BUSINESS BRIEFS
KITV's 5 p.m. team expands duties
Advertiser Staff
KITV announced that the 5 p.m. news anchor team of Gary Sprinkle and Pamela Young will add the 6 p.m. slot to their duties beginning Monday.
Paula Akana and Shawn Ching, who anchor both the 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.. slots, will be limited to just the 10 p.m. broadcast, the station said in a news release.
"With Gary and Pamela anchoring Hawai'i's top-rated 5 p.m. newscast ... it is obvious that (they) have a great appeal to Hawai'i viewers," said Mike Rosenberg, KITV president and general manager.
"With changes occurring in competitive newscasts, we feel the time is right for this logical experiment," Rosenberg said.
GO! PASSENGER COUNT UP 14.1%
Go! airlines' planes were 70.7 percent full in August, according to preliminary traffic figures released by the interisland carrier today.
That was down slightly from 71.5 percent during the same month a year earlier, the airline said.
But go!, a unit of Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, said its passenger count was up 14.1 percent to 75,037 from August 2007's 65,736. Go! increased its capacity earlier this year after Aloha Airlines shut down its passenger service on March 31.
ISLE FIRM RELEASES PHOTO SOFTWARE
Honolulu-based Blue Lava Technologies announced its ILovePhotos free desktop software for Mac computers, saying the product will help people manage and share photographs through the use of facial detection technology.
Blue Lava said the software's facial detection and visual tagging helps people organize and share digital photographs. The software automatically detects faces of individuals in each picture as images are imported, allowing the pictures to be sorted and shared.
The new software made its debut at DEMOfall 08, a technology event that showcases new products and services.
DONATE TO TROOPS AT MALL SEPT. 21
Operation Homefront of Hawai'i will hold an "Aloha Holiday Care Package Collection Drive," Sept. 21 at Windward Mall to collect items to be sent to Hawai'i troops stationed overseas.
The items will be collected from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the main entrances to Windward Mall.
"Local goodies such as Kona coffee, mochi crunch, macadamia nuts, crack seed, cookies, cuttlefish, University of Hawai'i logo wear, Hawai'i calendars, slippers, and small holiday decorations are requested," according to a news release from Windward Mall.
Operation Homefront of Hawai'i was established in 2007 to provide assistance to military families in need within the state of Hawai'i. Earlier this year, the Aloha Care Package program delivered more than 200 boxes of local goodies to troops deployed overseas in time for Independence Day
HONOLULU, MAUI ON LIST OF TOP SPOTS
Two Hawai'i destinations are still on the list of top U.S. vacation options.
Honolulu ranks No. 3 and Maui No. 4 in the annual survey conducted by Travel Leaders, formally Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates.
The survey conducted this summer polled 415 Travel Leaders agents, managers and owners around the country.
The top destination is Las Vegas, and No. 2 is Orlando, Fla. Honolulu and Maui are followed by New York and San Francisco. Anchorage, Alaska, ranks seventh.
