Feed your tech hunger at interactive site

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

This site is a kind of interactive Reader's Digest of technology news and commentary, most of it geared to the local scene. It's the project of four Hawai'i tech thinkers: attorney (and programmer) Jay Fidell, Campbell Estate chief information officer Gordon Bruce, Alexander & Baldwin Properties manager Laurie Akau and the Shidler Group's network administrator, Don Mangiarelli. Fidell is officially the Webmaster, but all four of them can call up the site and make additions and changes on the fly.

The general, tech-hungry public can join the discussion, too. They can nominate a Thinker of the Day, comment on the ones who've been posted, or e-mail that thinker directly. There are links to local tech resources, events and jobs. And although the emphasis is on business (the site, Fidell said, was a spinoff from September's "How High Tech Is Changing Hawaii" conference), there are snippets about digital gadgets and other items of consumer interest.

The mission, Fidell said, is to help keep thinkers abreast of technology. "Hawai'i has a chance of becoming a tech center," he said. "All four of us are very excited about that. We want the site to assist people in following this path."