Billabong has joined JB Hi-Fi, issuing a profit warning.

It expects earnings will be around 25 per cent lower for the first half because of the implications of the European debt crisis and a cooler than normal start to the Australian summer.



With Christmas less than a week away, the retail sector will be hoping for a pick-up in sales.

Fabian Cancellara (Getty)

As we head into Christmas and contemplate the year ahead, here are a few of the things Matthew Keenan is looking forward to in 2012.

An outcome in the Contador clenbuterol case

After the hearing in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in November we’re told a decision will, finally, be handed down mid-to-late January. Due to the length of this case, whatever the outcome cycling’s reputation will be further tarnished.

How is it we’re not really sure who won the 2010 Tour de France? Please just give us an outcome so the sport can deal with the fallout and stumble on.

Running counter to a worldwide B.O. slowdown, Norwegian cinema is enjoying an all-time record share of its home market .

While box-office figures are down in many markets in Europe, the US and elsewhere, Norwegian cinema has already posted a record share of its home market this year.

Local releases clocked nearly 2.7 million admissions through early December, the highest tally for the Norwegian production industry in 36 years.

National films accounted for 24.6 per cent of the market, an all-time record, after peaking at 58 per cent in September: levels of popularity that would be a wet dream for Australian filmmakers.
By contrast, the 31 Australian features and docus released in Oz through early December earned a total of $39 million, of which Red Dog raked in more than $21 million.

The popularity of smart phones and tablet PCs have seen demand for Wi-Fi connectivity skyrocket and it's taken Australia’s airlines a long time to catch up.

16 major US carriers offer Wi-Fi to their customers, so that they can connect to the internet on their iPhone, Blackberry, laptop and iPad or the equivalent on their flight.

Delta currently has the most Wi-Fi equipped fleet with around 500 planes offering the services.

But now, Australia's major carriers are set to do the same.

Brian Di Palma returns to remakes, while Noomi Rapace spaces out with Ridley Scott.

Not only is there a potentially great film waiting to be made from William Gibson’s seminal 1984 science-fiction novel Neuromancer, there’s probably a rather funny companion piece in the long, odd production journey the book has experienced. The novel basically kick-started the modern era of sci-fi: space operas gave way to a dystopic but recognisable future set on this planet, with a noir inflected vision. “The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel,” was the first line, and the book effectively launched the cyberpunk genre.

Gibson, whose concept of a worldwide virtual reality dataspace he called the Matrix prefigures the Internet, layered a tight plot beneath the icy prose. Neuromancer is concerned with a damaged data thief offered redemption, a physically enhanced female bodyguard and a mysterious World War III veteran who hires them on behalf of an unknown entity. So what happened during the book’s initial acclaim? The following promotional video, made by the book’s original producers, may give you an idea of the mismatched forces aligned on the project. If for no other reason, I urge you to watch this and marvel at Hollywood fashion in the mid eighties.

Growth. Abundance. The full flush of the season. I stand in awe of the bounty in the garden. Purple-podded peas, fat in their shells. Sweet green peas, sugar snaps, broad beans, artichokes (well, a couple). Sure, the asparagus has been let go to fronds and the tomatoes are a mere fantasy on the vine at this stage, but everywhere else there’s stuff growing to maturity. Plants adore daylight as well as warmth, and while we don’t get super hot or even very warm springs, the garden looks amazing.

We’ve been gobbling the first of the raspberries. Rammed between the fence and the apple trees, there’s a jungle of the things, where once there were a mere 10 canes. Luckily, they’re just as hard for the birds to find as us. The netted garden sure helps. Strawberries, too, are sweet on the ground. My first six gooseberries were, well, not sweet and they’re not supposed to be, but brilliant to add another crop to the list.

Our hay paddock is long and heading up nicely. We’ll use it for pig bedding and emergency feed, but, hopefully, we can keep enough grass over winter to keep the cattle ticking along. The blueberries are coming along well. The apples have all borne fruit, which is fattening on the tree, the quince is hit hard with rust, but seems to be battling along. The rhubarb has been amazing, and we’ve even started on the purple sprouted broccoli – a month or two before we thought it’d crop.

"The Ides of March" (starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney) is among the nominees for best picture at the next Golden Globes. (AP)

Since launching this blog back in July, the kind folks here at SBS Online have allowed me to bring you useless factoids about award ceremonies, video games, obscure celebrities, and films that have stirred up some kind of controversy.

So for the final "Pop, Cultured" of 2011, I'm doing something completely different... by omitting any references to an obscure celebrity.

You're welcome.

In this week's edition we take a look at the nominations for January's Golden Globes, as Christian Bale defends his latest film that's been labelled "anti-Japanese propaganda".

Chris Horner and Cadel Evans riding for Predictor-Lotto during the 2007 Tour de France (Getty)

The emphasis on points and its bearing on securing a team’s place in the WorldTour may well be encouraging riders to be more selfish than ever before, writes Anthony Tan.

Cadel had no team-mates and still has no team-mates.When Chris Horner speaks, most people usually listen.

At the close of the 2007 season, when he left Cadel Evans’ side at what was then Predictor-Lotto, he accurately predicted that if he wasn’t replaced with a similar calibre rider, Evans would find himself isolated at the following year’s Tour de France.

“I guarantee you, if you took me off the team and you didn’t replace a rider like me and you went into the Tour de France,” warned Horner, telling me in December that year, “there would be times when Cadel was going to be by himself at crucial moments in the race. And that’s the end result.”

Chris Hoy. Photo: Getty

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all over TweetDeck
Not a creature was stirring, not even Frank Schleck
Then on Sunday evening, guess what was let loose?
A torrent of rather unfestive abuse"

Chris Hoy is a joke" tweeted @MiniMarvel2
"Weak and pathetic," was @happyhowell's view
"You're useless," said @chutneymutt (this went on and on)
"Disgusting ... a scumbag," said Joshua1

Chris Hoy was bemused – what was this all about?
It seemed to be Spurs fans wanting him out
"Hoy, you are a useless c**t of a ref,
"You must support Stoke, and you're dumb, blind and deaf."

Who should get paid more a politician or a sportsman?

Backbenchers would see their average pay rise from $141,000 to $185,000.


The tribunal says, that despite the global financial crisis, there's never a right or wrong time for this move.


It also says many MPs are never really off duty thanks to the advent of social media and email, making them more accessible to their constituents.