AC Hotel Kingston Electric Car Charging is ATL Automotive push for Jamaican EV adoption

“Electric and hybrid cars are the fastest-growing segment in the automotive industry. It’s the future. Virtually every automotive company in the world is preparing to launch full electric variants in the near future, if they haven’t already, and we’re delighted to be able to offer this future-proof convenience to Jamaican motorists”

Deputy chairman and CEO of the ATL Automotive Group, Adam Stewart, CD, commenting on electric car charging at the AC Hotel Kingston.

Electric and Hybrid vehicles are on their way to Jamaica, at least for tourists.

AC Hotel Kingston, scheduled to open next month in July 2019, will soon become the first hotel to offer electric car charging as noted in the article “AC Hotel Kingston Offers Electric Car Charging”, published Sunday June 9, 2019, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

The three (3) electric car charging is being offered a part of a partnership among the following companies:

1.      TATL Automotive Group

2.      Jamaica Public Service (JPS)

“JPS Business applauds this initiative and is a proud partner with the ATL Automotive Group and AC Hotel Kingston on this monumental leap in offering electric vehicle charging within the hotel and welcomes a partnership that benefits all stakeholders. We’re committed to driving growth and supporting a sustainable EV market in Jamaica,” said Andre Mangue, marketing officer, JPS Business.

It will allow the electric and plug-in hybrid car owners free charging facilities within the property. They also promote the BMW and MINI car brands.

So expect this to really work for BMW and Mini models such as the 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman Plug-In Hybrid as detailed in my blog article entitled “Why the 2019 Mini Cooper Countryman Plug-In Hybrid heralds Electric and Hybrids by 2030”.

AC Hotel Kingston - Electric charging for the Upper Crust with data collection

AC Hotel Kingston is set to be an impressive structure in itself:

1.      220-room business-lifestyle hotel

2.      18,600 square feet of meeting space in 6 separate rooms

3.      Check-in desk for guests with disabilities

It is also built with an environmentally-conscious mindset, with the following Alternative Energy installations:

1.      200 solar panels

2.      Energy-efficient glass

Conceptualized and developed specifically for AC Hotel Kingston by Forge Dynamics & Innovations Ltd, the chargers facilitate 7.6kW Level 2 output charging.

This means that most hybrid and electric vehicles can be charged here. These are also fast chargers, meaning that even high-end sports cars can be charged at these locations, with the option of supercharging for sports cars.

They can also collect data on the number and type of cars that use the charging ports a well as the level of charge, as pointed out by Patrick DeRizzio, director of Forge, quote: “The charging solutions include capabilities to monitor charging and provide valuable data insights as well as many other exciting options”.

With a main ballroom boasting a seating capacity of 600 people, this hotel is set to be a prime meeting and Kingston's newest landmark to attract Internationals travelling to Kingston and Embassies and Diplomats looking for something different from the Pegasus or the Courtleigh Hotel.

So why is ATL Automotive offering this service given that few Jamaicans drive Electric or hybrid vehicles?

ATL Automotive and Electric Vehicles in Jamaica - AC Hotel Kingston Ground zero for Jamaican EV adoption

According to a report from analysts at JPMorgan by 2025:

1.      40% of all new vehicle sales throughout the world will be all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

2.      1% of global vehicle sales were EVs and PHEVs in 2016

Electric car charging may imply that ATL will also be offering Electric Car rental of their Electric car fleet to hotelier, as hinted by Deputy chairman and CEO of the ATL Automotive Group, Adam Stewart, as he commented, “Given the demand we’re already seeing for plug-in hybrid cars and the sheer number of full electric cars, we’re anticipating to launch in the next 18-24 months. We expect it to be a popular addition”.

Currently a 60% Import Duty on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids is restricting mass adoption by Jamaicans as pointed out in my blog article entitled “JPS, USAID and How removing 60% import duty on Electric Vehicle will reduce Jamaica's Oil Bill”. 

Its removal would spur mass adoption, with Taxi services and mass transport services such as the JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) as predicted in my blog article entitled “Why JUTC going Hybrid indicates removal of 60% import duty on Electric Vehicles”, benefiting from the reduced fuel cost of running such vehicles.

How WhatsApp Voice Calling missed calls hacking is a plus for Telegram and Signal

WhatsApp says its app allows mobile phones to be hacked via a missed in-app call.

The malware, designed by Israel’s NSO Group, gaining access to the Android OS via missed calls on the voice-calling function of WhatsApp as reported in the article “WhatsApp Discovers Spyware That Infected With A Call Alone”, Published Wednesday May 15, 2019, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

The numbers are scarce, but the number of infected may be in the millions, as a missed call is quit a common occurrence. So too is making a WhatsApp call.

So what can you do to protect yourself?

WhatsApp missed call vulnerability - Just switch to Telegram and you'll be fine

Good to note this was different from the hacking of WhatsApp back in August 8, 2018.

That job, which was uncovered by CheckPoint Security, was done via unsuspecting victims clicking on links as detailed in my blog article entitled “How CheckPoint Security says Hackers can read and send WhatsApp messages”.

So how do you stop this? Simply put, you can't... you just have to do the following:

1.      Backup WhatsApp

2.      Delete WhatsApp

3.      Reinstall the latest version from the Play Store or iTunes Store

This vulnerability points to the possibility that the NSO Group may be targeting voice notes or even recorded videos or audio uploads next, as those are also easy to send around as predicted in You probably weren’t a target of the “WhatsApp surveillance hack”, published 14 May 2019 by Zack Whittaker, Tech Crunch. 

They would only have to make it go viral to really take off.

So just switch to one of many alternatives as listed in my blog article entitled “Alternatives to WhatsApp for Jamaicans as Facebook Messenger, Instagram to merge soon”, such a Telegram which I currently use and you'll be fine.

BookFusion and Oxford University Press ebook partnership indicates Digital Education Rising

“As the leading secondary publisher in the Caribbean, we are absolutely delighted to have signed this agreement with BookFusion and to be in a position to support a local business.

Caribbean at Oxford University Press, Oliver Thornton commenting on the partnership between Oxford University Press and BookFusion Ltd

With so many tablets and smartphones in the hands of kids, there is a need for digital content for the student to read as was asserted under the TIS (Tablet in Schools Program as explained in my blog article entitled “How JA$114 million spent on Math, English and Science for TIS Project Tablets by January 2015”. 

To this end, Oxford University Press and BookFusion Ltd have partnered to deliver quality digital educational resources for the Caribbean as reported in the article “Oxford University Press, BookFusion To Bring Digital Resources Into Classrooms”, published Thursday May 9, 2019, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

The Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford responsible for the publication of their literary and written work. University of Oxford is a University of Oxford.

Their collaboration will support the following customers looking to bring more digital into the classroom:

1.      Caribbean schools

2.      Institutions

3.      Ministries of education

This as they will deliver a comprehensive range of educational resources, accessible across all devices anytime, anywhere!

BookFusion and Oxford University Press - Ebooks are the future of education

BookFusion Ltd, a leading eBook provider in the Caribbean, works to provide students across the region with ebooks for SCEC and CAPE. The platform currently hosts several Oxford eBooks mainly:

1.      Lower secondary resource ebooks

2.      CSEC® ebooks

3.      CAPE® ebooks

Plans to increase their offering by the need of 2019 are afoot. This would include:

1.      Investigating Science for Jamaica Second Edition

2.      Principles of Accounts for CSEC® Second Edition

3.      Information Technology for CSEC® Third Edition

They also host the popular CXC® Study Guide series as well. So this is a big plus for not only BookFusion and Oxford, but for the CXC as well.

So says publisher for the Caribbean at Oxford University Press, Oliver Thornton, “Adding to the list of partners in the region that we work with, it will ensure that many more students and teachers will have access to our market-leading resources across a huge range of subjects and series, including the CXC Study Guides”.

Still you can always download ebooks for free at my MICO Wars blog article “How Students and Teachers can find free Reference and Fiction books”.

Clearly, BookFusion and Oxford University Press see that ebook content is the future for Education. So Jamaicans need to partake in this revolution via making their own books and online services.

Here's the link:

https://www.bookfusion.com/store/oup

How SVL acquisition of AnyBet will Boost Quisk and GK MPay Mobile Money

SVL (Supreme Ventures Limited) is acquiring Jamaica’s largest sports bookmaker, Any Bet.

Any Bet is the trading name for Post to Post Betting Limited. Operated by Post to Post Holdings Limited, the company has signed a letter of intent with SVL to sell majority interest to the gaming company as noted in the article “Supreme Ventures Acquires Main Sports Betting Rival Any Bet”, published May 8, 2019 by Steven Jackson, The Jamaica Gleaner.

SVL operates rival sports-betting game JustBet. They are one of several Bookmakers in Jamaica in a list that includes the following companies that made some JA$4.93 billion in 2018 fiscal year:

1.      Post to Post Betting/Any Bet

2.      Capital Betting & Wagering Limited

3.      Ideal Betting Company

4.      Island Bet

5.      Jamozzie/BetCris

If this merger go through and close in June, SVL would end up controlling 90% of the market.

So who or what exactly is AnyBet? And why is this significant to SVL's overall plans?

SVL and Anybet – A Brief History of Post to Post Betting

SVL is the leading player in the following areas:

1.      Lottery

2.      Horse Racing

They are the sole owners of the only horse-racing track, Caymanas Park, acquired from the Jamaican government in 2017. Post to Post Betting is owned by the following shareholders according to Companies Office of Jamaica records:

1.      Albert Chow

2.      Lloyd Hoo Mook

3.      Natasha Hoo Mook

4.      Icilda Hoo Mook

5.      Natalia Hoo Mook

6.      Alexander Chin

7.      Rodney Chin

Post to Post Betting controls some 73% the bookmaking market and is the result of the merger of three (3) companies in 2013:

1.      Champion Betting

2.      Track Price Plus Limited

3.      Markham Betting

With over 188 betting shops across the island, they are the leading bookmaker in the island. So says the data published by regulator Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission, BGLC, in its annual report for the year ending March 2017.

In terms of earnings, Any Bet led the market as follows:

1.      JA$3.64 billion posted by Any Bet

2.      JA $611 million posted by Just Bet

3.      JA $260 million posted by Island Bet

4.      JA$183.7 million posted by Jamozzie/BetCris

5.      JA$170.1 million posted by Ideal

6.      JA$70 million posted by Capital Betting

So what does this mean financially for the SVL?

SVL and Anybet - Bookmaking is their last frontier

Thus this acquisition fits into their overall plan to dominate betting and bookmaking in Jamaica, booth off-track and online as noted in my blog article entitled “How Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App may revive Lotto or Super Lotto Gaming”. 

Bookmakers take bets for events such as:

1.      Horse racing

2.      Simulcast racing

3.      Sports betting

Sports such as such as football and NBA games are also up for betting, making them competitors to JustBet, which had recently launched an app to do the very same thing as reported in my Geezam article entitled “Supreme Ventures JustBet Mobile sees winnings Quisk-ed to NCB Account”.

They then pay betters according to their odds when they win. This is an area that SVL has no control over. So this acquisition would increase their stake from 19% of the bookmaking market to almost 100% overnight, should it go through in June 2019.

SVL and Bookmaking - Online Bookmaking is coming the future

In 2018, SVL posted some interesting numbers.

According to SVL’s 2018 audited results, they made JA$248 million in revenue in the sport-betting segment, which accounts for 6% of their total revenue.

Currently , Sports betting only contributes 1% or JA$87 million to SVL's revenue in the Q1 od 2019, which has reached some JA$621 million in after-tax profit on JA$9.3 billion of revenue.

If SVL can acquire AnyBet in June 2019 and scale by pushing Sports betting online line it is doing with the other betting services as noted in my blog article entitled “How Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App may revive Lotto or Super Lotto Gaming”.

   

They can make potentially make every Jamaican with a bank account a betting man on their smartphone and also allow regular Jamaicans to also become bookmakers for virtually any sports event, a virtually untapped revenue stream in Jamaica.

Clearly Mobile Money players such as Quisk and GK MPay will have a big part to play in this, as it will become the man currency going forward as predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to get Jamaicans to use Quisk, GK MPay for more than just Phone Credit” as we become more connected via our smartphones.

How Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App may revive Lotto or Super Lotto Gaming

“We expect that our customers will receive the app favourably. For now, we are focused on ensuring a high success rate for the games offered on the app and to roll out additional games currently offered by SVL in the future.”

President and CEO of Supreme Ventures Limited, Ann-Dawn Young Sang commenting on the launch of betting on the SVL Mobile Betting App.

Finally Jamaican can place bets via the SVL (Supreme Ventures Limited) Mobile Betting App.

This after having secured gaming regulator approval in March 2019, with the app launching back in February as pointed out in the article “SVL Looks To Cash Cows To Popularise Mobile Betting App”, Published Friday April 12, 2019 by Avia Collinder, The Jamaica Gleaner.

So how does this app work?

Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App - Convenient betting to avoid long lines

Subscribers to the app will have access all day to placing bets except at 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. daily. Clearly, unless you are obsessed, you cannot place bets while asleep.

But this app is for those who love betting but dislike being seen at a betting shop all the time or going in a line to place their bets.

The app has SVL's 2 most popular games:

1.      Cash Pot

2.      Money Time

Placing bets will be via top-up, not the Mobile Money option I had anticipated as predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Supreme Ventures JustBet Mobile sees winnings Quisk-ed to NCB Account”. 

You can add a minimum of JA$100, with up to JA$650,000 top-up on the accounts at SVL agent windows and other locations named by the company. You can wager with limits as follows:

1.   Monthly top-up - JA$100,000 to JA$650,000

2.   Daily wagering - JA$50,000 to JA$325,000

Users can also keep track of their bets, as they are stored on their unique profile. They can receive your winnings via Quisk as noted in the article “SVL Testing Mobile Betting App, As BGLC Tackles Online Gaming Regulations”, published Friday May 4, 2018, The Jamaica Gleaner or via retail centres and lottery agents. 



For now, its Cash Pot and Money Time, both of which generated ticket sales of $36 billion and prize-money payout topping $25 billion in 2018.

Supreme Ventures Mobile Betting App - Lotto or Super Lotto reminder

Good to note that SVL, despite expecting the death of Lotto games as predicted in the article “Supreme Ventures Prepping For Lottery’s Inevitable Decline”, published Wednesday May 30, 2018 by Neville Graham, The Jamaica Gleaner still managed some impressive numbers in 2018:

1.      JA $43.48 billion in Ticket sales

2.      JA$19.48 billion (inclusive of horse racing)

3.      JA $2.1 billion in profit

“We are expecting an increase in revenue by making the game more convenient, so our players never miss a draw once they have the app and are fully registered and verified. So, obviously, more bets will be placed as a result,” said President and CEO of Supreme Ventures Limited, Ann-Dawn Young Sang.

Interestingly, the app alerts you of every game as well as your winnings. This is something sure to excite many who have heard stories of Jamaicans winning large sums of money in the Lotto or Super Lotto, only to be unable to claim it as they either forgot or lost their ticket.

Supreme Ventures is also clearly planning for the future, with plans to track analytics via their Mobile gaming app as pointed out in the article “Supreme Ventures Wants Data From Its Customers”, published Friday June 22, 2018, The Jamaica Gleaner  possibly to use the data to create other games that may involve geo-location or even event betting.

So this app may not only get the reluctant introvert to become a games, but also rejuvenate Lotto or Super Lotto by becoming a reminder on your phone.

How Jamaicans can get great Summer products from Samsung

Samsung is known primarily for their smartphone. So what does Samsung have that good for the Easter that is not a smartphone? This article will attempt to partial answer that question.

Easter Gifts form Samsung - QLED TV

First on the list we placed the television selected by Times magazine as one of the “best inventions of 2018”, the 4K QLED as explained in Samsung new QLED TV 2018 Television Lineup features Bixby and Ambient Mode.

This recognition highlights features such as its “Ambient Mode” option that mimics the TV with the wall and “Invisible Connection” that eliminates annoying cables and concentrates them in an ingenious box.

Samsung's new line of 4K QLED models features 'Ambient Mode' that shows works of art, weather reports or personal photos when not in use. The QLED TV 2018 includes the models: Q9F (75 "), Q8C (55", 65 "), Q7F (55", 75 "), and Q6F (55", 65 ").

Easter Gifts form Samsung - Galaxy Watch

For those who love being fit and stay connected at the same time, there are Samsung wearables. If you want to train and monitor all your movements in a modern way, your best ally will be a smartwatch. Galaxy Watch, the latest smartwatch from Samsung, evolved into a watch that can act as a personal trainer, monitoring around 39 different activities, measuring stress and monitoring sleep, among other functions.

The enhanced battery life of Galaxy Watch of up to more than 80 hours eliminates the need for daily charging and helps consumers keep up with their busy schedule. Samsung’s signature circular bezel and rotating design, it’s more than an aesthetic.

It’s an intuitive way to control your watch. You can choose between two different sizes, a large number of straps and over 60,000 watch faces from the Galaxy Apps Store. The Galaxy Watch has a high-res AMOLED display with an integrated touch function. It has military grade durability, and Corning® Gorilla® DX-plus glass for added strength and scratch resistance.

Easter Gifts form Samsung - Soundbar NW700

Nowadays, televisions give you excellent audio quality. However, there are elements that contribute to improving the experience as a spectator, such as the Samsung soundbar, which allow you to enjoy a wonderful sound system when watching the games of the day, movies or series.

For example, the Samsung NW700 model is the ideal choice as a perfect complement to your TV, this due to its features and easy installation. This sound system has seven speakers that move simultaneously, providing clear sound and powerful bass.

Thanks to the modern wide-range tweeter that the NW700 soundbar has, you can experience the same audio quality no matter where in your room you are.

Easter Gifts form Samsung - Black Edition

A new kitchen for Easter just in time for Summer Bar-b-Q is a gift that will surprise a wife, a mother or a newly married couple. Through its Black Edition collection - composed by refrigerators, microwave ovens and washing machines - Samsung opted for an innovative design trend using black, printing in its creations the elegance and sobriety that stylize the home spaces.

The Samsung Black Edition series gives a sophisticated touch through steel lines that magnify a metallic texture. In addition, it has fingerprint coatings to avoid excessive marks and ensure a surface that can be easily cleaned.

Easter Gifts form Samsung - Hot Blast

The microwave oven is the right hand in any modern kitchen.

With Samsung Hot Blast microwave oven, the gift will be more than perfect because not only will it become a useful tool in the kitchen, but also the consumption of energy will stop being a concern at the time of cooking.

You can follow a balanced diet by preparing different dishes in the microwave, and also save up to 40% energy consumption without having to unplug it, thanks to its ECO mode function.

Easter Gifts form Samsung - Wind-Free

Have a very cool Easter and Summer with the best cooling technology without increase your electricity bill. From now on you can save up to 65% of electricity consumption while maintaining the ideal temperature at home without the need to turn the equipment on and off constantly.

Wind-Free ™ technology is one of the most outstanding innovations as explained in Samsung Wind-Free Air Conditioners is Cooling without the Breeze.

After reaching the desired temperature with Fast Cooling mode, it maintains the ideal temperature without any direct airflow, dispersing cold air through micro-holes for a natural cooling effect, thanks to Wind-Free technology ™.