Keen, green and first on the scene

The green wave is rapidly gathering momentum, and more than ever, those preaching sustainability are not just talking the talk but walking the walk. But what you don’t want to do is drive your company into the ground while you take steps towards becoming more environmentally friendly. After all, red tape and branding concerns can quickly cut into the ultimate goal of turning a profit. Rosie Bosworth talks to three very different business owners—a winemaker, a courier and a manufacturer—and finds out how going green can make or break the entrepreneur.

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Expert eye

Have you been spending too much time sitting on an idea and need some help hatching it? Lucky you, Global Entrepreneurship week is coming up and the business development experts at Massey University’s ecentre will be offering some of their time for free on November 15. Book your 20-minute appointment by emailing Sabrina@ecentre.org.nz and prepare to get your project off the ground.

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A truck to trump all traffic

Monster traffic jams, a thing of the past? Sounds too good to be true. The Straddling Bus is part monorail, part monster truck which straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars and small trucks to pass below. Buses, meanwhile, ride above the traffic on rails. The US Elevated High-Speed Bus Group is now looking for manufacturers to build the Chinese-engineered design and hopes to start work as early as next year. “The word ‘revolutionary’ is so overused,”company spokesman Mark Shieh says, “but this new bus actually is revolutionary.”

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Fanboys fight it out

Red leather, check; black turtleneck, check; big afro, check. Yup, it’s the iPad vs iPhone spoof of Beat It. Wars have been fought over lesser conflicts. It’s the ultimate Apple battle: which side will you choose?

Hot tea

Sunshine, bright new greenery, fluffy ducklings and strawberries: spring has definitely sprung. And Teza, purveyors of juiced teas made with all-natural ingredients, has just the thing to put a skip in your step: a brand new limited edition flavour, Feijoa & Limeblossom. 

Teza is so good, you could drink 100 bottles of it. No really, you could—if you’re the winner of our giveaway. Just email us before November 8 with a word that rhymes with “Feijoa” and you could be the proud owner of a bootful of Teza. A bootful? That’s right, they’ll be delivered in the boot of a Peugeot 308 cc convertible, yours to drive around for an entire weekend. Lucky.

Small print: Winner must pick up or have prize delivered to an address in Auckland. Weekend must be claimed in the month of November 2010. Winner must be aged 25 or over. Fuel tank will be full upon pickup and must be returned full. Winner gives permission to have their photo and write-up in any relevant marketing communication.

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Napier gets noisy

The music festival which helped launch artists such as Amy Winehouse and Keane is coming to Napier next month, turning the seaside city into a veritable musical village for four days. City Showcase, which runs from November 25–28, will feature more than 40 bands from New Zealand and around the world including Motocade, Autozamm and I Am Giant. They’ll be playing at retail venues during the day and in regular gig venues in the evenings, with the iconic Soundshell on Marine Parade hosting the final act. Believe it or not, Napier is the first city outside of London to host the festival; the best up-and-coming local act will be jetting to the UK to perform at the 2011 show.

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The power of nano

As the saying goes, make love, not war. But should you find yourself caught up in battle, this is the kind of armour you want—stronger than either stainless steel or Kevlar. Israeli researchers have developed a transparent material made of self-assembling nanospheres, the strongest organic material ever. In tests, only a diamond-tipped probe was able to dent the stuff. There’s lots of work to be done before it goes mainstream, but the first step is always the hardest, is it not?

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Photoshop props

Designers certainly have it, but they’re not the only ones. Do you have PSD? If you possess supernatural powers of imagination and a desire to make the world a prettier place, the odds are in your favour. Photoshop dexterity (PSD) is defined as a skillset acquired by proficient users of Adobe Photoshop, at least by this fine tribute to the revolutionary software.

Quote of the week

People tend to overcomplicate business but it is the elegant, simple ways of doing business that are the most effective.

— Malcolm Rands on the benefits of going back to basics