Recent Posts

6376

Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 06, 2013, 02:34 PM »

So the current state of affairs with online retailers not charging sales tax is a temporary one at best. And it will be a quick tech fix on most order entry servers once they're required to collect it. So it's not as if it impractical or not doable from an order processing perspective. It's just a sku + zipcode + tax table lookup + calculation loop on their system. No big huhu. This stuff is old hat - and the code has already been written anyway. The computer handles the heavy lifting so it's really just a "set & maintain a tax database" thing.

About the only tricky part will be if somebody in state A buys something - but has it shipped to an address in state B. In most places that wouldn't be taxable under current 'destination-based' sales tax laws. In my state something purchased with the intent of shipping it out of state within 30 days, and actually shipped within that grace period, is usually exempt since we're a destination-based state for sales tax purposes.

-40hz (February 06, 2013, 12:54 PM)

Currently, in most states that I know of, you are charged tax even if you purchase online if you reside in a state that they have a presence in.  That's what Amazon (and Woot) already got slammed for; not charging tax on purchases by TX residents.

The second part is the part that I was referring to as a burden, especially on small business.  When I worked in retail, we only shipped to certain places because of it- we had the tax codes for a few places in the system; others were just out of luck.  To much trouble maintaining that.

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Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 06, 2013, 09:05 AM »

I am also wondering what incentives from the state Amazon had been offered (or suggested) in exchange for their coming to CT? Because I'm positive CT didn't approach them first.

Which makes me wonder if this is an emerging business strategy for Amazon and other big web retailers?

Consider: Amazon is in an ideal position to cut such deals. They can easily approach a state and tell them exactly how much sales tax revenue they're currently losing.

-40hz (February 06, 2013, 08:30 AM)

I don't think that was the case.  I think it was the opposite.  For many years, Amazon has been lobbying and spending money to keep taxes from being levied on out of state purchases.  That's why they shipped from central processing locations.  Then, all of a sudden, they stopped lobbying the federal government to resist changes, as they saw that they were spending a lot of money on this, and certain states have actively created legislation to force the issue, and they're fighting on multiple fronts.  So they shifted plans.

Look at the change in amendment to the agreement with Amazon and VA:

Amendment Language:

2. That the provisions of this act shall be effective on the sooner of September 1, 2013, or the effective date of federal legislation authorizing states to require a seller to collect taxes on sales of goods to in-state purchasers without regard to the location of the seller.  If however, that federal law is enacted prior to August 15, 2013, and the effective date of that legislation is on or prior to January 1, 2014, the provisions of this act shall be effective January 1, 2014.

Emphasis mine.  They're fighting a war on multiple levels.  This allows them to circumvent it, and make gains in the process- they are able to do something that they've been actively avoiding (making smaller distribution centers which cost less to maintain, and allow their distribution network to be able to get product to consumers)

6378

Living Room / Re: In Need of Searchable Database For a Card Shop

« Last post by wraith808 on February 06, 2013, 06:00 AM »

I think I am going to go with wordpress, because I already know how to use it, so I won't have to learn anything new, which will make things so much easier when I go to explain to the shop owner how to use it. Each card will be a blog post. And each blog post will have a category tied to it. (creature, enchantment, artifact, etc.) And then to further make it easier to search for a card, each blog post will also have tags tied to it. (eg. a green elf shaman would have the tags: green,forest,elf,shaman) then to make it look less like a wordpress blog, and more like a card database website, I disabled the pages tab at the top of the theme (there is only one page anyways, the news/anouncments page), and then added to the sidebar the categories widget, and named it card database, so that people can get a list of cards based on card type. (creature, enchantment, etc.)

-nite_monkey (February 05, 2013, 11:53 AM)

If you're going to go with Wordpress, check out ShopperPress.  I used it for a friend's site, and it worked well.  It was a no-brainer for me b/c I got it for $30, but it's good even at $79 which it's on sale for on a regular basis.  I wouldn't pay $199 for it (but that's just me).

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Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 06, 2013, 05:56 AM »

Heh.  Possibly

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General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ? (All about Git, Mercurial-Hg and the like...)

« Last post by wraith808 on February 06, 2013, 05:55 AM »

Not me... but thanks for the heads up!

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Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 05, 2013, 02:38 PM »

^ Nicely stated and put as usual 40! 

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Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 05, 2013, 01:47 PM »

So, as 40 said, it's an excise tax levied on the inhabitants of the state, and borne by those same inhabitants.  Use tax is a bad idea to begin with.  The emphasis should be on removing unenforceable and taxes rather than forcing out of state retailers to collect them IMO.  And this wasn't for this purpose, it was to mollify local retailers.  The out of state retailers don't use the state's facilities, so it's not like it goes towards recompense for any such thing.  They are getting paid for doing nothing basically, and increasing the burden on the out of state commerce, i.e. Amazon has to deal with the use tax for many jurisdictions.  It also sets precedence for putting the same burden on operations that can't really afford to deal with the extra overhead. 

When some of these brick and mortar retailers that subsidize their local business with out of state commerce get hit with the same stick, I think you'll hear a different song being sung.

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Living Room / Re: Yet another reason why I often wish I lived in Massachusettes

« Last post by wraith808 on February 05, 2013, 11:29 AM »

I'd guess that within a few years, that will be the case with all states that have sales taxes, as it should be.

-xtabber (February 05, 2013, 08:51 AM)

Why should it be?  40 put it well- this is basically "an import duty on Amazon purchases with the cost to be born by its own residents."  It's purely to mollify the local retailers.

And really, I think that the retailers screwed themselves with this deal.  They said that Amazon competes on an unfair playing field- and they really will be.  That's why they gave in after so long lobbying against very successfully- they had a long game.  If you can order an item, and get it on the SAME DAY without going out, and be able to choose from a wider variety... yeah.  What will the local retailers cry about then?

And I'm not unsympathetic, working in retail through college for a small gaming shop, then part time for 10+ years after that.  You have to get creative, and give people a reason to buy from you, and most don't want to work for it.

Again, it's the litigator's version of competition, to compete based on blaming your opposition, rather than on your own merits.  It doesn't work, and in many cases, it accelerates your own decline.  As shown by the fact that at least in my case, I'm more pissed at the local business associations now after their 'success'.

6384

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Calibre - e-Book (Personal Library/Document) Management - Mini-Review

« Last post by wraith808 on February 04, 2013, 03:38 PM »

From what I understand from my Nook, the Nook has three separate locations- the area where it stores its own files and the files from its store, the space for sideloaded documents in its internal memory, and the SD card area.  It is possible that the two areas in its internal memory are partitioned or in some other way segregated so that Windows can mount one area, but the other is not visible to the OS as a mountable partition.

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Living Room / Re: Apple trademarks its retail store design

« Last post by wraith808 on February 03, 2013, 05:33 PM »

This is why we need space research.  I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

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Living Room / Re: Super Bowl Commercials

« Last post by wraith808 on February 03, 2013, 03:32 PM »

Thanks!  But really... commercials for commercials is stupid, Iron Man 3 

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Living Room / Re: Mid-range DSLR Camera Recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on February 01, 2013, 01:23 PM »

Good info there CWuestefeld.  I'd say one more reason that Canon and Nikon dominate the conversation- lens compatibility.  This lets you get better deals on the lenses, which as I've found out from my wife's purchases are the big investment.

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Living Room / Re: Mid-range DSLR Camera Recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 07:19 PM »

Actually, it's not so much the body to worry about (though that too).  It's the lenses.  If you drop one of those, you'll be crying.  (Whether from your own loss, or the pain of getting hit from someone else's... well, that's a different story  )

6389

General Software Discussion / Re: MS Office Subscriptions Now

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 05:54 PM »

Against my better judgement, I like the online Office Experience.  Actually a lot better than google docs (but they had the run first with a useable interface with mail- and everything else is following; sorry hotmail), which I surprisingly like too. 

But at the end of the day, I crank up my local Office when I need to get things done.  I just haven't gotten to the point where I'll use cloud services for serious stuff.  So this online and subscription stuff doesn't hit me well.  Especially since on my son's PC, he's still using my version of Office XP(!) which is fine for what he does.

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Living Room / Re: Mid-range DSLR Camera Recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 05:51 PM »

One thing I did notice with these systems- you're getting it for the features and simplicity- not as a cheaper alternative, as Tomos rightly points out above.

6391

DC Gamer Club / Re: Headset recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 02:30 PM »

The only complaint I might have is that they can be slightly hot when you use them for extended periods of time.

-Jibz (January 31, 2013, 01:44 PM)

When/if you get another set, look for open-ear rather than closed ear.  The trade off is that it doesn't isolate you, i.e. you can hear sounds from outside.

6392

Living Room / Re: Mid-range DSLR Camera Recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 10:56 AM »

The Nikon D80 is really good- this from my wife, who is a photographer.  However, what you might want to look into, especially if you tried the 50D already is an interchangeable lens camera.  A good write up on what they are, and why they're a good alternative to DSLRs for non-pros can be found here.  I bought one for myself when I first started (and I'm no where near pro), and my wife was surprised at the quality of the images, and the range of features available.  Another good article on some of the best is at Cnet, though they don't mention the Nikon 1, which is the one I'd recommend.

6393

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a minimalist Desktop Calendar Application..

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 10:15 AM »

That second one looks like exactly what mouser said

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General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ? (All about Git, Mercurial-Hg and the like...)

« Last post by wraith808 on January 31, 2013, 09:27 AM »

I was glad to see there is something like libgit2

-Jibz (January 31, 2013, 01:15 AM)

Ooo, how nice.  Thanks for the link 

-ewemoa (January 31, 2013, 07:16 AM)

Indeed!

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General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for a minimalist Desktop Calendar Application..

« Last post by wraith808 on January 30, 2013, 05:50 PM »

VueMinder

http://www.vueminder.com/

Nice desktop calendar, full view and mini, both with click date to add notes.
A free version and Pro and Ultimate for more features.

-cmpm (January 30, 2013, 05:22 AM)

Another vote for vueminder

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General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ? (All about Git, Mercurial-Hg and the like...)

« Last post by wraith808 on January 30, 2013, 05:48 PM »

Linus Torvalds - he tends to flip people off and call them nasty names and such - and now Evil Inc. is taking his baby and putting it into one of their big, nasty producst? Uh oh!

-f0dder (January 30, 2013, 03:06 PM)

That sounds like a popcorn-worthy event.

6397

General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ? (All about Git, Mercurial-Hg and the like...)

« Last post by wraith808 on January 30, 2013, 02:55 PM »

Interesting to see MS adopt Git as an official first-rate citizen.

And it's going to be interesting to see what "His Screwyouness" has to say about this ;p

-f0dder (January 30, 2013, 02:22 PM)

Who is His Screwyouness?

6398

Tours and Tutorials / Re: DonationCoder: Getting Started

« Last post by wraith808 on January 30, 2013, 01:25 PM »

Nicely done... thanks! 

6399

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Microsoft 5-Game Arcade/Indie Pack

« Last post by wraith808 on January 29, 2013, 04:09 PM »

Thanks!  I know it wasn't really on topic for the thread... but I was just curious, more than wanting to necessarily discuss it.  I've heard GFWL getting a bad rap, but I never understood why

6400

DC Gamer Club / Re: Headset recommendations

« Last post by wraith808 on January 29, 2013, 04:07 PM »

the supplier wouldn't sell them to you, of all people.

-wraith808 (January 29, 2013, 03:36 PM)

me, of all people?

is there something you're trying to tell me?

-Target (January 29, 2013, 03:49 PM)

      

Ok, that was funny, I don't care who you are.