COMPANIES

After more than two years of reign, a rival tablet appears to be gathering enough steam that tech experts seem convinced an iPad killer is now on the horizon.

After topping smartphone sales the past three quarters in effect taking away the smartphone crown from Apple, South Korean tech firm Samsung is now threatening to also dislodge the California-based company from its top spot in the tablet market.

Google’s design for the Nexus 10 is for the tablet to serve as a seminal device for Android developers, spurring them to author more apps that are specifically optimised for tablet owners.

Windows 8-powered devices are hip and cool, Microsoft would want us to believe, and to help the tech giant get this message across, to be absorbed and embraced by global consumers, it decides to employ the services of A-list celebrities.

Speed enthusiasts would be happy to know that top chipmaker Intel just launched a new processor called Itanium 9500 series which belongs to 64-bit family. According to Intel, the new processor offers up to 2.4 times performance scaling and 33 per cent faster Input and output speed versus its previous generation.

Samsung reigned supreme in the past three quarters of 2012 as the Best-Selling SmartPhone Manufacturer. IDC said the firm sold 56.3 million smartphones compared to Apple's 26.9 million units. Latest figure from Samsung showed that the company sold over 30 million Galaxy S III smartphones in the past five months. The model is Samsung's flagship unit.

The famous pizza restaurant chain, Pizza Hut, reported a website-hacking incident where customer’s names, email addresses and contact information were leaked. Despite Pizza Hut’s claims that the customer’s credit card information was not affected, the unpleasant incident should serve as a lesson for the business to keep strict protection of its personal and financial records.

Smart devices will be the norm of the future with three dominant platforms – Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows – all competing to meet the mobile computing demands of general and business consumers, a new report said.

Samsung leads the pack this time as reports emerged that rivals of the Asian tech giant have decided to counter the success of its Galaxy Note phablet, already on a second iteration that further stretched the device’s screen size, with of courses more potent specs.

Microsoft’s Surface RT has commenced hitting the road and results returned so far on numerous test drives strongly suggest that the gadget is not as confusing as thought earlier by Apple CEO Tim Cook, without of course the benefit of hand-on experience.

To indicate the growing use of Instagram among social networking sites, in the Tuesday election in the U.S., over 100,000 photos taken with the photo application was tagged with #iVoted and 150,000 with #election2012.

Since the launch of Apple's iPad Mini in 34 countries, combined sales of the device and the iPad fourth generation averaged 1 million units daily in the past three days.

While the role of Facebook and Twitter in helping elect and celebrate the Wednesday poll victory of U.S. President Barack Obama has once more been emphasised, the newbie social networking site Google+ appears quiet and out of the political equation.

The advantage enjoyed by online retailers based overseas over bricks and mortar stores insofar as Australian consumers are concerned may soon be removed. A plan by the federal government to collect the general sales tax (GST) for purchases abroad may just level the playing field for both kinds of retailers.

A stress test conducted by the Australia Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) showed that all major banks in the country passed it. APRA Chairman John Laker, in a Thursday speech in Brisbane, declared that another global economic meltdown would not result in significant losses for Aussie lenders.

These days, Chinese brand Lenovo is touted as the next big thing in the personal computer business, threatening the hold to precarious lead of familiar names like Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell and Acer.

This is the end of Suzuki's American dream. American Suzuki Motor Corp. informed that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Apple’s Chinese partner in production Foxxcon said that it is facing difficulties in keeping up with demand for iPhone 5.

Another legal setback for Apple as the tech giant was ordered Wednesday by a U.S. federal court in Texas to shell out more than $US368 million for patent infringement, stemming from the technology behind FaceTime, the video call feature that is a mainstay on Mac computers, iPhone and iPad.

The Lumia 920, according to Nokia, represents improvements from all the shortfalls found on previous Nokia handsets, potentially making the new Windows smartphone an inviting prospect for consumers planning to indulge on new tech toys come the holiday season.

Apple and Samsung have been battling across the market and in legal matters to prove which is winner, iOS or the Android OS. However, the real winner is determined by sales of its devices, including new releases.

A fifth Australian bank will likely soon join the ranks of the Big 4, the monicker for Westpac, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ANZ Bank.

Australians will likely be reading more juicy details of the Rinehart family court feud in 2013. On Wednesday, New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton adjourned the multimillion dollar lawsuit over the family trust to March 2013 for pre-trial directions.

Giant miner BHP Billiton, currently the largest mining operator in the world, has refused to categorically confirm reports that the company’s CEO, Marius Kloppers, is on his way out after more than five years of stay that was mostly characterised by incredible growth and expansion.

Struggling Nokia was afforded major boosts in Australia and the United States thanks to giant telcos opting to support new Windows-powered smartphones that the mobile phone maker said will begin rolling out early November.

Microsoft is fully embracing the $USUS8.5 billion internet communication technology that came with its Skype acquisition in 2011, disclosing on Tuesday that the messaging client would be its sole application for hundreds of millions of global users to connect via PCs or mobile devices.

The yearend holiday is fast approaching and this early, some people are drawing up their Christmas shopping list. People, after all celebrate Christmas not only with food, decorations, events, and travel, but also with gifts. Today's techie generation inevitable includes high tech gadgets and devices as much appreciated Christmas gifts.

The tech world constantly produces winners and losers with some twists. The dominant forces of yesteryears now found themselves struggling and barely surviving, which analysts said is the current state of Sony.

News reports have indicated that people lining up for the refreshed regular iPad and the iPad Mini were not as spectacular as the iPhone 5 queues, but Apple reported on Monday that it already sold three million units of all versions of the slate in the first 72 hours of its availability.