Tag: business

Turning a Kindle Fire HD Into a Power Tablet

jfruh writes “The Kindle Fire HD is in theory a powerful device at a reasonable price — but its Android-based OS is so oriented towards Amazon’s ecosystem that it can be tricky to unlock its full potential. Still, with a little savvy you can get underneath the covers, improving battery life, getting full access to cameras and other devices, and even listening to music you’ve purchased through iTunes.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Turning a Kindle Fire HD Into a Power Tablet

Does US Owe the World an Education At Its Expense?

An anonymous reader writes “‘Right now, there are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities,’ President Obama explained to the nation Tuesday in his pitch for immigration reform. ‘They are earning degrees in the fields of the future, like engineering and computer science…We are giving them the skills to figure that out, but then we are going to turn around and tell them to start the business and create those jobs in China, or India, or Mexico, or someplace else. That is not how you grow new industries in America. That is how you give new industries to our competitors. That is why we need comprehensive immigration reform.” If the President truly fears that international students will use skills learned at U.S. colleges and universities to the detriment of the United States if they return home (isn’t a rising tide supposed to lift all boats?) — an argument NYC Mayor Bloomberg advanced in 2011 (‘we are investing millions of dollars [actually billions] to educate these students at our leading universities, and then giving the economic dividends back to our competitors – for free’) — then wouldn’t another option be not providing them with the skills in the first place?” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Does US Owe the World an Education At Its Expense?

Pentagon to boost Cyber Command fivefold, report says

Faced with rising cyberattack numbers and heckling by the likes of Anonymous, the Pentagon has decided to increase its staffing from 900 to 4,900 workers, according to the Washington Post. [Read more]

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Pentagon to boost Cyber Command fivefold, report says

Credit Card Swipe Fees Begin Sunday In USA

An anonymous reader writes “A speedbump on the road to a cash-free economy will go into effect Sunday in the USA, as retailers in 40 states will have the option of passing along a surcharge to customers who pay with credit cards. The so-called swipe fees arose from the settlement of a seven-year lawsuit filed by retailers against Visa, Mastercard, and big banks, who collect an electronic processing fee averaging 1.5 to 3 percent on transactions involving credit cards. The banks naturally have opposed the consumer surcharges, preferring that the extra costs to be passed along in the form of higher prices. Consumers in ten states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, Texas) won’t be affected, since laws in those states forbid the practice (it seems that gasoline station owners here in Massachusetts got a different memo, though). Also, the surcharges won’t be collected for debit or prepaid cards.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Credit Card Swipe Fees Begin Sunday In USA

California’s Surreal Retroactive Tax On Tech Startup Investors

waderoush writes “Engineers and hackers don’t think much about tax policy, but there’s a bizarre development in California that they should know about, since it could reduce the pool of angel-investment money available for tech startups. Under a tax break available since the 1990s, startup founders and other investors in California were allowed to exclude or defer their gains when they sold stock in California-based small businesses. Last year, a California appeals court ruled that the tax break was unconstitutional, since it discriminated against investors in out-of-state companies. Now the Franchise Tax Board, California’s version of the IRS, has issued a notice saying how it intends to implement the ruling — and it’s a doozie. Not only is the tax break gone, but anyone who claimed an exclusion or deferral on the sale of small-business stock since 2008 is about to get a big retroactive tax bill. Investors, entrepreneurs, and even the plaintiffs in the original lawsuit are up in arms about the FTB’s notice, saying that it goes beyond the court’s intent and that it will drive investors out of the state. This Xconomy article takes an in-depth look at the history of the court case, the FTB’s ruling, and the reaction in the technology and investing communities.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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California’s Surreal Retroactive Tax On Tech Startup Investors