CostaRica
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Costa Rica hasn't used any fossil fuel in over two months
It's been 75 days since Costa Rica's power grid last had a sip of petroleum. Thanks to heavy rainfall at the start of the year, the Central American nation has been able to provide 100 percent of its energy needs via renewable resources. This certainly represents a major milestone in green energy production but there's no guarantee that other nations will be able to replicate this feat or that Costa Rica's renewable energy scheme is even sustainable.
Google Maps adds live traffic for over 130 cities, boosts existing coverage
Google has expanded its Maps traffic coverage before, but rarely on a grand scale. The search giant isn't standing on tradition this time: it just flipped on live traffic data for at least the major roads in over 130 cities. Most of the coverage centers around smaller cities in the US, although Google is tipping its hat to Latin America with first-time support for Bogota, San Jose (in Costa Rica) and Panama City. Coverage has also been improved in a dozen other countries worldwide. While the widened reach still won't ease the burden of anyone already caught in a traffic jam, any democratization of smarter driving directions is good in our book.
iTunes in the Cloud movies find their way to Australia, Canada, the UK and 32 more countries
The advent of movie support in iTunes for the Cloud was a boon to Apple TV owners as well as any iTunes user with a tendency to hop between devices -- within the US, that is. Apple today swung the doors open and let Australia, Canada, the UK as well as 32 other countries and regions around the world get access to their movies whenever they're signed in through iTunes or an iOS device. Not every studio is on the same page, as many American viewers will know all too well: it's more likely that you'll get re-download rights for a major studio title such as Lockout than an indie production, for example. Even with that limit in mind, there's no doubt more than a few movie mavens glad to avoid shuffling and re-syncing that copy of Scott Pilgrim to watch it through to the end.
Web Marketplace for Windows Phone gets 22 more stamps in its passport
If you've been holed up in Thailand, waiting to browse the latest and greatest apps for your Windows Phone in your browser instead of on the device directly, then things are looking up. Microsoft has just announced that 22 new countries are being graces with their own web Marketplace. The full list covers Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Israel, Thailand, and Vietnam. The same blog post advises that work is also underway to improve the search results delivered by the site. So you might not have to play Hungry Birds for much longer.
iTunes Match launches in 19 more countries, shows Latin America some love from the cloud
Once Apple let the iTunes Match genie out of the bottle it has actually been pretty quick to spread the love to our international friends. Australia, Canada, the UK and a host of other European nations came online last month, now a sizable chunk of Latin America (along with a few EU stragglers) are joining the party. In total, 19 new countries were added to the list this week, headlined by Central and South American nations like Argentina, Guatemala, Venezuela and Nicaragua. With a few Eastern Block countries, including Lithuania and Latvia, also being added to the list, Apple has increased the total number states where iTunes Match is available to 37. Now Apple just has to start getting a few of the Asian and African areas where the iPhone is available on board and it can officially call Match a global service. To see if your country is invited hit up the more coverage link.
Mitsubishi i MiEV electric car launches in Costa Rica next month for a mere $61,500
Did you miss out on the Nissan Leaf pre-orders? Yeah, us too. Are you planning on cruising around in Costa Rica sometime after February? Sadly you can count us out there, but if you've checked both boxes you might want be interested to know that Mitsubishi's i MiEV electric car will be available there starting next month, making it the first country in this hemisphere to sell them. The car offers a 100 mile maximum range and a top speed of 80, quite comparable to the Leaf, but the $61,500 price down there almost doubles Nissan's offering up here. That's also twice what the i MiEV is expected to sell for when it ships to the mainland this fall, quite possibly thanks to the massive import duties applied to cars in the land of Pura Vida. But, with as few as 25 of the machines offered for sale, this is something of a niche release anyhow.
Google Maps causes border dispute between Nicaragua and (army-less) Costa Rica
Here's a interesting bizarre one. There's only one highway that connects Costa Rica and Nicaragua (I walked across it, shown above), but you can totally swim from one country to the other if you aren't afraid of circumventing authority. But if you're planning to traverse the San Juan over on the Caribbean side... well, who knows where you'll start and end. It's bruited that the Nicaraguan military recently invaded Costa Rica, lowered a Costa Rican flag and hoisted up a Nicaraguan one. Why? 'Cause Google Maps said so. Seriously. Nicaraguan commander Eden Pastora actually used a slightly inaccurate Google Maps portrayal as justification for invading land that's clearly shown as Costa Rican on official maps of both nations. In fact, this whole mess has grown into quite the debacle, with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla proclaiming that its northerly neighbor had "forgot where its border is." Moreover, Costa Rica is worried that dredging done by Nicaraguans on the river's edge is both altering the border in Nicaragua's favor and damaging vital flora and fauna in the surrounding area. We're hearing that Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza will soon meet with officials in both nations to get this ironed out peacefully, and considering that Costa Rica hasn't had a military in over three score, we know who's hoping that the guns stay holstered. So much for Pura Vida, huh? [Thanks, Ignacio]
Starbucks contest features image recognition via MMS
If you're looking for the most high-tech way to win a trip to Costa Rica, we think we've got your answer right here. Starbucks' Summer Pursuit game uses trivia questions sent via SMS to weed out contestants -- nothing too interesting there, but answers can be sent with a reply text or by MMSing a picture of the answer to an email address. Seems a bit dangerous to us, since we're guessing the recognition rate isn't 100% and we Americans sure do like to sue when things don't go our way -- but if it means we can snap a pic of "triple Venti extra-hot sugar-free hazelnut soy latte" instead of typing it in via T9, we're all for it.[Via textually.org]
