BUSINESS

A very bizarre exchange between several CNBC finance pundits recently aired in the US. They started saying exactly the things they ridiculed not long ago.

Nokia downgraded the retail price of its Lumia 900 smartphone over the weekend, a few months prior to the expected debut of Windows 8 operating system that Microsoft said would leave behind current crops of Windows phones.

Gold Now Flat On A Year Ago, By Adrian AshGold in Dollars just went flat from 12 months ago. But in Euros.

While more Australian men are shifting to careers within the lucrative resources sector, there are also a rising number of Aussie women who are venturing into Outback jobs.

By Alexander Green, Investment U Chief Investment StrategistWhen I first got started in the investment business 27 years ago ? as a novice stockbroker ? I had an awkward conversation with a client.

During the year to March 2012, the average price of apartments in Riga, the capital, dropped by 1.5%, according to Arco Real Estate (although during the latest quarterly, residential property prices were up by 1.54%).

"Everybody is analyzing policies...as if policies could make any real difference. What really matters is culture," said an Irish friend yesterday.

After introducing in 2011 the 24/7 postal services for parcels ordered online, the Australia Post is taking its service to another level by linking farmers and consumers.

The Victoria Supreme Court will hear on Monday a petition by Toll Holdings, which operates the Cole Warehouse in Somerton, Melbourne, to issue an injunction to stop the blockade set up by striking workers.

Volkswagen Australia has launched the second-generation Passat CC four-door coupe with a starting price of $54,990 for the diesel. This time around the Germans have gone for a simpler naming convention by removing the Passat badge and sticking with just Volkswagen CC.

A new report from IDC reveals that the demand for Apple's MacBooks are growing and its biggest competitor, the ultrabooks are not faring that well in the market.

Samsung Electronics Co., one of the largest smartphone companies in the world, is rumored to reveal Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in the market. Though details are still scarce about Samsung Galaxy Note 2, many people are already questioning if whether or not they should upgrade their Samsung Galaxy Note with the newest Galaxy Note model.

Virgin Australia owner Richard Branson revealed on Friday that his space tourism program, Virgin Galactic, will lift off as planned in the last quarter of 2013, with him and his family as among the first passengers.

One unintended consequence of boom in ecommerce is a corresponding increase in credit card fraud cases. Reports said that in 2011, over one million cases of card fraud were recorded in Australia.

Rumors about a new tablet from Apple called the iPad Mini has long been discussed in the Internet. Recently, new pictures showing the design of the iPad Mini have surfaced which further strengthened the rumor that Apple would be releasing the iPad Mini in the market.

Digg, the once popular social news site, was recently acquired by Betaworks. Details of the acquisition was not disclosed but there are reports stating that Betaworks paid $US500,000 for Digg's assets which includes the site as well as its technology.

Australians were at the mercy of global online retailers for now, which is the main reason that digital contents and products marketed locally carry more premium price when compared to offshore online stores, a new government submission said.

Some few months prior to the launch of its new operating system, Microsoft confirmed on Thursday that it has implemented re-adjustments intended to fine tune the core function of the tech giant's marketing and advertising divisions.

No thanks to the premium price of Apple's iPhone, Android smartphones have become the preferred device in most developed economies, according to the new figures issued recently by Kantar WorldPanel ComTech.

Yahoo recently experience a hack in their software which exposed more than 450,000 e-mails and passwords thus leaving the said data as vulnerable. Most of these login details were stored in plain text.

Local stocks are trading marginally higher at lunchtime in the East, ahead of the release of key Chinese data. After six sessions of losses, investors are moving back into the market with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) firmer by 8.8pts or 0.2pct to 4114.8.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportAround the world, Europe remains the thorn in the bull's hoof that stops it from charging.

While all major Australian airports were the subject of various complaints by air travelers, because of the sheer volume of passengers and planes it handles, Sydney Airport topped the list.

The chances that shoppers at Coles would find half-empty shelves at the supermarket giants' different outlets became higher as the strike at its Melbourne warehouse entered its fifth day on Friday.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 31 points or 0.3% while the S&P lost 0.5% to 1334 and the Nasdaq fell 0.

By Chris Tedder, Research Analyst FOREX.comThe much anticipated Chinese GDP data printed just below consensus at 7.

Local stocks closed in the red for the sixth session in a row today, posting the Australian share market's longest losing streak since November last year. Weaker than expected jobs numbers hurt investor sentiment while falls on US share markets and reports China is considering reducing state steel output contributed to the negative tone. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down 29pts or 0.7pct to 4106.

Blackberry and Windows could be considered as the "underdogs" in the smartphone market because they have been overshadowed by big players in the smartphone market like Apple and Google's Android.

A new research report shows that PC sales are now declining while the sales figures of tablets and smartphones are rising. This new trend shows that people are now more interested in tablets and smartphones as compared to PCs.