21 Jamaicans now infected with Chikungunya Virus - DEET and Citronella are Trending Back-to-School Perfumes on the Playground

And now there are 21 Cases of Chikungunya!

This was confirmed from the just received samples from the Director, Emergency, Disaster Management and Special Services, Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse, who has just received the results of the tests conducted by CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) on four more person suspected of being infected with the disease.

Those results came out on Friday August 29^th 2014 as stated in “Four additional cases of Chikungunya confirmed”, published Friday, August 29, 2014 7:55 PM, The Jamaica Observer.

Forgive me for being late in publishing this, but I had the small matter of travelling back to Swallowfield, Kingston to attend to as chronicled in my blog article entitled “Folks, I'm back in Swallowfield - Saturday and Sunday are Blogger Maintenance Day so no blogging".

The Jamaica Gleaner is no better, having alerted in my RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed in Mozilla Thunderbird via their article “Four Additional Cases Of Chikungunya Confirmed”, Published: Sunday August 31, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse is famous – My Parish Clarendon is Chic-V free even as I drown in mosquitoes

People, if nobody knew Director, Emergency, Disaster Management and Special Services, Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse, she famous now, as her pictures is plastered all over the Traditional Media, both Newspapers and via Radio and Television interviews.

Even as the Ebola Virus is knocking at our door as stated in my blog article entitled “Trinidad PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar's CARICOM Meeting - Preventing Caribbean Chikungunya Virus and Ebola Virus Epidemic by Christmas 2014”. Still waiting on the outcome of that meeting though!

This latest batch of infected four means that we have:

1.      2 imported cases

2.      1 case that's not quite defined i.e. the Post Graduate UWI Staffer

3.      18 local infections

That undefined case is explained in greater detail in my blog article entitled “10 Cases of Chikungunya Virus in Jamaica – How a Hurricane coming December 2014 will accelerate its spread”.

The infected parishes, oddly, remain the same:

1.      Kingston and St. Andrew

2.      St. Thomas

3.      St. Catherine

4.      St. Ann

I’m feeling unlucky right now, as I type this. It’s damp and wet outside of the place that I live and I wish I was in any one of those un-infected parishes, such as my beloved Clarendon which is Chikungunya virus Free…..for now!

Children and Back to School – DEET and Citronella are the new Trending Perfumes on the Playground

That's not including the 50 suspected cases that the Ministry of Health and the Public Hospitals have to sort through in order to ascertain how many are REALLY affected.

To this end, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Local Government are partnering to jump-start the Hurricane Preparedness plan so as to at least start drain and gully cleaning and thus reduce the sites that the mosquitoes have to breed as noted in my blog article entitled “JA$12 million for Vector Control by Minister of Health - 50 Suspected Cases indicates Panic, not Chikungunya, is spreading”.

With the heavy rains now falling as I’ve predicted with a possible Hurricane in December 2014 as predicted in my blog article entitled “ESA's Swarm Says the Earth's Magnetic Field is Weakening - How Weakening Magnetic Field results in hotter Summer Days and Hurricanes in Christmas 2014”, this threat is looking more real than I'd imagined.

Even during my walkabout in Cross Roads, I noticed that most of the wholesales are beginning to stock up on Citronella and DEET. You can also get the Mosquito Zapper as well, albeit at elevated prices.

With school starting on Monday September 1^st 2014, I suspect children will be smelling good from head to toe. But not from their new clothes!

Rather, it’ll be the latest fashion on the playground, the parents might tell their children; it's called Citronella Oil and DEET. No doubt the parents have told their children to rub it on ever so often and kill any mosquito before it bites them. Also if they don’t wear their Citronella Oil, nature’s Mosquito repellant as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to make Environmentally Friendly Citronella (Lemon Grass) Oil for Mosquito Repellant Lotion and Candles” or  no sweets of candies or going outside!

Parents are fearful for their children dying from the Chikungunya Virus or worse, getting an ugly Rash and Jaundice-like Arthritic pains.

If anything, there's always my cure for the Chikungunya Virus as I’d detailed in my blog article entitled “How to fight Illness including Chikungunya Virus using Spices - US$40 Joseph Joseph SpiceStore Carousel helps you organize”. This as our inept Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and now the Ministry of Local Government will leave us to drown in a sea of Chikungunya Virus-laden Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes.

Folks, I'm back in Swallowfield - Saturday and Sunday are Blogger Maintenance Day so no blogging

Folks, I’m baaaaack in Swallowfield!

It was quite a ride from my hometown in Milk River, Clarendon to downtown on the new and improved Highway 2000. It now has a new leg that starts all the way down at Halse Hall, a little after the Midland Prep High School.

Good thing I left early at 6:00am; the traffic Downtown was murder!

Once I dropped into the camp though, the first thing I did was to change my Laptop’s Wallpaper to show Yendi Phillipps, my lucky charm when I’m in Kingston. 

Not really a big fan of hers or anything, as technically she’s the only Beauty Queen working at Television Jamaica that came dead last in the Miss Universe 2010 held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on Monday August 23^rd, 2010 as per her oddly incorrect Wikipedia posting.

They way I see it, if she can bounce back from coming dead last to a Mexican, then so can I from CLARO Jamaica, the Mexican subsidiary of America Movil shutting down on Friday December 2^nd 2011  as chronicled in my Geezam blog article entitled “America Movil – Digicel Jamaica swap is Final”.

Also, like a figurehead on a ship, it is to inspire me to do great things and hopefully bring me good luck. Especially as I’m now back in Swallowfield and getting ready to go back to school! This time the mission is to get my Professional Diploma in Teaching from the MICO University College in the 2 years and 6 months!

I then went on a walkabout i.e. to re-acquaint myself with Swallowfield and its environs and realized that most of my posters had been removed. While checking about, a Swallowfield resident thanked me for saving his water-logged laptop that wasn’t turning on by using the secret drying technique as detailed in my blog article entitled “Waterproof and Water-Resistant with Liquipel 2.0 – How to make your smartphone Water-Resistant to even Toilet Water”.

That made me realize that I STILL have a few customers is Swallowfield and its environs that need my computer-repairing service. So off to Cross Roads I went and printed some flyers for my revamped Computer Repair Services. Here’s a sample, gentle people!

How will it work out?

I’m not sure. But as Saturday and Sunday are Blogger Maintenance Day, I guess the rain falling in the latter part of the evening is a fitting end to the Day.

Folks, get ready, as I’ll be publishing a lot of blog articles at night time, as I have to shift my schedule to accommodate going to school and living in Kingston.

US$720 Blackberry Passport Specs Revealed – Metallic Accent with Big Battery makes this Hip to Be Square Phablet Trend a Winner

Folks, I’ve finally gotten my hands on the specs for the Blackberry Passport, including cost!

If you’ve been following my blog, you’d have no doubt seen my video that gave a teaser in my blog article entitled “Blackberry Passport Specs revealed in Hands-on - Why Microsoft Office and BBM Music will make the Passport Hip to Be Square”.

So I’m a little excited to reveal the full specs of the Blackberry Passport as reported in an article by GSMArena entitled “BlackBerry Passport detailed review appears ahead of launch”, published 27 August, 2014, GSMArena and “Alleged BlackBerry Passport Review Details Specifications and Features”, published August 28, 2014 by Robin Sinha, NDTV Gadgets.

This thanks to our Czech friends at Mobilenet.cz!

Based on a survey conducted by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech in the First Quarter of 2014 with some 20,000 volunteers, phablets may be the next big trend after all as stated in the article “The world wants a bigger iPhone and big smartphones in general”, published August 28, 2014 12:58 PM PDT by Eric Mack, CNET News, especially as this study's sample size is so large. So the Blackberry Passport is already on some solid footing!

Blackberry Passport Specs Revealed – Metallic Accent with Big Battery makes this a Winner

The Blackberry Passport sports a 4.5" display that boasts a resolution of 1440x1440 with an eye-popping 453 ppi (pixel per Inch) density. That display isn't Sapphire but Gorilla Glass 3, which is almost as strong. It measures 128mm by 90.3mm by 9.3mm (5.04” by 3.56” by 0.37”) and weighs a hefty 195g (6.88 oz), which is expected for a square smartphone that's bordering more into phablet territory.

First impressions last, so the Blackberry Passport better be packing the goods for me to heft around such a overstuffed smartphone, Turns out I might be unto something here as the specs for this smartphone are impressive to say the least.

Running Blackberry 10.3 OS, it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 chipset with a Quad-Core 2.2GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU with some 3GB of RAM. The microSD Slot support a 32GB SD Card that doubles up on the 32GB of Internal Memory.

What's a smartphone without a camera these days?

The Passport's got a massive 13Megapixel Camera that comes with a LED (Light emitting Diode) Flash, optical stabilization. It also does great 1080p video, recording at a rate of 60fps (frames per second). When it comes to connectivity, as it comes with 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n and support for NFC, suggesting that you can use the Blackberry Passport as a Mobile Wallet wherever NFC is available.

All that raw power is encased in a steel frame that’s got baby-bottom soft yet grippable material on its back. Its keypad feels roomy and has the added innovation of being a Touchpad as well, like a gigantic touchable mouse. The Czech at Mobilenet.cz claims it's great to write on and especially easy to delete words by swiping to the left!

Its aesthetics are not quite fully metallic. 

But the fact it incorporates a bit of metal means that like the Samsung Galaxy Alpha as declared in my blog article entitled “Samsung Galaxy Alpha with Metallic Band - Last of the 5” smartphones with decreased Battery Life as the Luddite Camp gets Larger”, Blackberry’s realizing that a little metal makes your product look well built, sturdy and have a classy finish that'll appeals to the more business-minded customer.

What really has me sold is the Battery size, which is a whopping 3,450mAh, which should give you several days worth of talk-time. I’m still on my Luddite Perch as it relates to my liking of smartphones as explained in my blog article entitled “The Reason why I don't like Smartphones - Location Privacy and How to disable Location Services on Android and iOS”, but this spec alone in my mind gives the Blackberry Passport, in my book, a passing grade!

The Final Note – At US$720, Hip to Be Square is pushing the Phablet Trend against the Apple iPhone

This makes its prices of US$760 by September 2014 sound quite justified, especially as it's a productivity packed device as predicted in blog article entitled “Blackberry Passport coming in September 2014 - Squaring up again the competition in Portrait and Landscape Mode”.

So is the Blackberry Passport for you?

At US$760, the Blackberry Passport options make being Hip to be Square a bit of a risk. But coupled with possible Microsoft Office, BBM 2.0 and BBM Music as predicted my blog article entitled  “Blackberry Passport Specs revealed in Hands-on - Why Microsoft Office and BBM Music will make the Passport Hip to Be Square”, it's a bet worth making.

Samsung Extends Olympic Games PartnershipThrough 2020 - Signs Agreement with IOC expanding product category boosting the Olympic Movement

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, the Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communications Equipment category, announced they have signed an agreement to extend their partnership through to the 2020 Olympic Games.  

The signing ceremony took place on August 17th in Nanjing, China, the host city of the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games. IOC President Thomas Bach and Jay Y. Lee, Vice Chairman at Samsung Electronics attended the ceremony.

“Samsung aims to spread the Olympic spirit through our innovative products, enabling all fans around the world to stay connected and share the excitement of the Olympic Movement,” said Younghee Lee, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing, IT& Mobile Division at Samsung Electronics. “We are proud to extend our involvement as it is meaningful to us to inspire people through the passion that lies behind the Games and contribute to creating a smarter Olympic Games.”

Samsung will officially sponsor the Olympic Games through the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the “Wireless Communications Equipment and Computing Equipment” category. This expanded product category includes smartphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers and other computing equipment and desktop printers.

“We are delighted to be able to continue our partnership with Samsung. The funding generated by the TOP Programme directly supports the staging of every Olympic Game, as well as every one of the National Olympic Committees, enabling athletes from all over the world to prepare for and compete at each Game,” said Thomas Bach, IOC President. “Samsung also supports the operations of each Game by providing leading wireless telecommunications and technology equipment. In addition, Samsung’s technologies and global marketing reach will engage fans around the world with the Olympic values and the Olympic Movement”.

Samsung’s association with the Olympic Movement began when the company became a local sponsor of the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. Since the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games, Samsung has joined the TOP (The Olympic Partner) Programme and has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communications Equipment category.

The company’s role has evolved throughout its 26 years of involvement with the Olympic Games. As mobile technologies have become an inseparable part of our daily lives, Samsung believes its continued support will play a significant role in bringing further innovation to the staging of the Olympic Games.

 

Twitter rolls out Twitter Analytics - Free Twitter Analytics Impressions, Engagement and Engagement Rate will boost Advertisers and Brands on Twitter

Twitter has gone and done it!

They’ve unveiled their version of Google Trends as described in my blog article entitled “Google Trends Monthly Top Charts makes Blogging, Social Trends Research and Advertising easy - How to Drive Traffic to you Website or Blog in Percy Jack's Sea of Monsters”.

This service that I’ve dubbed Twitter Analytics was previously reserved for Verified users and Advertisers. Dear reader, it is now open to the public as announced in “Twitter Unveils A New Time-Waster: Tracking Your Popularity”, published AUG 27, 2014 SELENA LARSON, ReadWrite.

With this Twitter Analytics  tool, you can scan through your entire catalog of tweets and see how many people actually read your tweets. For a Twitter junkie like me that uses Twitter along with Facebook to track Technology news as I’ve explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Pew Research posits 3 in 10 get their News via Facebook as Paper set to go live”. Here’s a picture of my Twitter Analytics results as it relates to my Impression, Engagement and Engagement Rate as of Friday August 29^th 2014.

So it’s nice to finally have access to a free Twitter Analytics tool that’ll give me an idea of what makes a tweet really chirp, if that’s the correct term to described it.

Twitter Analytics – Impressions, Engagement and Engagement Rate at your Fingertips

The Twitter Analytics tool gives you an idea of impressions i.e. number of clicks on your tweet, the level of engagement i.e. Retweets and favourites each Tweet your posted got, so you can see what exactly you posted that they’re following. The third metric, the Engagement Rate, is really a percentage ratio of the engagement to the impressions i.e. how many people who saw on your tweet actually Retweeted and favourited your post.

It’s far faster that Facebook, which seems to encourage you to make “Friends” who may not even read your posts. With Twitter, unless the person chooses to block or mute you as explained in my blog article entitled “How to mute someone on Twitter - To Block or to Mute for Silence of the Lambs as The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Once they’re following you, they see your every tweet.

But the true measure of engagement is if after they favourite and Retweet what you post, they also open up and read your post, a metric referred to in the Twitter Analytics tool as the Engagement rate. That’s where this tool gets interesting for me, as would guide my creation and usage of hashtags for my blog posts, now that Twitter is a lot more like Facebook

Too bad you can’t sort your tweets by Impressions or Engagement rate; you’ll have to manually sort through ALL of your tweets, a chore only a forensics analyst would enjoy.

Twitter under Pressure – Free Twitter Analytics will boost Advertisers and Brands on Twitter

One of the things I love about Twitter is how incredibly fast it is to build up a following even as Twitter moves to become more like Facebook. If you’re a regular Facebook user like myself, you’d have noticed the similarities not that their recent facelift in April 2014 has taken hold as explained in my blog article entitled “How to Download Twitter user Pictures as Twitter makes Facebook Timeline changes”.

I suspect that now that they’re under pressure to make money now that they’re listed on Wall Street. Explains their acquisition of Madbits to power their image Search capabilities as reported in my blog article entitled “Twitter buys Madbits – How Torch7 powered Artificial Vision will make Twitter more like Facebook”.

They’ve also begun to dabble in one-click Sales with a “Buy” Button as detailed in my blog article entitled “Twitter’s one-click Buy Button – How One-Click E-Commerce is Twitter’s Great Smurfberry Scam Confessions of a Shopaholic”, albeit this will bring them more ruin than profit, as care must be taken to avoid Smurfberry style Credit Card abuse.

So this release of the Twitter Analytics tool is really their way to get more Advertisers and Brands to use Twitter. By giving away the Twitter Analytics tool for free, they realize how easily they can track their Social Media campaign WITHOUT having to become a Verified user or register as an Advertiser.

Very obvious when you consider the fact that while in Twitter Analytics, placing an Ad in Twitter is only a click (or is that tweet?) away!

To Marketing folks, is SMM (Social Media Marketing) on a real shoestring as I’d predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Social Media Marketing – Advertising and Marketing in Ja on a Shoe-String”.

And that’s how I like it! Check out the Twitter Analytics  tool today!

How @Google X Labs Project Wing uses Global Satellite Network for Drone Delivery

Google is now Googling Amazon PrimeAir. Only their ambitions seem geared not at becoming a Same-day Delivery company, but basically killing off the Package Delivery Industry.

Well folks, the secret is out! Introducing Project Wing, their simply titled Drone Delivery Research Project, from Down Under!

Project Wing is yet another Google X Labs secret Projects led by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) aeronautics Professor Dr. Nick Roy who has been working on Project Wing for the past two years as stated in the article “Google spreads its wings, moves into Drone deliveries”, published August 28, 2014 4:44 PM PDT by Richard Nieva and Seth Rosenblatt, CNET News and “Google tests drone deliveries in Project Wing trials”, published 28 August 2014 Last updated at 22:00 GMT By Jack Stewart, BBC News.

Secret until now, that is!

They’ve been testing it in Australia, as it’s the only place in the world that allows Commercial Drone Testing.  Zookal, the Australian Drone Deliver service for College Students textbooks, stands as a shining example of Australia Forward Thinking on drones as described in my blog article entitled “SF Express Drones in China Deliver Cake and Zookal Drones deliver Rental Textbooks - How Drones and smartphones in Jamaica can revive the Postal Service via Personal One-Day Delivery Service”.

This would put them in direct competition with Amazon's Prime Air, Amazon's ambitious Project to have same-day deliveries of 5 lb and have a range of 10 km or more within 30 minutes as detailed in my blog article entitled “Amazon plans to launch Amazon PrimeAir, their 30 minute Drone Package Delivery Service for Amazon Prime users - Playing Catch-up as Mailpak launches DealBug in Jamaica”.

But is that their main use of Drones? Or is Google aiming a little higher than just the consumer market?

Google Project Wing – Google’s jumping the gun as Commercial Drones Flights start in 2015

Clearly, Google is anticipating the coming of Commercial Drone usage within the Continental United States of America as they are falling behind the rest of the World that has lax Aviation regulations on Drone usage.  Especially as the oversight for Drone developement and eventual usage in the US of A is now in President Barack Obama's Executive Order Crosshairs as stated in the article “President Obama To Kick Off Drone Privacy Guidelines”, published JUL 24, 2014 by  LAUREN ORSINI, ReadWrite.

Thus the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) may be relieved of their responsibility as it relates to developing Drone Privacy Policy even as they have research ongoing as it relates to Aviation Guidelines for the Commercial Drone usage in the US of A as stated in my blog article entitled “FAA ok’s Drones for Hobbyist – Study to determine Commercial Drone Risk as Amazon, UPS and FedEx Drones get the Kibosh until 2015”.

Hence the timing of this revelation by Google, so much so that it even caught the Jamaica Observer’s eye as noted in the article “Google building fleet of package-delivering Drones”, published Thursday, August 28, 2014 8:02 PM, The Jamaica Observer.

But clearly Google X Labs plans to commercialize these Drones, much as they’ve planned to do with Google Glass and their other Google X Labs Projects. So how is this Drone designed differently? And who exactly are their potential clients?

Google X Labs Project Wing – An Airplane Drone is basically an Osprey VTOL Drone

Sorry I did that, but I couldn’t resist. Yes, Project Wing is basically a VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) Drone. It’s a 5” wingspan flying wing that weight in on the hefty side of 19lbs. It’s got propellers like a regular airplane Drone and can fly like one, possibly Lithium-Ion Powered or using Ethanol or Methanol based fuel. Based on its range and weight it’s most likely the former, as it lends credence to the idea that it may also have a future design upgrade where it’ll be solar-powered.

The Video below illustrates this well.

What makes it unique though it that its propellers can tilt upwards, enableing it to land and take off vertically. Even more interesting is that just like a Quadracopter (4-propellers), Hexacopter (6-wings) or even an Octacopter (8-wings), it can stop in mid-flight and hover like a helicopter.

This option in its design means it can travel great distance more quickly to its plane configuration and once it’s at its destination, convert to a hovering Helicopter and do the Delivery.

From the video, though, Google X Labs clearly have their work cut out for them, as they have to perfect that Delivery system as from the video that cannot be used to deliver breakables like Eggs or Wine. But it’s an interesting design and it’s a lot different from Amazon PrimeAir, which according to their video, has to actually land before taking off.

A hovering Delivery means that potentially, it can instead of using a rope, the supplies can be airdropped, resulting in faster deliveries, especially if the Delivery area is somewhere in the Wilderness or a war torn area.

The way it works is an amalgam of a traditional Drone Delivery system, if I can say that, and the use of a catapult as a Delivery system for products that Groupon amusingly proposed in my blog article entitled “Groupon’s Trebuchet Catapult response to Amazon PrimeAir has Wings – Automated Capsule System Package Delivery From our Dungeon to your Doorstep”.

Google X Labs Project Wing – A Self-Flying Osprey that’s a Global Spy Plane

The Semi-Autonomous part is also not surprising, as if Robots are set to take over the World, then Semi-Autonomous Deliver Drones will be their vanguard as argued in my blog article entitled “Fast Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015”.

What is interesting though is the range of these Drones under Project Wing. If it can carry more than 5 lb and have a range greater than 10 km or more within 30 minutes, it’ll attract a lot of International buyers, as at those ranges, it’ll be the rough equivalent of a Military Drone but with Commercial Drone Applications.

Being a Solar powered VTOL Drone with the ability to fly around the World would also make it the perfect low-cost spy plane. As Google might soon have their own Satellite Broadband Network, they can competitively price their Project Wing Product, even providing such services such as real time aerial photography of anywhere in the World for a very low price, even lower than Private or Government Satellites.

Clearly Google isn’t going to use this to do deliveries, especially as they already have a fleet of 100 Semi-Autonomous Self Driving All-Electric Vehicles that can fill that space by 2015 as described in my blog article entitled “Google 100 strong Fully Autonomous All-Electric Vehicles launched – 25 mph Limit on AI Chauffeur in 2015 with Black Boxes makes Crashes like aeroplanes”?

Ok, so given its capabilities, who would be Google’s potential clients?

Google’s Project Wing Clients – UAE’s competitor for Government, Enterprise, NGO and Humanitarian  

This can be determined form their past products.

The uber-secretive Academia based Google X Labs has already produced some very forward-thinking ideas, such as Google Glass, which is to be commercially launched next year as stated in my blog article entitled “Google Glass launched early as a Product - Google pre-empting Samsung Galaxy Glass and Facebook's Oculus Rift replacing the smartphone in 2015 the Year of the Sheep”.

They’re geared at consumers, but privacy issues will makes this a slow-starter by 2015, even if Google’s partnership with Luxottica can make their Borg-Glasses fashionable as pointed out in my blog article entitled “Google Glass partners with Luxottica to design Google Glasses for 2015 Launch - Google Glass now on the Path to going Mainstream with US$199 Glasses”.

However, Doctors have taken a liking to it, with the UC Irvine School of Medicine becoming the first to incorporate Google Glass into their Doctor training curriculum as described in my blog article entitled “US$1500 Google Glass for UC Irvine School of Medicine is also on Sale to Public - Ramp up for 2015 Public Launch as UWI Med Sci Students have Tablets but no Glass”.

The US Air Force is also interested and is currently testing Google Glass with the aim to design Army-grade applications that would customize the product to be used in the field as noted in my blog article entitled “US Air Force testing the use of Google Glass in Combat - Helping Professionals on the Front Lines of their respective fields”. These are just a few of the potential clients for Google Glass alone, as other applications for Field Engineers, Delivery Services, and Security Services and even among the police are possible.

They also plan to launch 100 Semi-Autonomous Self Driving All-Electric Vehicles as well that, albeit only driving as fast as 25mph, may make them a competitor to taxi drivers and concierge services in 2015 as described in my blog article entitled “Google 100 strong Fully Autonomous All-Electric Vehicles launched – 25 mph Limit on AI Chauffeur in 2015 with Black Boxes makes Crashes like aeroplanes”.

Finally, most recently, they've also been whispers about them deploying  a fleet of Low Altitude Circular Orbit satellites to set up a Satellite Broadband Network to compete with AT&T’s plans to use DirecTV to do likewise as explained in my blog article entitled “Google and O3B Network Limited partner on Satellite Broadband Project – How to set up a Satellite Broadband Network”

That last Project may be related to Project Wing. This as a Satellite Broadband Network could conceivably be used to provide Telemetry as well as Video, Audio and Transponder uplink for their Project Wing Drones, making it possible for their potential clients to control their Drones anywhere anytime. This is a power only the US Military has. 

Thus their plans, albeit more on the humanitarian side and seemingly focused more on the Delivery supplies and equiptment during a disaster, has Military Applications. In short, their Project Wing potential clients seem to be the US Government, Corporate and Enterprise, NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) and Humanitarian Agencies.

This seems to be the same type of client base that the ambitious the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is targeting using their very lazy way via global Drones for Good Competition as described in my blog article entitled “United Arab Emirates starts Drones for Good Competition - How Jamaica can jumpstart Drone Designs as UAE pursues Lazy route to the Google of Drone Design and Application”.

Google X Labs Project Wing – How to own a Global Private Semi-Autonomous Drone Delivery Service

Bodies such as these tend to need Drones that are Semi-autonomous, Robust enough to deliver large items quickly but do not require an airstrip to land. In essence, Google isn't going into the Package Delivery business like Amazon, UPS or even the FedEx as they plan to do when Commercial Drones are legitimized in 2015 as I'd detailed in my blog article entitled “UPS and FedEx developing their Own Delivery Drones to compete with Amazon PrimeAir - Premium Rush Package Delivery Drones herald the coming of Google's Personal Androids that are Almost Human”.

Like their strategy partnership with HP (Hewlett Packard) to introduce Google Now Voice Assistant services to search Enterprise and Corporate Cloud Platforms as detailed in my blog article entitled “HP and Google partner on Google Now – How Galaxy Alpha's Metallic Charms woo Corporate and Enterprise marriage made in Fragmented Heaven”, they’re basically making it possible for anyone with enough money to start their own Drone Deliver Services.

A low-cost solar Powered VTOL Drone that can carry more than 5 lb  and travel for miles, possibly circumnavigating the World without refueling will definitely attract a lot of buyers. Using Google’s Satellite Network as their Video and Audio Uplink eyes-and ears, it’ll be a Military Drone but with Commercial Drone Applications.

In essence, Google X Labs Project Wing will make anyone, anywhere in the World have their own Private Semi-Autonomous Drone Delivery Service…or Army

JLP plans islandwide Bus Fare Protests - Audit of the JUTC needed as JUTC may be Campaign Cash Cow for Local and General Elections

“We are going to increase our protest. We are not just going to gather in Half-Way Tree, but we're going to gather in every square in this country. We are going go in every community in this country. We are going to walk every hill and trod every valley because we must mobilise the people of this country to say to the Government, no more increases. Find more efficient ways of running the Government instead of passing on increases to the already-burdened people of this country”

JLP Leader Andrew Holness making statements on Monday August 24th 2014 suggesting that he plans to take his Bus Fare Increase islandwide

First before I begin my rant, I’d like to express my condolences to the Family and Friends of Minister of Agriculture Roger Clarke who died today Thursday August 28^th 2014 as stated in the article “UPDATE: Roger Clarke Dies Of Suspected Heart Attack”, Published Thursday August 28, 2014 11:44 am, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Roger Clarke is dead”, published Thursday, August 28, 2014 11:47 AM, The Jamaica Observer. He’ll surely be missed! 

Now on to my rant!

I haven’t returned back to Swallowfield as yet, but it appears that the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) have apparently found their voice.

This after JLP Leader Andrew Holness staged a peaceful protest on Monday August 24^th 2014 as stated in the article entitled “Holness leads demonstration in HWT today against Bus fare hike”, published Monday, August 25, 2014 BY BALFORD HENRY Senior staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

He didn’t get much support from the civil society groups, possibly out of fear or reprisals from PNP supporters within their own communities, especially if they were from so-called PNP Garrison constituencies as stated in the article “Holness: Vindictive PNP keeping Bus fare protesters at bay”, published Monday August 25, 2014 by Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner.

But those who came out appeared to be mostly JLP party faithful, based on the above newspaper report. And based on recent reports in The Jamaica Gleaner in the article “Holness to take Bus-fare hike protest islandwide”, published Tuesday August 26, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner, he’s planning to go islandwide.

Apparently JLP Leader Andrew Holness thinks he can use this Bus fare increase as a political Platform to appeal to the masses ALREADY enduring unfair increases from NATO (National Association of Transport Operators) Taxi and Bus operators islandwide.

But is he really interested in the welfare of the Poor? Or is this just more political theatre?

JUTC and the KMTR – I’ve been a One-man Protest against JUTC since the ending of Bus Transfers

No, I’m not a Labourite, I just think the Bus increase is unfair and as part of my personal protest, I’m NOT riding the JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) Bus as long as I’m able as protest as I’d mentioned in my blog article entitled “JUTC SmarterCard Rollout and Fare Hike Postponed – Why I'll be boycotting JUTC Buses anyway as they're not trying to Save Money”.

Good to note for the record, I’d been protesting against the JUTC since Sunday November 10^th 2013 when the JUTC suspended Bus Transfers as I’d reported in my blog article entitled “Mandatory SmarterCard Cashless System coming in March 2014 – JUTC Legal challenge NATO over Routes as JA$100 Wi-Fi needed to keep Unruly High School Students Happy”.

That was the day I last took the JUTC Buses regularly, effectively opting to either walk or take the risk of riding in a taxi or on an unlicensed non-JUTC coloured Bus, which by the way attracts a fine of JA$100,000 as stated in my blog article entitled “Licensed JUTC KMTR Franchise holders begin operation on April 8th 2014 - Attack of the Stone Throwing Jamaicans against JUTC State sponsored Terrorism again JATOO”.

To the JUTC's Credit, on Monday September 1^st 2014, all High School Students will be able to travel on the JUTC Buses for Free if they don't have their SmarterCard. The idea is that they'll use that free ride to go to one of the Centers such as the Half Way Tree Transport Center to purchase a SmarterCard. 

Once you qualify and you have your SmarterCard, you’ll be able to pay the subsidized fare as I'd pointed out in my blog article entitled “JUTC SmarterCard Rollout and Fare Hike Postponed – Why I'll be boycotting JUTC Buses anyway as they're not trying to Save Money”.

Audit of the JUTC needed – JUTC is a Campaign Cash Cow for Local and General Elections

Those with a good memory will often see me walking all the way from Half-Way-Tree back home along Trafalgar Road, sometimes through New Kingston since I began my one-man Protest. My question to Mr. Andrew Holness is thus: Where was he THEN with his protests when the JUTC put the kibosh on Bus Transfers?

What I’d really love to see is an Audit of the JUTC, as former Auditor General Greg Christie has called upon the Minister of Transport Dr. Omar Davies to have conducted as stated in “Greg Christie Backs JUTC Audit”, published Monday August 25, 2014 1:18 pm by Jerome Reynolds, Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.

If the Government is non-compliant, then my suspicions since November 2013, long before JLP Leader Andrew Holness caught the spirit to protest would be justified.

The PNP is afraid to rock their campaign Bus, as their JUTC employees are literally their ticket back into power come Local Government Elections in 2015 and General Elections in 2016. They are not showing the willingness to reduce losses due to theft from their own employees as I’d pointed out in my blog article entitled “How to defraud the JUTC and reduce your Bus Fare - Arson and Ticket Fraud means Switchover to the SmarterCard Cashless System before 2014 required”.

Possibly because they’re using the extra loot from the JUTC to fund their Local Government Elections in 2015 and General Elections in 2016 as I’d already concluded in my blog article entitled “JUTC SmarterCard Rollout and Fare Hike Postponed – Why I'll be boycotting JUTC Buses anyway as they're not trying to Save Money”.

This is, ironically, in a manner similar to how Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe is using an “illegal” Telecoms Tax on International Calling, the proceeds of which were funneled into the FNE (National Fund for Education), to fund his Presidential bid as explained in my blog article entitled “Digicel Haiti removes VoIP Apps Blockade – How Laurent Lamothe Administrations Corrupt Telecom Tax for FNE has French Connection”.

Folk, I'll see you in Kingston by Monday September 1^st 2014. Walk Good as I'm NOT Taking the Bus in protest.....