latin

Editor's note: This is part 2 of an exclusive four-part Crave series on Ecuador's plans to transform itself into a new hub of science, technology, and innovation. Read part 1, "Plotting the next Silicon Valley -- you'll never guess where."

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, Ecuador--There's a small group of solar panels set up next to a giant tortoise hatchery that's currently under renovation here. It wasn't many decades ago that these remarkable gentle giants -- which never stop growing and can live to be 150 and the size of a kitchen table -- didn't need help from humans to survive in their native habitat.

Ironically, it is the other species humans brought with them to this remote volcanic Pacific archipelago that have endangered these tortoises. Dogs, pigs, goats, rats, and even ants all prey on young tortoises here, making it virtually impossible for them to survive their first few years in the wild. Instead, they're raised in facilities like this one near the Charles Darwin Research Station.

There's plenty more paradox to be found on the Ecuadorian mainland. … Read more

QUITO, Ecuador--Imagine it's 2023. Things have shifted in the world of technology, and I'm not just talking about the elimination of the standard-transmission vehicle in favor of autonomous transport. Companies in Asia, the United States, and Europe still produce many of the world's major innovations in everything from energy efficiency and biotechnology to IT and consumer electronics, and many of those products are still made in China.

But there's also a new player on the scene that wasn't registering on anyone's radar in the tech world just a decade ago.

In this particular vision of the future, a small but rapidly growing number of innovations are born, nurtured, produced, and sent to market from a tiny but vivacious country sandwiched between the Pacific and the Amazon -- Ecuador. … Read more

When Netflix users in the U.S. are sick of their queue or feel like they've already seen much of what's been offered on "Watch Instantly," they can just scroll down to the "Recently Added" subhead and see if the video service has anything fun and new to watch.

Until today, only U.S. and Canadian users had this feature. Now, people in the U.K., Ireland, and Latin America can see all of the new titles that Netflix has "recently added," announced the streaming service today.

Cheerleaders for Apple's iPad can get out their pom-poms (and perhaps their passports). As of this weekend, the new iPad will be available in 30 more countries, including Brazil, Botswana, Cambodia, Malta, Mauritius, and Qatar, according to MacRumors.

Apple's Web site lists 13 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America and says, "the new iPad is arriving in these countries on May 11th." MacRumors did some further digging on the tech company's country-specific store pages and found that 17 other countries will be selling the tablet as of this weekend (see full list of new … Read more

Amazon.com gets a redesign, Toshiba releases what it calls the world's thinnest laptop, and iPhone 5 rumors heat up with employees at Best Buy and Apple stores leaking release information.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Netflix announced today that it had launched its movie-streaming service outside of North America.

The service launched in Brazil today and is expected to be made available in 43 countries in Latin America, Mexico, and the Caribbean over the next week, Netflix said in a blog posting. The company said it has spent the past couple of months studying how Latin Americans think about movies and TV shows, as well as testing its delivery method.

"We've been testing and figuring out the right Internet architecture to make sure the quality and speed of the Netflix streaming experience is … Read more

Those who are both Facebook members and Netflix subscribers will soon be able to tie their two identities together in certain ways, but only if they live in Canada or Latin America.

In announcing its second-quarter earnings yesterday (PDF), Netflix touched on the topic of its integration with the popular social network.

The video service explained that it has made progress with Facebook integration and is looking to launch an in-network feature sometime in the third quarter. But users in the United States will apparently be out of luck.

"At this point, we plan to launch this initiative only … Read more

Netflix, the Web's top video rental service, is branching out into 43 new countries in Latin America and the Caribbean later this year.

"Upon launch, Netflix members from Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean will be able to instantly watch a wide array of American, local, and global TV shows...via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as on PCs, Macs, and mobile devices," Netflix said in a statement today.

News of the expansion sent Netflix's stock soaring. In midday trading, shares of the company's stock … Read more

So just how do you say "poke" in Latin? It's "puncti," according to Facebook's newest language translation. The supposedly "dead" language--O.K., so the Others on "Lost" speak it sometimes--debuted as an official translation on the social network on Friday.

"Latin has joined the more than 70 languages we've made available on the site in the past two years, including some which have launched just today--Azeri, Faroese, Georgian and Nepali," a post on the company blog by Facebook's Elizabeth Linder read. "Some of these … Read more