BUSINESS

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.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 13 points or 0.1% while the S&P fell 0.2% to 1407 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

The ASX200 attempted a rally in the first half hour of trade although the move faded quickly and the index lost ground over the remainder of the session. The weaker economic pulse from the US in addition to the war of words between politicians in relation to the fiscal cliff allowed sellers to get traction over regional indices, the majority of which ended in negative territory at the conclusion of the regional session.

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.

Despite stubborn claims by Microsoft that its Windows 8 launch is going along just fine, analysts have expressed doubts on the manner that the revamped operating system has been unfolding so far.

Melbourne Airport authorities have approached the state government with a draft plan to mount an $80 million worth airport road expansion that it would want to start constructing sometime in 2013.

The Australian sharemarket is a touch lower ahead of the Reserve Bank's interest rate decision this afternoon. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.2 per cent or 10.0 pts to 4530. Most of the market is now trading in the red, with the energy and mining sectors the biggest drags on trade.

It’s official, many more lusting after the Nexus 4 will never get their hands on the Google handset this December, which the internet giant said is sold out for the holidays and will not ship until January, at the earliest, next year.

In November, Google Chrome surpassed 1 per cent of web usage in smartphones and tablets. The market increase is from Android users so far, although the Chrome has been released to iOS in June, it only accounted for 0.01 per cent in the same month.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for the first time on Sunday, hinted that her government may ultimately accept a write-off of Greek debt in the future; but stated that Athens first had to fulfil their fiscal targets, including posting a budget surplus by 2014/2015.

There are reports that Facebook, the most popular social networking site, is in talks to acquire WhatsApp. The hit mobile messaging WhatsApp denied the report as a rumour.

Supply of Nokia’s Lumia 920 was getting scarce in the past few weeks due mainly to solid demands and apparently the Finnish mobile phone maker was caught off guard by the overwhelming reception generated by its new flagship smartphone.

By Greg PeelDunn & Bradstreet has today released the findings of its September quarter survey of Australian business executives.

With the recent release of Windows 8, all-in-one PCs with bend, twist, turn, and touch features are all over the market. These hardware capabilities are all state-of-the-art and considered breakthroughs in computer technology.

Analysts agree that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would cut on its Tuesday, Dec 4, policy board meeting the overnight cash rate by 25 basis points to 3 per cent. The move would bring down the key lending rate to a three-and-a-half-year low or the same level in April 2009, the height of the global financial crisis.

By Andrew NelsonNovember was a little kinder to uranium producers than September or October was, with new demand trickling into the market and providing some support for spot prices.

Thousands of Russian truck drivers probably made the thumbs down sign and said "Nyet" (No in Russian) after they were stuck in a 200-kilometre gridlock over the weekend. The traffic jam along the M-10 motorway lasted for 44 hours and trapped more than 4,000 trucks. The gridlock was caused by heavy snow.

Woodside Petroleum announced on Monday that it is committed to buy a 30 per cent stake in the Leviathan offshore gas field for $1.3 billion. It would be Australia's largest foreign direct investment into Israel.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 59 points or 0.5% to below 13,000 while the S&P dropped 0.5% to 1409 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

By Ben TraynorMark Carney's been hired to bang bankers' heads together...WHERE have all good men goneAnd where are all the gods?Where's the streetwise HerculesTo fight the rising odds?Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?Late at night I toss and turn and dream of what I ...

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaAt its final meeting for calendar 2013, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has sliced off a further 25bp to bring the official cash rate down to 3.

Not for the first time, Monday bore witness to one of those perverse circumstances where stocks rise in response to weaker economic news. The last week in the US was defined by a lack of progress in relation to the fiscal cliff, although Republicans and Democrats expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved in a timely fashion. Weekend developments in Washington saw an opening gambit being made by the Democrats, which was summarily dismissed by the Republicans. 'The game' has beg...

Spurred by budget cuts, the state government of South Australia is mulling to terminate 105 jobs across its non-hospital health services as a result of budget streamlining measures.

The new super-thin 21.5-inch iMac is quite a view and getting inside the new Apple desktop is most definitely an engineering marvel, as proved by the latest discovery of teardown specialist iFixit.

On the 30th of November, the ministry of statistics informed that India saw GDP growth slow to 5.3 percent in the quarter ended in September. The economy of India slowed more than analysts initially expected. It is likely that the Asia's third economy is to see its worst year in a decade as analysts underline the importance of implementing difficult reforms that could revive the economy of India.

Is it laughable, or lamentable? The market, that is. In the past few years, it has become a joke...a tool of manipulation, an unreliable source of information. Despite the outperformance of the US equity markets this year, ordinary investors (presumably people with savings they would like to invest in productive and attractive businesses) are not interested.

Australian patients and their caretakers better start getting used to having some of their hospital requirements served by an automatic guided vehicle (AGV), with the Royal North Shore Hospital in New South Wales the very first to engage the modern technology.

The Flight Attendants Association of Australia (FAAA) has called on the national government to standardise the prevailing regulations of the airline industry's carry-on luggage to ensure the safety of both flight attendants and airline travellers, as well as prevent undue delays brought about luggage traffic on departing flights.