Perhaps old news to Digicel owners in Trinidad and Tobago, but you can send text messages to Digicel phones via the Internet. TSTT has yet to re-enable sending text messages to TSTT phones over the internet, since 2005.
Category: blog
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Sesame Street video clips
Yay! You can now watch video clips from past Sesame Street episodes! All the videos are tagged so you can search for videos but the site doesn’t provide a way to link to specific Sesame Street clips.
Some search term hints :
- “Kermit”
- “Monsterpiece”
- “Sherlock Hemlock”
Look at Wikipedia’s List of Sesame Street Characters for more ideas.
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updates to software on the TTCS OSSWIN CD since v1.84
Did several updates to the TTCS OSSWIN CD that will be available for this Saturday’s meeting. Here’s a list of the updated software since v1.84 was released December 29th, 2007 :
- Sumatra PDF 0.8 slim, portable, open-source PDF viewer for Windows.
- ConvertAll 0.4.1 Unit Conversion program
- Wikidpad 1.8rc12 Wiki-like notebook for storing anything you can think of to write down
- Stellarium 0.9.1 Map the night sky on your computer
- Sokoban YASC 1.423 Yet Another Sokoban Clone – for Windows
- Scorched3D 41.3 turn based artillery game based on the classic DOS game Scorched Earth. Supports LAN and internet play
- GIMP 2.4.3 bitmap editor suitable for photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
- Paint.NET 3.22 image and photo editing tool for Windows XP and greater
- FileZilla 3.0.5.2 fast FTP and SFTP client
- Halite 0.3 download files via BitTorrent, a client file-sharing protocol created to overcome the obstacles of transferring large files over the Internet
- ClamWin Free AntiVirus 0.92 ClamWin is a Free Antivirus for Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista.
- KeePass 1.10 KeePass is an open-source password safe
However, due to the increased file sizes of the updates, three programs were removed from the CD :
- Jools 0.20 puzzle game similiar to Bejeweled
- wxMusik 0.4.2.2 An open-source, cross-platform multimedia player and library.
- Rainmeter 0.14 customisable performance meter and other applets for the desktop
Been working on a DVD version of TTCS OSSWIN, but too much activities occupying my time now.
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Cell phone text, voice messages submitted as evidence in Trinidad and Tobago Court for first time
Text messages, pictures and voice mail stored on a cell phone was submitted as evidence in a Trinidad and Tobago court for the first time on Wednesday January 16th, 2008.
The court case is against a man accused of murder in a preliminary inquiry being held at the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court. The victim’s girlfriend Nokia’s cell phone contained the voice messages from the accused. According to the Newsday article :
Three voice messages, left on the Nokia phone of the victim’s girlfriend by the accused, were extracted by police from the phone’s SIM card using a special software called Pure Voice.
The messages were tendered into evidence in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court as audio files saved on a CD-ROM. Also on the CD-ROM were seven digital photographs, as well as a special forensics report of the phone compiled using Cell DEK software.
The phone had initially been examined by PC Daniel Hernandez, of the Analysis Unit of the Homicide Bureau and yesterday he told the court how he used special software to extract the three messages and then saved them on a CD-ROM.
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Yesterday also marked another first, with the court being shown 30 text messages from the phone of Ash, which was also extracted from her Nokia bmobile phone using special software.Found a link for Logicube CellDek which I believe was used for the forensics report for the cell phone ; although a link to Pure Voice which I believe is from Qualcomm is hard to find.
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The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2008
The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2008 was introduced in the Trinidad and Tobago Senate on January 15, 2008.
The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2008 can be downloaded from the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament’s website :
- Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2008 (PDF ; 42K ; 17 pages)
According to the introduction :
The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2007 seeks to amend the Copyright Act, 1997 (Act No. 8 of
1997) (hereinafter called “the Act”) to facilitate Trinidad and Tobago’s accession to the World
Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (hereinafter called “the WCT”) and to the
World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (hereinafter called
“the WPPT”) and to strengthen the enforcement provisions of the Act.(Update : 17 Jan 2008 – Here is a link to the Trinidad and Tobago Copyright Act, 1997)
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TTCS pizzalime on Wednesday January 9th, 2008
The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society will be having a pizzalime on Wednesday January 9th, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm at Pizza Hut, Roxy Roundabout.
Come join us as we eat and chat about various computing related topics including TTCS planning for 2008. Hardware from the past two meetings should make an appearance.
Contribution of $30 towards refreshments is expected. Copies of the TTCS OSSWIN CD are available for $40TT.
See you there!
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T&TEC plans to deploy broadband over power lines
More details about the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) planning to become a broadband internet provider in an article in Thursday January 3rd, 2008 Newsday newspaper :
…Carol Balkaran, Tariff Analyst at the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) said TTEC plans to deploy the service utilising a Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Technology Platform which also has regulatory implications for RIC [Regulated Industries Commission] and TATT [Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago].
“BPL is a technology that offers exciting possibilities for TTEC. It can provide a host of internal benefits that can improve the performance of the service provider. If the service is to be offered commercially then it can possibly enhance the competitiveness of the broadband market in Trinidad and Tobago, “ Balkaran said.
BPL, also called Power Line Communications or PLC combines the technological principles of radio, wireless networking, and modems to send data over power lines at speeds equivalent to those of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable.
The Federal Communica-tions Commission (FCC) of the US defines two types of BPL. Access BPL deliver high speed Internet and other broadband services over utilities medium voltage (1000-40000 volts) power lines to homes and businesses and In-house BPL which facilitates the implementation of home networks.
In terms of regulatory implications, Balkaran identified three issues that are likely to be of major concern in Trinidad and Tobago. These were technical, cost and revenue allocation as well as cross subsidy issues and Pole Attachment and Open Access, including safety issues.”
Read the rest of the Newsday article : “Spotlights broadband internet service”. Also see the Wikipedia article on BPL.
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Ordering an OLPC laptop from Trinidad
Since the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) has access to a OLPC laptop, I’ve been tinkering with it, updating the firmware and the operating system image file. It has been shown at a TTCS meeting and you can see photos of the OLPC in action in Trinidad at the TTCS meeting.
Until December 31st, 2007, one can get the OLPC under the Give One Get One program . However, when I tried to order one online, I encountered the same problem as CFR : you’re required to create a Paypal account and the online web form is meant for US and Canada donors.
Luckily, I did something yesterday that I should have done earlier : Read the OLPC Give One Get One FAQ . And behold :
“If I live outside of the US or Canada, may I participate in Give One Get One?
Yes, but only if you provide a shipping address within the US or Canada. To participate, please call 1-949-608-2865. International calling charges will apply.”So, I called today (December 31st, 2007), gave my credit card and my P.O Box address in Florida and placed an order. It will be useful to have two OLPCs at TTCS meetings to demonstrate the mesh capability of the OLPC laptops. The official OLPC wiki also has lots of information ,both news and technical details about the OLPC.
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OpenOffice.org v2.3.1 available
OpenOffice.org v2.3.1 has been released. With a new version of Mozilla Firefox v2.0.11 released just last week, look for version 1.83 of the TTCS OSSWIN CD in time for the weekend.
