Gadgetory

online shopping might not be tax-free much longer I'm Bridget Carey and this is your see not update soon you could be paying more taxes when you shop online depending if a new internet tax bill is passed the Senate approved a controversial bill that would require businesses to charge customers tax based on the state they live in so an online retailer needs to be able to charge a customer from Texas their tax rate and a customer in Florida a different rate it's something big companies like Amazon and Walmart can handle easier than a small business because businesses could be dealing with more paperwork impossible audits and legal battles from every state that collect sales tax the way it works now if an online shop is based in the state you live in you pay the sales tax but you don't have to if you lived in a different state from the business the bill still needs approval from the house of representatives to pass and President Obama said he supports this change if passed it would impact about 7,500 businesses it's any business that has a total annual sales of at least a million dollars outside of the state they have a physical presence in in other words if you're buying something from a crafter on etsy that crafter won't be forced to deal with States taxes in honor of password day McAfee has posted some tips on creating a secure password yeah I didn't know there was a password day either but let's just roll with it don't use the same password for important accounts make it different for your bank account your email and social network because if your email gets hacked they'll try that password all sorts of sites to see what it unlocks and a password doesn't have to be complex to be strong it should be long like a phrase which might be easier for you to remember the longer the password the longer it takes to hack there's been reports that the next Xbox console will require a constant internet connection but perhaps that's not true a new internal email to the Xbox team which was leaked to the blog ARS technica suggests that the Xbox won't need an internet connection for some basic functions like playing a blu-ray disc watching live TV and playing a single player game and if that emails real it also confirms that the system will play blu-rays and serve as a cable box featured app is one that will release your inner gangsta it's the stupefy app yes as in Snoop Dogg or snoop lion as he goes by now it's a photo app that lets you to dress up a picture with added cartoon drawings of snoop approved things like gold chains big chicken hats grape soda and wads of cash it's free for android and iphone but you can pay a buck for extra sticker packs say if you want some Rasta inspired stickers expect more apps to jump into this trend of making money off silly stickers Snoop is ahead of the pack on this for shizzle that's your tech news update you can find more details at cnet com / update from our studios in New York I'm Bridget Carey