BUSINESS

A recent news report by Bloomberg reveals that Microsoft has plans to finish the work on Windows 8 this summer and it will be available in the market by October this year.

Many people were delighted when Apple released its newest tablet offering in the market called the "new iPad". One of its defining features is its 4G capability but Australians are not really delighted with the new iPad from Apple.

The Samsung Galaxy S III is one of the highly-anticipated smartphones in the market and even before any official announcement has been made, there are already speculations about its specifications and availability in the market.

An Australian commission has accused Apple Inc. of misleading promotions in advertisements for its new iPad.

Following BHP Billiton's earlier move to divest all from its diamond business, Rio Tinto is also undertaking a review of its diamond operations leading to a possible divestment of its assets in Australia, Canada and India, which seemed no longer fit to its business strategy.

Federal authorities have decided to prevent Huawei Technologies of China from playing any active role in the $38 billion roll out of the national broadband network, citing internet security issues.

Encouraging comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has seen the Australian share market post solid gains in early trade. Chairman Bernanke hinted in a speech to US economists overnight that the Fed remains committed to keeping interest rates in the US low. He also hinted at a third round of economic stimulus, which saw the broader S**9**amp;P 500 Index in the US hit four year highs during New York trade. Early in the local session, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 34.1pts or ...

An investigation by Australian federal law enforcement agencies suspect Western Union money remitters of helping move millions of drug money out of the country the past five years.

By Greg PeelAfter a flurry of activity the week before last, which might have signalled renewed interest in spot uranium at the lower price, last week activity levels fell back to minimal again.

Two early strikes from Brett Lee proved the key as Australia beat the West Indies by 30 runs in St Lucia on Sunday and in doing so squared the five-match series two-all.

By Kathleen Brooks, Research Director, FOREX.comToday Ben Bernanke "surprised" the market by giving an incredibly dovish speech to an association of business economists in Virginia.

According to research firm IDC, the Australia and New Zealand PC market ended the 2011 calendar year with a solid 6% year on year (YoY) growth with 6.8 million units shipped. The result was achieved despite supply side challenges and weakening consumer demand.

U.S. stocks surged Monday, largely erasing last week's losses, after a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled the central bank is committed to a monetary policy that's helped buoy stocks for three years.

Australian customers are getting back at the big four lenders by giving it lower satisfaction ratings after the banks unilaterally increased their mortgage rates despite two decisions by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep the overnight cash rate unchanged at 4.25 per cent.

When will it become morally wrong for an agent to promote print to a vendor?

A surprise launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III may happen on March 30.

Struggling Tasmanian forestry products company Gunns is continuing to try and raise fresh capital after the earlier plans were wrecked by the withdrawal of a cornerstone investor.

It's not the start of a trend, but the loss from the Bank of Queensland should worry investors.

Aquila Resources and Vale of Brazil have patched up their quarrel over the big Isaac Plains export coking coal project in Queensland.

Your editor's fingers are a little rusty after a full week away from the keyboard. But our hands were not idle! We rediscovered the pleasure of discovering information the old fashioned way last week, analogue style! More on the benefits to your brain of reading books in a moment.

Oil and gas prices have been going up, and the whole thing continues to take up an important piece of the spotlight.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 160 points or 1.2% while the S&P gained 1.4% to 1416 and the Nasdaq added 1.8%.

The Cancer Society is against the planned increase of New Zealand export of tobacco products to Australia. While the hiked production of cigarettes would lead to the creation of 50 new jobs in the next 24 months, it would also cause the loss of 20,000 lives yearly in Australia, Cancer Society Health Promotion Manager Jan Pearson said.

In a bid to further modernise the operations of its post office, Australia Post announced on Monday the launch of the online digital mailbox.

The fifth generation iOS, the operating system for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) mobile devices, was released in October last year alongside the iPhone 4S. Also made available for older devices, iOS 5 promised 200 new features. iOS 5 introduced the iCloud service, revamped notifications, improvements to native apps such as the Camera, new applications like Reminders, Newsstand, and iMessage.

The local share market ended the day's trade on a subdued note, which was expected to be the theme of the day given no release of local economic data and mixed offshore leads on Friday. Despite a strong start, mining stocks dragged on the overall market seeing the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) close down 5.5pts to 4355.2.

Apple's incredible success has produced side industries that convinced enterprising individuals to take a slice on the billons that the American tech giant has been raking since its renaissance in mid-2000.

Friday marks the end of an eventful first quarter for financial markets.

Still, TDS describes the commodity picture as "positive" for the longer term.