According to some technologists, including Dennis M. Kennedy, a lawyer and consultant based in St. Louis, (denniskennedy.com), metadata might include other bits of information like notes and questions rendered as “comments” within a document (“need to be more specific here,” for example, or in the case of my editors, “eh??”), or the deletions and insertions logged by such features as “track changes” in Microsoft Word.
“If you take the time to educate yourself a little and know the issues,” Mr. Kennedy said, “you can avoid problems pretty easily.”
With the Alito memo – which was distributed on a not-for-attribution basis, with no authors named – the D.N.C. was a little sloppy.
Monthly Archives: November 2005
Microsoft’s Irish Tax Shelter
The citizens of other nations where Microsoft sells its products are less fortunate. Round Island One provides a structure for Microsoft to radically reduce its corporate taxes in much of Europe, and similarly shields billions of dollars from U.S. taxation.
Giant U.S. companies whose products are heavily based on their innovations, such as technology and pharmaceutical firms, increasingly are setting up units in Ireland that route intellectual property and its financial fruits to the low-tax haven — at the expense of the U.S. Treasury.
Much of Round Island’s income is licensing fees from copyrighted software code that originates in the U.S. Some of the rights to these lucrative assets end up in Ireland via complex accounting rules on intellectual property that the Treasury is now seeking to overhaul. The Internal Revenue Service said it is also looking closely at how companies account for such transactions.
In a statement, Microsoft said its European units “report and pay significant amounts of taxes” and that Microsoft “is fully compliant with the tax laws of the United States and all other countries.”
Through a key holding, dubbed Flat Island Co., Round Island licenses rights to Microsoft software throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Thus, Microsoft routes the license sales through Ireland and Round Island pays a total of just under $17 million in taxes to about 20 other governments that represent more than 300 million people.
Microosft is not unique. Many firms route their IP through tax havens such as Ireland, Puerto Rico, Cyprus and others.
This tax saving process occurs in everyday products (for some) as well, such as Pepsi & Coke. Both beverage giants locate their flavor facilities in tax havens.
Your Bed is an Ecosytem
It’s not just your bed, it’s an ecosystem. New research has found that your pillow is home to millions of fungal spores from the bathroom, kitchen and other places where you might not want to rest your head.
It’s well known that few people actually sleep alone: Most beds are home to thousands of microscopic dust mites, which produce so much excrement they can add a pound or two of weight to your mattress every year, by some estimates.
GM’s Wireless Car to Car Networking
General Motors is working on a system to equip cars with a combination of GPS and wireless networking tools, according to Engadget.
Fascinating: What are Frequent Flyer Points Really Worth?
Gary posts an interesting summary of how frequent flyer programs have propped up several bankrupt airlines.
Newspaper’s Utility?
Jeff Jarvis, a blogger and newspaper consultant posted some recent newspaper circulation statistics, in addition to several comments on those numbers:
Half the American population no longer reads newspapers: plainly, they are the clever half. — Gore Vidal
People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news. — A.J. Liebling
It’s amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper. — Jerry Seinfeld
I’ve been asked a number of times whether I like newspapers, or not. The answer for me, at last comes down to quality and utility.
I’ve always been a news junkie, often winning 7th grade Milwaukee Journal classroom news contests (my parents have always been avid readers). Like my parents, however, I read mostly online these days, often via my RSS newsreader. Once you get into this groove, purchasing, flipping through and disposing of the paper (and all of the stuff packaged with it) truly is yesterday’s news. Like many, I’ve also become used to obtaining information when and where I want it – not waiting for the print news cycle to deliver the hard copy to me.
The print products I read include The Economist, The New York Times (not for long, perhaps still Sundays…) and locally, the Isthmus. I’ve always enjoyed the Economist and the NYT for their national and international coverage. However, I think the Washington Post is now doing a much better job on those fronts than the Times. The Post has the confidence to interact with emerging media that most others seem to lack. Jay Rosen has more on that issue. Blogs have also added an interesting element to the discussion, from local issues to global matters. One blogger (I don’t recall who), captured what’s happening rather nicely: She correctly recalled the perception that Big Steel had of the emerging mini-mills during the 1970’s and 80’s. The mini-mills were perceived as bottom feeders, living of the scraps of the big mills. The mini-mills had much lower costs, superior processes and in many cases, have convincingly taken over their markets.
I think we’ll see a growing amount of original work from emerging media (a Silicon Valley blog broke the rather amazing story of Google’s founders purchasing a used 767 for their personal travels). This work will, by its very nature take advantage of the latest technologies.
Getting back to the question of whether I like newspapers or not. The answer, it seems to me is clear. I like those that use their tremendous (TREMENDOUS!!) resources (cash flow) effectively. I don’t have time or interest in those that don’t. The numbers Jarvis posted and Vidal refers to demonstrate that my views on this matter are not unique.
Domestic Surveillance under the USA Patriot Act
The Connecticut case affords a rare glimpse of an exponentially growing practice of domestic surveillance under the USA Patriot Act, which marked its fourth anniversary on Oct. 26. “National security letters,” created in the 1970s for espionage and terrorism investigations, originated as narrow exceptions in consumer privacy law, enabling the FBI to review in secret the customer records of suspected foreign agents. The Patriot Act, and Bush administration guidelines for its use, transformed those letters by permitting clandestine scrutiny of U.S. residents and visitors who are not alleged to be terrorists or spies.
The FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, according to government sources, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The letters — one of which can be used to sweep up the records of many people — are extending the bureau’s reach as never before into the telephone calls, correspondence and financial lives of ordinary Americans.
The Rise and Fall of Regional Jets
Living in Madison conditions the frequent traveller to the unpleasant experience of flying in regional jets. The 30 to 70 seaters are rather cramped with minimal luggage space. Having said that, their airspeeds are in the same league as the big jets. The Boyd Group points out that Canadair recently announced the end of 50 seat CRJ production, an aircraft frequently seen at MSN. Boyd points out that the market is changing, back toward turboprops and larger 70 to 90 seat jets. Gary has more.
More on Baldwin’s Vote Against Free Speech
Kristian Knutsen posts a response from Baldwin’s Press Secretary on the Daily Page to her No vote on HR 1606. Glenn rounds up comments from around the blogosphere.
Paterno on Alvarez
This weekend’s Penn State – Wisconsin game should be entertaining. Long Time Penn State coach Joe Paterno prepares with a few comments on outgoing UW Coach Barry Alvarez:
I think Barry has been a great coach. I am sorry to see him get out of coaching. He was a big, fat kid down there in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. We turned him down and he never forgot that. Every time I talk to him he reminds me of it. Barry is a great guy. He will be a great athletic director as he has been a great football coach. You hate to see guys like that get out of coaching, but everybody has their life to live and the whole bit. Barry and his wife are good friends and, obviously, he has been a good coach. He kicked our ears in most of the time. That part I won’t miss.