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We can't just write him off as a dinosaur.

Indeed, ask Dish or Cablevision.

Do you really believe that ? I think more goes to Ireland and the Netherlands (thus Europe) than the US, because they get taxcuts there:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_44/b4201043146825.htm

Here is the original article instead of some shitty blog spam.

... the company's worth has passed that of EA (Electronic Arts).

Sort of nitpicking but if you click through to the businessweek source article, you'll notice that Zynga Game Network's value is an estimated worth while EA's value is a stock-market value. You should note that the former is estimated by SharesPost Inc. while the latter is determined by the Nasdaq Stock Exchange (in the past year EA has slumped almost 20%).

That's not to say Zynga isn't worth this much, I had a very shocking realization one day as I went to 7 Eleven to pick up some milk. Zynga has partnered with 7 Eleven in selling and marketing FarmVille, Mafia Wars and YoVille items and 'currency.' That's right, like a phone card you can get a prepaid Farmville card at any 7 Eleven (at least in my area) and they were putting free items on Slurpees, Big Gulps, coffee, candy and fast food they sold in the store. So you'd get this little peel off thing giving you a bulletproof vest in Mafia Wars and then it'd tell you how to log in to use it. I bet that alone got a lot more people hooked on Facebook -- just to get to their free item in Zynga's game (and this is why I feel borderline justified to call it a stratagem instead of strategy)!

For sometime now you've been able to buy WoW prepaid cards at 7 Eleven and there's been a handful of Xbox/PS/Wii games behind the counter but when I saw the shelf space and signs devoted to this stuff I knew it was going to dwarf all other forms of gaming very quickly. I know there are plenty of other reasons but when you see something completely outside the realm of where you think you should see a social game (I was going to 7 Eleven to pick up some skim milk), it really hits you right in the face how big this is going to get. Put yourself even spread out across the entire United States with ~10,000 locations of advertising and insertion and you're going to beat anything EA can put out with its billion of dollars. In order to compete with this, EA would have to put a demo disc of four different games targeting different ages for free on the counter of 7 Elevens (like a separate AOL disc for three different consoles and CPU). Despite how relatively inexpensive that would be for them, they aren't going to do that. And that's how Zynga wins out, the illusion that it's 'free' paired with efficient mass distribution of the free concept.

Apparently in completely unrelated news, Asus is deprecating Windows Phone 7. This even though Google totally cleaned Garmin's clock on the free navi thing.

As always, Garmin-Asus seeks the best for our consumers either on Android platform or on Windows platform. However, we see the potential of Android platform devices, so we are focusing on Android platform currently. - Steven Tu

Meanwhile Microsoft's VP, Corporate Communications Frank X. Shaw is over on Twitter right now trying to repair the damage done by today's CNN Money report. In case y'all want to wander over and lend him a hand.

Now, the Bermuda company licenses it to the Irish company, which then sells products and advertising to make a ton of money. That ton of money goes, by way of the Netherlands, back to the Bermuda company...
... where it sits indefinitely.

"But no," you say, "it returns to the US in license fees!"
Nope. As noted, Google sets its license fee intentionally low so that it has very little income and thus pays very little US income tax. If that money was returning to the US in license fees, then they would have all that income and pay taxes again. The money, generated overseas, stays overseas (well, Bermuda, anyways), and is not coming back into the US. Google, the multinational has avoided paying US taxes on its international profits by keeping its international profits separate from its US profits. Google, the US company, hasn't avoided any US taxes.

The article also notes this:

Deferred Indefinitely

Technically, multinationals that shift profits overseas are deferring U.S. income taxes, not avoiding them permanently. The deferral lasts until companies decide to bring the earnings back to the U.S. In practice, they rarely repatriate significant portions, thus avoiding the taxes indefinitely, said Michelle Hanlon, an accounting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Conceptually, this makes some sense, too... Why should Google US have to pay taxes on money that was earned overseas and is never brought into this country?Like, say they make a lot of money on advertising in the UK, and decide to open a London office and hire a bunch of people there... Why should the US government get a piece of money earned outside the US and spent outside the US?

The US corporate income tax rate is AMONG the highest in the world.

And that's just looking at the federal tax rate. When you add state and city income taxes, it gets truly ridiculous. Iowa adds 12% more to the 35% federal rate, for instance.

Some of the largest, most complex and profitable companies manage to avoid paying taxes altogether.

I've seen some examples of that and there's usually a good explanation, like the company overpaid taxes in earlier quarters. What examples do you have?

Look at what Exxon, a complex and profitable company, pays:

Perhaps more surprising was this figure buried in the Exxon (XOM) report: $9.3 billion. That's how much Exxon paid in worldwide income taxes in the first quarter of 2008, representing a 49% tax rate on its gross income of $20.2 billion.

Here's another way of looking at it. Who contributes more taxes, individuals or corporations? If you answered "individuals", you are right. So right there you can see that the de facto corporate tax rates are lower than individual tax rates, despite being high in theory.

Maybe the share of tax revenue from the corporate income tax falls when businesses move their operations to other countries.

  Molycorp is restarting the rare earths mine in the U.S. but the industry to process the ore will take 15 years to redevelop.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-28/molycorp-s-ipo-aims-at-chinese-grip-on-smart-bombs.html

"While U.S. deposits also exist in several states such as Idaho, Wyoming and Utah, they are still being explored and could take as many as 15 years before becoming fully operational, according the GAO report."

It's alot easier to get out of industries than it is to get in. I suspect this won't be the last industry we'll want to redevelop. It was foolish to get out of it in the first place. The same can be said for other industries.

The company that obtains and delivers my electricity does not own the generation methods.

You're in California then? In many places the transmitter is the generator. For instance where I am the power company is Xcel and they own the powerlines and the generators.

Falcon

In fact, we should say thank you to China on this one.

Recent news reports have Japan accusing China of this being over a territorial dispute. The traders are saying that things have resumed but that this is just an excuse for China to harass traders and outbound exports with "preshipment" checks. China denies this has anything to do with the dispute but the timing is more than a bit suspect and why is this only directed at Japan?

China is in territorial dispute with every SE-Asian country that has a shoreline. They claim sovereignty over every island down to the Philippines. For example, they have claims over Paracel islands which in theory, belong to Vietnam. Recently they started to harass fishing boats, hold them at ransom, very similar to what Somalian pirates do. Vietnam has historical documents to prove their claim - irony is, that actually some of the documents the Chinese produced to prove their point turned out to be validate the Vietnamese claims (they mention these islands as "foreign lands" in their records). Also, they threatened foreign companies (oil exploration) that had contracts with Vietnamese oil companies to back out. Finally - this started this year - they began to organize "tours" to these islands, showing the beauty of these "most remote Chinese lands." In reality, there's nothing to see there actually. Except Vietnamese fishermen who lived there for generations. Well, not anymore, actually, but you get the point ... just trying to illustrate how territorial the Chinese are... and how arrogant.

In fact, we should say thank you to China on this one.

Recent news reports have Japan accusing China of this being over a territorial dispute. The traders are saying that things have resumed but that this is just an excuse for China to harass traders and outbound exports with "preshipment" checks. China denies this has anything to do with the dispute but the timing is more than a bit suspect and why is this only directed at Japan?

I don't know how much of an net positive environmental impact recycling rare earths from circuitry provides (is your acid economically and environmentally friendly? what are the byproducts? are they less damaging than the circuitry to the environment?) but I don't think it's wise to thank countries for exacerbating a territorial dispute. The world has enough of those now, we don't need another escalation or spat between countries.

I wonder when Facebook will start to sell friends.

Isn't that what Facebooks business model is all about?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_40/b4197064860826.htm

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/02/facebook-bigger-google/

Oops, my bad, they're creating the jobs overseas. I correct myself.

If efficiency is your goal, you should do it the Foxconn way.

Basically you live, work and eat in the factory-city (some even die there ;) ). The factory-city even has its own chicken farm producing eggs for the factory cafeterias: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195058423479_page_3.htm

No need to waste time, space and resources to have the workers go shopping for different stuff, cook their own meals and storing surpluses in their own refrigerators and stores.

Instead of:
farms -> hypermarkets -> shopping commutes -> fridge/store -> kitchen -> consumption point

You have:
farms -> cafeteria fridge/store -> cafeteria kitchen -> consumption point

When done right, this way will be less polluting than the "western suburban method". It may not make for a better lifestyle, but if efficiency is the goal, this is what you do.

FWIW, if you live in a city (normal not factory) that's suitable for pedestrians it might actually not be so inefficient to eat out assuming you go to restaurants that are similar in efficiencies as hypermarkets.

farms -> restaurant fridge/store -> restaurant kitchen -> consumption point.

I've been thinking robots would be a real problem starting in about 2020 based on current vision and manual dexterity systems progress.
Discussing this elsewhere (and told I was too pessimistic), I came across the following information.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2010/tc2010061_798891.htm
Soon, That Nearby Worker Might Be a Robot

Online retailer Diapers.com employs more than 350 of the robots in three warehouses, and is adding "hundreds per month," says Executive Vice-President Scott Hilton. Retailer Crate & Barrel has purchased Kiva robots to be installed in its Tracy (Calif.) distribution center in July. One reason Crate & Barrel and Diapers.com decided to use Kiva robots is that the robots can work in the dark, reducing carbon emissions and saving money on air-conditioning and lighting. ...

at El Camino Hospital in Silicon Valley, 19 robots fulfill a range of tasks, from delivering medication and food to taking out trash. ...

Hiring as many humans ... would have cost the hospital more than $1 million a year, says Ken King, vice-pr.... Leasing the robots from Aethon costs $350,000 a year, which helps the hospital contain costs and offer patients affordable health care, he says.

The Tug robots pull their weight, say hospital officials. Tugette, for example, rolls through El Camino Hospital's corridors making deliveries around the clock, opening doors, summoning elevators, and speaking politely with workers and patients.

--

So let's see.

        * Two THIRDs cheaper than humans
        * Works 24 hours a day
        * Works in the dark
        * Doesn't require air conditioning
        * Some companies are employing "hundreds of them" with more on the way.
        * Replaces humans who go into the warehouse and get things and who stock shelves.
        * If you have any kind of SLA, it also basically never gets sick.

And that's NOW. Right now. Already happening- not 10 years from now.

It's going to be very difficult to adjust to this change in less than a generation- if it is even possible to adjust to it at all.

Yes 65mpg would be SOOOO revolutionary

There isn't a sedan widely available on the US market that gets anything near 65mpg. Most cars get far less. There is a car in europe that gets 65 per gallon. I don't get your point. (?)

Yes 65mpg would be SOOOO revolutionary

Well that's an easy argument to make, populist and shallow. I'd agree with an argument that lack of access is only a problem when it comes to someone wanting to beat you at [insert currently hot PvP game]. And if that's the only argument, the cost is certainly not worth such limited benefit. But that's a crazy assumption to which you provided no backing for an obvious reason.

The truth is the push for rural broadband isn't about your strawman of entertainment, but about economic development, as even BusinessWeek pointed out. Whether or not R.B. is economically feasible in any specific location is the important question. A question which should not be tainted by the shortsighted and selfish whining of tax haters.

The problem is that there is so much (free) money going around that the people who are in a position to lend have run out of ideas for investments.

O Rly?

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/aug2010/sb20100830_829624.htm

Generally speaking, we found more demand for loans among business owners. And among the banks that responded to our survey, 72 percent indicated that the number of loan applications they received had increased during the last six months. So there's demand for capital. Something's not quite sitting right when we hear from the banks that there's no demand.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/12/90309/too-small-to-succeed-firms-still.html

Yet when Collins approached the bank about borrowing at least $500,000 to expand his 12-employee firm -- which retrofits buildings with energy efficient technologies -- he was rebuffed, told that his company lacks resources and collateral. US Bancorp declined comment.

You're looking at this from a users perspective. I'm looking at it from a webmasters perspective.

Even webmasters can choose what they use. Not only that but they can even choose to use more than one search engine and provider of advertising. Actually if I were an employer and my webmaster wasn't using more than one provider then I wouldn't want to pay their salary. Sure right now Google has the major market position but that is likely to change. For instance Microsoft handles Facebook's ads as well as other high traffic websites. Until the end of August Google handled News Corp's MySpace ads however in July News Corp was in discussion with Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo for ad placement. Marketing is growing on other social networking websites as well, and Google doesn't do ads on all of them.

How many people install their own OS?

Well, I do. My daughters use Linux.

Did you install Linux for your daughters, or did they install it themselves?

How many buy Macs?

Well, I do. My wife uses a Mac.

So do I, I'm typing this on my MacBook Pro. I also have 2 Linux PCs, both of the tower PCs under my desk have Linux installed. One is a really old one I ordered from Microway with two HDDs, one with NT4 and the other with Redhat Linux, so I can dualboot. The other I bought with Linspire preinstalled. I also plan to install Ubuntu on my Mac. But most people buy and use Windows PCs.

How many buy PCs with Linux preinstalled?

I would say, enough to make it a venture that's profitable enough that manufacturers keep doing it.

But how many people can easily switch to Linux? Without a Linux guru it is difficult for most people to switch. Distros like Linspire attempted but Ubuntu is doing successfully is making it easier but there's still a long way to go before Linux is as easy to use for normal people as Windows, heck even Macs, is to use.

Falcon

I sit on one of those exercise balls while programming. It keeps you moving and discourages slouching.

However, it puts your spine into a C-shape which is bad.
S-shape is the optimal.

So does that mean illegal services (such as torrent sites on a blacklist) might be blocked?

Well, what do you think? Were illegal services all fine and dandy beforehand? Use your brain.

And how long is it before that changes to "must be blocked" due to being a signatory on an international copyright treaty...

OK, so throw out the baby with the bathwater. Also, that's pretty off-topic.

Or does it mean companies can no longer filter websites they find inappropriate? They after all a form of ISP in a way.

Huh? Are employees consumers?

Any time you let the government decide what is permissible on your network you will be sorry in the end.

This isn't the great firewall of China, in fact it's quite the opposite but "government bad! government will make you sorry!" is not a compelling argument.

All this to solve a problem that doesn't even exist. The only time we saw torrent throttling (not even blocking!!) in the U.S. was Comcast, and they got smacked down for it. The market worked, why do we need regulation when there is no problem?

Comcast won in the end in case you forgot here's a link, and they were resetting traffic with RST packets. If you dont think that was a test of what they could get away with, you're crazy. It was precedent setting.

"Network Neutrality" sounds so happy and awesome at first, but it hides a greater problem than you'll ever see from throttling.

I'm sorry this is going to sound rude but.... your post was either a complete troll or one of the stupidest things I have read on Slashdot in a long time. You warn of fixing a problem that doesn't exist and try proving your point with a bunch of unrelated "what-if" scenarios peppered with existential "you'll be sorry" fear mongering.

in granting the patents, the PTO went beyond what was allowed in a 1980 Supreme Court decision credited with opening up the biotechnology industry, ACLU said in court filings. It has the support of the American Medical Association and the American Society for Human Genetics.

Biotechnology Industry Organization, the trade group of biotech companies that supported Myriad in the case, is reviewing the decision, Stephanie Fischer, a spokeswoman for the group, said.

The judge did throw out claims that the patent office acted outside its authority in granting the patents. The judge said that, were an appeals court or the Supreme Court affirm his decision, the patent office would "conform its examination policies" to the court rulings.

The case is Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 09cv4515, U.S. District Court for the District of New York.

Basically, what happened is that the judge decided that, since he was able to toss the patents w/o having to rule on the validity of the USPTOs actions, he was required to ignore that part of the case, Kind of sucks, but once it gets through the appeals process, it will be another fork in the "stupid patents" model.

Google should clarify whether its action is related to this rival conference.

FYI - similar information was reported in BusinessWeek a few months ago, referencing studies from as far back as 2005

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_19/b4177071221162.htm

One approach to avoiding these problems is the treadmill desk. Around five years ago I had a leg injury that made sitting very painful - driving was torture - so I spent about a year standing in front a raised desk each work day. It took about a week to get used to it (the alternative being constant pain from sitting down probably helped to speed my acclimation). Once I had adjusted, I found standing just as comfortable as sitting. I expect that using a treadmill to simply walk at a very leisurely pace would be just as easy and I am planning to furnish my home office with one once the new house is built.

Discontinuing large-denomination notes to combat crime has already been done in the US (see the part about $10,000 bills) and Europe, at least.

We tried to sell a productized climate-change weapon to the Chinese; it's called a "Hummer"

In Russia this type of propaganda is as acceptable as Americans whole believe Obama is not a US citizen.

I guess no one here is old enough to remember when US-based conspiracy theories about Russian weather satellites were commonplace. Here is a 5 year old news clipping about one of the die-hards... http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051020_323701.htm

Well, since you ask, here's an account of the events, as Child's defense would have you believe them. Here's another article stating that Childs specifically said in court that his supervisor was not "qualified" to have the passwords. Also, every possible source I can find says specifically that Childs would only give the passwords to the mayor.

This whole thing was a big ego trip for him. There's really no way around it.

HTC has manufacturing facilities in China as well:

HTC Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. engages in research, development, design, manufacture and sale of computer, personal digital assistant (PDA) handsets. The company also engages in design and development of computer software and also provides related technical consultancies and services. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is based in Shanghai, China. HTC Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. operates as a subsidiary of HTC Corporation.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=53425025

You really don't know Taiwanese companies, do you? They usually have facilities in both countries due to the labor costs. They're no different than American/European companies.
http://www.chinasourcingnews.com/2010/06/11/012276-htc-plans-new-china-electronics-investment/

First, it's spelled "Android."

Second, Google didn't innovate a damn thing, they bought Android.

They are a bunch of loonies.

funny how we've never had any stories since on what the best selling phones are for any other month, either in Japan, or for the countless other countries in the world

Perhaps we should:

Apple iPhone Captures 72% of Japan Smartphone Market (April 23, 2010)
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-23/apple-iphone-captures-72-of-japan-smartphone-market-update3-.html

Note that this was before the iPhone 4 was released.

ARES

What about business users that need to review lots of data or input limited amounts of data while not tied to a desk? Like, those who work in hospitals or warehouses.

"... $600 Billion of Taxpayer money..."

That is for loan guarantees, not spending. A story from today: U.S. Nuclear Projects Tied Up Awaiting Federal Loan Guarantees.

I'm attending Florida Institute of Technology right now - they have an online program for some majors. I'm getting my BS in Computer Information Systems. Research I did before selecting this school: Does the diploma have "online" written on it ANYWHERE. (no) Is the school ranked? In this case, FIT is ranked by US News and World Report - not the highest but not the lowest either. It also did pretty well on the ROI report published by Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/bs_collegeROI_0621.html?chan=bschools_special+report+--+buyer+beware_college+degree:+buyer+beware. Did the college start off with a physical campus, and then add the online extension later? (yes) What you want is a school that offers an online degree in order to attract students from across the country, and not because they can't afford an actual campus.

Same here. Going for a BA in Business Admin (w/CIS focus).

Those were some of the questions I asked when doing my own research. I had considered UofPhoenix, but was turned off by the style of classes and teaching methodology UofP had. I also knew people who went there and their experiences justified my decision.

It was twenty years since I took any college course when I elected to go to Florida Tech (FIT) Online. So, I didn't quite know what to expect. I even got some ribbing that online classes will be "easy A's". Well, they're not. My first class, Philosophy, was the proverbial "trial by fire". I had a bastard of a professor (who has later earned my personal respect) and dealt with having 1500 word essays each week. I struggled with all of that excessive writing and eventually passed that class with a 90.56%.

Online classes may seem easy, and in fact, many tests are "open book". However, if you did not read the assignments or view the lectures, about the only way you can maintain a high grade is if you already know something about the subject. Many of the multiple choice questions require a knowledge of the material to answer correctly as more than one answer for a question "could" appear to be correct if you didn't understand the subject matter in detail.

I discovered that at my age (in my 40's) that I have a much more mature attitude toward my schoolwork and can understand and tolerate the need for study. I'm in my sophomore year now and holding a 3.83 GPA (got all A's and one B so far). I didn't "ace" anything. I struggled for almost all of the 4.0 grade points I've earned, even taking extra credit assignments when offered, then having barely broken the 90% barrier on each class.

I'm attending Florida Institute of Technology right now - they have an online program for some majors. I'm getting my BS in Computer Information Systems. Research I did before selecting this school: Does the diploma have "online" written on it ANYWHERE. (no) Is the school ranked? In this case, FIT is ranked by US News and World Report - not the highest but not the lowest either. It also did pretty well on the ROI report published by Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/bs_collegeROI_0621.html?chan=bschools_special+report+--+buyer+beware_college+degree:+buyer+beware. Did the college start off with a physical campus, and then add the online extension later? (yes) What you want is a school that offers an online degree in order to attract students from across the country, and not because they can't afford an actual campus.

Business Week has done a few scathing articles about for-profit colleges in the last year. One showed how they go into homeless shelters and try to get homeless people to sign up for student loan money. One college even went so far as to actually pay the homeless students for attending classes. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_19/b4177064219731.htm?chan=magazine+channel_features

Another story was about how they have gotten into the practice of buying up super small trade colleges so that they can get the accreditation. One of these for-profit schools bought an aviation school and "expanded" it into mainstream courses http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_11/b4170050344129.htm

A third story was about how these for-profit schools also target the military. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162036095366.htm

Business Week has done a few scathing articles about for-profit colleges in the last year. One showed how they go into homeless shelters and try to get homeless people to sign up for student loan money. One college even went so far as to actually pay the homeless students for attending classes. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_19/b4177064219731.htm?chan=magazine+channel_features

Another story was about how they have gotten into the practice of buying up super small trade colleges so that they can get the accreditation. One of these for-profit schools bought an aviation school and "expanded" it into mainstream courses http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_11/b4170050344129.htm

A third story was about how these for-profit schools also target the military. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162036095366.htm

Business Week has done a few scathing articles about for-profit colleges in the last year. One showed how they go into homeless shelters and try to get homeless people to sign up for student loan money. One college even went so far as to actually pay the homeless students for attending classes. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_19/b4177064219731.htm?chan=magazine+channel_features

Another story was about how they have gotten into the practice of buying up super small trade colleges so that they can get the accreditation. One of these for-profit schools bought an aviation school and "expanded" it into mainstream courses http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_11/b4170050344129.htm

A third story was about how these for-profit schools also target the military. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162036095366.htm

you get to see all sorts of reasons why the free market isn't such a good system

Interesting that you use the banking industry and BP spill as examples. First, the banking fiasco was brought on by the government mandating banks make a percentage of their mortgages to borrowers who previously didn't qualify for the loans. Banks didn't want to get into the toxic loan business, in a free market they avoided it. But the government forced it to happen.

There's no reason to believe that more tightly regulated oil drilling would have prevented the Deep Horizon spill (did the incredible amount of regulation surrounding the nuclear power industry prevent the Three Mile Island meltdown?). But there is no doubt that having seen the consequences of such a spill, companies will do everything possible to avoid it ever happening again. Exactly as you would expect in a free market.

Investigations have found that the "trick" in question was a statistical technique, not a deception. The endorsements of those scientific organizations is the result of hundreds of papers written by hundreds of climatologists. It's not a deception, and if you claim that it is, you'll need some really good evidence to back up your claim, not just a hacked email with the word "trick" in it.

They screwed up, and they're going to pay for it, I'm sure, all of it. However, to allege it's some weird quasi-government conspiracy, or that they wanted the leak to happen just seems silly and uninformed.

In the same week that we found out how much Goldman Sachs are being "made to pay" for their deliberate fraud (here's a clue, analysts are calling it a victory for GS), you expect us to believe BP will be made to fully pay for what you consider just a "screw up"? I'm afraid it just doesn't work that way, and if you believe it does then you're clearly the ranting fool who refuses to acknowledge the mountain of prior evidence to the contrary.

Yep, there's nothing new for Asia.

Oh, wait. Whoops!
And that was for the previous version of the iPhone.

Saw this back in 2006 ... business week article

Still seems like a good idea though, as long as you're not trading one set of problems for another.

This tax adds no value whatsoever to the economy. Like all taxes, it merely redistributes money (from the taxpayer to the public coffers), and is therefore a pure transaction cost. In theory, allocation of the tax proceeds to increase the efficiency of the overall economy (for example, by addressing externalities) can offset its cost, thereby justifying the tax. However, until we know the purpose to which the proposed tax revenues will be put, we won't know whether the overall economy will be improved, now do we?

To be less theoretical and more practical, I think this is simple a money grab by state politicians, trying to prop up their failed spending models. Only four states aren't running a deficit in 2010 (source). The current tax-and-spend model will leave us ending up like Greece, with 15% of the people working for the public sector, which accounts for 40% of the GDP (source). That leaves only 60% of the GDP coming from, you know, actually building things and creating value, as opposed to merely administering it. And look where that led them...

To the extent that current public programs (police, fire, emergency, schools, health care, etc) are over budget, the solution is not more taxes, it's less spending and more self-reliance. That doesn't mean anarchy, like some knee-jerk overreactionaries would tell you, it means bringing back common sense. Buy a fire extinguisher and know how to use it. Eat healthy foods and exercise more. Take a self-defense class. Actually raise your kids. Take responsibility for your actions. All of these things will help reduce government spending, and bring back a sense of community and self-respect that seems to be missing these days.

That's because the collateral damage from Microsoft's war on skills has taken out just about all engineering and science, not just IT, in the universities. It's also crippled the ability of any private company to be efficient, nimble or even competitive. Microsoft's acting Political Action Committee, the Gates Foundation, is working hard to make sure that war on skills comes even to secondary school.

We're talking about a loan, anyway, to known viable companies making an in-demand product not more sub-prime lending bubble stuff. Even the word loan is in both the title and in the URL. Without science or industry and an academia that's being rubbed out, the hope has to come from other countries. What the Bush administration did to other countries with ammo, it did to the US with policies. Sadly while the Bush junta is out of office, they have not entirely left power. If the loan has to go to companies in Spain to allow the US to get back on its feet again sometime this next 20 years, then that's how it goes.

... I doubt they lose that much money in early termination due to deceased individuals.

For the record they do loose that much money. If you got a top end phone for "free" with your contract, it cost the phone company the full wholesale price.

I'm not sure they do. I haven't seen a "top-end" phone offered for free by any of the big cell companies lately. According to iSupply, the new iPhone costs about $190 to make (parts only, say $250 with labor and shipping). Assuming they make a nice profit, I'm guessing they sell them for around $350 to AT&T (yes, I realize that AT&T is not Verizon and Verizon does not sell the iPhone, but it is the newest phone on the market so probably illustrative of worst-case costs). AT&T then turns around and sells it (with contract) for $199, meaning AT&T ate $151 which they need to make up over the 2-year contract (24 months, so about $6.30 a month).

Just found this indicating that the Motorola Droid was about the same cost on release, suggesting the cost is pretty consistent for top-end phones. So, barring some outrageous profits for the phone makers (which seems possible for the iPhone, less-so for Android makers), it seems extremely unlikely that Verizon comes anywhere close to incurring $350 for an early termination for a single device. They probably try to justify this by using the imaginary "full retail price" (I think it is $500 or so for the Droid) as their cost basis.

As the system is based in Israel, American security service have had access.

While ICQ was founded in Israel, it's been owned by AOL for over a decade. The ICQ network has been integrated with AOL's AIM network many years ago and the servers are located in AOL's network supercenter in Virginia.

ICQ's networks haven't been integrated with AOL servers, they are still in Tel Aviv, Israel. They are a subsidiary of AOL, but not merged or located in the US. They are 2 different IM programs that were kept separated to appear as if there is competition, this is why you can download both an AIM chat program and a ICQ chat program and the user names are not cross-compatible.