Last month, I blogged about an Entertainment Software Association report that said the Hawaii video game industry had added $23 million to the local economy. The report said that the revenue was generated by five “Interactive Entertainment Software Locations.”
I asked if anyone knew who those five developers were. Local “renaissance chick” Traci Toguchi also wanted to know who they were. But she went the extra mile and asked the ESA. She got her answer today, and passed it along:
Now, JAMDAT Mobile Hawaii was headed by Henk Rogers, who is also the head of Blue Planet Software (both companies focused on licensing Tetris.) I’m pretty sure JAMDAT no longer exists. Meanwhile, Rogers is also co-founder of Avatar Reality. So three of the five game developers included in the ESA report are closely intertwined.
As for the other two? The last update on the Maui games site is from April 2006. And Aloha Island’s latest update is from April 2007.
Suffice it to say, I’m sure that the lion’s share of the 165 people the ESA says work in our video game industry work for Henk Rogers.
I’m confident, however, that there are more game developers in Hawaii than the five counted by the ESA. Heck, I’d say the folks behind the “Bartleby’s Book of Buttons” iPad app could count as game developers. But if you can think of any other local company focused on video games, I’d love to hear about them.
I had a nice conversation this afternoon with Marie Laderta, director of the state Department of Human Resources Development, in response to my request to secure the same data her office prepared for Civil Beat (and which Civil Beat hid behind its paywall). She was professional, articulate, and demonstrated that she understood the background and intent of my request, and even the basis of my objections to Civil Beat’s actions.
But ultimately, she said she was denying my request for the information.
She said a number of interesting things, and I disagree with a good many of them. Unfortunately, I’m much more comfortable in the realm of geekery than I am in the realm of public policy. While I’m not giving up on my request, I’m happy to report that the data in question has been freed, anyway. [Read more →]
Two Hawaii e-government initiatives received national recognition for excellence today.
The Center for Digital Government announced the latest Digital Government Achievement Awards and the Best of the Web Awards. The state’s eBench Warrant system received a Digital Government Achievement Award in the Government-to-Government category. Meanwhile, the official site for Maui County took 4th Place in the County Portal Category in the Best of the Web.
The eBench Warrant system was launched last March, largely to address a huge backlog of over 70,000 unserved warrants that together represented over $20 million in uncollected revenue. It has already streamlined the delivery of 15,000 warrants, amounting to a reduction in the total number of old warrants of more than 20 percent.
The system was developed by Hawaii Information Consortium, the team behind eHawaii.gov. The company worked with the Hawaii State Judiciary, state Department of Public Safety, Honolulu Police Department, Hawaii Police Department, Kauai Police Department and Maui Police Department.
Russell Castagnaro, general manager of eHawaiiGov, says the award is a “really big deal to the state.”
“Even though most people think states have these amazing Google-like search engines for warrants issued by the courts, they don’t,” he notes.
The Maui County portal was built by CivicPlus, a Kansas-based company that has worked with over 600 cities, counties, schools and other organizations. The same software powers the portal for 5th place Park County, Colo.
The Achievement Awards recognize outstanding agency and department web sites and projects, and all U.S. and international government agencies at all levels were eligible. The Best of the Web Awards, meanwhile, has recognized excellence of official Web portals of American states, counties and cities for the past 15 years.
“The winners’ innovative use of the Internet to continue delivering citizen services despite tight fiscal constraints is inspiring,” said Cathilea Robinett, CDG executive director. “This skilled use of the Web embodies the spirit of the Best of the Web awards and provides examples to state and local government leaders around the country on how to bring quality services to their citizens while containing costs.”
When I’m not blogging, I’m browsing. Here are sites and pages that I bookmarked on September 1st:
Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards 2010 Results: e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government has announced its 2010 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards, tapping state and local governments across the U.S. who are tops in digital delivery.
Maryland hostage-taker listed Hawaii as hometown: James J. Lee, the man who has been identified as the hostage taker at the Discovery Channel headquarters today in Maryland, lists Hawaii as his hometown on his MySpace page.
Hawaii Plant Thought to Be Extinct Found in Kohala: A Hawaiian plant species thought to be extinct has been found on the Big Island. The Nature Conservancy and Parker Ranch said Wednesday staff discovered the plant earlier this summer in an upland rainforest on the slopes of Kohala volcano.
Kepler spies Saturn-sized worlds: The US space agency’s Kepler planet-hunter has spied a star that has two Saturn-sized objects circling it. Astronomers say they cannot be sure just yet but there may be a third, more Earth-sized planet present as well.
Hawaii Social Media: Hawaii Social Media was created to track the social media space in Honolulu. The aim is to highlight local social events, social media marketing campaigns, social media professionals, and notable coverage or analysis of social media practices.
The best “LOST” filming locations tours have gotten even better. Ed Kos of Kos Tours announced today that he has secured access to some new, well-known but well hidden, “LOST” sets.
Dubbed “LOST Valley,” the secluded spot includes several iconic structures: The Hydraand its the polar bear cages, The Orchid (or the “botanical station” it was hidden beneath) and The Templefrom Season Six.
Over the past several weeks, Ed negotiated with the private landowner to leave the structures in place, and to get exclusive access to them for his company’s marquee 8- and 10-hour circle island tours… at least for as long as they remain standing.
“We’re not sure how long the sets are going to last, or how long they can stay up,” Ed told me. “So people should book sooner rather than later.”
Ed said that he brought his team to “LOST Valley” last week for the first time, and they loved it.
“They were like little kids,” he said. “They were so giddy, running around, taking pictures, acting like tourists.”
Customers on his circle island tours this past weekend were among the first to visit “LOST Valley.” They had booked before the tour route and website had been updated, Ed said, and while they may have been skeptical to hear that the itinerary had changed, in the end they were really excited about their visit.
I’ve known Ed for years, largely through the glowing reviews he and his team have earned from thousands of visiting “LOST” fans. Based on those comments alone, I’ve never hesitated to recommend his outfit. And when we put together our own one-time “LOST” locations tour in January, he was supportive and extraordinarily helpful. (While we’ve traded emails, I only met him in person for the first time a couple of months ago when he snapped up some Hawaii LOST Fan Club stickers.) He set the bar high by employing genuine, hardcore fans as his guides.
Not surprisingly, Ed has many fans of his own who have now become tour regulars. My mother-in-law is one of them!
In addition to “LOST Valley,” Ed revealed that another major “LOST” location was about to get a big upgrade. Kualoa Ranch put in the winning bid for the submarine during the recent “LOST” prop auction.
Here’s a description of the item:
Galaga submarine conning tower and deck. Large section of the Galaga DHARMA submarine incorporating the conning tower and deck portion seen throughout Season Five when the submarine is docked. Measures approx. 25 ft. long x 120 in. tall. Constructed of fiberglass, polyfoam and metal. *Special shipping arrangements will apply.
Of course, those shipping arrangements are considerably less complex since the submarine is staying in Hawaii. Indeed, soon, visitors to Kualoa Ranch (and customers of Kos Tours) will be able to see it back in its natural environment, parked at a pier in Kaneohe Bay.
Even though “LOST” production has ended, and most of the cast and crew have left Hawaii, I’m glad that the show still lives on here on The Island.
Hawaii’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Daniel Inouye and Sen. Daniel Akaka, have less than stellar “Digital I.Q.” scores, according to a new study by researchers at George Washington University and New York University.
“Digital I.Q.” was defined as “an individual’s online competence including his or her presence on websites, social media following and sentiment, digital marketing aptitude and search engine optimization skills.”
While Sen. Inouye wields immense influence in the Capitol, he was found to have a “Feeble” digital IQ of 64, giving him the third-lowest score… ahead of only Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Sen. Akaka didn’t fare much better, with a “Challenged” digital I.Q. of 78.
Overall, the study found that Republicans have an edge over Democrats, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) topping the list with a score of 156. He lead a pack of seven colleagues that were given a “genius” rating.
It’s an interesting trend, considering that Hawaii’s own Pres. Barack Obama is often credited as being the first national candidate to tap the power of social media. In fact, Obama’s rival, Sen. John McCain, is now the social media superstar. Despite famously declaring “I don’t email” in 2008, he now has over 1.7 million Twitter followers and has earned more than 630,000 “likes” on Facebook. The study rated him tops, declaring him and six other senators as “genius.”
Both Sen. Inouye and Sen. Akaka seem to have active Facebook pages. The Sen. Inouye page has 1,320 fans, and the Sen. Akaka page has 1,490 fans. I’m also pretty sure Sen. Inouye is on Twitter. There’s an unverified @Daniel_Inouye account that at least seems to have related updates, and a @TeamDAN10 campaign account. But it doesn’t look like Sen. Akaka does Twitter (although there is an empty @danakaka account).
UPDATE (Aug. 28, 2010): The @Daniel_Inouye account is an official account of Sen. Inouye’s office, managed by press secretary Peter Boylan. Thanks, TM!
Digital cameras and online galleries have transformed how we take, organize, and share pictures. But part of me misses the simple, organic fun of casually sifting through a pile of photos.
Conceived and co-programmed in Hawaii, Flickpad offers a unique and instantly intuitive way to explore the photos your friends post on Facebook and Flickr on your iPad. While both Flickr and Facebook obviously have web interfaces, Flickpad takes a more human approach to browsing images. Which is to say, a slightly random one.
“When I saw the iPad, the basic concept for Flickpad immediately came to mind,” says Chad Podoski, co-founder and developer for Shacked Software. “The iPad is a perfect size for a photo app and the multi-touch capabilities opened up the possibility for an immersive photo experience that had never before been possible.”
I was eager to learn more. If you are, as well, read on for details on how you could win a free copy of Flickpad.
Code and Cameras
Podoski moved to Hawaii six years ago, after working for Nike at its headquarters in Beverton, Ore. Most recently, he worked for Blue Lava Technologies, developing the company’s now defunct photo sharing application, ILovePhotos.
The intersection of technology and photography was a natural focus for him, as he’s been an avid digital photographer for over a decade. His photo library is overflowing with over 35,000 images. Thanks to the web and social networks, he’s immensely enjoyed sharing his pictures, looking at pictures posted by his friends, and giving and receiving feedback.
“I have been a Flickr user for more years than I can remember and have always really enjoyed using the site,” he says. “Like most, I am also a Facebook user.”
But the user experience on both services was missing something. So Podoski set about to shake things up with Flickpad. Once linked to your Facebook and Flickr accounts, users fire up the app and see a haphazard cluster of pictures, overlapping and askew.
At first, even I wasn’t sure how the mess was an improvement.
Think Different
“The choice to avoid the standard grid layout of photos for the primary interface of Flickpad is based on my belief that a grid does not best suit how people process visual information,” Podoski explains. “Our eyes are used to scanning complex scenes very quickly and identifying areas of interest or beauty. It usually only takes a portion of an image or object for us to determine whether it is of interest.”
Sure enough, upon launching Flickpad, your eyes are immediately drawn to a select few images — even images that might be partially covered by another. In fact, sometimes only the corner of a photo can be enough to spark your curiosity. A splash of color, the edge of a cloud, a patch of bare skin.
The eye likes what the eye likes, and the randomness adds the perfect touch of fun, little moments of discovery that you wouldn’t get from a boring matrix or list of photos.
“An added bonus of following this approach is that it allows us to show more photos at once, and at a larger size,” Podoski notes. “Also, the ever changing nature of the layout of the photos keeps the interface from becoming stale to the user.”
And since Flickpad is an iPad app, navigating through photos and calling up new images is as simple as moving them around or “flicking” them away with your fingers.
“The choice to heavily use multi-touch gestures ties back into the theme of making the app engaging and fun, as well as allowing the user to quickly process an ever growing number of photos from their online friends,” Podoski says.
I did find at least one “grid view” in Flickpad. You get it when you browse the “Interestingness” gallery on Flickr, which displays the most popular images across the entire photo sharing network. Though they’re not photos from your friends, they’re almost always worth a lingering look.
Getting started with Flickpad comes naturally. But the app has a number of other features.
Flickpad supports commenting on both Flickr and Facebook, lets you mark favorite photos, and email or save photos to your iPad. You can browse photos from specific friends, block photos from specific people, and if you get tired of “flicking,” you can activate a slideshow feature and set your iPad up as a digital picture frame.
Flickpad also has “fast user switching” so it can be enjoyed by multiple users of a single iPad — a feature I wish all iPad developers would provide.
The Company
Podoski is half of the Shacked Software team. His partner is Dustin Bachrach, a senior studying Computer Science at Rice University in San Antonio, Texas. Bachrach has released a number of open source applications, and is a three-time Apple Scholarship Award Winner.
For Flickpad, both Podoski and Bachrach served as designers as well as programmers. And while Flickpad has done well — the recently introduced Flickpad Lite has climbed as high as #2 in the free photo app category in the App Store — it’s not all the pair work on.
“In addition to our own internal apps, Shacked has also taken on a couple of local contract jobs,” Podoski says. “We are developing a customer relations management Mac desktop app for a client that is located here and in Illinois.”
And as of this writing, he teases, they are hoping to win a contract to build an iPhone app for a “beloved company with a long and storied history in the islands.”
Try, Buy, Win
I enjoyed being one of the beta testers for Flickpad when it was only a Facebook photo app, and rejoiced when Version 2.0 added Flickr support. It was originally priced at $9.99, which is admittedly not as cheap as most photo apps. Right now, however, the price has been dropped to $6.99. Even better, you can try this innovative photo app for free with Flickpad Lite.
The Lite version is limited to two user accounts, five active friends per service, and five searches per app launch, certainly enough to see how Flickpad works.
But if you comment on this post by Saturday, Aug. 28, you could win one of two free copies of the full app, courtesy Shacked Software! Of course, you’ll need an iTunes account and an iPad to redeem.
When I’m not blogging, I’m browsing. Here are sites and pages that I bookmarked on August 25th:
Addicted Gamer Sues Game-Maker, Says He is ‘Unable to Function’: A federal judge is allowing a negligence lawsuit to proceed against the publisher of the online virtual-world game Lineage II, amid allegations that a Hawaii man became so addicted he is “unable to function independently in usual daily activities such as getting up, getting dressed, bathing or communicating with family and friends.”
Akimeka Joins VSE Corporation Team: Akimeka LLC, a fast-growing Native Hawaiian health service information technology consulting company was acquired today by VSE Corporation, headquartered in Alexandria, VA.
Medical Tech Class Saved By Donations: Two of Hawaii's largest clinical testing companies on Tuesday pitched in to save the only professional training program in the field of medical technology in the state.
Clean energy attracts Asia-Pacific delegates: Representatives from 14 countries and territories, 24 Mainland states and more than 230 companies and organizations will converge in Honolulu for the second annual Asia-Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo.
Asteroid threat early warning system proposed: ATLAS calls for two telescopes to serve as an early warning system against incoming asteroids. Leading the ATLAS effort here are space scientists John Tonry and Robert Jedicke of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.
DoD preparing smart microgrid technology demonstration: Sen. Daniel Inouye is requesting a $12.5 million fiscal 2011 earmark directed to Pacific Command for creation of a Virtual Secure Enclave in Oahu, Hawaii, according to the senator’s disclosure of congressionally directed spending requests.
Meanwhile, as in years past, retailer Best Buy is also touting “Exclusive Bonus Footage” in its Season Six DVD and Season Six Blu-Ray sets.
The question is, which bonus discs and goodies come with which set?
As far as the standard offerings go, both the Season Six and Complete Series sets offer a ton of bonus features. And both come with “The New Man In Charge,” the 12-minute epilogue offering a taste of what comes next for some of our beloved characters. But the Complete Series comes with “one full disc of never-before-seen content,” in addition to assorted collectible items (an island replica, an ankh, a Senet game and a black light to find clues in an exclusive episode guide).
Of course, $150 to $200 is a lot to spend to get an extra disc.
But according to various online reports, such as this forum thread passed along by @DonaldJr and @theJDman on Twitter, the Blu-Ray version of the Season Six set at Best Buy apparently comes with the bonus disc from in the Compete Series set.
(The DVD version of the Season Six set at Best Buy does, indeed, come with the extra disc of stuff only available at Best Buy, but I gather that’s not nearly as exciting.)
If you’ve got a Blu-Ray player but shudder at the prospect of laying out the cash for the Complete Series, it looks like the Season Six Blu-Ray set at Best Buy is a great deal. For about $50, you get the final season of “LOST” and the usual goodies, plus the extra disc from the Complete Series set.
For those who crave more details, let’s see if I can break it down further.
The Complete Collection bonus disc (apparently included in the Best Buy Season Six Blu-Ray set, and mis-labeled as “Lost Season 6 Exclusive Bonus Disc”) includes:
Letting Go
Artifacts of the Island
Planet Lost
Swan Song
Lost on Location
Lost Slapdowns
Deleted Scenes
More from the Series
Senet Feature (Ankh Symbol)
The “Exclusive Bonus Footage” that comes on the Best Buy Season Six DVD set includes five featurettes:
On Saturday morning, I cracked a tooth. Having not seen a dentist in over a decade, and having shunned the dental profession most of my life, I had no idea what to do. Being the hapless nerd I am, I immediately tweeted about it.
Fortunately, I received a flood of responses, on both Twitter and on Facebook, most urging the obvious: see a dentist, immediately. There were also a few well deserved scoldings, similar tales of neglect and woe, and finally, a number of specific recommendations of local dentists.
One of the first suggestions came from Burt Lum, my fellow “geek in residence” at Hawaii Public Radio. I’ve known him for more than 15 years, but had no idea until that fateful morning that his brother was a dentist: Dayton Q.L. Lum, DDS.
His office was open on Saturdays and, despite my frantic and rambling phone call, he was willing to see me on short notice. To make a long story short, it was a remarkably positive experience. At least, as positive an experience as could be expected when a dentist’s drill is involved. I wrote a glowing review on Yelp.
I couldn’t help but think, as Dayton Q.L. Lum poked and tugged at my teeth, that search engine optimization might soon go the way of the dinosaur. (It was a much better train of thought than, “What was that noise?”) After all, to find help in a pinch, I didn’t type “best Honolulu dentist” into Google. I turned to a source I trusted even more: my friends.
SEO professionals might continue to find ways — good and bad — to get clients onto the first page of search results. They might continue to build links from high PageRank sites, post comments on popular blogs, and even flood social networks like Twitter and Facebook with mentions. But it’s a lot harder to game an individual’s social graph. After all, it’s different for everyone.
You won’t get the same recommendations I would, but you should get good recommendations based on the people with whom you choose to connect online. I suppose you might have a network rife with PR hacks and spammers, and thus get answers that are colored by shameless commerce. But ultimately, you decide how much you can trust people, rather than how much you can trust search algorithms. I would think humans are considerably more comfortable with the former.
To be sure, Google isn’t sitting still. It’s starting to display customized search results based on your social circle. Right now those results are tagged with ‘beta’ and put at the bottom of the search page, but I can easily see them put at the top someday. Things are going to get a lot more complicated for SEO experts.
By the way, I think there will probably always be a place for review sites like Yelp. (Or Rotten Tomatoes, a favorite of mine.) A thousand opinions are often better than one. But again, out of the thousands of reviews on Yelp, I look for those written by people I know. Alas, it’ll be years before dentists are as thoroughly reviewed as restaurants.
With that, I thought I’d share some of the local dentists that people recommended to me. It seemed a waste for such good information to disappear into the ether. I trust the people who suggested them, so if you trust me, these should at least be solid options to consider should you need to find dental care in this town:
