Apple Users Angry at Google

Apple's browser, Safari, is one of the most used web browsers in the world - it's in a close competition with Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. Millions of people from around the world use the Internet daily, whether it's for checking the latest news or shopping online; but everyone wants some privacy, don't they? Recently, a group of Safari users have claimed that Google has dodged Safari's privacy settings and installed cookies, which track their movements on the Internet. The cookies enable Google to place appropriate adverts on webpages by looking at which websites an individual has been visiting. This has caused the Safari users to launch a campaign against Google over privacy terms, and one person has gone as far as beginning legal proceedings against the worlds most used search engine.

Google has committed this 'crime' before. In 2012 the US Federal Trade Commission fined them $22.5m for the exact same actions as this time, which of course don't please the public. It looks like the firm haven't learned from their previous mistakes. Google's chairman, Jon Leibowitz, stated that all companies must "keep their privacy promises to customers." Yet THEY breached Safari's privacy terms, making many customers unhappy. If the firm are doing this to Apple's browser, then all the others, like Firefox, must be at risk from this too. Apple might once again send Google to court themselves over this incident, in a battle to prove that Google had not been following Safari's privacy terms, therefore angering the majority of iDevice users. From where things stand at the moment, Google want to prove to the world that they are innocent over this scandal and have only been trying to provide their users with appropriate advertising. However, as everyone knows from past incidents like this, it's better to not get on the wrong side of Apple, as you might find yourself wishing you have never angered the world's leading technology firm.

Apple Maps Are Dangerous

There have been many controversies following the release of Apple's Maps, piles of complaints have been made by the public and improvements are yet to be seen. Recently a couple of drivers were supposedly 'guided' to Mildura, in Australia, but ended up 70km away from the actual location; and were left without any food or water for 24 hours. Police have described the piece of software as 'life-threatening' due to the fact that the maps are so inaccurate.
Tim Cook, the chief executive, admitted that they have "screwed up" and promised that the maps app will be seeing an update in the near future. 
A senior sergeant, Sharon Darcy, who works for Victoria Police stated "Tests on the mapping system by police confirm the mapping system lists Mildura in the middle of the Murray Sunset National Park, approximately 45 miles away from the actual location of Mildura." The temperatures in the park can reach 46 degrees in the height of summer, therefore police are extremely concerned about the public's welfare because there is no water supply close by. Travelers have been advised to use a different mapping software for the time being, otherwise there could be some serious incidents involving Apple Maps.

Many people want Apple to Bring Google Maps back to iOS so they can be sure they're not heading in the wrong direction. The tech giants need to publish an update before the start of 2013, or many customers may loose interest. Be sure to use Apple Maps with care, or you might end up driving to the North Pole.

Apple May Refuse Google Maps On iOS

Since Apple released iOS 6, piles of complaints have been made about the firm's own maps app. We are still waiting for an improvement. A new report cliams that Apple may refuse Google's upcoming Maps app for iOS, simply because the tech giant produced it's own.  As well as maps, Apple erased YouTube from the software, but allowed it to be downloaded from the App Store. Many people think that because Apple haven't made their own competitor for Google's YouTube, they agreed for it to be available to download.

If Apple don't allow Google Maps to be available on the App Store, they have to bring their maps app to the 21st century; otherwise people won't be too happy. With black and white images, shaky roads, not enough details and poor navigation; Apple need to step it up a gear and bring everything under control or they will come hurtling down to Earth.

Apple Avoiding High Tax Rates

Last year Apple paid a respectable 2.5% corporation tax outside of the United States, on it's profits. Since then, that figure has dropped to just 2% this year.Some people may say that this can be classed as tax avoidance, as the tech giants only paid £445m on foreign pre-tax profits of £23bn; this is a rate of 1.9%. However, nothing suggests that this scheme is illegal.

Apple is now one of the companies which pay low tax rates overseas, Facebook, Google and Starbucks have been part of this for a while now. This 'tax avoidance' is leveled out by the UK, no surprise there. Every firm pays large amounts of tax and raise big amounts of VAT, in the United Kingdom. Seeing as Apple leads most of it's business through Europe they end up paying a lot of that. The Caribbean Islands provide some sort of tax haven for many multinational companies, who manage to pay way under the corporation tax rates by using these tax havens. Nobody expected Apple to be avoiding tax rates in some way; to get loads of profit each year so there's nothing to worry about. In your interest, their total profits for the year went up by an astonishing 24%.

Happy Birthday Google!

14 years have now past since the internet's most popular search engine was first created. The technology giant has now gone onto bigger things, but the Google search page has remained largely the same since 1998, with few aesthetic changes over the years. A 'Google Doodle' has been used to signify the occasion. This comes only a day after the Google Play store achieved it's milestone 25 billion downloads.

Google was founded by two university students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The website was initially a university project named 'BackRub', the name 'Google' is a misspelling of googol (1 with 100 zeros). This was at a time when the web was relatively new and basic. Google search has now surpassed over 1 billion unique visitors in a single month. The company is also known for Android, the world's most popular mobile OS, Chrome, It's in-house browser, and a variety of other successful websites such as YouTube, Gmail and Blogger.

You can view the animated birthday cake doodle on the Google homepage for a limited time only. Otherwise, there's always next year...

The Google 'Doodle'