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Intel Under Fire in New York over Antitrust Accusations

Paul Lilly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:45:15 -0600

It seems like everywhere Intel turns it's being sued over alleged antitrust violations. The latest lawsuit comes from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who claims Intel threatened computer makers and made a series of illegal payments to coerce them into using its chips. In other words, the same accusations AMD has been harping about for a good many years now.

"Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," Cuomo said in a statement. "Intel's actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitor, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices."

Intel has faced similar lawsuits earlier in the year, and in May, the European Commission hammered Intel with a record $1.45 billion fine for antitrust violations. Intel is currently appealing the ruling.

The latest lawsuit is significant because it's the first formal antitrust action against Intel by any government agency in the U.S. in more than a decade, the New York Times reports. Intel has been under investigation by the FTC since 2008, but that hasn't led to any formal proceedings.

"These are separate investigations, but it would be very surprising for New York Sate to go off on its own without being fairly confident the FTC would pursue Intel as well," a person familiar with the state's investigation told NYT.

Image Credit: intel

Entertainment Weekly Debuts First Video Ad in Print

Pulkit Chandna — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:09:56 -0500

Entertainment Weekly has debuted video ads in its latest print edition. It is the first print publication in the world to do so. The magazine features a very thin TFT LCD screen, which can be charged via a USB cable, to display video ads for Pepsi Max and CBS shows. The technology has been developed by a company called Americhip.

It uses chip technology to store up to 40 minutes of video content. The video ads begin playing when the page is turned. The chip technology that turns readers into viewers in the blink of an eye is said to be comparable to that found in singing cards. Entertainment Weekly has limited the circulation of this special version of its current issue to Los Angeles and New York only.

Rajesh Mirchandani, BBC News' Los Angeles correspondent, criticized the embedded video screen for being too bulky. "And when you do open up the relevant page, the actual advert takes several seconds to load and play and that's a lifetime's lag in the advertiser's world," he said.

Judge Upholds the Amazon Tax

Paul Lilly — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:07:43 -0600

In what some might view as a dark day in e-commerce, a New York Supreme Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by Amazon.com and Overstock.com over a new law that requires online retailers to collect sales tax. Despite not having a physical presence in the state, the cleverly conceived law taxes any online retailer who has an affiliate marketing program in New York.

At stake is an estimated $73 million for New York this fiscal year. But lawyers representing Amazon and Overstock contend that the law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and were seeking an permanent injunction prohibiting New York from enforcing the law. Judge Bransten didn't see it the same way.

"The neutral statute simply obligates out-of-state sellers to shoulder their fair share of the tax collection burden when using New Yorkers to earn profit from other New Yorkers," the judge wrote.

Amazon and Overstock are expected to appeal the ruling with the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division, and failing that, it would then go the New York State Court of Appeals. And yes, being a constitutional issue, this could also end up being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Newegg Reverses Decision to Collect New York Sales Tax

Chris Moody — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:32:10 -0500

Nothing is worse than when the government decides to levy another tax someplace. Newegg customers of New York were irked on June 1, 2008 when they found out that Newegg was being required to collect sales tax to orders sent to New York, even though Newegg doesn’t have a store there.

However, Newegg has backed away from that stance, sending out an email from Newegg Company Spokesperson and Vice President of Merchandising, Bernard Luthi, saying that it reversed it’s decision based on feedback from it’s customers.

“This decision was driven by your direct and candid feedback and our continued commitment to you as our valued customers.” He went on to thank customers for their patience as they worked things out.

Of course, New York residents are still responsible for paying their sales tax.

Newegg should be applauded for taking a stand. Collecting taxes for different states, counties, and localities would be a terrible mess for any online retailer to wade through. It would only serve to drive up prices for consumers and stifle internet commerce.

How do you feel about taxes on items purchased over the web?

Survey Says: New Yorkers the Most Addicted to Email

Paul Lilly — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:21:51 -0500

Brett Favre going to the Jets has given New Yorkers plenty to chatter about, and according to AOL's fourth annual email survey, many of them might be doing it through email. Either that or they're working really, really hard. The survey shows that 62 percent of people check their work email accounts on weekends, and of all the respondents who took the survey, 55 percent of New Yorkers said they are addicted to email communication. By comparison, the national average sits at 46 percent.

"As technology continues to advance, we begin to rely upon it more and more," email productivity expert Marsha Egan said in a statement. "The constant connectivity offered by email and PDA products has people logging on so frequently that they don't have time to do anything else."

Lest anyone dispute that the internet is serious business and email addiction is a real problem, New Yorkers are being offered help to cut the digital chain. Egan, CEO of EganEmailSolutions.com and author of the eBook 12 Steps to Curing Your E-Mail E-ddiction (clever!) has offered to let New Yorkers and residents from other high addiction rate cities join her 12-step program this month for half off.

Are you an email addict?

Online Shoppers Beware! Internet Might Not Always Be a Tax Haven

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:14:55 -0500

The days of tax-free purchases for online shoppers are numbered, feel many experts. A new law in New York has made sales tax mandatory on internet purchases. This has widened the grin on the faces of offline store managers in the state, who expect some internet shoppers to turn their attention and wallets towards them. New York might have just shown the way to other states that are deliberating upon ways to tax online purchases.

Why is the internet still miraculously tax-free? : It isn’t that internet has evaded the hawkish gaze of tax-hungry politicians but they haven’t simply been able to find effective ways to tax online purchases. The problem stems from the internet being nebulous – without any form or bounds. It is difficult for a state to first establish its jurisdiction in cyberspace and then to exercise it without a conflict with other states. The conundrum of multiple taxes on a single online purchase has been difficult for lawmakers to solve. Maybe these states can take a cue from New York.

The current law in New York and its merits: The new rule that took effect on June 1, 2008 makes it mandatory for all online retailers that are present in the state to charge sales tax on online purchases made by New Yorkers. However, before this rule, online retailers that had no offline stores like Amazon didn’t collect sales tax, while major retailers like Wal-Mart with both a physical and web presence charged sales tax even on online sales. The new rule in New York has easily done away with the disparity between the two. And this is one reason why the New York model can be replicated in other states.

Why tax internet purchases? : Just for the very reason any other purchase is taxed. Taxes help us effectively participate in a democracy and are a major source of income for any government. Anyways, democratic rhetoric apart, taxing online sales will create a level playing field between ‘brick and mortar’ stores and online retailers. Online purchases were roughly worth $136 billion in the U.S last year and are growing rapidly. The figures are donning serious proportions and appear very salivating to the taxmen.

Shoppers are not the only whiners: Yes, Shoppers are not the only one’s that are complaining but online retailers are also annoyed with the new laws. Amazon is very annoyed by the sales tax now being levied on internet purchases in New York. In fact this even led the media to dub the new tax the “Amazon Tax”.

You can still afford a toll-free smile: Because most US states still don’t levy such taxes on online purchases and if you are fortunate enough to be living in one of those states you can continue to make hay until the sun shines.