BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 78 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P gained 0.7% to 1427 and the Nasdaq added 1.

Local stocks continued to move in a positive direction today, boosted by positive offshore moves and firmer commodity prices. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) gained 18.9pts or 0.4pct by close to finish at 4581.3pts, its best finish since mid-October. The ASX 200 closed at 4576pts, its highest close for 2012.

The Nexus 4 is a definite magnet especially for Android power users but since this signature Google smartphone will not resume shipment until January 2013, looking out for the alternative this Christmas is the best way to taste its flavour.

A survey of 25,000 Australian high school students has found that alcoholic drinking among younger teens 12 to 15 years dropped. However, those considered older teens aged 16 to 17 continued to consume alcohol in much riskier levels.

LG is in celebration mode following the South Korean firm’s announcement at the start of the week that over 10 million units of the Optimus L smartphone lines have reached global consumers since the device was launched this year.

The Australian sharemarket at lunch is improving for the third day running and for the ninth time in 12 sessions. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.5 per cent or 21.2 pts to 4583.6. The defensive healthcare and telco sectors are slipping modestly but all other industries are improving, with the miners the standouts.

Google has good things going for its Nexus gadget lines, which mostly led to stock outs since their debut, but glitches in the Android system appears to be hampering the products’ total commercial breakout.

Nokia’s Lumia 920 will soon deploy on more carriers and retailers in the United Kingdom beginning January 2013, the Finnish mobile phone maker said this week, adding that the supply problems bogging down the handset’s global distribution will be resolved at around the same time.

The tech world is definitely excited for the Consumer Electronic Show 2013 scheduled on Jan 7-13 in Las Vegas. The show is expected to be different from previous editions as Microsoft steps away from its long-running keynote, and Samsung and QuallComm step in to fill the gap.

- Lynas in trading halt- Malaysia insists on LAMP waste export- Rare earth prices continue to fall- Beijing reacts with industry assistanceBy Greg PeelAustralian rare earth hopeful Lynas Corp ((LYC)) sent another shiver down the spines of beleaguered investors this morning in requesting yet another ...

Google announced an update to the Google Maps API which will make it easier to insert vector-base maps into applications. This will provide developers better and more comprehensive set of tools to integrate maps into Android Apps.

American International Group Inc. informed that it would sell an 80.1 percent stake in its International Lease Finance Corp. to a group of Chinese investors for as much as $4.2 billion. The acquisition is expected to be the China's biggest purchases of an American company. What is more, the group of Chinese investors has an option to buy an extra stake of 9.9 percent, which would give them as much as a 90 percent stake in ILFC.

The coming year, 2013, promises to be exciting times for the smartphone marker as innovations of hardware components and advance software features for smartphones are rolled out. Flexi phones, rolling screen, wireless control over drones, cars, and security cameras are what consumers should expect for the next 12 months in the mobile industry.

Boarding the Train of Opportunity

The joke over the royal prank call is not just on the British monarchs and the hospital where Kate Middleton is confined but has hit Southern Cross Austereo, the Australian company that runs 2Day FM. Reports said that as a result of the apparent suicide of Jacinta Saldanha, the nurse who answered the prank call from DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian and gave medical details, shares of the Southern Cross plummeted up to 8.1 per cent on Monday while the radio station is losing $100,000 a day in ...

By Andrew NelsonJust when we thought the uranium market was settling down for a quiet holiday season, we are greeted with a busy week of year-end buying and selling.

Australian miners are now resorting to tapping ants and termites - considered as pests by many households - to lead them to undiscovered gold deposits. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) research scientist Aaron Stewart explained that these small insects stockpile traces of heavy metal, including gold, on ant mounds, particularly located in deep underground nests in the Australian Outback.

Is the Australian Economy in Recession?

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 14 points, or .1%, while the S&P was flat at 1418 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Much have been said about the next Galaxy S smartphone from Samsung, which according to blog sites will be deployed with a more powerful quad-core processor, higher image density of 441 ppi and will take the name Galaxy S4.

Whilst several regional indices ended the session in the red, the general market atmosphere at the start of the week was constructive. The Dow and S&P 500 concluded last week on positive note following an upbeat government jobs report. US Non-farm payrolls gained by 146k in November (60K better than expected), although October job gains were revised lower.The unemployment rate dropped from 7.9% to 7.7%, the lowest since December 2008.

Australian businesses, either small or large corporations, really ought to ensure they have a good and solid IT system in place, or otherwise always end in the mercy of hackers.

What actually are you getting by snapping up Google’s Nexus 7, which recently has been named by UK-based tech site T3 as 2012’s ‘Gadget of the Year’?

So you are a tourist who has an iPhone that is most probably equipped with Apple Maps. And then you got lost somewhere in Australia. Of course your first recourse would be to locate your whereabouts in the resource-rich nation through Apple Maps. But Australian police warned better notdepend on Apple's new iPhone mapping system or risk experiencing the same fate of motorists who got lost after relying on the glitch-filled app.

HTC would like to call this a different smartphone from the Droid DNA and J-Butterfly but the Butterfly looks and acts like its siblings, though this is another flagship phone from the Taiwan-based firm that is geared for the international market.

During Christmas one gets sick due to stress and anxiety that the harried season sometimes give. And if you get sick right smack on Christmas Day, and it so happened you're miles away from home coz you're celebrating Christmas at some other town, the more you feel you'll get sick because you don't know of any available doctor nearby.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the fourth time in six sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.4 per cent or 17.6 pts to 4573.5. The defensive healthcare sector is the lone loser at lunch, with all other regions of the market edging higher. Better than expected job numbers in the U.S on Friday and strong economic news out of China yesterday is helping keep our market positive. There were around 50,000 more jobs created in November than expected in North America, while reta...

Christine Duran, Christina Huerta and Isabel Robles revealed to ABC News that they could not believe the insult they received after dining at the Chilly D Restaurant in California which is part of the Cameo Club Casino restaurant in Stockton.

As the famous cliché goes, all good things come to an end. Or something to that effect. In today's era ruled by smartphones, tablets, and other more convenient portable options, Sony announced over the weekend it is finally giving its Walkman and other handheld cassette players lineup the rest it deserves. Sony said that the current batch of TCM-400, TCM-410 and TCM-450 devices will be the last that it will produce, effectively easing out the product item from the IT and gadget market early n...