COMPANIES

Everything is almost fresh on Nokia Lumia 920 – the operating system, the spritely bright shells and the wide-array of connectivity options – all attractive features that would convince buyers to go grab the new smartphone from Finland.

Microsoft’s Windows 8 won the nod of the man chiefly responsible in building up the vast Windows global market – Bill Gates.

Unfazed by the prevailing bleak prospect for the global PC market, Intel paraded on Thursday new mobile devices that draw power from its newly-designed tablet chip – the dual-core Atom Z2760.

Rovio Entertainment, maker of the popular Angry Birds game series, aims to sustain its profitability by ‘killing’ the aggressive winged creature this time around.

Intel labelled on Wednesday as ‘unsubstantiated’ earlier reports that company CEO Paul Otellini was wary of the glitches that would attend the Oct 26 launch of Microsoft’s long-awaited Windows 8.

Samsung is looking to capture more segments of the global tech business and it plans to do so by packing its handsets with attractions that would keep consumers from putting down their devices, like the bestselling Galaxy S3.

China's pool of wealthy citizens got a little poorer as the double whip of low global demand and the weakened property market diminished additional millions in earnings, the latest Shanghai-based group's Hurun Report indicates.

Fresh from delivering delight to Yahoo shareholders last week in the form of the $US7.5 billion deal with Alibaba Group, company CEO Marissa Mayer announced on Wednesday the appointment of a new key executive.

China’s Huawei Technologies, one of the world’s biggest telcos, is not giving up on Australia despite earlier decision by the federal government this year to bar the company from participating in the $37-billion national broadband network (NBN) roll out.

The funky map application on Apple’s iOS 6 will not be rescued by Google anytime soon, the internet giant’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday in Tokyo.

A survey released on Tuesday by Choice, a consumer advocate group, identified Harvey Norman as having the lowest customer service rating among large Australian retailers.

As Australian companies grapple with talent shortage, Caltex launched on Wednesday a babycare package which offers a 12 per cent bonus package for employees who return to their jobs and stay with the firm until their child turns two.

Nokia seeks to realise extra revenues outside of its Windows partnership with Microsoft as it launched on Tuesday two new smartphones that will cost no more than $US100 but with features closely akin to that of the firm’s flagship Lumia handsets.

Windows 8, according to a new Gartner report, essentially represents a big gamble by Microsoft and a necessary one.

A baggage handler of Qantas caught last week a 60-centimetre crocodile at its cargo hold. The reptile escaped from its cage while mid-air on a Brisbane-Melbourne flight.

Foxconn Technology said on Monday that it will close down its Taiyuan manufacturing compound, located in the Northern Chinese province of Shanxi following a disturbance that broke out Sunday night involving the company’s factory workers.

Apple co-founder and tech icon Steve Wozniak has confirmed over the weekend that his application to become an Australian is now underway, reports said.

In yet another classic example of excessive executive compensation while the rest of the nation is reeling from high prices and economic slowdown, officials of power firms in New South Wales are enjoying astronomical pay hikes while residents pay through the nose because of higher electricity rates.

The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) is proposing to impose a $1,000 fine on parents whose minor children enter pubs, clubs and bottle shops to imbibe alcoholic beverages. The current fine is $440 under the Liquor Act.

The U.S.-based aircraft manufacturer said on Thursday that future roll out of its assembled planes will be designed to accommodate cellular connectivity, wireless broadband and live television feeds.

Tuesday next week is the slated U.S. debut of the trimmed down PS3 but Sony has insisted that the published prices for the new game console will stick amidst gamers’ complaints that the tags were way too pricey.

Like their counterparts in other global cities, Australians lined up on Friday morning to buy Apple's iPhone 5 officially launched last week but made available only beginning Sept 21 in retail outlets in selected countries.

Take note Qantas and Virgin Australia. U.S. carrier American Airlines has forged a partnership deal with Samsung that will see the Galaxy Note become a regular fixture on future flights of the airline.

Sony shrunk the PS3 and called it ‘Super Slim’. Following the superhot route taken by smartphone and tablet makers, the Japanese firm upgraded the ‘look factor’ of its half-a-decade old game console by shaving off unnecessary heft and weight.

National Australia Bank (NAB) launched on Wednesday nabtrade, its own online share trading platform which will mainly target investors in self-managed superannuation funds.

While Australian retail giant Harvey Norman is one of the leading voices calling for lowering of the general sales tax on items purchased overseas, the company's own chief executive, who is also the owner's wife, ironically buys from online shops abroad to save money.

It took only a few months for new Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer to finalise an agreement with China’s Alibaba Group, which in the last two years has not come in to terms with the CEOs that came before her.

Microsoft said on Wednesday that another fix on the freshly identified security hole in Internet Explorer will be dispatched in the next few days, insisting that the patch should temporarily protect millions of global users while engineers work for an IE update.

Samsung has become a brand that is preferred and trusted by consumers despite the legal setbacks that the tech giant has been getting lately.