Misfits of science

Welcome to Idealog Weekly, the free email newsletter for New Zealand commercial creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone rich with ideas.

Misfits of science

Was Ernest Rutherford sexy in his day, despite the handlebar moustache? Too right. Science stories and “boffins” may still take second or third place to Nicky Watson and her dog, but as many more young people discover, they’re not just necessary for informed decision-making but also rather cool.

Read about Privahini Bradoo, Ocean Mercier, Kaa-sandra Chee, Matthew Brodie and Rebecca McLeod and what floats their scientific boats in the latest issue of Idealog, out now, and on our website.

Red vs blue

That Obama ‘landslide’ wasn’t, of course—46 percent of American voters cast their vote for candidate McCain. So avert your eyes from that CNN map of red and blue states and take a look at maps with a bit more detail: the amazing cartograms of Mark Newman. (Via JWZ)

But then, who cares about the data anyway. The best illustration of this election comes, as it should, courtesy of an artist: Patrick Moberg. (Via Campaign Brief NZ)

Magnetic advertising

Hopefully the hole in the ozone layer can survive this Guinness ad.

Time for some invention

Fifty of the best inventions of the year from Time magazine. The Retail DNA Kit deserves the first prize if only for its disruptiveness, but there some really interesting thinking behind the rest of the inventions listed as well, like Raytheon’s Active Protective System.

Let it slide

Shared slidedecks tell the stories these days and Guy Kawasaki, Nancy Duarte, Garr Reynolds and Bert Decker have judged some of the best slideshows out there, in categories from creativity to technology.

Flossied Up and Freer for it

How are these for a startup’s website stats: over four million page views from 376,000 Kiwi visitors in just two months. That’s the proud record of Flossie.com—which has managed to hit its 12-month target in just two.

How did they do that? Find out from the head Flossie, Jenene Freer, next week. On Wednesday Jenene is our guest at the next AUT–Idealog Innovation Series Plus event. Discover how Jenene raises cash, turns ideas into businesses and how she takes them to market. Her secrets are yours for a mere $49. Don’t miss Freer’s talk, part of the AUT–Idealog Innovation Series Plus on November 12 at Level 20, Lumley Centre on 88 Shortland Street in Auckland, between 5.30 to 8pm. You can book online from our website.

I can see clearly now

What could you do with a pure white world and a paint gun? And why would you ever want to leave? Find out with this demo of Swan, an upcoming “first-person painting game”. Looks addictive.

Artists and objects

ART+OBJECT’s first Wellington exhibition opens on Thursday, November 13 at Chaffers Gallery from 6pm to 8pm. On show will be a 1909 Goldie portrait, a 1966 Colin McCahon North Otago painting, a major 80-piece cutout by Rick Killeen and rare artworks by Brent Wong, Gretchen Albrecht, Pat Hanly, Milan Mrkusich, Paul Dibble and Michael Parekowhai.To attend, send an email to hamish@artandobject.co.nz.

A blow for desirable design

Massey University’s Blow arts Festival is in full swing and on Monday the Wellington campus is hosting a panel discussion on Design for Desirability. That is, how New Zealand products remain competitive by being intuitive, desirable, aspirational and generally nice.

The panel discussion will be chaired by Mark Goellner of Massey, and the keynote speaker is F&P’s Mike Jensen, with Leon Erasmussen from Tait, Ross Pearce (Tritech), Mark Harris (Gallagher) and Campbell Junor (Mouton Noir) sitting in as well.

Design for desirability: Academia and New Zealand Industry is held at Museum Building Theatrette, Massey University’s Wellington Campus, on November 10, between 1 to 3pm. Enquiries to m.goellner@massey.ac.nz or 04 801-5799 ext 6991.

Summa cum louder

Lectricity Co Vector is again bringing in some electronic music talent for its Summadayze festival on January 10 next year.

Summadayze features Eric Prydz from Sweden (yeah, the “Call On Me” dude), Calvin Harris, Utah Saints, and Steve Aoki.

Quote of the week

“Suddenly, sustainability becomes not only good for the planet, it’s economically desirable. For scientists it’s like the new civil rights movement, with intellectuals involved to do something incredibly positive in society.”

— Lanzatech co-founder Sean Simpson has a dream.

More at Idealog online

Read more on our website: web exclusives, opinion, creative directory, Idealog TV, the Idealog blogs and the Idealog podcast. See you at idealog.co.nz.

  Juha Saarinen
  Ideologue, Weekly