Mr. Madonna and Mr. Tacetta. NJ AG Office NJ Attorney General Press Release. TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced that Matthew Madonna, a ruling boss of the New York-based Lucchese crime family, was sentenced to state prison as a result of Operation Heat, an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice that uncovered an international criminal gambling ent...

Flickr Commons Managua, Sep 29 (EFE).- The Managua city government has approved W2E Eco Energy Investment Nicaragua S.A.'s proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant at the La Chureca landfill, on the shores of Lake Xolotlan, that will turn plastic bags into synthetic fuel. The city council granted a 30-year operating permit to the company, which plans to invest $17 million in the plant, Man...

Source: Discovery By Yeny Garcia Havana, Sep 28 (EFE).- Over the past three months, Cuba has experienced an unprecedented, albeit limited, increase in access to the Internet, with 35 new Wi-Fi hot spots popping up, thrilling Cubans and enticing many people to find creative ways to provide services by finding a way around the rules. Many "bisneros," as street vendors are known, are taking...

Source: Pixabay Commons Tinder, the popular mobile social network that makes it easy for members to meet and interact based on affinity and geolocation, is increasingly being used for the purpose of prostitution, at least according to a recent investigative article by Sophie Cullinane of online British publication The Debrief. The Debrief article interviewed Sarah, a woman who worked in a n...

Pixabay Commons Washington, Sep 25 (EFE).- U.S. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he has reached an accord with China, according to which neither of the two countries will carry out or knowingly support the theft of intellectual property or business secrets in cyberspace, a source of great tension between these world powers. "Today, I can announce that our two countries have rea...

Wikimedia Commons ESET Press Release - ESET recently discovered an interesting stealth attack on Android users. Cybercriminals created fake version of popular arcade games such as Plants vs Zombies, Candy Crush or Super Hero Adventure to deliver backdoor Trojan directly onto victims‘ devices. ESET offers in-depth analysis of this Trojan dropper on WeLiveSecurity.com. These malicious downloads ...

Santiago, Sep 23 (EFE).- Soki, Chile's first electric car, with room for two people and a 60-kilometer (37-mile) range between charges, will be introduced with a $12,000 price tag, one of the vehicle's creators said. "This electric car has room for a passenger along with the driver, and it is an update of vehicles we designed previously," Daniel Pavez, one of Soki's designers, told EFE. "It is ...

Washington, Sep 21 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- Video-calling and online messaging service Skype said Monday it was trying to fix a problem that was preventing users around the world from logging in or using some of its applications. "We are working to fix an issue which is preventing some users from logging in & using Skype. We apologize for any inconvenience," Skyp...

Brush DJ, a mobile app designed to encourage youngsters to adopt and maintain an effective oral health care routine using evidence-based techniques, was recently praised in a research study by the British Dental Journal. Brush DJ is directly aimed at children and adolescents, but everyone can learn from it. The app plays music for two minutes - the optimum time for brushing teeth - taken from a...

Pixabay Commons Americas Cardoom Press Release - San Jose, Costa Rica – September 16th, 2015 – In the world of poker, putting your money where your mouth is means everything. Americas Cardroom has certainly taken that to heart as evidenced this past weekend during its Million Dollar Sunday. When faced with an overlay of more than $200,000 and an onslaught of DDOS attacks, Americas Cardroom nav...

During a town hall-style press conference at Facebook headquarters in California, CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg spoke about a new feature that will be tested soon in the world's most popular social network. Mr. Zuckerberg's suggestion of the possibility of a “dislike” button came as an answer to a question about the lack of options beyond the ubiquitous thumbs-up icon that indicates a “lik...

New quick-action gesture iPhone 6s SAN FRANCISCO — September 9, 2015 — Apple® today announced iPhone® 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the most advanced iPhones ever, adding a powerful new dimension to iPhone’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ interface. The new iPhones introduce 3D Touch, which senses force to enable intuitive new ways to access features and interact with content. iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plu...

Christmas is arriving early for Star Wars fans around the world. At a recent press event highlighting the upcoming toy collection designed for the revitalized Star Wars film sequels, robotic toy manufacturer Sphero unveiled BB-8, a successor to the iconic R2-D2 robot from previous films. BB-8 is already making its way to toy stores in Australia and North America, Star Wars fans are eagerly awai...

Medical tourists in Costa Rica often mention a healthy smile as their primary motivation for getting dental treatments, which means that they wish to return home with nice, straight and gleaming teeth. There is no question that the power of the human smile is the engine that drives the dental tourism economy, but many patients tend to focus too much on their teeth and forget about the importance o...

Source: Access Access is an international human rights organization premised on the belief that political participation and the realization of human rights in the 21st century is increasingly dependent on access to the Internet and other forms of technology. Access has offices in various cities around the world, including the lovable San Jose, Costa Rica. From Costa Rica, the Access Digital...

BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) today announced a partnership with the world’s most famous fashion photographer, Mario Testino, to mark the launch of the Huawei watch. The advertising campaign features American supermodel Karlie Kloss and one of the world’s top male models, Sean O’Pry. This is the first time that Huawei has worked with the iconic fashion photographer a...

Google's new logo in 2015 San Francisco, Sep 1 (EFE).- Google on Tuesday revealed its new logo, which keeps the red, blue, yellow and green colors of the tech giant's original logo but changes the lettering to a simpler, rounded "Product Sans" font. Until now, the firm has used a serif typeface for its logo for more than 16 years. The tech firm said on its blog that it has changed a lot ...

Source: Savioke By Teresa Bouza San Francisco, Aug 31 (EFE).- It's called Relay and it's the latest server at a number of Silicon Valley hotels, which use the diminutive robot to take toothpaste, towels and other supplies to the guests in their rooms. "We have our robots deployed at the Aloft Cupertino hotel, the Aloft Silicon Valley, the Crowne Plaza Milpitas and the Holiday Inn Express...

San Jose, Aug 30 (EFE).- President Luis Guillermo Solis has issued an executive order banning the development of hydroelectric power plants along Costa Rica's Pacuare and Savegre rivers for the next 25 years. The environmental protection measure covers power projects with a generating capacity equal to or greater than 500 kilovolts to keep the rivers clean and free of barriers. The goal is t...

Source: Flickr Commons “Drill and fill” is the basic dentistry method applied to treating cavities. Essentially, dental care professionals first remove the soft decayed area of a tooth with special instruments, and one of them happens to be an ominous, high-speed drill that people in Costa Rica and around the world seem to have a predisposed phobia against. The filling comes after the drilling...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Washington, Aug 28 (EFE).- The Associated Press has sued the U.S. Justice Department over the FBI's failure to turn over public records related to its online impersonation of the media company during a 2007 sting operation. The lawsuit, to which EFE gained access on Friday, was filed jointly by the AP and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press with the U....

Source: Flickr Commons San Francisco, Aug 27 (EFE).- Tech giant Microsoft said that since the launch of Windows 10, the latest version of its operating system, less than a month ago, the software has been installed in more than 75 million devices. "More than 75 million devices running Windows 10 - and growing every day," Microsoft vice president Yusuf Mehdi said in a Twitter post. "Windo...

NORCROSS, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Guided Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: GTHP) announced today that access to the LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan has been expanded to Costa Rica, bringing to 20 the number of countries where the Company has shipped its non-invasive, point-of-care cervical cancer detection technology. “We are pleased to see our growing traction among doctors, governments and distributors...

Source: IAU Mexico City, Aug 24 (EFE).- Mexico's Silvia Torres-Peimbert is the first Latin American woman to serve as president of the International Astronomical Union, or IAU, thanks to her five-decade scientific career. Torres-Peimbert, born in Mexico City in 1940, is only the second Latin American to lead the IAU - Argentina's Jorge Sahade headed the organization from 1985 to 1988 - and ...

ATLANTA, Aug. 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Cricket Wireless expands international service even further by offering calling to nine new countries from the U.S. and unlimited talk and text to and from the U.S. to Canada. New International Add-Ons Customers can now reach out to family and friends in Dominican Republic, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Jamaica, Haiti, o...

Managua, Aug 22 (EFE). - Nicaragua will be the meeting place for the 7th Space Conference of the Americas 2015, or CEA, which is expected to attract more than 200 participants to exchange information and experiences about satellites and other technologies, the authorities said. During the CEA, to be held Nov. 17-19 in Managua, there will be four great areas of discussion: education, science &am...

An Uber driver in Bogota. Wikimedia Commons On Friday afternoon, the controversial private transportation mobile app Uber began operating in Costa Rica with a stern warning by President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera, who explained that his administration will increase vigilance on the roadways for the purpose of catching and issuing infractions to Uber drivers. According to a news report file...

University of North Georgia Media Release -- This summer, the first-ever study abroad opportunity for the University of North Georgia's (UNG) biology department took students to tropical reefs teeming with vibrant sea life off the coast of Belize and highland forests in Costa Rica, where 100 percent humidity keeps the treetops shrouded in mist. The group in Costa Rica studied the ecology of clo...

Wikimedia Commons Santiago, Aug 19 (EFE).- Chilean astronomer Maritza Soto has discovered a planet three times as large as Jupiter orbiting a red giant star larger than the Sun and located some 290 million light years from Earth. Soto, a 25-year-old doctoral student in Sciences at the University of Chile, worked for eight months using two telescopes at the La Silla observatory, 600 km (abou...

Solar Energy Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica CEPAL Press Release (August 18, 2015) -- Using the abundant energy resources found in Latin America and the Caribbean in a sustainable way can significantly contribute to overcoming barriers to development, experts gathered at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile said during the seminar The Future of Energy: Latin America’s Path to Sustainability....

Electric BYD Qin taxi. Wikimedia Commons Montevideo, Aug 15 (EFE).- Four electric cars have been incorporated for the first time into this capital's taxi fleet, part of the Uruguayan government's efforts to promote renewable energies.   The transportation sector accounts for 29 percent of the country's energy consumption, Industry, Energy and Mining Minister Carolina Cosse said, add...

Source>: Von Kelemen School San José, Costa Rica (PRWEB) August 11, 2015 -- VonKelemen’s mission is to provide universal access to education — not just in the professional audio and music business disciplines, but broader realms encompassing contemporary arts, technology and business. The school, an online-learning center that opened its doors in 2011, provides a comprehensive 'Master Serie...

San Martin de Porres. Wikimedia Commons By Monica Martinez Lima, Aug 14 (EFE).- Sts. Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres and Juan Masias, all of whom died more then 400 years ago, will soon have their faces recreated by the most cutting-edge technology used in forensic odontology. The remains of the three saints lie in Santo Domingo Convent in Lima, where a team of forensic odontologists from...

Source: Ad Astra Ad Astra Press Release -- Ad Astra Rocket Company and NASA have successfully completed contract negotiations on the company’s Next Space Technology Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) award, announced on March 31, 2015, and now enter the execution phase of the project. The parties executed the contract, a three-year, fixed price agreement, on August 7, 2015 for a total value o...

Source: Netflix Netflix is the world’s leading Internet television network with over 62 million members in over 50 countries -including Costa Rica- enjoying more than 100 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. For the most part, members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected scree...

Wikimedia Commons After published reports stated that suspected plane debris washed up on several Maldives islands, Malaysia will send a team of investigators to examine it. Investigators will try to determine if the debris came from a plane before taking any further action. "I urge all parties to allow for the verification process to take its due course. Once it is determined to be aircraf...

Source: Bau Bax Chicago, IL (PRWEB) August 10, 2015 -- BauBax, the world’s best travel jacket with 15 distinctive features for everything a traveler needs, is now the 11th most funded Kickstarter campaign of all-time with over $4.5-million in contributions and counting (source: Kickstarter). BauBax looks to enter the Top 10 most funded Kickstarter campaigns within the next week by passing R...

Source: Pixabay Commons National tourism boards around the world are paying very close attention to how their peers are using social media for marketing purposes. In Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Tourism Board (Spanish initials: ICT) was at one point an international leader in terms of using social media to attract foreign visitors as well as fomenting domestic tourism, and the most productive...

Logicoins Press Release -- San Jose, Costa Rica – July 31, 2015 – Ready to turn your Bitcoin into $200,000 in a matter of hours? Then you’ll want to be online at Americas Cardroom on Sunday, August 2nd. At 3pm ET, the US-facing online poker site is hosting its signature Million Dollar Sunday poker tournament, a $1 million guaranteed Texas Hold’em event with a first place prize of $200,000 guarante...

Source: Founder Institute Applications for the Costa Rica Founder Institute Summer Semester 2015 will be accepted until August 30th. The Founder Institute is the world's largest early-stage startup accelerator. Over 1,550 technology founders have already launched companies with the help of the Institute's company-building curriculum, expert feedback, and peer support. Anybody in Costa Rica ...