BUSINESS

Yesterday the Australian share market started the first day of the 2013 trading year in positive territory up 58 points, its best start to a new year since 2001. Helped by the news that the US House of Representatives finally passed the Senate's 'fiscal cliff' bill this afternoon helping to keep the market positive.

When it's midnight and there's no one around to kiss, you take what you can get. Your editor has always employed this strategy on New Year's Eve.

On the 2nd of January, official data showed that Macau saw gambling revenue increase approximately 14 percent to about $38 billion in 2012. The figures also indicated that Macau casino revenue jumped as much as 20 percent in December, surprisingly topping analysts' estimates. The results support the Macau's title of the world's biggest gambling market.

Apple will reportedly issue new smartphones in colourful casings – three in one-tone: pink, yellow, blue; and the rest in two-tone: white & silver and black & slate. These new handsets will be called iPhone 5S and are set for a June 2013 release.

Shares of Gandalbie Metals (ASX: GBG) jumped 10 per cent on Wednesday after the company made its first shipment of magnetite iron concentrate to China. The commodity was sources from its Karara project.

You're going to read a lot about the 'fiscal cliff' over the next few days. But not in The Daily Reckoning. We could care less. Full speed ahead and over the cliff we go, we say! It would be the best solution for everyone.

Application developers found something odd in their app usage logs which referenced to a new iPhone identifier - iPhone 6.1 with iOS 7 operating system.

The Digital Age continues in 2013 and will possibly span more decades until everything is about robotics, droids, and artificial intelligence. In 2012, computers have evolved into touchscreen notebooks with flexible form modes such as separating from its keys or forming a tent for better movie experience. Mobile phones have reached the smartphone era with screens responding to touch, social network access, Wi-Fi connection, and several more applications using the smallest sensors.

The use of Wi-Fi cuts down incidents of stumbling around cords and wires at home, in the office or school. It also covers a larger area with more users than using standard wired router. The technology of wireless connection beats almost any odds using the Internet but there are certain things that can slow down the connection or weaken its signal which is a bummer.

Welcome to 2013! The Australian sharemarket had its best start to a new year since 2001, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by an impressive 1.2 per cent or 58.3 pts to 4722.9. The House of Representatives in the U.S finally passed the Senate's 'fiscal cliff' bill this afternoon helping to keep the market positive. This was considered to be somewhat of a compromise between the Democrats and Republicans. Tax increases will be introduced but for the higher income earners (+$400,00...

The man looked Russian. He was sitting opposite us at the Pain Quotidien, a café at St Pancras station in London. He was polite about it... but wished to register a complaint with the waiter for neglecting him.

Greg Canavan's new 'Fuse is Lit' film has certainly lit a fire inside the belly of many Aussies.

China's manufacturing activity surprisingly expanded at the fastest rate in approximately 19 month, according to a key manufacturing index released on the 31st of December.

Jailbreaking an iPhone is about having maximum control over the device. This includes tweaking a lot of things in iPhone which otherwise the original iOS prevents. Another benefit is the ability to download free apps for iPhone instead of purchasing it from Apple Store. However, one of the major sources of pirated apps for iOS devices is gone. Hackulous, which developed Installous, has finally shut down after years in service.

The year 2012 closed its tech world with highs and lows and the New Year 2013 will present new innovations and new devices that will reach old and new markets.

Toyota Motor Corp., the Japan's biggest carmaker, is to pay as much as $1.1 billion to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit based on alleged acceleration issues in its cars.

2012 Christmas was marked by growing economic concerns of Britons. Uncertain economic conditions affected U.K. customers' shopping spree during this holiday season. According to a survey conducted by consumer's association Which?, nearly half of U.K. customers drastically cut back on 2012 Christmas spending and made credit purchases.

Galaxy S3 owners wishing for at least two more solid hours of battery juice can now place their orders on two European online retailers, Mobile Fun in the United Kingdom and Amazon’s operation in Germany.

The Australian share market started the first day of the 2013 trading year in positive territory up 20 points.

Samsung’s Asian roll out of the Galaxy S3 Mini comes with the JellyBean flavour naturally whipped out by Google with the Android 4.1.2, numerous blog reports said.

Central Planners are the Reason Why the US Economy is Broke

A Forbes.com contributor named the controversy-ridden Instagram as the top tech company of 2012. Tanya Prive, the contributor, said the list was based on exits, valuations by A+++ investors and rapid growth.

Samsung continues to prove that phablet is now a device market mainstay, disclosing earlier this week that the Galaxy Note 2 has garnered more than one million sales in South Korea alone.

Sustaining the interest of such passive gamers, who only tries to pass the time and all of a sudden be muddled in some other work load and day-to-day existence are the source of a major concern for online game creator Zynga (Nasdaq:ZNGA).

Even though the U.K. saw house prices drop for a sixth month in December, it has still true jewels which cannot be described as cheap and average at all. Lloyds TSB issued its annual list of most expensive streets in the U.K. Not surprisingly, London has once again outperformed other cities in the competition as all from the top ten are located in the capital of the U.K.

Google’s Nexus 7 is making a splash this New Year – emerging on eBay at discounted price and being ported with a mobile OS from a bygone era.

With only a few hours left until New Year's Eve, France might to be in a Champagne mood as sales of its world-known sparkling wine are decreasing in Europe amid the European debt crisis.

New research, which was conducted by the Scotch Whisky Association, shows that Scotch whisky enters its "second golden era" as it generates over £4 billion per year. The undeniable position of Scotch whisky in the Scotland's economy is mainly driven by overseas investment.

While the world is becoming more computer-dependent, children are not anymore interested in traditional toys. Little ones are just drawn to tablet computers.