BUSINESS

During his term as spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic church, he was merely known as Pope Benedict XVI. But on Feb. 28 at 8:00 p.m., once his resignation and abdication becomes official, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger will get to maintain and be conferred three titles by the Vatican: His Holiness Benedict XVI, Pope Emeritus or Roman Pontiff Emeritus.

Another tablet has joined the battle for supremacy among devices that sport 7-inch screens. The latest entrant is Hewlett-Packard's Slate 7 tablet which retails at $169.

Future iPhone and iPad versions could come with ‘situational awareness’ functions, allowing the device to predict owners’ desired real-time conditions, a new report said.

Samsung will snatch back the smartphone leadership it lost to Apple in Q4 2012, likely eclipsing its predecessor’s record sales of 40 million units and counting.

Android phone manufacturers Samsung, HTC, Motorola, and Windows Mobile lead runner Nokia still are no match to Apple's iPhone when it comes to reliability, a survey says. A report from FixYa showed the loyalty of many smartphone users that made the iPhone beat other top-of-the-line units such as Samsung Galaxy S3 and Nokia Lumia 920 when it comes to function and ecosystem.

Because of the poor financial performance of Virgin Australia, the air carrier has made an about face on its plan to expand the Tiger fleet under its planned buy-out of the budget airline.

Subaru has sold its 700,000th vehicle in Australia, as the local division of Fuji Heavy Industries celebrates 40 years on our shores.

A new, more powerful variant of the Mazda CX-5 has gone on sale in Australia, priced from $32,880 for the 2.5-litre petrol Maxx automatic.

By Michael Noonan, Edge Trader PlusMarket activity rules! It is the basis for understanding the motivation for all moves, up or down.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 115 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1496 and the Nasdaq added 0.

For weeks now a common market discussion has turned around the rise of the markets and the speed with which the ASX200 ascended to the 6000 mark. Over the course of this time there have been few outcomes to interfere with the rosier perspective adopted by the market. The last week has seen this paradigm revert to themes that were common place at the end of last year. European political risk and the state of US finances have returned to cast a pall over market sentiment.

Apple iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak is not possible, according to a developer who works with a popular jailbreaking group. The new Apple OS will reportedly not be rolled out until a month later, but the developer who tested it over the weekend has determined it was not going to work. But this is not entirely a bad piece of news for jailbroken device users.

Asus is asking $US250 for consumers to own the new Intel Atom-powered FonePad, another entry in the growing tablet breed that also delivers phone functions.

The Australian sharemarket is lower today following an uncertain Italian election result overnight. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is down 0.6 per cent or 31 pts to 5041.7.

Apple Maps is still confusing to use, and it has caused several incidents in 2012, not to mention misleading people to drive into the middle of the forest. The application's flaw led Apple to include Google Maps available for download as an alternative for users using iOS devices in other areas not yet covered by the app.

As promised, LG uncloaked the Optimus G Pro via the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and everyone saw a strong phablet contender that aims to dislodge Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 from its throne.

The invites are out and by March 14 the world will get a glimpse of what mettle the Samsung Galaxy S4 is made of, possibly answering this question: What new smartphone capabilities do we get to see?

Samsung smartphone owners would soon be able to make payments for their purchases by merely waving their units near a special reader. The privilege would be open to owners of smartphones with the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that allows a phone to transmit information to a nearby reader without touching the reader.

Pitting the two handsets, we should be able to appreciate which delivers the best value for every dollar

The Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS and co-creator of the Nexus 4 announced on Monday an Android tablet with Intel Atom processor installed. The company unveiled the information at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with will lead to more power for the Android ecosystem using the Clover Trail feature of the processor.

Things are getting out of hand. Recent credit growth data from China's economy should be enough to excite the bears and the bulls alike. Total social financing, the metric of credit growth used to encapsulate both bank and non-bank lending in China, was a whopping US$400 billion in January alone. Or $4.8 trillion annualised!

With the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) set to meet again in the next few days to make another overnight cash rate decision, the central bank hinted on Tuesday that it may cut the current 3 per cent key lending rate to offset the impact of the strong Australian currency.

On February 26, 2013, the Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Guy Debelle, addressed a breakfast gathering at the University of Adelaide Business School.

- Tropical Cyclone Rusty expected to make landfall today- Port Hedland and Dampier ports already closed- Supply disruptions expected- Possible short term run in spot pricesBy Andrew NelsonIt's either the product of a good sense of humour, or a wonderful example of natural irony, but either way ...

The UK is expected to benefit from an increase in North Sea investment as oil and gas companies will spend at least £13 billion in 2013. What is interesting is the fact that 2013 North Sea spending is estimated to reach its highest level in 30 years.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 216 points, or 1.6%, while the S&P lost 1.8% to 1487 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.

Initial data on China's manufacturing activity indicated a sharp decrease in February, raising concerns over the recovery of the Asian dragon. The deceleration was driven by weak global demand for China's exports and the timing of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday. A survey by HSBC and Markit Economics showed that China's manufacturing expanded at the slowest rate in four months.

By Andrew NelsonLast week The Japan Times reported that Japanese utilities were selling uranium inventory.

The Australian share market ended higher on Monday although it wasn't a flawless performance. Figures released mid-session revealed that activity in the Chinese manufacturing sector eased in the month of February. As a result the Aussie dollar and the share market retreated in response.