Oprah gushes over 'amazing' new Apple iPad - Page 2

McCain!!! hey... is that you?

I always find it is the best course of action not to speak on things about which I have little knowledge. The IRS considers gifts such as those provided by Oprah as taxable income in the amount the item costs. Say the car costs $20,000. Imagine two people each with $100,000 in income, both identical in every way. One goes out and buys the car for $20,000, the other receives it as a gift. Now the one who bought it has $80,000 and a $20,000 car. The other has $100,000 and a $20,000 car. The IRS's logic is such that Pontiac, in a roundabout way, gave $20,000 to the audience member, who then used the $20,000 to buy a car. Receiving that money was a taxable event, even though the middle step of receiving, then spending, the money was skipped.

When it says that Pontiac paid the taxes on the cars, the people were still subject to the same tax. If the tax were $1000, then Pontiac gave them $1000 on top of the car, and the audience member received $21,000 in taxable income. This would take the tax due up to $1050. Getting upset about paying $1000 tax on the $20,000 received is the same as getting upset about paying the $50 tax on the $1000 received, it's just a measure of scale. The idiots might say, "Thank you Pontiac! Now I only owe $50 tax on the car!" But in reality, they could have accepted Pontiac's $1000, sold the car on the open market for fair value and now had $21,000 cash, on which they would owe $1000 tax, leaving $21,000 cash; they then pay the $1050 tax and have $19,950 cash. Or they could pick the car and the money from Pontiac, which would mean they have a car, $1000, and a $1050 payment to the IRS, leaving a car and a $50 tax payment out-of-pocket.

loaded with what?

Not to mention the secret weirdo who went on to kill people (manslaughter) in his sweat lodge. I wonder if she would have endorsed Jim Jones if she had been around during his time?

Yes, but didn't Gizmodo recently appear on an edition of COPS...

As if to emphasise your first point, here's today's tech feel good story on the BBC site...the_99yearold_ipad_user

Pelosi!! hey...is that you?

Ok, I just LOL'd that you put Oprah in the same category as Limbaugh and Beck. I'd say that's a horrible insult to everyone involved!

Chances are it was just uniformly grossed-up to the average middle class %. But yes, the main point is that you should NEVER take the car/vehicle/prize when you can get the cash.

There is a separate forum named PoliticalOutsider specifically for all the political rants and raves and whatnot. Kindly take this crap over there, as it doesn't belong here. Remember that you agreed to keep this crap out of the the regular forums when you agreed to the ToS in your signup.

I agree, not what it was that is for sure, same goes for VH1.

I don't watch Oprah because I'm a guy but I'm willing to bet that she's done more to better this world than you have.

Oprah=sales. Period.

You guys are so funny! It's a bloody device (OK a very cool and magical bloody device) and she's a celebrity who brings a lot of cred with her fans. Whatever else she may have done or said (and she frankly is no Charles Mason for you finicky types), the endorsement is a good one for Apple.

Any number of celebrities are fans and/or have endorsed Apple's product at one time or another - including Bono/U2, Karl Rove, Stephen Fry, Kevin Costner, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, Jason Varitek (Red Sox), Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith), J.J. Abrams, Alicia Keyes, Cameron Diaz, Kim Kardashian, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Rodriguez, Jon Stewart, Steven Colbert, Barak Obama, Angelina Jolie and Penelope Cruz to name a few. These obviously arrive from all up and down the political spectrum, so lets lighten up on the cred panic and bask in the iPad purchase surge sure to follow. Better get in line a little earlier this Friday - cuz you don't want some 'Bucked up suburban soccer mom getting all Angelina on your geeky ass.

Unlike you she has actually talked to Obama instead of just going off of Republican talking points. Go Bush, huh?

No kidding. So many people with such an obvious need to feel superior.

I don't dispute for a second that she's done a great deal of good. And with the popularity of her show she has the ability to do much good. Unfortunately she's often MISused her influence, too

the only reason Oprah is endorsing the iPad is because it's another vehicle for her to make money on her book of the month club. Notice how her SPOKESPERSON said she still uses the Kindle, too [can't upset the kindle people and risk losing another Harpo Cash Cow]

i guarantee Oprah would have said the iPad was incredible even if it were as functional and intuitive as a Microsoft Mira.

Guys

Save your political discussion for Political Outsider. There's a "reason" why we separate those discussion from the more computer oriented topics.

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I would not disagree...

However, did the money make the person of did the person make the money... Anyone with lots of money can do lots of good things especially when they know spreading it around will help them.

was Oprah this great person form day one, and because she was good person and did all the right things the money came her way. Or did she happen to be in the right place and came into the money and she then used it to make herself even look better.

I would say the money made the person, since she obviously has a self control issue just watch her weight going up and down, every time it goes up she throws money at it to make it go back down. Verse being self disciplined and just working at daily.

So anyone with money can appear to be this great person, Just look at Andrew Carnegie, he spread lots of money around and did many things for the good of people, his money is still giving today but he was a mean and nasty person.

Thanks Murch! The *lack* of political-oriented rants is part of what makes AI forums great!

My bad. Though I was well aware of everything you described (a friend had recently won a new Mustang in a raffle and he went through the whole process you described), I mistakenly assumed which taxes Pontiac was covering. They covered the state taxes, not the income taxes the recipients ended up owing on the vehicles. I pulled a Homer Simpson, Doh!

I think that's a pretty likely scenario.

But if you sold the car, you'd more than cover the cost of the taxes.

Oh yeah.

Hello Ms. Cougar.
How you doing?

nice

They could just have refused it. Or, give it to me.

If you win the lottery, or get a gift large enough, you are also expected to pay taxes.

It is just like those people who expected a largesse from the Federal government whenever there is a disaster. then complain about being taxed, the government meddling with their lives, blah, blahh, blahhh.

CGC

ka-CHING!!!

This makes total sense. The people who watch oprah are the perfect demographic for apple products, though they probably can't afford anything with an apple logo.

I'm still surprised about how people are fixating on eBooks. Sometime ago, someone must have planted that seed and it has blossomed into a full-fledged meme. Apparently people are buying the eBook hype. It is almost like they've never heard of... wait for it... the internet.

Here's my prediction. eBooks will still not be popular yet the web and apps will continue to be wildly popular.

But yeah.... oooo.... ahhhh.... turning eBook pages looks cool.

I do not follow Oprah that much. One person here injected politics by criticizing Oprah for supporting Obama. I am sure possibly have the same reaction if she is an avid supporter of Sarah Palin. Personally,

I detest her politics, but if she happens to be elected President, I would accept the verdict of the people, much as I accepted that George Bush and Ronald Reagan. I would continue to disagree with their politics but I will not go out of my way to cause them physical harm (just like those who committed murder because they disgree vehemently against abortion, or whatever they believe in). To be honest, I like many qualities of Reagan as a person, even if I disagree with his politics.

The same is true with Goerge Bush. he li tt was a class act of him to fade to the background, once the new President was elected. And when called upon by the President, he tried to help in the way he can.

The bottom line is that if we are not very careful, our own point of view affects how we judge the action of others.

As far as Oprah is concerned, she will always be limited by her upbringing, like all of us are in one form or another -- experiences, surrounding, education, socio-economic status grwoing up, etc. We have to take that into consideration whenever we listen to her crusades. With this in mind, I would not likely just follow her latest diet program.

What little I know about Oprah though, she is not like those evangelists who preach against sin and sanctity of marriage, then it turned out they are the ones who cohabitate, some turned out to be pedophiles, there are some people (politicians, priests, etc.) who were so vehement about gays, then they turn out to be attracted to males themselves, name your poison or pet peeves.

We are not perfect ourselves, so that we should focus more on how we can improve our own self, before we become too harsh on others.

If we have common grounds, then let us find the ways to collaborate. Where we differ, let us agree to disagree in a more civil manner.

Let us have the humility that no matter how much faith we have on the foundations of our ethics and moral code, let us always entertain the possibility that we could be wrong -- because we may not know the whole story.

We are prisoners of our space and time.


CGC

N.B. I realize that politics and and perspectives have been injected here. However, they are used more as examples. I dismay sometimes how we completely forget the essence of civil discourse.

You're correct, in principle, but the numbers are way off. In most state, sales taxes are 3-9%, so you're going to have $1 K in sales taxes. Income tax must be paid by the recipient - and the actual rate depends on your particular situation. If you're earning nothing, you'll probably not end up paying any tax. If you're earning $100 K per year, your incremental taxes would be more like $4,000 to $6,000 (including both income tax and social security taxes).


Maybe no one has explained it to you, but no one is going to make you use an eReader if you don't want. You can use a laptop to read Kindle eBooks. Or you can download ePub books from the internet.

Some of us prefer the format of a Kindle or iPad. It's easier to read on a plane or lying in bed and allows us to have access to new books even if we don't have Internet access.

In any event, it's optional. If you prefer to read a pdf file on your laptop, no one is stopping you. Similarly, you have no say in telling others what they should do.

Please exit....

Stage Right.

Or find a political thread to post your drivel.

Not so. I just came from an Apple Store and it was completely packed with people curious about the iPad. Incredible.

Of course not, but one can always try to make them feel inferior.

I was in an Apple Store on Sunday and was surprised at how packed it was. The store was overly packed but the front of the store made it seem even worse by the number people surrounding the iPads.

Despite their size Apple Stores are very much anchor stores for malls. I have to wonder how much of a discount they get just from choosing to be in one mall over another and how much they can charge stores proximal to Apple Stores.

wow, where have you naysayers been for the past 20 years. Whatever Oprah endorses is immediate gold. She is by far the most influential person for American women, and it's people like her that get people elected, authors on the bestseller list and films made or broken. The iPad is going to sell like hotcakes.

let's face it Obama is the biggest quacks that Oprah has ever promoted. As such she is directly responsible for the embarrassing situation we are in right now. The harm she has done by promoting lesser idiots is insignificant in comparison.


Dave

Seriously, let's knock off the political comments.

Seconded. Not for this thread.

I think some of it is par for the course when the headline concerns a super-popular and well-known media figure. For example, the comments would have more numerous and political if the headline was about Limbaugh gushing (ugh... the image.....anyway.... )


What is the 'embarrassing situation' that we are in right now? Care to explain with actual facts?