side of the coin compared to more known brands such as Samsung, HTC and Sony.

The cloak has been peeled off and HTC One did not disappoint – it is sexy and powerful handset that its Taiwanese manufacturer has touted it to be, packing a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 CPU that is teamed up with a 2GB of RAM.

After the unexpected firing of Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) Chief Executive Tom Albanese, it was the turn on Wednesday of BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) Chief Executive Marius Kloppers to step down.