Vittorio Hernandez

The Australian sharemarket continues to rise, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 0.8 per cent or 38.5 pts to 4761.4. This adds to yesterday's 1.25 per cent improvement while the ASX 200 has cracked through the 4700 point level for the first time since July 2011. Since hitting a low in June last year, the local market has improved by almost 18 per cent. Markets in both China and Japan were closed today.

Like previous yearend holidays, 2012 ended with a lot of feasting across different nations and continents. The menu varied from national favourite dishes to traditional yearend holiday food ranging from pasta to fresh fruit.

The chairman of Chinese ceramics firm Fujian Wanli Group, Wu Duanbiao, sponsored a lavish feast to celebrate on Sunday the wedding of his daughter.

Yesterday the Australian share market started the first day of the 2013 trading year in positive territory up 58 points, its best start to a new year since 2001. Helped by the news that the US House of Representatives finally passed the Senate's 'fiscal cliff' bill this afternoon helping to keep the market positive.

Shares of Gandalbie Metals (ASX: GBG) jumped 10 per cent on Wednesday after the company made its first shipment of magnetite iron concentrate to China. The commodity was sources from its Karara project.

Application developers found something odd in their app usage logs which referenced to a new iPhone identifier - iPhone 6.1 with iOS 7 operating system.

The Digital Age continues in 2013 and will possibly span more decades until everything is about robotics, droids, and artificial intelligence. In 2012, computers have evolved into touchscreen notebooks with flexible form modes such as separating from its keys or forming a tent for better movie experience. Mobile phones have reached the smartphone era with screens responding to touch, social network access, Wi-Fi connection, and several more applications using the smallest sensors.

The use of Wi-Fi cuts down incidents of stumbling around cords and wires at home, in the office or school. It also covers a larger area with more users than using standard wired router. The technology of wireless connection beats almost any odds using the Internet but there are certain things that can slow down the connection or weaken its signal which is a bummer.

Politics is a very volatile career, as some Australian politicians discovered in 2012. The tagline of popular reality TV show Project Runway captures it all for these five MPs who not only made headlines but also fell from power. As host Heidi Klum would say it, "One day you're in, and the next day you're out," which definitely applied to these five MPs.

Last year, 2012, was a crucial year in the political life of Opposition leader Tony Abbott because of challenges to his leadership and even interpersonal skills that may cost him his dream to be Australia's prime minister in 2013.

Welcome to 2013! The Australian sharemarket had its best start to a new year since 2001, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by an impressive 1.2 per cent or 58.3 pts to 4722.9. The House of Representatives in the U.S finally passed the Senate's 'fiscal cliff' bill this afternoon helping to keep the market positive. This was considered to be somewhat of a compromise between the Democrats and Republicans. Tax increases will be introduced but for the higher income earners (+$400,00...

Jailbreaking an iPhone is about having maximum control over the device. This includes tweaking a lot of things in iPhone which otherwise the original iOS prevents. Another benefit is the ability to download free apps for iPhone instead of purchasing it from Apple Store. However, one of the major sources of pirated apps for iOS devices is gone. Hackulous, which developed Installous, has finally shut down after years in service.

The year 2012 closed its tech world with highs and lows and the New Year 2013 will present new innovations and new devices that will reach old and new markets.

The Australian share market started the first day of the 2013 trading year in positive territory up 20 points.

A Forbes.com contributor named the controversy-ridden Instagram as the top tech company of 2012. Tanya Prive, the contributor, said the list was based on exits, valuations by A+++ investors and rapid growth.

If the question of who would be Australia's next prime minister was asked a year ago, the answer would have been obvious.

BG Group just borrowed $1.8 billion from the US Export-Import Bank to close the funding gap in its Queensland Curtis Island Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project. Cost blowout has escalated to $20 billion that BG had to source additional funding for the resource venture.

Like any other political figure, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a top target for parodies, ranging from her dancing 2012's monster hit Gangnam style to a TV programme that was based on her character.

While 2013 will be a crucial year for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard because the election result will determine if she will remain in her post or be replaced by Opposition leader Tony Abbott, 2012 was certainly a banner year for the leader of the Australian Labor Party and the country's first female prime minister.

The Australian share market started the day in the red just off 18-month highs. Global market ended lower on Friday night as many European exchange worked through the last day of trading for the year. In the US the DOW JONES eased by 158 points and the NASDAQ also closed lower as the stalemate continued over US budget talks. Rumours that President Obama had no fresh proposals to advance to Congressional leaders for weekend Budget talks hit our market in early trade as investors sold out of minin...

An elephant in an unidentified elephant camp in Thailand apparently swallowed a Chinese tourist’s iPhone over the weekend.

Chinese resources company, Hanlong Group, will have a greater say in global iron ore prices in 2013 as the firm completes the buy-in process of the Mbalam iron ore mine in Africa from Australian miner Sundance Resources (ASX: SDL).

Rooting Motorola RAZR M is now easy and unrooting the device is simple too. Users are always warned about rooting any device due to warranty void but unrooting it will definitely restore back the warranty as if nothing happened.

Gaming before was exclusive to console devices such as Xbox and Playstation and then later to PC units with multiplayer features too. However, in the last decade, games flourished in portable devices including smartphones and Android is becoming more prominent in the gaming world today.

In 2013, more Android devices will receive Jellybean updates, but most likely will have 4.1 firmware versions instead of the 4.2.1. HTC One X+ users will not expect just an update yet of Jellybean 4.2.1 version, so Cyanogen mod developers provided a stable Jellybean 4.2.1 firmware.

Days before 2012 ended, Time Magazine recognised U.S. President Barack Obama as the year's Person of the Year, indicating the global recognition of his reelection and confidence in his leadership despite the difficult year 2012 was for the United States.

While many cities around the world hold New Year's Eve festivities, several celebrations are watched such as those in global cities including New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong. Here's a peek at what to expect for their New Year's Eve bash.

Being hours ahead of everybody else, except New Zealanders who are spending the turn of the year to 2013 two hours earlier, Australians are one of the first in the world to celebrate the new year.

The Australian sharemarket continued on its strong run, rising for the third straight session and for the 12th time in 14 trading days. Local equities are still at 18-month highs. Global market ended mixed overnight, with the Dow easing by 0.1 per cent, Germany's DAX edged higher by 0.3 per cent while France's CAC40 jumped by 0.6 per cent. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.5 per cent or 23.9 pts to 4685.3.