On todayʻs show we have David Holt, Program Director at Blue Startups, here to talk about the upcoming East Meets West Conference.

On todayʻs show we have Greg Burns, founder of Deep/C and he’s here to talk about underwater data centers.

On todayʻs show we have Jim Potemra, Specialist at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology and co-investigator at PacIOOS the Pacific Island Ocean Observing System. You can show your support for PacIOOS here.

On todayʻs show we have Wenhao Sun, President of Marine AgriFutures, here to talk about a novel approach to marine aqua farming which converts salt water to fresh by growing sea asparagus.

On todayʻs show we have Shawn Lopes author of Local Unrest and Gary Chun, formerly with the Star Bulletin, Star Advertiser, and a long time music aficionado. Together we recollect the underground music scene in Honolulu during the 80ʻs and 90ʻs.

On todayʻs show we have Michelle Dumais from Kealani Solutions and Margaret Schmitt from Hawaiʻi Women in Tech here to talk about the Hawaii Island AI Summit. Listeners to the show can use this promo code for a discount: BytemarksCafe.

On todayʻs show we have Richard Zheng President of Servpac, here to talk about cloud computing, data centers and the impact of AI.

On todayʻs show we have Olin Lagon, startup, serial, social entrepreneur, co-founder of Shifted Energy, and author with his new book, Innovation Archipelago, expected out in April 2026. Here’s Olin during the Talk Story with the KS Trustee Finalists.

On todayʻs show we reprise a show we did with Steve Sue, writer, producer and director of the educational documentary, The 100th Battalion, Seeds of Aloha. We also talk about Shaka, A Story of Aloha and its streaming debut on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

On todayʻs show we have Keith Matsumoto, Program Director at PICHTR and Chad Kumabe, President at Second Wave Technologies, here to talk about the Pacific Alliance for Collaboration and Technology Conference.

On todayʻs show we have Guy Kawasaki, author, writer, evangelist, investor, who has a new book about Signal called Everybody Has Something to Hide. Preorder here to get the book for $.99.

On todayʻs show we have Meli James, President of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, Elisia Flores CEO of L&L Hawaiian Barbeque and Jason Brand, co-founder of Ko Hana Rum, here with us to talk about the upcoming HVCA Entrepreneur Awards on Feb. 25, 2026.

On todayʻs show we have Steve Sue, writer, producer and director of the educational documentary, The 100th Battalion, Seeds of Aloha. We also talk about Shaka, A Story of Aloha and its streaming debut on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.

On todayʻs show we have Trung Lam, the new Exec Director of the Hawaii Technology Development Corporation to talk about what’s in store for 2026.

On todayʻs show we have Janice Gin, lecturer at UH Manoa, Dept of Journalism and former News Director at KITV, and Perry Arrasmith, President at the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs and they are here to talk about the news desert project.

On todayʻs show we have Ian Scheuring, Deputy Communications Director and Nancy Vo, Division Chief from the Department of Information Technology at the City and County of Honolulu and they’re both here to provide an update on new HNL311 app. You can find instructions to download the app here.

On todayʻs show we have Brian Moon, CEO of the Pacific Telecommunications Council here to talk about the upcoming PTC’26 conference on January 18-20, 2026.

On todayʻs show we have Natalie Perez from Aula Fellowship, co-author of Levers of Power in the Field of AI and Andres Ramirez from the AI Safety Awareness Project, here to talk about AI Safety and governance.

On todayʻs show we have Katy Hintzen, Coastal Resilience Specialist at Sea Grant and Olivia Carbi, NOAA Coastal Resilience Fellow who join us to talk about Pili na Moku and the Community Funding Hub Program.

On todayʻs show Shifted Energy joins us with Forest Frizzell, Co-founder and CEO, along with Olin Lagon, Co-founder and CTO. We talk about startup life, getting acquired by Resource Innovations, and a new book on innovation by Olin Lagon.

On todayʻs show we have Astrobiologist, Dr. Karen Meech, Faculty Chair at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii and she is here to give us an update on the comet 3I/ATLAS. As a result of our discussion, the IfA launched this informational website about 3I/ATLAS.

On todayʻs show we have Pohai Panoke who is with Purple Maia and is the Managing Director of the Purple Prize and is here to talk about Hulihia Lab.

On todayʻs show we have Meli James co-founder of ManaUp, Keiko Napier, founder of Aloha Spice Company, and Amanda Richards, founder of Paper Crane Soaps, here to talk about the upcoming Mana Up Showcase.

On todayʻs show we reprise a show we did with Anja Gengo the Internet Governance Program Expert at the UN Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and she’s here to talk about the IGF and the multi-stakeholder process.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk to Christine Sakuda, the Stateʻs Chief Information Officer and Thelma Alane, Hawaii Annual Code Challenge consultant about the 10th Hawaii Annual Code Challenge. Official launch date is Saturday, October 18, 2025.

On todayʻs show weʻll get a program update from Tiffany Huynh, Senior Director of External Affairs at Elemental Impact. Sheʻs also joined by Leila Banijamali, co-Founder & CEO of Symbium, one of Elemental Impactʻs latest portfolio companies. .

On todayʻs show we have Sean McLaughlin from Media Council Hawaii and formerly the Executive Director of Access Humboldt and Akaku Television, both community television and heʻs here to talk about digital resilience and the panel he chaired at the recent 2025 Hawaii State Association of Counties counties.

During this special fall membership drive, we have Cliff Miyake, Chief Strategy Officer at Ocean Networks, the company contract to build the Hawaiian Islands Fiber Link.

On todayʻs show we have Constancio Paranal, the Innovation and Tech program manager at the City’s Office of Economic Revitalization and Jeremiah Jacinto, the Chair of the Hawaiʻi State Youth Commission and a senior at Baldwin High School on Maui. Jeremiah is here to tell us about Digital Aloha Month and Constancio will tell us about the Broadband Hōʻike.

On todayʻs show we have Christine Sakuda, State Chief Information Officer and Nicole Cacal, Executive Director of the TRUE Initiative here to talk about the Hawaii AI and Cloud Innovation Summit, happening on Sept. 10, 2025.

On todayʻs show we have Ian Kitajima President of the Pacific International Center for High Tech Research here to talk about a new dual use incubator called Hawaii Wave. Applications for a spot in this first cohort are now open.

On todayʻs show we have Anja Gengo the Internet Governance Program Expert at the UN Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and is here to talk about the IGF and the multi-stakeholder process.

On todayʻs show we have Amara Shaker-Brown, Consultant and former Internet policy advisor at the National Democratic Institute (NDI). She joins me from the East Coast and is here to talk about the recent World Summit on the Information Society. Additional resources on WSIS include the Internet Society and the Global Partners Digital.

On todayʻs show we have Michael Bennett, founder of Honolulu Tech Week and we’re talking about the 2nd annual week long event featuring Hawaii’s diverse tech ecosystem happening on Sept. 8-12, 2025. Check out the lineup of events.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk with Paul Apao, Chief Strategy Officer and Dominick Garey, Chief Technology Officer at Malama Carbon about using Web3 technology like blockchain to help ensure an open, transparent accounting of carbon credits.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk with Seiichi Nagai, Founder and CEO of CivicNexus an application that enables nonprofits, lobbyists, policy wonks & public sector that enables smarter policy tracking.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk with Jesse Moonier, Mechanical Engineer and Derek LeVault, Quartermaster at the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project and they are here to talk about the PMDP Hackathon.

On todayʻs show we reprise a show we did with Sally Wentworth, President and CEO of the Internet Society and the Internet Society Foundation. She joined us to talk about the ISOC priorities for ISOC in 2025, building a resilient, reliable, and affordable Internet.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk about Technology Readiness User Evaluation with Nicole Cacal, the new Executive Director of the TRUE Initiative.

On todayʻs show weʻll talk about crypto currency, blockchain and Web3 with Ellen Ng, founder of Inoa and Iris Ikeda from FinReg Strategies. Also donʻt miss Fortifi on July 8th – FortiFi: A Safety-Focused Event on Cryptocurrencies for Beginners (RSVP) and the Pacific Blockchain Summit on Sept. 12, 2025. You can also sign up as an advocate with Stand with Crypto.

On todayʻs show weʻll learn about the potential of geothermal energy with Sadiq J. Zarrouk, Associate Professor (Geothermal Engineering) Co-Director of the Geothermal Institute at the University of Auckland, and Ryan Matsumoto, President of Waika Consulting.

On todayʻs show weʻll catch up with Meli James, co-founder of Mana Up and weʻll talk to a couple of the companies in Cohort 10, we have with us, Billy Carter from Kauai Gourmet Nuts and Tim Johnson of Oribe Tea.

On todayʻs show weʻll get an update on the J-StarX program with Ian Kitajima President of PICHTR, Nobu Takahashi from Diarkis and
Toku Sakai from Letara.

On todayʻs show we have Margaret Schmitt, President of Hawaii Women in Tech here to talk about mentoring women in tech jobs and creating a more diverse tech ecosystem.

On todayʻs show we have Brandon Makaawaawa, Vice President of Nation of Hawaii and Leimomi Bong, full stack developer at Purple Maiʻa. Theyʻre both here to talk about a recent Purple Maia hackathon called Build4ʻAina.

On todayʻs show we have Jacqui Hoover, Chair of the Conference Program Committee for the Hawaii Energy Conference and Michael Colón, co-Chair and Director of the Energy Sector at Ulupono Initiative. We talk about the Hawaii Energy Conference happen on May 21-22, 2025 on Maui.

The Hawaii Energy Conference is presented by Maui Economic Development Board who are offering a special rate to Bytemarks Café listeners yet to register. Use code BYTEMARKS when you register at hawaiienergyconference dot com. That’s BYTEMARKS all upper-case for a 20% savings off the full one or two-day rate.

On todayʻs show we have Dr. Fengchuan Liu, Project Manager and Dr. Yuko Kakazu, Education and Outreach Manager from the Thirty Meter International Telescope and they’re here to give us the latest updates on the project.

On todayʻs show we have Johnny Chankhamany, Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Development at Builders VC, who is here to talk about the startup ecosystem and tech investing.

On todayʻs show we have Leilani Farinas, Director of Content and Engagement of Shangri La Museum who is here to talk about how technology is changing the world of art.