Look out, kids: Windows 8 gives parents a computer-use report card

Microsoft

Windows 8 will let parents opt to receive a report card like this about their kids' computer activity.

Here?s a Windows 8 feature that?s sure to spark lots of conversations around the dinner table.

Gearing up for the ?Release Preview? of?the new operating system?next month, Microsoft this week detailed its plans for Windows 8?s family safety settings. One of the features lets parents receive a weekly email report that summarizes a child?s activities on the computer.?

It?s part of a free cloud-based Family Safety service, letting parents click a link in the email to change settings and restrictions based on what they see.?(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

The feature works in conjunction with the Microsoft account logins (formerly Windows Live ID) that will be used for signing in to Windows 8. Parents will be able to create separate logins for each child and then turn on the Family Safety settings to enable the feature.

Microsoft says it?s part of a new ?monitor first? approach for parents.

?We expect you?ll find activity reports a great tool for teaching your kids about responsible computer use,? writes Phil Sohn of Microsoft?s Family Safety team?in a blog post outlining the new features. ?With the simplicity of activity reports, we believe more parents will adopt Family Safety, resulting in a safer computing environment for children.?

Other new Family Safety features in Windows 8 include more fine-tuned controls for setting time limits on computer use, and the ability to prevent kids from seeing games above their age rating in the new Windows Store app market.

The new features will be included in the Windows 8 Release Preview,?slated to be issued in early June. Microsoft hasn?t yet given a final release date for Windows 8, but the new operating system is widely expected by the end of the year.

More from GeekWire

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Twitter and Facebook.

420 secret service fenway park coachella philadelphia flyers 4/20 student loan forgiveness

Tax Tips: Budget Update 2012

From 1?July 2012, businesses in the building and construction industry need to report the total payments they make to each contractor for building and construction services each year. You need to report these payments to us on the Taxable payments annual report.

? ?To make it easier to complete the annual report you may need to change the way you currently record your contractor information.

As part of the 2011-12 Federal Budget, the government announced the introduction of taxable payments reporting for businesses in the building and construction industry.

The aim of the system is to improve compliance with tax obligations by those contractors who are currently not doing the right thing.

The information reported about payments made to contractors will be used for our data matching to detect contractors who have not:

• ? ??lodged tax returns
• ? ?Included all their income in returns that have been lodged.

From 1 July 2012 you need to report if all of the following apply:

• ?you are a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry
• ? you make payments to contractors for building and construction services
• ??you have an Australian business number (ABN).

You are considered to be a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry if any of the following apply:

• in the current financial year, 50% or more of your business activity ? ? ?relates to building and construction services
• in the current financial year, 50% or more of your business income is derived from providing building and construction services
• in the financial year immediately before the current financial year, 50% or more of your business income was derived from providing building and construction services.

For each contractor, you need to report the following details each financial year:

• ?ABN, if known
• name?
• address
• gross amount you paid for the financial year (this is the total paid ? ? ? ? ?including GST)
• total GST included in the gross amount you paid.

The details you need to report will generally be contained in the invoices you receive from your contractors.

You will need to report payments you make to contractors for building and construction services. Building and construction services include any of the activities listed below if they are performed on, or in relation to, any part of a?building, structure, works, surface or sub-surface: Alteration Improvement Assembly Installation Construction Maintenance Demolition Management of building and construction services Design Modification Destruction Organisation of building and construction services Dismantling Removal Erection Repair Excavation Site preparation Finishing For a list of occupations and work activities that qualify as building and construction services. Contractors who pay other contractors for building and construction services may also be required to report if they are carrying on a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry. A contractor can be an individual, partnership, company or trust. Example 1: Business primarily in the building and construction industry J and L Builders earns all of its income from building commercial properties for its clients. As 50% or more of J and L Builders' income is from providing building and construction services it is primarily in the building and construction industry. J and L Builders will be required to report payments it makes to contractors for providing building and construction services. Example 2: All business activity in building and construction ABC, a property developer, has purchased a block of land in the Melbourne city precinct and intends to build apartments. ABC has created a separate entity, Upmarket Apartments Pty Ltd, to manage the project and construction of the apartments. Upmarket Apartments will be required to report payments it makes to contractors for providing building and construction services because 50% or more of its business activity will relate to building and construction services. Example 3: Not all income from building and construction Scott's Cabinet Makers Pty Ltd is a business that makes and installs custom-made kitchen cabinets, which is a type of activity that is a building and construction service. It also makes and sells ornamental wooden carvings. The table below shows the income Scott's Cabinet Makers earned from its different activities. Financial year Income from? cabinet making carvings Year ended 30 June 2013 45% 55% Year ended 30 June 2014 60% 40% Year ended 30 June 2015 40% 60% As Scott's Cabinet Makers earns 50% or more of its income from building and construction services in the financial year ending 30 June 2014, it will need to report on payments made to contractors in the 2013-14 financial year. Although it will not earn 50% or more of its income from building and construction services in the 2014-15 financial year, it will still need to report payments made to contractors in that year because of its 2013-14 income. Example 4: Retail business providing minor building and construction services Harry's Hardware is a business that sells building equipment to builders and homeowners. For an additional fee Harry's Hardware can arrange for the installation of certain products, such as a skylight. The store will not be required to report payments it makes to contractors who do the installation as its business is not primarily in the building and construction industry, but rather in the retail industry. It does not meet either the activity or income tests of being primarily in the building and construction industry. Example 5: Business with separate entity for building and construction services Harry's Hardware sets up a separate business entity, Harry's Installation Services, to install the products it sells. Harry's Hardware will not have to report on payments made to contractors as it is not carrying on a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry. However, as all of the income for Harry's Installation Services is from the provision of building and construction services (installation of products), it will have to report payments it makes to contractors for such services. Example 6: Mining infrastructure Black Coal establishes a new mining facility that requires the construction of a range of infrastructure. Black Coal contracts Earl's Earthworks to carry out the work. Earl's Earthworks in turn sub-contracts the work. Black Coal will not be required to report payments it makes to Earl's Earthworks because all of its income is from coal mining. Earl's Earthworks, which is carrying on a business primarily in the building and construction industry, will need to report payments it makes to sub-contractors. Example 7: Equipment hire with or without an operator An equipment hire store provides plant and machinery for hire to the building and construction industry, for example, bobcats, scaffolding and tippers (commonly known as 'dry hire'). The store can also provide the equipment with an operator (commonly known as 'wet hire') for an additional fee. The operator is not an employee of the store but a contractor the store engages. The store will not be required to report payments it makes to the operator provided 50% or more of the equipment hire store's income or business activity relates to the 'dry hire' of the equipment, as this is not a building and construction service. A builder who hires a bobcat with a driver will have to report the payment it makes to the equipment hire store for providing a building and construction service. Wet hire is a building and construction service. Example 8: Contractor paying another contractor Rob's Installation Services (principal contractor) contracts Simon (first tier sub-contractor) to install products. Simon is not coping with the amount of work Rob's Installation Services is providing him and sub-contracts some of the work to Bill (second tier sub-contractor). Rob's Installation Services will need to report on the payments it makes to Simon. If Simon is carrying on a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry he will be required to report the payments he makes to Bill. Payments for both labour and materials Where invoices you receive include both labour and materials, you report the whole amount of the payment unless the labour is incidental. Example 9: Incidental supply of services Kevin purchases a stock of new taps from Harry's Hardware to install in a commercial building. Harry installs one tap by way of demonstration so that Kevin knows how to install the rest. Harry's Hardware invoices Kevin for the taps and includes a small amount for the labour to demonstrate the installation. Kevin does not need to report the payment he makes to Harry's Hardware because the labour component of installing the tap is incidental to the supply of the materials. Example 10: More than incidental supply of services An electrical business provides labour and materials for various electrical applications. A builder pays the electrical business for the supply and installation of wiring in a commercial fit out that he is managing. As the provision of the installation service is a building and construction activity and more than incidental to the supply of materials, the builder will be required to report the total payment made to the electrical business. The builder is carrying on a business that is primarily in the building and construction industry. It is important to check the way you keep your records. You should make sure you record all the necessary information so you can easily report the total payments you make to each contractor by the due date each year. We have developed a worksheet that you can download and print to help you record details of payments you make to contractors for their building and construction services. You can use the details you record in the worksheet to help you complete your Taxable payments annual report.

The Taxable payments annual report is due 21?July each year. The first Taxable payments annual report is due 21?July 2013 for payments made in the 2012-13 financial year. In this first year, if you lodge your business activity statements quarterly, you may lodge by 28?July 2013. You can lodge your report online or on paper. If you use commercial software, check with your software provider that you will be able to produce the new annual report. More information about lodging your new annual report online will be available closer to the due date for lodgment of the report. You can find general information about how to lodge online by visiting online services If you intend to lodge a paper form, you must complete and send the ATO Taxable payments annual report to us. You must use this ATO form and you can order it online or by phone. If you have more than nine contractors, you will need to order additional forms. Payments for materials only You are not required to report on payments where the invoices are for materials only, such as building supplies and materials. Unpaid invoices as at 30 June each year Do not report any unpaid invoices as at 30 June each year. For example, if you receive an invoice in June 2012, but you do not pay that invoice until some time in July 2012, you report that payment in the 2012-13 Taxable payments annual report. Pay as you go withholding payments You do not report payments that are required to be reported in a Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding payment summary annual report or a Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding where ABN not quoted annual report - for example, payments to:

• employees
• workers engaged under a voluntary agreement to withhold
• workers engaged under a labour hire or on-hire arrangement
• contractors who do not quote an ABN*.

*Where an ABN is not provided, the payer must withhold under the existing pay as you go withholding arrangements. For ease of reporting, if there are instances of no-ABN withholding, details may be reported in the new Taxable payments annual report instead of the Pay as you go (PAYG) withholding where ABN not quoted annual report.

? ?If a contractor has not provided their ABN, see No ABN withholding - questions and answers.

Payments for private and domestic projects You will not need to report if you are a home owner making payments to contractors for building and construction services, for example if you are building or renovating your own home. Example 11: Home owner paying for building and construction services Kristyn, who has an ABN for the purposes of running a bookkeeping business, manages the construction of her new home and makes payments directly to the contractors. Kristyn will not be required to report payments she makes to contractors as she is undertaking the activity in a domestic capacity and not as a business. Payments within consolidated groups If you are in a consolidated group or multiple entry consolidated group for income tax purposes, you do not need to report payments you make to another member of that same consolidated or multiple entry consolidated group. This is because members of a consolidated group or multiple entry consolidated group are effectively taxed as a single entity. Example 12: Payments within consolidated groups Brick Co and Paint Co are both members of the same consolidated group for income tax purposes. Brick Co provides building services and makes a payment to Paint Co for painting its building project. As Paint Co and Brick Co are in the same consolidated group, Brick Co will not have to report on the payment made to Paint Co for the provision of painting services. It will, however, have to report on payments made to entities outside the consolidated group for the supply of building and construction services. If you are a contractor and you do not pay other contractors, then you do not need to do anything. From 1 July 2012, businesses that are primarily in the building and construction industry that pay you for building and construction services will be required to report these payments to us each year. The information reported will be used for data matching to detect those contractors who may not have included all their income or lodged tax returns.

canon eos rebel t3 christmas photo cards ar 15 costco kmart urban meyer ohio state traffic report

'The Story of Send' tells epic tale of an email's digital journey

14 hrs.

Devin Coldewey

It's always interesting to stop and contemplate how amazing the Internet is sometimes, though most of us stop short of contemplating the actual switches and datacenters that handle all that traffic. For our convenience, Google has put together a nice little interactive animation that shows how an email gets from your outbox to someone else's inbox ? with every wire and server accounted for.

It's an interesting and elaborate HTML5 site, not just a video; you follow the email along its path and hit popups with photos and YouTube videos along the way.

The idea is of course to also highlight the various measures the company takes to save energy and keep your data secure. So in that respect it's as much an?advertisement as it is a documentary, but?that doesn't make it any less fun.?

If you're curious what it actually looks like inside a Google datacenter, or want to file away some trivia (employees get to wear shorts to work, and security measures at data-handling facilities include iris and fingerprint scans), take a few minutes to check out The Story of Send.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

grok cirque du freak eric cantor eric cantor pope joan pope joan paul pierce

Mitt Romney's untraditional grandson (Americablog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

new planet new planet green bay packers stock jeff garcia jeff garcia big east jesse james

Arduino mechs learn RobotC, plot assimilation with Lego Mindstorms

Arduino boards have smoothed the creation of lots of eccentric thingamajigs, but robotics and controllers are still not for the faint of heart. Luckily, RoboMatter is coming to the rescue of would-be roboticists with a public beta version of its C-based RobotC language for Arduino. Joining Lego Mindstorm and other bots, Arduino will get RobotC's straightforward sensor and motor controls, along with a debugger and sample program library, while still keeping its native Wiring language. So, if you want to be a Kickstarter magnate , or just out-weird everyone else, rolling your own droid is now a bit easier.

Arduino mechs learn RobotC, plot assimilation with Lego Mindstorms originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 May 2012 04:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  RobotC  | Email this | Comments

courtney stodden matt cain adastra holocaust remembrance day

Facebook Fleshes Out Privacy Policy To Comply With Data Protection Audits, Will Hold Q&A On Monday

Today Facebook will start sending the first of three billion notices to users about proposed changes to its privacy policy, which were made to comply with a Spring deadline for implementing recommendations from an audit by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. The three biggest changes Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer for Policy Erin Egan told me about when we spoke this morning are several clarifications of existing but sometimes vague policies:

• A clarification regarding Facebook's existing policy that it may use your data to serve you ads outside of Facebook.com while you're on other websites
• A detailed new chart of how Facebook uses cookies to improve Facebook but not track you across the web
• A more detailed explanation of how in some cases Facebook will "retain [your] data as long as necessary to provide you services" whether that's less or more time

Facebook's goal is to make it as easy as possible for users to understand how their data is used, and how that's changing. So?Facebook is also launching the?"Facebook Terms and Policies Hub" to house its 10 policy documents, including a redlined changes version?of today's privacy policy (known as the Data Use Policy), and explanations of those changes. Facebook will hold a live-streamed Q&A about the changes on May 14th. Users will have seven days from now to give feedback on the changes before they're?implemented barring major objections.

canon powershot elph 300 hs christmas lights canon eos rebel t3 christmas photo cards ar 15 costco kmart

Russell Brand's Favorite Things Invade Today's Twitter-Wood

MTV Movie Awards combines 2 of my favorite things. Movies&Awards. If somehow group sex could be involved it'd be the best night of my life. — Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) May 10, 2012 If you've been scouring MTV.com lately, then you already know the great news: Russell Brand is hosting the 2012 MTV Movie Awards! Exciting, [...]

steve johnson norman reedus norman reedus sears office max office max cyber monday deals 2011