darkpaw

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darkpaw
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  • Apple to pay more tax in UK following EU profit-shifting law repeal

    This is hilarious:
    A Treasury spokesperson [...] said, "The UK continues to be at the forefront of the global action to tackle tax avoidance..."
    According to this Tax Justice Network article from 21st November 2020:
    The UK and its "spider's web" of overseas territories are responsible for more than a third of global tax avoidance each year, a study has found.
    Abuse of the tax system by multinational firms and wealthy individuals deprived countries of $427bn (£321bn) for hospitals, nurses, schools and other public services last year, according to advocacy group the Tax Justice Network. Of that figure, more than $160bn was facilitated by the UK and its territories and dependencies.
    The real reason we left the EU is not because of "foreigners coming' over 'ere, takin' our jobs"; it was so we wouldn't be obliged to follow the tax avoidance crackdown the EU was implementing on 1st January 2021.

    The UK government is just gaslighting us now. They know they're lying, but most of the public are too stupid to realise.
    GeorgeBMacright_said_fredsphericFileMakerFeller
  • UK politicians urge government to try for Apple Car production jobs

    anantksundaram said:

    Brexit certainly didn't hurt its vaccination efforts, considering the disaster that the EU is on that front with its suboptimal common purchasing agreement: the UK leads all major countries of the world, with nearly 20% of its population having got at least one dose. (US is second best -- again among major countries, with ~13%). Plenty of reporting on all this for those interested, so I am not providing cites. 
    This was possible whilst in the EU, and actually, the deals for the vaccines were done whilst in the EU. Brexit has nothing to do with this. We merely authorised the vaccines first and earlier than the EU. From this article:
    Under European law a vaccine must be authorised by the EMA, but individual countries can use an emergency procedure that allows them to distribute a vaccine for temporary use in their domestic market.

    Britain is still subject to those EU rules during the post-Brexit transition period which runs until the end of the year (2020).

    The UK's own medicines regulator, the MHRA, confirmed this in a statement last month.

    And its chief executive, Dr June Raine, said on Wednesday that "we have been able to authorise the supply of this vaccine using provisions under European law, which exist until 1 January".
    So, nothing to do with Brexit.
    lolliverargonaut
  • Apple releases second developer beta for macOS Big Sur 11.1

    Well, I hope they've fixed these annoying bugs I've raised.

    1. My iCloud Drive sometimes decides that it only knows about files I've loaded there myself, and forgets things like the Numbers, Pages and Desktop folders.
    2. The Sidebar in Finder windows keeps resetting to defaults.
    3. com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsA process sucks the life out of my Mac, and I can't see how it's doing anything.
    4. Some aliases on my Desktop don't show the icon I've given them, and revert to a standard macOS Finder folder icon.
    5. You still can't see the chapters in an audiobook in the Books app until you actually start playing the book.
    Alex1N
  • Zuckerberg: Apple's ad-tracking block will impair COVID-19 economic recovery

    Facebook-owned Instagram showed a number of adverts for a "4K 10-300X40mm Super Telephoto Zoom Monocular Telescope (Released In July 2020)". It looked pretty cool, but rather than buying it I checked out the product and the company.

    The product is available on Amazon for about £10-15.

    This company were charging $59.99 (~£46).

    The company has reviews showing it is a scam. There are 100+ reviews stating the company either doesn't send the product or sends an inferior product then offers you 30%, 40%, maybe 45% back as a refund. In the UK this is both false advertising and a criminal offence. I believe it's called a "bait and switch" in the US?

    Facebook should be checking out these companies before they allow them to advertise on their platforms. So, you know what? I don't care that Facebook will lose money from Apple's new software. They aren't standing up for "small companies"; they're standing up for their own self-interests and finances.

    It is Apple who is keeping people safe from such sh!tty companies, not Facebook.
    williamlondonDogpersonbadmonkwatto_cobra
  • Apple says it wasn't told about UK contact tracing app issues, plans

    After initially rejecting the Apple-Google model for Exposure Notification, the National Health Service on Thursday said it had "agreed to join forces with Google and Apple, to bring the best bits of both systems together."

    The NHS had reportedly been testing both its own proprietary system and one based on the Apple-Google API, but found problems with their own. Per the BBC, the NHS solution only detected 4% of nearby iPhones while logging 75% of close Android devices.

    Apple's and Google's system, registered 99% of nearby Androids and iPhones, but had weaker distance calculations, the NHS said.

    However, Apple said it is "difficult to understand" the distance issue claims from the NHS.

    Apple also expressed surprise that the NHS was working on a new version...
    Oh, no, no, no. Please don't claim this is anything to do with the NHS. It's not. The NHS provides excellent free healthcare, it didn't develop this app.

    This whole omnishambles is caused by the actions of NHSX, which is "a United Kingdom Government unit with responsibility for setting national policy and developing best practice for National Health Service (NHS) technology, digital and data, including data sharing and transparency." (Wikipedia)

    The NHS has not been involved in this app; it was outsourced by the UK government to Pivotal VMWare.

    Don't denigrate the NHS by claiming they had anything to do with this Matt Hancock-up.
    kuduRayz2016williamlondonGeorgeBMacchasmwatto_cobra