According to a Tweet by the Honorable Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, Colm Imbert, the Trinidad and Tobago Government will remove all taxes from “laptops computers, notebook computers and tablet computers.” immediately.
Taxes on other equipment like “mobile and digital equipment, cell phones, software and accessories” will be removed after the completion of the Budget Debate, in or around December 2020.
The Trinidad and Tobago Government launches a dedicated #COVID19 website for all official COVID-19 News and Updates at https://www.covid19.gov.tt/
The web site (which looks to be built on WordPress) features all of the COVID19 updates issued by the Ministry of Health as PDF files.
Previously, updates were shared via social media as image files and there was typically a delay before such updates were posted on the Ministry of Health’s website at http://www.health.gov.tt/sitepages/default.aspx?id=292 and then only the last update as a image file.
The new https://www.covid19.gov.tt/ website also supports RSS feeds so persons no longer have to be on social media to keep up to date.
Whatsapp has announced that users can only forward messages to one chat at a time. Previously, messages could only be forwarded to 5 chats at once. The change was announced on Whatsapp’s blog post “Keeping WhatsApp Personal and Private” on April 7 2019.
From the blog post :
“Last year we introduced users to the concept of messages that have been forwarded many times. These messages are labeled with double arrows to indicate they did not originate from a close contact. In effect, these messages are less personal compared to typical messages sent on WhatsApp. We are now introducing a limit so that these messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time…..Is all forwarding bad? Certainly not. However, we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation. We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.
Whatsapp Blog Post “Keeping WhatsApp Personal and Private“
https://blog.whatsapp.com/Keeping-WhatsApp-Personal-and-Private
This change should appear soon. In Trinidad and Tobago, there are many messages being forwarded to Whatsapp chats. And unfortunately, lots of misinformation related to #COVID19.
Via https://www.ohyouprettythings.com/free :
Filmmaker Gary Hustwit is streaming his documentaries free worldwide during the global COVID crisis. Each week we’ll be posting another film here. We hope you enjoy them, and please stay strong.
https://www.ohyouprettythings.com/free
Available at https://www.ohyouprettythings.com/free is “Helvetica” a 2007 documentary (80 minutes) “..about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.”
Its available until March 24 2020
H/T The Loop
Cambridge University Press is making higher education textbooks on its Cambridge Core program free to access online through May 2020 due to Covid-19. You can browse the more than 700 books available at
https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/textbooks
Also from the Cambridge University blog post at https://www.cambridge.org/about-us/covid-19/ :
English Language Teaching, in partnership with colleagues at Cambridge Assessment English, are producing free, online content for teachers and learners. Our World of Better Learning blog is supporting distance learning for those whose schools have been closed. Daily blogs with text, audio and video content focus on different aspects of online teaching and we are making our content accessible to the maximum number of people possible.
Source : https://www.cambridge.org/about-us/covid-19/
There is also a Bighter Thinking Blog at https://www.cambridge.org/gs/education/blog offering tips and advice from teachers who have been affected and guidance for those facing or experiencing school closures. So this also could be a useful resource for educators and parents looking to educate their kids at home during this period.
The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill 2020 was introduced in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament on February 4 2020 in the Senate by the Attorney General Honourable Faris Al-Rawi.
This Bill seeks to amend the Interception of Communications Act which was passed in 2010. The main objectives of the Bill are to:
allow for the interception and recording of communications from prisons and vehicles used to transport prisoners;
authorise officers to apply for a warrant to obtain stored communication and stored data from a telecommunications service provider;
permit officers to disclose the stored communication and the stored data;
establish the procedure for the disclosure of sensitive information; and
allow for intercepted information to be admissible as evidence in any proceedings.
From the Bill Essentials of the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2020
Because The Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is modifying the Interception of Communications Act 2010, the Bill reads about changing/removing words in this particular section of the Act, it is very hard to understand what the final Interception of Communication Act will become if the Bill is passed.
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society has therefore attempted to more clearly identify what the Interception of Communications (Amendment) Bill 2020 introduced in Trinidad and Tobago Parliament in February 2020 will do to the Interception of Communications Act 2010 by creating a Google doc showing the proposed specific changes to the 2010 Interception of Communications Act and what the proposed final Act will look like. The Google doc has comments enabled so that a decision can be taken whether we should attempt to submit a formal comment.
At a ceremony launching the availability of LED lighting and free Wifi at Woodford Square, Port of Spain, Minister of Public Utilities Robert Le Hunte indicated that with the help of TSTT and T&TEC, more “smart spaces” with free, public WiFi and LED lighting will be done in other places such as San Fernando, Chaguanas, Point Fortin and Arima with San Fernando promised before the end of February 2020. Watch the report from TTT Live
The fourth annual Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum (TTIGF) will be held on Friday 31st January 2020 at
Naparima College Auditorium, San Fernando from
9am to 5 pm.
Attendance to the TTIGF is FREE! But you must register to attend, whether you want to be there in person or attend remotely.
The TTIGF is hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group (TTMAG), of which the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society is a member.
With the overall theme of “Ensuring the Internet’s Future”, TTIGF 2020’s agenda features three sessions with selected experts and respected professionals:
TTIGF 2020 will also have an open forum session where all participants (including online) can share comments, questions, solutions and best practices on internet governance locally, regionally and globally.
If you plan to attend (in person or remotely), please register for TTIGF2020 . Registration is FREE. There is no charge to attend TTIGF 2020
