UK watchdog tells ISPs to advertise ‘real’ broadband speeds

Broadband packages are notoriously difficult to untangle. Prices are obscured with introductory discounts and the speeds you get are nothing like what was advertised. It sucks, and the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) knows it. So today, the watchdog has announced new rules for broadband advertising. From now on, the figure you see must be based on the download speeds available to 50 percent of the company’s customers at peak hours. In addition, a qualifier like “average” must be visible. It’s a marked improvement over the previous guidelines, which said speeds must be available to at least 10 percent of customers.

The problem, of course, is that every home is different. You might have full-fibre access, or a nearby cabinet with old-fashioned copper running up to your doorstep. As a result, it’s hard for internet service providers to give one definitive number on their billboard ads. Still, marketing materials can be deceptive. The ASA consulted on a number of solutions, including an average download speed over a 24-hour period (rather than peak hours) and a range of speeds available to the middle 60 percent (20th to 80th percentile) of customers. The latter was ultimately abandoned because it didn’t explain where customers were likely to fall within the range.

The new guidelines will take effect on May 23rd, 2018. They’re just that, though — guidelines. It will, therefore, be interesting to see just how many providers fall in line.

The ASA made a similar rule-change last year to simplify broadband pricing. In May 2016, it announced that all providers would have to include line rental in its broadband prices. All of the major ISPs are now co-operating, which has made it easier for customers to manage their bills and compare packages.

Ofcom, the UK’s media and telecoms regulator, is conducting a similar review into broadband speeds. In October, it published a consultation with suggested changes to the Broadband Speeds Codes of Practice. These included forcing ISPs to use peak time windows for speed estimates, based on a national sample of their customers. Unlike the ASA’s rules, however, Ofcom wants speeds to be advertised as a range. They would be given to customers at the point-of-sale and in relevant after-sale information. The rules would also make it easier for customers to switch if their speeds fall below the minimum guaranteed by their ISP.

Source: ASA

The UK Autumn Budget gets tough on tech companies and tax

During yesterday’s Autumn statement, Chancellor Philip Hammond outlined positive measures to push the adoption of autonomous and electric cars, develop new 5G networks, treble the number of computer science teachers and further research into AI and robotics. But tucked away in the 88-page document were small changes that show the UK government plans to get a lot tougher on technology companies that aren’t willing to give back as much as they should.

The most important notice came during Hammond’s budget speech. As he pledged £400 million for a UK-wide EV charging network and a £100 million subsidy for electric car buyers, the finance minister also outlined steps to claw back money from tech giants like Google, Amazon and Apple, which use legal loopholes to avoid paying tax in the UK.

“Multinational digital businesses pay billions of pounds in royalties to jurisdictions where they are not taxed – and some of these royalties relate to UK sales,” said Hammond in his speech. “So, from April 2019, and in accordance with our international obligations, we will apply income tax to royalties relating to UK sales, when those royalties are paid to a low-tax jurisdiction.”

Although Hammond admits that the introduction of a so-called “Google Tax” won’t stop companies from avoiding duty, it could raise an additional £200 million each year. In March, it was revealed that Google paid just £36 million in tax on UK revenues of £1 billion. That came after it agreed a deal with the UK government to pay £130 million in back taxes. Critics believe the search giant uses complex accounting schemes to get out of paying what it should, but Google argues that it complies will all UK laws.

As well as making tech companies liable for more tax, Hammond also outlined steps to make them responsible for VAT paid on goods. Companies like eBay and Amazon have been accused by MPs of turning a blind eye on VAT fraud and costing taxpayers as much £1.2 billion per year. The government intends to reduce that by adding new legislation in the Finance Bill 2017-18 that will extend HMRC’s powers to make online stores liable for unpaid VAT for all traders on their platforms.

The statement reads: “This extension will help tackle the UK hidden economy and eliminate the risk of overseas traders establishing a UK shell company simply to escape the existing regime. This will come into force on Royal Assent in the spring.”

From next year, eBay and Amazon will be required to check that VAT numbers displayed by businesses trading on their websites are valid and make them easily visible to customers.

“The government expects digital platforms to play a wider role in ensuring their users are compliant with the tax rules,” it continues. “[It] will publish a call for evidence in spring 2018 to explore what more digital
platforms can do to prevent non-compliance among their users.”

Via: The Guardian

Source: 2017 Autumn Budget (PDF)

Tesla completes its giant Australian Powerpack battery on time

Tesla has completed its 100 megawatt Powerpack battery backup system in South Australia within 100 days (easily), as Elon Musk had promised. That means the company essentially won the “bet,” and won’t be on the hook for the entire cost of the project, estimated at $50 million. More importantly, it means that some 30,000 homes in South Australia will have a power backup in case there’s no breeze at the Hornsdale Wind Farm located about two hours from Adelaide.

“An enormous amount of work has gone in to delivering this project in such a short time,” said South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill in a statement. “The world’s largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix.”

Musk famously promised to build the Powerpack-based system in 100 days, but that now seems more like a savvy PR move than an actual bet. Musk said that the clock would start when the contract was signed, and on that day (September 29th), the project was actually about half done, as the photo above shows. That said, Tesla finished a whopping 45 days ahead of schedule, and if you don’t count weekends, Tesla did actually finish the project exactly 99 days after Musk made the initial bet.

The next step is to test the Powerpack system, which is designed to backup around 30,000 homes — exactly the number that were affected by a long blackout in September, 2016. That set off a storm of criticism in South Australia, include a sharp exchange between Weatherill and Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

Critics of solar and wind energy claim that unlike coal or nuclear, it’s often not dependable — sometimes, obviously, the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Lithium battery backup systems from companies like Tesla can charge up when such power plants are productive, however, and then provide backup energy when they’re not.

Tesla sells the Powerwall system for individual homes, letting users get more out of their solar panels. The Powerpack, however, is aimed at businesses and large power producers. The Hornsdale farm is currently the largest battery backup installation in the world at 100 megawatts, but as solar and wind energy become increasingly popular, that record is likely to be shattered soon.

Congratulations to the Tesla crew and South Australian authorities who worked so hard to get this manufactured and installed in record time! https://t.co/M2zKXlIVn3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2017

Source: Reuters

Apple Supplier Foxconn Halts Interns’ Illegal Overtime at iPhone X Factory in China

Apple supplier Foxconn says it has stopped interns from working illegal overtime at its factory in China, after reports emerged that at least six students worked eleven-hour days on iPhone X production lines.

Today’s announcement follows a Financial Times report earlier this week that revealed around 3,000 students worked at its iPhone X assembly plant in Zhengzhou, as the firm struggles to catch up with demand for the smartphone after production delays.

A worker assembles iPhones in a Foxconn factory
Apple on Tuesday said an audit had confirmed “instances” of student interns working overtime at the supplier facility in Henan province, and both Apple and Foxconn said they would take remedial action to stop the practice, which breaches Chinese laws preventing children from working more than 40 hours per week.

“Apple is dedicated to ensuring everyone in our supply chain is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” the tech giant said today in a statement given to the BBC. “We know our work is never done and we’ll continue to do all we can to make a positive impact and protect workers in our supply chain.”

Foxconn, which operates the intern program, told the BBC in a statement that it had taken “immediate action to ensure that no interns are carrying out any overtime work”. It added that “interns represent a very small percentage” of its workforce in China and that the breach of labour laws was inconsistent with its own policies.

Foxconn is thought to hire large numbers of seasonal workers each year to assemble the latest iPhone models in time for the busy holiday shopping season. The FT report, citing an anonymous Foxconn employee, said there can be up to 300,000 workers producing up to 20,000 iPhones per day. However, this year it appears the manufacturer has found it particularly challenging to keep up with demand for the iPhone X, which Apple has described as being “off the charts”.

As per its supplier responsibility efforts, Apple requires manufacturing partners like Foxconn to limit working hours to no more than 60 hours a week, with a mandatory rest day once every seven days.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Related Roundup: iPhone XTag: FoxconnBuyer’s Guide: iPhone X (Buy Now)
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Writing App ‘Ulysses’ Gets iPhone X Redesign and Face ID Text Library Lock Support

Popular writing program Ulysses received an update to its iOS app today, bringing a revised interface and full compatibility with iPhone X.

Various interactions in the Ulysses UI have been reworked, and the app now fully complies with the all-screen design of the iPhone X’s OLED display.

Beyond the changes induced by the iPhone X screen, the update brings redesigned editors for objects like images, annotations, notes, and footnotes. The text counter has also been tweaked based on user feedback, as has the automatic fullscreen mode.

In addition, Ulysses now also supports Face ID, Apple’s new facial authentication system, to complement its privacy options, which previously only offered passcode protection. With Face ID enabled, writers can unlock their text libraries with a simple glance.

Lastly, the app ships with a new default editor theme, featuring sparsely applied colors and bold black headlines, which the developers say is simpler, cleaner, and more typographic.

Ulysses can be downloaded for free on the App Store and the Mac App Store. After a 14-day trial period, a subscription is required to unlock the app on all devices. A monthly subscription costs $4.99, while a yearly subscription is $39.99. Students can use Ulysses at a discounted price of $11.99 per six months. The discount is granted from within the app.

Tag: Ulysses
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U.K. Government Targets Tech Giants Like Apple and Amazon Over Tax Payments

The U.K. government announced in Wednesday’s annual budget that it plans to clamp down on tax avoidance by increasing the tax it collects from online giants such as Apple and Amazon.

In his Treasury speech to the Commons, Chancellor Philip Hammond said income tax would be charged on royalties relating to U.K. sales, even when they are paid to a low-tax jurisdiction and would not normally be taxed in the UK under current rules.

The new rules are due to come into effect from April next year, and estimates suggest they will raise approximately 800 million pounds ($1.07 billion) in extra tax over the next five years. However, Hammond admitted they would only go some way to balancing out the taxation treatment of digital firms, and that more would have to be done to tackle tax avoidance.

Multinational digital businesses pay billions of pounds in royalties to jurisdictions where they are not taxed and some of those relate to UK sales.

This does not solve the problem, but it does send a signal of our determination and we will continue work in the international arena to find a sustainable and fair long-term solution that properly taxes the digital businesses that operate in our cyberspace.

Apple recently came in for criticism when the so-called Paradise Papers revealed that the company sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its controversial Irish tax structure by moving the majority of its offshore cash holdings to the small island of Jersey, a self-governed territory with loose ties to the United Kingdom.

The papers showed that Apple’s two key Irish subsidiaries were managed from the Jersey offices of offshore tax law firm Appleby from 2015 until early 2016. Apple reportedly chose Jersey after exploring several potential tax havens, such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Apple apparently turned to Jersey after European officials began to crack down on the so-called “Double Irish” tax structure it had exploited. The loophole allows for multinational corporations to funnel revenue through an Irish subsidiary, which in turn sends that money to another Irish subsidiary that has residency in a tax haven. The practice has enabled Apple to save billions of dollars in taxes globally.

Apple responded to the revelations contained in the Paradise Papers by saying that it made regulators in the U.S. and Ireland, and the European Commission, aware about the reorganization of its Irish subsidiaries, and added that the changes haven’t reduced its tax bill.

Last year, the European Commission ordered Ireland to collect $14.5 billion in back taxes from Apple, after it concluded that the country’s tax agreements with the tech giant represented “illegal state aid”. Both Apple and the Irish government are currently appealing the ruling.

Apple has repeatedly highlighted its position as the largest taxpayer in the world and reiterated the fact that it holds overseas cash because that’s where the majority of its products are sold. Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that Apple is willing to repatriate some of its offshore cash holdings into the U.S., but he also recently said that tax reform is “sorely needed” first.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: corporate tax, United Kingdom
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Amazon ‘Echo Buttons’ Trivia Game Accessories Now Available to Pre-Order

Amazon has made its Echo Buttons, the company’s “first Alexa gadgets”, available to pre-order on its U.S. website. First announced in September, the $20 accessories come in packs of two and are designed to allow Amazon Echo owners to play family trivia games with the voice-activated smart speakers.

About 3 inches (76mm) wide and 1.5 inches (38mm) tall, the Echo Buttons each have a multi-color LED on top that lights up the push button. The devices are powered by two triple-A batteries and connect to Echo speakers via Bluetooth.

Amazon says the buttons will work with four Alexa skills when they ship on December 19 in time for the holidays, including name-that-song game “Beat the Intro” and “Fourth Down Football Trivia”, with support for more sound effect and quiz games expected further down the line.

The Echo Buttons are compatible with all old and new Echo devices as well as the forthcoming Echo Spot, but they don’t work with the Amazon Tap, Amazon Fire TV, or any other non-Echo device.

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Tags: Amazon, Amazon Echo, Alexa
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Budweiser begins space experiments to be first to brew beer on Mars

When Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch announced earlier this year that it wanted to be the first company to brew beer on Mars, most commentators thought that it had its tongue lodged so firmly in its cheek that delicate surgery would be required to remove it.

But the beer brand clearly isn’t letting go of the idea, this week announcing that it’s “upholding its commitment” and moving forward with the first stage of the plan. It involves sending barley seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) this December to learn about how beer ingredients react in a microgravity environment.

Budweiser is predicting, perhaps wisely, that when we finally build a city on Mars as hoped for by the likes of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and officials in Dubai, its inhabitants may want to quaff a beer or two from time to time. And Budweiser wants to be there to brew it.

To get the ball rolling, the famous beer brand is partnering with the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, and Space Tango, a payload development company that operates two commercial research facilities within the National Laboratory.

Working with Budweiser’s innovation team, the group will send two barley-based experiments to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s next cargo supply mission, scheduled for December 4.

Budweiser’s barley seeds will stay in orbit for around a month before returning to Earth for analysis.

“Malting barley is a process that results in the high-quality malt used in the Budweiser enjoyed today and the research on the ISS will unveil how the barley seeds react in a unique microgravity environment,” Budweiser explained in a release.

“One of the experiments will focus on barley seed exposure with the second testing barley germination. Not only will the research offer insights on steps to creating beer on the red planet, but it could also provide valuable information on the production of barley and the larger agricultural community here on Earth.”

In other words, if the ambitious Mars enterprise doesn’t work out, there could still be some benefits for those of us remaining here on Earth. Which is nice to know.

Amazon’s Black Friday SanDisk sale discounts microSD cards, flash drives, and more

These prices are incredible, and won’t last long!

SanDisk has a bunch of its memory cards, microSD cards, flash drives and more on sale today. Some of these deals will sell out fast, so don’t miss out.

Some of the big deals to check out are the 200GB microSD card for $49.99, the 128GB USB 3.0 Ultra Fit drive for $25.99, and the 32GB Class 10 SD card for $9.95.

MicroSD Cards

• 200GB SanDisk Ultra – $49.99
• 200GB SanDisk Ultra w/ adapter – $49.99
• 256GB SanDisk Ultra – $89.99
• 32GB SanDisk Ultra – $9.49
• 128GB SanDisk Ultra – $28.49

Flash Drives

• 128GB SanDisk Ultra Fit – $25.99
• 128GB SanDisk Cruzer USB 2.0 – $22.49
• 32GB SanDisk Ultra Fit – $9.99

This is just a small portion of what’s available, so be sure to check out the whole sale now!

BMW hopes AI-managed electric bike roads will ease traffic

In some cities, the most common electric vehicles are likely to be two-wheelers like bikes and motorcycles. But cities aren’t really designed for them — you have to compete with cars on the road and at charging stations. BMW and Tongji University think they can do better: they’ve developed a concept, Vision E3 Way, that gives e-bike riders their own roads. The paths would be safer and reduce traffic congestion, as you might expect, but they’d also take advantage of the electric nature of the vehicles to make two-wheel riding more accessible.

The routes would typically sit above regular roads, and would be decidedly cozier thanks to covering and a cooling system driven by purified rainwater. An automatic speed limit (in the concept, about 15.5MPH) and AI-driven traffic management would prevent the faster vehicles from crashing into scooters. And you might not even need to own a machine to use it — BMW envisions a rental system where you’d pick up a bike at an access point if you need to get across town in a hurry.

You won’t necessarily see something like this in markets where cars dominate, like North America. A system like Vision E3 Way could be very useful in countries like China, however. It’s not just that many more people ride bikes in these areas — it’s that high population densities could necessitate separate, automated roads to keep traffic flowing. The challenge is getting cities to take up the idea. Even if these roadways don’t cost much to build, it’s no mean feat to significantly alter the urban landscape.

Source: BMW