Live wires

Pacific Fibre looks like the perfect proposition—local heroes with impressive business pedigrees taking it upon themselves to bring Aotearoa truly high-speed broadband. The startup intends to lay submarine fibre-optic cables linking New Zealand, Australia and the US, where the vast majority of our internet data originates from, which would increase our download capacity and speed in spades. But will the infrastructure really revolutionise the way we do business here—and are they up to the mammoth task?

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Two voices, one script

How do writers navigate the muddy waters of co-writing to create screen magic? Roseanne Liang (My Wedding and Other Secrets, Take 3, Banana in a Nutshell) and duo Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston (Run, The Six Dollar Fifty Man) have co-written film stories to considerable success, and they’ll be sharing stories about collaborative writing at this month’s Script to Screen discussion in Wellington on Wednesday. From 6.30pm at NZ Film Archive, 84 Taranaki Street, Wellington.

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What's the buzz about?

With equal parts imagination and hard work, last year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup winners Team OneBeep recreated their victory this week—this time as as Team OneBuzz with an ambitious project using technology to inhibit the spread of malaria and ultimately eliminate the disease. “It took months of sweat and tears to get to this point,” says team member Vinny Lohan.

And the road doesn’t end here. Team OneBuzz will now compete in an online qualifying round with winning teams all over the world for a chance to represent New Zealand at the worldwide finals in New York. Last year they took third place in the global competition, which is now in its ninth year.

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Time warp

If there’s one thing magazine covers reflect, it’s the hot topics of the day. In 1991 Demi Moore posed naked for Vanity Fair and MC Hammer was the hottest name in music; big hair and bigger earrings were, apparently, the height of fashion (funny how quickly trends date). Buzzfeed’s list of 50 magazine covers from 20 years ago takes some of our biggest titles on a leap back in time.

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Deep sea adventures

New Zealand short film Das Tub has won Best Short Short at the Aspen Shortsfest in Colorado—qualifying it for Oscar consideration. Directed by Media Design School’s 3D course leader James Cunningham and animated by a group of five students in just eight weeks, it’s a lively, tongue-in-cheek homage to submarine films featuring Kiwi actor Craig Hall.

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We want to pick your brains

Have you taken our reader survey yet? If not, you really should think about it: we’re giving away 25 subscriptions to any of our sister publications as an incentive. Tell us what you love, hate and want to see more of in Idealog. Sound fair? Go on then, get stuck in.

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Add some colour to your life

Design Assembly has launched its workshop series for 2011, and first up (back due to popular demand) are three-hour colour management sessions on April 27 and 28 with Jessica Mills. They’ll be hosted at The Biz Dojo on Auckland’s K Rd, cost $150 per person. There are only a couple of places left though, so email info@designassembly.org.nz ASAP to reserve a spot, or contact louise@designassembly.org.nz if you’re interested in running the workshop in-house at your studio.

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Power players

Christchurch-based investment and business incubation company Powerhouse Ventures has been awarded the 2011 NBIA Incubator Innovation of the Year Award at a conference in California. The National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) presented the award in recognition of Powerhouse’s Venture Out student programme, held bi-annually at Lincoln University. It was one of two international finalists, including runner-up University of North Dakota’s Center for Innovation. “It gives us recognition for the work we do in shaping early stage ventures,” says managing partner Dr Stephen Hampson, “and highlights that our regional innovation system is something we should be proud of.”

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Architecture with a vision

Triangular buildings, vertical cemeteries and power plants that harvest lightning—these were some of the almighty visions submitted to the
eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, it recognises outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design. Check out the winning entries here.

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Kudos for Kiwi innovations

A little closer to home, eight New Zealand projects have been confirmed as finalists in the upcoming World Summit Awards. Although the awards honour excellence in new media and e-content creation, extra kudos is heaped on projects that show the benefits of information and communication technology for the development of society at large. The Kiwi contenders range from MiniMonos, a green game for kids, to Areoscan, a 3D modelling system for surveying and architecture.

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Table manners

You probably wouldn’t want to eat them, but how about eating off them? Dutch designer Marre Moerel has unveiled Food on the Table, a collection of tableware cast directly from animal organs. Among the body parts she’s used are sheep brains, cow hearts and pig intestines.

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It's all in the presentation

Art direction is everything. Need proof? Watch this, then decide if the workings of a Brazilian textile factory set to classical music isn’t furiously beautiful.

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Quote of the week

I had a mate from Microsoft who was here last week and he has a 50 megabit per second fibre connection and no data caps. He just lives completely differently and when he does work here it feels like a backwater.

- Rod Drury on how slow internet is holding New Zealanders back