Stop Google Location Tracking - Tech Brawta

AP recently reported that Google is tracking user locations … even when “Location History” is turned off!

If you want to keep Google from logging your every move, grab your device and follow these seven steps.

1. Log into your Google account through your browser
2. Click on “Google Account”
3. Click on “Persona Info and Privacy”
4. Click on “Go to My Activity
5. Click on Activity Controls
6. Click on “Web & App Activity”
7. Toggle to “Off”

Then, repeat for all your Google Accounts.

You may end up with slower searches and less relevant search results because privacy comes at a cost.

Tune in to @RJR94FM Wednesdays at 8:15 am

Digital Dangers Lurking in Maps

Location tracking apps are certainly not new.  But Snapchat’s new Snap Map feature has reignited the conversation around location tracking apps and privacy.

I will assume that you know what is Snapchat.  The popular messaging app launched a new feature encouraging users to share their current location in real time on an interactive map.  Facebook and other social media apps have previously offered delayed and real time location notification, but Snapchat’s adds their twist by populating that data on a map.

With the Snap Map feature, Snap hopes its users will use the new feature to engage in real life and then create more content for the platform. Let’s stop for a moment and consider the irony of the digital social media app encouraging us to be more physically social.

Opponents of the new feature tout well founded privacy concerns, especially if the feature is not monitored.  But in fact, it is.

Snap Map is an “opt-in” feature, meaning users must consciously turn it on to activate.  The feature is also highly customizable.  Users can limit who can see their live location for specific persons, friends or the world.  In ghost mode, users can see where friends are without revealing their own location.

It's important to note that the app only shares your location when the app is open.  Once closed, location data is not shared and there is no background location tracking.

Though very popular, Snapchat faces stiff competition from its rival Instagram (IG), owned by Facebook.  There is no word yet on whether IG will other a similar feature soon.

Tech4Life airs on @RJR94FM each Wednesday morning at 8:15 AM

All Access Pass via UWI Research Days App

The vast campus of the esteemed University of the West Indies (UWI) will play host to the institution’s annual Research Days expo.  If you are like me, you get lost every time you step on campus!  And this multi-day, multi-location expo featuring over 140 activities is enough to make my mental compass spin.

I need not worry however, because the bright folks at Caribbean’s leading tertiary learning centre have provided an app, for just that.

The UWI Research Days app for Android devices provides a plethora of features to help navigate the event slated for February 17 - 19 both literally and virtually.  The built-in map feature highlights the exact location of each of the events with real-time GPS tracking to guide you through the gates to the attraction.

For me, that alone makes the app an essential tool.  But, there’s more, as they say.

Howard Edwards, Shane Richards & Javon Davis

All the various presentations, symposiums, demonstrations, tours, lectures, launches and a variety of other activities are included in the app’s calendar complete with insightful information.  Armed this info, you can browse through the offerings, identify the activities that most appeal to you and pin them or add them to the native calendar on your mobile device with just a few taps.  Real-time reminders and alters, paired with the already mentioned map feature mean that you can be on time  and in place for every activity.

Howard Edwards, Shane Richards and Javon Davis from the Faculty of Science and Technology, the team behind the app, even had the foresight to make the app self-contained, so once downloaded, no wifi means no problem.

Screen Shots of UWI Research Days App

Taking it even further, since many of the activities happen simultaneously the app can help you be in multiple places at once, thanks to a virtual tour feature.

The app is as powerful as the event is seeks to capture, yet its free for download in the Google Play Store.  Get it long before the official opening of UWI Research Days on Wednesday, February 17 at 2 PM to plot your course through the expo.

About UWI Research Days

The three-day exposition will aim to directly show the public how the research impacts different aspects of everyday life. Therefore, the theme has been examined under the headings of; Law, Governance and Society; Pharmaceuticals, Nutraceuticals and Well Being; Supporting Industries, Institutions and Infrastructure; Developing Human Resources; Tertiary Industries and Primary Industries.

Under the theme “Driving Development through Research and Innovation”, UWI Research Days 2016 at the UWI Mona Campus will feature other practical ways in which the University is using its research to aid in development and create solutions to everyday problems. The exposition, scheduled for February 17 – 19 will allow investors, policy-makers and stakeholders in the public and private sectors to explore practical solutions to real world challenges, developed through Mona research.

AgroCentral Shortlisted for Greatness

Startup Jamaica winners, Project Agro have been shortlisted in the global Omraan Urban Tech Start Up Contest.  The global contest for urban tech start-ups short listed seven other remarkable innovations from across the world.

Now rebranded as AgroCentral, the project was conceptualized and developed by four outstanding “techtrepreneurs”, founder Jermain Herny, chief marketing officer Janice McLeod, lead developer Jermain Byfield and UX engineer Phillip Clarke; all of whom are under the age of 25 at launch.

The innovation is the first of its kind in Jamaica and is Jamaica's first digital agricultural clearing house.  In effect, the application connects farmers with buyers via a SMS-to-web-to-SMS platform.  Read more about AgroCentral.

As a shortlisted project, AgroCentrral is poised to cop a top prize of US$30,000.00 and participate in a 100 day acceleration programme in Amman, Jordon.  Omraan seeks to identify and nurture urban tech start ups as adjudicated by a panel of international judges.  Successful applicants are deemed to be the most creative and forward thinking innovations.

Winners will be announced in early 2015.

Mobile Multi Media - Observer's New Reality

In many parts of the world, pundits speculate if newspapers will survive.  In Jamaica, the Observer is adapting and evolving in an effort to stay relevant.

The evolution has led to the introduction of a redesigned mobile app for iOS and Android devices.  “We wanted to make it fresh, fast and totally interactive,” explained Jamaica Observer’s Head of Advertising, Marketing & Communications, Natalie Chin-Watkins.



Indeed, the new app boasts a new look complete with an image for every news story, loads quickly and is interactive thanks in part to the heavily touted AReality feature.  Short for augmented reality, the Observer app AReality feature pairs bonus content with print, often in the form of video.

Natalie Chin-Watkins shows off the Observer Mobile App

Chin-Watkins noted that, in the process of placing an ad, a client can say they have additional content, include the AReality logo in the ad they place and when readers scan the ad, the additional content is pushed to the device.  “The really cool thing is, you don’t have to scan only from print.  You could scan from a feather banner … you could scan from anything physical,” she added.

The dual benefit of this feature is marrying access to print to sustain circulation and providing additional revenues through advertising.  This is in keeping with the Jamaica Observer business strategy.  “One of the main focuses of the Observer is to continue to build out our print platform.  So everything we do is with the print in mind,” Chin-Watkins elaborated.

Screen Grab of Jamaica Observer App

With print at its core, the newspaper has expanded to deliver content through many other platforms.  Including the app, the media house boasts a new radio station - Fyah 105.  Also, even more video content is expected, including weekly features thanks to the acquistion of new video equipment and studios.

The multimedia, multi platform roll out is the result of the efforts of an online team churning out content on the back end.  As for the app, it was developed locally over a period of four months by developer Robert Farr.  There is a Blackberry app currently in development and  further updates on the way.

Until then, the app is available free in the App Store or the Android Market.  When asked to comment on the level of success of the new app, Chin-Watkins happily replied, “we are seeing a lot of traction on that platform."

Columbus Mentors Tech Entrepreneurs

“Challenge us!  We see ourselves as innovators and we are anxious to demonstrate,” was the declaration by Columbus Business Solutions senior executive Jenson Sylvester to the finalists of the Startup Weekend Jamaica competition at a private gathering on November 7, 2013.

Project Agro, Audio Pi and Popup Shop emerged as the winner and runners up respectively from the technology entrepreneurs competition hosted by ConnectiMass and supported by Columbus.  As part of Columbus’ on going support for the young entrepreneurs, the information, communication and technology (ICT) service provider offered free business consulting and mentorship.

Aisha Robinson, Jeanette Lewis, public relations manager at Columbus Communications, operators of Flow and Columbus Business Solutions, Jermaine Henry, Ingrid Riley, founder of ConnectiMass and Dmitri Dawkins take a peek at the PSOJ 50UnderFifty DVD presented to the young tech entrepreneurs by Columbus Communications as inspiration for pushing forward with their businesses. Robinson, Henry and Dawkins whose teams took the top places in Startup Weekend Jamaica, were hosted at the Columbus Communications office recently to discuss strategies for developing their businesses.

ConnectiMass founder and Caribbean technology expert Ingrid Riley welcomed the involvement of a regional player.  In her address to the three groups of young business aspirants, Riley noted that Columbus has moved “beyond the grin and grip sponsorship to really get involved,” for the benefit of the participants.

Indeed, it was easy for Columbus to get involved.  Sylvester, who was a judge of the Startup Weekend Jamaica competition when it was held in October, noted that he was impressed with all the presentations.  “All the projects,” he noted, “required internet connectivity, hence a natural pairing.”  In fact, Columbus offers the fastest available internet in the region with commercial speeds of up to 100 Mpbs.

Third place finishers, Popup Shop relies most heavily on internet.  The app provides both consumers and merchants with easy accessibility to goods and services in real time at convenient locations.  Runner up Audio Pi is hardware based and seeks to set a new standard for how devices communicate starting with speakers while the winning project, Project Agro leverages RSS and SMS to disburse consolidated orders to small farmers in the field.

As each project outlined their concept, Columbus executives identified services that could boost their productivity, performance and potential profits.  The most notable services included cloud hosting, cloud voice, display advertising and teleconferencing.  Further, leveraging Columbus’ regional network across eight islands in the Caribbean, Columbus executive John Clear noted that the company could provide the traditional networking support as well.

Clear aptly closed out the meeting held in the state of the art conference room of the Columbus Corporate Headquarters echoing the challenge Sylvester laid out.  Clear said, “Put pressure on ICT service providers to be more creative in their service delivery because your growth is our growth.”

Each of the three projects is poised to grow the local tech sector in early 2014.

Project Agro Takes Farmers to Digital Market

Developed by a group of young tech entrepreneurs, Project Agro is an innovative RSS to SMS tool that connects farmers to customers seeking agricultural goods.

At its core, registered buyers can place their orders and pre-orders in an online platform which is then routed to an appropriate farmer in the field on his mobile phone.  Neither internet access nor smartphones are necessary because Project Agro wisely makes use of SMS rather than data to ensure the widest possible access for farmers.

The system has the potential to ensure that, especially smaller farmers, don’t miss orders, properly manage their production and have a guaranteed market for the produce or livestock.  On the buyer side, hotels, supermarkets and other larger purchasers can efficiently consolidate their purchase orders into bulk orders while guaranteeing supply.

In addition to sending order alters, the platform can be used to broadcast relevant information about natural disasters, agricultural disease management and other details.

The innovative concept was born out of Startup Weekend Jamaica staged by ConnectiMass and sponsored by Columbus Communications.  The team of System Architect Jermaine Brown, Janice McLeod, Jermaine Henry and Adrian Thompson are in the process of beta testing the business concept with a  view to launch early next year.

On launch, the portal is expected to have the support of Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and other notable government agencies.

Jamaican Tech: Popup Shop

Bringing retail merchants and shoppers together is not so easy, especially if both the merchant and the buyer are on the move.  But, a novel new app, designed by Jamaicans, has a solution to that issue.  It’s called Popup Shop.



The concept is tried and proven, but the approach is new; harnessing technology to provide convenience.

In effect, a popup shop is any short term retail space.  Popup merchants are usually mobile and cater either to a niche or a convince market.  Their success depends on setting up in a location, and at a time, when several buyers are likely to see the shop.

The Popup Shop app helps merchants reach out to new and existing customers to alert them of, in effect, where the bargains are.

To set up, retailers register for the service online at http://popup-shop.co and provide details on their products, including images, and the locations at which they will be located.  In addition to the app auto pushing the location of the retailer at the time the retailer will be at the location, the app can also provide analytical information to guide merchants as to where interested customers may be congregated and ready to shop.

It’s a wonderful marketing tool for retailers and an ultra convenient service for shoppers.  The location aware app guides shoppers to their interests nearby.  They also get deals, specials and giveaways as a part of special promotions for registered users.

Though based in Jamaica, the very nature of the app is global.  Both merchants and shoppers anywhere in the world can benefit from the home grown app.  The team of entrepreneurs that developed the app, many of which in their early 20’s include:  Dmitri Dawkins, Jermaine Watson, Julian Josephs, Jon Thompson, Kevin Rowe, Jovan Evans, and Wayne Dawkins.

Popup Shop emerged as the third place winner from the ConnectiMass facilitated Startup Weekend Jamaica.  The two day tech entrepreneur workshop sponsored by Columbus Business Solutions,  helped teams take business ideas from pitches to business plan over a 54 hour long workshop.

Tech 4 Life airs every Wednesday morning at 8:15 am on RJR 94 FM.