cnocbui

Judge orders Apple to hand over live unicorn or face penalties.  The world waits with baited breath.

'Hey, Tashfeen. We must make sure to destroy all evidence that might help the infidels before we leave.'

'Good idea, Syed. We should destroy our phones and the computer.'

(smash, thmp, thump, bang, thump)

'Syed, what about the other phone, over there, what is on it?'

'Oh that - it only has all of the contacts in the Daesh network in the US and Canada and the the plans and dates for the attack in Los Angeles.'

'Oh, that's OK then, we can leave that one.'

This is the same mob of cretins who tried to force Microsoft to hand over the contents of emails held on a sever in Ireland, to set a precedent for extraterritorialy extending the reach of their hegemony, rather than go through the established channels and ask the Irish authorities to grant access.

Not terribly hard to see a common theme here and an obvious orchestrated agenda.

Give it up Kanye, you noisome specimen of humanity.  He's hoping he can BS Apple into doing a Beats kind of deal because he knows Apple have the deepest pockets on the planet and probably thinks that means they will be both generous and nonchalant about enriching him, which is why he didn't mention Spotify or Deezer.  I am anticipating significant schadenfreude at watching them reject him and the subsequent withering of Tidal and his investment.

Smoke and mirrors.  Moving the the D/A and amplification circuitry a couple centimeters physically will not lead to any sonic improvement or greater utility, it will just drive up costs for consumers and line Intel's pocket.  It's completely pointless from a consumers perspective.

applesauce007 said:

crowley said:

AppleInsider said:

"I think that's exactly what it is," Cook said. "I think it's a desire to reallocate taxes that should be paid in the U.S. to the EU."

Wow, that's rich. Set up a corporation with the express intention of avoiding paying taxes in the US or EU, then try and play them off against each other when you get caught.

Sorry Tim, your hands are slick with red stuff.

Get caught abiding by Irish tax laws in Ireland?
The EU is not ready for the global economy and should be dissolved.
What the fuck do they think this is?  A Socialist World?

The union of the states comprising the United States should be dissolved, because I don't like they way it operates, from my jaundiced, ill informed, one-eyed, childish, naive, parochial point of view.

apple ][ said:

I also have some common sense advice to anybody of any color or race, if they wish to avoid getting shot by the police.

Don't be a moron. Don't resist arrest. Be respectful, don't be a douchebag and I probably shouldn't even have to write this last one, but don't go for their gun or attempt to get violent with the police.

Most of the people who have gotten shot deserved what they got, due to their incredible stupidity. I don't care what color you are, don't resist arrest. If you do, then whatever happens to you will be your own making, and I couldn't care less what happens to you in that case.

In other words, be a good slave and act like one, or else.

I doubt you can even begin to imagine what people who live in civilised parts of the world think of the US and it's police forces.

Margrethe Vestage walks into a bar.

She notices some people over in the corner who all seem attentive to what is happening at a table where this tall guy with a shit-eating grin is sitting, like he's just swallowed some countries economy or something.

She walks over and realizes the face is familiar;  Tim something... she thinks.  There are five large identical paper cups upended on the table and in a row. She thinks she knows what's going on.

'Hi', says the Tim man.  'Want to play?'

'Maybe. How does it work?'

'Well I need some money to show you.'

Margrethe hands over a stack of 1000 €1000 notes.  Tim's grin does the impossible and get's a lot bigger.  He peels off 100 of the notes, puts them on the table and puts the rest in a bag on the floor that is next to him.  There's a big bruiser standing next to it she thinks might be his Uncle, Sam.  Tim frowns at the remaining bunch of large bills.

'Damn, these are big.'  He leans to the left and his right hand delves into the pocket of his jeans and struggles to remove a very fat, bulging wallet.   He opens the coin compartment and two tweezer like fingers extract a single €1 coin then deposits it on the table next to the stack of €1000 notes.  Tim covers the stack with one of the cups and the coin with another.  'You have to try and keep your eye on the cup with the coin under it, and if you pick right, you get what's under the cup.'

The Tim man's hands are a blur, four of the cups dart and weave across the table so fast, a faint wisp of smoke and smell of pine rises from the table top.  Margrethe has never seen anyone slicker or more skilled at this game.  The hands stop, the cups stop - the grin doesn't.

She reaches and upends the leftmost cup, three cups away from the one that didn't move.  A stack of 100 notes is revealed.  She picks them up; The grin vanishes.

'That's not fair!'  Wails the Tim man.  'You can't do that.  It's not supposed to work like that.  It's against the rules!'

Margrethe smiles.

'This is my bar, this is my room you are sitting in, that is my table you are using and my chair you are sitting on.  You play by my rules here and they haven't changed in 20 years and have always been posted on that notice board over there.' she says, pointing at it.

'But a leprechaun told me...'

'Not my problem.' she replies, interrupting. 'Now if you will excuse me, there are some other tables I need to visit.'

512ke said:

Apple should get out of Ireland in my personal opinion. The deals they are making with the government there are not reliable over time. 

There you go, take your pick and write to Tim with your suggestion.  You might want to skip the UK.  If one of your criteria is fluency in English, your choices might be a bit limited.  How's Tim's Slovakian?

srice said:

dacloo said:

Pay taxes like anyone else, Tim Cook, and shut up.
Glad you're creating jobs, but so is anyone else and they have to pay double digit taxes, not less than 1%.

What an arrogant attitude. 

This is probably a good time to repeat myself:

The EU has a VAT - value added tax system, where the taxes are allocated based on where the value to the product was added. 

They do not have a sales tax based system.

No value is added in the EU, they are just a consumer.  So the taxes should rightfully be applied upstream - either to the US, where the product was designed and developed, or in China where the product was built. (or Ireland where the R&D is performed *cough*). 

I think you are mistaken.  The intellectual property is added in Ireland, otherwise Apple would be importing finished goods from outside the EU and would then have to pay a 20% import tarrif.

VAT is a tax paid by consumers to the government, it is not paid by the companies so is irrelevant to this discussion.