Bikeshare Hawaii, a community bike rental system, said Monday the program will be hosting four events to get public input about its planned bike-share station locations.
The nonprofit, which would provide bikes to rent for short trips, said it is looking to deploy 150 bike stations in Honolulu. The nonprofit does not have a set date for when the stations will be constructed.
Chief Operating Officer Ben Trevino said this week’s events are to “help us to get feedback on how to make the program useful, in particular where to place the bikes and the stations.”
Those interested in the bike-share program can attend the following meetings:
>> Wednesday at Queen’s Beach, Waikiki, 3-6 p.m.
>> Thursday at Don Ho Park, Waikiki, 3-6 p.m.
>> Friday at Bishop Square, downtown, 11 a.m- 1 p.m.
>> Saturday at Kakaako Farmers Market, Ward Village, 8 a.m-noon
Unum is debuting photo application
Unum, a company guided by Honolulu-based tech accelerator Blue Startups, said Monday it is launching a photo application.
Hawaii’s Blue Startups is an organization that helps new tech companies by providing resources to create and grow their business. The organization was founded by Henk Rogers, the rights owner of Tetris.
Unum is a mobile application that helps users of Instagram — a photo sharing app — design, edit and create a single image out of several photos before posting. The application is compatible only with iPhones.
Unum CEO and founder Dillon Morgan said Monday that Hawaii’s diversity served as a great test bed.
“Hawaii is just so diverse, not only climate-wise, but the community of people,” Morgan said. “Being able to get the feedback from completely different walks of life … we can take that and know what will work on a national level.”
Morgan said Hawaii photographers and businesses that use Instagram tested Unum to help build their brand.
Some Hawaii businesses that tested the application included Local Joe Coffee and HVN Apparel.
Microsoft buys LinkedIn for $26.2B
SEATTLE >> Microsoft has made its most ambitious move in years to reassert itself in a technology market it once dominated.
The software giant said Monday it would acquire LinkedIn in a $26.2 billion cash deal. The acquisition, by far the largest in Microsoft’s history, unites two companies in different businesses: one a big maker of software tools, the other the largest business-oriented social networking site with more than 400 million members globally.
The deal is Microsoft’s biggest bet yet that the traditional software business is shifting quickly to cloud computing, a model in which customers rent software and other services delivered over the internet. While LinkedIn does not have the household name of Facebook, a much larger and more lucrative social network, it is the most widely used site for people to advertise their professional skills and work history.
Apple rolls out software improvements
SAN FRANCISCO >> Apple is working to make its iPhone and other gadgets smarter, responding to competitors’ recent moves by building more artificial intelligence into its Siri digital assistant, photos, maps and other online services.
The tech giant kicked off its annual software conference by announcing new software features for the Apple Watch and Apple TV, as well, while unveiling a new design for the Apple Music service. It’s also extending Apple Pay to the web, so users can pay for purchases made on their Mac computers. Most of these new features won’t arrive until this fall.
On the Move
Island Air has hired the following employees to accommodate its new daily service to Kona International Airport starting today:
>> Customer service agents: Makamae Kaeo-Koanui, Melissa Nunes, Dominique Ghandour, Michael Corbitt, Roger Grissom-Miller, Zachary Andrade, Pauline Carmichael-Shopay, Keiko Kanada, Gae Mitsuda, Sharon Harada and Tammy Awai.
Honolulu Community Action Program has named Grant Kogami assistant director of its HCAP Head Start program. He joined the organization in 2003 as a Head Start assistant teacher and has since served as Head Start teacher, Head Start teacher mentor and most recently Head Start program manager.
HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union has announced the following promotions: Scott Young to vice president of central operations from assistant vice president of central operations; Teresa Ubando to vice president of channel management from assistant vice president of member services; and Tommy Nakano to vice president of the member protection center from director of member protection.
