tagged w/ Communications
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Waking Up in a City Without Newspapers
While Papers Never Made it to Many Parts of Manhattan, News Coverage Was Plentiful
By: Matthew Flamm Published: October 30, 2012
For a media-saturated, always-connected city, the aftermath of Sandy has in some ways been stranger than the storm.
There were no newspapers on newsstands -- if newsstands were open -- across large portions of the city on Tuesday, reported Crain's New York Business. (New York1's Pat Kiernan had to read from the website of Washington, D.C.'s Newseum for his popular "In the Papers" segment.) And mainly because of power outages in parts of Brooklyn and most of lower Manhattan, there were some 245,000 Time Warner Cable customers without service, according to a spokesman.
On Queens and Long Island, there were "widespread service interruptions " for Cablevision subscribers, according to the company.
Some prominent New York-based websites, including Gawker Media and The Huffington Post, went down because of damage to their servers. Both continued limited operations, however, and Huff Post was back up by early Tuesday afternoon.
Even radio, normally the surest bet for keeping in touch during a disaster, suffered from the storm. WNYC's AM transmitter, located in Kearney, N.J., got knocked out of commission Monday evening when the region flooded, and it was still not functioning on Tuesday (the station's FM transmitter, atop the Empire State Building, was fine).
Like everything else with Sandy, the media disruption was uneven. Bridge and tunnel closures blocked delivery of The New York Times in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, a spokeswoman said. But trucks were able to get through to parts of Queens, Long Island and Brooklyn from the paper's printing plant in College Point, Queens.
Time Warner Cable also surprised customers in western Brooklyn by restoring service to that region early Tuesday morning. They had lost power Monday night when massive flooding hit a cable hub, but workers gained access to the site sometime after four a.m., and were able to activate backup generators.
"We were already positioned in the boroughs and New Jersey, because we knew we wouldn't be able to move around" after the storm hit, a spokesman explained.
Residents in neighborhoods without power had their own ways to keep up with the news and stay connected. David Katz, a paralegal whose home on East 6th Street and Avenue D went dark Monday night, has been listening to 1010 WINS and CBS News 880 -- on his iPhone.
"I have a radio somewhere," he said during a telephone interview as he headed to his car. He was planning to recharge his phone's fading battery.Waking Up in a City Without Newspapers
While Papers Never Made it to Many Parts of... more
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Without even the faintest toot of a fanfare, President Barack Obama has issued an Executive Order that outlines an extreme level of communications preparedness in case of crisis or emergency, including the ability to take over any communication network, including the internet.Without even the faintest toot of a fanfare, President Barack Obama has issued an... more
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Most people go through life simply repeating what they are told to believe. Watch as author David Icke illustrates how the elites design our reality through an intricate system of controlled mass communicationsMost people go through life simply repeating what they are told to believe. Watch as... more
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Kim DotCom isn't too big to cry.
In court yesterday, the MegaUpload founder choked up when he recalled how New Zealand police in January raided the Auckland mansion where he lived and when, as his lawyer, said he was "ripped him away from his family." The U.S. Attorney's office accuses MegaUpload of being a front for a massive piracy operation and lawyers there are trying to extradite him to this country to face criminal copyright, money laundering and wire fraud charges.
MegaUpload was one of the Web's most popular cyberlocker services before U.S. authorities shut it down. The U.S. government is trying to send a message that turning a blind eye to piracy can land site operators in jail. Critics say U.S officials are overreaching and at most the case is a civil dispute.
Back in court, as DotCom was tearing up, his lawyers seethed. DotCom, who has denied being a pirate, was in a New Zealand courtroom Wednesday seeking a judicial review of the search warrants served on him and MegaUpload. His attorneys argued that New Zealand authorities illegally seized data that wasn't relevant to the case and DotCom wants some of his possessions returned, according to Ira Rothken, the U.S.-based lawyer leading DotCom's worldwide defense.
But that's only one part of the U.S. government effort that has angered the DotCom side. According to Rothken, when DotCom's lawyers asked authorities to give them a copy of the data taken from him, they learned that New Zealand officials had shipped the information to the FBI for analysis.
Paul Davison, DotCom's lead attorney in New Zealand, told the media that he was assured by authorities that none of the data seized would leave the country without warning. Without the data, DotCom can't properly defend himself, his attorneys argue, and they feel betrayed.
"The court will determine whether the United States and New Zealand had the authorization to remove data from New Zealand absent a court order," Rothken told CNET. "This is a serious international issue and we believe it requires proportional remedy... It seems as though the United States is trying to win on tactics rather than on merits."
Some of the data seized from DotCom's personal computers was also encrypted and authorities have asked him for the passwords. He has refused to hand them over.
"On certain conditions, Kim DotCom would consider supplying them," Rothken said. "But not when data was secreted away from New Zealand, away from a New Zealand court and judicial supervision. His password on some of the data is his only protection against unreasonable intrusion."
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57440794-93/kim-dotcom-case-sees-tears-claims-of-betrayal/
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This is going to be a significant case for the future of communication and privacy laws, if anybody cares...Kim DotCom isn't too big to cry.
In court yesterday, the MegaUpload founder... more
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The FCC has now failed twice at producing good broadband data. Time to give someone else a try.
By Benjamin Lennett and Sascha Meinrath slate Magazine
Why is it so incredibly difficult to figure out how much of the nation has access to affordable broadband? For the past 15 years, the Federal Communications Commission has been required by law to collect data on high-speed Internet access. For the most part that information has been fairly useless for the public or even for policy types. Up until recently, for example, a telecom company only needed to serve one customer in a ZIP code to get credit for serving everyone. Even so, good luck figuring out which company it was; the FCC's report scrubbed the names of the actual providers. In essence, the FCC was going out of its way to prevent useful information from being publicly released. Attempts by public interest and consumer advocates to get the FCC to release this information repeatedly failed.
So in 2009, the stimulus act allotted an additional $350 million to give the FCC another chance to gather this information and present it in an understandable way. That project, the National Broadband Map, was released last February, and it's a least an improvement over the old effort. But it didn't require all that money to make this happen. All the FCC really had to do to produce virtually the same map was ask better questions in its existing survey of telecom companies and release more of the data. Instead, taxpayers had to fork out another few hundred million in grants to collect much of the same data a second time.
Fortunately, there are ways to collect even better information that are much cheaper and don't require bureaucratic soul-searching. At the New America Foundation, where we both work, we've partnered with the Planet Lab Consortium and Google to offer a tool that lets anyone measure the performance of his or her broadband connection, called Measurement Lab. To date, people have run this test more than a half-billion times, giving us 300 Terabytes of data to work with. (That's more than 150,000 iPod shuffles.) We make all this data public, allowing people to see actual broadband speeds and compare them among countries, U.S. states, and cities.
There are a few reasons why this approach is superior to the FCC's efforts. While the National Broadband Map does offer a snapshot in time of where broadband is and where it isn't, you have to take what you see with a big grain of salt. In much same way that the coverage maps provided by cell phone companies are notoriously inaccurate, the map's information often fails to reflect on-the-ground realities. For example, the FCC reported in its National Broadband Plan that only 4 percent of the country has access to more than two landline-based broadband providers. But users who search the map for broadband service providers at their home address may be surprised find that they potentially have dozens of options. You get these bogus results for two reasons. First, the map relies heavily on self-reported data by the providers, who often paint their coverage areas with a broad brush. Second, it merges residential and business class services, so even if no residential options are available, your area may be considered covered. Together, these shortcomings give the impression of a market filled with lots of choices for consumers.
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What's worse is what the map excludes. The information you get provides the name of the provider and a range of their fastest advertised speed offerings. But anyone who's ever checked their connection speed knows that real-life speeds tend to be substantially lower than what you're paying for. In the U.K., for example, Ofcom—the equivalent of the FCC—found that actual speeds were systematically half the advertised speeds. Even more puzzlingly, the map offers no information about price. According to the FCC's own research, cost is cited among the top issues for not adopting broadband at home. Thus, one would expect the National Broadband Map to provide this critically important piece of information. It doesn't. (more at link to Slate)The FCC has now failed twice at producing good broadband data. Time to give someone... more
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By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
As the Great Blizzard of 2010 blanketed New York City, most residents were blissfully unaware that their city’s 911 system was on the brink of collapse. The system fielded 50,000 calls in a single day, and at one point the backlog swelled to 1,300 calls. The mayor was called to account for the slow service and promised that it wouldn’t happen again.
But David Rosen and Bruce Kushnick report in AlterNet that New York’s close call is an example of a much broader and deeper problem. Cash-strapped state and local governments are raiding funds set aside for 911 service, and the system is hurting badly:
Hundreds of millions of dollars are collected annually by states and localities to support 911 services and much of it is diverted to plug state budget holes and meet a host of other demands. Most disturbing, 911 services are technologically bankrupt, held together by duct-tape and workarounds.
States siphoned nearly $400 million earmarked for 911 between 2001 and 2004. The law demands that the money, raised by a tax on every phone line, has to be set aside for 911-related services. Some states fudge the definition of “911-related” to fund things that had nothing to do with emergency services, like raises for courthouse staffers. Others just brazenly redirected the money into their general funds. New York collected $82.1 million in 911 taxes on phone lines in 2007, but only 19 cents out of the $1.20 monthly fee was spent on 911.
At least New York can account for its misdirected funds. South Dakota simply has no idea where its 911 money went, Rosen and Kushnick report.
Walker: Hurry up and die
Seemingly determined to cast himself as a Dickensian villain, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker presented a budget last week that would slash millions in funding for health care for the poor and the elderly. However, as I reported in Working in These Times, Walker recommended an increase in funding for a program that buries Wisconsinites who die destitute.
Medicaid roulette
Some governors are clamoring for more control over Medicaid, the joint state/federal health insurance program for the poor, Suzy Khimm reports for Mother Jones. Currently, Medicaid funding is allocated primarily by a matching system, with the federal government kicking in a certain number of dollars for every dollar the state spends. The states must abide by federal rules in order to qualify. Now, some Republican governors want to see Medicaid funding doled out in block grants. The states would get a fixed amount of money, which they could spend as they saw fit.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the fourth highest-ranking Republican in the House, is a leading proponent of this new scheme. She claims it would increase “flexibility” for states. In this case, flexibility is a euphemism for “massive cuts.” Washington’s Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, has already convinced the Obama administration to exempt her state from certain Medicaid rules. McMorris Rodgers applauds the move.
Crisis Propaganda Centers
New York City City passed a landmark “truth in advertising” bill last Wednesday that would force so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to disclose that they are not health care facilities. CPCs are anti-choice ministries posing as reproductive health clinics. Among other things, the law will require city CPCs to inform potential clients that they do not refer for abortions or emergency contraception, Noelle Williams reports for the Ms. Magazine blog.
The logic of our sex laws
The cover story of this month’s Washington Monthly is a provocative analysis of Dan Savage, America’s most influential sex advice columnist, as an ethicist of contemporary sexual mores. The author, Benjamin J. Dueholm, is a Lutheran pastor and a longtime fan of Savage’s syndicated column “Savage Love.” Dueholm does a good job of summarizing some of the core principles of Savage’s ethos: disclosure, autonomy, mutual pleasure, and personal commitment to achieving sexual competence. His central critique is that Savage’s attitude is too consumerist and businesslike.
I would argue that there’s nothing inherently capitalist about Savage’s ethics. Yes, Savage’s ideal sexual world is based on consensual, mutually beneficial exchanges, like an idealized free market–but that doesn’t mean that realizing one’s sexual identity, or finding true love, is on par with picking a brand of laundry detergent. In consumerism, the customer is always right. Savage is constantly urging his readers to be active participants in a mutually satisfying sex life, not passive consumers who expect their partners to cater to them without giving anything in return.
USDA hearts Michael Pollan
Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issues guidelines for healthy eating. Parke Wilde of Grist explains why this year’s edition is, in many ways, a radical and surprising document:
The new edition has a fascinating chapter on eating patterns, focusing on real foods and not just nutrients. This chapter on eating patterns provides a nice counterpoint to the reductionism — what Michael Pollan calls “nutritionism” — of scientific discussion of diet and health. The guidelines’ healthy eating patterns may or may not include meat. For example, the USDA Food Patterns and the DASH diet each include moderate amounts of meat and plenty of low-fat dairy. At the same time, the guidelines explain clearly that meat is not essential, and near-vegetarian and vegetarian diets are adequate and even “have been associated with improved health outcomes.”
This is a big departure for an agency that has historically been criticized for acting as a propaganda outlet for the livestock and dairy industries. But Wilde notes that, despite its enlightened discussion of the perils of “nutritionism,” the USDA hasn’t broken the habit of referring to nutrients rather than foods. The guidelines still recommend that Americans eat less saturated fat, without dwelling at length on which foods actually contribute most of the saturated fat to the American diet.
As nutritionist Marion Nestle explains in her seminal book, Food Politics, this mealy-mouthed advice is measured to avoid offending any lobby group that might take offense at the suggestion that Americans eat less of their product. There is no saturated fat lobby, but there are plenty of lobby groups representing the interests of industries tied to the major sources of saturated fat in the American diet, which include cheese, pizza, bakery products, ice cream, chicken, and burgers.
This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about health care by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Pulse for a complete list of articles on health care reform, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.By Lindsay Beyerstein, Media Consortium blogger
As the Great Blizzard of 2010... more
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The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say.
The eruption is a so-called X-flare, the strongest type; such flares can affect communications on Earth.
Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation emanating from a sunspot.
The British Geological Survey (BGS) has issued a geomagnetic storm warning, and says observers might be able to see aurorae from the northern UK.
The eruptions are expected to hit the Earth's magnetic field field over the next couple of days, causing an increase in geomagnetic activity.
The monster flare was recorded at 0156 GMT on 15 February and directed at the Earth. According to the US space agency, the source of this activity - sunspot 1158 - is growing rapidly.
Solar flares are caused by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the Sun's atmosphere.
Preliminary data from the Stereo-B and Soho spacecraft suggest that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright coronal mass ejection (CME) - a burst of charged particles released into space.
The unpredictable activity on the Sun can interfere with modern technology on Earth, such as electrical power grids, communications systems and satellites - including the satellite navigation (or sat-nav) signals used on Earth.
more at link...The Sun has unleashed its strongest flare in four years, observers say.
The... more
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As experienced by lots of mobile phone users, Telecom Industry has been creating a menace through the growing number of Unsolicited Commercial Communications (promotional SMS and Calls).
:http://www.breakingnewsonline.net/technology/6648-trai-issues-new-sms-guidelines.htmlAs experienced by lots of mobile phone users, Telecom Industry has been creating a... more
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For a long time now I have been intrigued by the work of Studio Total and their work in communication, PR and advertising and especially their unconventional and highly successful methods using viral marketing and/or guerrilla campaigns.For a long time now I have been intrigued by the work of Studio Total and their work... more
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2,048 companies from around the world have been expelled from the United Nations Global Compact for repeated failure to communicate on progress in integrating the initiative’s ten sustainability principles into their strategies and operations.
The number was reached following the recent expulsion of more than 200 companies at the end of a 2010 moratorium on expulsions in less developed countries, a short-term measure to explore solutions to a systemic lack of disclosure in certain markets. (See the list of expelled companies: http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/news_events/9.1_news_archives/2011_01_20/Expelled_List_2011_01_20.pdf).
The Global Compact requires participating businesses to communicate every year with stakeholders on their progress in integrating the ten principles. Companies that do not issue a Communication on Progress (COP) for two consecutive years face expulsion and must reapply for participation in the initiative.
http://3blmedia.com/theCSRfeed/Number-Expelled-Companies-Reaches-2000-Global-Compact-Strengthens-Disclosure-Framework2,048 companies from around the world have been expelled from the United Nations... more
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Squared-jawed, with four stars decorating each shoulder, General Keith Alexander looks like a character straight out of an old American war movie. But his old-fashioned appearance belies the fact that the general has a new job that is so 21st-century it could have been dreamed up by a computer games designer. Alexander is the first boss of USCybercom, the United States Cyber Command, in charge of the Pentagon’s sprawling cyber networks and tasked with battling unknown enemies in a virtual world. http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/7125-cyber-commandSquared-jawed, with four stars decorating each shoulder, General Keith Alexander looks... more
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Talking Tree highlights awareness of urgent environmental issues for the planet in real time, 24/7
www.talking-tree.com |
twitter: @eostalkingtree |
www.happiness-brussels.com |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgBPxmn-dG0 |
Happiness Brussels, the ‘everything and everyone is media’ agency, has unveiled “Talking Tree”, an integrated campaign for leading popular science magazine EOS.
Working on the idea that everybody has an opinion on climate change - but what about the opinion of Nature? Happiness decided to give an interesting and intelligent voice to one tree in Brussels. The tree, living in Bois de la Cambre, one of the finest public parks in the heart of Brussels, has been “brought to life” to become the communications centre of the campaign.
The campaign will engage the magazine’s diverse audiences in a debate on urgent environmental issues including climate change and invite users to take action to reduce their ecological footprint.
The Talking Tree will share its feelings and sensory perceptions of the state of its environment through words, sound and vision in real time, 24/7 across several online platforms including Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud, YouTube and Flickr. All the action is also assimilated on a campaign website and the Tree’s control room at www.talking-tree.com
To drive the conversation the Talking Tree will benefit from a whole range of accessories on which to draw for information to start and continue conversations with people; a CO2 meter, pH meter, a small wind turbine, webcam, DB-meter, accelerometer, infrared camera and a thermometer. The information will be processed by bespoke software and converted into phrases expressing the tree’s feelings and experiences based on the environmental conditions such as: “I’m feeling really dizzy today, there are too many cars going by”, “The air is getting a bit dirty. Do me a favour, take your bike” and “This ozone concentration makes it difficult to do my job”. The tree will also post sound bites, photos and videos.
The viral strategy, social media outreach and the activated broader environments, are all aimed at opinion leaders to influence their followers to sign up to the Talking Tree on Twitter. From gadget lovers to tree-huggers, there will be something of interest for everyone. This will be supported by print ads in magazines and newspapers and email marketing.
A campaign on EOS outlets will be underpinned with advertising on national and regional newspapers and glossy magazines including De Standaard, Gazet von Antwerpen, PC Magazine and Scientific American. The print visual features The Tree with an invitation to “add as a friend”.
A 30 second and 90 second “making of” videos will be seeded online across technology, gadget, design, ecology and entertainment websites and blogs.
The campaign will culminate with an EOS “Low Impact Month” in November 2010 designed to encourage additional effort in reducing personal environmental footprints. Users can measure their carbon footprint using ECOLife, a footprint calculator and sign up to receive a roadmap on how to shrink their footprint by adapting their food, mobility, heating, electricity, waste and water consumption.
Gregory Titeca, creative director and head of R&D at Happiness Brussels, said: “Talking Tree has its roots in a powerful idea about highlighting a major environmental challenge in a unique way. The successful combination of a myriad of technologies and communications channels to make this happen is the product of the idea – not the other way round, and this is something we are extremely passionate about. The technology and channels allow the Tree to start and continue its discussions not only in the target markets, but also with people from around the world. Thanks to the Talking Tree, nature has now been given an intelligent voice.”
Koen De Buck, commercial director at EOS Magazine, said: “We are hugely excited about the impetus that Talking Tree will have both on generating interest in EOS but more importantly on a matter of significance that concerns us all. Nature is suffering from pollution in our cities and by letting everyone know exactly how the Tree is feeling about the world around it today, it will get people thinking about Nature’s viewpoint on how we are treating the world we share.”
“We wanted to move away from the traditional monologue advertising and create something that would enable us to add value and engage our readers on a common journey to reduce our footprints through a platform they are familiar with, like and trust.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-i6TS6VanoTalking Tree highlights awareness of urgent environmental issues for the planet in... more
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The way neurons communicate could inspire the next generation of computers.Researchers are developing novel computers by mimicking the way that neurons are built and how they talk to each other.
link :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10685138The way neurons communicate could inspire the next generation of computers.Researchers... more
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Two top Democratic legislators said Monday that they would begin a process to modernize telecommunications laws that were last overhauled in 1996 but barely mention the Internet.
link:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/technology/25broadband.html?ref=technologyTwo top Democratic legislators said Monday that they would begin a process to... more
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No, your eyes aren’t fooling you, Li, Inc. have updated their website for 2010. Contained in this post is a generous selection of exclusive and hi-res imagery, which comes courtesy of the lovely Bettina over @Li, Inc.No, your eyes aren’t fooling you, Li, Inc. have updated their website for 2010.... more
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On March 18, 2010, Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School and ASM President, gave a presentation to a group of graduate and postdoctoral students on why scientists need to be able to communicate effectively. This talk opened up the 2010 ASM Scientific Writing and Publishing Institute that was held at ASM Headquarters in Washington, DC on March 18 - 21, 2010.
The Institute provides four days of hands-on intensive training in scientific writing and publishing under the mentorship of ASM Journal editors and reviewers. Groups of four to six participants are paired with one experienced mentor from their field to provide individual critique and resources.
Every year the American Society for Microbiology offers several graduate and postdoctoral level programs that provide professional skills development in grantsmanship, scientific presentations, scientific publishing, teaching and mentoring, scientific ethics, career planning, and networking. For more information visit ASM's Graduate and Postdoctoral Opportunities website at asmgap.org.On March 18, 2010, Roberto Kolter, Harvard Medical School and ASM President, gave a... more
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Hundreds of computer geeks, most of them students putting themselves through college, crammed into three floors of an office building in an industrial section of Ukraine's capital Kiev, churning out code at a frenzied pace. They were creating some of the world's most pernicious, and profitable, computer viruses.
According to court documents, former employees and investigators, a receptionist greeted visitors at the door of the company, known as Innovative Marketing Ukraine. Communications cables lay jumbled on the floor and a small coffee maker sat on the desk of one worker. ... http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/286-inside-a-global-cybercrime-ringHundreds of computer geeks, most of them students putting themselves through college,... more
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Jamaica media services along with daily news headlines of Jamaica. In-depth coverage for online business reviews, business interviews, special reports, videos, blogs, photo gallery, lifestyle news coverage and other business content.Jamaica media services along with daily news headlines of Jamaica. In-depth coverage... more
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