Techies with a taste for the social scene should take comfort in the bi-monthly staged Kingston Beta. “Kingston Beta is both an event and a community,” shares ConnectiMass CEO Ingrid Riley, who is responsible for Kingston Beta, which sees technology professionals and practitioners getting together to share ideas.
Anybody who wants to know what Jamaican and Caribbean people are doing online, this is the place to be,” adds Riley.

And it seems she might be on to something, as roughly 50 techies turned up at the Spanish Court Hotel last Thursday for the summer renewal of Kingston Beta.Those in attendance wear tags indicating their name and the companies they represent.

“Most of the Kingston Beta set are young entrepreneurs who have started tech-focused companies,” Riley notes, outlining that the mix of individuals ranges from web content developers to the social network-savvy.

Sharing thoughts on technology is further facilitated in a section called Pitch This, a five-minute session which sees proprietors of new online companies promoting their big idea. This is followed by a Q&A session. On this particular night, Jerome Campbell is pitching his new product homeinjamaica.com, a software outfit that specialises in real estate. There is, too, a presentation from Jonathan François who is beamed on screen from Trinidad & Tobago via Skype to speak on his caribbeantutors.com, an online learning resource aimed at CXC students. More