COMPANIES

There are only 2 days left to submit your nominations for the Australian HR Awards.

The employment markets overseas are still very soft. This is notably the case in most Western economies such as the UK, Europe and the US. With this as a backdrop, what are the implications for Australian HR professionals?

Sony Computer Entertainment announced Tuesday that long-time partner Sucker Punch Productions is joining the global development operation of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS).

According to a research firm, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has moved ahead of Finnish handset maker Nokia, with its flagship Galaxy S II product performing well. But Samsung's overall performance was underwhelming, considering the opportunities offered by the upheaval at Nokia, according to research firm Canalys.

Adobe, the software company famous for its Flash software running the online animation, video and graphics on most computers, unveiled a preview of its latest software called Adobe Edge.

One of Norway's largest retailers, Coop Norway announced last week that they will pull 51 games and toy brands from their stores after the Oslo and Utoya shootings killed 77 people in a government building and a youth camp.

Finding suitable and qualified tradespeople has re-emerged as a major challenge for the automotive sector in South Australia. A 2011 skill shortage survey by the state’s peak automotive industry group, the Motor Trade Association found that 69 per cent of respondents had experienced difficulty in attracting suitable people. This compares with 57 per cent the year before.

Apple's iCloud website went live Monday but only as a "beta" version and is only available for existing MobileMe customers with the Mac OS X on their desktops and notebooks.

Low-cost solar power is increasingly becoming the focus of solar-cell manufacturers, new research shows.

The $4.7 billion takeover proposal dangled on Macarthur Coal by Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal meets the minimal expectations of the world’s largest coking coal miner but the firm maintains that considering more options is the best path so far in attracting its desire bid.

Organisations are misfiring when attempting to drum up employee loyalty and performance, by using increasingly elaborate company perks to retain staff.

Spreading rumours at work is indeed a sackable offence, with the decision to sack a Global Cranes worker who spread “salacious” rumours being upheld by the workplace watchdog.

Harvey Fresh has been awarded the contract to supply Coles brand milk in Western Australia for the next three years.

Australians will have to wait for quite a while before they could get their hands on the new Samsung Galaxy tablet computer as the South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer decided to suspend its local sale, at least until the company’s legal dispute with Apple has been resolved.

U.S. Treasury debt prices rallied on Monday as a troubled outlook for the U.S. and global economies whetted appetite for safe-haven government debt, sending yields to their lowest in more than eight months.

Nokia's woes continue to grow as it was dislodged from the top of the smartphone market for the first time in fifteen years. Apple and Samsung Electronics vaulted over Nokia to gain the first and second rankings respectively at the smartphone sales rankings, according to Strategy Analytics this Friday.

Dairy Farmers are worried changes in Woolworths’ milk supply arrangements will negatively affect farmgate prices. Parmalat recently won the contract to supply Woolworths’ house brand milk products in NSW. This contract was previously held by Lion (formerly National Foods), which sourced around 100 million litres of milk from Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative (DFMC) members in NSW to supply Woolworths.

Leighton Contractors said Monday it had been selected by Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to deliver the final stage of the Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) in an Alliance contract worth $150 million.

Tiger Airways remain grounded as a scheduled Federal Court directions hearing of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's application to continue the suspension of the Singapore budget carrier has been adjourned for a third time. A Federal Court directions hearing had been scheduled for Monday 1 August 2011, but the matter has now been adjourned to Wednesday 3 August 2011.

The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has announced it is continuing its proceedings against diet spray company Sensaslim Australia Pty Ltd.

US StocksU.S. stocks fell Friday and posted the biggest weekly decline in a year, as a blur of debt-ceiling developments left the market uncertain over the course of Washington's deadlocked negotiations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 96.87 points, or 0.79%, at 12143.24, in a volatile session that extended the index's losing streak to six straight sessions. All but two of the 30 Dow components finished in the red.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEST)The US economy grew at a 1.3pct annual pace in the June quarter, weaker than forecasts centred on a gain of 1.8pct. In addition March quarter GDP growth was revised down from 1.9pct to 0.4pct.

Now Stanford researcher Elie Bursztein is demonstrating at the Black Hat USA 2011 security conference that Microsoft is making available online the locations of Wi-Fi devices without taking privacy precautions. He says that Microsoft's Live.com makes public the precise geographical location of wi-fi enabled gadgets.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., announced during the week that Samsung GALAXY S II (Model: GT-I9100) has passed the 5 million global sales milestone.

Dell Inc. on Thursday launched the Dell Streak 10 Pro tablet, its first 10-inch Android Honeycomb 3.1 tablet.

Nintendo, which released the 3DS only in February, will lower the 3DS to $169.99 starting Aug. 12, down 32 percent from $249.99.

E-Bay Australia will start charging its users double on some auction listings to push sellers away from second-hand auctions to list new items.

Australia’s second mainland National Broadband Network (NBN) site has been switched on this morning, with residents in the Kiama Downs and Minnamurra, south of Sydney, set to experience superfast fibre broadband.

British police officials revealed on Wednesday the arrest of an 18-yea-old teenager that authorities tagged as the mouthpiece of a hacking group identified as responsible for breaching the security protocols of Sony Pictures and a host of other websites.