Vittorio Hernandez

Chances for an Australian Labor Party (ALP) victory in the Sept 14, 2013 election appear dimmer as ALP leader and Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces on Monday the $2 billion budget gap for the current financial year.

All eyes are on South Korean tech giants Samsung and LG which one will win the race to produce a smartphone with flexible screens. However, a Canadian laboratory has actually made a prototype that bends and twists when it received a call or short messaging. The model is called MorePhone, made by researchers at the Human Media Lab of Queen's University.

Unlike the HTC which has been classified by iFixit as a weak phone in terms of repairability, the newly released Samsung Galaxy S4 got good scores from the same repair site.

The recommendation over the weekend by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to the federal government of Australia for inclusion of RU 486 or mifepristone in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme which is subsidised by taxpayers is creating controversy.

Four months after the regrettable incident happened, the hoax royal phone call made by Radio Australia DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian continues to hound them for the death of Indian-born nurse Jacintha Saldanha.

The ASX200 finished the holiday shortened week with a modest loss. Although the week will be remembered for the resurgent resource sector which helped the index gain in the range of 3.5%.

Amid concerns over privacy breaches caused by wearing the latest gizmo, the Google Glass, techies have come up with a list of 10 places not to wear the device.

All the past few months, Australian voters were conditioned to believe that the poll contest in the September national election would be between Australian Labor Party leader and current Prime Minister Julie Gillard and Coalition leader Tony Abbott. However, a third Australian is aiming to be the country's next prime minister and is reorganising the United Australian Party (UAP) for that purpose. He is mining billionaire Clive Palmer.

The Australian market is improving for the fifth straight trading session, making it the second longest winning streak of the year. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.1 per cent or 5.00 pts to 5,089.2. As long as the market holds on to the gains, shares would have improved by more than 3.5 per cent this week.

In 1971, American country singer John Denver released a song titled Take Me Home, Country Road, which immortalised the state, West Virginia, as a place that feels like heaven because of its beauty.

United Arab Emirates residents who love fast cars but can't afford one, could try enlisting in Dubai's police department. Applicants with love for speed would have their fantasies come true since the city's police force just bought new Ferraris to augment its fleet of Lamborghini's rolled out just two weeks ago.

The month is almost over, but some people are still going back to the first day of April by creating April Fools' Day pranks. A recent joke, similar to YouTube's announcement on March 31 that it will close the popular video sharing site, is a post in Facebook that founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to shutter the most popular social networking site with 1 billion members.

Who will win tech firms' battle to create and issue the first smartphone with flexible screen? From all indications, it appears it won't be an American, Chinese or Japanese company, but a South Korean tech giant.

It was a day of lost medals for two World War II diggers on Thursday as Australia celebrated ANZAC Day.

If Microsoft's Surface Pro is the expert's choice of best Windows tablet, what is the device's counterpart among laptops? Techies unanimously picked Apple's MacBook Pro as the best performing Windows laptop.

Melbourne is planning to join the ranks of cities with landmark skyscrapers as city officials disclosed the proposed 82-storey 404-metre office tower by the Stamoulis Group.

The Australian share market has closed 1.6 per cent higher as a lower than expected inflation report excited investor expectations of an interest rate cut in the near term. A majority of sectors registered strong gains. The Financial, Industrial, Health and Utilities sub-indices all gained more than 2%.

Because of their portability and lower prices compared to laptops, the tablet market bloomed in the past two years, causing sales of PCs and laptops to decline further. With so many tablet computers available on the market as tech companies cash in on the tablet trend, experts recommend that potential buyers of the device answer first the following seven questions before making a decision what unit to purchase.

Five years after the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and Wall Street crashed, unemployment remains a top problem in the United States. Across the 50 states, the unemployment rate is 7.6 per cent in March, slightly down from 7.7 per cent in February 2013.

Australian shares are 1.2 per cent higher at midday following a strong end to trade overnight and a weaker than forecast inflation reading. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is currently higher for the fourth straight day, making it the second longest winning streak of the year. The index is also above 5000.0 points.

Last week, an apparently Photoshopped image of Apple CEO Tim Cook ranting at the tombstone of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs did the rounds of social media sites. Was the image prophetic of what Mr Cook will do these coming days given the second quarter results of the iPhone and iPad maker? Or would he instead gloat because while the numbers spell slower growth, earnings and number of devices shipped beat analysts' expectations?

Surface Pro, the tablet that has been cited twice by tech experts as the best Windows tablet, will soon be available to Australians by May. Besides Australia, Microsoft said the device would also be shipped to 23 other countries in May and June.

As the world grows more dependent on technology, people who use laptops, PCs, smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices also develop bad habits on their usage along the way.

The wrongful death lawsuit filed by Katherine Jackson against AEG Live is expected to draw media attention with celebrities as well as immediate members of the family of the King of Pop expected to provide testimonies.

It was an almost counter intuitive day for the local share market on Tuesday which managed a solid improvement of 1% not withstanding a weaker than expected reading on Chinese manufacturing.

Presidential sister Kris Aquino directly blamed on Tuesday The Script lead singer Danny O'Donoghue for causing the break-up between Miss Universe 2012 1st runner-up Janine Tugonon and her ordinary looking boyfriend Jaypee Santos.

Instead of puffing weed as many recreation users of marijuana do, people who need the substance which was once banned would get quicker relief if they take marijuana pills instead.

A four-year-old pre-school girl in Britain is undergoing psychiatric therapy for compulsive behaviour because of her addiction to iPad games.

Is the Vatican finally stepping into the 21st Century, hastened by the election in March of Buenos Aires Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis?