As we welcome in the New Year 2010, I always like to look back at the previous year and celebrate the memorable moments that helped to define that year. As we transition from one year to the next I find it a good habit to acknowledge and be respectful of the past and to look with hope into the future.
I usually post my Top 10 memorable moments as a blog post but this year I tried something a little different. I went out to Twitter and asked others to participate using the hashtag of #2009Top10. It was fun to see others recollect the year in review and come up with their significant moments. Mahalos go out to bitershark, Melissa808, NathanKam, PHOTOluluTV and CindyBlanknship for participating. If you are interested in reading the tweet stream just do a search on #2009Top10 or click here. If over time Twitter does not archive this tweet stream I’ve saved it as a Google doc.
If you feel inspired to create your Top 10 memorable moments for 2009 please do. I encourage you to use the hashtag #2009Top10 and I will update the Google doc. Also as 2010 unfolds make every moment a special moment. The following is my reverse chronological thread of my Top 10 memorable moments in 2009. Wishing you all the best in 2010 – The Year of the Tiger!
For the past 4 or 5 years I been putting together my New Years calendar. I usually spend the day after Christmas, rushing around looking for photos from the previous year to assemble into a one-year view calendar. Then I email it to my printer to get hard copies to hand out (in lieu of Christmas cards). This year I am doing the same thing but will a slightly different twist. I posted the calendar in its original 3.7Mb .jpg file format to Flickr, Posterous, Tumblr, Wordpress.com, Blogger.com and here. Not that everyone is out there rushing to get my calendar but in the off chance that I miss giving you one of the hardcopy versions (on card stock, glossy paper) you can print your very own. You might wonder why I am posting to so many places. I just find it interesting how these different services are positioning themselves and the best way to learn what they are doing is to try them. I’ve reactivated my Wordpress.com blog since I now can not only post there from Posterous but also directly from Tweetie 2, the popular Twitter client for the iPhone. It’s microblogging meets mega-blogging, to coin a term from Matt Mullenweg.
Just a little background on the calendar. I try to find photos which help depict the 5 basic Chinese elements: Wood, Metal, Fire, Water and Earth. The flower arrangement has elements of wood, water and metal (the kenzan), the sunrise is fire and water and the waterfall at Nualolo on Kauai is earth and water. Mochi is for the cuteness factor which isn’t one of the 5 basic elements but a requirement for my calendar nevertheless.
It’s not often that I get to experience the other side of Bishop Museum. By other side I mean the collections side, apart from the main museum exhibits and special events. We got an invitation by Allen Allison, a previous guest on Bytemarks Cafe, to come get a glimpse of their collection from New Guinea. Unbeknownst to me, the Bishop Museum considers the entire Pacific region as their field of study. Dating to more than 50 years ago, scientist J. Linsley Gressitt started studying and collection samples from New Guinea for the Bishop Museum. Allen Allison, VP of Science at the Bishop Museum now continues that tradition. Our first stop was the auto-montage imaging station where Shepherd Myers, shown in the photo, explained how auto-montage works. Images tend to be very dependent on depth of field. When taking an image of scenery, the depth of field is less noticeable. But if you’ve ever taken a picture of a flower, you will notice that depending on the lighting and aperture setting, the background will be blurry. Depth of field is even more critical when taking pictures of 3D objects like bugs. With software and a high resolution camera, Myers can take 40 images with the focus adjusted to various depths of field and then stitch them together to make one photo comprised of 40 layers. It’s quite impressive and an investment in time. Only a small percentage of the 22M specimens in the Bishop Museum collection are photographed with this detail.
Our Bytemarks lunch group also got treated to a visit to the collections area where row after row, cabinet after cabinet are filled with the Museum’s insect collection. If you are into bugs this is the place to be. It is interesting for a place that contains so many bugs, they take extra care to keep all the live, local varieties out. The Museum provides the service of identifying species to other organizations and the public in general. This could involve sending the specimen to the Museum for identification as New York City did to identify the Asian Longhorn Beetle. Or it could be as simple as sending a photo to the Bishop Museum Flickr group: Ask a Bishop Museum Scientist. Our Bytemarks Lunch outing was obviously too short to experience but a small portion of the collections but it gave us a sense of the vast resource housed at the Museum, the 4th largest in the US. We did get to see what I wanted to personally witness, the giant rat from New Guinea. It was the culmination of a great science outing!
For the past week or so I’ve had the pleasure of using a Motorola Droid courtesy of Verizon Wireless. It’s a loaner so I have to return it shortly. As these are my first impressions, I am going to make the obvious comparisons to the iPhone 3GS which I will admit I am in love with. The first question I have is without an iTunes like interface, how does one sync all the content to the Droid? At first take it is not intuitively obvious. Neither is it on second take. I thought I might be able to drop content into the Droid if I plug it into my laptop but Finder on my MacMini did not see any Droid device or storage. The Droid did recognize the Mac as a power source, though. So loading music and podcasts will have to wait.
The next thing I did was search for applications. The Droid menu includes something called a Market launchable from an icon that looks like a little briefcase. Clicking that brings up the Android marketplace. From here you can search and select from thousands of Android apps. The big difference from the iPhone is Google is not restricting any apps from being made available for the Droid. The vetting process that Apple subjects all the apps getting into the iTunes Store is a big sore point for many developers. As will all things there is a plus side and a downside. For Google Android it is open to anyone wanting to develop for their Droid phones. The downside is that there exists the possibility for some nefarious applications to be downloaded to your phone. In the Apple case, they control access but with the promise that it will be a user friendly environment.
Once you find an application you like in Market you just click on it and Install. The app gets downloaded directly to your phone from the Verizon 3G network. I tried a few of the popular titles like Seesmic for Twitter access, Yelp for restaurants and ShopSavvy for barcode reading. All worked fine except Yelp did not have the augmented reality feature as found on the iPhone version. I did like the Google Goggles app just announced last week. With it you can snap a picture of a book, a product, a landmark, even a face. Goggles will then scan the image and return search information based on your image. Very cool.
The Motorola Droid phone is solid, even a bit heavier than the iPhone 3GS. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the physical keyboard but people complained about the iPhone screen keyboard when it first came out. My only comment is since the Droid has a screen keyboard, it could do away with the physical keyboard and reduce some weigh and complexity. The screen for the Droid is very crisp making for clear images. I also like the Voice activation capabilities with the Droid. I must also mention, last week there was an upgrade to the Android operating system to 2.0.1. The phone automatically prompted me of the update and proceeded to download it. Quite seamless.
All in all a very nice phone. One that will be a major player in the smartphone market. Right now though IMHO, the Droid is more suited for the early geek adopter. The true test is the Mom test. Moms are more incline to get immediate benefit from the iPhone before the Droid. I’ll update this post as I get more information. Unfortunately I will have to return this phone shortly. Stay tuned to the Dec. 30 edition of Bytemarks Cafe where we will have a couple of gadget geeks on to talk about their impression of the Droid.
This year’s VEX Robotics Competition, held on Dec 4-5, involved the clearing of balls from one side of the field onto the other. Opponents needed to build robots that could pick up nerf size soccer balls and footballs and either dump them into the opponents area, shove them through a small window or throw them over the side. It was great to watch the strategy of the game and the thought that goes into designing the robots. All the teams participating in the 2009 challenge get the same VEX kit and instructions on the game objectives. This year’s field included 90+ teams most from Hawaii but several from China and the US mainland.
This video was particularly interesting as it clearly showcases the objectives for the challenge. The teams challenging each other are Farrington/McKinley (Blue Team) and Bellarmine College Prep (Red Team). The first 30 seconds is an autonomous period. The robot functions on its own, based on preprogrammed instruction. The goal is to get as many balls over to the opponents area as possible. The video starts off in the Bellarmine field and later moves over to the Farrington/McKinley side. Pay close attention to the Bellarmine design. Their robots have unique qualities. The robot closest to the camera can fling the balls from the basket. Very useful to minimize the balls falling out of the basket back onto your side. It also efficiently picks up balls by drawing them into the basket. The other robot on the far side is made for defense, able to block the opponent’s robot from dropping balls on your side. During the autonomous period they are able to unload a lot of balls.
During the next phase the robots are controlled by operators. Notice how quickly the Bellarmine team scoops balls and clears their area. It was nearly empty when I decided to move over the view the Farrington/McKinley side. To the credit of the Farrington/McKinley team they gave it an awesome try but the McKinley robot ran into technical difficulty and froze. It was a lopsided victory for Team Bellarmine, who went on to sweep the championship.
Of course it is all not about winning the competition. A lot of studies, teamwork, strategy, presentation skill and execution goes into the VEX competition. There were teams as young at 8-9 year olds from China, middle school kids from Pearl City Highlands, high schoolers and the Bellarmine team (** Note: the Bellarmine team members are all high schoolers as well) who had parents/mentors that work at NASA Ames Research. All in all a very fun and exciting event to witness.
Congratulations to all the teams that participated. Excellence awards went to McKinley and Pearl City Highlands; Tournament Finalists when to Honoka`a and Waiakea High Schools. You can see the full results here. I am looking forward to next year’s challenge.
This week of Thanksgiving is special for a number of reasons. Family and friends are always always top of mind but it is a time to take stock of the goodness that has come your way in 2009. It is also the start of the Makahiki season and a time to rejoice in rejuvenation of the land as the weather cools and the life giving rains green the islands. One of the things I felt very thankful for this week is having the opportunity to accompany the crew of the voyaging canoe Hokule`a on one of its training runs. It was a short run from Sand Island where the Hokule`a is docked out into the Pacific Ocean several miles south of Honolulu. Although the voyage was short, it gave me a sense of the strength and fortitude it took for the early Hawaiian voyagers to venture across the vast ocean. Once out on the ocean you immediately feel how small the canoe is. There is no sheltered cabin to speak of and sleeping quarters are just a small area in the hull protected by a flap of canvas. If you are not sleeping you are out on the deck in the raw elements of the ocean, winds, sun, rain and whatever nature throws your way. Extended trips on a traditional canoe like the Hokule`a are only for the most hardy.
As the sun set, we were blessed with a clear sky filled with stars. The crew gave a lesson in star navigation as the northeasterly trade winds kept the Hokule`a in constant motion. Hokupa`a, the North Star was precisely 21 degrees above the horizon. You can always tell what latitude you are in by charting Hokupa`a, as long as you are in the northern hemisphere. While out on the ocean you are treated to sights not common on land. We were visited by this Hawaiian Booby or `A as it stayed with us for several minutes flying back and forth wanting to land on our sails. The amazing thing is the `A normally lives in remote areas in sea cliffs. Since we were still south of Honolulu with the lights of Waikiki in constant view this Hawaiian Booby must have come a far way, perhaps living somewhere near Diamond Head or further east near Koko Head. With the moon in the background it was an amazing sight.
The Hokule`a and it’s crew are preparing for the World Wide Voyage starting in 2011. This practice run was one of many to train new crew members. In 2010 the Hokule`a goes into dry dock for major renovation and refitting for the upcoming long voyage. As I look back on 2009, this experience will be one I will always remember. Mahalo to Mei-Jeanne Watson and Nainoa Thompson for making this possible.
Clear (formerly Clearwire) is actively rolling out their WiMax service and I was lucky to get my hands on a demo unit to test. Installation is a no-brainer. One thing I was told was to download the driver from the Clear.com website. Of course this assumes you have a pre-existing Internet connection. I had to do this because the thumb drive that comes with the unit had an old version of the driver. Once downloaded, I disconnect from my Internet connection, plug in my Clear modem and launch the Clear Connection Manager. The connection manager finds the modem and connects. It’s that simple. So the first thing I do is run a speed test. This TWTelecom site provides servers in Honolulu and Los Angeles. As you can see the download speeds from LA are quite impressive. I also tried the Honolulu server and surprisingly had a slower download speed of about 6.4Mbps. Both uploads were similar. I’ll leave it running to see how it fairs. One complaint, the drivers for the WiMax modem supports Mac OSX 10.5 and 10.6. I have a laptop running OSX 10.49 (Tiger, PowerPC). So I am out of luck for my PowerBook (albeit old). Drivers are also available for Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.
There are some interesting developments in the local iPhone application community. Granted iPhone app development here is nothing new. I recall in the beginning of this year when Russel Cheng over at Oceanit announced their iFu Kung Fu app. It was all the rage and quite novel at the time. Now iPhone apps are popping up in the most interesting places. We recently had a Bytemarks Lunch at Mini Garden where Michal Anne Rogondino showed us her new ShakyGlobe app. If you look closely you can see the DC comics logo. It’s an interesting concept with some licensing potential. There are globes for a variety of places each one having unique digital assets. Michal Anne tells me that this is just a precursor to something bigger. So I will keep in touch to find out. Don’t mind my crispy gau chee mein in the background. That was my lunch.
Also released this week was HMSA’s iPhone app. (Yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I did have a hand in this.) But any recognition goes to Kevin Lohman of Logic High Software, who did all the development and an excellent job managing this project. I was looking for something simple and came up with a basic mobile portal. We went through a couple of iterations, with a pre-release beta that used graphics that I cobbled together. This first release is very clean in appearance and functional. The app points to a variety of HMSA resources on the web like homepage, news links, Twitter accounts and Youtube videos. The free app is available in the iTunes App Store. We did it to show the potential of mobile apps and to solicit feedback on what might be of most interest in an HMSA iPhone app. You can post your comments here or send me an email. You will find me at the Contact Us tab.
Coincidentally, we covered an event on Bytemarks Cafe about an upcoming iPhone Developers Meetup coordinated by Dan Leuck from Tech Hui happening on Wed. Dec. 2nd at 6:00pm over at the Manoa Innovation Center. Bruce Kim, who I have known from Innovaware came on the show to talk about the event. It was news to me that Bruce was involved with mobile app development but his new company Userlink is focused on this. He is a good resource and has the experience to prove it. This is the second meetup for the developer group. If you are interested in mobile apps this looks like an exciting sector to keep an eye on. It is definitely building in momentum.
Last week’s announcement that Hawaiian Telcom will finally emerge out of bankruptcy comes with a sigh of relief. As difficult as the land line business is, it would not be good for the consumer (and businesses in general) if the incumbent telecom provider were to go out of business. Not that the possibility of HT closing shop, like an Aloha Airlines, was any real threat. What was scary was the idea of a Sandwich Isle Communications purchasing them or worst yet, having the State government come in and run the shop. While the HT bankruptcy proceedings were taking place last week, the Star Bulletin reported that “Hawaiian Telcom is banking on the success of launching video and television services to become profitable in upcoming years.” This telco offered video and television service was originally called IPTV but now referred to as Next Generation Television or NGTV. It would be much like what you are getting on your cable TV but delivered over the phone line via IP or Internet Protocol. This got me thinking how viable is NGTV as a service offering. NGTV has been the holy grail for telcos dating back to 2006. When I worked for Hawaiian Telcom in 2006, they were talking about the triple play: voice, Internet and video. The challenge with NGTV is that it needs a lot of bandwidth, upwards to 50Mbps. Requirements could vary depending on what you want to deliver over the line. Copper wire, like the type that DSL runs over is distance limited. You would have to live right next to the central office in order to get 50Mbps. NGTV would be easily accommodated over fiber optic lines but it is unlikely you will see any fiber to the home projects in the near future. As a side note there are stimulus dollars in the Dept of Commerce for broadband projects. Hawaii submitted a $35M proposal to connect fiber to the schools and libraries to enable gigabit speeds.
The delay in implementing an NGTV solution hasn’t stopped video over the Internet. Services like Hulu.com are near the quality of what you get on your television set. I am quite amazed at how crisp the full screen versions of TV shows are on the computer monitor. If you want user generated content, there are sites like YouTube, Ustream and Blip.tv just to name a few. I don’t expect NGTV to be offering much in the way of user generated content but even in the commercial realm, with the lack of good television programs available on the myriad cable channels I can only expect more shows I don’t care to watch on NGTV.
Finally, the one thing I’ve learned during these belt-tightening days is to try to do more with less. I can’t imagine paying for an additional subscription service for content I can currently get for free. You might argue that viewing TV content on your computer monitor is different than the living room experience. But that is where Netflix and the Internet ready TV system come in. If someone were smart they would build an iPhone app that controls the TV channel select and the interface for TV content. Suffice it to say, there are cost effective options today that make the expense of NGTV questionable.
A couple of days ago this video about the current EUTF Open Enrollment surfaced on YouTube. I got alerted to it by an email from a fellow co-worker at HMSA. The message was clearly pro-HMSA. The video was a montage of clips from a variety of sources including HMSA’s current ads on television, a Common Craft-esque video, Did You Know 3.0, Today Show clips and some original footage comparing HMSA to HMA. Of course I thought this was Twitter worthy so immediately sent the tweet out. It was the buzz around the office. Someone even paid me a complement when they thought I did the video. It is really well done and way beyond my video editing skills. It remains a mystery who did this video. There is a disclaimer at the end of the video stating that it is not endorsed by HMSA and done by a health insurance consumer. Obviously, this person felt quite compelled to get the message out. If the person who did this video wants to reveal themselves to me, I will surely complement them on a job well done.
In related EUTF news, Ian Lind, long time journalist and blogger, posted some interesting information on his blog. Based on information he received from Univ. of Hawaii Professional Assembly, HMSA was not allowed to offer a comparable 90/10 plan because the EUTF computer application could not accommodate the additional “code space” for the plan. What? Are we talking pre-Y2K computers? This seems pretty bizarre given the sophistication of today’s computer systems. I asked around at work and they too had heard a similar story although could not confirm whether it was in fact a true condition of the EUTF computers. All I can say is Caveat emptor.
For the past week or so I’ve had the pleasure of using a 
Clear (formerly Clearwire) is actively rolling out their WiMax service and I was lucky to get my hands on a demo unit to test. Installation is a no-brainer. One thing I was told was to download the driver from the 
Also released this week was HMSA’s iPhone app. (Yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I did have a hand in this.) But any recognition goes to Kevin Lohman of 
