And all the other Location based apps…I apologize for the title in advance, because if it was common sense i really wouldn’t need to be writing this post now would i?  Many Jamaicans seem to be catching on to foursquare, but many do not realize how unsafe it can be. Here’s a few tips that I’m sure will be beneficial to and your friends:

Don’t Check-in at Home: Never check-in at home.  That’s just silly. Scenario: You check in at home; a few hours later you check in at another location. You live alone; you don’t think thieves and robbers use the internet? Sure, your home address can be found if people really need to find it, but do you really want to make it that easy and  plant the seed of misdeed ? If you really need to check-in at home do it privately.

Don’t Check-in to a whole Parish: Ok, this one is funny. Why would you check into a whole Parish? I’m surprised someone hasn’t checked into Jamaica yet…

Don’t Check-in to your friend’s house: This is also a big no no.  You don’t want your home address out there just the same with your friend’s address. If you want to seek their permission. Checking in “Off the grid” works here too.

Common sense tips aside, if you’re going to use foursquare make it funny for everybody and leave tips at locations you visit. Happy Foursquaring!

Check out Foursuare’s “Privacy 101″ here

I was going to wait a few more days to post this, but i felt the need to put this out there now.  David Mullings wrote an excellent post about Foursquare mayship and privacy on foursqaure in general.  Check it out

Final note: I’ll update this post as soon as i can think of other tips.

The only reason this post has this title is because i had it in my drafts and i couldn’t be bothered to change it. Let’s say if i didn’t start writing this post already while fully knowing about the hell I’d have to go through this morning; the title may have been “Digicel’s Failed 4G Launch”, but anyway; i digress. Initially, the sign up process for Digicel’s Broadband internet service seemed easy ( or so they claimed). According to the message on the website all i needed to do was fill out the relevant information on the website and their sales agent would contact me with relevant information regarding the “delivery” of my modem; delivery in quotes because they don’t actually deliver the modem ( which is misleading) you actually have to pick it up at one of their retail locations. So a couple hours elapse and no call from any Digicel sales agent ( i was expecting a call in an hour or 2).

At about 9:00 AM this morning i got a call from a Digicel sales agent; she was pleasant, thanking me for signing up etc. She confirmed the information i submitted via their website and told me where i could pick up my modem. Because i signed up online i was eligible for a limited edition gift, she told me i had the choice between a USB Pen or a wireless mouse.  I went to the 2  locations closest  to me only to find out that they were not yet set up to sell the devices. You would think that a company would have all this sorted out before they decide to launch the product (Obviously the sales agent who i spoke to had no idea that these locations were either not stocked or ready to sell the devices), but alas.  I decided  to check out the other retail locations in my region on their website by calling them instead of wasting my time to check each location individually only to find out that most were not stocked, and one dealer had no idea what i was talking about, mind you this is a retailer listed ON the Digicel website.

I visited the only location selling the device and after battling with them initially (the wait and other minor annoyances) they finally started giving me some attention. Now i realized that signing up online was useless because 1. They didn’t know that i signed up online and also had no idea that you could and 2. They did not know that i was eligible for a gift and other incentives if i did sign up online even though it is clearly stated on the website.

I told her i would return for my gift in a few days ( She did not deny me the gift, but was honest and said she knew nothing about it, she claimed they have not been trained yet and would be attending a training seminar soon). Not to lay the blame squarely at her feet–i blame Digicel for not training their employees prior to launch…

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With so many car accidents happening in Jamaica daily ( As seen on OGNR) you’d think that some responsible soul in the Jamaican Government would take the initiative and fix the problem. Like all problems this one has its roots. This one in particular originated from various Examination Depots across the island where corruption is rife and illegal purchasing of a driver’s license is a common occurrence.

You put an unqualified and incompetent driver around the wheel who is also illiterate hence not being able to comprehend the road code book what do you expect the outcome to be ( I guess it’s apparent by now)?

It would serve Jamaica well to take a page from New York’s former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s book and apply the “Broken windows theory” to Jamaica where said mayor had a so called “zero tolerance” policy. This “zero tolerance” policy was part of an interlocking set of wider reforms to be undertaken. According to Wikipedia:

“Giuliani had the police more strictly enforce the law against subway fare evasion, public drinking, urination, and the “squeegee men” who had been wiping windshields of stopped cars and demanding payment. According to the 2001 study of crime trends in New York by George Kelling and William Sousa, rates of both petty and serious crime fell suddenly and significantly, and continued to drop for the following ten years.”

Jamaica’s culture is one of indiscipline and lawlessness. A situation where people are selling illegal DVD’s for argument’s sake is generally not frowned upon because “man a do him hustlin” “. Indeed prosecuting a man for something as “simple” as selling a DVD may seem trivial, but you have to understand that lawlessness has to stop somewhere and if a man cannot respect the small laws, he’ll have no respect for the large ones. Don’t turn a blind eye to small offenses in our country because by doing so you inadvertently encourage the violation of larger ones; always remember; a ruthless killer was once an innocent child.

Wait i did with bated breath for Dropbox for Blackberry, and now it’s finally out in limited beta.  Understandably it’s in its infancy so it’s obviously lacking many features.

Currently, there is the option of choosing a picture from your gallery or by taking a new shot via the camera application to upload. Unlike its iPhone counterpart where both pictures and videos are allowed the blackberry application only allows the former to be uploaded.

PROS

The search is pretty solid and the ability to share any folder by creating a share link and inputting said link into the body of the messages application is pretty cool. The application is also pretty fast.

CONS

As mentioned above, the app only allows photos to be uploaded, but there are many other shortcomings in the app. Dropbox does not allow you to choose your connection type (i.e BIS, BES, TCP or WIFI); I’m guessing it’s BIS by default. There is also no option to create, delete or manage files and folders. If you have large files ( Greater than 2 MB) synced don’t bother attempting to download over slow connections as it would take quite a while…unless you really need the file of course.

IN SUMMARY

Dropbox for Blackberry is still in its infancy, but has the potential to be a great app for the blackberry. As it is though, it’s still a pretty solid & use-able application.

You may have to wait a bit before you can get your hands on this app if you missed the Beta, but in the meantime, give Dropbox a try if you haven’t already.

If you’re not sure what Dropbox is, but you’ve always heard of it, maybe this video will help:

Also, be sure to check out screenshots of Dropbox for the Blackberry: [...]

It has been approximately  2 weeks since the Bloggers Meetup in Montego Bay and the euphoria from being on the trip  has just about died. Though many (hint: Stunner)  found it hard to “integrate” themselves back into so-called real life, it was inevitable ; now it’s no longer euphoria, but instead, nostalgia; nostalgic about experiencing such an amazing meet up and becoming acquainted with so many cool people.

Naturally many of the bloggers have written/blogged about their experiences, which i thought it would be good to highlight here.

Blog posts

• “Welcome to Jamrock” by Tim Brodhagen
• “Air Timbo” by Tim Brodhagen
• “Must Mon?” by Tim Brodhagen
• “Dunn’s River Falls Jamaica – The Most Fun You Can Have On Two Feet” by Susan
• “I think I’m Going to Jamaica” by Maggie
• “Dogsledding in Jamaica by Maggie

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Over 20+ bloggers/writers from the United States converged on Jamaican soil yesterday afternoon to “Experience Jamaica” for the next  5 days; a first for the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).  To make this experience even more memorable a team of Jamaican bloggers were invited by the JTB  to compliment the assembly of bloggers/writers  to ensure the Jamaican experience  was as authentic as possible.

Secret Resorts

Our home for the next 5 days couldn’t have been better;  it’s the Secrets Wild Orchid  Resort in Montego Bay, a fairly new hotel.  The picturesque property and extremely warm staff, up to this point have ensured that we really do feel as though we’re at home ( Well, the one that we don’t know about:))

We spent the earlier part of yesterday evening getting settled in and unwinding a bit in our luxurious (very) rooms. The latter part of the evening was spent becoming acquainted with the international bloggers, dinner on the beach and some fine music to complete the exploit.

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