With a game created on the pretense of stacking building blocks coupled with a passion for entrepreneurship, one local man has constructed a video game software empire for himself. Chances are that no matter what style of video game system or game genre, Henk Rogers of Blue Planet Software has had a hand in developing some part of the technology that provides hours of entertainment for you or your children.

Most don’t know this, but Blue Planet Software was founded right here in Honolulu and is one of the world’s most successful software gaming developers. However, it was a long road to arrive at that point for Rogers. “Business downturns are tough when you’re not a public company with deep pockets. Having to close companies or otherwise let people go who have become your friends is really hard,” says Rogers.

Persistence and always taking on the toughest challenges are principles Cathy Owen swore by through her rise to the top of Hawaii’s high-tech industry. Today, she is a successful entrepreneur and President of her very own high-tech company, Nanopoint Inc., which is a biotechnology company that develops and markets unique cellular imaging systems for the life sciences market.

As President of a start-up tech company, Owen is charged with a gamut of responsibilities spanning accounting, business development, marketing, human resources and sometimes, still fixing her own IT problems. Through it all, she wouldn’t trade it for the world, citing Nanopoint’s success over the past couple of years as one of her greatest life accomplishments.

The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held from January 7 through January 10, was a Techie’s dream come true. Held annually in Las Vegas, CES is the world’s largest and most important consumer electronics tradeshow with the newest electronic gear, gadgets and gizmos from over 2,700 different exhibitors. The show was so large that it is spread out over three different locations in Las Vegas and covered the equivalent of over 35 football fields. That’s a lot of technology!

After years of living and working for HP and Ariba, Inc. in Silicon Valley, local boy Kevin Kawahara got a chance to not only come home to raise his family in the islands, but also to continue a rewarding career in the technology industry. It was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

Now he’s a part of a world-class institution, working as Punahou School’s Technical Solutions Manager. He came on board just as the school was transitioning their IT department from a basic support organization to one that develops and delivers solutions to meet the needs of the school’s board and larger community.

Technology is what Kawahara is all about. His interest in technology began in childhood when he would play home computer games and anything else he could get his hands on. A friend lent him a 300 Baud modem, which got him online at the forefront of the Internet computing craze.

When it comes to computer operating systems, we’re all looking for something that’s easier to use with more advanced features that make day-to-day living simpler and business more productive. Pacific News Bytes takes a look at two systems that hope to revolutionize computing in both arenas.

Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 — The new Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 has lots to offer with more than 300 new features. Here are a few highlights, courtesy of Apple:

A broken television set in his parents’ home is what started Thomas Lee, owner of The Audio Visual Company, on a career path in the electronics industry. Lee, at the time a high school student at Saint Louis School, had to sit at home and wait for the TV repairman to arrive.

When the young technician showed up, he took a brief look at the TV and said he had to take it in to be fixed. Two weeks went by with no television before the set was returned — along with an expensive repair bill. That’s when Lee decided he would study electronics himself.

Conventional schooling was always a chore for Lee, he recalls, so right out of high school he joined the Hawaii Air National Guard to study electronics and work with the Avionics group on F-102 fighter jets. Lee did earn an associate’s degree in science, however, and later attended New York Technical School for Electronics in Honolulu.

The Internet has opened up a whole new world to even the most seasoned of globe trotters. Travel agent desks and foreign destination pamphlets have given way to Internet-powered search engines and online blogs and videos.

Nowadays, anyone with a credit card and Internet connection can search for cheap flights, bid for a luxury hotel room, find a great deal on a car rental, or even book a dog sledding trip across the arctic. While the latter may not be for everyone, millions upon millions of singles, families, and business travelers are using the Internet when making their travel plans. According to the Travel Industry Association, that number was 79 million people last year and is steadily growing every year.

Almost gone are the days of hand-delivered phone messages from the front desk or getting a stiff neck trying to see the overhead movie screen that is 10 rows in front of you on an airplane. In an effort to compete for lucrative high-end travel dollars, many hotels and airlines are upping their technology antes. Although relatively slow to catch on to new technologies in the past, these travel companies are increasing experiments with new high-tech ways to attract and keep customers, cut costs on labor, and gain a competitive edge amongst increasing competition.

Self-service kiosks have been around for a few years now. Everything from remote baggage drop-offs, checking in for a flight or hotel room, going through security screening at the airport, or selecting preferences for a hotel room can be done via fancy touch screen kiosks at many of the nation’s leading airports and hotel chains.