Looks like President Obama wants to see some change in our Cuba policy, and not merely change affecting only Cuban-Americans and their relationship with the country. American telecommunication companies will now be allowed to, among other things, establish satellite links between the two countries and—Opie and Anthony may soon be heard in Havana!
Cuba is trying to eliminate its dependency on Microsoft Windows by launching and promoting a homegrown version of Linux called Nova. Government officials say they want to ween as many of the country’s computers off Windows just in case the operating system has hidden hooks into the CIA, NSA, etc. Can’t have that, now can they? Linux, free and open source, also gels with the country’s ideology. Hooray for Cuba, then.

Cuba is set to get broadband internet access in the year 2010 and you can sure as hell bet that CrunchGear will more than happy to provide Cubans everywhere with half-cocked news and reviews that may or may not pertain to the world of technology.
Apparently, some documents have been leaked (site is currently down, unfortunately) detailing an undersea cable to be stretched between Cuba and Venezuela as a workaround to that pesky trade embargo that Uncle Sam’s handed down to our friends off the southern tip of Florida. Speaking of Florida, it’d be a lot easier and cheaper to stretch a cable from there to Cuba but, again, they’re in cahoots with the Soviets and they like communism and we don’t trade with communist countries except for China, Vietnam, and most of the others.
According to InformationWeek, “the Cuban government has estimated a Havana-Florida cable would cost $500,000” and it’s unknown how much the way-longer cable from Venezuela will cost. The leaked documents say that the new cable will be able to handle data, video, and VoIP services, though. You’ll recall that personal computers came to Cuba earlier this year along with cell phones. So things are looking up!
For the first time ever, Cuban citizens can purchase personal computers. There’s only one model available and it’s priced too high for most Cubans (and it’d seem like a downright rip-off to most Americans), but this is a good start nonetheless.
The computer is a QTECH PC and costs just under $800. It’s got a Celeron processor, 80GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, Windows XP, CRT monitor, and a DVD drive. By comparison, according to the Associated Press, “For about $80 less, buyers in the U.S. can get a desktop with more than twice the memory, an 80GB SATA hard drive and 22-inch LCD flat screen monitor.
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How fun does Cuba look? I’d visit it in a second.
Cubans can now buy cellphones! That means they’re well on their way to becoming a member of the international community of nations, right? Baby steps.
Yup, starting today, everyday Cubans can purchase cellphones from the state-owned wireless provider. The cellphones are said to be restriction-free, as they’re able to make international calls just fine. Unfortunately, Reuters reports, the phones cost the equivalent of nine months of wages. So, either their phones are really expensive, or Cubans are able to live on a very small income. My guess, having only studied the country sporadically, is that the latter is true.
It’s all part of Raúl Castro’s plan to ease some of the restrictions placed upon the Cuban people by his brother Fidel. You may have heard of him. Cubans started buying DVD players last month, for example.
Sounds like a hell of an opportunity to sell hot ringtonezzz, though.