Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Microsoft

France Planning Non-Windows Tablet Tax? 227

Posted by CmdrTaco from the sounds-brilliant-to-me dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Lots of countries around the world have private copying 'levies,' which are effectively taxes on products that store data, which is put into a pool to be handed out to copyright holders, as a sort of payment for the 'copying' that individuals do. This was quite popular with blank CDRs, for example, but has been expanded in certain countries to cover hard drives, iPods and other such devices. Over in France, they're looking to expand the levy to tablet computers, but apparently if that tablet computer is running Microsoft Windows, it will be exempted from the tax. iPads and Android-powered tablets will have the tax. Why? Well, the argument is that if a tablet is running Windows, it's really a 'computer.' But if it's running one of those 'mobile' operating systems, suddenly it's a brand new category. Not surprisingly, makers of Android tablets — including the French company Archos — are not at all happy about this."

Comment Re:What they need to do (Score 1) 87

by whtmarker (#33192396) Attached to: Skype Files For IPO
Thats neat that they use SMS confirmation for call display for only $14 CDN. Is that a one time fee or an annual fee? In the US skype-in allows you to use your skype-in number for call display. Its too bad about skype-in not being available in canada. I plan to move back there some day and would love it if my skype hardware (standalone skype phone and my ipod touch+microphone+skype) would just work with a CDN phone number. Its funny that its currently owned by the 'Canada Pension Plan Investment Board' which is a government board, and its the government laws that explicitly outlaw skype-in for something related to 911 laws.

Submission + - Netflix to start streaming in canada (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by whtmarker
whtmarker writes: Netflix is launching its streaming service in Canada this fall. It will likely feature a different set of content due to different broadcasting rights in each country. This will be the first time Netflix has offered its services outside the U.S. They have been selling netflix enabled devices up there for some time. This allows netflix to gain market share on hulu, while amazon VOD and apple TV are still drowning in the pay per download model, which while successful for MP3s is not as successful as a subscription service.

Comment Re:Can I... (Score 1) 567

by whtmarker (#32033686) Attached to: Ubuntu Linux 10.04 Review (Lucid Lynx)
Ctrl C and Ctrl V work in most gnome apps (see: gedit), but the ones that don't you can customize the app that way: example gnome-terminal (the console). However there is a good reason:

Ctrl-C the C is for cancel, so CTRL-C in gnome-terminal kills the current process. But the same things happens in XP's console (cmd.exe), CTRL-C won't copy and CTRL-V won't paste (for the same reasoning).

Comment Re:Cheaper and better than cable (Score 1) 224

by whtmarker (#31944402) Attached to: Rumors of Hulu's Subscription Plans

If it wasn't for sports, I'd consider canceling cable/sattelite and just watching content via the internet.

What sports are you trying to watch? heard of http://mlb.tv?
https://mdl.mlssoccer.com/mlsmdl/secure
/registerform
http://nfl.com/live
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/hockeynight
http://justin.tv/
http://atdhe.net/

Slashdot Top Deals

E = MC ** 2 +- 3db

Close