COMPANIES

Google came out Thursday blazing with impressive numbers as the internet giant reported a general profit of $US2.79 billion in the second quarter, which was backed by an overall revenue of $US12.21 billion.

As more Australian consumer opt to shop from online stores than bricks-and-mortar outlets, the federal government decided to monitor the sector in a bid to understand better the behaviour of shoppers amid the slump in the country's retail industry.

The Australian share market moved back into the black today, following strong production reports from energy players and a positive offshore lead. Strong earnings results from a number of US companies, including chipmaker Intel, saw the Dow Jones Index rose almost 1pct. Locally the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rallied to close higher by 80pts or 1.9pct to 4236.4.

Qantas Airways, one of the biggest Airline companies in Australia, recently disclosed that they are ditching RIM's Blackberry over Apple's iPhone for their employees. Qantas Airways also revealed that they have selected Microsoft Office 365 platform over Google for their upcoming hybrid cloud computing environment.

The sentiments aired by the late Steve Jobs about Apple's rival operating system, Android, will not be considered once the Apple-Samsung patent contest begins at the end of the month.

Are You Stalking Your Ex in Facebook? New Research Shows 88% Stalking Their Ex in Facebook

Microsoft Corp. have finally announced the official release date for their latest OS, Windows 8. Windows 8 would be officially be available on October 26, 2012.

IBM recently disclosed the company's second quarter financial report and revealed that IBM experienced growth in terms of profit but had a revenue drop in terms of hardware.

The U.S. Apple online store went offline a while ago for a site update and it's "We'll be back" message was translated in 18 languages. After it went back online by 6:00 a.m. Eastern (3 a.m. Pacific), it now offers a text messaging update service for customers.

The new Metro user interface will indeed light up computer screens in late October as Microsoft confirmed in a blog post on Wednesday that Windows 8 will roll out starting the 26th of July, likely reinvigorating the world's flagging interest on personal computers.

While Coles and Woolworths are busy battling their price wars, Costco is building its capacity in a bid to become the third major supermarket in Australia.

Due to the popularity of private label goods on the shelves of Coles and Woolworths, a new study released in Thursday forecast that by 2017, the share of such products would make up one-third of total supermarket sales.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) announced on Thursday that it will freeze the salaries of 400 senior bankers who earn more than $150,000 a year to avoid big job cuts.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 1 pct or 43 pts to 4199.4. This makes it the second biggest improvement for local shares this month. All 12 sectors are trading higher, with the energy sector by far the biggest outperformer thanks to solid production numbers from Woodside Petroleum (WPL) and Santos (STO).

Stocks of major Australian mining firms plummeted to a record low since the global financial crisis, fueling speculations on the longevity of the resources boom.

In between refining Yahoo!'s vision and turning around the firm, new company Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer would also need to take a maternity leave a few weeks in October,

The local share market pulled back today following three consecutive sessions of gains, as investors elected to be cautious despite gains on Wall Street overnight. Weakness in mining stocks dragged on sentiment, as index leader BHP Billiton (BHP) fell close to the $30 per share level for the first time in more than three years. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished down 18.9pts or 0.5pct to 4156.4, after hitting an intra-day low of 4154pts.

The latest Android version from Google which is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was first revealed during the Google I/O conference. This new Android version is said to be a "step up" from Android ICS and would bring about new and improved features.

A new report done by World Bank and infoDev revealed that 75 per cent of the world's population are using mobile phones and have mobile access. This means that mobile communications is now entering a new and bigger level.

Dell is unfazed by projections that the global PC market will continue to shrink as consumers jump over to smartphones and tablet computers, according to company founder and chief executive Michael Dell.

Google has just unveiled the latest Android version which is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which would bring about new and improved features. Aside from improved features, Googel also assures users that the Android Jelly Bean is the most secure version of Android they ever released.

Microsoft has just released the beta version of MS Office 2013 and the new version has incorporated new features which makes it using it as a "brand new experience". The new features for MS Office 15 goes hand-in-hand with the newest OS from Microsoft which is Windows 8.

Shell is about to begin exploratory operations in its first offshore drilling in the Arctic in two decades. The oil company, which has drawn a lot of flak for its drilling pursuits, has been spoofed by Greenpeace. But Shell has decided against taking a legal action against the environmentalist group.

Yahoo recently appointed Marissa Mayer, a former key employee of Google, as its new Chief Executive. This appointment for Marissa Mayer would be a big challenge for Mayer-both professionally and personally.

Qantas Airways is set to become an Apple world, in large part, as the national carrier disclosed plans to replace the mobile handsets that were being used by company employees with iPhones, which emerged as the preferred smartphone in a recent Qantas internal survey.

A new study by global firm Right Management found that soldiers were the most engaged among Australian employees. The soldiers were followed by insurance workers and accountants.

McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it will hire more than 3,000 young people throughout Australia until the yearend. The 3,000 will be added to the 90,000 people on the fast food chain's payroll, mostly performing crew tasks such as cooking burgers, taking orders, serving the meals and cleaning the stores.

The issuance of an order by the Victoria Supreme Court for striking Coles warehouse workers has failed to end the deadlock in Somerton. The picket and blockade continues and entered its 10th day on Wednesday with Coles trucks still unable to enter or leave the compound.

People who are always experiencing a "no reception" problem when riding the Sydney train could now rejoice as network companies are now providing full high-speed 3G mobile broadband reception.