Time May Be Running Out on Backdoor Roth IRAs | Small Business Trends

January 28, 2022January 27, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The passing of President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) legislation could mean the scrapping of a loophole referred to as the backdoor Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA). The Roth IRA unlike traditional IRAs is funded with after-tax dollars making contributions not tax-deductible. But once account holders start withdrawing funds, the money is tax-free. It gives them an edge over traditional IRA deposits which are generally made with pretax dollars and income tax is charged when money is withdrawn from the account during retirement

Critics of the backdoor Roth say that it allows individuals a loophole to get around the income limits that normally prevent high earners from owning Roths.

Amazon’s Alexa returns after morning snooze | BBC News

January 26, 2022January 25, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Users of Amazon’s Alexa complained that the voice assistant was not working on Friday morning.

According to the website Down Detector, the problem appeared to affect the UK and parts of Europe and lasted about an hour.

Some users posted on social media that they had been unable to get Alexa to respond or help with their morning routine.

How a Day of Apple-Picking Led to a $2 Billion Startup on a Mission to Feed the Hungry | Inc.com

January 25, 2022January 24, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Abhi Ramesh had expected to return with only fresh fruit the first time he went apple-picking with his future wife in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. But he also brought home a business idea.

“There were apples all over the ground,” says Ramesh, a serial entrepreneur who had earlier founded a coding school and an e-commerce startup. “I saw just firsthand how much food goes to waste at the farm level. I was shocked at the time.”

Google gets hit with a new lawsuit over ‘deceptive’ location tracking | TechCrunch

January 25, 2022January 24, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Washington DC, Texas, Washington state and Indiana announced the latest lawsuit against Big Tech Monday, alleging that Google deceived users by collecting their location data even when they believed that kind of tracking was disabled.

“Google falsely led consumers to believe that changing their account and device settings would allow customers to protect their privacy and control what personal data the company could access,” DC Attorney General Karl Racine said. “The truth is that contrary to Google’s representations it continues to systematically surveil customers and profit from customer data.”

A film station may be launching in space by 2024 | Mashable

January 21, 2022January 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Space may soon house a full-fledged TV and film studio, thanks to Space Entertainment Enterprise (S.E.E.).

According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the company that is co-producing Tom Cruise’s upcoming space movie (which is set to be filmed in space), is intending to launch the studio by 2024, in addition to a streaming studio and sports arena.

The microgravity production broadcast module, named SEE-1, will be fitted to the Axiom Station, a commercial space station being made by Axiom Space and that will be attached to the International Space station prior to orbit.

Amazon bets you’re tired of just buying clothes off Amazon | CNN

January 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon has a new venture outside of e-commerce, cloud computing, content streaming, smart devices, Whole Foods, cashier-less technology or anything else you’ve come to associate with one of the most successful companies in American history.

It’s a physical clothing store. Like, you know, a real brick-and-mortar space where you go try on stuff, buy it and then bring it home. An IRL store. Google it if you’ve never been to one.

Starbucks scraps vaccine requirement following Supreme Court decision | CNN

January 20, 2022January 20, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Starbucks is no longer requiring employees to get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, following the US Supreme Court’s rejection last week of President Joe Biden’s vaccine and testing requirement for large businesses.

In a letter published on January 4, the coffee company recommended that its workers get vaccinated by February 9, in accordance with guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Those who remained unvaccinated past that deadline would have had to submit to weekly testing, according to that early January note.

Hourly Wages at Small Businesses Hit Record Level in December | Small Business Trends

January 14, 2022January 13, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As 2021 drew to a close, the average hourly wage at small businesses locked in at $30, according to the Paychex IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch.

The December data shows hourly earnings growth improving to 4.27%, which is the highest level since Paychex began reporting 10 years ago.

Hiring at small businesses also closed 2021 on an optimistic stat, improving 7.31% from the prior year, according to the same report.

Hourly Wages at Small Businesses Hit Record Level in December

Paychex CEO Martin Mucci summed the stats.

“Employers are responding to the pressure of the tight labor market by raising wages, and workers are benefitting,” Mucci said.

iPhone 14 Pro design leak shows bizarre hole and pill cutout | Digital Trends

January 13, 2022January 12, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Is that a circular hole punch? Or a pill-shaped cutout? Wait, it’s both. As per a fresh leak, the iPhone 14 Pro and its Max sibling will ditch the notch in favor of a weird arrangement that includes both a circular and a pill-shaped cutout arranged neatly in a line. Whether it looks appealing is debatable, but it definitely hasn’t been attempted before by a smartphone maker.

Display supply chain expert Ross Young, who has a fairly accurate track record with display-related Apple predictions, tweeted what appears to be an engineering template for an iPhone 14 Pro model. There are two separate cutouts, a design that we are yet to see on a phone so far. Samsung offers a bucket load of phones with a single circular cutout, Motorola has a phone with two separate camera dots, and Huawei has been loyal to the pill-shaped design for the past few years. But never have the two elements been blended together like this.

Three ethical issues around pig heart transplants | BBC News

January 12, 2022January 11, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A US man has become the world’s first person to get a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig.

57-year-old David Bennett, who doctors say was too ill to qualify for a human heart, is doing well three days after the experimental seven-hour treatment.

The surgery is being hailed by many as a medical breakthrough that could shorten transplant waiting times and change the lives of patients around the world. But some are questioning if the procedure can be ethically justified.

They have pointed to potential moral trouble spots over patient safety, animal rights and religious concerns.

So how controversial are transplants from pigs?