GeekSugar

Cell Phones Become More Affordable For Cubans

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 02:00:58 -0800

In a country where the average income is only $20 a month and personal computers cost around $800, access to technology for Cubans is something that's often restricted to the rich. Recently, Cuba's government owned telephone service provider Etecsa, decreased the cost of cell phone activation from $120 to about $65, almost a 50 percent decrease.

At present, in order for Cuban residents to make phone calls from their mobile phones, they must purchase phone cards and pay 30 cents a minute for local calls and $2.70 a minute for calls made to the US. Although these costs are still quite expensive, the price drop for cell phone activation has helped to make mobile access and use for residents a reality.

Source

Daily Tech: Cuba Sells Computers to the Public For $800

GeekSugar — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:00:31 -0700

Cuban citizens were recently granted access to cell phones and now they can purchase personal computers for $800, which is still a lot of money since the average income in Cuba is only $20 per month. - Switched
T-Mobile has finally rolled out their 3G network in New York City and plans to continue expanding the wireless network across major metropolitan markets throughout the year. - Engadget
Providing some purchasing incentive, Wal-Mart will offer a $10 online gift card for those who preorder a Wii Fit before May 11. - Gizmodo
The slick Slidekick LX will soon be supporting video playback and capture capabilities. - CrunchGear
The iPhone is set to launch a neat plan for those who are hearing impaired called the Text Accessibility Plan (TAP). - Popgadget

Website Glitch Costs Travelocity.com $182,750

GeekSugar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 03:00:58 -0700

Following unnoticed "technical failures" on travelocity.com, which unintentionally enabled Americans to book trips to Cuba, the company was required to pay $182,750 to settle a complaint brought by the U.S Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. As a result of the transactions, the fine was set for booking trips between the U.S. and Cuba in violation of a 45-year-old embargo. Travel service providers are suppose to obtain an OFAC license to approve trips to and from Cuba for trips relating to academic, religious and journalistic activities to humanitarian projects and visits to immediate family. After all this, Travelocity still refuses to apply for an OFAC license. via The Raw FeedImage Source

Google Maps Adds 54 More Countries

GeekSugar — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:00:13 -0700

Google is taking over the world-literally. Google maps has recently added 54 more countries to its database.

New countries include Afghanistan, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei Darussalam, Bhutan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Timor-Leste, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Yemen. That's a mouth-full and that's also double the coverage of Latin America countries and three times the amount of countries in Asia.

via mashable