Computers

Sony's shown off the PS4... kind of.

Apple CEO is testifying before Congress tomorrow about its offshore cash, and its tax practices. Ahead of the actual testimony, Apple released what it's going to say. We're reading it now, and we'll peel out the most interesting bits... Apple starts by saying it pays all of its required taxes in the U.S. and abroad. "Apple pays all its required taxes, both in this country and abroad." "Apple welcomes an objective examination of the US corporate tax system, which has notkept pace with the advent of the digital age and the rapidly changing global economy." "Apple is likely the largest corporateincome tax payer in the US, having paid nearly $6 billion in taxes to the US Treasury in FY2012. These payments account for $1 in every $40 in corporate income tax the USTreasury collected last year." "The Company expects to pay over $7 billion in taxes tothe US Treasury in its current fiscal year." "Apple does not use tax gimmicks. Apple does not move its intellectual property into off shore tax havens and use it to sell products back into the US in order to avoid US tax; it does not use revolving loans from foreign subsidiaries to fund its domestic operations; it does not hold money on a Caribbean island; and it does not have a bank account in the Cayman Islands. Apple has substantial foreign cash because it sells the majority of its products outside the US. International operations accounted for 61% of Apple’s revenuelast year and two-thirds of its revenue last quarter. These foreign earnings are taxed inthe jurisdiction where they are earned (“foreign, post-tax income"). Apple Testimony Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

As everyone in the world weighs in on Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr, some snarkers are dismissing the deal as just another GeoCities. In early 1999, Yahoo bought a company called GeoCities. Back in the 1990s, GeoCities was a popular site that allowed people to create their own web pages. GeoCities was a relatively big site in those days, and the Yahoo-GeoCities deal was a relatively big deal. GeoCities' time in the sun came and went quickly, however. A few years after the acquisition, Yahoo shut down what was left of it, and most of the purchase price turned out to be wasted. What those who are dismissing the Tumblr deal as "just another GeoCities" are forgetting (or ignoring), however, are the specifics of the respective companies and deals. Specifically: Yahoo paid $3.5 billion for GeoCities--more than 3-times as much as the $1.1 billion it is paying for Tumblr. Tumblr is more than 15-times as big as GeoCities was when Yahoo bought it. Tumblr has 300 million global uniques. GeoCities had 19 million. In other words, Yahoo is paying one-third the price for a company 15-times as big. Yes, it's true, Yahoo's Tumblr deal might end up flopping. That's a risk that goes with all acquisitions. But the above facts alone are a pretty good indication that the Tumblr deal, however it turns out, is not just "another GeoCities." SEE ALSO: Way To Go, Yahoo! Way To Throw The Long Ball! Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

A California teen invented a supercapacitor that can charge a cell phone in about 20 seconds.

And why it might not.

Pinterest today launched a new branding function for products, recipes, and movies.

Google today confirmed that it is working to allow outbound Google Voice calls within its new Hangouts experience on Gmail and Chrome, but at this point, the service only supports inbound calls.

The drama in tech mogul John McAfee's life never seems to end. The Belize compound where he lived before he snuck out of the country to avoid talking to police about a murder was burned to the ground last week. No one was hurt. Officials in Belize said the cause of the fire was burning brush nearby. McAfee, who is never one to shy away from a conspiracy theory, said on his blog and in interviews that he thinks it was arson. The two main buildings that were destroyed had an estimated value of $250,000 apiece. On his blog, McAfee said that an investment firm was set to buy the property this week, but on a Q&A interview on Slashdot.org, he seemed to contradict himself, saying that, "That was my last property in Belize, went up in smoke. It's a very freeing sensation to have no burdensome taxes to pay or wages for upkeep and electricity and what have you. So they did me a favor." McAfee, who founded the antivirus software company of the same name, was once among the super wealthy with a net worth of more than $100 million. But his personal fortune took a nose dive to about $4 million after the 2008 economic collapse, reported the New York Times in 2009. McAfee's life in Belize became an epic tale late last year after his neighbor, an American citizen named Gregory Faull, was murdered. Police wanted to question McAfee about it. Instead, McAfee fled in James-Bond-like style: His escapade involved hiding in the jungle with one of his girlfriends, faking his own capture, faking a heart attack, all while blogging about it and taking along a journalist and camera crew, too. In between, the details of his life in Belize leaked out which were equally bizarre. He lived with a "harem" of young women, from nine to a dozen, some of which he said were presented to him as 16-year-old prostitutes. There was also speculation that he used an odd drug called MDPV. He eventually landed in Guatemala and was extradited to the United States. He lives in Oregon and was never charged with anything in connection with Faull's death.SEE ALSO: 15 Enterprise Tech Rock Stars You've Never Heard Of But Should Know Please follow SAI: Enterprise on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

Surging interest in Bitcoin, the crypto-currency that is mined and distributed without a central bank, has brought a fresh wave of speculation about its pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. The latest theory comes from IT pioneer Ted Nelson, who offers a three-part hypothesis – based on the Bitcoin inventor’s intelligence, publishing methods and interests — to show that Satoshi can be none other than Japanese math professor Shinichi Mochizuki. Nelson’s “deduction” (which Forbes and others have portrayed as more crackpot than convincing) comes weeks after programmer Sergio Lerner published a blog post that claims to show Satoshi has mined a fortune worth of Bitcoins, and that he has spent only a small fraction of it. A related report by The Verge endorses Lerner’s account and says the financial trail provides new clues to help establish Satoshi’s identity. This “who made Bitcoin?” buzz is a fun parlor game, especially at a time when everyone from serious investors to Homeland Security are clamoring to get a piece of the new currency. But, while many of the guesses are as silly as saying Lewis Carroll is Jack the Ripper, the process also raises the question of whether Satoshi is entitled to be left in peace. Last week, someone who has corresponded with Satoshi told me he believes the Bitcoin inventor is one person, not three as some suggest, and that he is not Japanese (this is consistent with the Forbes writer’s theory that the pseudonym is a tribute to 1980′s Tokyo cyber-punk culture). I asked him why Satoshi has decided to remain anonymous in the first source. According to the source, who is a Bitcoin developer and did not want to be named for this story, Satoshi’s motives are not rooted in myth-making or anything sinister. Instead, they reflect a simple desire for privacy and are consistent with the ethos of open-source coders who work on a project out of altruism or interest and then pass it on to others when they want to move on. If this is the case, then Satoshi is part of a tradition of private people who eschew the spotlight and prefer to let their work speak for themselves. It’s easy to think of others such as Groklaw‘s Pamela Jones (who does heroic work opposing software patents), cartoonist Bill Watterson and literary figures like Harper Lee and Emily Dickinson. Together, these quiet and relatively anonymous figures provide an inspiring counter-narrative to suggestions by Google and Facebook that anonymity is somehow sinister and that our entire selves should be open for media merchandising. The point is that we may never know the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto — and that’s okay. (Image by Shutterstock 69195535) Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.The evolution of the virtual goods marketFacebook Credits: a shaky media platformGigaOM Research highs and lows from CES 2013

New Splinter Cell: Blacklist Trailer @ Joystiq Shadow Warrior Revival Details @ Blue's News Watch Dogs Pre-Order Bonuses Unveiled @ Shacknews Xbox Launch Parody Video @ Kotaku