COMPANIES

Tablets have evolved from being an optional device to being a must-have device in a person's life either in business or personal dealings. Many companies have noticed this sudden shift as various tablet models are being manufactured and marketed in the market.

Finance Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that the Wednesday announcement by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) that it would close its Norwich Park coking coal mine in Queensland is not an indicator of the state of the mining industry in Australia.

The two large Australian mining firms, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX: Rio) are expected to report next week 4 per cent lower of total estimated iron ore output for the March quarter.

Nokia, the Finland-based phone manufacturer recently launched their newest Windows Phone in the market which is Nokia Lumia 900. Barely reaching a week after it was launched last Easter Sunday; users are now facing issues with their new Windows Phone.

Choice, a consumer watchdog, took the cudgels for plus-size women on Thursday by asking retailers to widen the range of clothes available to large females. The group said because of limited choices, these kinds of women have to buy online or at chain stores.

The supposed news and rumors regarding Apple's new iPhone is taking the world by storm as more and more "leaked" specifications have been appearing in different news sources. The latest one came from the website, 9to5Mac which states that the new iPhone prototypes will be having 1GB of RAM and "A5X" chip which was utilized in the new iPad for the Retina Display features.

Charter Hall Retail REIT (ASX:CQR) (the 'REIT') has announced that it is in the tail-end of acquiring Wanneroo Central Shopping Centre in Perth, Western Australia for $70 million.

Sony Corp. announced that the company's plan of cutting down a total of 10,000 jobs which is equivalent to 6% of the global workforce. This strategy is said to be part of a new "restructuring plan" under the new president of the company.

The tech world's patent wars continue and Microsoft is bent on building up its armoury by securing hundreds of patent rights from former internet titan, AOL Inc.

Love Instagram? Well you will surely be counted with the 30 million plus global users that the mobile app has attracted so far and Facebook quickly took notice of the online social commotion and decided to join the fun.

Some of the most interesting vehicles in New York were in the basement. I checked out an electric DeLorean, a natural gas wheelchair van, and a flying car.

Oscar Valdes, cabinet chief to Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, said on Tuesday that it would take about three more days before the nine trapped miners could be rescued.

Qatar became the third-largest stockholder of mining firm Xstrata after it bought 5 percent of the company's shares at $A2.65 billion. The purchase was made by the country's sovereign wealth fund.

Tourism industry executives blamed the strong Australian dollar for the slump in tourism revenues as foreign visitor spending declined to a four-year low of $2.63 billion in February.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU) foresees the prolonged labour dispute at the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) at the Bowen Basin coal mines may last longer, possibly until the end of April.

Nokia, the Finland-based phone manufacturer recently announced the release of their latest Windows Phone last April 8, 2012 which is the Nokia Lumia 900. Through this release, would Windows Phone be able to regain its place in the smartphone market?

Rumors of a new tablet from Google and Asus are ringing strongly in the technological world and there are now various news reports stating that the said tablet will now be pushed back in July.

Germany's competition watchdog to launch pricing inquiry against petrol giants.

Draw Something has become one of the most popular mobile games throughout the world.

There is a rumor that Apple is currently working on a game controller for easier playing in iPhone.

A patent filed last spring by Apple with the United States Patent and Trademark Office reveled that Apple is planning to develop Siri into having language transition features.

Korean-based firm Samsung announced that there will be a delay regarding the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 line. The company announced that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 line will be likely to be available by the end of April, 2012.

Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app is now available for Android users. It was first exclusively offered to iPhone users for the past 18 months but it has now expanded to Android-based smartphones.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), the world's top tech company by market value, will report to the public its revenue and earnings for its second fiscal quarter.

Facebook unleashed its retaliatory actions against Yahoo, which the social networking giant has accused of using technologies that it claims exclusive ownership of.

Apparently taking too much heat from the scandals hounding his family's media empire, James Murdoch announced on Tuesday his resignation as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).

The all-new, second-generation Mercedes-Benz B-Class has launched in Australia with three model variants making up the range: B180, B200 and B200 CDI.

Now we all know how most rental cars get treated, but we suspect this McLaren MP4-12C may be treated with a little bit more respect by its users.

OneSteel announced on Tuesday plans to change its name to Arrium Limited in a bid to bring in new investors and clarify the extent of its business.