COMPANIES

What Apple has been up to lately? Tim Cook, the tech giant’s CEO, has allowed a short glimpse of his recent concerns and that of the high-profile company he inherited from its co-founder Steve Jobs.

The well-received Nexus 7 now comes with 3G connectivity, expanding the network capability of the tablet previously released by Google (and Asus) with only Wi-Fi access.

Australians would most likely patronage or buy items sold locally, such as gadgets, if only they were priced cheaper than counterparts sold overseas, a study by MasterCard released on Friday showed.

Published price tag of the ‘full’ Asus PadFone 2 starts at over $1000 in Australia. Seems pricey on first look but the package actually delivers two devices – the standalone smartphone which then becomes a tablet when docked with a companion shell.

Nokia’s chief designer Ahtisaari has a new Lumia baby and we’ll get to see it January 2013. Touted as the most affordable Windows Phone 8 handset that is set to hit global markets, the Lumia 620 will retail at $US249.

In November, an agreement between Apple and HTC about patent forbade the Taiwanese company to make and sell mobile devices that copies what is described as Distinctive Apple User Experience. With the deal, the two tech companies settled their most outstanding patent disputes in a settlement that includes a 10-year agreement with current and future licenses and patents between each other.

It doesn't take a techie Nostradamus to predict that the evolution of the mobile industry will be unstoppable with streaming technological innovations and influence of the growing consumers adapting to the tech age.

Google's Nexus 4 is now sold out at the Google Play Store. U.S. buyers who want to purchase the device could instead order the item from T-Mobile online stores which sells the 16GB model of Nexus 4 with a two-year service contract for $399.

Samsung is widely believed to unleash the Galaxy S4 on Q1 2013 but at around the same time, Taiwan’s HTC is rumored to wow the tech world anew with a new high-end smartphone known for now as M7.

The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) said the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has again confirmed that Australian households and borrowers are not paying more for their mortgages and business loans even though banks do not pass on RBA cash rate cuts in full.

The Android JellyBean 4.1 update is officially available for owners of Motorola’s Droid RAZR HD and MAXX HD and getting it is served in two ways – server initiated and manual update procedures.

Australia is one of only 13 countries where cars are designed and manufactured. The three large car manufacturers are Ford, Toyota and General Motors, while the three large truck manufacturers are Volvo, Kenworth and IVECO.

Blacks Ops 2, the latest in the blockbuster Call of Duty shooting game franchise, has registered more than $1 billion of global sales, a feat that Activision said was accomplished on the game title’s first 15 days of commercial availability.

The Ice Cream Sandwich on Motorola’s latest Android handsets, the Droid RAZR HD and the Droid MAXX HD, is gradually being bumped off in favour of the more flavourful JellyBean, Motorola Mobility has announced via Twitter this week.

At the yearly HITB Security Conference in Malaysia in October, familiar and new faces participated in the iOs jailbreak discussion. The appearance of known experts such as iPhone Dev-Team members @MuscleNerd and @planetbeing and Chronic Dev-Team member @pod 2g as well as unknowns such as Azimuth founder Mark Dows aka @mdowd, are indicators of how popular jailbreaking has become.

Besides bringing back the Sony Xperia S to the store shelves, the Japanese technology giant is also providing a JellyBean update for the model. Sony Mobile UK said an update for Android 4.1 will be open in mid-December. The news was actually announced in October. With the confirmation, Sony Xperia S may be the first to receive a golden update of Android 4.1 and owners of Sony Xperias T, TX, and V could expect updates soon. For overall Sony Xperia devices, a possible development for updates will ...

Both Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and major Australian banks' moves have been easy to predict in terms of overnight cash rate reductions and the response of the local lenders.

A group of developers have been very resourceful and found ways how to unlock root access for almost every Ice Cream Sandwich-operated smartphones, which they made available in a forum in XDA Developers.

Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Meyer hinted on Tuesday of the company's next plans about the booming mobile industry in relation to the Internet, which the company used to dominate several years ago.

In the pre-technology age, televiewers use the long stretch of time when commercials are shown for bathroom breaks or get some food or drinks from the refrigerator or pantry. Newspaper readers, in turn, simply turn the page or just ignore the print ads.

HTC’s Droid DNA is one powerful and impressive smartphone and thanks to Amazon, this handset earned higher consumer points with recent price cuts from its original U.S. retail point of $US199.99 to $US149.99, which comes with a Verizon contract.

CyanogenMod 10.1 for Google’s big tablet Nexus 10 is now ready for download at get.cm, providing Android lovers the chance to take the plunge on the extended world beyond the realms of JellyBean.

Popular blogging site Tumblr was hit on Monday by a malware attack which resulted in the posting of self-propagating and offensive measures on streams of users.

After so many years of depressing sales, Ford Motor Co. decided to revive and rename its Lincoln luxury brand. On the 3rd of December, Lincoln Motor Company is due to be introduced. The rebranding is aimed at reviving sales of Lincoln models. And what is more the Lincoln's first Super Bowl ad and television commercials are to be presented as well.

Centuries-old The Times of London, owned and published by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is partnering with Google via a deal that will see the English publication’s digital version on Nexus 7.

South Korea’s Samsung has invaded the United Kingdom by placing five Galaxy handsets in the November list of uSwitch Tech’s 10 most popular smartphones, with the million-selling Galaxy S3 heading the pack.

Nokia has been getting lots of attention lately, thanks much to the Windows-powered Lumia 920, and is likely to further broaden it audience reach soon via a looming deal with China Mobile Ltd, reports said.

Australian air passengers may soon find themselves on the same flight as mining billionaire Nathan Tinkler. The reason is that Mr Tinkler, who owns several companies, lost his $15-million private plane and corporate helicopter because of the collapse of a company he owns due to unpaid debts.

Android lovers wanting to enjoy the latest features and more of the Google mobile platform need not to wait for say Samsung or telcos to deliver the updates, which come excruciatingly slow.