Blogging the Aloha State and Beyond
If bloggers are a rare breed, science writers are an endangered species. And that’s a shame, since understanding science is critical to making smart decisions on some of the biggest issues of our age: climate change, water scarcity, GMOs, healthcare (measles, anyone?)… the list goes on. Science is on the...
One of the more interesting research centers at the University of Hawaii, to me, is the Hawaii Computer-Human Interaction Lab. “We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers interested in understanding how people use information systems and dedicated to informing design based on human performance data,” reads the HICHI (pronounced like “mai tai”)...
Four years ago, local musician Jon Yamasato was struck by how much his young daughter was into watching music videos on YouTube, and he wondered what it would take to bring similar exposure to Hawaii musicians. “I noticed that a lot of local artists didn’t have good video of themselves,...
Local teachers looking for new ideas and hands-on help when it comes to using technology in the classroom can attend a free half-day of professional development for Hawaii educators next weekend. Kamehameha Schools is hosting KS EdTech Mashup 2015 on Saturday, designed to support pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teachers “with their exploration...
Hawaii may no longer hold the top spot in Yelp’s foodie rankings, but eight island restaurants made the Top 100 Places to Eat list for 2015, four of them marking their second year on the roster. Last year, Da Poke Shack in Kailua-Kona ranked first in Yelp’s Top 100 list, an honor...
A pair of local sustainability experts is inviting other like-minded people to come together for the Sustainability Unconference. My favorite kind of conference is an unconference, which is still a conference, but one that tries to shed all the baggage that typically comes with them:pre-defined themes and sessions, sponsor-centric panels, and...
An award-winning researcher who recently joined the University of Hawaii has created a mobile app that can predict eruptions and notifies users so they can be prepared for them. But the eruptions in question are made of water, not lava, as the app was built for Yellowstone National Park in...
President Obama wants to keep the country safe from cyber attacks. But will he chip away at privacy to do it? The annual “State of the Union” address by the President of the United States isn’t exactly blockbuster entertainment. It’s a ceremonial exercise in constitutional rhetoric that ostensibly gives Americans an idea of...
Next week, Honolulu will host “Storytelling for the Next Generation,” which will explore how the power of video games can be harnessed to share and celebrate cultures. The event, taking place Monday at Kakaako Agora, will feature “Never Alone,” an atmospheric puzzle game based on a traditional Alaska native tale. It may...
More than two years ago, local designer Valentino Valdez — my friend and partner in Kukui High School — participated in an online challenge with the Comic Jam Hawaii artist group. Participants were pushed to draw something every day, and on July 2, 2012, he posted an adorable drawing of Superman done in...
The history of Hawaii has inspired an unlikely advocate in the form of a pop/folk musical duo from North Carolina. It was 122 years ago today, Jan. 17, 1893, that the kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown. Two years later, Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned in Iolani Palace by a Western mililtary tribunal,...
Who gets your bitcoins when you die? Can you pass on your movie and music libraries, or your apps? And are your heirs entitled to get into your email or Facebook accounts? These are not hypothetical questions, now that digital assets and content are part of everyday life. In the run...
Honolulu will officially welcome its newest coworking space tomorrow, this one aimed at high school students. The Canvas is inviting the public to its “Opening Night” to show off its facility and share its mission, featuring speakers, performers, and “empowering activities.” The after-school student workspace is just off Kamehameha Highway near Pu’uhale Road in Kalihi,...
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just wrapped up in Las Vegas, once again generating its annual torrent of gadget headlines. Even though it seems like barely half of the products ever actually make it to market (“pricing and availability to be announced!”), it’s certainly the single largest global showcase...
A month ago, I’d have bet that most Honolulu residents didn’t even know that Vintage Cave existed. It’s been around since the end of 2012, and there is a very interesting story about how it came to be, with Japanese developer Takeshi Sekiguchi providing chef Chris Kajioka a blank check to do...
With the competition for eyeballs as fierce as ever, you won’t normally see one television station promoting another. But that’s what Hawaii residents will see tomorrow night, when Hawaii News Now, Hawaii’s largest combined commercial television network, will donate airtime to help PBS Hawaii raise money for its new building....
The ThinkTech Hawaii network is growing so fast, soon everyone will be hosting a show. But “Perspectives on Technology,” the new weekly talk show that launched on Friday, has to be the first to feature a dummy as a regular commentator. Fortunately, there’s still a human at the helm: Gordon...
I’ve brought a government-funded gadget into my house and connected it to my home network. What could possibly go wrong? I’m mostly kidding. What I do have, plugged in between my Hawaiian Telcom DSL router and my Airport Extreme base station, is a SamKnows “Whitebox,” provided by the Hawaii state DCCA’s...
How many different ways are there to sell lemonade? If you can’t think of many, you’re probably not a kid. Lemonade Alley is a fun and educational event for students that fosters creative, entrepreneurial thinking. Founder Steve Sue, who also created the BizGym business planning system, started with the basic lemonade stand,...
Education, certification, legislation. They are the three probable paths ahead as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly but controversially called drones, continue to grow in popularity. Quadcopters were a very popular Christmas gift this year… for better or worse. Since it had been almost exactly a year since drones were the topic of...
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