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Submission + - Anti-Amazon Graffiti Increasing in Seattle (with Photos) (geekwire.com)

reifman writes: If you're eagerly awaiting your city's selection for HQ2, you may want to check out GeekWire's photo gallery of anti-Amazon graffiti images from around Seattle. Animosity towards Amazon has grown in the wake of its threats over a per head tax on employees, which the city council passed and then repealed shortly after. The tax would have increased the budget for services for our 12,000+ homeless. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos also fought the state income tax on the wealthy in 2010.

Submission + - The OpenBook Challenge Launched to Replace Facebook (calacanis.com) 1

reifman writes: 'Can Facebook be replaced?' That's the aim of Jason Calacanis' Open Book Challenge, launched on 4/20. Over the next three months, 20 finalists will compete for seven $100,000 incubator grants. They're goal is to find startups with a sustainable business model e.g. subscriptions, reasonable advertising, cryptocurrency. etc. And they want it to be 'good for society' e.g. Respect and protect consumer’s privacy, respect and protect our democracy from bad actors, respect and protect the truth, by stopping the spread of misinformation, not try and manipulate people by making them addicted to the service, protect freedom of speech, while curbing abuse (not easy!)

Submission + - Amazon Spends $350k on Seattle Mayor's Race (jeffreifman.com)

reifman writes: Until this summer, Amazon had never contributed more than $15k to a city political campaign in Seattle, but this year's different. The company is a lead funder in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce's PAC which dropped $525,000 Monday on Jenny Durkan's PAC, the centrist business candidate. Her opponent Cary Moon is an advocate for affordable housing, which complicates Amazon's growth, and city-owned community broadband. Comcast and Century Link joined Amazon contributing $25k and $82.5k respectively to the Chamber's PAC. Amazon's $350k spend represents .00014 of its CY 2016 net profit.

Submission + - For Seattle women called Alexa, frustrating to share name with Amazon device (seattletimes.com)

reifman writes: Since Amazon introduced the Alexa-enabled Echo device in 2014, the jokes have become so omnipresent that Alexa Philbeck, 29, briefly considered changing, or at least obscuring, her name. The Seattle Times speaks to four women unfortunately called Alexa in a town that may soon be known as Seamazon.

Submission + - Seattle City Council unanimously approves income tax for the rich (geekwire.com)

reifman writes: Amazon, tech employees and those making $250,000 annually will now pay a 2.25 percent income tax. The Council estimates that the tax would bring in an additional $140 million each year. The revenue would go toward the city’s housing affordability agenda and carbon reduction goals and supplant federal funds if they are cut. The revenue is also intended to alleviate the burden of Washington’s property and sales taxes, which are often called the most regressive in the country. Anyone who's seen Amazon's impacts on Seattle and its low and middle income residents will appreciate how this tax will help the homeless, lower income and improve the environment.

Comment Ballmer Tax Dodger in Chief (Score 1) 251

I am also curious about the money the government never sees: Ballmer was tax dodger in chief Microsoft as it kept $120 billion off shore. http://www.seattletimes.com/bu... and https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcrosscut.com%2F2014%2F08%2Fw... I posted this story with more context about his tax dodging and Slashdot declined it.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Internet Dysphoria - if you don't have it, it's likely you know someone who does 5

Yesterday we read about how smartphones are contaminating family life. People are getting to the point where they feel anger or resentment towards the place the internet takes in so many people's lives, including their own. Here I propose both a formal diagnosis and criteria as a first step in helping those so affected.

Submission + - 19-Year-Old Jailbreaks iPhone 7 in 24 Hours (vice.com)

An anonymous reader writes: 19-year-old hacker qwertyoruiop, aka Luca Todesco, jailbroke the new iPhone 7 just 24 hours after he got it, in what's the first known iPhone 7 jailbreak.

Submission + - Amazon Begins Housing Homeless in Seattle (jeffreifman.com)

reifman writes: Amazon announced that it will commit one of its buildings to housing 200 Seattle homeless for the next year allowing a nonprofit organization to oversee the facilities. The former Travelodge motel faces eventual demolition as part of the company’s tremendous growth. With more than 4,505 living on the streets, Seattle's mayor recently declared a homelessness emergency.

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