COMPANIES

Strict requirements being imposed on Australian dealers would limit the car outlets nationwide that will be able to sell GM Holden's new hybrid sedan - the mostly electric-powered Volt.

The price for Facebook Share recently went down and closed at around US$26.90. The low share price was attributed to the problems and delay that the social networking site encountered.

A recent report done by International Data Corp. (IDC) revealed that Microsoft's Windows Phone is set to conquer the worldwide market share for mobile phones and even beating out Apple's iOS by the year 2016.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) has reached a four-year collective industrial agreement with workers at its Olympic Dam mine in South Australia. The miner said the certainty and stability provided by the deal would be a key for the BHP board to decide on its $30-billion expansion plan.

It is not just unproductive assets that financially challenged Qantas is shedding from its system, but also passengers with disruptive behaviour.

Microsoft has just unveiled its Windows 8 release preview and most of the reviews regarding this OS has been mostly positive. The released version is just the test version before it will go to the hardware partners of Microsoft. Steven Sinofsky, the president for Windows stated that the new OS would be launched "for the holidays".

Apple is seeking to ban the official release of Samsung Galaxy S III in the market specifically in the U.S. through filing a patent dispute.

In a surprise move, ANZ Bank announced on Friday that it will pass the 25 basis points cut made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) earlier this week to 3.25 per cent. Most analysts were of the belief that the big four would hold 10 basis points out of the 25 basis points reduced by the RBA.

Gamers all over the world were joyful when the rumors about the availability of Diablo 3 in PS3 and Xbox were circulating rapidly in the web. Rumors about the availability of Diablo 3 in PS3 and Xbox are still unknown but there are certain hints which supports these rumors.

Apple would hate to see the new Galaxy SIII entering the U.S. market anytime soon but the maker of the smartphone, Samsung, vowed on Thursday that American consumers will surely enjoy its flagship mobile handset real soon.

The global fight against dengue is poised to gain more traction over the next three years as French pharmaceutical Sanofi revealed this week the arrival of a vaccine that could potentially save millions from the mosquito-borne disease.

Microsoft recently gave a preview of the upcoming Halo 4 during the Microsoft press E3 conference in Los Angeles. Halo 4 is considered as one of the best games released in the past years due to the way it has involved players as well as for its gaming features.

Many people all over the world including Australians were eagerly anticipating the release of Samsung Galaxy S3. Now that the Samsung Galaxy S3 has already been released in Australia, is it a hit or a miss for Australians?

Apple fans all over the world are eagerly anticipating the Apple event and the new Apple gadgets that will be introduced by the company. Apple will be holding its Worldwide Developers Conference (WDC 2012) by next week from June 11-15, 2012 in San Francisco.

The Australian share market has hit a six day high in early trade, on the back of better than expected jobs numbers. 38,900 jobs were created in the Australian economy in May, versus expectations of slight job losses. However the April numbers were revised, ticking the May unemployment rate from 4.9pct to 5.1pct. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is firmer by 60pts or 1.5pct to 4164.7.

There are numerous rumors circulating around the web about the possibility of a new and revamped Apple Macbook Pro. The exact specifications and details about the new Macbook Pro is set to be revealed at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

Because of the general economic slowdown across Australia, profit downgrade warnings are becoming a buzzword among Aussie companies. The latest to declare a profit downgrade on Thursday was cheesemaker Warrnambool Cheese and Butter.

It's the word of an expert from the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning versus residents on whether coal seam gas (CSG) would damage the environment or not.

Although both Australian retailers David Jones and Myer registered sales slump in the last quarter, the two are bent on recovering lost ground by offering hefty discounts for their mid-season clearance sale which begin Wednesday or a day ahead of the sale opening by department stores.

Mobile computing will bring about the anticipated decline and even demise of social media giant Facebook, which according to a new report could follow the way of Yahoo over the next five years.

Nintendo said on Tuesday that the new Wii U will also see the resurrection of the gaming company's most popular creation, Mario, who again will launch his adventures in the holiday release of the console's hardware upgrade.

Outsourcing - the boon of Asian workers and the bane of western employees - is about to hit an Australian rail operator. Reports said that QR National will shed 500 jobs mostly in Queensland as it transitions from a state-owned company to a listed firm.

The newly appointed chief executive of Qantas's international operations has a lot of work cut out for him following the warning of by Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce of an expected net loss of $330 million for the financial year that ends this June.

The Australian share market is trading relatively flat in the early session, with the main indices see-sawing between positive and negative territory. Stronger than expected GDP numbers saw the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) hit a high of 4112 points just after 11.30am AEST, but at midday in the East the market has pulled back a little. The XAO currently firmer by 8pts to 4100.4.

The gaming world remains in suspended mode this year and the next few years to come, hardware-wise, as Sony confirmed on Monday that no upgrade of the PlayStation 3 game console will be unleashed in the remaining months of 2012.

ANZ Bank has outsourced its IT testing and environment services to Capgemini, a French information technology firm

The Australian share market has rebounded from yesterday's two percent drop and is posting solid gains ahead of this afternoon's interest rate decision. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is firmer by 49.4pts or 1.2pct to 4082.8, after hitting a high of 4095 points.

It's one of these days where royalty appears to be almost human as possible. It has been reported that Queen Elizabeth has granted a "royal warranty" to AV/TV manufacturer, Samsung Electromics for its TV and AV services to the royal family. This also means that Queen Elizabeth is watching TV in her private time (gasp!).

Google has rolled out a new feature on its search site, which the Internet giant said will provide technical guidelines for error returns normally encountered by searches originating from China.