Trini TechCast

Welcome back to the show, where the big travel news is that Trinidad and Tobago have finally said goodbye to the tiny pen and the endless paper trail, moving their arrival and departure forms fully online. Honestly, it's about time we stopped wrestling with carbon copies in the airplane seat and embraced this glorious, long-overdue digital leap forward.

Article: https://newsday.co.tt/2025/12/21/trinidad-and-tobagos-arrival-departure-forms-go-online/

So, the big news is First Citizens has finally launched Google Pay in Trinidad and Tobago, making them the first to bring this kind of contactless payment to credit card holders locally. Their CEO is clearly pushing hard on digital transformation, basically telling customers to put the physical wallet down and tap that phone, which signals a major shift toward modern payment systems for the country.

Article: https://www.guardian.co.tt/business/first-citizens-rolls-out-google-pay-6.2.2463839.c6551f2906

Apparently, it’s still a struggle to track more than one user query over time in Search Console without resorting to some fancy regex, but the bigger issue might be AI. Everyone's building tools to generate complex SQL or SPARQL queries from natural language, but remember that time when some LLMs were just hallucinating article summaries by reading the URL? We're not quite out of the woods yet with these things.

Article: https://data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/1926661#graph

Intro:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=tj_8u2c_v_06cp8a&t=815

Andre's 1st prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=1ipo7PoRRgVCjFBC&t=877

Andre's 2nd prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=eICngbn9MK1T2g7k&t=964

Akeem's 1st prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=fct6ake_kWg2p5kG&t=1012

Akeem's 2nd prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=QOTARy8syE3AOrFv&t=1041

Akeem's 3rd prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=xhF_Lwei_wTT3Z0p&t=1124

Andre's 3rd prediction:

https://youtu.be/MZLfgk-_ROE?si=u-KYRcymGHjAr-hz&t=1163

Year in Recap

So, the big news this week is that Trinidad and Tobago is teaming up with the UAE to finally get serious about their digital future—because apparently, 'connected, efficient, and inclusive' isn't just something you hope for, it's something you sign a document for. We're thinking this MoU is the government's way of saying they're ready to make technology a catalyst for growth, or as we like to call it, 'Operation Get Everyone Online.

Article: https://newsday.co.tt/2025/11/18/trinidad-and-tobago-signs-mou-with-uae-to-accelerate-digital-future/

So, Denmark is apparently stepping up to save our digital selves, proposing a law that basically says "hands off my face and voice, AI!" It looks like they’re trying to give every citizen copyright control over their own identity—because, you know, we have enough problems without a deepfake version of us running around committing digital crimes.

Article: https://apnews.com/article/denmark-deepfakes-artificial-intelligence-ai-law-30ab245dbca6ec834d20738e27fb93c3

Can you believe Google finally cracked AirDrop with Quick Share, meaning Pixel 10 owners can swap files with iPhones, iPads, and Macs? Yeah, but the real issue is that, for now, you still have to set your AirDrop to 'Everyone for 10 minutes,' so much for seamless cross-platform sharing... for *everyone*

Article: https://www.theverge.com/news/825228/iphone-airdrop-android-quick-share-pixel-10

Well, it sounds like the payments industry has its hands full, dealing with everything from 'Oh no, not another regulation!' to trying to get the public to actually trust the new digital wallet they downloaded," one host might say. "And don't even get us started on the headache of legacy infrastructure and making sure all these global transactions actually talk to each other—it's a digital Wild West out there, folks.

Article: https://www.facebook.com/PaymentInnovationTT/posts/pfbid0HzCMBXFqscw9TBbbcQWWxRh6WFptJjuUBysJ8t49hbyqxT7Y6EqdDP9yqEGsqTaDl?rdid=IX0IccUxADWzSUFG#

Okay, so Apple released this new 'iPhone Pocket' with designer Issey Miyake—a strap inspired by a piece of cloth—and people are absolutely losing it over the fact that this thing costs up to $230. Seriously, it’s being called an insanely expensive sock and compared to Borat's swimwear, which really raises the question of whether this low-tech fashion accessory is worth its hefty price tag.

Article: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/11/introducing-iphone-pocket-a-beautiful-way-to-wear-and-carry-iphone/

So, the big news this week is Education Minister Dr. Michael Dowlath's announcement that the government is finally rolling out those AI-enabled laptops for secondary students by the end of November—you know, the ones we've been hearing about forever." "I'm just hoping these things actually get to the kids on time and that 'AI-enabled' isn't just a fancy way of saying they come with a working search engine, because we all remember past distribution hiccups.

Article: https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/minister-aienabled-laptops-coming-by-end-of-november-6.2.2439275.b242c7e6b6

So, the EU is out here funding a solar power project at the Office of the Prime Minister in Trinidad and Tobago, which is a surprisingly proactive move toward green energy, even replacing an old, inefficient chiller. They're making strides to move past the oil and gas reliance, but you know some folks are probably still grumbling about the 'force-fed climate agenda,' even as the country tries to get a bit more sustainable.

Article: https://newsday.co.tt/2025/11/08/eu-funds-solar-power-project-at-office-of-prime-minister/

So, it sounds like the Take-Two CEO is super confident about the GTA 6 release date, but they're also stressing that a premature launch could be a total disaster, which is just classic Rockstar over-promise, under-deliver anxiety. It’s all about this couple, Jason and Lucia, whose criminal aspirations get them into deep trouble in Leonida, reminding us that even in Vice City, love and felony go hand-in-hand.

Article: https://www.ign.com/articles/take-two-ceo-is-highly-confident-on-new-gta-6-release-date-but-says-when-games-are-released-too-early-bad-things-happen

So, Minister Alexander is basically telling everyone to put down their phones and stop getting their news from "a whole bunch of rubbish" on social media because it's apparently causing real panic and confusion. He's seriously urging citizens, and even the media, to think critically because if something big was going down, he and the Minister of Defense wouldn't just be chilling in Parliament.

Article: https://newsday.co.tt/2025/11/02/alexander-warns-public-dont-rely-on-social-media-for-information/

"So, it looks like Republic Bank decided to hit the pause button on Endcash, leaving customers wondering what exactly went down with their digital wallet services, and we’re all thinking, 'Classic banking move, right?' It's a real head-scratcher how these temporary suspensions always seem to drop right when you need the service the most—guess they didn't get the memo on seamless transactions."

Article: https://trinidadexpress.com/business/local/republic-temporarily-suspends-endcash-services/article_5a4f33fb-8136-4544-9071-82a1f35e1c9f.html

I can't summarize an article without the actual content. Send over the article or video and we can dive into the major issues, because right now we're just staring at a link.

Article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3c4mQty_so

So, our big story today, the government is dropping a cool $146 million on a digital education drive to modernize classrooms by January—talk about a last-minute tech upgrade! And you've got to wonder if this "ambitious" plan will actually deliver, or if it's just another shiny new toy for the classroom.

Article: https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/govt-launches-146m-digital-drive-to-modernise-classrooms-6.2.2423707.17de0b8bdf

So, Trinidad and Tobago is finally getting its act together with fully online public services—we're talking about a significant leap towards digital government, folks. And get this, they're even eyeing a national digital ID, which, let's be honest, could either be incredibly convenient or just another thing to forget your password for.

Article: https://trinidadexpress.com/business/t-t-moves-closer-to-fully-online-public-services/article_7ae62bb1-c84b-4266-b82a-44ab333fde7f.html

"So, get this, folks – OpenAI just had to go and tease a browser launch, and what do you know? Alphabet's stock took a little dive. It seems like the tech giants are always keeping us on our toes with these announcements, eh?"

Article: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/21/openai-browser-alphabet-stock.html

CountmeinTT a simple tables game

How hard is it to build a website?

How technology should be used in education

So, get this, Jamaica's out here making waves by actually putting some rules around how AI can be used in their courts—pretty wild, right? It's almost like they're saying, "Hey, we love our tech, but let's not let it go full Skynet on us in legal matters."

Articles: https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/jamaica-becomes-regional-pioneer-with-new-rules-governing-ai-use-in-courts-6.2.2420418.eee624787b

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20251008/rules-outlined-ai-use-jamaicas-courts

We will try not to talk about the budget

So, the big question on everyone's minds: are Taylor Swift's fans getting a bit too enthusiastic with the AI-generated promo videos? It seems the line between creative fan engagement and potential copyright infringement is getting blurrier, and we're left wondering if this digital love is starting to feel a little... *unhinged*.

Article: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/taylor-swift-gen-ai-accusations-fans-promo-videos-rcna236025