TIM302 Information Technology in Tourism

Disappeared News: Taxpayers should be vexed as Honolulu spends money to light up the sky

2011-12-31T06:19:00.000-10:00

Disappeared News: Taxpayers should be vexed as Honolulu spends money to light up the sky

Video experiment

2011-11-30T17:12:00.000-10:00

Check it out!

My favorite thing to eat at Zippys

2011-09-14T11:52:00.000-10:00

Listen to our latest Podcast about Zippys.

4G Wireless is a Waste of Money

2011-09-13T20:48:00.000-10:00

Most used Inflight devices

2011-09-06T13:32:00.000-10:00

Despite Android’s dominance in smartphone marketshare, iOS (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) accounts for 78% of mobile devices on Gogo’s WiFi network with Android accounting for 15%. BlackBerry OS accounts for a mere 4%.

Location-Based Mobile Ad Spend to Quadruple by 2015 | ClickZ

2011-06-24T06:52:00.000-10:00

Location-Based Mobile Ad Spend to Quadruple by 2015 | ClickZ

iOS most popular at mobile hotspots

2011-06-23T11:12:00.001-10:00

47% of mobile devices used at hotspots in Burger King and Starbucks are iOS devices.

http://t.co/f73dco3

Google unveils mobile wallet service

2011-05-26T13:46:00.000-10:00

This has the potential to be really huge... or it could be the e-commerce Orkut.

Google unveils mobile wallet service

China First to Reach 900 Million Mobile Phone Users - SocialTimes.com

2011-05-26T13:40:00.000-10:00

The first choice for developing telecom infrastructure seems to be mobile.

China First to Reach 900 Million Mobile Phone Users - SocialTimes.com

Calculating Average Daily Census

2010-02-10T13:40:00.003-10:00

One of the measurements that destinations often use to assess their success in attracting and retaining visitors is Average Daily Census. Average Daily Census measures the average number of visitors at the destination on any given day during the period in question. Even though it sounds a bit complicated, the calculation is actually pretty easy. Let's say that Hawaii had 6,713,436 visitors in 2008 who stayed an average of 9.4 days. How many visitors days is that? Divide that by the period in question (i.e., how many days were there in 2008?). So how many visitors were there in Hawaii on an average day in 2008? Right. 172,487.

The Evolution Of Best Practices In Hospitality And Tourism (part 1 Of 2) | Dr. John Hogan

2010-01-25T13:48:00.000-10:00

The Evolution Of Best Practices In Hospitality And Tourism (part 1 Of 2) | Dr. John Hogan

If I were writing a paper about geocaching

2009-09-07T18:46:00.004-10:00

I think I might be very interested in reading this article. I wonder how many active geocaches there are in the world right now? I'm betting an enterprising soul could find the answer to that question.

Aloha TIM302 students

2008-08-25T22:17:00.000-10:00

If you found this blog, then you know how easy it is to create your own blog... and by extension a podcast.

You can see that this is really not so difficult. If you create your own blog, then you have completed the first step. If you need a place to store your audio files, don't forget your UH user account. You can find more information on your account at http://www.hawaii.edu/personalhp/. You can use FTP software like SSH (Windows) or Fugu (Mac) to upload files to your account.

Geocaching and Tourism

2008-08-25T15:00:00.000-10:00

If you are thinking about doing Geocaching for your group project, you might want to check out the options at http://www.geocaching.com for some ideas about how and where to hide your cache. Remember the location of your cache should be Latitude and Longitude coordinates which are hidden in a puzzle.

As an example I will be hiding a cache in a place familiar to most of you... watch this space for the puzzle. :o)

Podcasting made easy

2008-08-25T13:09:00.000-10:00

Four easy steps.

1. Find a place to host your podcast file. You can use your UH Account. Here are links to more information on how to activate and FTP to you UH account.

2. Create a blog. You already have access to Blogger through your iGoogle userid.

3. Create a post on your blog with a link to your podcast file. For example: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~plawler/podcasts/wordnerds.mp3

4. Once you have created a successful blog and uploaded audio content, the next step is to create an RSS (really simple syndication) feed for your content.

An RSS feed can be created easily (and for free) at Feedburner.com. Check it out!

I think I've been to this lecture

2007-10-06T14:40:00.000-10:00

I once heard Vint Cerf say that, "Power corrupts and PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."

Eastern Promises

2007-09-27T19:37:00.001-10:00

Geez... don't these guys know about guns. All the knife work was making me queasy. I'm not sure why it is that full frontal (male) nudity is the big deal that it is, but you have to get past a lot of blood and gore to even see it.

Anyway, this was otherwise a pretty good movie. Not quite as good as 3:10 to Yuma, but head and shoulders above The Nanny Diaries.

One of my favorite optical illusions

2007-07-15T22:10:00.000-10:00

Here's a really strange one. Stare at the girl's shadow for about 30 seconds and she will start rotating the other way. She isn't really of course, but you may have to close your eyes to get her going anti-clockwise again.

If you look at the foot nearest the floor, and only at that foot, you'll see it's simply oscillating back and forth. Question: Why do you perceive her spinning clockwise? It's a flat figure with no changing highlights to supplement your intuition.

What happens when your iPhone gets run over by a car?

2007-07-15T15:44:00.000-10:00

Ever wonder what happens when your iPhone gets run over by a car?

Well... I found out the hard way. My friend Ryan wrote up the whole story in his blog.

The Geocaching Puzzle

2007-07-10T09:57:00.000-10:00

Okay... here is the puzzle. If you can figure out the coordinates, then you can plug them into any mapping software (or Google Earth) like this:

37 25 19.072 N, 122 05 06.246 W

This will bring you very close to the location of the cache. The cache itself is a small black rectangular box (like the kind you hide keys in).

Good luck!

For the truly geeky among us

2006-10-13T20:57:00.000-10:00

This is for real. It was created by Wenger to celebrate 100 years of innovation. This unique special edition knife contains all 85 tools currently produced by Wenger (Maker of the Genuine Swiss Army Knife).

How much will this grandaddy of Swiss Army knives set you back? Only $799. Operators are standing by.

The Word Nerds

2006-06-01T20:52:00.000-10:00

Hi... my named is Paul

<< hi paul >>

and... I'm a word nerd.

<< murmur of incredulity >>

When I was in grade school I used to read the dictionary for fun. Scary, right. What a joy to discover that there are other freaks out there, too! The Word Nerds is a podcast all about language, the words we use, and "why we say the things we do." Here's a small sample. You may need to follow along for the latter part.

I highly recommend you give it a listen if you love words.

Catholic Insider

2006-05-31T21:21:00.001-10:00

This is a great podcast to listen to for sound-seeing tour ideas. Roman Catholic priest Fr. Roderick Vonhögen takes you on a journey of discovery through the fascinating world of the Catholic church. A Catholic show, but not just for catholics! Explore the history of the Catholic church during sound-seeing tours all over Europe.

You can subscribe to the podcast by pasting this URL into iTunes or some other podcasting software.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/catholicinsider

Shownotes can be found at the following URL:

http://sqpn.com/category/educational/catholic-insider/

College 2.0

2006-05-26T18:33:00.000-10:00

There are many stories lately about professors recording their lectures and posting them online for download, but one professor in the UK is going even further. He's getting rid of in-person lectures completely. Instead, he's only recording the lessons for students to download as podcasts or video. Students can then ask questions via email or text message, and the professor will respond on his blog. It's all very "2.0" of him.

While some will say that this is a less personal approach to teaching, that might not really be true. What the professor noticed is that there's less benefit in large lectures for the students to actually be present. Instead, this way, he can focus on spending time with students in smaller groups, where he's actually focused on teaching, rather than just lecturing. Not surprisingly, in order to facilitate that, he also has a web-based schedule for students to see when he's free to meet.

Pimp my Flash and Bling my Ring

2006-05-25T18:31:00.000-10:00

One of the lastest trends in "Geek Chic" is the $3,500 14k gold-plated USB Flash drive inlaid with diamonds. If this isn't quite enough bling for you, an 18k model is also available from White Lake.

"This product will open new markets for us," said White Lake owner Rob van Berkom, in a statement. "We have sold huge amounts of personalized USB stick with logos over the past year. Our customers used them as a give-away. Some of them asked us for a more exclusive product line. This stick meets their demand, so we expect to sell quite a few of them."

In a related trend, Swarovski crystal encrusted cell phones are also the "in" thing. It costs between $100 and $300 to "bling your ring" with crystals. You can purchase a kit and do it yourself, or they will do it for you at MyBlingRing. Their customers include Britney Spears, Hillary Duff, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Amanda Bynes, etc.

Akeelah and the Bee

2006-05-14T14:41:00.000-10:00

Who would have thought that they could dramatize the world of competitive spelling bees. Sounds almost as dry as high school debate. ;o)

This movie, however, has done a terrific job of doing exactly that, and most of the credit goes to the young, and very talented, Keke Palmer. Her interaction with each of the other characters brings believability to all of them.

Laurence Fishburne turns in an excellent performance as Professor Larabee. In fact, I can't think of anything I've enjoyed him in more. There are so many layers to his personality, and we never do learn the whole story... but we are able to clearly see him emerge as a very complex human being, and we see Akeelah helping him as much as he helps her.

This is also a great family film. 5 stars!

The Trunk Monkey

2006-04-27T16:32:00.000-10:00

This was a series of very funny (okay, some of them were funnier than others) commercials that because a viral sensation. Here is the first Trunk Monkey commercial.

Sudoku and Aging

2006-04-16T13:48:00.000-10:00

Recently I was talking to my mother on the phone and she said that she has taken up Sudoku to keep her brain active. It appears that keeping the brain active as we age is helpful for a number of reasons. Scientists say a daily dose of such exercises improves the memory and even the condition of dementia patients.

In Japan, where senior citizens are not as averse to "gadgets" as my mother is, Nintendo has sold a combined total of more than 3.3 million of its “Brain Training for Adults” released in May 2005 and a sequel that came out last December. Its portable DS consoles on which the games are played are constantly out of stock in shops.

“I wanted to make a contribution to society through my findings, to tell the world that you can train the brain,” said Ryuta Kawashima, professor of brain science at Tohoku University, whose theory has been featured in many books and video games.

Not to be outdone, Sony is also in on the act. In the photo, Japanese women play PlayStation Portables (PSP) during a "brain training" program in Yokohama, west of Tokyo. Sony Computer Entertainment, which has the "Brain Trainer" using Kawashima's theory for its PSP console, is holding "Video Game Workshops for Grown-ups", in a bid to appeal to older generations.

ピタゴラスイッチ

2006-04-13T23:52:00.000-10:00

In Japan they refer to a Rube Goldberg type machine as a ピタゴラそうち (pitagora souchi) Pitagora for the Greek mathematician Pythagoras and souchi meaning a contrivance or a device. A cute NHK children's show creates a pun on the name and calls itself ピタゴラスイッチ (pitagora suitchi) or Pythagoras Switch.

RFID and Privacy

2006-04-10T12:00:00.000-10:00

Brendan Walker, a 37-year-old software engineer in Canton, Ohio, is one of a growing number of computer and technology experts who are becoming anxious about possible abuses of the technology. Mr. Walker fears that thieves will be able to eavesdrop on the radio transmission and buy gas at his expense. He also figures that he himself could walk past the pump and accidentally pay for somebody else's gas, though the card companies say he would have to get within two inches of the scanner to accomplish that feat.

RFID: Legitimate fear or fear-mongering? by ZDNet's Mitch Ratcliffe -- A Wall Street Journal article details the exploits of RFID-defeating privacy advocates and a few snake-oil solutions.

No More (Sammy & Sasha Nelson)

2006-04-09T23:41:00.000-10:00

You can embed video with YouTube like this. Oh, and these are two VERY talented 14 year olds, btw.

The Honda Video

2006-03-13T09:24:00.000-10:00

Here's the Honda Video we saw in class as an enclosure. You can take your own videos in .MOV format and do the same thing with them.

Bishop Museum Star Party

2006-03-12T19:58:00.000-10:00

This is a podcast from Bishop Museum's "Mad About Science" night, held on March 11, 2006. The moon was almost full, and it was cloudy on and off, but we still got pretty good views of the moon and Saturn.

The B**b Fairy

2006-03-10T22:21:00.000-10:00

This is a very cute song by Deirdre Flint, but don't listen if you are easily offended. After hearing this song on Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, I went out and bought her album, The Shuffleboard Queens on iTunes.

The Procrastinator's Creed

2006-03-09T20:21:00.000-10:00

1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.
2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.
3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.
4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.
5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.
6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.
7. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesmally small, is not exactly zero.
8. If at first I don't succeed, there is always next year.
9. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.
10. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.
11. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task.
12. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan.
13. I will never put off until tomorrow, what I can forget about forever.
14. I will become a member of the ancient Order of Two-Headed Turtles (the Procrastinator's Society) if they ever get it organized.