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Senate panel hammers Apple over offshore tax strategies

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:54:02 +0800

By Patrick Temple-West WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Apple Inc came under fire on Tuesday at a Senate hearing over an investigation that alleged the U.S. high technology icon has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and paid little or no taxes to any government. "Apple effectively shifts billions of dollars in profits offshore, profits that under one section of the tax code should nonetheless be subject to U.S. taxes, but through a complex process avoids those taxes," said Senator Carl Levin. ...

Ireland rejects blame for Apple's low tax rate

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:36:15 +0800

By Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin CORK/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments and had no special rate deal with the company after the U.S. Senate said it paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries. The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple was too low. ...

Microsoft readies new Xbox as entertainment hub

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:25:01 +0800

Microsoft offers a glimpse Tuesday at a new-generation Xbox as videogame consoles evolve into home entertainment centers and adapt to competition from smartphones and tablets.

The Irish loophole behind Apple's low tax bill

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:16:56 +0800

By Tom Bergin LONDON (Reuters) - Apple's ability to shelter billions of dollars of income from tax has hinged on an unusual loophole in the Irish tax code that helps the country compete with other countries for investment and jobs. A U.S. Senate investigation revealed on Monday that Apple, maker of iPhones, iPads and Mac computers, had channeled profits into Irish-incorporated subsidiaries that had "no declared tax residency anywhere in the world". Over the past three years, the American company paid a tax rate of 2 percent on $74 billion in overseas income, its annual reports show. ...

Apple denies tax 'gimmicks' as pressure mounts

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:58:14 +0800

Apple denied Tuesday using "gimmicks" to dodge taxes and said it welcomes a review of US fiscal laws after a Senate investigation found it used offshore loopholes to save billions in taxes.

Microsoft expected to reveal next-generation Xbox

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:47:48 +0800

REMOND, Wash. (AP) — Will Xbox mark the spot once again for Microsoft?

Ericsson closes telecom cable manufacturing facility

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:35:54 +0800

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ericsson announced on Tuesday plans to shut its telecom cable manufacturing facility in Sweden and would take a 500 million Swedish crown ($75 million) charge as a result. The company said it had given notice of a reduction of 354 positions. It said the market for copper cable had declined while fiber cable demand had grown over the last years, with production shifting towards Asia. "There is overproduction on the cable market in Europe," Tomas Qvist, head of Special Products in business unit Networks, said in a statement. ...

Ireland says has no special tax deal with Apple

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:17:54 +0800

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland does not have a deal with Apple Inc or any other company to tax their profits at a special 2 percent rate instead of the normal 12.5 percent, Ireland's European Affairs minister told Reuters on Tuesday. Ireland has been defending its corporate tax rate after the U.S. Senate said on Monday that Apple paid little or no tax on tens of billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries and that Dublin had handed the company a favorable rate. ...

Does Path Have a Future in Indonesia?

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:00:42 +0800

Credit: TheGlobeandMail.com Path, a social network that is only accessible through iPhone and Android devices, has been growing in popularity in Indonesia for its more-private circle of friends (unlike ...

Spotify's Top 10 most viral tracks

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:36:17 +0800

The following list represents the most viral tracks on Spotify, based on the number of people who shared it divided by the number who listened to it, from Monday, May 13, to Sunday, May 19, via Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter and Spotify.

First impressions: Lenovo K900, an Intel Atom-powered smartphone

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:35:45 +0800

Is the 5.5-inch smartphone all good looks and no substance?

Indonesia’s XL Plans Joint Venture Project With Major South Korean Telco

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:30:06 +0800

Yonhap reports today that Indonesian telco XL and South Korean mobile carrier service provider SK Planet have signed a joint venture project in Indonesia with each having 50 percent stakes. It still remain ...

Spotify's Top 10 most streamed tracks

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:29:44 +0800

The following list represents the top streamed tracks on Spotify from Monday, May 13, to Sunday, May 19:

Iranians face new Internet curbs before presidential election

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:27:12 +0800

By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranians are struggling with slower Internet speeds and limited access ahead of an unpredictable presidential election that has put hardline Islamist authorities on alert for possible unrest. Experts and web users say they believe the Internet obstacles are related to the June 14 presidential vote, the first since 2009 polls in which accusations of fraud - denied by the government - kindled months of protests organised in part via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. ...

Vodafone says comfortable with Verizon Wireless status quo

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:09:56 +0800

LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone said on Tuesday that it was very comfortable with its successful U.S. joint venture Verizon Wireless, but if an offer materialized that would benefit it more than the status quo, it would consider it. Vodafone's partner Verizon Communications has made little secret of its desire to buy out Vodafone in a multi-billion dollar deal that would be one of the largest of all time. Vodafone chief executive Vittorio Colao told journalists at a briefing that if an offer came in that was more advantageous than the current joint venture situation, the company would consider it. ...

Ireland says not to blame for Apple's low tax rate

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:00:01 +0800

By Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland said on Tuesday it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments after the U.S. Senate said the company paid little or nothing on tens of billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries. The Irish government, which has seen the luring of U.S. multinationals with low taxes as a key part of its economic policy since the 1960s, said its system was transparent and other countries were responsible if the tax rate paid by Apple was too low. ...

Why Alibaba's Future Looks Bright

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:45:06 +0800

Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma singing at Taobao’s 10th anniversary celebration With founder Jack Ma stepping down from the role of CEO , skeptics will doubt whether Alibaba can continue to grow strongly without ...

Line App is Primed and Ready to Censor Politically Sensitive Chinese Words

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:28:23 +0800

A few months ago we spotted that Tencent’s WeChat app was censoring certain ‘sensitive’ political words. That turned out to be temporary , but the company was clearly capable and ready to implement such ...

Vodafone keeps Verizon payout to make up for European slump

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:56:38 +0800

By Kate Holton and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Vodafone will reinvest a $3.2 billion dividend from its healthy U.S. arm to counter weakness in southern Europe that contributed to the largest ever quarterly fall in the group's main revenue measure. The British firm is trying to decide whether to sell Verizon Wireless, its profitable U.S. unit in what could be the world's third largest deal to support its struggling core operations. ...

Indonesia Jatis Group Co-founder Shares His Two-Decade-Long Startup Journey

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:30:08 +0800

Izak Jenie (right) with other Nexian Selular Group Directors At 43 years old, Izak Jenie is still talking about new business ideas and starting projects. He just can’t stop. This is a man who has started ...

IT firm iGate sacks CEO over undisclosed relationship

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:02:46 +0800

By Sumeet Chatterjee and Harichandan Arakali MUMBAI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - IT outsourcing company iGate Corp said it had sacked its chief executive, Phaneesh Murthy, for not disclosing a relationship with a subordinate after investigating one of the industry's best-known executives for sexual harassment. Murthy had led several initiatives to improve the performance of the Fremont, California-based company, including charging clients for business results instead of man hours, the billing method more commonly used by IT outsourcing firms. ...

Can Charles Zhang Conquer His Demons and Make Sogou a Serious Search Challenger in China?

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:32 +0800

Sogou , the search subsidiary of Sohu , has been a player in China's search engine market for a long time, but it has never achieved any kind of dominance. Right now, according to Bloomberg, it has about ...

Who Owns Your WeChat Posts?

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:00:43 +0800

It's an issue that seems to pop up for every developing social platform that doesn't spell things out clearly at first: who owns all the content that's posted to the platform? That's a question that Chinese ...

Yahoo! vows not to ruin Tumblr after $1.1 bn takeover

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:06:01 +0800

Marissa Mayer has made her boldest move to date as chief of Yahoo! with the billion-dollar purchase of Tumblr, a popular blogging platform she vowed not to ruin after protests from youthful users.

Tumblr fans get sassy on Yahoo! takeover news

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:01:54 +0800

Tumblr lovers were quick to express ire in trademark sassy posts after news that Yahoo! is buying the blogging platform in a $1.1 billion deal.

Yahoo's rise in Asia offsets risk from Tumblr bet

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:19:45 +0800

By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging service Tumblr will be a test of her ability to revive the aging Web portal. Luckily for her, her performance may be graded generously. Mayer faces plenty of challenges in her efforts to turn six-year-old Tumblr into a money-spinner, not least among them retaining users while devising new types of non-intrusive online ads outside of Yahoo's traditional area of expertise. And then there is Tumblr's hefty price tag: a sum that equates to a fifth of Yahoo's cash. ...

Sprint receives SoftBank waiver to consider Dish offer

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:16:00 +0800

By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said its Japanese suitor SoftBank Corp granted it a waiver allowing it to consider a $25.5 billion rival bid by Dish Network Corp, as pressure mounts on SoftBank to sweeten its offer for the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint said its recommendation in favor of the SoftBank agreement had not changed, although some major Sprint shareholders including Paulson & Co and Omega Advisors have publicly said the Dish offer looks better than SoftBank's deal. SoftBank, which agreed last October to pay $20. ...

Amazon wins key cloud security clearance from government

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:08:55 +0800

By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has been given a security clearance by the U.S. government that will make it easier for federal agencies to use its cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, was certified to operate as a cloud service provider for three years under the government's new FedRAMP program. The accreditation covers all AWS data centers in the United States, the company said on Tuesday. "This will cut the cost and time for agencies to deploy our systems," said Teresa Carlson, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector at AWS. ...

Dish's Ergen eyes LightSquared spectrum

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:33:43 +0800

(Reuters) - Charlie Ergen, the chairman of U.S. satellite company Dish Network Corp , has offered to buy bankrupt broadband company LightSquared Inc's wireless airwaves, a source close to Ergen told Reuters. Ergen's offer for LightSquared spectrum is valued at $2 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the bid. LightSquared, which declared bankruptcy in May 2012, was bankrolled by one of the hedge fund industry's most powerful figures, Philip Falcone. Falcone's plans to introduce a new wireless network in the United States fell apart when the U.S. ...

Yahoo unveils makeover of Flickr site

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:05:02 +0800

Reinvigorated technology player Yahoo! unveiled a dusted-off design of its Flickr photo platform only hours after the company's dramatic acquisition of blogging site Tumblr.

Britain's Cameron tells Google and others to play fair on tax

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:13:55 +0800

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday told Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and other business leaders that he expected their companies to pay their taxes in exchange for benefiting from low tax rates. Cameron's intervention came days after British lawmakers accused Google of using "smoke and mirrors" to avoid paying tax, fuelling a debate over corporate taxation that has angered the public and led to calls for a tougher approach from the government. ...

Dish eyes LightSquared's Spectrum for $2 billion - Bloomberg

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:27:09 +0800

(Reuters) - U.S. satellite company Dish Network Corp has offered to buy bankrupt broadband company LightSquared Inc's radio frequencies for $2 billion, Bloomberg said, quoting people familiar with the bid. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen made the offer on May 15 and LightSquared has until May 31 to accept or reject it, the news agency said. LightSquared, which declared bankruptcy in May 2012, was bankrolled by one of the hedge fund industry's most powerful figures, Philip Falcone. Falcone's plans to introduce a new wireless network in the United States fell apart when the U.S. ...

Microsoft to build Australian cloud computing centers

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:55:01 +0800

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is expanding its services for hosting and processing online data in Australia with the establishment of two new "cloud" computing data centers in the country. The world's biggest software company said on Tuesday it was expanding its Windows Azure business to include a major new region in Australia. Data centers, renting out technology resources such as computing power and storage, will be established in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. ...

China Mobile Preps Biggest Ever 4G Trial in Shanghai

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:37:43 +0800

With China Mobile thought to be keen to launch its 4G network nationwide later this year , the behemoth telco is prepping its biggest ever city-wide 4G trial to start soon - this time in Shanghai. But ...

Apple to argue for tax reform, defend tax practices on Tuesday

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:05:24 +0800

By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc will argue for a comprehensive corporate tax reform that will levy a "reasonable tax" on foreign earnings and is not dependent on a company's revenue when it goes before a Senate panel on Tuesday to explain its offshore tax practices. In prepared testimony released by the company and submitted ahead of Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook's hearing on Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Apple denied it employed "tax gimmicks" like using Cayman Islands bank accounts or shifting intellectual property abroad. ...

Aloxeom: Taking Vietnam’s Streetside Motorbike Taxis to the Next Level

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:30:19 +0800

Earlier this month I wrote about Tappxi , the Android app that makes taking a taxi in Vietnam safer and easier. This week, let’s look at Aloxeom . It’s a web-based service that connects passengers with ...

Yahoo! eyes growth, youth in $1.1 bn Tumblr deal

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:23:52 +0800

Yahoo! unveiled its biggest deal yet under chief Marissa Mayer on Monday, snagging blogging platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion in a move to get younger users into the orbit of the struggling Internet pioneer.

Tumblr deal sparks talk on next big tech target

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:16:11 +0800

The billion-dollar deal for Tumblr has stirred talk on the next big acquisition target in the sector, with cash-rich tech giants looking for the next potential star.

With 2.8 Million Monthly Visitors, Social Fashion Site Viss Gets Seed Funding

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:30:13 +0800

Hong Kong-based social fashion and commerce platform Viss has received a round of strategic seed investment from Clive Ng and Christian Remrod via their company 8 Plus Holding. Clive Ng is the chairman ...

EatAds Expands its Online Marketplace for Offline Ads into India

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:35:25 +0800

EatAds , the Singapore-based startup that’s an online platform for buying and selling offline adverts, has today revealed that it has entered the Indian market. Just as the online ads industry has been ...