Vittorio Hernandez

Not unexpectedly, Switzerland topped the 10 best countries to be born in 2013 list made by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Australia and New Zealand tied for second place.

Local stocks pulled back today, ahead of the start of the US earnings season and as investors looked towards the next crucial stumbling blocks for the global economy. Despite gaining in the early session, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the day's trade at 4712.3pts, down 25.8pts or 0.5pct.

All that Sydney resident Ally Vagg and her boyfriend Bryan Williams was a good yearend holiday, so they went to Bolivia for that. A rich culture and scenic spots like these video clips would surely attract Aussies to spend a few days in this South American paradise.

Following a modest pullback yesterday, the Australian sharemarket is back in the black at lunch with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.1 per cent or 2.8 pts to 4740.9. Yesterday the XAO slipped by around 0.1 per cent, however local shares are still up 1.75 per cent so far in 2013 (after five sessions of trade).

A handsome face like that of Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt is an asset not only for those who want to pursue a career in show business, but even in the corporate world. A new Australian study said men with attractive face earn $32,150 more than males with average faces.

While many smart, high-tech TVs and cars will dominate most of the appearances in the CES 2013 in Las Vegas, Sony, Huawei, and Lenovo will bring some of their new devices to the show.

The engineered glass with combined thinness, lightness, and damage-resistance Gorilla Glass is coming back, more resilient and much better. The developers of this scratch-resistant glass promised that the new version will have 40 per cent reduction of visible scratches, three times resistance against scratches, and has 50 per cent more strength boost.

For 2013, the California-based kitchen appliances maker Dacor will release the first wall oven using Android OS. The wall oven has a dimension of 30 inches and its Android controller is powered by a seven-inch device called Discovery IQ controller.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) started on Monday night investigation of a fake press release that caused losses to Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) and its shareholders.

Elon Musk, the co-founder of PayPal, a global e-commerce business, is planning to build a small city on planet Mars. However, there is a small catch - only 80,000 space explorers would be allowed to live on the red planet, and they must be vegetarians.

Cars, more than electronic gadgets, are said to take the centre stage in the ongoing Consumer Electronic Show 2013 in Las Vegas. However, in the case of Hyundai, it will showcase high technology as well with a demonstration of Apple's Siri Eyes Free mode.

Long holidays like the just-ended Christmas and New Year season is a welcome development for most workers because it allowed them rest from job-related stress.

Positive jobs data out of the US on Friday failed to give a boost to local stocks today. The main All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished slightly lower, down 4.8pts or 0.1pct to 4738.1. On Friday, the S&P 500 Index in the US hit a five year high, while the Dow Jones Index was up 3.8pct on the week, its best weekly win since December 2007 as lawmakers agreed on a deal to avert the fiscal cliff and December jobs numbers came in higher than expected.

Today the Australian share market opened higher with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) adding 24 points. The Aussie market received a boost from the better than expected non-farm payrolls, Job report, in the states on Friday. As the start of trade the best performing sectors were Industrials, Banks & Energy. In the mining sector the small & medium size miners did better than large players and the media sector was once again listing small gains.

Majority of teenagers now have access to smartphones which they primarily use for basic phone functions, education, social media, and entertainment. But when entertainment needs goes beyond the usual movie and TV fare, pornography is the first thing in mind. Network carriers have filtered these Web sites but teens have found a way around it through sexting - messages and pics that are sexually explicit.

The New Year of 2013 has entered its second week and for many, this week would be back to business as usual. It is another year to make small, medium or large businesses more productive and efficient for loyal customers. Handling a business can be very stressful and demands a lot of time and effort, but through Android and iOS devices and apps, entrepreneurs and corporate executives can enjoy the advantage of having a secret adviser that can do things even when the assistant or accountant is not...

Google has launched an application that lets people follow and track their New Year's Resolution through an online map and also lets them see what others around the world have promised in 2013. The California Internet giant's 2012 Zeitgeist Web site obtained half a million log entries and more than a third involved "to love" or "be loved" entries. The entries are divided into several categories including love, health, finance, career, education and family.

The statement that Gina Rinehart has oodles of money is a given fact. Two years' worth of financial statements published by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) covering the years 2010 and 2011 said that profits of Hancock Prospecting, owned by Ms Rinehart, rose to $1.2 billion as of mid-2011 from $225 million in June 2009.

World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Australia insisted over the weekend that Queensland does not need new coal ports in and near the Great Barrier Reef. WWF based its assessment on the state government's Great Barrier Reef Ports Strategy Economic Analysis that said coal ports in the area are operating at only 52 per cent of their planned capacity.

Mark Zuckerberg should better watch out. His potential successors are getting younger. One such chap even shares with him the same initials - ZM - which stands for Zachary Marks.

Almost every New Year, people make the same resolutions only to break them in the succeeding months. Most of the resolutions centre on health and finances, which led a financial Web site to suggest five New Year's resolution that would save money and at the same time address the issues most people attempt to change.

Some of the excitement surrounding the U.S budget legislation seemed to die off today. The Australian sharemarket lost a little ground today for the first time this year after a strong start to 2013. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) slipped by just 0.4 per cent or 18.5 pts to 4742.9, however improved by over 1.2 per cent this week. Aussie shares are currently trading at 19-month highs, and Wednesday was the best start to a new year in over a decade.

There's more to a hotel concierge's job in a busy tourist destination spot like Australia's Gold Coast than just booking car rentals or serving as a go-between for guests and the accommodation.

After a weak session on overseas market the Australian share market gave back yesterday's gains. At the open of trade the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lost over 23 points with weakness in small and medium mining stocks and the energy sector. Markets in both China and Japan reopened for trade today will all market in the region now fully operational after the New Year's break.

It has been six months since the debut of Nexus 7 at the Google's annual developer conference and it is an attractive device especially for readers. Some users are confused if they still want to squint their eyes just to read through the smartphone and suffer a double $200 price tag or get a mini tablet or a bigger one from Samsung.

While the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas is expected to show more cars and fewer electronic gadgets, techies nevertheless are anticipating the annual event.

While doing everything in its power to challenge Facebook's number one position in social media, Google was cleared on Thursday by a U.S. anti-trust investigation on search engine bias.

With billions of dollars in her name, Gina Rinehart, Australia and the world's richest woman, attracts media attention whether she likes it or not. In 2012, she again hogged the limelight because of her court battles with her three estranged adult children, her views on wealth, corporate skirmishes and her oodles of money.

Even if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the overnight cash rate several times in 2012, bringing it down to a three-year low of 3 per cent, several sectors continue to clamor for more key lending rate reductions in 2013.