Vittorio Hernandez

After briefly losing its footing yesterday, the Australian sharemarket rose for the seventh time in eight sessions. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) edged higher by 0.5 per cent or 22.5 pts to 4610.5. The energy sector and property trusts were the only losers today.

While explanations from scientists and religious leaders have allayed apprehension of a doomsday over the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, two events that happened in the past few days may arouse again fears of an end-of-the-world scenario.

In three days, the world will know if the Mayan Calendar prophecy is just a prediction gone wrong or there is an actual truth about an Armageddon tied to the end of their calendar cycle.

The Australian share market has started the day's trade on a positive note, following strong gains on Wall Street overnight on hopes a deal to avert the fiscal cliff will be reached soon.

Motorola Atrix HD is finally having an update of Android 4.1 Jellybean as AT&T announced on their Consumer Blog. The update was released after the update for Samsung Galaxy S3 devices.

Why pay if you can download apps for free? The answer to that question would probably be the similar to why people still buy smartphones if you already have a regular mobile phone.

Fortescue Metals is selling is 40 per cent stake in its rail and port infrastructure business in a bid to raise up to $4 billion. Reports said the company is negotiating with several potential buyers to cut Fortescue's debt burden which has reached $12 billion.

While much of the world is engrossed in the Mayan calendar prediction that the world could end on Friday, Dec 21, a forecast by ANZ Bank will bring a smile to Australian borrowers. The ANZ believes the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) would cut the current overnight cash rate of 3 per cent to 2 per cent.

A day before the gruesome shooting of 27 people in Sandy Hook Elementary School happened in Connecticut, a similar incident happened in Guangshan county, Henan province in China, although the assailant used a knife in stabbing 22 school children.

Sellers were able to impose their will on regional markets today in quiet trade. Most indices ended the session lower, although there was limited conviction on the part of buyers and sellers.

Local stocks have started the trading week in the red, despite reports the US House of Representatives could be one step closer to averting the Fiscal Cliff.

One of the reasons why users loves Android OS platform is the prominent availability of applications. The Android Market or now Google Play Store has been supporting thousands of apps ranging from games to business, social to utilities. And of all these apps from Google Play have been downloaded by millions of users and possibly re-downloaded again for whatever reason.

Leaks for three Sony smartphones came out, following the ongoing trend of phone spec and photo leaks almost every day. The latest leaks are for the Huashan, Odin and Yuga models.

For Android Galaxy S2 users looking for 4.1.2 Jellybean stable firmware, an XXLSJ based 4.1 firmware version will soon be available for installation on the Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 model.

Qantas's loss is the gain of Middle Eastern air carrier Etihad Airways and Australia's second major airline, Virgin Australia, after the two aviation companies signed three-year marketing deals with Tourism Australia.

While parents, the academic community and people in general continued to be shocked by the Connecticut school massacre over the weekend, which resulted in the death of more than 20 schoolchildren, it was not the worst in history.

Global resource companies BHP Billiton and ExxonMobil will expand the Longford gas plant at the Gippsland region in Victoria at a cost of $1 billion.

John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the US house of Representatives, addressed the media in Washington in US time last night. Not for the first time he said President Obama was not committed to making serious spending cuts and as a consequence the US economy will go over the fiscal cliff. With 18 days left in which to strike a deal, the language still being used in public exchanges between the two parties is less than inspiring. Global markets have recognised the latest salvo as being more o...

The Australian sharemarket continues its strong run, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) improving for much of the morning for the sixth consecutive session. The XAO is currently only up by a very modest 1.6 pts.

Taiwanese mobile innovation and design company HTC announced on Friday a three-year agreement with UEFA Champions League and UEF Europa League to become the leagues' official globe phone supplier partner.

After another day and another round of JellyBean update to several mobile devices, Lenovo IdeaTab is finally getting an update. The device originally runs Ice Cream Sandwich and now users can obtain the latest Android version 4.1.1 JellyBean for Lenovo IdeaTab A2109.

Techies who follow the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note flagship from Samsung are also monitoring the future of these two devices, namely the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3. Recent rumours include leaks of the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 which entails 6.3 inches of screen display, which would make it almost like any 7-inch tablet in the market.

The official video of Korean pop star Psy had reached more than 900 million views on YouTube as of Friday and topped the search list on Google Australia.

The fear that the world would end on Dec 21, 2012, caused by an apparent wrong interpretation of the Mayan Long Count Calendar, has created a loud buzz in the scientific and religious spheres. Doomsday scenarios are actually not new to mankind, with one of the first apocalyptic fear caused way back in 79 AD when the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the Italian city of Pompeii. The volcanic ash spewed by the volcano appeared to be a fulfillment of the prediction of Seneca, a Roman philosopher, t...

With a professional boxing record of 54 wins, of which 38 were knockouts and 16 decisions, 5 losses and 2 draws, Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao is considered a victor despite his recent heartbreaking, but not unexpected loss to Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez on Dec 8.

Westpac shareholders approved on Thursday a $9.6 million compensation package for the bank's chief executive, Gail Kelly. Over 88 per cent of stockholders gave the green light for the pay packet.

The Australian stock market traded through a narrow 15 point range on Thursday to end the session flat, although it remained within sight of 16 month highs.

Following global IT trends, smartphones that run on Google's Android OS has toppled Apple's iOS for the first time in Australia. Citing data from analyst firm Telsyte, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that 44 per cent of over 10 million smartphone users in Australia now use handheld units running on Android versus 43 per cent of iOS.

After the recent rally which has seen the ASX 200 hit 17 month highs and the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) reach fresh 2012 highs, local stocks are trading flat today.