CultCast #247 - Kahney’s Shady Banana Tree Holdings INC

The CultCast - A podcast by America's favorite Apple Podcast - Fridays

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Technology

This week: what new hardware will Apple bestow upon us at the iPhone 7 event next week?  Don’t miss our predictions!  Plus: new video shows iPhone 7 Plus in the wild;  and we explain Apple’s Irish tax woes, then argue about it.
 
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We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com a  thanks for the great music you hear on today's show.
 
On the show this week
 
What do you think we’ll see at Apple’s iPhone 7 event?  Join us on Reddit!
 
Intro, who needs a desk?
 
Apple sends out invites for iPhone 7 event on September 7
  • Apple just sent out press invitation to a special event to be held September 7 at 10 a.m. Pacific. The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are expected to be unveiled at the event.
  • A dual-lens camera on the iPhone 7 Plus could be the most groundbreaking new feature added this year. Other additions are likely to include a new pressure-sensitive Touch ID button, a faster A10 processor, an improved camera on the iPhone 7 Plus, and a new casing with fewer antenna lines. The iPhone 7 will also boast faster LTE, a bigger battery and more.
 
Apple will package Lightning EarPods and adapter with iPhone 7
  • A new image circulating online, purporting to be insert documentation for the upcoming iPhone 7, appears to confirm that Apple will be bundling Lightning EarPods as part of its next-gen handsets.
 
New video shows working iPhone 7 Plus in the wild
  • Notorious Apple leaker Sonny Dickson posted a short video of the three plus-size iPhones this morning, confirming many of the rumors that have claimed this year’s update won’t contain any huge design changes.
  • The back of the iPhone 7 Plus in Dickson’s video reveals that the device will indeed come with a highly anticipated dual-lens camera, though it won’t pick up a Smart Connector
 
Tim Cook: Apple’s tax bill will have a ‘harmful’ effect on investment in EU
  • Tim Cook has written an open letter addressing Apple’s enormous tax bill
  • The European Union recently ruled that Apple owes  €13 billion ($14.52 billion) in back taxes
  • Cook also states that suggestions Apple has an illegal sweetheart deal in Ireland, “has no basis in fact or in law,” confirms Apple will appeal the European Commission’s ruling
  • The Irish government has said it is happy with its tax arrangement with Apple and doesn’t want the money.
  • Ireland’s finance ministry has sided with Apple, and said it “disagrees profoundly” with the decision.
  • The European Commission's issue is really not with Apple but with Ireland.
  • The commission is not a tax authority; instead, its job is to maintain fairness between the EU member states.
  • Countries are able to set their own tax rates, but country can’t offer something special that's seen as benefiting an individual company.
  • In 1991,  Ireland (who’s economy was struggling) signed off on a plan in which Apple would move money to a stateless "head office”.
  • "Apple entered into a deal with Ireland to not pay tax on all those profits,” and Apple paid "an arbitrarily small amount to Ireland in return for a promise to keep jobs in Ireland.” (The kept 6000 there.)
  • Low corporate tax was one way Ireland improved its economy and attracted big companies, and Apple was one of the early companies to benefit.