COMPANIES

The financial stability of embattled airline Qantas is facing another threat over the tie-up between Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines.

According to a 2011 survey by the MIT Sloan School of Business, nearly 80 percent of all brand and market management decisions made by top-performing companies were primarily based on their CEO's intuition, rather than any form of market research.

Mobile technology has made the traditional 9-to-5 office hours outdated. In lieu of the 8-hour traditional pattern, many office employees now clock in 12 hours of work from 7-to-7.

A day after the Fairfax Media board closed with finality the doors of its boardroom to Australia's richest woman and the company's largest stakeholder Gina Rinehart, the media firm's stocks continued to plummet in value.

Google has just unveiled its latest Android version which is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean during the ongoing Google I/O 2012. Barely a month before that, Apple also unveiled its latest OS which iOS 6. The battle between the best OS is on and many people are asking this very important questions: Which is better? Google's Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or Apple's iOS 6?

Bioware has just released the extended cut for the popular game, Mass Effect 3. The extended cut was released due to the demand of Mass Effect 3 fans that they were "cheated" because of the ending. This Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut is Bioware's effort to appease Mass Effect 3 fans.

Todd Kelly, the team owner of V8 Supercars express his enthusiasm when the Nissan parts arrived at the team's base located in Melbourne. This Nissan parts are going to be utilized for the V8 Supercars 2013.

Software makers are re-training their attention on what Apple has proven as a sure-fire way of earning the big bucks - put together a sexy gadget and have it powered by in-house operating system and maybe a few years after, you'll be on top of the world.

The PlayStation Network would be receiving another software update by today but the said update would just be minimal. The update will roll out for today and it is dubbed as "v4.20".

Day 1 of the Google I/O 2012 has already past but the revealing of the new Google products are still fresh for everyone's mind. During the conference, Google revealed the Google Nexus 7 Tablet, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and Google Glasses.

NBN Co flatly denied that Australia's $36-billion nationwide broadband roll out has hit a snag following reports that major contractors attached to the federal initiative were mulling possible pull outs from the project that has been plagued by numerous delays.

Local stocks are gaining traction for a second consecutive session, following gains on US and European markets overnight. Positive US housing data boosted sentiment, although volumes were low in Europe ahead of a key European Union summit kicking off tonight in Brussels. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 18.8pts or 0.5pct to 4102.8.

Technology is really changing the lives of consumers the world over. Among the technological innovations that Australians could look forward to in the future that would make life easier for them is not falling in line at supermarket check-out counters.

Dell recently unveiled its line of XPS Ultrabooks with the hopes of becoming the top providers of ultrabooks in the world. Despite that intention, can it really compete with Apple's MacBook Air?

Facebook, the popular social networking site recently made changes in terms of email addresses of users. This change made users angry and protests regarding this change was widespread among Facebook users.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." Australia's sharemarket is waiting if that adage would be applicable in the case of Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, who was denied anew on Wednesday a seat in the Fairfax Media board.

Mozilla Firefox 13 is being plagued with security and privay issues due to its new feature. This new feature can be a potential threat for users who are sharing the same computer device.

There are news reports saying that Google is planning to launch the company's newest tablet offering named Google Nexus Tablet. The Google Nexus tablet is said to be the next competitor for Apple's iPad.

Apple has just released its latest line of MacBook Pros and one of the highlights for this is the inclusion of Retina display as its main feature. The inclusion of Retina display means that the image for the MacBook Pro would be sharper and clearer. Despite that assurance, Apple's MacBook Pro with Retina display is now being plagued with issues and problems.

The local share market is picking up a little following four sessions of losses, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 21.8pts or 0.5pct to 4078.1 at lunchtime in the East. There was a little bit of investor apathy in Europe overnight ahead of yet another European Union summit to discuss the region's debt crisis while US markets rose on upbeat housing data.

With less than a week before the Gillard government starts the collection of the $23-per tonne carbon tax, the Opposition is using all means to discredit the tax. The Coalition strategies include tapping small Australian businesses to post fliers that apologises to customers for hiking their prices on account of the carbon tax.

The power of Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, was immediately felt by Fairfax Media even before she steps into the company's boardroom. A day after Ms Rinehart threatened to sell her shares of the company, Fairfax shares declined 3.5 per cent and closed at 55 cents.

The Google IO 2012 is set to take place on June 27-29, 2012 at Moscone Center, San Francisco. Developers and spectators alike are all anticipating the upcoming news and updates for the Google IO 2012.

Local stocks closed in negative territory for a fourth consecutive session today, although managed to fare better than expected given the weak offshore lead. US and European markets slumped overnight after ratings agency Moody's downgraded the Spanish banking sector, and after Cyprus and Spain formally requested European aid. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down 15.7pts or 0.4pct to 4056.3 while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) fell 14.5pts or 0.4pct to 4013.3.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer has unveiled its latest phone, the Samsung Galaxy S III in Korea.

Apple has just released the latest update for its iOS 6 beta version. This is the first update to the OS and it was released through beta form to developers.

Sony had just announced that the company would be providing Google TV for Australian customers starting this Thursday. The release of Google TV in the Australian market would mean a direct competition between Google TV and Apple TV thus eventually leading to this question: Is Google TV better than Apple TV?

Gordon Merchant, founder and biggest shareholder of troubled surfwear retailer Billabong International, announced on Tuesday it is open yet again to accepting takeover bids for the company. Billabon shares dived 47.5 per cent into a massive whirlpool after coming out of a trading halt since Thursday.

Australia's four largest banks now have less reason not to pass in full to borrowers any future overnight cash rate cuts that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would make. It is because the latest yearly survey of the Bank for International Settlements have released Tuesday stated that ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac topped the list of profitable banks in the world.