Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Submission + - Netflix to pay more tax in the UK (theguardian.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Netflix is to finally start declaring the £1bn-plus revenues it makes from millions of British subscribers each year to the UK tax authorities, a move likely to ramp up pressure on tech firms such as Google and Amazon to stop funnelling revenues through overseas tax jurisdictions. Netflix, which has funnelled UK-generated revenue through separate accounts at its European headquarters in the Netherlands since launching in Britain in 2012, is to notify its almost 13 million UK subscribers on Tuesday about the change, which starts from January. The change is likely to increase the amount Netflix pays in UK corporation tax and is expected to add to pressure on Google, Amazon and other tech firms that have been accused of funnelling revenues to low-tax jurisdictions to avoid tax. Netflix, which has a market value of $215bn (£160bn), received a €57,000 (£51,000) tax rebate from the UK government in 2018, according to the latest financial filing at Companies House — despite making £700m from UK subscribers. However, the company declared just €48m in UK revenues in 2018, which it described as a fee from its Netherlands headquarters for services provided.

Submission + - Scientists Uncover Billions Of Gallons Of Hidden Fresh Water Off Hawaii (inverse.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Using a new technique that relies on tracing electrical resistance, a team of geohydrologists has discovered a never-before-seen way the islands’ volcanic soil collects and hides away freshwater beneath the ocean’s salty surface.

Accessing this freshwater could give Hawaii and other volcanic islands a more sustainable and future-proof solution to collecting water during times of need.

Submission + - In January electronics in France must be labelled with reparability ratings (gsmarena.com)

Submitted by sandbagger
sandbagger writes: France is introducing consumer packaging legislation for indicating how repairable electronics are. As we move to smaller modes, an inevitable future is components that group what used to be separate chips such as CPU and memory on the Apple M1 processor. But should SSDs and other consumables be permanently soldered in so that devices cannot be repaired? Maybe, but making this clear to consumer will give them options to vote with their dollars and euros.

Submission + - Raspberry Pi Used to Hack Tesla Model X SUV (tomshardware.com)

Submitted by Pig Hogger
Pig Hogger writes: According to this tom’s Harware story, a Belgian PhD student managed to wrest full control of a Tesla Model X SUV, by way of hijacking the Bluetooth keyfob and reprogramming it, using a Raspberry Pi.

Tesla has since issued a software update to protect against that kind of attack

Since the attack is done via Bluetooth, control could be gained wirelessly from 5 meters away.

Submission + - AWS outage affected doorbells, vacuum cleaners and lights (gizmodo.com.au) 1

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: AWS recently had an outage, resulting in numerous IoT devices failing to work as they relied on cloud services. iRobot, maker of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, acknowledged the issue on Twitter after users noticed their bots malfunctioning. Next to go down were smart doorbells, with owners reporting loss of functionality. Some owners in Japan reported that they were unable to switch off their lights at bed time due to the outage. AWS is now working normally again.

Submission + - Cambridge University Says Darwin's Iconic Notebooks Were Stolen (nbcnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Two notebooks written by the famed British naturalist Charles Darwin in 1837 and missing for years may have been stolen from the Cambridge University Library, according to curators who launched a public appeal Tuesday for information. The notebooks, estimated to be worth millions of dollars, include Darwin’s celebrated “Tree of Life” sketch that the 19th-century scientist used to illustrate early ideas about evolution. Officials at the Cambridge University Library say the two notebooks have been missing since 2001, and it’s now thought that they were stolen.

“I am heartbroken that the location of these Darwin notebooks, including Darwin’s iconic ‘Tree of Life’ drawing, is currently unknown, but we’re determined to do everything possible to discover what happened and will leave no stone unturned during this process,” Jessica Gardner, the university librarian and director of library services, said in a statement. The lost manuscripts were initially thought to have been misplaced in the university’s enormous archives, which house roughly 10 million books, maps and other objects. But an exhaustive search initiated at the start of 2020 — the “largest search in the library’s history,” according to Gardner — failed to turn up the notebooks and they are now being reported as stolen. Cambridge University officials said a police investigation is underway and the notebooks have been added to Interpol’s database of stolen artworks.

Submission + - Elon Musk Overtakes Bill Gates To Grab World's Second-Richest Ranking (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Elon Musk’s year of dizzying ascents hit a new apex Monday as the Tesla co-founder passed Bill Gates to become the world’s second-richest person. The 49-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth soared $7.2 billion to $127.9 billion, driven by yet another surge in Tesla’s share price. Musk has added $100.3 billion to his net worth this year, the most of anyone on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. In January he ranked 35th.

His advance up the wealth ranks has been driven largely by the electric automaker, whose market value hit $500 billion after Tesla shares rallied further on Tuesday. About three-quarters of his net worth is comprised of Tesla shares, which are valued more than four times as much as his stake in Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX. Musk’s milestone marks only the second time in the index’s eight-year history that Microsoft Corp. co-founder Gates has ranked lower than number two. He held the top spot for years before being bumped by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos in 2017.

Submission + - Update breaks Microsoft Office. Microsoft's response: 'Pay us'

Submitted by jpkeating3
jpkeating3 writes: Slashdot has carried stories about updates breaking Windows 10. I had one break Office 2016, with Microsoft refusing to fix what it broke, and am wondering how common my experience is.

I bought a used laptop on Amazon because it had Microsoft Office, which I needed for a job. Two months later, a message at the top of Word said an update was needed. I allowed it. Word then failed to open, along with everything else in Office, with the message "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142)." I tried fixing from the Windows 10 settings app list, then followed advice from various forums. All failed.

I got help from Microsoft via chat. A Microsoft technician accessed my machine remotely, saw I had Office, saw it was broken, made a couple of fumbling attempts to fix it and then said she could reinstall Office but needed the product key. Which could only be accessed from inside the broken program. She said I would have to buy Office again. I said Microsoft's fault, Microsoft's responsibility to replace it. Impasse. Bye. I then went to Control Center's program list and tried online repair of Office, whose explanation begins "Fixes all problems." It replaced Office and the product key completely, and gave me six days to pay and activate it.

So Microsoft insisted on an update that broke Microsoft's flagship program on an up-to-date Microsoft Windows 10, then refused to admit error or responsibility even after seeing the proof and insisted I pay to fix its mistake.

Never. I am trying OpenOffice, which perfectly opens a problematic test file (multiple signature images), plus WPS Office and SoftMaker FreeOffice, which open it with the same minor error as Office 365 (two signatures move onto a second page) but have tabbed documents, a huge plus. Libre Office won't run on this machine; its Linux version opens the file correctly but performed poorly on an earlier version.

Slashdot Top Deals

Repel them. Repel them. Induce them to relinquish the spheroid. - Indiana University fans' chant for their perennially bad football team

Close