keyword: Payment

how-to find-out-if-you’re-getting-the-third-stimulus-payment

How to find out if you’re getting the third stimulus payment

It’s always nice to anticipate an influx of cash, especially if things have been a bit tight lately. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which was signed into law on March 11th, 2021, includes Economic Impact Payments in the amount of $1,400 or less, depending on your reported income. In fact, as of Wednesday, March 17th, you may have already gotten yours; that was when the first payments began hitting bank accounts.

So if you’ve been using direct deposit to pay your federal taxes (or get your tax refunds), then check your bank account. If you don’t use direct deposit and you qualify for a payment, you should get either a check or a prepaid Economic Impact Payment (EIP) card in the mail.

Haven’t seen anything yet and want to find out your status?

The best way to find out where your payment is (and if one is coming) is via the IRS’s “Get My Payment” tool, which will tell you whether you’re eligible and, if so, when you will see the payment.

If you use the tool and are getting a “Payment Status Not Available” message, then, according to the IRS, this means “either we have not processed your payment yet, we do not have enough information to issue you a payment or you are not eligible for a payment.”

The IRS’s “Get My Payment” tool may help you find out where your stimulus payment is.

How do you know if you’re eligible?

It’s complicated. Whether you get a payment can depend on what your adjusted gross income (AGI) was, based on your 2020 taxes (if you’ve already filed) or your 2019 taxes (if you haven’t). The AGI is basically the amount you earned that year minus such things as contributions to a retirement account, and it can usually be found on line 8b of your 1040 tax form.

If you are an individual and your AGI was below $75,000, you qualify. If your AGI was at least $75,000 but below $80,000, you will get a portion of the $1,400. But if your AGI was $80,000 or higher, you’re completely out of luck.

This changes, of course, if you’re the head of a household (in which case, you get $1,400 if you make below $112,500 and nothing if you make $120,000 or more) or a married couple who files jointly (in which case, you get the $1,400 if the AGI is below $150,000 and nothing if it’s at least $160,000).

There are a variety of calculators available online that can tell you how much you can expect.

Speaking of calculators, your AGI isn’t the only factor being taken into consideration. There are other considerations as well. Among them:

  • Non-citizens don’t get payment
  • If you don’t file taxes, you should be okay — unless you also didn’t file last year and didn’t get a check, in which case, it might be a good idea to file
  • Adult dependents in a household (such as college students or elderly parents) will qualify for payments as well

The IRS has a FAQ that should answer most (if not all) of your questions.

What if you never got your first or second stimulus payments?

If you were eligible for one or both of the first two stimulus payments but never received it, it’s too late now to actually get paid. You will have to apply for a Recovery Rebate Credit on your 2020 taxes. It’s not as good as getting a direct payment, but at least you’ll recover some of what you would have paid in taxes.

google-will-reduce-play-store-cut-to-15-percent-for-a-developer’s-first-$1m-in-annual-revenue

Google will reduce Play Store cut to 15 percent for a developer’s first $1M in annual revenue

Google is reducing its long-standing 30 percent cut, which it takes from each Play Store digital purchase for all Android developers around the world, on the first $1 million they make on the digital storefront each year, starting on July 1st. According to Google, that change means the 99 percent of Android developers that make less than $1 million each year will see a 50 percent reduction in fees.

Google’s news follows Apple’s announcement of a reduced 15 percent fee last year as part of a new small business program, with one critical difference: Apple’s fee reduction only applies to developers that make under $1 million per year. But if an app maker goes over the $1 million threshold at any point in the year, they’ll be booted from Apple’s program and subject to the standard 30 percent rate.

Google’s program is a flat cut to the first $1 million developers make each year. That means whether you’re a student making your first app or a multibillion-dollar company, the first $1 million you make on the Play Store each year will only get charged a 15 percent service fee by Google. Any money you make after that will then be subject to the usual 30 percent cut. A Google spokesperson says the company felt that applying the reduced fees equally to all companies was a fair approach in line with Google’s goals of helping developers of all sizes.

Google has charged a 30 percent cut for any purchases through the Google Play Store since it first launched as the “Android Market” — although originally, the company claimed that “Google does not take a percentage,” with the 30 percent cut going toward “carriers and billing settlement fees.” In its more modern incarnation as the Play Store, Google now puts that 30 percent cut toward its “distribution partner and operating fees.”

The 30 percent fee has been constant for the lifespan of Google’s storefront. The only exception is subscriptions: in 2018, Google (in another similar move to Apple) announced that it would reduce its cut down to 15 percent for subscription products after users had been subscribed for a full year.

The number of developers that make more than $1 million each year — and will end up still being charged the full 30 percent — is proportionally tiny. Google notes that only about 3 percent of Android developers actually charge for either downloading their apps or for digital in-app purchases to begin with, and only 1 percent of those developers make more than the $1 million threshold that would see the 30 percent cut kick in.

The new policy also comes at a critical moment when Google (and Apple’s) app store policies are under intense public scrutiny, kicked off by the removal of Epic Games’ Fortnite from both the App Store and Play Store and the game developer’s subsequent antitrust lawsuits against Apple and Google.

The issue is also coming to a head in legislation, with states like Arizona and North Dakota debating new laws that would force Apple and Google to offer more alternative software distribution methods and payment options on their platforms.

elon-musk-produced-a-techno-track-about-nfts-he’s-selling-as-an-nft

Elon Musk produced a techno track about NFTs he’s selling as an NFT

Elon Musk is getting in on the NFT gold rush by selling a new electronic music track he’s apparently produced as an NFT. Yes, you’ve heard that right — it’s a song about non-fungible tokens, which Musk appears to have minted (or plans to mint) on the blockchain. Musk did not include a link to the NFT, so it’s not clear if it’s already live or if Musk plans to initiate the sale at a later date. It’s also not clear on which platform Musk intends to sell the NFT.

We also don’t know if the song has a name, but we have some clues. The looping video attached to the song Musk posted to Twitter on Monday displays the words “Vanity Trophy” orbiting around a golden orb affixed to the top of a literal trophy reading “HODL,” short for the phase “hold on for dear life.”

The HODL acronym, though it’s believed to have potentially originated as a drunken misspelling of the word “hold,” is both online slang and a kind of rallying cry for the bitcoin community, because it ostensibly encourages crypto enthusiasts not to sell their tokens. It’s worth noting here that Musk is a huge proponent of bitcoin. Tesla invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency last month and plans to accept it as form of payment for its electric vehicles in the future.

At various points in the short video, the words along the trophy shift from “computers” to “never sell” while a female vocalist sings lyrics over top like “NFT for your vanity” and “computers never sleep.” Did I mention that the trophy also has little gold dogs, or “doges” if you will, rotating around it, too?

As for the song itself, well… there’s not a lot to say. It’s loosely a techno song if you want to dig into the genre (with some electro house vibes thrown in), and that’s appropriate considering Musk named himself the “technoking” of Tesla in a real filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this morning.

It’s not very good, though by the standards of Musk’s previous work in the electronic music scene — the certifiable not-quite-a-banger “Don’t Doubt ur Vibe” — I’d say it’s an improvement.

Piper Make Is a Raspberry Pi Pico Drag and Drop Python Editor

(Image credit: Future)

It may not be the first block-based language for the Raspberry Pi Pico, but Piper Make definitely takes the crown of the best looking. Released yesterday, Piper Make is the latest project from Piper Learning, which previously created the Piper Computer Kit. Piper Make comes as a free online service or as part of a monthly subscription service.

IT’S HERE: Piper Make, available now in your browser on Mac, PCs, and @Google Chromebooks! Start inventing with the new @Raspberry_Pi Pico using our drag-and-drop coding platform! 🧑‍💻🥧Try it out at https://t.co/8wHaBMGg0T!#WhatWillYouCreate #STEMeducation #RaspberryPiDay pic.twitter.com/rm0Bi0dN1RMarch 14, 2021

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Piper Make is a browser-based editor and scheme of lessons designed to introduce MicroPython via the Raspberry Pi Pico. The user interface is clearly designed for younger makers, with bright colors and large icons, but underneath all of this is a decent selection of lessons that introduce coding concepts and electronics via challenges and projects.

(Image credit: Future)

We went through the getting started process, first by flashing a custom firmware to our Raspberry Pi Pico and then following the first lesson to get a feel for the workflow. The block interface is extremely easy to use and automatically handles importing the libraries necessary for the blocks on offer.

Certain blocks, such as those found in Sensing, require extra components. For example, the temperature sensor block requires an I2C temperature sensor to be attached. You can purchase these sensors separately, but for a one-off payment of $30, you can purchase a starter kit with a Raspberry Pi Pico and basic components to get you started. The monthly subscription option is $20 and each month a new component is delivered to your door along with new Piper products.  

Despite this being a block-based coding platform, Piper Make is really Python. Via the Python tab on the bottom of the screen, we can switch to a view-only mode and see the project’s code, which is useful for coders transitioning from blocks to text. 

Piper Make is an impressive way to introduce coding, and the monthly subscription model usefully provides curated components and lessons to support your learning.