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Online radio network Pandora provides users with highly curated playlists based on the Music Genome Project, an analysis of more than 400 attributes of a song that make it appealing to your specific ear taste buds. The cost of this pretty incredible service for most folks: nothing at all. Well, nothing at all if you don't consider quietly sharing some of your web habits with advertisers a "cost."
According to the WSJ's data, Pandora shares age, gender, location, and phone ID information with marketing firms on both its iPhone and Android mobile versions. So while advertsiers won't have your name and email address, they'll get their hands on a lot of info about your mobile phone behavior.
Is that a fair exchange for hours of free music? Only users who stream more than 40 hours of music a month are billed 99 cents, and Pandora offers a premium paid version for $36 a year that comes with a few perks, like unlimited listening, no ads, and the ability to skip however many songs you want. Pandora does have a Privacy Policy posted on its website, which reveals the service employs cookies to "collect non-personally identifiable information" for tracking and advertising purposes. It doesn't expressly say Pandora will share your phone's unique ID number with advertisers, but it gives you a hint that that music you're enjoying for free does indeed have a cost -- whether or not you're (somewhat) unwittingly becoming an advertising drone is up to you. Wallstreet Journal
1. Failure to report all taxable income. The IRS receives copies of all 1099s and W-2s that you receive during a year, so make sure that you report all required income on your tax return. The IRS computers are pretty good at matching these forms received with the income shown on your return. A mismatch sends up a red flag and causes the IRS computers to spit out a bill. If you receive a 1099 for income that isn't yours or the income listed is incorrect, get the issuer to file a corrected form with the IRS.
2. Returns claiming the home-buyer credit. First-time homebuyers and longtime homeowners who claimed the homebuyer credit should be prepared for IRS scrutiny. Make sure you submit proper documentation when taking this credit. First-time homebuyers have to attach a copy of their settlement statement to the return, and longtime homeowners should also attach documents showing prior ownership of a home, including records of property tax and insurance coverage. All claims for this credit are being screened. As of May 2010, more than 260,000 returns had been selected for correspondence audits (examinations done by mail rather than face-to-face) because filers did not attach the necessary documents to their tax returns. And those numbers will continue to grow.
3. Claiming large charitable deductions. This comes up again and again because the IRS has found abuse on audit, especially with those taking larger deductions. We all know that charitable contributions are a great write-off and help you to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. However, if your charitable deductions are disproportionately large compared to your income, it raises a red flag. That's because the IRS can tell what the average charitable donation is for a person in your tax bracket. Also, if you don't get an appraisal for donations of valuable property or if you fail to file Form 8283 for donations over $500, the chances of audit increase. Be sure you keep all your supporting documents, including receipts for cash and property contributions made during the year, and abide by the documentation rules. And attach Form 8283 if required.
4. Home office deduction. The IRS is always very interested in this deduction, primarily because it has a pretty high adjustment rate on audit. This is because history has shown that many people who claim a home office don't meet all the requirements for properly taking the deduction, and others may overstate the benefit. If you qualify, you can deduct a percentage of your rent, real estate taxes, utilities, phone bills, insurance, and other costs that are properly allocated to the home office. That's a great deal. However, in order to take this write-off, the space must be used exclusively and on a regular basis as your principal place of business. That makes it difficult to claim a guest bedroom or children's playroom as a home office, even if you also use the space to conduct your work. Exclusive use means a specific area of the home is used only for trade or business, not also where the family watches TV at night. Don't be afraid to take the home-office deduction if you're otherwise entitled to it. Risk of audit should not keep you from taking legitimate deductions. If you have it and can prove it, then use it.
5. Business meals, travel and entertainment. Schedule C is a treasure trove of tax deductions for self-employeds. But it's also a gold mine for IRS agents, who know from past experience that self-employeds tend to claim excessive deductions. Most under-reporting of income and overstating of deductions are done by those who are self-employed. And the IRS looks at both higher-grossing sole proprietorships as well as smaller ones.
6. Claiming 100% business use of vehicle. Another area that is ripe for IRS review is use of a business vehicle. When you depreciate a car, you have to list on Form 4562 what percentage of its use during the year was for business. Claiming 100% business use for an automobile on Schedule C is red meat for IRS agents. They know that it's extremely rare that an individual actually uses a vehicle 100% of the time for business, especially if no other vehicle is available for personal use. IRS agents are trained to focus on this issue and will closely scrutinize your records. Make sure you keep very detailed mileage logs and precise calendar entries for the purpose of every road trip. Sloppy recordkeeping makes it easy for the revenue agent to disallow your deduction. As a reminder, even if you use the IRS' standard mileage rate to deduct your business vehicle costs, ensure that you are not also claiming actual expenses for maintenance, insurance and other out-of-pocket costs. The IRS has found filer noncompliance in this area as well and will look for this.
7. Claiming a loss for a hobby activity. Your chances of "winning" the audit lottery increase if you have wage income and file a Schedule C with large losses. And, if your Schedule C loss-generating activity sounds like a hobby -- horse breeding, car racing and such -- the IRS pays even more attention. It's issued guidelines to its agents on how to sniff out those who improperly deduct hobby losses. Large Schedule C losses are audit bait, but reporting losses from activities in which it looks like you might be having a good time is just asking for IRS scrutiny.
8. Cash businesses. Small business owners, especially those in cash-intensive businesses -- taxi drivers, car washes, bars, hair salons, restaurants and the like -- are an easy target for IRS auditors. The agency is well aware that those who primarily receive cash in their business are less likely to accurately report all of their taxable income. The IRS wants to narrow the tax gap, and history has shown that cash-based businesses are a good source of audit adjustments. It has a new guide for agents to use when auditing cash intensive businesses, telling how to interview owners and noting various indicators of unreported income.
9. Failure to report a foreign bank account. The IRS is intensely interested in people with offshore accounts, especially those in tax havens. U.S. tax authorities have had some recent success in trying to get foreign banks (such as UBS in Switzerland) to disclose information on U.S. account holders. Also, the IRS had a voluntary compliance program where people came in and reported their foreign bank accounts and foreign assets in exchange for lesser penalties than they would have otherwise been subject to. The IRS has learned a lot from these probes.
10. Engaging in currency transactions. The IRS gets many reports of cash transactions in excess of $10,000 involving banks, casinos, car dealers and other businesses, plus suspicious activity reports from banks and disclosures of foreign accounts. A recent report by Treasury inspectors concluded that these currency transaction reports are a valuable source of audit leads for sniffing out unreported income. The IRS agreed and it will make greater use of these forms in its audit process. So if you are a person who makes large cash purchases or deposits, be prepared for IRS scrutiny. Also, beware that banks and other institutions file reports on suspicious activities that appear to avoid the currency transaction rules (such as persons depositing $9,500 cash one day and an additional $9,500 cash two days later).
11. Math errors. One of the biggest reasons that people receive a letter from the IRS is because of mathematical mistakes they make on their tax returns. If you make an error in your favor, you are going to hear from the tax man, and there is a greater risk of the IRS pulling the whole return for audit. So take time to ensure all your calculations are correct. Even though math errors may not lead to a full-blown audit, it's always best to remain under the radar of IRS computers.
12. Taking higher-than-average deductions. If deductions on your return are disproportionately large compared to your income, the IRS audit formulas take this into account when selecting returns for examination. Screeners then pull the most questionable returns for review. But if you've got the proper documentation for your deduction, don't be scared to claim it. There's no reason to ever pay the IRS more tax than you actually owe.
While the establishment constantly invokes the contrived terror threat as justification for the announcement that your every activity is being sent to federal fusion centers, those same fusion centers have been busy defining peaceful assembly, non-violent protest and criticism of the government as domestic terrorism. According to the government’s own definition of what constitutes terrorist activity – you are a terrorist.
By encouraging Americans to “report suspicious activity” that includes such behavior, the feds are knowingly on a mission to chill political dissent, by making people afraid to exercise their constitutional rights in the fear that their neighbors will turn them in to the authorities unless they rigidly control their behavior and don’t risk even patently benign activities being misconstrued. The following is a list of behaviors, actions or interests that the federal government, via centralized threat fusion centers that collate such information, considers to be potential signs of terrorism under the MIAC Report.
- Displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties - Supporting Congressman Ron Paul - Supporting former presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin - Supporting former Congressman Bob Barr - Opposing the implementation of a North American Union - Owning gold bullion - Displaying historical U.S. flags - Opposing abortion - Talking about the documentary Zeitgeist
According to an earlier document issued by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the following behaviors, actions or interests are also signs of terrorism.
- Being interested in animal rights - Being a “lone individual” - Making numerous references to the U.S. Constitution - Defending the U.S. Constitution - Claiming driving is a right, not a privilege - Refusing to identify yourself to an authority figure - Attempting to monitor the actions of police - Being bald
Learn more about your rights and the government. Power your Mind!MadOne
Vizio today announced its largest 3D HDTV with Internet apps. The 65-inch set is available at Costco and Sam’s Club, the two major club stores in the country.
The 65-inch XVT3D650SV includes four pairs of 3D glasses, double the number that usually comes with 3-D TV bundles. Better yet, without the need to accommodate bulky batteries, Vizio's 3-D glasses could be mistaken for a pair of Vaurnets. The glasses are lighter, more comfortable and require no charging. Two of the four pairs are designed to be worn over prescription eyeglasses.
Vizio’s polarized 3-D technology has several advantages over Active Shutter technology, according to the company. The LCD LED edge-lit display is up to 50 percent brighter, has one half of the visual crosstalk distortion, handles fast action motion without blurring images, has a wider horizontal viewing angle and has none of the flickering of Active Shutter 3D that may cause eye strain.
Internet app:
Via is the name for Vizio’s integrated Internet apps that can be accessed as long as the TV is connected to the Internet whether with a cable or by wireless router. Current apps from include Amazon Video On Demand, Facebook, Flickr, Netflix, Rhapsody, Pandora, Twitter, VUDU and Yahoo! TV Widgets. Control of all of the TV’s functions is provided with a Bluetooth universal remote with a slide-out QWERTY keypad.
Sound:
This theater-style model should not be without a surround sound system, but if the $3500 price has stretched your budget, this Vizio includes SRS TruSurround HD. The virtual surround sound system consists of two built-in speakers. SRS TruVolume has also been added to automatically maintain consistent volume, eliminating the sudden blare of an ad while watching broadcast TV. TECHNEWS DAILY
Research in Motion has been pretty coy about when the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will actually be available to consumers, but some recent comments in an earnings call give a hint of when we can expect RIM's tablet.
An RIM spokesperson was talking about when the company expected to see revenue from its tablet (indicating when it will go on sale), and said it would be next year.
"There are no PlayBook revenues included in our Q4 guidance, and we expect the first revenue impact from PlayBook will be in RIM's first quarter," she said. Before you jump to the conclusion that this means January, take a second look at that statement. She said Q1 of the company's fiscal year, not calendar year. To confuse matters further, she later stated that the device would ship in the first quarter of the calendar year.
While it's confusing at first, those two pieces of information actually give us a pretty good idea of when the PlayBook will launch. RIM's fiscal year doesn't start until March, which is also the last month of the first calendar quarter. That means that RIM plans to start selling the dual-core PlayBook in March 2011. This isn't an official announcement, and RIM can obviously change the date before then, but it gives us a good idea of the dates RIM is aiming for. TECHNEWS DAILY
Here's another entry into the Android tablet market, although you might not have known this one was coming. Creative just launched the ZiiO Android tablet, which retails for $250. Unlike the majority of Android tablets, the ZiiO uses a ZiiLabs processor, but the rest of the specs are fairly familiar. The display is 7 inches (similar to the Samsung Galaxy Tab) and has a 800 x 400 pixel resolution. Inside is 16GB of storage, WiFi, Bluetooth and front-facing webcam.
The Creative ZiiO runs Android 2.1, which is disappointing because Google is just about to release Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Hopefully Creative plans to help buyers upgrade later.
The most attractive part of the ZiiO is probably the price. At $270, this tablet is pretty cheap compared to other Android tablets. It might not be quite as powerful or feature-filled (no 3G for instance), but it's an alternative for those who don't have $600 to spend on the Galaxy Tab.
Our own sun might represent the best communications device around, if only we could harness its power, scientists say. If the sun's gravity could be used to create a giant telescope, people could send and receive intensely magnified signals that could allow us to call an alien civilization, some researchers propose.
According to Einstein's general relativity, the sun's behemoth mass warps space-time around it, which actually bends light rays passing by like a giant lens. If a detector was placed at the right focal distance to collect the light, the resulting image would be extremely magnified. The only catch is, the nearest focal point is about 550 times the distance between the Earth and the sun. Nonetheless, eventually harnessing this power might enable Earth to view distant objects, communicate with interstellar probes, and even contact aliens, scientists say.
Plus, an even stronger network could be created by placing relay spacecraft near other stars to form "radio bridges" across the great voids between stars that weaken and distort cosmic communiques."If we use the sun as a gravitational lens, then we can keep in touch with our own probes even at considerable interstellar distances," "This is key to exploring the neighborhood of our galaxy in the centuries to come," And alien civilizations might have already discovered this means of long-distance calling, Maccone said. If so, we might be able to intercept their messages.SPACE.COM
Vanessa Hudgens celebrates her 22nd birthday at Social House in Crystals at MGM CityCenter in Las Vegas on Dec. 18, 2010.
Actress, singer and Disney star Vanessa Hudgens celebrated her 22nd birthday yesterday with dinner at Chef Joe Elevado’s Social House in Crystals in MGM CityCenter, then danced the night away at Pure in Caesars Palace.
Contributing photographer Scott Harrison was onsite when Hudgens walked the red carpet at Pure, and Denise Truscello shot the birthday girl at Social House and inside the Caesars Palace hotspot. Hudgens was presented with red velvet cupcakes at Social House and an elaborate birthday cake at Pure nightclub in Ceasers . The High School Musical star recently ended her 2-year relationship with HSM heartthrob co-star Zac Efron. Check back later for the full report from Mr. Vegas DeLuxe Robin Leach.
Instead of the hunky dewy-eyed actor on her arm, it was her girlfriends who attended to ensure that she had a party that wouldn’t be ruined by a romance gone sour. And the former Disney star made certain that when she turned up at Pure in Caesars Palace, she was all smiles and glamour girl gorgeous. Vanessa brought five of her friends for the birthday bash, including actresses and BFFs Ashley Tisdale and Brittany Snow. They kicked off their Saturday night soiree with dinner at Executive Chef Joe Elevado’s Social House in Crystals at MGM CityCenter. The group dined in a private dining room, and photographer Denise Truscello shot the action. They sipped on specialty cucumber cocktails, and, after the main course, Vanessa was presented with her favorite, red velvet cupcakes, for her birthday. Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US environmental group has found that drinking water in 35 American cities contains hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen, The Washington Post reported Sunday. The study by the Environmental Working Group -- the first nationwide analysis measuring the presence of the chemical in US water systems -- is to be made public on Monday, the daily reported.
The group found hexavalent chromium in the tap water of 31 out of 35 cities sampled. Of those, 25 had levels that exceeded the goal proposed in California, which has been trying aggressively to reduce the chemical in its water supply. The federal Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to set a limit for hexavalent chromium in tap water. The agency is reviewing the chemical after the National Institutes of Health, deemed it a "probable carcinogen" in 2008.
Hexavalent chromium has long been known to cause lung cancer when inhaled, and scientists recently found evidence that it causes cancer in laboratory animals when ingested. It has been linked in animals to liver and kidney damage as well as leukemia, stomach cancer and other cancers. A widely used industrial chemical until the early 1990s, hexavalent chromium still used in some industries, such as in chrome plating and the manufacturing of plastics and dyes. The chemical can also leach into groundwater from natural ores. Prison Planet
