Services providers need to keep pace with continuingly advancing technology and developing consumer trends if they are to survive, according to a leading voice in Australia point-of-sale technology.

Saving is like magic, in that sense that advanced science is like magic: profound and yet ultimately logical.

China’s consumer economy is booming. So too, despite the well-publicised restrictions on content and channels, is the online economy. Now add ‘foreign goods’ to the fuel because cross border e-commerce is a boom within a boom – to the extent the government has just introduced some new controls on commerce.

Like Australians, the Chinese middle class have a dream and this dream is becoming the new centre of Australia's relationship with China. As their ranks swell their aspirations begin to closely resemble any other developed country albeit with a Chinese twist.

Out past the glinting international hotels, the Ferrari and Lamborghini dealerships, Louis Vuitton and Prada, it's not hard to find old Shanghai.

Good news: economic participation within ASEAN is higher than the global average, according to a world Economic Forum report.

Consumer caution has been a feature of the Australian economic landscape for some time now, recognisable in higher-than-average deposits, mortgage repayments and household saving rate.

Last week the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its annual national accounts data. While all economic data is old, these numbers are really old - although the data did offer a more accurate picture of 2013-14 from which forecasts for the coming year can be based.