SILICONCARIBE.COM -The source for news, interviews & reviews on technology, with a focus on mobile and startups.

Open Data, Government Service and Business Innovation

Posted by Bevil Wooding on January 25th, 2012

Open Data Movement

The Internet has ushered us into an era where more people have access to unprecedented volume of information. This access has in turn triggered a seemingly insatiable desire for more information, more quickly and more conveniently. Why? People want access to information to translate into new knowledge After all, knowledge is power.

In knowledge-based economies, knowledge derived from access to information, and not just material assets, becomes the platform for economic power. Information, or more precisely, the appropriation and control of information, has become central to the organisation of society and the economy. In the knowledge-based economy, wealth is created through the economic exploitation of information. This conversion is typically facilitated by technology-based systems, like the Internet.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The Definitive Guide to the Developing the Caribbean Open Data Conference 2012

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 24th, 2012

DevelopingCaribbean.org

Here’s a definitive guide to the Developing Caribbean Open Data Conference which runs from Thursday January 26th-27th, across three countries – Jamaica, Trinidad and Dominican Republic.

What is Developing Caribbean?

The Caribbean Open Data Conference is the first regional Conference and Software Developer Competition of its kind, focused on Open Data and Social development. It combines the thrill and competition a code sprint, with the social objectives on government, NGOs and Civil Society.

Themed as “Developing The Caribbean”, it is more than just an event. It is a process of engagement that seeks to demonstrate the power of “Openness”, specifically Open Data, Open Innovation and Open Source as a catalyst for innovation, collaboration and ultimately value-creation for Caribbean individuals, organizations and societies at large.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Jamaica Tourist Board’s Travel Webisode “Pon Di Road” voted 1 of 5 travel brands inspiring Wanderlust on Youtube

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 17th, 2012

Pon di Road Travel Webdisode

The Mashable.com story 5 Travel Brands Inspiring Wanderlust on YouTube called the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Travel Webisode “Pon Di Road” as the number 3 travel brand inspiring Wanderlust on Youtube.

It said

3. Jamaica Tourist Board

What’s Jamaica really like? The Jamaica Tourist Board sought to answer that question in 2010 with a web series called Pon Di Road that featured Calee and Stephen, a couple that takes a somewhat ritzy view of the island nation. Like Undercover Tourist’s channel, the videos here aren’t slickly produced, but provide a decent view of what it would be like to take a trip to Jamaica.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Where is Silicon Caribe and how do you get there?

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 16th, 2012

SiliconCaribe

Back in 2007, I reinvented my then two year-old blog TechWatchCaribbean.com and renamed it SiliconCaribe.com. That was deliberate. It was a reflection of what I saw bubbling up around me, what I was hearing from colleagues and also, I always believed that the Caribbean could become a hot spot of tech driven startups and innovation, just like Silicon Valley in the United States. Maybe I had been reading too much Fast Company and Red Herring magazines.

Yet I believed what I’ve been saying alot last year, that we will deliver to the world, a tech equivalent of Bob Marley and Usain Bolt….pardon to my Caribbean friends for only using Jamaican references here…but you understand what I’m getting at right?!

Popularity: 7% [?]

Digicel to shut down Claro network – Let the backlash begin ?

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 13th, 2012

Digicel swallows Claro

The Jamaica Observer article first paragraph says “Digicel has been granted permission to shut down the Claro network less than four months after agreeing to keep it going under the terms of their merger. Permission for the network to be switched off was granted by the outgoing Jamaica Labour Party Government before December 8, as the general election campaign was kicking off. ” You know what this looks like right?

And as a result…the backlash has begun. The debate by consumers have begun to rise on Twitter, Facebook and BBM. In short, no matter how much love most people have for Digicel as the number one mobile service provider in Jamaica….they know when even their coveted winner, has been given what many see as a free pass.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Fostering innovation through app development in the Caribbean

Posted by Michele Marius on January 13th, 2012

DevelopingCaribbean.org

In recognition of the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that has been the buzz all week, we look at the apps development in the Caribbean and the upcoming Caribbean Open Data Conference.

The Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is one of the largest consumer technology tradeshows in the world, and is frequently used to launch new products and to showcase those that are in the works. With all the attention being on Las Vegas this week, where CES is being held, we, here in the Caribbean, have an opportunity to examine how we might be becoming innovators and not just consumers of tech products and services developed overseas.

Popularity: 5% [?]

WANTED: The Caribbean, by Blackberry, iPhone and Samsung Galaxy…who will win ?

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 11th, 2012

The Contenders: Galaxy S II, iPhone 4S, Blackberry All Touch Torch

Blackberry is spending more time and energy securing their lion share of the smartphone market in Jamaica and the Caribbean. 70% is the stat that I was told. LIME is about to launch the iPhone 4S, we were invited to the exclusive unveiling this Friday so we’ll tell you if Siri can speak patois and of course Samsung is making a push in the Caribbean with their Google Android OS phones – the Galaxy S II.

So that’s three distinct mobile platforms and smartphone brands making a push for market share here. Clearly the Caribbean is a sweetspot to own.

Who do you think will win the hearts and mind share of the Caribbean people in the end? Who will we crown king?

Interesting Facts

Blackberry September 2011 celebrated 70 million Blackberry subscribers worldwide

Samsung sold 300 million handsets in 2011

iPhone sales hit over 100 million by end of 2011

Review: Samsung Galaxy S II -The Good, the Bad and the Who Knew?

Popularity: 9% [?]

SlashRoots is Developing the Caribbean:… across 3 Countries…with 1 Amazing Conference

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 10th, 2012

Slashroots.org

The annual SlashRoots Developers Conference is on, this January 26th-27th with the theme “Developing The Caribbean. After scoring 400 attendees over 2 days and 15 developer teams for its Code Print competition in 2011 it’s inaugural year,in 2012 it grows Caribbean.

The SlashRoots “Developing the Caribbean” Conference/Developers Competition is the first regional Software Developer Conference and Code Sprint of its kind, focused on OpenData and the application of technology to solving social problems. The conference will take place simultaneously across multiple sites in the Caribbean, with marquee events in The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago.

Why SlashRoots Dev Conference?
Caribbean societies share a wide range of pressing economic, social and environmental demands in many areas such as agriculture, fishing, trade, tourism, entrepreneurship and education. However, most attempts at solutions have traditionally been discussed in isolation and with typically limited access to quality information for evidence-based decision-making. Open institutional approaches represent a new paradigm that can be a catalyst for change. Greater amounts of information and more accessible technologies are creating opportunities to further and more effectively develop collaborative solutions to our traditional problems.

Watch this space for more coverage of this major Caribbean Tech Event. SiliconCaribe.com is a media sponsor

What is Slash Roots Developers Conference and who is it for ? (video)

Popularity: 6% [?]

Welcome to our ICT Minister Philip Paulwell and ICT State Minister Julian Robinson

Posted by Ingrid Riley on January 6th, 2012

Philip Paulwell | Minister, Mining, Energy & ICT

We’d like to welcome Philip Paulwell, Minister of Mining, Energy & ICT and Julian Robinson, State Minister of Mining, Energy & ICT to what will be an awesome year for Technology, Tech Entrepreneurship and Jamaica. Both gentlemen were appointed today as part of the Portia Simpson-Miller led Administration, that officially took the reigns of the country today. Congratulations!

Julian Robinson | State Minister, Mining, Energy & ICT

Minister Paulwell while you were away, alot has happened in the ICT industry. We’ve certainly grown beyond being just about call centres and telecom providers as you know and the range and number of tech professionals and startups have increased significantly. We have about 4 technology blogs, so you are both well covered…as mainstream media seems to love telecom and call centres news and not much else. There about 5 new Tech events covering entrepreneurship, developers and designers primarily.

You should attend DevelopingCaribbean.org, it’s a developers conference here in Kingston with partner conferences in Trinidad and Dominican Republic. It’s on January 26 at UWI. Open data and solving local problems is the conference’s focus.

I am also inviting you to the next Kingston BETA ( Tech Entrepreneurship to di World) which will be on Thursday 23rd February at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. The local Tech Community has a strong regional and global network connections with some pretty cool things in development.

The World Bank has their eye on Jamaica especially regarding the Mobile Sector. Angel and venture capitalist have begun to take the Jamaican/Caribbean Tech Community seriously and we’d like you to do so too, by helping to create a legal framework and environment for that venture capital culture to have full effect.

Add to that, we really need for you to fast track the development of Mobile commerce and help Utech to develop a real technology incubator. Let me mention that it’s time for us to not just grow ICT as a stand alone industry, but also to better integrate ICT into Education, Tourism, Exports and Agriculture to make them more efficient and profitable. And please talk to your JAMAICAN experts while you tap the minds of the FOREIGN ones. They have great solutions too.

The list is long I know and I have only just begun. But you get the picture…lots of opportunities to make ICT a powerhouse of an industry, that could possibly become the number two foreign exchange earner and job creator here.

We know you bring to our industry a wealth of knowledge and experience as well as a few mistakes we got very, very upset with you for. That was the past and we’ve all learnt from it all.

We’re happy that you have as your wing man Julian Robinson who has a strong ICT background from a different angle. We watched how he campaigned and we appreciate his fresh, back to basics, relationship building approach. We believe both of you will be awesome together. We expect great things from you ( yes the first 100 days are there to show us some of your intentions) and we are willing to work with you and your teams, to get things done. My BB Pin is 2825D55A if you care for more conversations.

Again, congratulations Ministers!

Popularity: 14% [?]

12 Internet Predictions For 2012

Posted by Ingrid Riley on December 28th, 2011

Business Insider Intelligence’s 12 Internet Predictions For 2012:

Google Will Release A $200 Tablet

Amazon’s Kindle Fire changed the tablet game, largely thanks to its price, way below the competition; It looks like it’s going to be a holiday blockbuster;

Meanwhile, Google is fighting a platform war with Apple and has been humiliated on the tablet front, with high-priced, lower-featured Android tablets getting clobbered by the iPad. The way Google can grab tablet marketshare, which it needs to do, is to imitate Amazon’s strategy of selling a radically lower-priced tablet at a loss. And, for the first time, it can do that, since it’s in the process of buying tablet-maker Motorola.

Facebook Will Grow Faster Than Anyone Thinks And Hit 1 Billion Users

Facebook already has 800 million users, and many people assume that its growth is hitting a wall, as it reaches dominance in the big developed markets and it’s locked out of markets like China and Russia. But, there is still a lot of room for growth in places like South-East Asia, India and Brazil, and Facebook’s network effect is a powerful thing.

Powered by WordPress | iCellPhoneDeals.com has the best cell phone Deals. | Thanks to Upgrade Sprint Phone, MMO Games and Conveyancing

Open Data, Government Service and Business Innovation

The Definitive Guide to the Developing the Caribbean Open Data Conference 2012

Jamaica Tourist Board’s Travel Webisode “Pon Di Road” voted 1 of 5 travel brands inspiring Wanderlust on Youtube

Where is Silicon Caribe and how do you get there?

Digicel to shut down Claro network – Let the backlash begin ?

Fostering innovation through app development in the Caribbean

WANTED: The Caribbean, by Blackberry, iPhone and Samsung Galaxy…who will win ?

SlashRoots is Developing the Caribbean:… across 3 Countries…with 1 Amazing Conference

Welcome to our ICT Minister Philip Paulwell and ICT State Minister Julian Robinson

Hub of The Startup Scene

SiliconCaribe TV

WE WON BEST TECH BLOG 2011

Don’t Miss a Thing! Subscribe by email.

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives

Blogroll