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Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

reuters.com

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Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#91

Post by kbenson »

davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

> On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something.

It's not all that different than in the past some regular person assisting the royalty, and being rewarded for it with some money or small title or allowance, such as being able to utilize a natural resource that's controlled by the crown. It's just a consequence of a massive power disparity, and those are natural (I mean even without market power and m oney, we're talking about a single person and an organization of tens or hundreds of thousands or people, which is its own power difference).

> I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

It probably is, but that doesn't mean its all it is. It's not always a zero sum game, and if you can help yourself and help someone else at the same time, should we denigrate that just because it's also self serving? Tempering how much good will we attribute for this action is all well and good, but let's not go too far and negate all of it or come away thinking worse of Apple just because they gain something from this as well.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#92

Post by chillacy »

dv_dt wrote: post #89
davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

Good on Apple. But people are uneasy because it sounds like a old medieval story about a noble family rewarding a random peasant that did one of them a boon. The modern trappings are different, but the story is the same. It's great that the peasant got a fine pair of oxen, but why don't all the peasants in the kingdom have oxen to farm with in the first place. That's not Apple's fault, but it shows how we live in a m…

Is your thought that education in particular should be available to all (i.e. the oxen represent a fundamental good), or that we shouldn't live in a world where some entities have more resources than others?

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#93

Post by chillacy »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #56
davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

As far as companies go, Apple has enough money to basically be a deity. I think more of it should be in the hands of their employees and the American taxpayer.

As a public company that money will go to shareholders through stock buybacks over time. But a lot of americans do own AAPL through their retirement plans so maybe that counts for something.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#94

Post by kbenson »

nodesocket wrote: post #87
gboudrias wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they? I thought they were notorious for not paying taxes?

Despite the rampant reporting by the media about US companies not paying their "fair share" of taxes, as of 2017: "The biggest taxpayer was the most profitable: Apple, which reserved $15.8 billion for income taxes on $59 billion in operating income. Apple reports its effective tax rate as 25.8%" I think it's time to end this falsehood about Apple as I constantly see it posted on HN.

Do you have a source on that? The wording on that is odd, which makes me want to look into it. It may be my mistake, but I don't recall corporate taxes often called "income taxes" and it's odd how its referred to as they "reserved" it, instead of quote what was paid.

It almost sounds like they are referring to taxes withheld from paychecks for employees, which is definitely not the same as what a company pays in corporate taxes in its profit.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#95

Post by KorematsuFred »

davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

Why should it bother you ? We all have given $10 to that homeless beggar we felt pity on. What Apple is doing is at a larger scale. We do charity for personal satisfaction and Apple might do it for PR.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#96

Post by KorematsuFred »

kbenson wrote: post #91
davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

> On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. It's not all that different than in the past some regular person assisting the royalty, and being rewarded for it with some money or small title or allowance, such as being able to utilize a natural resource that's controlled by the crown. It's just a consequence of a massive…

The difference being that apple earns its own money which we have volunteerly given to them for iphones. Royal titles etc. however are from taxpayers money a bit like US aid to other countries or subsidized housing etc.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#97

Post by KorematsuFred »

thisisweirdok wrote: post #56
davesque wrote: post #41

You know, I'm happy on some level for that individual. It seems like a great stroke of fortune. On another level, it bothers me that there are such large institutions that can arbitrarily "bless" random people like a deity or something. I also can't help but look at this cynically as a largely self-interested PR grab by Apple that is not a real sacrifice on their part.

As far as companies go, Apple has enough money to basically be a deity. I think more of it should be in the hands of their employees and the American taxpayer.

I think your money should be in my account ! Well we can fantasize about other people's money.

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#98

Post by gnicholas »

nodesocket wrote: post #87
gboudrias wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they? I thought they were notorious for not paying taxes?

Despite the rampant reporting by the media about US companies not paying their "fair share" of taxes, as of 2017: "The biggest taxpayer was the most profitable: Apple, which reserved $15.8 billion for income taxes on $59 billion in operating income. Apple reports its effective tax rate as 25.8%" I think it's time to end this falsehood about Apple as I constantly see it posted on HN.

If your source is this Forbes article [1], it's referring to Apple's domestic tax rate (this is clear because they compare it to the 35% nominal domestic rate). Their worldwide tax rate is lower. Apple is projecting that its worldwide tax rate will drop to 15% now that the new US tax law has taken effect. [2]

1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2017/04/18/wh...

2: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/05/heres-how-much-app...

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#99

Post by [deleted] »

KorematsuFred wrote: post #97
thisisweirdok wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as companies go, Apple has enough money to basically be a deity. I think more of it should be in the hands of their employees and the American taxpayer.

I think your money should be in my account ! Well we can fantasize about other people's money.

[deleted]

Re: Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug

#100

Post by dv_dt »

chillacy wrote: post #92
dv_dt wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good on Apple. But people are uneasy because it sounds like a old medieval story about a noble family rewarding a random peasant that did one of them a boon. The modern trappings are different, but the story is the same. It's great that the peasant got a fine pair of oxen, but why don't all the peasants in the kingdom have oxen to farm with in the first place. That's not Apple's fault, but it shows how we live in a m…

Is your thought that education in particular should be available to all (i.e. the oxen represent a fundamental good), or that we shouldn't live in a world where some entities have more resources than others?

On that spectrum, my thought is more towards that education should be available to all, but also that the economics we live under doesn't have a process to distribute sufficient goods widely enough such that people have strong practical independence.

It's not that some entities cannot have more than others, it's that we have entire classes where their first order needs (food, shelter, clothing) aren't met despite being willing to work and working, let alone their second order needs (enough margin of profit for emergency funding, healthcare, means to acquire skills initially or skills in different areas, etc), or even third order needs (a broad means to form new ventures addressing what is locally perceived as important). If those areas are met and within a stable system, then I think it's fine that some entities have more wealth - but too much imbalance imho causes systemic instability.

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