Bayerische Wasserstoffmotorenwerke

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

Bayerische Wasserstoffmotorenwerke

Possibly the biggest problem with internal combustion engines and oil-based fuels is that they work too well. A litre of petrol goes a long way, and diesel even further. For instance, BMW’s Hydrogen 7 uses 14 litres per 100km of petrol, but up to 60 litres of the clean-burning hydrogen. Ethanol is easy to make, but creates lots of smog-inducing ozone at ground level.

Electric then? Clean, green and efficient, that’s the electric car for you. But Dr Jonathan Leaver of Unitec’s Department of Engineering begs to differ on the practicality of electrically propelled vehicles; read our roundup of hydrogen v electric and find out why.

Lauren take a bow

Our very own Lauren Bartlett got her just desserts at the Qantas Media Awards last week, taking out the Junior Magazine Feature Writer 2009 Award.

What does it take a snag a Qantas? Lauren’s winning work from last year includes a look at the New Zealanders creating born-again-ware and a new generation of entrepreneurial Kiwi scientists. Congratulations, Lauren!

Oh no, bro

The New Zealand Entrepreneurial Summit this week saw some great ideas—so why was the most-loved idea the most misguided? Vincent Heeringa ponders the result on the Idealog blog. Let us know if you (dis)agree.

Today and over the weekend we’ll be at the inspiring X|Media|Lab shindig at Auckland’s Hilton, where Kiwis with creative ideas are being coached by local and visiting mentors—and some of them even have money to fund our startups. Some of these ideas are deserving, so we hope they meet their (financial) makers. We’ll be blogging XML live on our website and at Idealog TV, so tune in.

Getting the message across

The function of a bridge is to allow people to cross obstacles that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to negotiate. That is the purpose of the Auckland Harbour Bridge as well, but it’s limited to motorised vehicles only, making it a barrier to cyclists and pedestrians.

There’s a lively debate on whether or not this is fair enough, but it’s such a short distance and Auckland weather’s generally great, so … it just feels right to have a bridge traversable by means of human power. The harbour is beautiful and best enjoyed not in a car or a bus.

It’s also a little hard to imagine us as a country with a sustainability focus if only fossil-fuel vehicles can make it across the bridge.

Besides, I’m sick of being gouged by rotten “public” transport operators that put the fare stages on the middle of the bridge, making the short trip across cost twice as much as it should, and $50 cab return cab rides for travelling less than ten kilometres, or ferries that are rarer than hen’s teeth.

This Sunday, May 24, at 9am come rain or shine, it’s time to challenge the notion that the Auckland Harbour Bridge isn’t for cyclists and pedestrians. Step over to the GetAcross website for more details on the meet.

To actually get across

It’s one thing to say you want to be able to cycle across the bridge but you need to have gear for it too. For commuters, this can be a headache because there’s usually nowhere to store bikes safely—not even on the street.

One answer to that problem is foldable bikes, but they tend to compromise too much on rideability to be much use, and they look ridiculous as well.

Areaware has been working on making foldable bikes that don’t compromise on rideability and looks, and the latest IFMODE seems as if it could be the bridge commuter’s dream ride. Unfortunately, it’s about US$2,600 …

Rubberduckzilla and grenades

Right, back to normal programming. The Rubberduckzilla spot for Oasis something-that-isn’t-water seems to be going gangbusters in terms of ad-land props at the moment. Not sure it would work in every demographic.

This is good stuff though: a new ad from the local Saatchi office that looks at road safety from a very different angle. An explosive one.

It’s elementary

Here’s a film that’ll be labelled iconoclastic faster than quick. Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law star in the upcoming Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes movie that looks set to break all the traditions around the Victorian super-sleuth.

Job of the Week

Senior Creative – Christchurch (P0508)

Award winning TTL Agency with strong design brand focus • Christchurch • Collaborative environmen

Our client, a well regarded and market leading agency based in Christchurch is seeking a Senior Creative to join their growing team. They have a reputation for innovative, high quality, results focused work, and have gained international exposure as an award winning agency. They have a varied client base of national and international brands.

You’ll need broad brand development experience across all channels. Your work will be idea based and show your strong conceptual ability. High levels of typographic and art direction skills are essential to meet the high standards of this company.

The right candidate will have either come from an advertising agency background with a true design focus or a design agency with an advertising bent.

If you feel this is the right next step for you, please send your details to Debbie Kitson at Portfolio Recruitment on 09 379-9303, or apply on our website.

A subjective camera

Auckland photographer Patrick Reynolds will be exhibiting at the John Leech Gallery, corner Wellesley and Kitchener Streets, exploring transformative qualities of light amongst other things.

Furthermore, Reynolds and HOME magazine editor Jeremy Hansen will discuss the exhibition and the poetry of photography on Saturday at 1pm at the John Leech Gallery.

The exhibition runs from Tuesday, May 26 until June 19.

Quote of the week

“I agree with John Key that we can prepare for when the world starts growing again, but the priorities seem wrong. I don’t think a cycleway is the stuff of 21st century change … there is no evident shifting of gear; there is nothing that says New Zealand will come out of this recession with a different kind of economy.”

—Cyclist and sceptic Bette Flagler pans the national cycleway. What should we do with the money? Naturally, Bette has some ideas.

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