mpantone

rezwits said:

Does it have the trackball or not?

Re-read the article. It actually covers this in the last sentence of the second paragraph: "It uses a 70 percent layout with a built-in trackball, deep blue housing, and rounded keycaps that match the eerie aesthetics of the series."

randominternetperson said:

That scrutiny led to the CDTFA's 2023 audit. The agency concluded that tax revenue from Apple's online transactions should be distributed across the state based on where purchases were actually made or delivered -- not where the company is headquartered.

So, why is the money refunded to Apple, and not those other municipalities across the state?

The previous linked article from October 2024:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/10/04/cupertino-wins-and-loses-millions-over-californias-apple-tax-ruling?utm_medium=social&utm_source=ai_forums

explains that in a little more detail.

Basically the City of Cupertino gets to keep the tax revenue from 2023 (when the investigation started) until now (2025). A new system will be put into place by the State of California where digital sales tax revenue is collected will go into a new system designed to spread the revenue statewide based on where the digital buyer placed the transaction.

This is just a short term reprieve for the City of Cupertino. They need to figure out fairly quickly how to set their budget accordingly due to a change in expected sales tax revenue from 2025 onward. Apart from Apple, Cupertino is basically a bedroom community with very little retail. It doesn't even have a proper legacy downtown district and its one shopping mall, Vallco failed and is mostly dead.

Read the other article carefully. But the basic gist is that the state has not yet set up the process to disperse that tax revenue yet. As the other article mentions, the ruling affects other California companies with digital retail sales. I'm guessing that companies like Meta (Menlo Park), Alphabet (Mountain View), Netflix (Los Gatos) will be affected as well as maybe others such as Sony Interactive Entertainment (a.k.a. PlayStation) which is headquartered in Redwood City.

Note that for physical goods, there is a long standing system in place that collects sales tax calculated at the point of sale (defined as where the buyer takes possession of the purchased goods). California has a base sales tax however many counties and some municipalities have add-on taxes that increase that amount. So someone buying Gadget A in San Francisco will pay a different sales tax rate than someone in Mendocino County.

This ruling is for digital sales so there is no localized sales tax collection system yet in place. This probably means additional work for Apple (and other digital merchants) who will need to use things like FIPS county codes, ZIP codes, etc. to determine exact sales taxes to be collected just as they do for physical goods (like buying AirPods from store.apple.com).

Until now Apple just collected sales tax based on their location in Cupertino, CA (Santa Clara County) and remitted what was required to the state and county. They did not collect anything more or less. The CDTFA's decision is not retroactive.

9secondkox2 said:

What the heck.

... (truncated for brevity)

It’s wrong. Please stop. 

My takeaway from your screed is that you have issues about reality. And we have been here numerous times before.

Your comments are sometimes entertaining though, very similar to SNL parodies. I'll give you that, please do carry on.

welshdog said:

They should use Beryllium alloy for the chassis. Strong and light and only toxic a little bit.

And how much will Beryllium alloy add to COGS? I will ignore the comment about toxicity for the moment which isn't really a selling point. But you brought it up which might be something you'll regret.

dewme said:

Can't you just mount an eye bolt on top of the headset and tie a helium ballon to it?

That's not so farfetched. VR HMDs in the Nineties often were hung from the ceiling with cables because the headset hardware was way too heavy to be worn without support. I believe the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride at Disneyworld's EPCOT Center was like this.

In the end, VR HMDs need to get ultralight. There are tons of people who hate googles, headphones, anything that binds or pinches their head. Heck, I wear eyeglasses and periodically take them off for some relief; they weigh 30 grams. I also own an Oculus Rift S HMD and I can't wear it more than 40-45 minutes tops. The Rift S is *WAY* lighter than the Apple Vision Pro.

It'll be years before the technology is to the point where we'll have a useful pair of AR glasses with decent battery life at a consumer-friendly price (let's say comparable to Apple Watch).

You really need nearly all day battery performance from AR glasses particularly for those with prescription lenses. No one who wears glasses likes shuffling between various pairs which is why we have bifocal, trifocal, and progressive lenses (and photochromic lenses).

The same comfort shortcomings for VR HMDs thirty years ago are still serious impediments to widespread adoption of today's devices. And some of the basic requirements of VR HMDs (like a light tight seal to improve immersion) don't seem to have any obvious solutions. There are also issues with air circulation, eyestrain, and more. VR pundits always say that newer technology that fixes these shortcomings is right around the corner and they've been saying that for decades.

But companies should keep trying even if they fail like Google Glass did. There are serious implications about privacy and security with smart glasses that society needs to understand and figure out for we see widespread acceptance because we've already seen the petulant entitled behavior of "Glassh-les". Remember that AR glasses and VR HMDs have completely different primary goals.

How many theaters in your neighborhood still screen 3D movies? And you still using that 3D television set? Yeah, I thought so.

At some point VR HMDs will largely go away because a better VR experience will be some sort of holographic environment instead of a head mounted visual display. And something will need to be done about haptic feedback, tactile response, etc. A cybersuit is limiting and restrictive like a VR HMD. Just ask anyone who has worn a wetsuit. And how easy is it to launder a cybersuit? I know how easy it is to wash a wetsuit. And like everyone else who owns a wetsuit, I know what getting into a clammy, cold, and damp wetsuit feels like.

Most likely AR glasses, VR HMDs, and holographic environments will all co-exist in some way. Some of these technologies will be better for some situations than others in the same way that speakers, headphones, earbuds, etc. are used in various ways.

But for sure the comfort and battery issues must be addressed. One reason why we all have smartphones is because they fit in our pockets and they run all day. They're not like the early cellphones of the Eighties that were the size of a lunchbox. Many of them hogged up so much power that people just kept them in their cars.