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/

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/

GigaOM:

“In an unusual decision, an appeals court in Washington ruled on Friday that Oracle can copyright application programming interfaces (APIs) for the Java programming language. The ruling is a defeat for Google, which uses the APIs for its Android software, but also has implications for the technology industry as a whole, where APIs — which let computer programs speak to each other — are considered to be a basic building tool and outside the scope of copyright.

In a unanimous three-judge ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that a district judge in California erred in 2012 by declaring that the APIs were simply a function or an idea, and not an expression subject to copyright protection.”

Read the rest of the article at
http://gigaom.com/2014/05/09/tech-world-stunned-as-court-rules-oracle-can-own-apis-google-loses-copyright-appeal/

bit.ly,  a popular link shortening service has reported that their account credentials may have been compromised.  If you use bit.ly, read the blog post for more details.

bitly blog — Urgent Security Update Regarding Your Bitly Account.

Vic Gundotra, the father of Google+, today announced that he is leaving Google after eight years with the company. It’s unclear where he is going next or who will take over his position at Google. In his announcement, Gundotra says he is “looking forward to the journey yet to come.”

via Vic Gundotra, The Father Of Google+, Is Leaving Google After 8 Years | TechCrunch.

The Trinidad and Tobago Cybercrime Bill 2014 was introduced in the House of Representatives in March 2014 to provide for the creation of offences related to cybercrime and for other related matters in Trinidad and Tobago including

• child pornography
• using a computer system to set up a meeting with a child for the purpose of abusing the child.
• the offence of violating a person’s  privacy by capturing and sharing pictures or videos of a person’s private area without his consent.
• the offence of harassment through the use of electronic means with the intent to cause emotional distress.
• criminalising the act of sending multiple electronic mail messages that are unsolicited and which causes harm to a person or damage to a computer.

The Bill can be viewed at http://www.ttparliament.org/legislations/b2014h05g.pdf