Every year I look forward to organizing the Hawaii Geek Meet. And every year I get so wrapped up in it that I only get around to blogging about it after it’s over. This year was the sixth year, and I think the most diverse yet. A lot of the perennial favorite groups were there [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Technology'
The 6th Annual Hawaii Geek Meet
April 22nd, 2013 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Events, Technology
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Apple Expanding, Microsoft Launching in Hawaii
March 15th, 2013 by Ryan Ozawa · 4 Comments · Business, Technology
Earlier this year, retail job postings on the Microsoft web site revealed the company’s plans to set up its first Microsoft Store in Honolulu. Sure enough, shoppers at Ala Moana Center soon spotted the future location of Microsoft’s island invasion, positioned almost directly across from the state’s first and largest Apple Store. It’s one of [...]
Local Teams Launching Lasso, Startups at SXSW
March 8th, 2013 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Technology, The Web
The South by Southwest (SXSW) festival is now underway in Austin, Texas, starting with SXSW Interactive, which draws thousands of startups and entrepreneurs hoping to make connections or launch the next big thing. And as usual, there are creative and talented people from Hawaii in the mix. This year, Chad Podoski and Jason Skicewicz are at SXSW [...]
Tags: apps
StoryTree Launches Two New Apps
December 14th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Technology
StoryTree, the app startup co-founded by Hawaii-born Matt Sullivan (@MattHawaii), has recently released two new complementary apps. The first, SimplePrints [iTunes] helps you easily turn your photos into printed books. The second, SleepyTime Photos [iTunes], is “a playful way to have a little fun with your child while they are asleep.” Sullivan grew up surfing and skateboarding [...]
Civic App Demo Day on Saturday
November 28th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Events, Government, Technology
Capping off a historic year of government transformation and grassroots innovation, the first HON*CELERATOR competition aims to inspire the best apps and online tools that use open data to improve the day-to-day lives of Honolulu residents. Local software developers, designers, and entrepreneurs are being encouraged to tap into a growing library of government data to [...]
MERCI Emergency Assessment App Opens Up
November 24th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Government, Technology
Last year, Hawaii-based consulting engineering firm Oceanit showed off an iPhone app that it had developed to help Hawaii State Civil Defense speed up disaster documentation. Dubbed MERCI, or Mobile Emergency Response and Command Interface, the app is designed to facilitate rapid assessments following a natural disaster, allowing responders to collect text notes, photos, and video, and [...]
Google Goes Underwater
September 26th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · 5 Comments · Technology, The Web
Google announced yesterday the first underwater imagery in Google Maps. And among the locations you can explore are Hanauma Bay on O’ahu, and Molokini crater off Maui. Evan Rapoport, former island resident and now Google employee, wrote: “This is definitely the coolest thing you’ve seen in a long time. You can now use Street View to [...]
City Launches Open Data Portal
July 24th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · 3 Comments · Government, Technology, The Web
The new Data.Honolulu.gov site takes the city’s transparency efforts “to the next level,” expanding upon the “CAN-DO” portal it unveiled last March.
Hacks/Hackers Hawaii
July 13th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · No Comments · Media, Technology, The Web, Video
When my friend and fellow geek Burt Lum suggested we start a local chapter of Hacks/Hackers, I was initially skeptical. Frankly, both of us have an unhealthy tendency to jump into the latest cool tool or group, and we’d just had a Sunlight Foundation meetup. But when I finally looked into it, I was immediately [...]
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Going Back In Time on Twitter
July 9th, 2012 by Ryan Ozawa · 1 Comment · Social Media, Technology, The Web
When I first signed up for Twitter in November 2006, it was even harder to explain than it is today. Twitter was born as a group SMS messaging service (a side project of a now defunct podcasting company), evolved into a “microblogging” platform, and eventually grew into a social network and a major player in [...]
Tags: twitter
