Archive for June 17th, 2008
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
From small coffee shops to upscale restaurants, San Jose’s store owners know just how important it is to provide their increasing number of mobile customers with the digital services that they love so much. Indeed, many local San José businesses already proudly display the ubiquitous “WiFi Hotspot” stickers on their front doors. According to many area companies, non-profit organizations, and public institutions, Costa Rica’s capital city is well on its way to becoming Central America’s first “digital city.”
The IX Latin American Meeting of Digital Cities began in San José this Monday, June 16, and will continue through Wednesday, June 18. Activities include a Microsoft presentation on a Platform of Service to Citizens, which will use technology to allow citizens and residents to sign up for information and city services easily.
“The idea is to unify the service window, Internet, and and cell phones with the aim of making citizen life easier,” Microsoft’s Latin American Public Sector manager, Rubén Bravo, said. The program will begin in San José, but if it is successful, it has the potential to spread to all local governments in Costa Rica. (more…)
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Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Soon Costa Ricans will be serving Chinese and Argentinian beans as the government places China and Argentina ahead of the United States and Canada for bean import.
The manager in charge of the bean program for the Ministerio de Agricultura, Juan Sibaja, said that the monitoring of bean sales indicate that there are more black beans on the market than the red and that Honduras and Nicaragua are out for purchases as those countries have their own shortage problems.
Sibaja added that 75% of all beans to be consumed in Costa Rica after July will be imported, while 25% of the beans on the supermarket shelves will be from local production
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Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Responding to criticism that they are letting drunk drivers caught by the Tránsito (traffic) police go free, a group of judges representing the judges of traffic court of the Poder Judicial, denied that the charges.
Magistrates Liz Mauren Tencio, Norman Rojas and Ricardo Baltodano, spoke to the press, saying that of the 38.998 drunk drivers that have come before the courts since 2005, only 763 have been set free, had their license returned and not sanctioned.
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Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
Two men caught with US$372,000 in cash near the Costa Rica-Panama border are telling police they just wanted to buy some bananas.
Police say the two appeared to be nervous when their car was stopped by police over the weekend. So officials searched the vehicle and found the cash in a briefcase.
Police commander Freddy Hernandez said in a statement Monday that the men told officials they were banana brokers.
But police are holding them on possible money laundering charges.
Bananas cost about US$1.65 a pound in Costa Rica.
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