Detailed article from AnandTech on computer backups which every one (what do you mean, everyone?) using a computer should be doing.

Read AnandTech | Averting Disaster – A Guide To Computer Backups 2014.

A meeting of Caribbean Commonwealth officials with responsibility for ICT will bring the region’s eGovernance and cybercrime issues squarely into focus. The Caribbean Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Importance of ICTs and their Impact on Regional Development takes place in Port-of-Spain from today to Wednesday.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will deliver the feature address at the opening ceremony for the high-profile three-day regional meeting, which aims to strengthen the region’s capacity for cyber security and online government services delivery. It is being convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat, in partnership with the Ministry of Science and Technology, Organisation of American States (OAS), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Microsoft and the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

The ITU, OAS, CTU and Microsoft are active partners in the Commonwealth Cybercrime Initiative (CCI), an international programme started in 2011 to support member states in the implementation of robust cyber security programmes. The 53 member countries of the Commonwealth share similar legal systems and institutional structures, and have a long history of active collaboration on issues and concerns related to cybercrime and the Internet.

Cybercrime in focus at ICT talks | The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper.

Great video from theguardian.com showcasing some of the best photo apps on your phone. Its amazing what your mobile phone can do in not only capturing photos but adjusting/editing them.

Watch the video at http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2014/may/08/how-to-get-best-photo-apps-smartphone-video

Many of the links to the photo apps mentioned can be found at http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/09/10-best-photography-apps

Via EBay’s Press Release:

eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) said beginning later today it will be asking eBay users to change their passwords because of a cyberattack that compromised a database containing encrypted passwords and other non-financial data. After conducting extensive tests on its networks, the company said it has no evidence of the compromise resulting in unauthorized activity for eBay users, and no evidence of any unauthorized access to financial or credit card information, which is stored separately in encrypted formats. However, changing passwords is a best practice and will help enhance security for eBay users.

Read the rest of the press release:
http://blog.ebay.com/ebay-inc-ask-ebay-users-change-passwords/

Do review and complete the one minute survey about mobile banking adoption in Trinidad and Tobago at

https://docs.google.com/a/ttcsweb.org/forms/d/1GEXoYLG284uA22WP1ArU-jbuIVb1MJ2mEk_J4dCfd_c/viewform

The survey is being done by Adesh Nandram (adesh_nandram at yahoo.com),  a student working on his Masters thesis “Mobile Banking as a Business Strategy: Impact of Mobile Technologies on Customer Behaviour and its Implications for banks in Trinidad and Tobago”

Word Lens, a real time translation app for iOS and Android from QuestVisual, has been acquired by Google. QuestVisual has made the app and the accompanying language packs (which required separate in-app fees) a free download for now.

As Word Lens demo video from its’ launch in 2010 shows,  you point your camera phone to any sign and it translates and displays the translated text in the camera feed in real time without any internet connection.  It is not perfect, but useful to get the jist of signs and restaurant menus.

Download

• Word Lens on iOS
• Word Lens on Google Play Store for Android

Microsoft has a similar free tool called Bing Translator available as a free download for Windows 8.x and Windows Phone.

Download

• Bing Translator for Windows 8.x
• Bing Translator for Windows Phone

Interesting Ars Technica article : A visual tour of the United States’ biggest video arcade which offers unlimited gameplay with over 400 arcade games for $15 US.

This got me thinking of the local Games World arcades with their Green logo in the 1980s and their darkened rooms.

There was one opposite the corner of Globe Cinema in Port of Spain, one in Long Circular Mall, on the ground floor (in the area where the CE Tang Yuk store) and unless I’m mistaken, there was one on the 1st floor in West Mall.

My older brothers were heavily into Defender and later StarGate. I tended to play simpler games like Galaga

Anyone with similiar arcade game memories? 😉

The Education Ministry has announced several initiatives to incorporate ICT in schools.  According to an article in Newsday, dated May 14, 2014:

One of the new ICT initiatives to be implemented will include 100 interactive white boards being placed into schools. As well, the Ministry recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Intel, partnering with Samsung, to have a smart classroom pilot programme in 20 schools. [Education Minister] Gopeesingh said the Ministry is also looking into implementing e-text books to relieve the students of heavy bookbags.

“Why can’t our students be trained from now with ICT? Students have different capabilities across the spectrum. Our students must be academically balanced,” Gopeesingh said.

In an effort to improve ICT skills of students, the Ministry has partnered with the Organisation of American States (OAS) to host the Virtual Educa Caribbean 2014 conference at the Hyatt Regency on May 19 and 20.

This two-day conference is free and open to the public and specifically targets parents, teachers, students and other education stakeholders.

Read the full Newsday article at http://www.newsday.co.tt/politics/0,194736.html

Informative article from MacStories that maps the international availability of entertainment services from Apple, Google, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon and others.

There a minor error about Netflix – Netflix is available in Trinidad and Tobago.

Read the article at
http://www.macstories.net/stories/mapping-the-international-availability-of-entertainment-services/

http://youtu.be/snwH-qN0q8A?t=30s

Incredible, never knew the complexity of the Formula 1 Steering Wheel.  Wired has more details at http://www.wired.com/2014/05/formula-1-steering-wheels/