What started out 134 years ago in Hawaii as the Mutual Telephone Co. is a major step closer to becoming a Cincinnati Bell acquisition. But though its shareholders on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the proposed $650 million buy, Hawaiian Telcom is expected to continue its brand and local management. What changes will come are hard to foresee, given today’s rapidly evolving telecommunications technologies.

Back in the day — before cell phones, kids — this was the telephone company in Hawaii. But the industry’s changing times are reflected in a quick glance at Hawaiian Telcom’s history: Mutual Telephone Co. became Hawaiian Telephone Co. in 1954, then GTE Hawaiian Tel in 1967, then Verizon Hawaii in 2000, then Hawaiian Telcom in 2005.

Single-family home prices keep going up

Whatever the reasons — Hawaii’s ongoing economic growth and relatively low interest rates are surely among them — the market for single- family home sales in the islands is continuing to heat up.

Oahu’s housing market is on track to set a sixth consecutive annual price record — October’s median sale price bumped up by 1.3 percent to $752,000, from $742,000 in the same month last year. The tally of home sales increased by 6 percent to 355. Among the neighbor islands, Hawaii island had the busiest month, with 228 home sales, a 41 percent jump compared with last October. Hot, hot, hot.