technology

When SiliconCaribe writes about T&T lagging behind on e-services, I have to chuckle. I recall teaching my own father prior to 2005 how to use email - and he used email to try to contact various government entities. It didn't work out so well. After his death in 2005, I tried doing the same and came up with almost exactly the same results: crickets.

I sat across from an attractive female academic not too long ago as she asked me about helping her find a USB mass storage device for her Apple laptop. Trinidad and Tobago, of course, is a small market - and the people who bring down hardware bring what is most likely to sell. And Apple compatibility is really not as big of a draw as the typical Apple user may think. The majority of the market in Trinidad and Tobago uses the PC platform - so when people bring in computing paraphernalia, it's basically for the PC platform.

A few weeks ago, the T&T government decided to award sole rights to distribute coverage of major Carnival 2010 events to its own media house: the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG).  On the face of it, this seemed sensible: award management of the distribution to a trusted partner.  However, though CNMG has been streaming its own programmes on the Internet for over a year at www.ctntworld.com, it proved to be completely unable to handle streaming of T&T Carnival.

Out of the blue, a message on the Trinidad and Tobago Drupal Group caused an impromptu meeting at Haagen Daz, Gulf City, here in Trinidad and Tobago.

Karel (of the Caribbean Public Relations blog) was kind enough to point me at Apple May Face ''iPad' Legal Battle that states, "In July 2009, acting through a proxy, Apple first applied for the iPad trademark in Trinidad & Tobago, gaining it a 'priority date' to use in other international applications."

Two newspaper articles cover the same thing: 

• Blackberry, Facebook Save Child's Life
• Sleeping child rescued from stolen vehicle

While it is unclear why a mother would leave a child in a running vehicle for any length of time, the word did apparently get out through a Blackberry. How Facebook was specifically involved remains unclear.