COMPANIES

Amazon will release an update for the Kindle Fire in two weeks after early consumer complaints about the tablet have surfaced.

Google Inc. has pulled 22 apps that are masquerading as legitimate versions of popular games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.

Thousands of migrating birds were killed or injured after seemingly mistaking parking lots, football fields and various other snow-covered areas of southern Utah for bodies of water and dropping to the ground in what a state wildlife specialist called the worst mass bird crash anyone has ever seen.

The Mackay Conservation Group warned of the danger of the new coal terminal being planned in Queensland a day after the state government announced the award of tracks of land to two companies which will develop the ports.

The World Bank (WB) banned on Thursday Australian engineering firm Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) from participating in its projects for two years. The ban was due to KBR's misconduct in talks over a Vietnamese water supply contract.

Samsung has admitted that it somewhat got free marketing boosts when giant tech firm Apple decided to throw legal hurdles its way that for months barred the South Korean company from selling its flagship products on major markets around the world, including Australia.

Another Australian retailer fell victim to the weak business environment. Menswear chain Fletcher Jones will close one third of its outlets and lay off 61 employees.

Personal car-sharing spreads from California to Oregon and, very soon, to a neighborhood near you. The concept of hiring out your own vehicle has proven wildly popular here and around the globe.

A Swiss national filed a lawsuit against an Austrian casino operator, claiming that he was defrauded of some $57 million when the latter refused to pay the jackpot that the player won last year.

James Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, obtained an e-mail chain in mid-2008 describing prevalent illegal voice-mail interception at the company's now-closed News of the World tabloid, according to a interior communications released Tuesday by a parliamentary commission.

Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen announced Tuesday that he and aerospace engineer Burt Rutan are building the largest aircraft that can launch a satellite or spacecraft into orbit.

As Facebook gets ready for a much-awaited public offering, the company is eager to flaunt its force by building on its enormous membership: an upwards of 800 million active users around the world, and more or less 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

The Queensland government awarded on Wednesday to Adani Mining and Dudgeon Point Project Management (DPPM) land for a new coal port south of MacKay. The planned port would have an export capacity of 180 million tonnes.

More trips would link Singapore to Australian cities. SilkAir will offer direct trips from Darwin to Singapore four days weekly beginning March 26.

The deal between Mozilla Firefox and Google has been a lucrative one but this deal has already expired last month. Through this deal coming to an end, many people are asking if this would really be the end of this business partnership.

Sony has set its sights on being the next big name in smartphones and the first step towards that goal is dropping the "Ericsson" in their brand name.

Strikes hit again the ports of Western Australia (WA) and New South Wales (NSW) which has crippled wharf activities in NSW. In WA, the striking workers have been locked out indefinitely by management.

Just when you thought Hewlett Packard's webOS was done for, the little operating system lives to fight another day. HP has promised to make more tablets with the webOS system with the software actually going the open source route like Google's Android.

Microsoft will release its next generation Windows 8 operating system next year in hopes of offering an OS that could cater to both tablets and desktops devices. But could Windows 8 really be a formidable rival to Google's Android and Apple's iOS in the mobile arena while still keeping Microsoft's lead in the desktop computing market?

Tablet computers are among the bestsellers in tech stores worldwide. The most known models of these devices come from Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Asus, and LG. However, all are expensive, with prices ranging from $300 - $600 depending on their size and technical features.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is definitely on its way to Australian tech stores following the decision by the High Court of Australia to lift the ban on the device's sale just in time for Christmas shopping.

India has announced on Monday the shutting down of a server identified by computer security experts as one of the portals being used by computers that have been tagged as Duqu infected.

Australian miner Minerals and Metal Group (MMG) has invested $157 million at the Dugald River zinc project, one of the largest zinc deposits in the world. The venture is located 85 kilometres north east of Mount Isa.

Despite announcement by Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce that its domestic operations is back to pre-strike level, the air carrier would have to wait for at least six more months before its industrial row with unions would be solved.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard appointed Greg Combet on Tuesday to oversee the new steel industry rescue package. His appointment is part of the cabinet reshuffle initiated by Ms Gillard.

A draft white paper released by Energy Minister Martin Ferguson on Tuesday estimated that Australia would need $240 billion investment for its gas and electricity industries over the next 20 years to ensure the country has reliable power supply.

3.5-litre six-cylinder petrol direct-injection with seven-speed automatic transmission, rear-wheel drive 225kW/370Nm. $159,200 (Manufacturer's List Price)

The four-cylinder EcoBoost engine set to power the Ford Falcon in 2012 has been named among this year’s Ward’s 10 Best Engines.

From Morrison Securities Pty Ltd. A negative reaction to last week's European sovereign-debt summit by credit-ratings firms sent U.S. stocks sharply lower Monday, erasing all of the stock-market gains that followed the summit Friday.