COMPANIES

The Australian government should make a bigger push to make the plain packaging of cigarettes uglier to cut the country's smoking rate. A study released on Monday found that more Aussies are thinking of quitting their nicotine habit not because of fear of acquiring lung cancer as the images and words on the cigarette packaging warn, but due to the ugliness of the wrapper.

Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969 and nearly 600 million television viewers watched the historical event live across the world, including a five-year-old Jeff Bezos, now the CEO of Amazon. A day before the 44th anniversary, Bezos disclosed that the two rocket engines that his team had found from the depths of the Atlantic are from Apollo 11.

There is already a device allowing people to print 3D liquid metal. The new patent sighted under Apple hints that liquid metal will be hitting the mobile market soon. Could the next iPhone feature liquid metal?

Intel’s CEO Brian Kranich had his first earnings call. The chip giant’s head post revealed his strategy on pushing Intel’s growth and development. For the second quarter of 2013, Intel reported $12.8 billion in revenue. Net income came at $2 billion for the current quarter. This is 2 percent down from 2012’s record.

Sony Alpha Rumors reported that Sony will be revealing a new high-end smartphone featuring a “lens camera.” Based from the information, it seems like Sony will be including a DLSR in a camera – it is an excellent feature that can put the company ahead of the race.

People lined up the streets to wait for the release of the first iPhone in 2007. From the time Steve Jobs unveiled one of the world’s most popular mobile handset, people have always anticipated product releases and announcements from Apple. To many businesses like shopping stores and developers, whatever Apple puts out is their bread and butter. Is the same still going on today?

The market offered a wide range of phones currently, but upcoming mobile phones were taking much of people’s attention these days. Specifically, the Nexus 5 and the iPhone 6 were creating such a buzz, it was necessary to take a look at what these phones had to offer. Which phone will change the face of the mobile market?

A Google survey found out that there are more Aussies using smartphones as compared to Americans and British

Chinese device maker Huawei is currently working on the new 5G technology with 200 people dedicated to conduct research and develop the massive connectivity. Huawei Technologies further declared that the 5G mobile technology will be available to use in 2020.

The Moto X smartphone will soon became a reality from mere speculation. The official launch of the new mobile phone from Motorola Mobility is on Aug 1 in New York, according to Slashgear.

There are trade secrets in every profession. Here are the ones for an air hostess.

The Mini Paceman, the seventh full-production model to come from the British brand, is the latest to get the treatment from associated performance stable John Cooper Works. The JCW badge is also a natural fit for the sportiest version of the biggest Mini and Australia's first model to combine four-wheel drive with two doors.

Paypal says the use of physical credit cards will soon die out by 2018, thanks to rising number of Australians using their smartphones for purchasing almost virtually anything, according to a senior executive of the digital payment service company.

Google’s event this week got everyone anticipating what the tech giant has in store for everyone. Scheduled on the 24th of the July, speculations going around indicate that Google may be finally unveiling their Nexus 7.2 and the new Android 4.3.

The latest iOS on Apple devices like iPod touch, iPad or iPhone will refuse certain words according to reports. When users input words like “virginity”, “abortion”, “ammo”, “bullet” and “rape”, the operating system will refuse to provide the correct word.

Acer will replace their first generation Iconia W3 sooner than expected according to reports. The piling concerns over the 8.1 Windows 8 tablet will force the company to release the refreshed version as soon as this coming September.

Americans are not buying the explanation of Rolling Stone why the iconic magazine featured as its cover story a glamourised photo of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The fallout would be felt in the sales of the August 2013 issue as at least five retailers from the New England area would not sell Rolling Stone magazine. These are CVS, Walgreens, Rite Air, Stop & Shop, Roche Bros and Tedeschi Food.

The staff of Lonely Planet in the travel guide company's Melbourne headquarters is bracing for the upcoming job cuts expected to be announced on Thursday. At least 100 employees will lose their jobs after Lonely Planet will issue the order.

HP recently revealed new touch-based products. These include a range of all-in-one PCs and notebooks. As the company offers devices like the Envy Rove, the Pavilion 11, SlateBook x2, the Split x2 and the Envy TouchSmart 14 Ultrabook, including the Slate 21 All-in-One, one thing is clear – HP is ready to join the competition.

In North Carolina, customers still eating dinner at the Hops Grill and Brewery were suddenly asked to immediately leave the premises when the authorities came to shut down the restaurant. The Hops management then informed their patrons that the restaurant was closing permanently.

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) entered a deal agreeing to commercialise their intelligent robots to clean around Sydney

Windows-based PC sales continue to decline but Chromebooks are experiencing otherwise. For the last couple of months, shipments for Chromebooks have been increasing. Analysts expect the shipments to increase by as much as 200% to 300%. This trend now shifts the focus of companies. As Lenovo, HP, Acer and Samsung capitalize on launching Chromebooks, can Windows 8 devices survive?

The Amazon Kindle Fire is one of the tablets that reportedly will have a next-generation model, which is why tech experts recommend for people who are on tighter budget and want to take advantage of price cuts on 2012 models to consider this gadget.

It seems Android will be taking the market by storm. Several devices running on the Android OS will hit stores this week and the coming months. Namely, Sony just introduced the Sony Xperia Z LTE, LG will be unleashing the G@ and HTC One will be featuring pure Android or Sense.

U.S. carrier Verizon has scheduled an event on July 23, Tuesday, and hinted it would be the release date for three Motorola DROID phones.

The market previously only offered a limited number of tablet-sized smartphones. Gone are those days as companies like Asus and Sony reveal their plans about releasing phablets some time soon. Specifically, Sony will introduce Xperia Z Ultra whereas Asus will release the Fonepad Note FHD 6.

Sony refuses to play safe in the smartphone market. The Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, and the new Xperia Z Ultra boosted Sony’s position in the market emphasizing that the company is a formidable competition for leading phone manufacturers. With already three devices out, Sony is not stopping. The company wants to release another smartphone called the Sony i1.

The PC market has been in a slump for quite some time now and chipmakers especially Intel (INTC) is losing sales. Analysts expect Intel to post another declining sales record for the fourth consecutive quarter.

Sony's Xperia Z waterproof smartphone will soon hit stores through T-Mobile. As reviews for the Xperia Z offers positive response from the market, the question now is whether Sony’s Xperia Z waterproof line can compete with the likes of Samsung Galaxy S4?