Blogging the Aloha State and Beyond
A new Internet startup poised to transform local news, in Hawaii and beyond, is now on the hunt for an editor to lead the team. Renowned entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay and philanthropist, announced the search today. Instead of sending out a press release, he posted a link on...
Hawaii is finally included in the “Street View” of Google Maps. The news was announced today in a great post on the Official Google Blog by one Laura Melahn, Product Marketing Manager, who says she was born and raised on Oahu. She links to Waimea Bay and Iolani Palace. There’s...
From friend and cybrarian Shari Tamashiro comes word of a new resource dedicated to native Hawaiian plants. Native Plants Hawaii — a joint project between Kapiolani Community College and Leeward Community College — aims to be a comprehensive online knowledgebase of the endemic and indigenous plants of Hawaii. Native plants...
Meet Bobby Gorgeous. The five-year old white Pomeranian from Aiea is competing in the “Cutest Dog Competition,” which is offering a million dollar prize. His “fashion mentor” Guylynn Gia is trying to drum up votes, and pledges to share the winnings with the Hawaiian Humane Society, Malama Na Honu (a...
Renown digital photographer and videographer Vu Bui (of The Bui Brothers) is returning to Honolulu as part of a “photo fusion” mini-tour. He’s going to be spending a week on Oʻahu shooting photos and videos to teach people what they can accomplish with the most basic gear. And the kickoff...
After eighteen months of research, development, and plain hard work, local entrepreneur Evan Leong today launched the Hawaii School Guide. It’s intended to be a comprehensive education resource, offering information on over 800 schools (extending far beyond the 300 schools covered by the Hawaii state Department of Education website). Burt...
For many, Google and its search engine is quickly becoming the world’s central clearinghouse for information, and its web interface supports over a hundred different languages. Now, thanks to the efforts of Keola Donaghy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, you can now use Google in Hawaiian. Keola, who...
A quick update to my last post on Amazon.com dropping Hawaii affiliates. As the online giant (and many local affiliate marketers) hoped, Gov. Linda Lingle today vetoed HB1405. Now the ball is in the Legislature’s court, as lawmakers mull convening a special session to override the governor’s vetoes. The full...
Amazon.com has pulled the trigger. As reported earlier, a looming Hawaii state tax law change relating to online affiliate marketers has prompted the Internet retailer to close the Amazon Associates accounts of Hawaii residents. Members of the local tech community are pushing Gov. Linda Lingle to veto HB1405, but Amazon.com...
A largely overlooked piece of legislation sitting on Gov. Linda Lingle’s desk has been dubbed “the bill that will devastate Hawaii’s online media industry” by a local online marketer. Dean Takamine of Synertech Media is now hoping that local internet businesses and technology companies will come together and convince the...
Tourism in Hawaii, like tourism worldwide, is down. The mainstream media is fading. Meanwhile, social networking and social media are on the rise, and people are looking for fresh voices and hungry for different experiences. As I reported last week, the Hawaii Tourism Authority launched the “So Much More Hawaii”...
A group of bloggers and vloggers will be touring Hawaii next week as part of a “social media tour,” as local visitor industry officials reach beyond the mainstream to spread the word about Hawaii travel. It’s been dubbed the “So Much More Hawaii” tour, and it will include visits to...
Google Street View is an immensely popular, though sometimes controversial, feature of its mapping products (like Google Maps and Google Earth). It allows you to go beyond “zooming in” on a map or aerial photo and get a driver’s eye view of cities and neighborhoods. It’s available all across the...
From the heady, shaky days of Howard Dean to the triumphant ascent of Pres. Barack Obama, there’s no question that the web is a vital tool for organizing and fundraising. Social networks have turned the grassroots into netroots. If you’re running for office today, you need to have “presence.” You...
What if Twitter let you organize your contacts into groups, so you can separate political talk from food talk? What if Twitter finally threaded replies, so conversations made sense? What if Twitter let you filter out certain content, so you could skip all the blog post notifications or YouTube links?...
Hawaii Rep. Neil Abercrombie is hoping to move from Washington D.C. to Washington Place in Honolulu, today making official his long-anticipated run for governor. True, it was the worst-kept secret in local politics (I blogged it as a sure-thing in November, and I was late then!), and every media outlet...
A nationwide study of online porn consumption has been raising eyebrows, most pundits seizing on the strong correlation between conservative and religious states (a.k.a. “Red States”) and the number of porn subscriptions. But I was amused to discover that Hawaii is the number two consumer of porn, behind only Utah....
The Honolulu Twestival was yesterday. I was one of the organizers. It figures that after I implored everyone to help publicize it, the event is over by the time I mention it for the first time here. But where I fell short, many others excelled, and the evening was a...
Eagle-eyed “LOST” spotter Ed Morita sends a brief report today, after finding the crew setting up on Lipoa St. behind the Pearl Kai Shopping Center in Pearlridge. They were settling in for a long stay, with notices spanning through Friday evening. Apart from watching the crew receive official “LOST” Season...
One good turn deserves another. Not long after I had the opportunity to curate the “Top 10 Hawaii Blogs” for Blogs.com, I got the chance to turn the spotlight on bloggers who share my obsession with ABC’s hit television series “LOST.” So, just in time for the spectacular premiere of...
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