BUSINESS

Apple’s iOS 6 experienced significant surge in adoption in the past weeks not only on fresh sales numbers chalked up by the iPhone 5 but also on OS upgrades downloaded by iPhone 4S owners.

By Greg Peel"We think this could be the beginning of a fresh reflation cycle for the global system," BNY Mellon's Simon Derrick told the London Daily Telegraph, "combining with the US recovery to mark a turning point in the crisis".

By Andrew NelsonDespite the twists and turns and a few kicks in the pants, 2012 was a pretty good year for equities.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThere are two investment rules you cannot break if you are to run your own investments inside a self-managed super fund.

Australia's mining sector would likely be in a gloomy mood on Friday, Dec 21, 2012. However, the cause of the downcast outlook is not because the miners believe in the Mayan forecast that the world would end that day, but over the pull out of a major Chinese investor in a resource project in Western Australia.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 59 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1443 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Despite a flat start on the back of falls on Wall Street, local stocks rose to fresh 17 month highs today as the Federal Government scrapped its commitment for a budget surplus in FY 2013.

How lucky for those new students entering the University of Western Sydney in 2013 as the school had committed to issue iPads to support the school's IT-related teaching curriculum.

Local stocks are trading flat at lunchtime in the East, slightly down from fresh 2012 and 17 month highs reached yesterday.

The Australian Dollar has dipped back below 1.0500 against the Greenback as a lack of development in US budget negotiations drives markets. The US Dollar firmed as risk sentiment turned negative on what appears to be a stalemate between US President Obama and the House of Representatives.

After having had a strong run in recent sessions, risk assets finally retreated in US trade as cracks appeared in the fiscal cliff negotiations. Equities were firmer in European trade as markets continued to ride on fiscal cliff optimism and on the back of a better-than-expected German Ifo business climate reading.

US homebuilding permits increased by 3.6pct in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 899,000 units - the highest level in nearly 4½-years. In contrast housing starts fell 3pct in November but followed three straight months of solid gains.

The gender asymmetry in British boardrooms has scaled down substantially since 2007, according to the findings of a survey conducted by Experian.

There's some considerable carnage in DR headquarters this week. A Christmas flu has not only taken out your regular editor Dan Denning but a good chunk of the staff as well.

As the chart below displays, the Federal Reserve has, since 1913, destroyed roughly 97% of the [US] dollar's value. And that, despite (or perhaps because of) a mandate to maintain the same currency's integrity and stability.

- Chinese economy on the turn- Exports finally improving- Property market risks contained- Intra-Asia trade a big growth driverBy Greg PeelSigns have emerged that the Chinese economy has finally bottomed out begun a recovery after a long slow-down.

The battle for supremacy in Australian skies continues as Singapore Airlines joins the frenzy to get a larger slice of the aviation market by announcing on Wednesday a fourth daily service to Melbourne and the scaling up of services to Adelaide.

Cash registers will be ringing ka-ching, ka-ching from Friday as different parties will be held all over the world to celebrate - not the Mayan New Year - but the failure of the Mayan Long Count Calendar prediction that the world would end on Dec 21, 2012.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 98 points or 0.7% while the S&P lost 0.8% to 1435 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3%.

The local share market rallied again today, with both the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) and S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) reaching 2012 and 17 month highs.

If you are a Nexus 10 owner or considering a purchase of this Samsung-manufactured big-sized tablet for Google, take pleasure in knowing that charging this Android device would be more convenient over the next few weeks or even days.

Rumours are spreading about the upcoming Mobile World Congress in February 2013. Speculations are that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will not make it to the Consumer Electronic Show or Mobile World Congress in January and February, respectively.

Before, Samsung Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note users had to wait for a long time to obtain updates of Android Ice Cream Sandwich because both devices were released with Android Gingerbread, which dates back as the first very stable firmware version.

IGB Electronica, a Brazilian company, announced a new smartphone called Gradient Smartphone Line G iPhone, Neo One model. The device is identical to Apple iPhone and its running an Android OS.

CM10, according to Android Authority, will work smoothly on these following Tab 8.9 variants: Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi + 3G variant (GT-P7300) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi-only variant (GT-P7310).

Investing in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is so yesteryear. Myanmar and Laos are, like, so yesterday. No, the real investment opportunity for your financial future lies in North Korea.

The question has haunted savants, wives and bartenders throughout the ages. But at least we have a hypothesis.

How much of the world's woe is the fault of people who claim to know things they don't really know...and to be able to do things they can't really do?

On the 17th of December, the National Association for Business Economics released its forecast, indicating that the U.S. economy would probably see a moderate growth in 2013. Analysts underline that the modest growth will be pushed mainly by a recovery in housing sector which will balance visible weaknesses in business investment though. Also the U.S. job market will pick up slightly in the coming year, according to the survey.