On Friday, a Havana shopping mall began selling QTECH PCs, a tower-style desktop running Windows XP with 80GB of memory, 512 MB RAM and Intel Celeron processors (how US-made Intel processors can get into the island is still not clear.) At roughly $800 for an entire package including a CRT monitor and keyboard/mouse, the QTECH is out of reach for most of Cuba's residents, who earn an average of $20 a month.

Internet access will remain restricted to certain workplaces, schools and universities on the Island. The government has argued that the net would be more widely available if Cuba wasn't blocked from connecting to undersea cables because of the embargo. But considering their Internet policies include allowing email addresses only for "trusted" journalists, their media is state-controlled, and the little fact that there's no such thing as "freedom of expression" over there, the embargo excuse sounds more like another cheap attempt to keep tight control of the people on the island. [BBC]