Featured Blog Posts (422)

Mobile first -- the principle of approaching digital design from mobile form factors first, then accommodating larger form factors afterwards -- is a buzz term. It turns on its head the old status quo of designing for desktops primarily, with mobile as an afterthought. The term trips glibly off tongues everywhere now, but don’t scoff at its current trendiness. You might miss the fact that it’s a god-send to content strategists and UX designers.…

I was twirling the thought of Chaum's Protocol in my head, its intricacies filling the gaps between my synapses. Impressed by its cryptographic properties, I could not at the same time escape a nagging sensation in another part of my brain: DigiCash.... is ... tooooo..... faaaar... ahead...  of…

With the tremendous increase in the number of mobile web browsers, Mashable’s CEO Pete Cashmore dubbed 2013 as…

We are living in an era where we store personal and private information digitally on our smartphones, laptops and on “the cloud”. Malicious entities, and even government entities are always looking for ways to get to that information.  You need to take extra steps to ensure your life stays private. Here are some measures you can take to help ensure that:

Use encryption everywhere

Encrypt data on your computer’s hard drive by using file encryption programs, such…

Has your company grown to the point that it needs some structure and organization around its sales processes? Do your existing ad-hoc collection of online tools not cut it anymore for supporting sustained outreach to clients and closing deals? I recently found myself helping a growing startup wade through the sea of customer relationship management (CRM) tools online to narrow in on a few that fit its needs and thought I would share some of my…

Posted on behalf of HTDC:

The front-end web stack has a plethora of tools for developing robust, scalable applications. Whether it's UI frameworks like Foundation or Bootstrap, front-end MVC frameworks like Angular, Backbone, or Ember, or production tools like RequireJS, SASS, or JSHint. The only problem is, how do you choose which technologies to go with? And once you figure that out, you still need to string them all together, managing dependencies and configuration files, etc. You…

There's a fascinating story just published on The New York Times, "Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem," that explores the many facets of the age divide in the heart of America's tech industry. Written by a Comp Sci graduate student with a few internships at hot new Silicon Valley startups under his belt, the article touches on many aspects of the new guard/old guard divide in an industry…

Posted on behalf of HTDC.…

(borrowed from a Facebook post and associated thread Mika Leuck shared)

10 Reasons Why Handheld Devices Should Be Banned for Children Under the Age of 12

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Society of Pediatrics…

In Hawaii, we’ve built up our local tech community thanks to efforts from HTDC, HI Capacity, The Box Jelly, and many local companies. We are at the point where community events are happening all the time. We have amazing leaders at the forefront continuing to keep this community active.

I am the organizer for a local Javascript…

A few weeks ago, Stripe hosted their 3rd Capture the Flag competition.  Their first two CTFs were focused on security where you had to exploit a vulnerability in a small system or application to move on to each level until the final level is completed.  

For their 3rd CTF, they've decided to switch gears and focus on distributed systems.  Each of the 5 CTF levels focused on a…

As a kid I loved playing coin-op games. Some of my favorites were: Space Invaders, Defender, Centipede, Galaxian and Galaga, Dig Dug, Tempest, Joust, Tempest, Spy Hunter, Tron, Robotron, and I must've spent a lot on Gauntlet.

My experiences with them were mostly at where ever I could find them. From liquor shops, bowling alleys, pizza parlors to if I…

Last night I was working on a script to build and sign iOS applications for ad hoc distribution. If you've ever done over-the-air distribution of iOS applications, then you have probably seen what happens when you attempt to install an application that is not signed properly. The installation will start and progress to a certain point and then fail and then re-try forever or until you interrupt it. What I discovered last night is that even when you interrupt it, it may still continue looping…

Many of you have heard of Six Sigma as a methodology (primarily for large organizations) for quality and process improvement. One early success story was that of Motorola in the early 2000s, who attributed $17 billion in savings due to its application of Six Sigma across its business units. Since then…

Last week while strolling down the Ala Wai with my 2yo son we stopped to look at the crabs that collect around the stairs that decend into the canal. I was glancing down at my iPhone when my son suddenly yelled "BIRD FISH!" and started pointing. I looked over and saw this:

In the thousands of hours I've spent walking up…

From an email:

"Dear HVCA Members and Friends



It has been a wonderful honor and privilege to lead HVCA since 1999, almost 15 years, so I know most of you personally.  It has been extremely rewarding and fulfilling to host interesting programs, advocate on your behalf, mentor, network and develop many friendships along the way.



At this point in my life, it is time for me to move on.  I look forward to new opportunities and continuing my work with Hawaii Angels and…

The Mac turned 30 today.  Happy Birthday, Mac!  Apple has been through ups and downs in those 30 years, but now they are one of the most successful companies in the world.  That’s thanks in large part to the success of their iPods, iPhones and iPads, but the Mac remains a mainstay of Apple’s product line.

For years analysts have predicted that…

Look around you, and just about everyone you see probably has a smartphone. And if those smartphone owners were aware of the sweatshop labor in dangerous conditions and minerals which finance arms-buying,…

versus

I decided to hit 2014 running, and whipped up another shootout experiment; this time…