Vittorio Hernandez

A relatively new Chinese phone firm, Xiaomi, appears to have broken global record in smartphone sales after it sold the first batch of 100,000 MiPhone 3 smartphones and 3,000 MiTV sets on Wednesday noon at its Web site. The phones were snapped in just 83 seconds, while the TVs in 118 seconds.

Rather than assure phone owners that the company won't fold up, BlackBerry's Tuesday advertisement in 30 newspapers did the opposite, based on reactions posted in social media sites.

Former Australian Attorney-General Nicola Roxon issued a mouthful against ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, challenging him to quit Parliament for the good of the federal parliamentary Labor Party. She also described him as a rude bastard and dysfunctional leader.

One of the noteworthy developments of the last day has been the announcement by the Fitch ratings agency that it was placing the US's AAA sovereign rating on ´´rating watch negative´´, This suggests a greater chance a credit rating downgrade, in fact a 1 in 2 chance , compared to 1 in 3 chance implied by a "negative outlook".

Despite being too big to be smartphones and too small to be tablets, phablets continue to gain in popularity among consumers who may appreciate the screen larger than a regular mobile phone or whose pocketbook is not large enough to purchase a tablet or a laptop.

The local markets has done it all in the first half of the session, with stocks down by as much as 0.5 per cent early on, trading flat more recently and currently up by just a few points at lunch. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up by around 0.2 per cent.

After the viral video of the 3 Mean Filipinas on the Puppy-Crushing Video, another video from the Philippines is getting attention on social media sites because of the cruelty involved.

Though both men work behind the cameras, by being executives in two large networks makes award-winning TV director Jun Lana and TV 5 executive Perci Intalan public properties. With their Monday same-sex wedding in New York City, the pair will surely be elevated to celebrity status when they return to Manila when they resume their careers.

It rains, not men, but diamonds. However, before you start bringing out large pails and containers to catch these sources of wealth, be informed that the rain of diamonds take place not on Earth but on other planets, including Saturn and Jupiter. American scientists explained on Monday that lightning storms in the two planets will turn methane into soot that hardens when it fall into pieces of graphite and then eventually become diamonds. But these hail stones later melt because of Saturn's a...

Toilets are associated with dirt and filth because it in those porcelain bowls where people pass out their solid and liquid body waste for sanitary purposes. But what if a restaurant decides to use toilet bowl-shaped containers to serve noodles and other Asian dishes in it, would you dare dine in such kind of establishment? The Magic Restroom Café, located at 18558 Gale Ave, No 222, City of Industry, Los Angeles, California, does that. The restaurant, owned by new restaurateur YoYo Li from China...

While Tony Abbott, when he was still Opposition leader in mid-2012, vowed that the first thing he would do if he would win the federal election and become prime minister is to repeal the carbon tax law.

The main feature of the afternoon session in local trade was the resolve of the local index to remain at the highs of the day. This could easily be dismissed as being of little consequence. Although an argument could be made that the performance that given the performance of the market in recent weeks ( the ASX200 is at its best levels since the end of September ) it could be suggested that shorters or sellers could reasonably be rethinking their ways given the market's resilience.

Although Miss World 2013 Megan Young has been crowned as the first Filipina titleholder of the oldest international beauty pageant, she has yet to receive her prizes, Victoria Young, the beauty queen's mother disclosed on Tuesday.

Besides damaging historic and cultural landmarks in the Philippine provinces of Bohol and Cebu, the 7.2 magnitude earthquake also caused the death of 20 residents and injury to 43, so far, reports said.

U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID SAYS HE AND REPUBLICAN MCCONNELL HAVE MADE ´´TREMENDOUS PROGRESS´´ TOWARDS DEBT LIMIT, GOVERNMENT FUNDING DEAL, BUT ´´WE ARE NOT THERE YET´´ - RTRS This headline flashed across news screen just over half an hour before local trade kicked off this morning. The optimistic tone expressed has set the tone for the Asian session so far. Expectations are that a positive conclusion is close at hand.

Although the Waterloo, Ontario-based phone maker would surely deny it, BlackBerry officials appear close to pressing the panic button as the company continues to flounder.

Besides courting the ire of Philippine Catholic bishops, but opening the minds of many Filipinos about same-sex love, the popular but soon-to-end soap opera My Husband's Lover has stirred a hornet's nest in some local homes and relationships.

Miner Rio Tinto sold on Monday the 1.56 carat Fancy Red diamond sourced from its Argyle mine. The pink diamond, purchased by seasoned bidder John Glajz, fetched a record price of over $2 million in the annual Argyle Pink Diamonds tender.

Push-up bras were invented to help females with small breasts to make it appear that these hapless women have bigger front bumpers.

While incidents of beating of gay men are on the rise in many western countries, most of the time the victims are real homosexuals who unintentionally provoke hate by their soft mannerisms, feminine clothing or simply body language that proudly proclaims, "I am gay!"

Australian stocks are in the red for the third time in five trading sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.8 per cent. All sectors are in the red, with weaker than expected Chinese trade numbers on the weekend combined with the US debt ceiling keeping investors on edge.

A former fan who eventually became a friend of the Jackson family shares some secrets of the King of Pop and their dysfunctional family in an article in the New York Post. The article confirmed a lot of things that the public suspected about Michael Jackson, including his fondness for boys, and revealed a lot of dirty linen in the Jackson closet.

New Zealand is hoping to develop its live seafood export to Australia into a $100-million annual trade, said Seafood New Zealand.

Pope Francis will auction a Harley Davidson motorbike given to him as a gift. By selling the bike, he plans to use the proceeds for a hostel in Rome for homeless people.

Microsoft is dead-set on making the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 best-selling devices, notwithstanding the debacle the company suffered from when it launched the older versions of the two tablets.

Bill Shorten was elected on Sunday as the new leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). His first agenda as replacement for former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is to block the attempts by the Abbott government to dismantle the carbon pricing scheme.

With the huge income technology giants Apple and Facebook generate, the two companies will soon offer housing facilities to their thousands of employees on top of high pay and other perks.

Whether BlackBerry officials admit it or not, the handwriting is on the wall for the Canadian phone maker which once ruled the mobile phone world.

At the rate Chinese millionaires are being minted, the Asia-Pacific region is bound to seize the crown as the wealthiest in the world from North America by 2017, a Credit Suisse report said.