Archive for September 7th, 2010
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Have you ever been woken up by vehicle blaring a commercial message from huge speakers mounted on top or confused by a vehicle with flashing lights? Well that practice will soon come to a halt with the introduction of a ¢30.000 colones fine for each offense.
The Consejo de Transporte Público has announced that anyone who wants to use loud speakers and/or flashing lights mounted on their vehicles for commercial purposes must obtain a permit or face a fine.
The permits, according to the Consejo de Transporte Público, are specific to a vehicle – place number, type of vehicle, etc – and times and areas of operation.
The use of loudspeakers and flashing lights is common in many neighborhoods, a service provided by companies who use the medium to spread messages by advertisers, usually aimed at a local market or specific product.
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Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Costa Rica, the birthplace of ecotourism, has been very successful in sustaining it. The authorities have managed to increase the number of national parks, produce environmentally friendly electricity thus almost reaching the country’s goal of being the first carbon neutral nation.
When Costa Rica’s last President (Óscar Arias Sánchez) took office in 2007, he promised to the people that he would make Costa Rica a carbon neutral country. There is not much time left to fulfill the vow now, but he still hopes that with the help of United Nations, the country can make it.
Costa Rica’s authorities have a special interest in protecting and preserving the environment since the country is visited by 2 million tourists every year. Therefore, natural riches is a very important, perhaps, the most important asset for Costa Rica. The president plans to create alliances with the carbon-neutral countries and further promote the idea of ecotourism.
Ecotourism provides income that helps to both preserve protected areas as well as benefit local populations. It reduces the dependence of local people on activities harmful to natural habitats. According to the annual Environmental Performance Index prepared by Yale University that ranks 163 countries based on their policy concerning both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality, Costa Rica appeared in the third place.
In recent years the popularity of Costa Rican Vacation Packages such as Photography Tours, Whale Watching Tours, Sea Turtle Ecotourism, Rainforest Tours, and other specialized travel options have grown. Costa Rica has simply become a new “eco-destination rising star” among well-known European destinations such as Iceland, Switzerland and Sweden.
The country has already reforested more than half of its area and increased the amount of national parks. With respect to the energy, nearly all of Costa Rica’s electricity is produced by water power and through geothermal energy.
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Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Costa Rican sprinter Nery Brenes continued his recent run of international track success this weekend, taking gold in the 4×400 meter relay at the Continental Cup in Split, Croatia on Sunday. Brenes has won four gold medals in the last six weeks.
On Sunday, Brenes ran the first leg of the relay for the Americas team, which included U.S. runners Bershawn Jackson and Greg Nixon, as well as Jamaican Ricardo Chambers. Running against teams from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe, Brenes was pitted in the first leg of the relay against British runner Michael Bingham, who has the fastest recorded 400-meter time in Europe this year. After falling behind Bingham during the first 200-meters, Brenes caught and passed Bingham in the final 200 meters, handing the baton off to Jackson in first place. Brenes’ 400-meter leg was clocked at 45.30 seconds.
In the second leg, Jackson fell behind European runner Kevin Borlée, but Nixon regained the lead in the third leg and Chambers sealed the win with a blurring final lap. The Americas’ time of 2 minutes, 59 seconds broke the competition’s previous record in the 4×400 relay of 2:59:12.
Since winning Costa Rica’s only gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in the 400-meter run in July, Brenes has gone on to win gold in the 400-meter run at the Diamond League competition in Brussels, Belgium in August, and at an international competition in Zagreb, Croatia on Sept. 1. Brenes also won silver in the same race at an event in Berlin, Germany on Aug. 22.
Brenes, who competed in the 400-meter race at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, will run again in a competition in Milan, Italy on Sept. 9 and in Kawasaki, Japan on Sept. 17.
Story by TT
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Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Joining the group against “Ley de Casinos” (Casino law) is the Junta de Protección Social (JPS) – the national lottery – no, not because the law would regular and taxing casinos, but rather because the law will cut into “their” revenues.
The JPS turns over profits to social groups and organizations. Last year alone the national lottery turned ¢16 billion colones to social organizations from its ¢126 billion colones in revenues.
According to the JPS the new law that taxes casinos and betting houses would bite in substantially into their revenues, as the law also would legalize games of change, which are currently underground and other illegal games.
In addition the JPS argues that it the only “legal” entity to provide games of change.
The law is currently at the commission level and is generate political debate between the political parties and legislator and may end up being shelved as it seems to lack the political will power to advance.
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Tuesday, September 7th, 2010
Synchronica plc, the international provider of next-generation mobile messaging services, announces that Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Costa Rica’s incumbent telecommunications provider, has launched its mass market push email service based on Synchronica’s award-winning Mobile Gateway middleware.
The ICE service branded Syncronizate will be used to add new push functionality to the existing ICE webmail service Acelera. The Syncronizate service will be provided free of charge to any Acelera or internet GPRS subscriber.
Syncronizate allows Costa Rican consumer, prosumer, and business subscribers to enjoy push email and synchronization services without needing to upgrade or replace their existing mobile handsets. Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway provides 100 percent device compatibility by using the built-in email and synchronization clients found in a wide range of handsets in addition to email to MMS and email to SMS for basic handsets. (more…)
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