Apple tax row: Ireland says its tax regime is not to blame

Deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore insists any loopholes in international tax rules exploited by Apple were 'issues that arise from other jurisdictions'Ireland's deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore has insisted any loopholes in international tax rules exploited by Apple were not the fault of the Irish tax regime.Some of the computing group's Irish subsidiaries have been criticised by a US

Microsoft prepares to unveil new Xbox

Rival to Sony's PlayStation 4 due to be revealed in Washington on Tuesday, with name of latest incarnation still a mysteryThe world's gaming press is descending on Redmond, Washington, on Tuesday, as Microsoft gears up to reveal the successor to its hugely successful Xbox 360 machine. After months of speculation, and following the announcement of the PlayStation 4 in February, tech pundits ar

Flickr back in the picture with 1TB of storage

Yahoo hopes its rebooted photography service is 'not only beautiful, but bigger and better than anything else'Having made headlines with its $1.1bn acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo has also revamped its Flickr photo-sharing service, boosting its free storage to 1TB for every user and revamping its website and Android app."We hope you'll agree that we have made huge strides to make Flickr aweso

Apple accused of huge tax avoidance scheme

Senators claim Apple has avoided paying billions in US tax by creating offshore entities that are not tax resident anywhereApple uses a "highly questionable" web of offshore entities to avoid paying billions in US income taxes, a Senate committee alleged on Monday.The complex arrangement includes three subsidiaries, based ostensibly in Ireland, which appear not to be designated as tax resi

Privacy and the moral hazard of surveillance

If online oversharing is a public health problem, then the state's decision to harness it for its own purposes means that huge, powerful forces within government will come to depend on itWhenever government surveillance is debated, someone inevitably pooh-poohs the subject as cause for alarm: after all, people overshare so much sensitive personal information with services like Facebook that t

Boot up: Intel v big data, wearable and health, Apple on tax, Google Island and more

Plus Dell blames Windows 8 (again), Jolla hopes with Sailfish, southeast Asia's smartphone growth, and moreA burst of 9 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology teamIntel's data economy initiative aims to help people capture the value of personal data >> MIT Technology ReviewIntel is a $53bn-a-year company that enjoys a near monopoly on the computer chips that go into PCs.

Fiat's YouTube hit shows adverts breaking down borders online

Arianna featuring Pitbull's Sexy People is perfect example of ad-promo hybrids that wouldn't be allowed on TVAs technology slowly removes the distinction between content watched on a television and content viewed on a computer screen or mobile device, it's increasingly difficult to draw an absolute distinction between programming and advertising.Strictly enforced broadcasting regulations e

Chatterbox: Tuesday

The place to talk about games and other things that matterIt's Tuesday – XBOX DAY!!!*GamesKeith Stuartguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

The science of webcomics| Dean Burnett

Do webcomics use an 'emergent system'? Maybe not but it's enough for Dean Burnett to shoehorn an interview with the authors/artists/web gurus behind Exterminatus Now in the Guardian science sectionWebcomics are increasingly widespread and popular. It could be argued their proliferation is linked to the decline of print comics, in the same way that free news sites and blogging are often blamed

Google faces new pressure over tax claims

Revenue and Customs is investigating fresh lines of inquiry after interviewing whistleblower who gave evidence to WhitehallHM Revenue and Customs is investigating fresh lines of inquiry into Google's tax affairs after interviewing a former executive at the company who gave anonymous evidence to parliament, the Guardian can disclose.Barney Jones, 34, who worked for the internet company betw

Yahoo announces Tumblr acquisition deal – as it happened

Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer announces deal to buy blogging platform for $1.1bn – and gives Flickr a revamp, tooAmanda Holpuch

Yahoo-Tumblr acquisition announcement: live stream

Yahoo is giving more details of its $1.1bn acquisition of the picture-sharing social network Tumblr at a press event in New York starting at 4pm ET

Now that Tumblr's hit it big, who's next in line on the New York tech scene? | Heidi Moore

The high price Yahoo paid for Tumblr acts as validation – and encouragement – for New York's burgeoning tech companiesBarely had the ink dried on Yahoo's announcement of its $1.1bn acquisition of Tumblr – "we won't screw it up," the acquirer promised – than the New York tech world erupted in gossip and speculation about which company among them would be next to find an equally rich and self-d

Yahoo vows not to 'screw it up' over Tumblr

Web pioneer reveals details of acquisition of blogging platform, as site's 26-year-old founder tells staff: 'Fuck yeah'Yahoo promised "not to screw it up" as it formally announced its acquisition of the Tumblr blogging platform for $1.1bn ahead of the US stock market opening on Monday.The relaxed wording of the memo for one of the internet giant's biggest acquisitions was echoed in the mem

Up to 60% of whiplash claims are fraudulent or exaggerated, MPs told

Transport select committee examining scale of whiplash payouts told 10-60% of claims were probably not entirely genuineUp to 60% of the whiplash claims brought by car drivers or passengers after accidents are either fraudulent or exaggerated, MPs have been told.David Powell, a manager at Lloyd's Market Association, told the transport select committee investigation examining the size and nu

Online food delivery rivals Seamless and Grubhub set to merge

The combined mega delivery service will serve more than 500 cities and enable delivery from over 20,000 restaurantsOnline food ordering companies Seamless and Grubhub have announced a merger, creating an as-yet-unnamed mega delivery service.The new company will serve more than 500 cities and enable food orders at more than 20,000 restaurants. It will also pose a threat to smaller delivery

BBC told to improve online local news

Review by the BBC Trust says web services have improved, but coverage of regional news is 'not particularly comprehensive' • Click here to read the BBC Trust reportThe BBC has been told to up the standard of its online local news and look to mine more personal data from users of its website network, but otherwise its web services have been given the seal approval by in a review by the BBC T

Giant 1950s robot Gygan up for sale

Eight-foot-tall radio-controlled robot capable of responding to voice or light ray commands is to be auctioned in LondonGygan, a giant radio-controlled robot, which more than half a century ago entranced the world by flashing its car headlamp-like eyes, turning its head stiffly from left to right, and shuffling forwards at the terrifying speed of 10 feet a minute, is to be auctioned after dec

Supreme court will not order new Mississippi elections in NAACP case

NAACP challenged 2011 state elections over legislature's failure to draw new district lines according to 2010 censusThe US supreme court will not order new legislative elections in Mississippi over complaints about the timing of the state's redistricting, under one of several decisions that were handed down on Monday.The Mississippi National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peopl

Yahoo buying Tumblr is not a turnaround story | Michael Wolff

Yahoo is still sinking. The Tumblr purchase is an effort to salvage what value is left for activist investor Dan LoebYahoo was a junk shop company until its dissident investor, Dan Loeb, got the idea tohire Marissa Mayer as the company's CEO, its fifth since 2011, less than a year ago.Because she was from Google (and already hugely rich in her own right), and a woman, and young, and pregna

Marissa Mayer announces Yahoo Tumblr acquisition via animated GIF

Setting up her own Tumblr, dropping Google+ from her Twitter profile, rolling with the zeitgeist - the chief executive of Yahoo has got internet style to burnMarissa Mayer: she's got style. First she buys Tumblr - which, OK, is one of those Big Corporate Acquisitions that gets everyone het up (if they're on Tumblr) or analysing the cash flow (if they're on Wall Street).But Mayer? She took

Yahoo's $1.1bn Tumblr gamble is a power bet on native advertising

Tumblr's acquisition by Yahoo looks like an investment not in search advertising but in contentIn its latest attempt to inject some energy through acquisition, Yahoo is buying content creation platform Tumblr for $1.1bn. But what does Marissa Mayer see in Tumblr's 26-year-old founder David Karp, and what does the deal mean for the rest of us?This is a rational deal at a good time for both

David Cameron told to stop moralising to multinationals over tax

CBI head and UK's largest employers descend on Downing Street amid claims tax row has been used as 'political football'The president of the CBI is delivering a firm message from some of Britain's largest employers to David Cameron, calling on him to stop "moralising" on how multinational corporations should be taxed.Roger Carr, flanked by some of the country's most powerful global business

Could WordPress be the next Tumblr? | Dan Gillmor

The tech world has seen a lot of major acquisitions, but WordPress stands out because of its open, yet profitable platformGiant media and internet companies keep scooping up social-media services: among others, MySpace went to News Corp, YouTube to Google, Instagram to Facebook, and now Tumblr to Yahoo. For the young founders and their investors, the trajectory in each case has been 1) create

How to become data literate – live discussion

Join us from 1-3pm on Thursday 30 May to discuss voluntary sector organisations and dataBeing data literate has never been more important to charity professionals. Whether you work in fundraising, finance or communications, understanding how to collect and communicate data is now a significant part of the job.Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd recently said that data has the "potential t

All the road rage: Fast & Furious 6 taps a modern vein

Without superheroes or aliens, the F&F franchise has made speed, laced with rage, one of film's most beloved intoxicantsThe reason for the burgeoning success of the Fast & Furious films eludes some people. This apparently humdrum franchise manages without superheroes, intergalactic conflict, aliens, zombies, vampires or 3D. What has it got? Perhaps the clue's in the title. Speed and rage have

How iPads are revolutionising social games

Tablet games such as Slamjet Stadium show us laughter can help overcome complex rule systems and open up multiplayer"Rule-breaking is creative," Alistair Aitcheson says in his presentation to the audience at GameHorizon. "Laughter trumps fairness." It's this theory of schadenfreude he has come to the conference to discuss: how pitting us against each other can strengthen friendships, and brin

Cameron refuses to say if he will quiz Google boss Eric Schmidt over tax

Spokesman refuses to be drawn on whether Cameron will question Schmidt, who is attending a meeting of PM's business advisory committeeDavid Cameron has refused to say whether he will question Google's chairman over allegations that the internet giant is exploiting tax loopholes at a meeting on Monday that will discuss tightening up international tax rules.The prime minister's spokesman als

Tumblr: a big blank canvas in the world wide web

Yahoo is paying $1.1bn for Tumblr, so let's hope it doesn't go the same way as GeocitiesName: Tumblr.Age: Six.Appearance: Photos of animals and snacks, often captioned, sometimes combined.What is it? It's a multimedia blogging platform.Meaning? Meaning a Tumblr page is a big blank canvas. Users can post pictures, songs, links, videos or even the good old-fashioned written word. A

Gawker, the mayor of Toronto and the crack cocaine video

The US gossip website Gawker is attempting to raise $200,000 in donations to buy a video alleged to show mayor of Toronto Rob Ford smoking crack cocaineGossip website Gawker is appealing to raise $200,000 in donations to buy a video alleged to show the mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, smoking crack cocaine. They call the scheme The Crackstarter. At time of writing, 3,073 people have donated a comb