Posts by Shagbag
652 posts • joined Monday 10th March 2008 14:53 GMT
Same shit different day...
...the legislators STILL refusing to accept that only they can (and actually) write, initiate and pass the tax laws.
"it's not our fault, it's theirs".
This story highlights the fundamental impediment to a lot of peole buying Apple devices: iTunes.
I had my Dad over from Australia recently and he was enthusastically praising his iPad. Not having one, I had no idea what he was talking about. When I tried to copy a (legitimately purchased) movie across to his iPad I was astounded to find out I couldn't do it without going through a convoluted process of copying to his PC (the one he has synced his iPad with previously), him adding it to his iTunes library and then him syncing his library with his iPad. Given that his PC was thousands of miles away this made it practically impossible.
I showed him how I did it on my Android tablet: drag-and-drop. He didn't like that.
The whole story brought home to me just how fallacious the whole 'Apple's more intuitive' thing is - it's nothing more than a Jedi mind trick. My sister received a MacBook Pro from her husband for Crimbo and proceeded to get very frustrated with OSX because she'd grown up on Windows. She constantly lamented that OSX did not seem any 'more intuitive' than than any other foreign device she'd tried.
Some people love their Apple devices, and that's great for them, but I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.
"it can’t be long before Cupertino aims its legal cannons in the direction of Kuaiyong"
Good luck with that.
Intel's Bitch
When it comes to a non-x86 platform, I firmly believe MSFT is Intel's bitch. Intel don't want RT to succeed and I believe there are some tensions there between MSFT and Intel. I suspect MSFT produced (the knee-capped) RT out of desperation to stay relevant but, at the same time, appease Intel by removing functionality.
This Outlook on RT is just more of MSFT hedgeing its bets. Until Intel can produce a viable x86 competitor, MSFT will always toy around with ARM. As soon as Intel does, MSFT will drop ARM like a lead weight.
Re: Android
To be fair, so could Apple.
Re: Curious to know
HD pr0n.
Re: I am going to University in sept this year.
"it would be great for a portable compact dev machine"
lol. It's a piece of shit.
Re: It is the price, stupid!
Agreed.
With big business buying in bulk, they're not going to give their employees expensive, shiny Win8Pro tablets.
No, they're going to give them the cheapest desktop PC shit they can - like they've always done.
IT's what happens when you don't listen to your customers
I have to laugh. After all the negative reviews of Windows 8 and people saying consumers don't want it, they're now blaming the OEMs.
MSFT just don't get it.
Maybe they can now host that 'Make me Asian' app the Google Play can't.
Who gives a fuck?
'just as long as I can stream pr0n with no dropped frames (but lots of dropped knickers) then I'm happy.
Re: Mac sales decline is the problem
"Even the most rock-ribbed Apple-hater must grudgingly agree with Cook that those numbers are indeed impressive...Wall Street has clearly characterized as disappointing financial results..."
By the author's logic everyone on Wall Street must be an Apple-lover.
Interesting charts
I can see what looks like exponential growth in the iPhone sales chart which is good for Apple, but iPad sales seem linear which is not good.
same shit different day
If and when, the Dutch change the law, Starbucks et. al. will just restructure their affairs and use some other jurisdiction. There are a lot of very smart tax lawyers out there eager to sell their services to multinationals in the game of international taxation.
Re: @Shagbag
"Except that if nobody spent that $15,001 way back when to make the Batmobile, how the f*ck was anybody going to buy said Batmobile today?"
WTF?
If nobody spent that $15,001 way back when to make the Batmobile we wouldn't be having this discussion. You'd be taking the bait on someother forum and I'd be busy shagging really fit looking whores in downtown Vegas with all the money I'd made off you from selling you crap investments.
The question is a non sequitor.
No apologies
I call it the way it is.
Is there an optimum level of apps?
It strikes me that, although Google Play and App Store, expose a developer to a greater number of potential app buyers this can count against a developer by his/her app being 'crowded out' by the competition.
Google and Apple have always touted their big application base as a benefit for developers but I wonder if there is a level where a developer gets more 'bang for their buck' in a smaller ecosystem like BB or Windows.
I've had Android, WinPho and Apple handsets in the past and Android/Apple can be a PITA trying to decide which is the 'best' app to buy when the search list comes back with 100+ results. I didn't have that problem with WinPho but I ended up hating WinPho for other reasons - like iTunes, having to do everything through Zune was just a right royal PITA, then, when MSFT announced there'd be no upgrade for loyal WinPho7 users to WinPho8 I just thought "this is not the platform for me" and I exited and haven't looked back.
I'm curious about BB10 though. If it goes with the 'drag-and-drop' model of Android, I'll be very interested.
You clearly know nothing about investing so let me enlighten you. 'Investing in the stock market' consists of holding a fully diversified portfolio that has a beta of 1.0. You can either do it yourself or - since the 1970s - you could buy units in an Index Fund that tracks a market index, eg. S&P 500. You want an accumulation index, of course, not just a price index.
The $15,001 spent on the car wasn't a good investment at all - unless it gave rise to non-pecuniary benefits as I alluded to.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to realise it'd be better being the guy who put his money in the market in 1955. He could've bought that batmobile today and still be left with over $0.8m to spunk away on shagging upmarket hookers in Las Vegas.
Make me Asian App?
They're going to miss out on that one, if they don't go with Google.
$15,000 invested in the stock market in 1955 is worth $5.0m today.
Unless the guy had sex with lots of different women because of the car, I'd say he backed a loser.
Who gives a fuck?
Posted in Google pulls 'racist' Make Me Asian app
slightly less offensive “Make me Fat”, “Make me Bald” and “Make me Frankenstein”.
Why 'slightly less offensive'?
I'm sure there are a lot of heiferlumpas out there that are incensed by the Make me Fat app. As there are chrome-domes who take offense to the Make me Bald app with apologies to the Google Chrome project as, apparently, we have to apologies these days for taking delight in the diversity of peoples' physical appearance).
Fans of Mary Shelley will also be very angry, but I suspect more so at the continued abuse of her classic novel by those that have never read it: Frankenstein was the creator of the monster, not the monster.
What really irks me about this is that a bunch of retards think the 'app' is racist. I don't believe this is possible. To my mind, only the creator of the app, could have their ethics questioned - not the 'app' - which is clearly incapable of having a conscience. Retards, the lot of them. Furthermore, on the account of 'racism' I can see no evidence of it. The author/authoress (yes, there is no such thing as a female author - just like no woman has ever won an Oscar for 'Best Actor' despite them all calling themselves that). Anyway, what I mean to say is that the preponderence of similarly themed apps (fat, bald, indian, asian) created by the same source, is clear evidence that the author/authoress is NOT racist. Clearly, he/she has no favourites and would appear to hate a number of social groups.
Shame on Google.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Fu Man Chu.
Phew!
When I read the headline "Capgemini staffers evacuated by cops" my first thoughts were:
1. Ouch!
2. Are the police trained to perform such medical procedures?
I was relieved to read, subsequently, "Capgemini was forced to evacuate its building".
Phew.
follow up
National Audit Office statistics show that, despite popular opinion, the only banks "bailed out" in the financial crisis were:
Northern Rock (£23bn) - the first. In Labour's heartland of NE England.
Royal Bank of Scotland (£46bn) - the Scottish bank. Another votewinner for Labour.
Lloyds TSB (£21bn) - only after its disastrous acquisition of Halifax-Bank of Scotland (HBOS) - another Scottish bank. Another votewinner for Labour.
Bradford & Bingley (£9bn) - the only bank to bailed out that had no political upside for Labour.
So "bailing out the banks" amounted to saving 4 banks from the Liquidator.
FAIL
"Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Barclays and RBC"
None of these was bailed out by the UK taxpayer.
Office Space
Bob has 'management' written all over him.
Re: not done right
"I am sure Apple or perhaps a decent digital watch brand like Suunto could make it look classy."
EXACTLY.
A watch is a consumer item. Consumers frequently buy on the basis of the "image" the item is perceived to impart to them. I could name one company that understands this and has been exploiting it ever since.
Examples of 'style over content' consumption include the original iPod - a large, clunky, ugly looking device that Apple sold on image. Beats Audio - oversized headphones with bog-standard technology that Monster have sold on image. The list goes on...
Everyone remembers Dick Tracey's wristwatch for a reason - it was a cool/must-have device. I think these nay-sayers are wrong, just like those that said the iPad was just another tablet and would never take off.
Posted in Review: HP ENVY x2 Windows 8 convertible
Priced to Fail
Absolutely.
"From a pure Ultrabook perspective, this seems very limited indeed. But viewed as a tablet computer... the ENVY x2 is extraordinary."
If only for its price.
Bill Gates
Bill Gates is a smart guy - we all know that. Ever since he announced he'd be stepping down as CEO of MSFT, I've always believed he could see the writing was on the wall.
MSFT experienced fantastic growth and profitability for decades but history has shown, time and time again, that nothing ever lasts.
Audible Gestures
Why limit it to a wink? How about spoken commands from the user or better still.. a fart to reboot.
Re: "double fist strategy"
One in the the pink and one in the stink.
Another example of lax copy
"after it unearthed some irregularities in Autonomy's books"
I haven't been following this closely, so I guess I missed the court case when this statement moved from being a simple claim by HP to being a proven fact as the author represents.
@AC
I'm going to point out the obvious and say that there a hell of a lot of red-neck bible-bashers in the USA that find your comments sickening as well.
This sort of shit pisses me off.
"Margaret Hodge, Labour MP and head of the panel, said it was clear that the companies were using complex corporate structures and exploiting the current tax law setup to move their profits out of the country."
So they weren't breaking any laws.
"HMRC should be challenging this but its response so far to these big businesses and their aggressive tax planning has lacked determination and looks way too lenient. Policing the tax system must be at the heart of what HMRC does"
And we're going to cut your HMRC budget so that you can't employ anyone to do this.
"We suspect that all these arrangements are devices to remove profits from the UK to these areas with lower tax"
Oh FFS. HELLO! ANYONE IN THERE? It's called "Transfer Pricing" and everyone who works in international tax has known about it for decades - even pre 1970s. WAKE UP YOU DOPEY POLITICIANS AND SMELL THE COFFEE!
"The MPs said HMRC needed a "change of mindset" on big multinationals and had to prosecute the ones that weren't paying the tax due in the UK."
That's the realy cowardice, right there. Blame the HMRC when it's been successive Governments who are the villains. Repeatedly failing to listen to the HMRC about their need for adequate resources.
Only when the mass media starts pointing the finger at the politicians will anything ever get done about this. Trying to deflect blame to the HMRC and the Multi-national Taxpayer like this means NOTHING will get done. It's complete rhetoric and venting of anger. That is all. Nothing will come of this. Tax avoidance will continue to occur. There is nothing to see here. Move on.
"the full office experience"
Access AND Visio! Ooh great. I can see that's going to be a real deal clincher. Especially in big business where these two technologies are ubiquitous. NOT. Access in the enterprise? Maybe for Mum and Dads' corner shop, but for the big IT spenders these are a joke.
MS strategy: embrace, extend and destroy
"It would be remarkable for Microsoft to launch its own phone, given the job Nokia is doing as Redmond's hardware arm."
I think that's what will happen. Having pimped them for all they're worth, I would not be surprised if MS acquired Nokia in a 'hostile' takeover bid. MS has a great track record of acquiring things on the way down and I see Nokia as the quintessential opportunity for MS.
Posted in Skills shortage may crimp Asia's IT rise
Every population has its % of talent and its % of fuckwits
APAC has produced some truly talented IT professionals. It's just that most of them work outside of APAC because they're paid more.
Posted in Skills shortage may crimp Asia's IT rise
Help me out here..
"increasing talent shortage in APAC could harm organisations' innovation efforts as CIOs struggle to adapt to ongoing technological change"
"importing talent... can lead to unwanted inflation in the market"
I'm finding it difficult to reconcile these two statements. Maybe it's because I'm not an idiot. People really need to proof read their copy before they publish. Unless they want to look like a fuckwit.
It's called 'innovation'
Google are just trying to make life simple for you. Microsoft like to use the phrase 'feature rich'. It's all the same thing - a load of old bollocks. Now if you want REAL innovation take a look at those phones that have a dedicated facebook button. That's innovation right there. Something so simple and yet so highly innovative.
...and for those literaltards out there, I am being sarcastic.
Posted in Ericsson sues Samsung for un-FRANDliness
Apple pimping Ericsson
Ericsson are Apple's bitch?
Time to bring back the noose?
Hell fire. I don't give a toss if they're obeying the law. Let's linch 'em anyways.
Paris, because she has the same level of intellect.
Yes it is.
The US corporation licenses its intellectual property to the Luxembourg entities who are allowed (under the terms of the license) to sub-license to other EU entities. Royalties are set by contractual agreement between the parties and that is how 'profits' can be shifted out of the UK tax net
This is an overly simplistic analysis for the real world of international tax law is very complex where one country may view an arrangement entirely differently from another, eg. Australia considers contracting through a company for purely personal expertise (ie. 'IT Contracting') as a complete and utter sham, while the UK allows it to go on but with restriction via IR35. Anyone who thinks IT Contracting through a company is not a form of tax avoidance is deluded. All tax avoidance is perfectly legal, just like what Amazon, et. al. are doing.
As to non-resident IT Contractors out there (Aussies, Kiwis, etc.) why stop at IR35? Why not really shag the UK tax base for all its worth and license your intellectual property/personal services through a series of offshore companies a-la Amazon? As long as it's legal, I won't have an issue with you doing it. But I will be mighty pissed off with my MP for allowing it to happen.
"...to feature such an innovation"
I agree. A dedicated, Facebook button is the type of innovation I've long been looking for. I'm surprised Microsoft have missed this trick with their 'Surface'. Had they the foresight to see the exponential profit growth that this innovation brings to the consumer space then they wouldn't be seeing their sales figures every time they look down the swanny after they've dumped.
Ingenious!
I'm amazed at the simplicity of the structure. It's ingenious. And perfectly legal.
It's become very clear to me that Governments all over the world are failing to come to terms with the way international business is now being done. Double Tax Agreements negotatiated decades ago could not have foreseen how powerful the internet would become as a means of effecting trade (that's 'effect', not 'affect').
The fact that Google, et. al. are able to do this means those Governments have been caught with their trousers down and are now pointing at Google, et. al. saying "don't look at me althought I look absolutely ridiculous, please look at Google instead who are obeying all tax laws I've created".
What a farce.
If Google was an individual born in the UK, they'd be getting a CBE by now like another, well known user of tax avoidance schemes - Gary Barlow. Yes. Let's all give Google a CBE as I fail to see the difference.
What REALLY pisses me off are the fools who swallow the Government's misdirection and start slagging off the tax avoiders WHEN IT IS THE LEGISLATORS' FAULT. FFS, people, stop being idiots and start complaining to your MP for the piss-poor performance in letting this type of thing happen.
P.S. IT Contractors (ie. those alienating income from personal exhertion into lower-taxed corporate vehicles) should think twice before complaining - what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Everything was cheaper to buy on one side of the street, so guess where people go shopping
Tax avoiders!!!!!!
Agreed...but...
I agree with what you're saying but what is your definition of 'profits', eg. do you allow deductions for interest on borrowings? if so, what about shareholder loans? how much can a company borrow (and therefore, get tax relief on interest) before you deny them the ability for tax relief? 100% leverage, 80% leverage, 79.9% leverage? what about payments on perference shares - interest or dividends? do you allow deductions for raw materials bought offshore - if so, how much is a reaonsable mark up for the vendor? what if the vendor is related to the purchaser (ie. transfer pricing) - what markup is acceptable then?
