Posts by Shagbag

Nokia teases world+dog with snap of new 4G Lumia 928

Nokia nerds are all aquiver...

This is another case of sexy hardware being let down by the OS.

As long as Nokia is pimped my MSFT there can only be one outcome: FAIL.

Microsoft: All RIGHT, you can have your Start button back

MSFT still have the 'monopolist' mentality

“We feel good that we've listened and looked at all of the customer feedback. We are being principled, not stubborn."

"Microsoft hadn’t done enough to close the knowledge gap by training staff in outlets selling Windows 8 machines or by educating customers in the run-up to last October's launch."

"Microsoft recognizes it slipped up by not doing enough to persuade PC makers to build hardware actually capable of using Metro’s UI"

1. they back-track;

2. they insult the intelligence of their users;

3. they insult the intelligence of their hardware partners.

As long as they keep with the 'hey we're a monopolist, we can do what we like' mindset, Google and Apple will continue to eat their lunch.

MSFT == EPIC FAIL.

HTC profits PLUNGE 98%: Pins hopes on HTC One, 'Facebook mobe'

Re: They need to reduce their product portfolio.

Yes, they should drop the One X. If only because it's a WinPho and the market has shown that it doesn't want WinPho. As for MSFT endorsing it, well, that's the kiss of death, right there.

HTC + WinPho = FAIL.

They need to reduce their product portfolio.

They need to cut costs and drop non-profitable lines.

Looking at their web site they have 12 different models.

They should drop the 2 WinPho models ASAP. There's no point flogging a dead horse.

With regards to the other 10 they should cut these down to around 2 or 3, because I know what I'm talking about and 2 or 3 phones is all you really need because you bring out a new one every 6 months.

Then they should bring out a high-spec version of the Wildfire/Buzz. That phone has been recognised as their best ever so they should stick to what they know works and bring out a high spec version of it. Within a week it'll be shitting money.

Forget choice: 50% of firms will demand you BYOD by 2017

Re: but what about....

"lease it to yourself at 100x the cost (using your offshore holding company) and claim the lease costs"

That's not going to work. You forgot that you'll have to declare the lease income. Which offests the lease costs 100%. So you're only left with the 'cheap' purchase cost to claim for tax.

Really, so many people just don't "get it" when it comes to tax planning.

Thousands rally behind teen girl cuffed, expelled in harmless 'explosion'

Proof positive...

...that the arresting officer should be replaced with a robot and the State Attorney sent back to Nuremberg for re-trial.

Google 'will be pulled back in front of MPs' on its UK tax affairs

Re: Race to bottom: Tax Lawyers beating bankers

What constitutes 'Fair' is a value-loaded question.

Is it 'fair' that a hard-working, rags-to-riches person should pay more tax than the average employee when he/she:

1. Pays for 100% private health insurance and does not get a tax rebate for not using the NHS?

2. Pays for 100% private education of his children but does not get a tax rebate for not using state education?

3. Never went to University but still has to pay/paid for those that did?

Is it fair that a family of 6 can live in a £1m+ property paid for by the taxpayer and that family pay no tax?

Is it fair that families with children get a tax credit? Is it fair to the young, single male that he has to pay for this through his 'fair share' of tax?

There IS no such thing as a 'fair share' of tax. It's just a dogma from the State.

Don't bash the MPs for doing their job

But they're NOT doing their job. That's the point. MPs should be changing legislation to stop this type of activity. Trying to 'shame' a corporation into paying more than they're legally obliged to do so is a exercise in timewasting. Business is business and Moses is Moses.

Bash the MPs for not doing their job.

Don't forget - these MPs pontificating about the immorality of legally avoiding taxes are the same MPs that threw up the "I've done nothing illegal" defence when they were caught with their snouts in the trough over parliamentary expense claims.

The clear double-standard is repulsive as does no service to the PAC.

Re: Pretty much

No. You have overly simplied the facts.

1. Rent the factory, don't build it. You can claim tax relief for rent, I'm not sure if you can get capital allowances for a building you built. Even if you can, paying rent may give greater tax releif.

2. Don't employ people, use contractors (which is a whole tax avoidance question in itself).

3. If you incorporate the business in Ireland, you'll need to prove that Central Management and Control is not located in the UK where you are. Otherwise you've fucked up. Big time.

By all means try out your 'simple' tax scheme, but unless you know what you're doing (and I suspect you dont'), you'll soon end up behind bars being pounded in the ass by Mr Big.

Apple: You thought Google dodged taxes? Get a load of THIS

Re: So what happens when the bonds mature?

Close to the maturity date, Apple will re-examine the tax situation. If it's still the same, they'll probably just 'roll', ie. issue new bonds to pay out the existing ones.

Re: Eh?

Like most countries, the US does not tax the earnings of a foreign corporation until those earnings come back ('repatriated') to its US holding company via dividends. There are exceptions, eg. Controlled Foreign Corporations, whose earnings are deemed to have been repatriated, if you like, so that those foreign earnings are taxed in the US even though the cash never never goes anywhere near the US.

Most large multinationals set up their corporate structures so that foreign 'subsidiaries' are not considered CFCs. This ensures no US tax is paid until the cash actually comes back into the US.

It's usual for the US to allow a reduction in the US tax bill for the amount of foreign taxes paid (so that there's no double-payment of tax) but it's likely, in Apple's case, that little or not foreign tax has been paid because the foreign corporations are located in low-tax counties like Ireland (company tax rate = 12.5%).

The upshot of all of this is that when the foreign earnings are repatriated (eg. so that the holding company can pay dividends or return capital to its shareholders) there is a large US tax liability that must be paid.

No one likes paying tax (except Labour-voting lefties and, even then, they prefer someone else pays it, not them) and there are many US corporations with the same problem as Apple.

It appears Apple's solution is to keep the cash offshore but raise new cash by issuing bonds to investors, and then use this new cash to pay shareholders. The bonds require regular interest payments, of course, but this can be met (in part) by the interest income on the deposits the foreign company has. Of course, there's some fiscal drag (since deposit rates are lower than borrowing rates) but maybe Apple has a plan for this, eg. invest in its own debt so that it's a cash merry-go-round - but with out the tax liability.

Now that really would be a tax shag.

"The market is going to be all over it,"

...said Todd Duvick, corporate credit analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. "It's a name that everyone follows and they're comfortable with. From a credit perspective it's going to be a good diversification name for a lot of accounts."

Spoken like a true salesman. IIRC there were a lot of people saying the same thing about Facebook's IPO.

We at El Reg know that Apple's new product pipeline is looking quite poor and this has been reflected in the 30%+ drop in its share price in the last 6 months (ie. the present value of growth opportunities has been heavily discounted by investors).

AMD reveals potent parallel processing breakthrough

Does this mark the death of x86?

I don't know much about the difference between x86 and ARM but will this stuff level the playing field between x86 and ARM around computational efficiency?

Research explodes myth that older programmers are obsolete

Good for me!

I've had to hire 3 IT people in the last 12 months and I've seen a lot of CVs and interviewed around 30 people for the roles. Male, female, black, white, yellow, young and old. My (admittedly limited) experience is that sex and race don't matter but it is rare to find a developer under 30 who can see past syntax and look to the problem and choose the simplest solution from the many possible solutions.

If other employers want to dismiss them because of age, that means there's more available for me!

Picture this: Kodak could get out of bankruptcy as early as July

Didn't he die about 20 years ago?

BlackBerry: THE TRUTH about that 5.1 per cent UK market figure

"GfK, another market watcher, derives its figures from over-the-counter sales figures - it uses the world’s largest retail network to track products... based on point-of-sale data".

ie. the don't recognise any sales outside of the retail channel, eg. internet sales.

This myopic view (of bad retail sales) what the one being touted around for all those years that PC Gaming was dead.

Review: Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 WinPro 8 tablet

Nice looking hardware

...shame about the OS (which is pants).

Wait a minute...

...They want how much for it? WTF?

Let me think... what else can I buy for £1900?

FAIL.

MAGNIFICENT FAIL.

A FAIL THE LIKE OF WHICH MAN HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE.

THE KIND OF FAIL THAT ONLY HAPPENS ONCE IN 2000 YEARS.

Fanbois vs fandroids: Punters display 'tribal loyalty'

Re: Inertia

I can't speak much for iCloud but I think we'll see a lot of SkyDrive users leaving SkyDrive.

Even Microsoft can't afford to keep all its loss making businesses going for too long. With the decline in desktop users that is already happening, going forward we'll see an accelerated decline in the likes of SkyDrive, Bing, Hotmail and Windows Phone as they become even less viable in light of their progressively dwindling market share.

Ballmer will be out and the new guy will come in with a massive razor.

First to go to the wall will be Windows Phone. With a marketing spend of around $500 per phone combined with a failure to excite the public, they'll switch off the subsidy heroin they're giving to Nokia and cast them aside like a cheap whore. Then they'll close the project and say "we tried".

Next will be Bing. That's if anyone even remembers if it's still there.

Then SkyDrive. They'll limit file size to 4K and then close the project after a lack of interest.

Finally, they'll sell Hotmail back to Yahoo at a fraction of what they paid for it.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

Top left of chart: "US Consumer Survey".

We know that Apple enjoys strong brand loyality in the US but not outside of it, so the %s are to be expected.

People like to forecast, but then nobody in 2007 forecast the MASSIVE RECESSION we've had since - including all those over-paid Central Bankers who somehow feel they have the wisdom to tell other economies what's good for them even though those same Central Bankers ALL failed to predict the worst recession on record.

Forecasts are bullshit. People who consume them are eating bullshit.

'Yankee Group' = more like the 'JerkOffee Group'

Judge sets the date for Patent Smackdown 2: The Damages

Re: Public Domain

The only Courts whose time they're wasting are the US Courts.

Apple's patents have been kicked out of Europe, Asia and just about everywhere except the US.

While the US is a big market, it's ultimately the US c onsumer who will lose regardless of the final decision.

T-Mobile UK punters break for freedom in inflation-busting bill row

Re: The Law of Contract in England and Wales

@Michael Jennings

Thanks for that informative piece, Mike.

The Law of Contract in England and Wales

The facts make for an interesting case.

"We used the 3.3 per cent figure IN ANTICIPATION of the issue of the RPI figure".

Are they allowed to raise prices ex ante?

Have they, in fact, charged these higher prices or have they just ended up charging the 3.2% figure?

As to the "small print", there seems to be a popular misconception that "small print" is unconditionally enforceable in a consumer contract. It's not and never has been since the 1800s. This position was made abundantly clear in the 1970s with the Unfair Contract Terms Act - a good read for all consumers:

http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft311.pdf

Japan's naughty nurses scam free meals with mobile games

"...and doesn't happen anyway..."

Maybe to you.

Provided it ends with consensual, full sexual intercourse, I don't see the problem with it.

Pirates scoff at games dev sim's in-game piracy lesson

Was there a Demo version?

I like the concept of Demo versions of a game.

Too many times the pay-up-front-and-wait-to-see-what-you-get way of life turns out to be a loser - just look at the reasons why people pirate Hollywood movies.

With a demo version, you get to see if it's worth buying or not.

Clearly, this game was not worth buying (for all but a 214 people).

Besides, they've spelled 'Harbour' wrongly. Fucking idiots.

Red-hot students, an all-day romp and an £11,000 bonanza

"Red-Hot", "All-Day Romp", "China"

Meh! I was expecting a top-shelf review of Asian Babes.

The Chromebooks are coming! New models due late 2013

I can see them being a good buy for the utterly-IT-incompetents.

Taking market share from Apple then?

Azure is Microsoft's billion-dollar baby – maybe

Microsoft the Destroyer

This is further evidence of Microsoft destroying shareholder value. Let's take time out to look at Microsoft's recent history of stillborn products:

1. Windows 8 - no one wants it.

2. Windows Phone - I saw a guy with a windows phone, once.

3. Azure - no take up.

4. Windows XP - a product whose perceived 'success' is due in no small part to Microsoft's monopoly position and a lack of viable alternatives at the time.

5. .NET - great for Windows Devs. Not so great for anyone else.

6.. SQL Server - hey, it's cheaper than Oracle.

and the list goes on...

The time has come for Microsoft to be split up into completely separate businesses enjoying separate ownership, ie. listed or privately owned. It happened to Bell (another Monopolist). It's just a matter of time before it happens to MSFT.

Microsoft is failing its shareholders.

iPhone 5 totters at the top as Samsung thrusts up UK mobe chart

Impartial Opinion

I've read through all the posts and I've considered the arguments on both sides.

Having done this there's one central thread running through all of the posts and it's this:

Microsoft have failed with Windows Phone.

They've failed spectacularly. If you look in a dictionary (a non-US dictionary), under the word 'Failure' you'll see a picture of a Windows Phone. No words. Just the picture. No words are needed.

As for all you people who'll down-vote this post or claim that it's wrong (which it isn't)... well, you can all go and get fucked. Because you're all wrong. Wrong to the max. You're so wrong there's a picture of you in the dictionary - right under the word 'Wrong'. It's my bat, my ball and I make the rules. And you're wrong.

Android has won. Get over it.

Re: HTC One Black - no stock

What you're seeing is HTC slavishly copying Apple.

HTC have followed the Apple model of restricting manufacture so that they can claim they've 'Sold Out' of handsets to import some sort of 'runaway success' in the minds of potential buyers.

While the effect usually lasts only a few days before people get wise to it, Apple has learned that most of its purchasers will never admit to being duped so they keep the handsets.

Apple have worked very hard over the last decade or two to sell 'the image' rather than 'the machine'. Because of this, there are a devout number of Apple-owning consumers who think it's cool to own last year's technology in today's designs and they proudly go around displaying their i5s like the Emporer displayed his new clothes.

The question that remains to be answered is if HTC can perform the same.

Re: Blimey

On the contrary. I find the read quite entertaining. Which is, I suspect, the intended effect.

Review: Nokia Lumia 520

Re: Update to ICS

No Dave, HTC did not give me the upgrade to ICS.

They DID give me the ability to unlock the bootloader.

An hour reading XDA-Developers and I had ICS running smooth as silk with the CPU overclocked to 700MHz.

As to the other gonad on here questioning my sales price. You might be correct. I can't remember whether it was 250 or 180 but I do know it was >£100. So my original point remains.

Re: Nice Phone

My sentiments exactly.

I was burned by the WinPho7 Lumia 800 not being upgradable to WinPho8. So I sold it (£250), went back to an HTC Wildfire (£40) and installed Ice Cream Sandwich on it.

That's quite an upgrade path for a £40 phone. I don't think I'll get that with a WinPhone, though, so I'm staying away from that platform - despite the low cost of this Nokia. Once bitten, twice shy.

Fuck you MSFT. You hear me? FUCK YOU.

You hear that, Mr Cook? Samsung's profits have gone UP

Samsung King of The Castle

and Apple is the dirty rascal.

Still, once you're top of the wazza, there's only one way to go from there...

PEAK iPHONE? Apple mobe growth slumps to ‘lowest in its history’

Go Android!

Go Android! Go Android!

FUCK Apple. FUCK Microsoft.

Go Android!

Announcement of 'churnalism detector' gets furiously churned

Churnalism = London's 'Metro'

I've noticed that today's morning Metro = last night's Evening Standard.

I've stopped reading the Metro and just read the ES instead.

Microsoft carves out 'niche' in tablets, says numbers chap

Niche Player

"Strategy Analytics considers it a “niche” player for the moment."

For the moment? What a crock of shit.

Any student of Corporate Strategy knows that the 'Niche' strategy is a strategy that's deliberately pursued. It is not an excuse for the failure of another strategy. While Apple successfully pursued a 'Niche' strategy for years (and continues to do so), Microsoft has never pursued a 'Niche' strategy. To say otherwise is to either (a) be an apologist for MSFT, or (b) reveal yourself as a complete and utter fuckwit.

Smug Red Hat buoyed by UK gov's open-source three-line-whip

Good news

With Microsoft being unfashionable and Apple failing to offer enterprise solutions, it's no wonder OSS is growing at a cash-strapped administration.

The less that the productive economy's dollars (ie taxes) are funnelled into the unproductive economy (ie. government sector) the better the economy is.

But the lefties at the BBC won't like it.

Tough luck, lappies: Brits favour fingersome fondleslabs, phones

IF notebook sales do stay ahead of tablets

"If notebooks sales do stay ahead of tablets, it may well be because of Windows 8 and its emphasis on touchscreen technology"

No, it WILL be "because of Windows 8 and its emphasis on touchscreen technology".

The average consumer has one choice when buying a notebook - it's Windows or Mac. Microsoft won't allow retailers to sell W7 laptops so that means the "choice" is Mac or W8.

Sure you can buy a Chromebook or a Dellbuntu, but the average consumer isn't going to buy (or at least keep) one of those.

Microsoft: Brits, grab our Surface Pro ten-incher for satisfaction in May

"One of our biggest challenges has been keeping 128GB Surface Pro in stock," Hall said.

Does he really expect anyone to believe that?

Microsoft hoists ZTE onto the Android patent bandwagon

This made me smile...

"Redmond has successfully argued that Google's Android OS is full of Microsoft-owned technology and has bagged cash from major fandroid firms including Samsung, LG and HTC."

The beauty of the statement is that It says nothing.

'Successfully argued' could mean MSFT doesn't make any announcements about those that told it to fuck off when approached by MSFT.

RedHat told MSFT to go to hell and, AFAIK, MSFT hasn't issued legal proceedings against them.

Furthermore, the statement It doesn't tell us anything about what MSFT had to give up in the CROSS-licensing agreement.

I can only conclude that the firms who enter into these deals do so for 'nuisance value' only. They simply can't be arsed litigating and are happy to pay a few pennies to MSFT (and charge the customer for it) just to get them off their back.

The MSFT marketing machine, however, loves to laud it all over the press like the Emporer did with his new clothes.

Apple beats revenue estimates but margins are falling

Re: disagree

DOS was a one-hit wonder.

Windows' "success" was driven initially by the success of Office (it used to only run on Windows) and the external ecosystem that evolved around it. ie. Windows, itself, was never intrinsically 'successful'.

Office WAS a success. No one is buying 2010, 2013 or 365.

SQL Server is just cheaper than Oracle. That's why it's a 'success': its price.

Azure is a joke.

Sharepoint is a joke.

Bing - let's face it, it's still struggling to be relevant.

Share buy-back

"We believe so strongly that repurchasing our shares represents an attractive use of our capital that we have dedicated the vast majority of the increase in our capital return program to share repurchases"

LOL.

Any student of investment analysis knows that a buy-back has positive effect on a company's share price because it means having the cash sitting around in a bank earning sub-cost of capital returns won't be dragging down the company's value anymore.

An equally valid interpretation is that management have recognised that they have no use for this excess cash (ie. they can't ever see investing it in R&D/new products) so they give it back to the shareholders who can choose to put in bank deposits themselves rather than being forced to have it in a bank deposit by company dictat. Anyone can put cash in a bank account. You don't need to pay £££s to Cock et. al. to do it for you. If there's no foreseeable future use for it stop destroying shareholder value and give it back to the shareholders for them to invest in other projects themselves according to their own appetites for risk.

Australian Federal Police claim arrest of 'LulzSec leader'

Typical hype from 'Down Under'

Still desperate to make sure people don't forget where Australia is, the AFP now claim they have the king-pin of LulzSec.

What a joke.

Typical Australian small-mindedness.

Paris, because the AFP are desperate.

Peak Apple: First 'profit slip' in a decade - and, boy, it's gonna be BIG

"Anyone who's thinking about writing them off is probably engaging in wishful thinking."

That's what they said when Sculley knobbed Jobs back in the mid-80s.

Weak iPad, iPhone demand hits LG Display in the wallet

stock goes down?

In 6 months the stock has tanked. 43% drop. (705 down to 400).

All those Noddies who bought in around 705 on the back of the media's reality distortion will be licking their wounds.

How low can Tim Cock and his yes-men go? I used to think destroying value was the preserve of MSFT but I can see that it's infected crapple.

Come on fanbois, let's hear your rebuttals, you shit talkers.

BlackBerry OS 10.1 leaks its secret goo over all the web

I like the Z10 too

It's just the price that stops me (as I've always said). Maybe in a couple of years' time when the price has come down to a level I'm prepared to pay (it's not about the cost, it's the VALUE I'm talking about). Maybe by then a new model will be out or Blackberry will be dead.

Hedge fund invests $2bn in Microsoft, thinks Redmond is undervalued

Better their money than mine.

I expect the HF is just trying to temporarily ramp up the stock price so they can exit very quickly and make a turn.

Spies catch Acer's Windows 8-incher before it hides

Pants.

US Senate vote to add internet sales tax this week

LOL

"Level the playing field" != get rid of the tax on domestic sales.

LMAO. Fuck these guys are idiots thinking that consumers don't see it that way.