owenSoft.net - new photos

Slippery when Wet (The random photo journal)

2012-02-07 13:11:55

I am thinking of start a new photo project (yes I know I have soooo many already! ) But one more can't hurt? I need to check my web server to seem how much space is left on there. But I am thinking of call this one; "Signs of the Times". What do you think? yay or nay?

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Sting 2011 (Low Life)

2012-02-07 13:02:55

Jamworld, portmore is like 90% dust and clay

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Audi A1 (The wheels project)

2012-02-07 12:59:47

There is nothing like a good looking hot hatch. If I had the money this one would be a definate contender for my heart.

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Helsire, St. Catherine (The Jamaica photo project)

2012-02-03 15:34:58

Viewed from the Twin Sisters.

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Chicken Chop Suey 2 (Food and Eats)

2012-02-03 15:33:28

...

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Chicken Chop Suey 1 (Food and Eats)

2012-02-03 15:33:05

...

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SmartPhone Race Jamaica - Why so many Blackberries? (Articles)

2012-01-23 07:57:26

It has been a few weeks since my last article on Blackberrys - Why they are still cool but it seems that the circle jerk in the fandom is increasing to the point of blind optimism. So I have come back to provide some objectivity.

In this article, I will delve further in to the various social,cultural and economic reasons why (in my humble opinion) the smart phone race in Jamaica will be a long and boring battle. Full disclosure; I have recently bought a BB after years watching and analysing the cellphone market both locally and abroad. I should also say that the Dominican Republic has the best cellphone network in the region. Now, back to the article, I will run across stereotypes, cliches and general opinions based on my personal observations and educated guesses based on...well speculation.

Jamaicans have limited reasources

Jamaicans will only spend their money on things that they cannot get for free, cheap or things that they think are valuable. The credit culture in the end it is all about practicality and a lower cost of ownership - it is not about being “cutting edge” or “trendy”. Why would they spend a small fortune on a smart phone just so that they can download free apps? It is almost like buying a big plasma tv for the benefit of watching burnt DVDs.

Jamaicans Hate Contracts

The majority of the iphones and Android phones require post paid plans, long contracts, lots of cash up front or both. The Jamaican cellphone users are on Pre-Paid plans and withdraw their money in a $1000 dollars at a time from the ATM. It is not because there is not a better, faster or more efficient way - they are just fear varies forms of ENTRAPMENT. Two bills, a bank statement and down payment? Yeah sounds pretty affordable compared to AT&T. Phones get dropped, stolen, sold to pay for car insurance, and left in taxis, it happens everyday in Jamaica.

Slow Phone Networks

Not only are the local networks slow, but in some places you cannot even get dial-up speeds because the coverage is just not up to par - unless you happen tospend all your time in New Kingston or a major town. I hope to see the day when we can do some of the stuff we see in those phone ads on cable. But that day is not today or tomorrow, maybe in 3 years (sans apocalyse). Many people cannot afford (and probably do not know how to) to connect to WIFI to download their Apps because connecting to WIFI would mean that you are either paying for home internet+your cellphone bill or you are squatting on free WIFI for several hours of the day.

Jamaicans do not care about Apps

There are several reasons why phone “apps” are not important; Firstly apps cost money ; free apps are usually bait for paid versions and Apps need to be purchased with credit cards from phone specific app stores. Thirdly, apps cannot be shared from phone to phone - which is not a problem for some but the layman may find it a bit strange. Finally, Apps provide services which compliment similar services provided on a computer, so until there is a proliferation of computer science education, most Jamaicans will have no reason to go searching around an App Market for a potentially useful app - unless its a app that prints money or a game. There are so many cheaper forms of entertainment in Jamaica which brings the argument back to cost and value. An app will have to be quite impressive in order to draw locals away from the local dancehall and stage show. It is nice and sunny in the tropics, BBM popular because its a means of communication not because it is a “app”.

Jamaicans it seems are not so interested in having smartphones, despite the competitive pricing arguments for Wireless 3G Data as noted in Ryan’s Geezam blog article entitled “LIME, The iPhone 4 And The Death Of The Blackberry”, as the Blackberry is still king here. - Lindsworth.

We Are Wagonists

Jamaicans like the things that they see their friends are using. Which are this point its the network that gives them the most freeness (see point 1), BBM and phones that offer them cool features out of the box. Added to this fact that the majority of Jamaicans are either poor or are pretending to be rich so they will spend their money on a phone(s) that they can afford or a phone they can save for without taking out a mortgage.

All touch screen phones are the same

To a Jamaican consumer, a cellphone falls into 4 categories: a budget phone, a RazR, a BlackBerry, or a touch screen phone. If you see one Android phone, you have seen them all, no matter how you choose to customize the home screen - its the same thing. Baring technical hardware details every android phone on the market is the same to the large majority of consumers. I once saw a sales representative try to explain to a middle aged woman that the phone she was looking at was in fact a Nokia and not a Iphone, it was hilarious, she was absolutely convinced that it was a iphone. There are also a few people who have a natural born “hatred” for touch screen phones - I am not sure why. Not to mention the people with 2 left hands and greasy fingers.

Jamaicans Like to be different

When I say different, I mean physically different, not merely shifting widgets around their home screen. Different as in some people like flip phones, phones that are thin, phones that come in different colors, etc. Now compare this to the iphone or android which basically are all touch screen phones with slighly different screen sizes and processors which are mainly differentiated by the frequent hardware and software release updates. Back in the day we used to call these updates "service packs". You see now the problem with Android is that once you get it in your hand they all appear to be the same phone to the average user - its a speed race.

Conclusion

Now I have nothing against the Iphone, the fragmented Android OS, or the Windows Phone 7 which is defective by design. Before Steve Jobs bucked the trend, touchscreen phones where seen as impractical and unresponsive - now in the present day the marketing has positioned them “god sent devices”. Next they will be pushing touch pads and e-readers, and then later this year "Ultrabooks" will be the must have gadget for tech professionals who have disposable income.

Breaking into the Jamaican market is going to take more than just big screens and Apps. You will have to provide a diverse selection of phones that are cheap to own, offer data-plans which affordable to the common man while gradually improving the network infrastructure. Distributors should focus on low-end feature phones, instead of the high-end, high cost and complicated smart phones that you have to “sync”.

There is always a new fad on the market, and with fads come lonely people looking for others to join their party. The masses may join eventually but some markets follow, while other markets pop dem own style and beat at a different drum.

p.s. JAMAICANS DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH AND IS NOT A PART OF LATIN AMERICA.

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Catepillar (The random photo journal)

2012-01-18 19:25:27

Black and yellow...black and yellow...

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Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol - Review (Movies)

2011-12-31 16:09:52

I thought it was pretty good. I don't remember them playing the mission impossible theme (you know at the point where it would start and you know some crazy shit is about to happen?) often enough. But besides that the stunts where cool with some seat of your pants action. The other team members manage to not annoy me too much which is surprising and none of them ended up being a double agent - which tends to happen allot in action movies nowadays.

Some elements are good but not as good as the Cliff hanging in MI3 or hanging above the computer room in the original MI movie but it certainly holds it own. Oh yeah and tom cruise does lots of running, I don't know how anybody can possibly out run him unless they were Bolt but its a action movie so the stunts are not really based on reality.

I give it a 9 out of 10. Lots of tech-gadgets and women and cars, running, no sex, no boobies, wicked stunts, hits to the head, almost feels like james bond, Watch it in the theatre just for the nice fly over scenes in Dubai.

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Blackberrys - Why they are still cool (Blog Jamaica)

2011-12-27 11:57:22

I have been seeing a lot of BB hate recently. Some people will have you think that blackberries are going the way of the dinosaurs but I am here to tell you the reason's why BB's are still rocking it high in Jamaica and parts of the Caribbean.

Support / Backwards Compatibility

You can meet a hot girl on the beach or a party and pin her even though she is uptown and rocking a BB Touch 3 while you are rocking a Bold 1 - doesn’t matter its all the same thing. I see some people rocking the old BBs with the little ball that spins in the middle and I'm like waaa? Some guy said he replaced his ball like 10 times but just loves his phone so much that he will never get any of the new ones. On the flip side Android/iphone users sell their phones every six months i.e. if the screen doesn't crack first.

Battery Life

Until recently most BB phones are really slow, so they last a good 2 days on a single charge, even when you are typing away on BBM or scrolling through 4 gigs of pictures, its designed to conserve battery life. The few games you can actually get in the app store make it even easier to conserve battery life. No Apps IS a feature, lol.

Optimized for Slow Networks

Now let us be honest Jamaica probably has some of the slowest cellphone networks in Latin American ( sorry @gordonswaby the are never gonna call give us our own region ). I always watch television and see advertisements where lightning is falling from the sky and people are doing stuff so fast that they are doing them IN THE FUTURE. From my experience in reality, downloading anything on a cellphone in Jamaica is like Slow like honey. The BB often is able hide this and makes it a little more barable, plus it doesn’t lock up or check the network too often to the point where you have to start turning things off.

Data plans

Presently the blackberry phone plans cannot be beat, especially if you get the BB Social Plan it will save you some money for ONE EXTRA DRINK AT THE BAR. With the economy the way it is not many people can afford to dish out 3000 dollars a month to play Angry birds. I donot remember what the going rate is for data in jamaica but I think they charge PER MEGABYTE! Really? Until there is a cheaper way to download stuff over the network I don’t see myself getting a Android phone.

Old BBs still get Software Updates

As I said before there are some people in the BB world rocking some old phones - I am talking BBOS4 like there is no tommorow, yet they still work and are chatting like nobody’s business. Popular apps such as twitter and facebook still get regular updates every couple of months. This may be to RIM's downfall but you have to appreciate their ability to support older phones without making them slower.

Blackberry Phones are Cheap to Buy

No only the Data plans as mentioned before but the actual phone itself. I do not know about some people but I am not going to spend 600 USD on a phone when I could buy a laptop or a 30 INCH TV for the same cost - fts. Unless you like playing games on a small screen with bad touch controls, getting the latest most expensive cellphone is pointless and really most people do not have the money to dish out on things that cannot prevent AIDS. Although buying the phone directly from the cell companies is still ridiculously expensive it is easy to find on USED blackberry for sale and because it still gets updates its not that bad a compremise.

BBs are on 27/4

With a fixed monthly, weekly or daily BB prepaid plan you can pretty much rock BB around the clock except for that one week when the network went down for an entire week. Aside from that the BB network is pretty much always on, I don’t have to stalk WIFI networks at local restaurants to get my twitter updates.

Durability

Seriously I see 13 years olds rocking more expensive BBs than even I am able to afford. Don’t ask me what their hustle is but whatever, puss and dog no have the same luck. Point is no matter how big you hands or deep you purse the BB will usually keep working as long as you pop the battery every now and then plus keeping the ball clean.

Conclusion

If those points are not enough to convince you and you still want to play Angry Birds while you are driving down I95 then more power to you - just don’t crash in to anybody. There is no point to having all phones being big glass touch screens! Touch screens are annoying and only good for scrolling and swiping. Diversification in the phone market is the only way for it to survive. Having 50 types of Android phones is not going to make it any more attractive than the expensive iPhone. And lets not even mention WindowsPhone which has a fixed screen size and aspect ratio - U MAd Bro? Face it Steve Jobs have you guys beat and no matter how many new Android phones come out people will still think you are using a iphone. The Blackberry is what it is because it has a dependable, boring and simple.

Most people I see saying that bb is dead are people using androids and want more locals to join their party - its not going to happen - people want buttons. The 9900 maybe a faster curve with a touch screen and drains battery but its still a bb. Once the bb becomes an android phone it will lose all the things that make it unique. I don't understand why people can't see that.

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Offset Tiles (Low Life)

2011-12-13 13:46:42

Somebody was feeling idle when they did this floor.

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Chicken Burger Exposed! (Food and Eats)

2011-12-07 11:45:34

This is before I applied the plantains.

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Wood Planks (Low Life)

2011-11-23 10:33:12

They probably have a cellar.

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Digicel Building Downtown (The high life)

2011-11-23 10:20:33

I still think they should have gone bigger especially with all the money they are making from the cellphone addicted Jamaicans.

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Fruit Squeezies (Pimp Juice)

2011-11-23 10:17:53

At first I though that it was spoiled but then I though maybe it was intended to be lumpy since it is a serving of a whole fruit. How lazy would you have to be? What makes it worst is that you cannot see what you are drinking, so the whole time I had weird thoughts.

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