WebProNews

California Bill Seeks To Tax Downloads

California Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-City of Industry) wants to impose a sales tax on music and movies downloaded from the Internet in order to ease the states budget shortfall.Calderon's proposal would raise the cost of an iTunes download from 99 cents to $1.07. He believes the Board of Equalization should update a 75-year-old law that authorizes sales-tax collections on tangible personal property. Music and movies downloaded off the Internet are not considered tangible goods.

California May Rebel Against Real ID

California has informed the Department of Homeland Security that although it has applied for an extension on the Real ID deadline it may not be committed to complying with Real ID rules by 2010.

Building Your Own Local Search Engine

Quite a few bloggers out there have clued-in to how using Eurekster’s Swickis on their blogs can be a cool feature enhancement, providing custom thematic search engines for their users.

California Earthquake Prompts Twitter Reaction

At any given moment, people on Twitter are likely to tell you that they’re hungry, sore, or tired.  But last night, people used Twitter to report something that was literally of earth-shaking importance: an earthquake near San Jose.

Google Used To Track California Fires

Google’s products and services can’t don fire gear or grab a water hose.  But people are still using them in ways that will hopefully reduce the impact of the California fires.

Silicon Valley Now Safe From RFID Implants

Thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the citizens of California are now safe from mandatory RFID implants.  And their government is now lacking time, money, and ink it could have used to deal with other issues.

Microsoft: Google Drives Sissy Cars

While Chevrolet appears to be the official automaker of choice for both Google and Microsoft as they embark on their respective nationwide catch-humans-in-the-act photo scavenger hunts, Microsoft isn't shy about letting Google know it's bigger and badder.

Google Fills California Tax Coffers

All of that insider selling by Google insiders like Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin helped boost the state's take in personal income tax. Tax collectors in California must have been shouting the state's motto when counting up the receipts in April.

Microsoft Settling California Antitrust Suits

The technology company will make $70 million in vouchers available to several municipal governments in California that complained of being overcharged by Microsoft.

Microsoft Patent Woes Forcing Office Upgrade

Corporate users of Microsoft's productivity suites Office XP and Office 2003 will have to upgrade their software, in the wake of Microsoft's court loss in a patent suit.