havana
Latest
'Overwatch' travels to Havana for its latest map
Overwatch's Storm Rising brawl kicked off this week in a new locale: Havana. As with last year's edition of the Archives event, which saw the debut of Rialto, Blizzard is bringing its gorgeous take on the Cuban capital to the standard modes. It's the second map to join the team shooter this year, following Paris.
Cuba tries offering home internet access
It's all well and good that Google is offering faster access to its services in Cuba, but there's a glaring problem: most Cubans have to go out of their way to use them. Home internet access isn't an option, so most residents have to either crowd around public WiFi hotspots or sit down at an internet terminal. Things are looking up, though: Cuba's state-owned telecom ETECSA is launching a trial for home internet access. About 2,000 homes in Havana will go online for at least two months, with promises that the test will expand if it goes well during the initial period.
Airbnb arrives in Cuba with US-only listings
Airbnb has joined Netflix and other American companies doing business in Cuba. The move marks the most significant US business expansion to the Caribbean island since the Obama administration began normalizing relations with the nation, according to the Associated Press. The private rental outfit has high hopes for the region, saying "we believe that Cuba could become one of Airbnb's biggest markets in Latin America." Over 1,000 listings are now up on the site, with 40 percent of those in Havana and the rest in nearby tourist spots on the Southern coast.
.jpeg.cf.jpg)
Report: Ghost Games suffers layoffs, Need for Speed game put on hold
Need for Speed: Rivals developer Ghost Games has suffered layoffs in its UK office and ceased development on an unannounced Need for Speed project, according to a report by Polygon. The report states that Electronic Arts dismissed contract workers earlier this week and presented full-time staff members with a choice: leave and take compensation, or help Dead Space series developer Visceral Games with "Havana," a rumored Battlefield title said to be planned for the end of the year. If true, these layoffs follow Criterion Games' downsizing in September, which resulted in around 60 of its staff members working at Ghost Games. Criterion Studio Director Fiona Sperry described that exchange as a voluntary move rather than a choice handed down by EA. Sparrow and Criterion Vice President Alex Ward then left Criterion in January, noting plans on Twitter to create studio of their own. [Image: EA]
Cuba launches its own Linux variant, Fidel reportedly cool with it
It hasn't been a year since Cuba lifted the ban on PCs for the majority of its citizens, and now it looks like ou neighbor to the south has been giving some serious thought to the implications of open source operating systems. To this end, the nation has recently announced Nova -- its own Linux variant -- at a conference on technological sovereignty in Havana. Not only does the nation see reliance on Microsoft Windows a security threat, but the U.S. trade embargo makes it virtually impossible for folks on the island to get the software legally. According to Hector Rodriguez of Cuba's University of Information Sciences, about twenty percent of machines in Cuba are using Linux -- a number he would like to see climb as high as fifty percent in five years. "The free software movement," he says, "is closer to the ideology of the Cuban people, above all for the independence and sovereignty." Be sure to check out the video of this latest weapon in the battle against U.S. software hegemony after the break (music by Jaco Pastorius and The Weather Report).
