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Oceanic Time Warner Cable adds 4 HD channels in Oahu and Kauai
We can say with a straight face that there's hardly a time in Hawaii where watching HDTV trumps being out and about amidst paradise, but even those who can't spend enough time on pristine beaches need to kick back and catch some high-def entertainment every now and then. Oceanic Time Warner Cable has just announced that customers on the islands of Oahu (pictured) and Kauai will soon (read: this week) be treated to four new HD stations: Hallmark Movie Channel HD (1453), FOX Business HD (1108), Big Ten Network HD (1248) and Travel Channel HD (1325). When the additions are made, Oceanic TWC will offer a full 42 stations in Hawaii, giving you one less reason to resist the urge of buying that one-way ticket to OGG / HNL / KOA / etc.
Hawaii's 3rd Apple Store ready to roll
As if life in Hawaii isn't pleasant enough, Apple is going to make it just a bit sweeter by opening another retail store this weekend.Apple Store Royal Hawaiian will open on Saturday, September 27th at 10:00 AM. This store is located in The Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, at 2301 Kalakaua Ave. next to The Cheesecake Factory (mmm ... cheesecake). Get your full travel directions here. This will be Hawaii's third Apple Store.Let us know if you visit this store and share your photos and stories. If the Kahala store opening is any indication if what you can expect, it's definitely going to be fun.
NTT DoCoMo and AT&T's Hawaiian 3G rollout complete, let the luau begin
OK, we admit it, we only write up NTT DoCoMo stuff because we absolutely love hitting shift so many times in one word. But still, if you're in Hawaii and want 3G, it's officially done. The AT&T / DoCoMo love fest we first mentioned earlier this month saw DoCoMo shell out $24 million and expertise with -- we're assuming anyway -- AT&T supplying the grunt work and the rest of the pennies needed for the job. So if you're hitting any of the principal Hawaiian islands in the near future, perhaps rather than seeing the tired old EDGE symbol on your phone, you'll see that happy little 3G icon, instead.
Oprah knows where the fun is at
Seriously, she does! Caught by TMZ at a Hawaiian Wal-Mart, the super-celeb was seen doing a little shopping. What did she pick up? The Wii, of course. It's the only way to guarantee a good time. At least, we think so.Hey, Oprah! If you're looking for some games to go with that new Wii, we suggest you check this out.
DS theft leads to happy ending
We were disgusted but not surprised to hear the story of Michael Baxter, an 8-year-old Hawaiiian boy whose DS was stolen. This isn't the first case of electronic theft in which a child was the victim, but what makes it worse is that the poor boy had a broken leg at the time. (Though we suppose that's not as bad as this.) The thief might not have known the child was wheelchair-bound when he stole the handheld on an airplane (while the boy was sleeping). That, of course, doesn't make stealing from an injured child any less terrible. Michael didn't even have his family to turn to after the theft, as he was traveling alone to visit his great-grandmother in Michigan. When he realized that his beloved handheld was taken, he cried, as most little boys would. Here's where the story takes a better turn, though: a stranger named Fiona Lohrisch saw the boy crying, and being a grandmother of five herself, took pity on him. She then resolved to buy Michael a new DS! How sweet!Tipster Tim sent this story to us describing it as "uplifting," but we're more in the cynical camp of "it's so depressing that this even happened in the first place." Don't let our sour exteriors keep your spirits down or ruin your heartfelt "awwws," though. It really is a happy ending.[Thanks, Tim!]
University of Hawaii games stay SD, for now
Warrior football fans will need to watch their next QB to put up incredible college numbers and proceed to a career as practice squad NFL QB in standard def for the next season or two. Local station KFVE/KHNL just doesn't see it being feasible to put its PPV University of Hawaii games in HD yet (although the local cable channel on Oceanic already shows high school games in HD). The good news (we guess) is that HD is on the way, someday, unfortunately the cost of the necessary new facilities -- despite the Hula Bowl managing to go HD -- has put it on the back burner at the moment.
Hawaii volcano film to be released on Blu-ray... and HD DVD?
There's simply no question that the beauty of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (above) can only truly be appreciated after a winding drive down from Kailua Kona (or Hilo, for those who love the rain), but for folks without weeks on end to spare waiting to see lava flow from some of those majestic creations, a forthcoming film should give you the next best look. Volcanographer Mick Kalber has assembled an hour-long movie entitled Kilauea's Flow to Waikupanaha, and while we'd generally brush something like this off, a recent writeup about it most definitely caught our eye. We thought we had already seen HD DVD's last hurrah back in March, but if KHNL-8 is to be believed, the forthcoming flick will be available on Blu-ray and HD DVD. Granted, there's no release date mentioned, but given that red has been decomposing for months now, we're tempted to believe someone was simply misinformed.
Promotional Consideration: DS Style, the Freshmaker
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.Square Enix has rolled out no less than seven commercials for its DS Style line of "non-games," one for each of the series' seven casual software titles. They're low-budget productions shot with simple scripts, spartan sets, and a single actress in most of the scenes.Bring your trivial dilemmas past the post break, where we've posted a medley of the 15-second spots past the post break, as well as early 90s commercials for the minty product referenced in this installment's title.
Boost says "Aloha" to Hawaii with $35 unlimited plan
$99 unlimited plans are all well and good, but if 99 percent of your calls go to peeps that live down the street from you -- or the next island over, as the case may be -- that kind of cash outlay might be overkill. Boost is bringing its $35 per month unlimited calling plan to the tropical paradise with just one catch: it's in your home area only, which in Hawaii's case, means the islands themselves. Unlimited texting runs an extra $5, unlimited web runs another $5, and if you'd like to extend your home area to cover Cali and Vegas, that runs -- you guessed it -- yet one more Lincoln. Calls outside the home area run a stiff 15 cents per minute, though, so the penalty is stiff and swift if the plan gets abused. The deal is already on the market, so talk away -- in between surfing, fishing, soaking in the sun, and whatever else it is you lucky Hawaiians do.
PBS Hawaii's first HD show is on the way
Not that we don't already enjoy the occasional HDTV program filmed in Hawaii, but now the local PBS affiliate is getting in the game. Apparently part of Sony & PBS's partnership, PBS Hawaii is launching it first locally produced HD show Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox February 19. We hope Engadget HD readers in Hawaii can get the show via OTA or cable (actually, it's snowing at the EHD offices, so we really wouldn't feel that bad if they have to do without a little HDTV right now), but it won't be in our listings because we hate PBS.
9th Transgender Day of Remembrance Observed in Second Life
It's all too easy to dismiss those who are different as unworthy of consideration, respect, or even simple human rights. Growing up in Hawai'i and living in San Francisco, I've led a pretty sheltered existence, taking equality among individuals to be a given; it's when I travel outside of these environs that I'm always shocked how much antipathy and outright hate there is for those who are Not Like Us, whoever and whatever that might resemble.Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an occasion to remember victims of hate crimes perpetrated upon them for simply being different. Cities worldwide will be holding vigils to commemorate lost friends, lovers, and family members, and Second Life is no different. Elysium Gardens, with the support of the Transgender Resource Center, will host its first service: "The service itself will consist of Second Life residents and their allies sharing their personal stories and memories of friends, loved ones, and members of the community who were victims of hate crimes or who committed suicide. Also included will be personal stories from law enforcement officials and service providers who are familiar with such tragic events including the refusal of emergency services from healthcare providers and medical personal because of bias against the transgendered. The service will be held at Elysium Gardens' new Transgender Suicide Memorial." For more information on this all-day event, contact Random Demina or Jani Myriam in-world.[Thanks, Jani!]
AT&T launches 3G in Hawaii, last reason not to live there eliminated
We don't typically report on Verizon launching EV-DO in some random market here or AT&T launching HSDPA in some other random market over there, but we figured this was a story worth picking up on. AT&T has now launched its 3G network services on the beautiful island of Oahu, striking down just one more reason why any human being might consider not living (or visiting) there. Then again, it could be argued that tropical islands should have as little connectivity as possible, so this may end up being more of a curse than a blessing after all. Bottom line: we might recommend "forgetting" your GT Max at home if you're trying to relax, k?
DS Style screens for travelers
Screens of three new Square Enix DS "games" have made it to Famitsu. Before you get too excited, these are not new RPGs or anything, but rather three of the World Walking programs in Square Enix's DS Style series. There's sort of an upper bound to the enthusiasm that can be generated by maps, unless you're a cartographer, we suppose. In the absence of megaton-level hype, we'll just say that these programs look very well-designed and incredibly useful for Japanese travelers. We love that they keep time for Japan and for the destination region, and we quite wish our maps were more automated, searchable, and compact.Read - World Walking TaiwanRead - World Walking New YorkRead - World Walking Hawaii
ATT, NTT DoCoMo partner up on 3G rollout for Hawaii
As more and more companies join in the fight to nix international roaming charges, it's not too shocking to find NTT DoCoMo taking the shortest route to the US and hooking up with AT&T on a 3G rollout. More specifically, DoCoMo has apparently agreed to provide "technical assistance" and shell out "up to $24 million" in financial support for the deployment of AT&T's 3G network in the state of Hawaii. Under the deal, AT&T will launch a 3G network based on W-CDMA technology, and from what we can tell, DoCoMo customers vacationing in Hawaii won't be faced with those pesky roaming rates. Sadly, no hard timeline was laid out, but the island of Oahu should be lit by the year's end, while the rest of the state will get served "in early 2008."
Apple preparing Waikiki retail store
Last February, Apple opened Hawaii's 2nd retail store when Apple Store Kahala opened its doors in Honolulu. Today, The Honolulu Advertiser is reporting that a third store will open in Waikiki, as part of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center's $84 million makeover. According to the Advisor, Apple has applied for a permit to erect a store in the shopping center. And with that, paradise gets just a little better, right Hawaiians? If you spy any tell-tale activity down there, please let us know! Thanks, Yak!
Square Enix brings lifestyle titles to DS
Continuing its praiseworthy support for the Nintendo DS, Square Enix has announced DS Style, a new line of software for the casual gaming audience. According to the latest issue of Famitsu, the company is venturing away from its RPG franchises for a moment, focusing instead on leisure activities like yoga, classical music, and gardening. It might not sound as exciting as SRPG battles or Chocobo mini-games, but different strokes for different folks.Square Enix will also be releasing DS travel guides based on the popular World Walking tour book series in Japan. These guides will provide maps and other useful information for sightseers visiting countries like France or Thailand. Check past the post break for the full list of destination guides and verbose titles from Square Enix's DS Style lineup. [Via NeoGAF]
F-22 Raptors' systems crash mid-flight over Pacific
Lockheed's shiny new F-22 Raptor stealth fighters may have owned a few war games, but crossing the International Date Line left them as helpless as a carrot in a rabbit trap, with multiple system crashes causing an emergency detour en route from Hawaii to Okinawa, Japan. Communication, fuel subsystems, and navigation systems were rendered useless and repeated "reboots" were of no help. Luckily, the fleet had clear skies and refueling tankers to guide them back to Hawaii. If they had separated from the tankers, "they would have turned around and probably could have found the Hawaiian Islands. But if the weather had been bad on approach, there could have been real trouble," states Retired Air Force Major General Don Shepperd. The voyage suffered a two-day delay on account of the system failures -- "a computer glitch in the millions of lines of code, somebody made an error in a couple lines of the code and everything goes." What should have been a showy parade of $125+ million super fighters quickly turned to disaster for Lockheed who would've had a lot of explaining to do, had this happened during combat.[Via Slashdot]
Apple Store Kahala opens this weekend
Look out WestQuay, there's another Apple Store opening this weekend in sunny Honolulu, Hawaii. On Saturday, February 10th, a new retail store will open off the H-1 Freeway at 4211 Waialae Ave., Space B13, on the ground floor near Starbucks. Doors open at 10:00 AM. You can find complete travel directions here. As usual, the first 1000 visitors will be rewarded with commemorative t-shirts. Visitors can also enter to win what Apple is calling a "Digital Lifestyle Collection," valued at $2573.95.If you're going to attend the opening in Honolulu, please send us links to your photos and reports! Good luck and have fun.Thanks, Ryan!
Talking on the phone + riding your bicycle in NJ = $250 ticket
Here at Engdaget we completely support laws that make the roads a safer place for everyone, but this is a little ridiculous. Legislators in New Jersey are trying to pass a law where it would be illegal to talk on your cellphone and ride your bike. No, not a motorcycle, a bicycle. (Yeah, we know what you're thinking.) The rider would get a ticket for doing such and the fine would range from $100 to $250. We guess it could be worse -- we could live somewhere like Lawrence, Kansas or Honolulu, Hawaii where your cell phone can get you a all all types of trouble with the law. [Via Textually]
PS3 violence spreads to Hawaii
A bat-wielding SUV driver allegedly attacked two brothers in Big Island, Hawaii for their PlayStation 3 on Saturday. According to KPUA News, the attacker stepped out of the car and hit one of the brothers with the bat before being disarmed by the other brother and fleeing the scene. Frankly, we're getting a little tired of having to report on the continuing violence and theft surrounding the PS3. We understand there was a lot of hype surrounding the launch and the system's high price makes it attractive to thieves, but you would-be criminals should know that the system's after-market value isn't what it once was. Oh yeah, and crime doesn't pay. [Via PS3Center]
