The state already applies a 7.25 percent tax to software sold in physical stores, and now Governor Gavin Newsom wants to expand this to web-based software sales as well, Bloomberg reports. The proposed tax wouldn’t apply to streaming services and is expected to raise $2 billion annually.
Journalist Maggie Mertens chats with other writers about their experience leaving Substack — and escaping its tax:
Big tech companies control so much of the infrastructure of our lives, and they maximize that by relying on the fact that we will gravitate toward whatever is easiest and fastest, whatever provides the “better” experience, even if that better but immediate experience is worse for us as a society in the long run.
During its upfront presentation, Netflix offered a glimpse at its upcoming NFL games:
Last year, EchoStar agreed to offload 65Mhz of its spectrum to SpaceX for its direct-to-cell service, while AT&T snapped up 50Mhz of its spectrum to build out its 5G network. Now it’s official, with the FCC noting that SpaceX will be able to use its spectrum for “terrestrial, space-based, and hybrid network architectures.”
As the AI adoption in the legal field ramps up, Anthropic has announced that its AI chatbot can now connect to many of the apps used by lawyers, including DocuSign, Box, Thomson Reuters, Harvey, and more. “Claude reviews contracts, surfaces case law, and drafts across the tools your team already uses,” according to Anthropic.
In a January filing spotted by MacRumors, Apple disclosed its purchase of Color.io — a grading tool used by filmmakers and photographers — and the hiring of its sole developer. Color.io shut down last year after its creator, Jonathan Ochmann, said he’s “been offered an opportunity to work alongside a company whose products have shaped and inspired me.”
