Year: 2010

Summary of TTCS meetings in 2010

We hold two types of meetings : Pizza Limes and Tech Meetings. A Pizza Lime is the name given to our monthly discussion forum which is usually held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout, Port of Spain on the second Wednesday of the month. The tech meeting is when we have computers on site to demonstrate a particular type of hardware or software.

Saturday January 30 2010 – Automating software deployment on Windows

Dev showed how to automate software
deployment on Windows using http://wpkg.org ; while also allows to keep software on Windows computers on a network up to date without having to visit each machine to tediously to uninstall and install new versions of software or installing new software.

Saturday January 30 2010 – TTCS podcast #20

Talked about the Apple iPad announcement – see https://www.ttcs.tt/podcasts/

Saturday February 27th, 2010

Held at Pizza Hut, La Romain (near Gulf City, San Fernando)

Saturday April 10 2010

This was a 2pm lunch at the Asian Buffet, Trincity Mall to discuss upcoming TTCS activities.

Saturday April 17 2010 – Apple iPad

We had a hands on look at the Apple iPad released by Apple the previous week

Saturday April 24 2010 – Android Mobile Development

Held in conjunction with the University of the West Indies Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Lecture Theatre #3, Floor 2 Block 13, Faculty of Engineering,  University of the West Indies, St. Augustine.

This hands-on workshop guided participants through basic mobile application development using Android. A team at UWI also described their unique experience collaborating with MIT and Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey in the development of Android applications for social and economic returns.

Wednesday May 5 2010

At Pizza Hut, Roxy, we talked about

Tuesday 18th May 2010 – Ruby-web Frameworks

We met at ENCO to discuss a survey of Ruby-based
Web Application Frameworks as presented by Mr. George Mubita, Computer Science Lecturer at the University of Southern Caribbean.

The presentation covered the following areas:

1. Overview of Ruby based web application frameworks:
● Rails
● Merb
● Sinatra
● The Hobo+ Rails
● Rails+Merb

2. The Ruby Language overview

3. Demo of a Hobo web application

4. Putting together a Web 2.0 (Rich Internet Application) with Rails
and Adobe Flex

Sunday 30th May 2010

This was an online meeting to discuss aspects of the
“Draft Implementation plan for Number Portability in Trinidad and
Tobago” document released for public comment by the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

Thursday August 5 2010

Held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout to discuss the upcoming Focus Group Discussion with the Ministry of Public Administration on Trinidad & Tobago ICT Strategy “Fastforward II”

Friday August 20 2010 – developing system to track/monitor disasters in Trinidad & Tobago

At this meeting, we’ll discussed the concept of designing a website using maps of Trinidad and Tobago to track and monitor disasters such as flooding and alert persons accordingly. The idea came from a email on the TTCS discussion mailing list, You can read the entire email thread at
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ttcs/message/27813

Wednesday 25 August 2010 ; developing system to track/monitor disasters in #Trinidad & #Tobago

Followup session from the Friday August 20 meeting where we looked at solutions like https://www.ushahidi.com/

Wednesday September 8 2010

Held at Pizza Hut, Valsayn, we discussed

  • the purchase of Laptop computers for SEA students
  • planning for Software Freedom Day on September 18th 2010.
  • planning for a TTCS November 2010 Tech Day event.

Saturday September 11 2010

preparatory meeting for Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2010 which will be on September 18th 2010. See https://www.ttcs.tt/blog/ttcs-meeting-on-saturday-september-11-2010-fr/ .

Among the work that was done was the creation of TTCS FSWIN CD, via a request from the Free Software Foundation in Europe to assist with their Software Freedom Day events. See TTCS FSWIN CD announcement

Saturday September 18 2010 – Software Freedom Day

The TTCS will be celebrating Software Freedom Day 2010 on September 18th 2010 with a booth display at Trincity Mall, Trincity from 10am to 5pm.

Our booth will showcase various aspects of Free and Open Source Software including :

  • Free and Open Source Software for Windows included on our TTCS OSSWIN DVD (which was the first debut of the TTCS OSSWIN DVD)
  • demoing Ubuntu, a popular linux-based operating system bundled with many applications.
  • Ushahidi crowd-sourcing system to track/monitor incidents/disasters in Trinidad & Tobago

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Held at Pizza Hut, Roxy, we talked about

  • the four ICT related events taking place in Trinidad and Tobago during November 2010
  • planning for a TTCS November 2010 Tech Day event
  • report and feedback of our Software Freedom Day event on September 18 2010 at Trincity Mall.
  • the Ministry of Education’s eConnect & Learn Programme launched with the distribution of SEA laptops to several schools.
  • the recent TATT ICT open forum “Electronic Payments System in Trinidad and Tobago – Legal, Cultural and Technological Challenges”

Sunday November 14 2010

This pizzalime was held at La Cantina, RBTT Compound, Milford Road, Store Bay, Tobago.

November 12-13, 2010 – Diplo IG event, Tobago

Two persons from the TTCS participated in this event

https://www.ttcs.tt/icann/ttcs-attends-internet-governance-workshop-on/

Saturday November 20 2010

Held at ENCO, we discussed

Wednesday December 1 2010

Held at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout. we talked about

  • TTCS Bye laws
  • ISOC Chapter Formation
  • Our attendance at the 39th ICANN meeting in Cartagena, Colombia from December 5-10, 2010.

Thursday December 16 2010

Held at Vie De France, Long Circular Road, Maraval, we talked about

 

 

 

Interception of Communications Act 2010

The Interception of Communications Bill 2010 was laid in the House of Representatives by the Minister of National Security, Senator Brigadier John Sandy.

The Bill seeks to “provide for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed and other related matters.”

From the text of The Interception of Communications Bill 2010 :

This Bill seeks to provide the legal framework within which public or private communications, which are being transmitted by means of a public or private telecommunications network, can be lawfully intercepted. An interception of communication is lawfully done only when it is done pursuant to a warrant issued by a Judge on an application by an authorized officer. Consequently, it is an offence for a person intentionally to intercept a communication being transmitted without an order of the Court. In general, a warrant would be issued only to investigate, prevent or detect a specified offence, and would be valid for an initial period of ninety days, but may be extended by the Court for two further periods, each for ninety days. The Bill also makes provision for an oral application for a warrant in urgent circumstances, subject to certain safeguards. Finally, the Bill provides that the content of a communication or communication data, which is lawfully obtained, is admissible as evidence in any criminal proceedings.

The introduction of the bill follows a statement by the Honourable Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on November 12 2010 in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament House of Representatives of concerning the unregulated interception of communication of several individuals by an agency of the state,as well as the Special Anticrime Unit of Trinidad and Tobago (SAUTT).

The Bill went into Committee Stage in the House of Representatives. The Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago was invited by the Parliamentary Committee for its comments and the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) forwarded some comments on the Bill to the Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago on November 23 2010.

Amendments to the Bill were made in the House of Representatives and the Bill went to the Senate where it also went into Committee Stage and further amendments made.

The Bill was assented to in December 3 2010 and proclaimed by the President in mid December 2010.

On December 7 2010, a Bill titled “Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2010” in the Senate. This Bill seeks to amend Clause 26 in the Interception of Communications Act 2010 to add “, subject to negative resolution of Parliament,” after the word “Order”.

Clause 26 of the Interception of Communications Act would therefore now read

“The Minister may by Order, subject to negative resolution of Parliament, amend any of the Schedules to this Act.”

The Schedules to this Act documents the Application for a Warrant, the Statutory Declaration in support of an application for a warrant, and the form to notify the Minister of National Security.

The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill 2010 was passed in the Senate on the same day (December 7 2010) and was subsequently introducted and passed in the House of Representatives on December 10 2010. It was assented to on the December 20 2010.

TTCS meeting on Thursday Dec 16 2010 from 6-9pm at Vie De France, Maraval

The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS ; http://ttcsweb.org/) will be meeting at Vie De France, Long Circular Road, Maraval on Thursday December 16 2010 from 6pm to 9pm.

At this meeting, we will be talking about:
Anyone interested in computing and the internet are welcome to attend. Cost of dinner can reach up to $100 per person.

See you there! 

—
Kind Regards,

Dev Anand Teelucksingh
Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society at http://ttcsweb.org/ ; http://fb.me/ttcsweb ; http://twitter.com/ttcs

Statement from TTCS on UN CSTD decision on 6 Dec 2010

Dear All,

Please see our statement below. It is crucial to support this statement and we hope you will also sign this petition or get more information regarding this issue and ISOC press release at
 http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?p=2710 and sign the petition


"The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS; http://ttcsweb.org/) is appalled by the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) decision on 6 December 2010 which would establish a Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) comprising only governmental members.

TTCS appeals the UN CSTD to reconsider this decision and instead ensure that this Working Group is appropriately constituted with full and active participation of all stakeholders including governments, private sector and civil society from both developing and developed countries; and involving relevant intergovernmental and international organisations and forums."

Regards
Cintra
Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

#Trinidad #Tobago Software Architect Community meeting Tuesday December 14, 2010

Microsoft Trinidad and Tobago will be hosting the second quarterly meeting  of the Trinidad and Tobago Software Architect Council (TTSAC) on Tuesday December 14, 2010 from 8:30 am – 11:30 am on the 3rd Floor Conference Room, Chamber of Commerce Building, Columbus Circle, Westmoorings.

Agenda :

  • 8:30 am –   9:00 am – Registration
  • 9:00 am –   9:45 am –  Best Practices in the Cloud, Microsoft
  • 9:45 am –  10:00 am – Break
  • 10:00 am –  11:00 am  To the Cloud with Windows Azure, Teleios
  • 11:00 am – 11:30 am   Stepping Forward with TTSAC

For details on how to register for this event, email Saabira Muhammed at v-saabmu [email protected] microsoft.com or via phone: (868) 632-8488

—–
Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society at http://ttcsweb.org/ ; http://fb.me/ttcsweb ; http:/twitter.com/ttcs

"networking local computer users!"

Beginner’s Guide to Domain Names published by #ICANN in cooperation with At-Large community

A domain name can become where other people find you on line, and adds to your online identity. Although domain names are a big part of the Internet, understanding how these names work (and the ins and outs of obtaining them) can be mystifying at first. This highly readable guide, created in cooperation with ICANN’s At-Large community (which the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society is a member of), helps the individual user understand and use domain names.

The beginner's guide is 18 pages and can be downloaded at