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Roku Express will be available in Canada in November
Canada is getting a new version of the Roku Express, the company announced today. The tiny device, which is aimed at consumers new to streaming, is five times more powerful than its predecessor. It was unveiled on October 2nd as a part of Roku's refreshed lineup. It will retail for $40 and will be available starting in November.
'Pokémon Go' battery saver mode will return to iOS soon
Day by day Niantic Labs keeps tweaking its incredibly popular game, and now Pokémon Go is rolling out to players across Central and South America. No matter where you're trying to catch 'em all, if you're on iOS you can expect the"battery saver" mode to return in the next several days. According to a Facebook post it was pulled because of bugs, but now that they're fixed it's coming back.
Explore Machu Picchu's Inca remains through Street View
Google's Street View "Trekker" backpacks sure get around. After snapping the British Museum and the ancient city of Petra, they've now been to Machu Picchu in Peru. It's an iconic peak rising 2,430 meters (7,970 feet) above sea level, where travellers can gaze upon the remains of the Inca Empire. With Street View, you can take the trip from the comfort of your living room, picking through the crumbling walls and soaking up the various temples, terraces and plazas at your own pace. It's an architectural marvel and as you would expect, Google's stitched panoramas do a good job of capturing the atmosphere. Useful if you're a history teacher, or just trying to persuade your significant other to take a vacation there.
Facebook's Instant Articles come to Latin America
Facebook's Instant Articles haven't been available in many parts of the world so far, but that's improving today. The social network's speedier, simpler reading feature has launched on iOS devices in Latin America, initially pulling in content from 40 sites across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. You'll have to wait until sometime in the "coming weeks" to catch up on news from your Android phone, but there's now at least one way to keep up with Interactive Sport and Telemundo while you're scanning your Facebook feed.
A single Google balloon delivered internet from Chile to Australia
It's been interesting watching Google's Project Loon progress, and the latest test run for the balloon-based internet service is perhaps the most impressive. A single balloon recently launched from New Zealand and traveled some 5,500 miles (9,000 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to Chile where Google started putting it through its paces. Once in the South American country's airspace, Project Loon members issued a command for the balloon to change altitude and hit a wind pattern that caused it to cut its 80 KPH (almost 50 MPH) speed by a quarter. That gave the ground team a chance to use smartphones to test the airborne LTE network's mettle.
Google Street View cameras zip through (and over) the Amazon
Google already has some odd ways of getting its Street View cameras into hard-to-reach places, but its latest effort might just take the cake. The search firm has posted panoramic imagery of the Amazon rainforest that, at some points, was taken by Trekker cameras ziplining through the canopy -- yes, you'll get a view that even locals won't usually see. There are some down-to-Earth sights, too, including snapshots from rivers and remote villages. Between this and recent collaborative mapping projects, you may end up learning a surprising amount about the Amazon without setting foot in South America.
Collaborative mapping project will chart the Amazon's rivers
Crowdsourced mapping efforts are helpful in many places, but they're most useful in corners of the globe where even the professional maps are incomplete -- you can address gaps in coverage that might be difficult for distant observers to fill. And OpenStreetMap knows it. The community-driven site has just launched Mapazonia, a project that asks you to help chart the Amazon's rivers and roads. It's not expecting comprehensive data when the area spans 2.1 million square miles, but it believes that your first-hand knowledge could put missing towns on the map and fix inaccuracies in the shoreline.
Books come to Google Play in five South American countries
Google Play Books' expansion tour has just made an important stop in South America. As of today, bookworms in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela can browse Google's virtual shelves from Android, iOS or the web. The wider access sadly doesn't include movies, music or periodicals, but locals who want to read up on everything from Machu Picchu to Medellin should be happy.
iBookstore lines its shelves with paid content in New Zealand, 17 Latin American countries
iDevice owners in New Zealand and 17 Latin American countries are no longer restricted to a diet composed of free content when it comes to their respective iBookstores. A quick search of the storefronts will reveal virtual shelves stocked with paid-content that haven't yet found their way to the shops' homepages. Reside in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru or Venezuela? Head on over to the appropriate store and books with price tags will be available for purchase. If this is any sign of what Apple has up its sleeve for tomorrow, we suspect that "a little more" will involve a bit of reading.
Colombia to start testing 700MHz LTE, joins a Latin American trend in 4G
Those in the US can brag about having the range, indoor friendliness and other advantages of 700MHz LTE, but few other countries have that edge so far: Latin Americans who have any LTE at all usually have to contend with less tolerant 2.6GHz bands. Colombia isn't happy with that state of affairs, and its National Spectrum Agency is spearheading a rapidly growing 4G movement in the region by testing 700MHz LTE between the fall and winter. Its strategy echoes proposals from Brazil and Mexico that will use the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity band plan, providing more efficient airwaves as well as wider device and network coverage. It will take beyond early 2013 before Colombia and its neighbors are actively using 700MHz bands -- the digital TV transition is one of the bigger obstacles -- but there's desires for a fast-track spectrum handout that could bring blazing speeds to Bogota before too long. [Image credit: Kinori, Wikipedia]
Spotify accounts tip Canada launch, possibly expanding to Asia and South America
It's the question we get asked every time we post about Spotify -- when is the music streaming service coming to Canada? There was little doubt the company was looking at our neighbors to the north, it always just seemed like a matter of when. No firm dates here, but accounts published by Spotify that have been obtained by The Wall Street Journal seem to confirm those intentions, adding that it's also looking to expand its footprint into "countries in Asia and South America." The service is currently available in 15 countries.
Google Street View expands to cover swaths of Brazil and Mexican ruins, won't substitute for a vacation
For a country that dominates the Latin American landscape, Brazil hasn't had much of a presence in Google Street View outside of major cities like Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo. A fresh update to Street View coverage has just gone live that fleshes out the more far-flung corners of the map. It's now possible to see what it's like on the ground in much of the southern tip of the country as well as the northern coastline. Further north, Mexicans get their own treat: Google is now providing the panoramic views for ancient ruins such as Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, just in case you'd rather not try to blend in with all the other tourists. The widened reach is undoubtedly no match for booking a flight and visiting in person, but it will save you the trouble of brushing up on your Portugese or ancient Mayan.
As others leave, Lenovo reportedly plans $30 million factory for Brazil
While HTC might be closing its doors in South America, there's still plenty more companies looking to set up shop. The latest addition appears to be Lenovo, which, according to ZTOP, is readying blueprints for a 325,000-square meter site in São Paulo. The factory will apparently recruit up to 700 locals when it reaches full capacity. While the company only has a minor market share at the moment, Brazil looks likely to be another growth market and perhaps success in South America will be enough to claim the PC-making top spot.
LTE arrives in Colombia, stays for the coffee
Citizens of Colombia have yet another reason to be proud this week, as LTE connectivity is now part of the nation's infrastructure. State-owned telecom UNE EPM has officially flipped the 4G switch for Bogota and Medelin, and plans to bring similar LTE services to residents of Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena and Bucaramanga in the near future. If all goes well, UNE EPM hopes to provide LTE coverage for 90% of Colombia's population by year's end. The carrier is now offering both 6GB and 12GB data packages to its post-paid subscribers starting at $89,900 COP ($50 USD) per month, which include data caps of 10Mbps. Meanwhile, prepaid users may choose between 1.2GB, 4GB and 8GB of data usage. Full PR follows the break, though you'll have to excuse the computer translation. [Thanks, Paul]
New iPad to hit 30 more countries this weekend, work on its tan
The corners of the Earth that don't have a new iPad have been quickly shrinking, and Apple's tablet is about to get nigh-on inescapable as of this weekend. A round of 23 more countries is getting the 2012 refresh on May 11, most of it being South American countries such as Foxconn's new manufacturing hub, Brazil. Parts of Africa and southeast Asia will be served as well, such as the home of our favorite unofficial hands-on sessions, Vietnam. Seven Persian Gulf countries will get their Retina Display fix one day later. By the time the weekend is up, the iPad will be available in nearly 90 countries on this planet, which makes it highly likely that anyone reading this article can find the slate in a local retail store.
Walmart to unleash its Vudu magic on South America, Europe, Asia
Walmart's Vudu service will be dipping a toe in foreign waters for the first time, with a planned expansion that could see it landing in as many as 30 new countries. Mexico will be the first to get the service -- some time in June -- before it continues in a southerly direction toward other Latin American states. The rest of the expansion will cover Europe (including the UK and Ireland) and Asia, but won't happen until later on in the year. While Netflix has already beaten a path away from US shores, Walmart clearly hopes its strong retail presence (5000 stores in 26 countries) will help it earn more than just a tourist visa.
Apple sees 'huge opportunity' in Brazil
Apple's next emerging market might not be in Asia, but in South America. During the company's recent earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook identified Brazil as one of Apple's future growth areas. "I think there's a huge opportunity for us there, and we've more than begun to go deeper into Brazil," Cook said. "But I don't want to signal that that means that Apple retail will be there, because I don't envision that occurring in the near term." As noted by GigaOm, Brazil is an extremely populous country with over 200 million people, and its economy is the best in all of South America. Per capita income in Brazil isn't great compared to the US, but it compares quite favorably against China, which has been Apple's biggest international success story thus far. One potential sticking point exists for increasing Apple's Brazilian sales, however. Currently, Brazilians pay some of the highest prices in the world for Apple gear. At launch, an unsubsidized 16 GB iPhone 4S cost the equivalent of more than US$1,400 in Brazil, compared to $849 for a 64 GB model in the US. Those breathtakingly high prices may be due to a number of factors, including Brazil's high import duties, but if Apple is going to attempt to get the kind of traction in Brazil it's seen in China, those prices are going to have to drop significantly.
Alcatel-Lucent plants two flags in Latin American soil: LTE and 100Gb/s cable
Not content with newly arrived iTunes and Netflix, Latin America's growing population of web aficionados are seeing some major investment in high-speed internet services too. Alcatel-Lucent says it's won contracts to provide infrastructure for the region's first LTE network -- in Uruguay, to be precise -- as well as the first 100Gb/s optical cable network, which will soon be streaming telenovelas across Argentina. Welcome to the revolution, compañeros, and read on for the full PR.
Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 to get limited Latin American release in early 2012
If you're lucky enough to call Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico or Puerto Rico home, and have been craving a bit of Nokia Lumia love, then felicidades! Señor Elop himself announced the 800 and 710 will be lighting up faces in a store near you from Q1 next year. Speaking from Sao Paulo, the Nokia CEO confirmed that both Windows Phone models would get a run out in the above countries, with production taking place in Brazil. Interestingly other large markets, like Argentina and Venezuela, didn't get a name call as one of the lucky countries, but you can bet your bottom peso though it won't be long before this is rectified. Hit up the source link for more info, en Español.
Brazil wants to build South American broadband network, says it will bring down costs
A pan-South American broadband network: It sounds rather ambitious, but that's exactly what Brazil proposed yesterday, during a meeting of the continent's communications ministers. In an address to his colleagues, Brazil's Paulo Bernardo called for the creation of "a ring of South American fiber optic networks" encompassing the entire continent. This "South American solution," he added, would lower the costs of internet and mobile access across the region, benefiting consumers and ISPs alike. "Connection costs for South American users represent on average between 35 and 40 percent of the total price of the service," the minister explained. "An Internet provider in South America pays, in the best of cases, three times more for the connection than in the United States. This situation must change urgently." Bernardo estimates that the initiative would cost about $60 million and could be completed within two years, though it'll likely have to jump through a few more hoops before nearing reality.
