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We started the week, we enjoyed it immensely Runa Sandvik‘s story of how US police are using digital data to prosecute abortions in our post-Roe-v.-Wade world. The TL; DR is that health care in the US is a weird world and you have to use end-to-end encrypted messaging if you’re going to DM your friends about things that might be illegal. — Christine and Hey
The toptecheasy.com Top 3
Startups and VC
‘I can not explain. It’s weird,” Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell said Amanda. After losing his job at Twitter when Elon Musk took over, the former global head of Social and Editorial didn’t want to rest – he wanted to build. “When I got right out, I just thought, ‘Oh, it’s time. It’s time to build, whether we get support or not.'” to build.
Speaking of alternatives to Twitter, Aisha and Taylor took to the internet to find the best Twitter alternatives worth checking out. In the end, they conclude that there is no one-to-one replacement for Twitter and probably never will be.
Oh, and good news for game nerds after a bunch of really silly missteps: Amanda writes how the 403-page Dungeons & Dragons game system is now licensed under Creative Commons.
And here’s another handful, because we love you:
What do recent state tax changes mean for US SaaS startups?
Image Credits: Daniela Simona Temneanu / EyeEm (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
For SaaS startups, tax time can be puzzling.
Some states classify software-as-a-service products as, er, services, while others classify them as, er, products.
“There is also the issue of just bundling,” said tax accountant Ardy Esmaeili. “SaaS may not be taxed, but it is when coupled with hardware.”
To help founders better understand their liability, Esmaeili shares tips on identifying a company’s physical nexus and lists multiple SaaS categories that states are likely to tax.
“Engage an expert as early as possible,” he writes. “Don’t think you don’t have to worry about it yet, because waiting can have major consequences in the long run.”
Three more from the TC+ team:
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Big Tech Inc.
Manic reports that Manu Jain is the latest Xiaomi executive to leave. This may sting a bit for the company, as Jain was the one who set up and scaled up the smartphone maker’s presence in India.
Okay, now you’re here, you tick all the security boxes, get two-factor authentication set up, and here comes a hacker – albeit one paid by Meta – who finds a bug, causing someone to use two-factor authentication on Facebook and Instagram. I guess it’s a good thing they caught it, but ugh! Lorenzo has more.
And we have five more for you:
