VisualSeed

cropr said:

ireland said:

The cookie thing is a pain in the butt.

Well I think it needs to be  there.  Facebook is using tracking cookies even for users who don't have a Facebook account.  It one is really concerned about privacy, the end-user must be informed that a website is using cookies to track his movements of the web.

Normally Apple claims to respect the privacy of the user, but here Apple takes an opposite position, which I don't understand.

Apple is not advocating abandonment of the privacy goals of the law. They are asking for the law to be simplified so it can more easily, and reliability, implemented which means better and consistent enforcement. Currently there is a lot of overlap between multiple governing bodies with conflicting regulations. A lot of times regulators come up with solutions to problems that ignore market realities or the abilities or limitations of technology. 

Gymkhana said:

Love how all the fanboys and multinational corporation supporters show up to defend tax cheating.  Apple uses "the commons" to conduct their trade, and to draw billions in profits.  They have the obligation to help fund the infrastructure and tax base that they use.  If you still say no, then let's force Apple to build their own electrical grids, water supplies, shipping defense military, etc.  Let Apple become their own legal world entity, a nation unto their own, and we'll see how successful they can be.  Dimwits, freeloaders, tax cheats.

And how do we know that you are not a shill for the EC as part of a much larger campaign to change the public's perception of Apple and shame them into a settlement where they have done no wrong? Everyone bitches about "fair share" but taxes are not paid based on what's fair. They are paid according to law. While the EC alleges that Ireland broke EU law, Ireland insists that Apple has complied with its tax laws as they have for more than three decades. 

ericthehalfbee said:

Besides thieves who download music/movies, who else uses BT?

Kanye West

rogifan_new said:

Makes sense as no one ever says I'm going to the Target Store or Walmart Store. But I think the website should say Apple - The Domain, or Apple, The Domain. That clearly identifies it as the store name, then location.

Well because Target and Walmart are not the product as well and are officially the names of the stores. I still add the words dealer or dealership after a car brad e.g. Toyota Dealership or Ford Dealer. I guess you could say "I'm going to Toyota" or "I'm going to Ford" but it sounds a lot less formal. 

Most places just differentiate their online presence from their brick and mortar by specifically adding ".com"

anantksundaram said:

sog35 said:

Apple will not pay anything close to $1 billion.

This will go to appeal and be stuck for at least 3 years.
Then the US government will pass a law to bring back the cash to the USA.
There will be no cash in the EU for them to collect.

Eventually they will settle for about $200 million.

Or nothing at all. The US government is taking this issue seriously with the EU, and this could end up becoming a major Trans-Atlantic spat. Lots of US companies are involved, not just Apple. This is far, far bigger than just one company.

Correct. This is more like sour grapes between the EU and Ireland because Ireland has become an advantageous business nexus for international companies. While Apple is simply the high profile example and may have benefited from some very custom tailored tax laws this still affects thousands of US businesses that use Ireland as their EU headquarters. In the US this is very similar to states that give tax breaks and other incentives for companies to relocate to their states. Often it is the poorer states that receive the most federal tax subsidies that offer the best breaks. 
The EU wants to establish a system of fairness among its member nations but I believe this is going too far. The US could very easily decide to renegotiate its tax treaties and penalize the EU for this. 

mcfrazieriv said:

Well you've got bankrupt countries forcing the EU to dolly out loans from the pockets of the more prosperous ones which creates a massive void and need to collect due taxes. I'm sure that 21 billion dollars looks quite tasty to these nations.

When you are looking for tax revenue from a company that makes high priced "luxury" consumer electronics as a means to remedy the financial situations in these bankrupt countries, you have a problem. Would Italy's share of Apple's prospective unpaid taxes solve their problems or do they need Germany's and France's share too? Maybe Italy and Greece would do better if their citizens bought cheaper phones and invested more in their healthcare and retirement. 

slurpy said:

jdw said:

Although the cause of death has not been released, one cannot entirely dismiss the possibility of trouble within Apple having driven this young gentleman over the edge. That remains true even if pressure and stress doesn't cause "most people" to take their lives. Consider a software engineer suicide from Apple's past...

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/12/business/marketer-s-dream-engineer-s-nightmare.html

Although SIRI may have had nothing to do with this recent death at all, SIRI is in many ways is terribly flawed, not too unlike handwriting recognition on the Newton. The pressure within Apple to create the insanely great may very often drive the engineering geniuses behind it to the edge of sanity.

What a moronic post. And you like to a suicide from 1993 in order to try and strengthen your point? Wow. 

Also, according to many people on this forum Apple employees are "incompetent and lazy", at least, that is the refrain whenever some kind of bug is found, or not everything works perfectly 100% of the time. But when something like this happens, people are quick to go the other way, accusing Apple of pushing their employees too hard, hard enough to kill themselves. 

Wait for the damn facts before spouting such drivel. Also, people often kill themselves in their workplace because of causes unrelated specifically to their workplace (ie. personal/family issues, chronic depression, etc)

If indeed suicide, I'd wager it was a culmination of personal issues and some petty workplace issue that triggered a manic episode. If firearm related it could have been a premeditated attempt at a murder / suicide / workplace rampage at the office and he just changed his mind at the last moment. I just can't imagine an engineer bringing a gun to the office every day unless he kept it in his car. In any event, I don't suspect it was job pressure (unless he was terminated) even when Jobs reigned over the engineers like a mad dictator, nobody killed themselves and Apple has become a lot softer since then. 

latifbp said:

All Spotify paying users should be questioning why Spotify needles its customers by forcing them to pay business operation expenses. That 30% fee is a business expense, one they can and I'm sure they do write off at tax time. BUT, not only do they write it off (so it doesn't cost them much or anything at all) but they force you, their customer, to pay more anyway. They're screwing you and any other dope who decides to believe this victim sob story.

Imagine if you went to a car dealer and looked at a new Ford Mustang and the dealer quoted you a price then got home and had an email from Ford saying if you went to their website and ordered it directly you could have it for 30% less and you could still go to the same dealership and pick it up. Great deal if you are a customer. Sucks if you are the guy that is spending all day showing cars to customers or the dealer that is expected to inventory and maintain the cars. I have never seen a business that considered their sales, marketing and distribution to be free. At least not a business that survived for very long.