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Critiki's latest new features: Themed Image Galleries, username photo credits |
dogbytes
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 2240
From: seattle, wa
|  Posted: 2007-01-26 4:29 pm Permalink
wow in miles and kilometers! i love the new feature, Humuhumu! as a frequent traveler, i try to get to as many tiki establishments as possible. this helps a lot!
thanks for making the world Tiki Accessible!
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2008-07-01 8:25 pm Permalink
I just made a little update to Critiki -- instead of having to email me when you forget your password, Critiki will automagically reset your password and email it to you. Ooooh! Fancy! Now it works like any other halfway-decent website! The login functionality on Critiki is on the janky side, so let me know if it doesn't work for you.
The other new feature is a little more involved:
Critiki Mobile!
I first shared this on Humu Kon Tiki a few months ago:
http://blog.humuhumu.com/2008/02/20/critiki-mobile
It is BETA BETA BETA BETA -- there's a reason it's not actually linked on the real Critiki site -- it's not quite ready for prime time. It's designed first & foremost for the iPhone ('cause that's what I have, and I'm selfish like that), but it works for some other phones, too.
http://mobile.critiki.com
Nearly everything you can do on the regular Critiki site, you can do on Critiki Mobile — you can search for tiki locations, read the descriptions, look at pictures, find other tiki places nearby, and of course you can take a gander at how locations have been rated. Now, you can even add your own critiki ratings while you’re still in the restaurant! Since it is a phone app, naturally dialing phone numbers takes just a touch, and it’s also hooked into the iPhone’s Google Maps app, which is just ridiculously convenient.
I was able to use it to rate Thatch while I was sitting at my table, drinking my London Sour! Snazzy.
Let me know how it works/doesn't work for you.
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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GROG
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6187
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2008-07-01 11:48 pm Permalink
HUMU!!!!!!!!
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GROG
Grand Member (first year)
Joined: Jun 21, 2006
Posts: 6187
From: Tujunga
| Posted: 2008-07-02 12:06 pm Permalink
Hey. that was GROG' 2000th post! (Kinny says that's 1,990 posts too many if you ask him).
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JenTiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 16, 2006
Posts: 1817
From: An island in the bay
| Posted: 2008-07-02 1:36 pm Permalink
Then let's not ask him. Someone should talk to Kinny about quality over quantity! At least your posts don't need smiley faces to convince the reader that it's funny. 
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Tikiwahine
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3288
From: Ontario, Canada
| Posted: 2008-07-02 1:53 pm Permalink
That's excellent Humu
Someday I hope to have an iPhone, but until then I appreciate your snappy snapshot!
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Great Minds Drink Alike
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2008-08-03 10:15 pm Permalink
Critiki
I just got finished with a major, humongous overhaul of Critiki. From your point of view, mostly it's just prettier, but from my end it opens the door to being able to roll out some new features in the months to come.
The biggest new thing (aside from it no longer looking like it's stuck in 2002) is that it's much easier to drill down to destinations. I've integrated the Critiki Map with the drill-down, and it also tells you how many locations are in an area. No more having to drill down all the way to obscure little towns & back again to find all the locations, you can see 'em all right there on the map.
If you're using Internet Explorer 6, well, it's slightly janky. I've done what I can to de-jankify it, but IE 6 is just an inherently janky browser -- the newer browsers are way better, so maybe it's time to upgrade. 
Enjoy, and let me know what you think! Especially let me know if you have any problems, I've done a lot of testing, but without access to a Mac, there's always a bit of finger-crossing that's it's going to work for my Apple-lovin' friends.
Critiki
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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Sweet Daddy Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 20, 2003
Posts: 1026
From: Edmonton
| Posted: 2008-08-03 10:58 pm Permalink
I checked it out on the latest versions of firefox and safari on my mac mini (running OS X 10.4.11) and everything works fine and looks fantastic. Kudos.
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-Sweet Daddy T.
Because crap doesn't buy itself.
blog
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pappythesailor
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 07, 2005
Posts: 1563
From: Mass.
| Posted: 2008-08-04 02:04 am Permalink
Thanks! I like what I see so far. You make insomnia a pleasure.
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The Gnomon
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: May 01, 2007
Posts: 1276
From: MD-DC-VA
| Posted: 2008-08-04 09:59 am Permalink
Nice upgrades, Humuhumu. Of course, I started my journey with a bummer. I checked out the nearest tiki restaurant, the Pacific in Sterling VA. Damn! It closed last month! At least, Critiki gave me the heads up not to bother driving all the way out to Sterling for nothing. They keep disappering, but none emerge to keep the tiki torch burning.
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2008-08-04 3:02 pm Permalink
Mahalo nui loa for the Mac checking, and thanks for all the kind words! It's such a relief to have it done -- once I started work on the new look & feel, the old one looked like an eyesore, and it had to go. Much, much better now -- and a lot easier to use, I think.
The Gnomon, you're right -- the great old tiki places are still going out of business. I have renewed hopes for the future, though -- the new places that have opened up in the past few years are of much, much higher quality than those that were opening five years ago. Hopefully the trend towards quality tiki will make its way to your area soon. In the meantime, get to know your local tikiphiles! The best tiki bars are always the home bars.
Here's the thread about the close of Pacific, the locals just got together at Pacific's sister restaurant to check out the cocktails & drown their sorrows:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=18332&forum=2&29
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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Joe Kona
Member
Joined: Jun 26, 2008
Posts: 10
From: Los Angeles
| Posted: 2008-08-09 10:19 am Permalink
Aloha, Humuhumu!
You mentioned in your last post about hopes for the future of tiki in new places as the old ones go out. I have a question, as to what actually makes a place 'tiki' or at least considered officially tiki?
I like going to Islands, but its obviously very commercial. I prefer the tiki places that have been 'broken in' as opposed to new, high tech tiki.
But then again, I'd love it if someone would open a video tiki bar where re-runs of Hawai`i 5-O could run on a loop and have tiki movie theme nights!
Once again, great work on Critiki as well as ALL of your "webiki" sites!
Joe
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<i> My name is Joe Kona, and I'm a Tropicaholic! Addicted to Paradise......Currently focusing on photos of the islands of Hawai`i for my website, www.joekona.com. </i>
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2008-08-11 11:32 pm Permalink
Thanks for the kind words, Joe! Tiki is really in the eye of the beholder, but my preference is definitely for the musty, dusty, dark & cluttered version. The full spectrum is represented in Critiki -- cool places and lame places -- because I want Critiki to be a place where you can check to see if a place is worth visiting or not. Sadly, there are plenty of "nots" in Critiki.
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Now for the latest Critiki updates:
Comments!
At long last, after many many many many many requests over the years... you can now finally add your own comments about locations in Critiki. Hurrah! You have to choose a user name for yourself first... now's your chance to snag your favorite user name before someone else does.
RSS Goodness!
There's also an RSS feed of the most recent comments, and you can subscribe to an RSS feed for comments for just one location if you want, too. And there's still the old RSS feed for the latest updates to locations.
Update Critiki's Info!
You can also submit information updates & corrections to Critiki -- each location has a link at the very top of the right info bar to "Update Critiki's Info". It sends the update to me, and I review it & get it incorporated into the location's entry.
See Where You've Been!
Another new feature is that you can now see a list of all the locations you've reviewed. It gives you a chance to eyeball your ratings, make sure they're up-to-date with your current opinions, that sort of thing.
Uhhh, lessee, what else.... oh yeah!
Links to Relevant Articles on Humu Kon Tiki!
I went through all my Humu Kon Tiki posts, all the way to 2005, and added links to them from the relevant Critiki entries. For instance, the Tonga Hut's page in Critiki now has links to all the Humu Kon Tiki articles that referenced the Tonga Hut, including the Great Popcorn Caper.
*whew!* Now to take a short break while I go to Tiki Oasis!
OH! Almost forgot -- you iPhone & other mobile phone users: this has been a point of some debate, and I'd like to hear your opinion. Would you prefer if Critiki automagically detected that you were visiting from an iPhone (or other cell phone), and redirected you to the mobile site? Or would you rather I left it alone, because you're going to the main site and you want the main site, gosh darnit?
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2009-03-07 8:17 pm Permalink
The latest new goodness from Critiki:
Regulars & Visitors
On each location page, right under the critiki ratings, there's a spot where you can check off whether you've been to a place before, and even whether you're a regular. Once you check that off, you'll be added to that location's list of Regulars & Visitors, and you'll also add that location to your own list of places you've visited (visible on your profile). Here's my profile as an example.
Critiki Mobile has location awareness on the iPhone
I already mentioned this in another thread about tiki on the iPhone, but here it is again: Critiki Mobile is now able to detect where you're standing, and give you a list of the tiki places nearest to where you are at that very moment. It uses a free iPhone app called Alocola, and it seems to work really well.
Critiki Mobile
Also, Critiki now has accounts on both Twitter and Facebook. If you're using either one of these services, it's a great way to keep up with the latest Critiki updates & news.
Critiki on Twitter
Critiki on Facebook
Enjoy!
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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Humuhumu
Grand Member (5 years)
Joined: Aug 22, 2002
Posts: 3536
From: San Francisco
| Posted: 2009-03-29 10:22 am Permalink
Introducing Image Galleries
Critiki has over 2,500 images—a massive repository of photographs and archive materials from tiki locations, past and present. Up to now, the only way to see these images has been to go through Critiki location-by-location.
There have been many times I've wanted to be able to just look at all of the menus, or all of the postcards, or all of the matchbooks, from all of the locations, in one gallery of images.
This is one of those things that is easily within the realm of possibility, but making it so took some work. I had to go back through all the existing images to mark them according to their contents. It's been a lot of work, but looking through tiki images is one of my favorite things to do, so it was hardly a chore.
I have to say, the reward is wonderful. Critiki has a new way to browse: by Images.
I will be rolling out a new Image Gallery each day. The first one is A-frames.
Seriously, it's straight-up tiki porn.
Images Are Now Credited to Usernames
Critiki has used real names for image credits, because I want to have a record of who really owns which images. But now, if you've selected a username for your Critiki account, that will be used to give you credit, instead of your real name (your real name is still kept in the records behind-the-scenes). If you select a username, all the pictures you've uploaded to Critiki in the past will be credited to the new username. (Some very early Critiki images may not make the switch -- let me know if there are images of yours that don't switch over to your username, and I'll fix it.)
You can select a username by logging in and going to Edit Profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
I've added a FAQ to Critiki, let me know if you have any questions that aren't answered by the FAQ.
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Critiki - Ooga-Mooga - Humu Kon Tiki
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