BUSINESS

To indicate that she is really serious in her desire to become a director of Fairfax Media, Australia's richest woman threatened to sell her 19 per cent stake in the company unless its board makes her a director.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 138 points or 1.1% while the S&P lost 1.6% to 1313 and the Nasdaq plunged 2.

BioWare, the game developer behind Mass Effect 3 will be releasing an extended cut for the game which would be available on June 27, 2012.

Microsoft has finally entered the tablet market with the release of their tablet called "Surface" which will have the latest OS from Microsoft which is Windows 8. Now that Microsoft has entered the market, will Surface be the best iPad challenger out there?

Local stocks have started the trading week in the red, as investors opt to stay out of the market ahead of a key European Union summit later this week and square their books ahead of the end of the financial year. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) today lost 21.8pts or 0.5pct to 4072, while the ASX 200 (XJO) lost 20.4pts or 0.5pct to close at 4027.8.

Rave reviews in Asia and Europe will power Samsung's Galaxy S3 to about 10 million units by the end of July, according to Samsung Mobile Division Chief Shin Jong-kyun on Monday.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) is making Western Australian history by moving headquarters to Brookfield Place Tower. With 3,000 BHP employees, the relocation is the state's largest office transfer in its history.

Due to the threat posed by foreign airlines that buy shares of Australian air carriers, the Opposition has suggested amending Qantas's ownership law to achieve a more level playing field for the losing flag carrier.

Mortgage House franchisee Tom Mak believes that steps should be taken to initiate a campaign that explains the role of a mortgage broker to prospective Asian borrowers.

When Einstein laid out the groundwork for Quantum Physics in the early 1900′s everyone was amazed at his theories, but soon after everyone was asking, but how can it be used and how is this applicable to anyone's lives?

Broking businesses will come under increasing pressure on commission income as national hold periods for housing stretch out longer in coming years, according to RP Data.

One crisp fall Sunday afternoon under bright blue skies, my wife and I visited five homes up for sale. We remembered them by their street names: Big Acre, Blue Silo, Pontiac, Prairie Rose and Lamont.

Microsoft has revealed their Windows 8 tablet called "Surface" which will be available in the market sometime soon. This is Microsoft's first forray in the tablet market which can be a hit or miss from Microsoft.

Digital technology is reinventing our whole world, in service of you and me. It's free enterprise on steroids. It's bypassing the gatekeepers and empowering each of us to invent our own civilization for ourselves, according to our own specifications.

ANZ Bank caught the country's banking industry thrice in 2012 after it first went against the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy to hike its standard variable mortgage rate when the central bank kept the overnight cash rate on hold. In the second instance, ANZ kept a part of the cash rate cut and slashed the interest rate below the RBA rate reduction.

Nearly 13% of the content in today's Australian Financial Review was about yesterday's big announcement from Fairfax Media Limited (ASX:FXJ). In case you missed it - and if you're a newspaper reader it would have been impossible to miss - Fairfax announced 1,900 job cuts, the creation of a pay wall for on-line content, a strategy to become a 'digital' business (whatever that means), and the closure of printing facilities in Sydney and Melbourne.

Right now, we have a distant but comfortable view of the global debt crisis. It affects the stock market and your retirement savings. Apart from that there is no discernible impact. But if you look closely there is a lot to discern.

It's just another acronym dreamed up by the market to describe the daily see-saw action in asset prices. Despite the complexity of the market and the millions of signals it throws off, we have managed to distil the daily price action down to either risk on or risk off.

Public appetite for more details about the Rinehart family feud will be satisfied on Tuesday, June 26, with the release of the unauthorised biography of Gina Rinehart, Australia's and the world's richest woman.

By Greg PeelJack Lifton has had more than 50 years experience in the global automotive, heavy equipment, electrical, electronic, mining smelting and refining industries.

Nokia recently gave a preview of the newest products in their Nokia smartphone line which includes Nokia Lumia 900 and Nokia Lumia 610. The entrance of these two new handsets in the Nokia Lumia prompts customers to ask this very important question: Which is the better Nokia Lumia Phone?

Microsoft has just announced Windows Phone 8 and its pending release in the market. Microsoft also announced the different smartphone manufacturers that would carry Windows Phone 8 in their smartphone models and these companies include Nokia, HTC, Huawei, and Samsung.

Diablo 3's latest patch has caused some inconvenience to players who have availed of this latest patch. Players who have the digital copies of the game will be locked down for up to 72 hours with only limited access to the game.

Recent reports have surfaced regarding the upcoming Android updates for Motorola Droid Razr and Droid Razr Maxx. According to reports, the beta version of the Android 4.0 or Android ICS update has been rolled out to testers which means the official release would soon follow.

Tivo, the popular TV recording device officially released its App for Android tablets. This app would help tablet users to access Tivo through the use of their own tablets.

Motorola Mobility will keep operating autonomously, Google said on Thursday, but the Internet giant admitted too that the mobile phone pioneer will need to tread closely unto Google's corporate vision following its formal acquisition by the tech titan last month.

The Australian share market remains under pressure today, but fortunately isn't falling as hard as futures markets had predicted following a sell-off on global markets overnight. European and US markets fell in response to downbeat economic data out of America and China. After the bell, ratings agency Moody's downgraded 15 global banks adding to the negative sentiment. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is weaker by 43.1pts or 1pct to 4133.7.

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies announced on Thursday plans to ramp up its smartphone production for the current year, indicating that up to 60 million Huawei smartphones will be shipped to destinations around the world by the end of 2012.

Australia's richest woman, Gina Rinehart, may be busy seeking a seat in Fairfax Media board, but she has not left unattended the more lucrative mining sector, which catapulted her to become the world's richest woman. On Thursday, she invested $5 million in International Coal's (ASX: ICX) coal venture in Queensland.