Cuba

Cuba debuts Internet centers, but can people afford them?

One of the most closed-off countries in the world has finally started to roll out Internet for its citizens. The Cuban government has officially opened 118 public Internet centers across the country, according to the Associated Press.

Up until now, computers with Internet access were sparse on the island. Besides a few universities and employers offering access, some of the only places to get online were tourist hotels that charged up to $8 an hour for erratic Wi-Fi, according to the Associated Press.

The Cuban government estimates that only 2.9 percent of the country's citizens get online, according … Read more

Cuban activist blogger forced to stay on the island

Cuban blogger and activist Yoani Sanchez was told last week for the 19th time in four years that she was not allowed to leave Cuba, according to Amnesty International.

"My cell is not surrounded by concrete and metal, but rather water," Sanchez tweeted last week.

She was hoping to travel to a film premiere in Brazil where she had been invited to speak, but Cuba's migration authorities denied her an exit permit. As with all the other times she requested permission to leave, she wasn't given a reason why.

However, the reason why is clear to … Read more

Cuba: How dare the new Call of Duty try to kill Castro?

If you notice your children becoming particularly sociopathic over the next few weeks and months, please consider that the reason might be Call of Duty: Black Ops.

I offer this important psychological advice as I have just been struck by the news that Cuba's finest independent media are so up in arms about the game that it seems they might even want to bear them.

What, you might wonder, could possible move the Cubans to be so upset? Well, it seems they are not entirely keen on the fact that the first mission of this extraordinarily well-reviewed game consists … Read more

Obama eases U.S.-Cuba telecom restrictions

In a move to reach out the Cuban people, the White House on Monday announced a series of changes to U.S. policy toward Cuba, including the authorization of greater telecommunications links to the communist country.

"This will increase the means through which Cubans on the island can communicate with each other and with persons outside of Cuba," the White House said in a statement. "Cuban American connections to family in Cuba are not only a basic right in humanitarian terms, but also our best tool for helping to foster the beginnings of grassroots democracy on the … Read more

The Cuban Linux crisis

Cuba, ever seeking to be the gnat on the United States' behind, has decided to stick it to the Microsoft man and go Linux, according to Reuters. Its reasoning, however, provokes giggles:

The Cuban variant, called Nova, was introduced at a Havana computer conference on "technological sovereignty" and is central to the Cuban government's desire to replace the Microsoft software running most of the island's computers.

The government views the use of Microsoft systems, developed by U.S.-based Microsoft Corp, as a potential threat because it says U.S. security agencies have access to Microsoft … Read more

Russia and Cuba: Together again, this time for open-source software

I read on Glyn Moody's blog that one-time bosom buddies, Cuba and Russia, have linked up again. The cause this time? No, it's not communism. That one lost a while back. This time, the two are banding together to fight the evil software capitalists with open-source software.

Russia and Cuba speak different languages, of course, but the article suggests sovereignty may be the lingua franca here, with Russia leading the charge. Cuba, finally free from the shackles of American imperialism, and Russia, that paragon of liberty, playing the lead. The possibilities are enormous!

Or not. American software companies … Read more

Cuba and Venezuela to lay undersea Internet cable

A new undersea fiber-optic cable being laid between Cuba and Venezuela will help provide high-speed Internet access to Cuban citizens by 2010.

Earlier this week, Wikileaks published documents that were signed in 2006 by officials in Cuba and Venezuela describing plans for the new undersea cable that will connect the two countries.

The United States economic embargo against the island nation has forced the communist country to rely on slow and expensive satellite links for Internet connectivity, according to the Wikileaks article. Even though it would cost less and be more efficient to lay a new cable between Cuba and … Read more

News.com Daily Podcast: Harassment and the future of Twitter

U.S. to allow cell phones sent to Cuba; Microsoft looks at PC retrofits; and is the age of the audiophile dead and gone? Listen now: Download today's podcast

A popular blogger has ignited an uproar with claims that Twitter refused to take real action after she complained about harassment on the service. CNET News.com's Leslie Katz got the story from reporter Caroline McCarthy.

Microsoft wants to retrofit your desktop for the multitouch era. On Thursday, the company showed off a new, low-cost method for giving a desktop or wall display a touch-screen interface.

Giving students access … Read more

Bush to let Americans send cell phones to Cuba

President Bush said earlier this week that Americans will soon be able to send family members in Cuba cell phones in a move he hopes will bring more freedom to the communist island nation.

The U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which has been in effect since the early 1960s, prohibits American companies from doing business there. Americans are also restricted from traveling to Cuba. And there are several restrictions regarding gifts given to people living in Cuba.

Dan Fisk, National Security Council senior director for Western hemisphere affairs, told the Associated Press that the new policy, which will take … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 717: Dedicated to yo' fat momma

Yo' momma is so fat. How fat is she? She's so fat she has two Wiis, one for each...OK, never mind. In other news, Microsoft walked out on Yahoo. Is it for good this time? What does it mean for you? (As usual, a big fat nothing, unless you're a Yahoo stockholder.) Also, on the deathwatch today: E3, Cuba's ban on home computers, and Google audio CAPTCHA. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 717

MicroHoo is dead, long live MicroHoo http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9935100-56.html http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9935250-7.html http://kara.allthingsd.com/20080505/ yahoo-execs-reaction-i-need-some-prozac/ … Read more