2012-05-25 09:45:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Modern packaging often leaves something to be desired. Much like that last inch of toothpaste in the tube, squeezy condiment bottles insist on retaining sweet, sweet globs of sauce in a sticky layer that just won't budge.
2012-05-23 15:13:52 // Josh Martin
// The Idealog Blog
A burnt painting may not sound like your average person’s cup of tea, but a Kaikoura artist believes hers are a New Zealand first.
2012-05-23 10:13:44 // Josh Martin
A design straight off the Marlborough vineyards has scooped two European viticulture awards and looks set to make an impact on some of the world's oldest wine markets.
2012-05-21 13:41:33 // Idealog
Many an Apple fan might say the iPhone is the greatest invention ever. And indeed smartphone technology is nothing to sneeze at, as Massey University has proved in making the country's first telly ad using an iPhone.
2012-05-21 10:50:06 // Esther Goh
| 3 comments
Paperless receipts are one of the least evolved aspects of retail, and it's about time things changed, say the duo behind Paperkut.
2012-05-17 17:14:16 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Collaboration is where it's at these days, and fledgling web app Loomio is betting on the trend picking up even more steam going forward.
2012-05-15 15:10:31 // Josh Martin
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Grasslanz Technology was thrilled to scoop the award for most innovative product in agritech at the Hi-Tech awards on Friday night – all by making birds feel queasy.
2012-05-15 12:04:08 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
After nearly two years at sea, the MS Tûranor PlanetSolar has become the first photovoltaic boat to sail around the world.
2012-05-14 13:09:45 // Josh Martin
// The Idealog Blog
| 13 comments
An Auckland graduate’s novel approach to New Zealand’s ailing bee population and pollination rates could see more buzzing added to the urban rumble.
2012-05-11 15:16:56 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Getty's hated watermark is no more. At least not in its large, splashy incarnation that made it tough for anyone to get a good look at its images. But R/GA London, Getty Images' new agency, has brought the watermark into the digital age.
2012-05-10 16:55:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 16 comments
Auckland branding design agency Rare Design has launched a digital marketplace for businesses to browse for and buy ready-to-use, exclusive logos created by local talent – a New Zealand first.
2012-05-10 14:49:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Thought Semi-Permanent was just about soaking up inspiration from top designers, illustrators, artists, and other creative minds? Well, yes, it's all that, but it's also going to be home to what’s believed to be the world’s first art painted by Twitter-controlled bots.
2012-05-10 13:38:43
// The Idealog Blog
Less shouty, more crafting of an experience. Vincent Heeringa on what's wrong with the tourism industry and how it can lift its marketing game.
2012-05-08 10:13:24 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
The recent KiwiNet group hug in Wellington showed the value of having a dealmaker-come-salesman attitude when it comes to commercialisation.
2012-05-07 10:09:50 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Challenger mobile network 2degrees is slowly gaining market share with innovations like the introduction of rollover minutes on Pay Monthly plans, and today, it's launching a new feature allowing users to share data allowances between multiple devices.
2012-05-04 09:42:36 // Idealog
| 1 comment
Last week a mobile wallet trial in Auckland was announced with certain retailers and the HOP public transport ticketing system, but mobile payments on buses and taxis are already underway in Wellington
2012-05-01 09:33:57 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A crowdsourced solution to assist blind Kiwis created by students from AUT and the University of Auckland has won the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup, impressing judges with its creativity and imagination.
2012-04-30 16:46:19 // Esther Goh
New online service RealMe has a lofty goal: reducing the headache associated with dealing with multiple organisations across both private and public sectors.
2012-04-30 11:35:30 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Bloggers now have another legit free option when it comes to illustrating posts beyond Creative Commons – and it comes courtesy of The Creative Finder, a platform for creative professionals to showcase their design, illustration and photography work and connect with others in the international community.
2012-04-26 13:31:13 // Ben Fahy
The Webby Awards aim to honour general internet awesomeness, and fighting it out for gongs with big global beasts like Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest are local hopes Shift for Tourism New Zealand, Resn for Toyota’s Camry Effect, Xero and DDB/Rapp Tribal for McDonald’s. And they need your votes.
2012-04-26 09:20:29 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Commercialisation professionals from around the country will be gathering in Wellington next week at the KiwiNet Commercialisation Forum to delve into the hot topic of market-led tech transfer.
2012-04-26 09:15:05
Peter Thiel presents a divisive idea: that commercial competition undermines innovation and creativity, writes David Brooks in the New York Times.
2012-04-24 12:07:46 // Idealog
Remember Revolution Fibres, the company hard at work creating fibres naked to the human eye with potential in the cosmetics, health and electronics markets? Well, now it has developed and produced a new ultra-sensitive air filter for HRV using nanofibre technology infused with the antibacterial properties of manuka.
2012-04-24 09:58:48 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Entrepreneur and developer Dan Milward is launching what he calls the world's first cloud-based open source game creator today – Gamefroot.
2012-04-24 09:26:02 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Droves of Kiwi tweeps and organisations from the NZ Herald to NZ Music Month have added virtual poppies to their Twitter avatars in honour of the RSA Poppy Day appeal in a movement reminiscent of the Twitter avatar blackout against the Section 92a copyright legislation, albeit with a much more positive spin.
2012-04-23 12:40:58 // Chris Rawson
// Idealog #39: workshop
| 1 comment
Future generations may look upon literary agents and publishing houses as curiously old-fashioned.
2012-04-20 16:20:22 // Josh Martin
// The Idealog Blog
An app that tracks aftershocks in Canterbury has taken off with users, surprising even its developers.
2012-04-20 09:57:12 // Idealog
Video conferencing specialist Asnet Technologies has launched a new tool for medical professionals – the Practitioner Cart.
2012-04-17 17:12:05 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
The green movement is slowly permeating fashion, with bamboo clothing that's wholly compostable, biodegradable fleece and zero-waste clothing. And now local designer Miranda Brown, who's big on ethical and sustainable fashion, is out to make her own line of 100 percent biodegradable T-shirts.
2012-04-17 13:12:08 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
| 11 comments
At the risk of displaying a Wellington-residential and Southland upbringing bias, the government’s keenness for an Aucklandisation of our science and innovation strikes me as stupid.
2012-04-16 17:38:22 // Idealog
PopAR books, which use New Zealand-made software, have taken the grand prize at this year's American International Toy Fair.
2012-04-16 10:04:38 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
The refreshingly upbeat Mark Stevenson breezed through Wellington just before Easter, giving his take on why the world’s NOT going to hell in a handcart.
2012-04-16 09:58:19 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
The Nelson-based Cawthron Institute says it has cracked a new and lucrative export market with rare organic compounds derived from algae.
2012-04-16 09:47:08 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
Trade Aid is bringing consumers and producers closer together this month with the help of instore touch screens.
2012-04-12 10:10:01 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Is it a bicycle, or a turntable?
Japanese interaction artist Toshiyuki Sugai has come up with a prototype, Turntable Rider, for a bike sharing company that turns bikes into a DJ console.
2012-04-11 16:51:23 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
A brand new Kiwi-developed app promises to keep taxi drivers honest – so even if your final fare induces a minor panic attack, at least you'll know you weren't ripped off.
2012-04-11 16:11:11 // Jack Yan
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
We’re still hampered by politicians who cannot see past their own national boundaries or, at best, look at competing solely with a neighbouring nation.
2012-04-11 11:19:41 // Esther Goh
Kiwi company ArcActive Limited has unveiled its new green battery technology at the recent CleanEquity Monaco awards, where it picked up a prize for excellence in environmental technology research.
2012-04-10 15:03:49 // Kaleb Francis
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
If you've been ignoring the rise of e-commerce and social media, it's not too late.
2012-04-05 09:59:18 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Business 2.0 is all about openness, people and collaboration. Right? But some are starting to question that philosophy. Is collaboration and transparency really the holy grail? Or is it in fact standing in the way of true innovation?
2012-04-03 12:00:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Tetra Pak is on track to release smart milk cartons that will change colour after being out of the fridge for too long.
2012-04-03 11:32:14 // Esther Goh
A building of epic proportions is now underway at Christchurch's high-tech business hub, which will get $1.8 million of government funding over the next three years.
2012-04-02 15:39:22 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
This week's Florence + the Machine’s charity gig will be broadcast live on YouTube – and users will be able to personalise their viewing experience through multiple angles and viewpoints throughout the stream.
2012-04-02 14:38:50 // Josh Martin
// The Idealog Blog
Struggling art students, century-old galleries and New York pop-culture historians are all benefiting from Kiwi business 3d Ltd.
2012-03-30 15:00:07 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
With some nimble tactics, NZ Merino has repositioned itself and created entirely new 'blue ocean' markets.
2012-03-26 23:28:57 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
As a small country, New Zealand can’t do everything, let alone do everything well. It’s time to zero in on a few key sectors and throw our weight behind them, says MSI chief executive Murray Bain.
2012-03-26 14:14:16 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Some things sound too far out to be true, and in that “so crazy it just might work” basket falls these microalgae-powered lamps.
2012-03-26 12:16:10 // Jack Yan
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
The best thing we can do to honour Sir Paul is to carry on his legacy, and the dream he had for making New Zealand a better, more innovative nation.
2012-03-22 17:08:19 // Owen Poland
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Imagine a leg of prime Kiwi lamb implanted with an edible Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag that has tracked its journey from pasture to plate. Imagine, too, if the consumer’s ‘plate’ could read the tag and thereby ‘pump out’ all sorts of information like calories or fat, details about the lamb’s ‘trading’ history and even food miles.
2012-03-21 10:36:44 // Idealog
3D city software provider Nextspace is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a move to Auckland's proposed Wynyard Quarter Innovation Precinct, the first technology company to set up shop in the area.
2012-03-20 17:09:13 // Dwight Whitney
// The Idealog Blog
Cutting edge research by a group of New Zealanders is changing the way we think about diet and, more significantly, what the farmers of the future will be producing.
2012-03-20 12:17:49 // Aimee Whitcroft
// The Idealog Blog
Welcome, dear readers, to the most recent foray into the new, very exciting (and entirely necessary, given the increasing squeeze on science funding from all fronts) world of crowdfunded science/research: Petridish.
2012-03-20 10:36:47 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #38: workshop
| 1 comment
Biz whiz Derek Handley reckons sustainability and innovation would make for smashing bedfellows.
2012-03-19 09:16:50 // Robert Hickson
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Gaming to entice public participation isn’t new, it’s just getting more sophisticated. And California is leading the way in getting citizens involved.
2012-03-13 14:49:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Mountainous skyscrapers! City landfills! Floating metropolises! All of the above were submissions to the 2012 eVolo Skyscraper competition, which is always full of cutting-edge, sometimes wacky ideas on the use of new technologies, materials, aesthetics, and spatial organisations.
2012-03-12 10:18:05 // Idealog
Even the staid profession of banking can get its innovation on, as demonstrated by the annual CANSTAR CANNEX innovation award.
2012-03-08 16:13:57 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
New Zealand-based PQ Blackwell is set to launch a website that will make it possible for anybody to create a tailor-made book – be it a life story, photo book or an ambitious art album.
2012-03-08 12:23:49 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Academy Award winner Mark Sagar is out to take computer animation to a new level by starting a new laboratory at the University of Auckland.
2012-03-07 12:51:18 // Sue Ironside
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
We all want to see a more competitive and productive economy. So let's encourage innovation – and in particular women innovators.
2012-03-02 15:35:56 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
There were no surprises in the release of Cleantech Group and WWF's clean energy index this week.
2012-03-02 09:09:02 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
When the tiny Swiss ski town of Tenna, population 112, needed to restore its dodgy old chair lift, the bigwigs decided to go solar.
2012-02-29 15:21:42 // Idealog
Christchurch-based Arc Innovations has taken home two awards at the Smart Metering Australia and New Zealand Summit, holding its on in a field of international competitors.
2012-02-29 13:43:22 // Paul Adams
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
New Zealand is at a public research crossroad: push it into the real world or continue to write off vast amounts.
2012-02-28 17:11:40 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
The venerable Smithsonian Institute has big plans to digitise its 137 million-piece collection – generating a new archive of 3D-printed models, exhibits, and scientific replicas.
2012-02-27 15:31:45 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A fresh new Kiwi startup is out to help the local food movement by taking admin hassles out of the equation so farmers can spend more time growing their tomatoes and less time sorting out receipts.
2012-02-24 15:52:59 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Cities bring together the best and worst of society. Check out some of the coolest urban projects happening now, planning for tomorrow.
2012-02-23 09:35:56 // Esther Goh
The third annual list of the world’s most innovative technology companies has been released and LanzaTech is proudly flying the Kiwi flag on there.
2012-02-16 11:22:34 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Is there anything more frustrating than the struggle to obtain a decent wireless signal on your smartphone or tablet?
2012-02-13 10:27:20 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
The EU is on a drive to recruit talented scientists from around the world, and three Kiwis are already leading the way.
2012-02-10 16:01:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It may not be the biggest of consumer markets, but Nike has come up with a shoe designed specifically to shod prosthetic limbs, or at least those made by major manufacturer Ossur.
2012-02-10 13:44:15 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
We're all well aware that plastic is bad, but it's hard to escape in modern times. The earth block, however, is truly the Lego for today's eco-conscious parents.
2012-02-10 11:58:43 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Architectural firm LAVA has come up with a twist on the typical class for Australia's rural schools, which call for rooms adaptable to changing terrains and temperatures.
2012-02-09 13:09:54 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
Steven Joyce has the opportunity to spout a new mantra on behalf of all New Zealanders – have a go, and another after that.
2012-02-07 12:48:26 // Esther Goh
| 2 comments
3D printing has given an elderly woman a new jaw in what doctors say is the first operation of its kind.
2012-01-31 09:39:23 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Researchers at Bio Architecture Lab and the University of Washington in Seattle have created a microbe capable of digesting seaweed and converting it into fuel.
2012-01-27 10:54:32 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Wellington company Educa is one of the new wave of startups out to shake up education by improving communication between early childhood providers and parents.
2012-01-26 19:30:53 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Sick and tired of punks leaving their seat and sidling their way to the end of the row, disrupting your movie?
2012-01-25 13:56:26 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
US residents looking to ditch a phone or music player need only place an unwanted device into an ecoATM, which then values the item and offers a cash payment or donation to a charity of choice.
2012-01-23 13:49:57 // Sustain Team
// The Idealog Blog
A natural substance obtained from the seeds of a "miracle tree" could be the answer to inexpensive water purification in the developing world, US scientists say.
2012-01-23 10:00:52 // Esther Goh
The Waikato Innovation Park is on the hunt for companies that want to research and develop new spray-dried food products.
2012-01-20 13:57:02 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Six finalists are in the running to win $10,000 as part of BNZ’s Start-Up Alley, recognising new and innovative web ventures in New Zealand.
2012-01-19 14:28:27 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #37: now
With the likes of the Auckland Council and Melbourne's South East Water on the books, Nextspace is scratching the surface of a $2 billion market potential.
2012-01-17 15:59:46 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Daniel Crabtree is working on technology to help fine-tune search engines so they understand what users are actually searching for, and getting attention from Microsoft and Google.
2012-01-12 15:42:02 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Classic vinyl record sales are booming, so it’s no surprise the radically-designed Wand Unipivot Tonearm is getting attention all around the world.
2012-01-06 16:25:44 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Vampire energy (so named as it stealthily sucks power when devices are plugged in at the wall but turned off) may be a first world problem, but it's a very real one. And it's one that electronics accessories manufacturer Bracketron is out to fight with its new line of batteries and chargers.
2011-12-08 09:24:04 // Hazel Phillips
// Idealog #36: now
| 3 comments
Professional skier Hamish Acland has turned his hand from shredding on the slopes to sewing together a merino brand that's plugging the gaps others aren't.
2011-12-07 13:34:09 // Kate Beecroft
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Chief scientific advisor to the Prime Minister, Sir Peter Gluckman, has outlined the need for embedding R&D into the heart of Auckland and put paid to the Kiwi No.8 wire myth.
2011-12-07 10:34:10 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
Five years ago, Time magazine broke with tradition and named "You" its Person of the Year.
And now TED is making history by awarding its 2012 TED Prize not to an individual but to an idea – the City 2.0.
2011-12-05 16:45:01 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Yes, it's early in the week, but the best thing we've seen this week are these posters designed by Nuno Filipe Miranda capturing gems of wisdom uttered by the likes of Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs.
2011-12-05 11:00:23 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
It pays to be small these days – small countries are going to be the drivers of the new global economy, says Kiwi expat and economist David Skilling.
2011-12-05 08:27:00 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 7 comments
San Francisco is known for its golden bridges, crooked streets and island prisons. It’s also known as a hotbed of design and tech innovation, which is why 25 Kiwi business leaders hit the city for a week in November.
2011-12-02 09:41:42 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, chief science adviser to the Prime Minister, is a staunch champion of science as a pillar of economic development and innovation. And turning Auckland into a major Asia-Pacific innovation hub will be the topic du jour when he speaks in Auckland next week.
2011-11-28 14:26:11 // Idealog
An extra 140 undergraduate students will be carrying out state-funded research and development projects for New Zealand businesses this summer.
2011-11-25 10:59:13 // Idealog
New Zealand is forging closer ties with one of the largest research organisations in the US with the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Texas A&M University System.
2011-11-24 09:24:15 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #36: features
Stephen Ford is into mushrooms. He's growing tiny fungal spores that kill off pests, boring through their skin and sucking out their insides.
2011-11-22 09:50:41 // Idealog
| 1 comment
Just 50 years ago, New Zealand was outpacing Scandinavian countries – but differing attitudes to innovation have seen a sizeable gap open up, and not to our advantage, says Professor Kenneth Husted.
2011-11-21 09:49:45 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
Israel's got a water problem: it has none to speak off. For sixty years it threw state money at the problem, but now it's out-sourcing the solution to a new generation of entrepreneurs
2011-11-17 13:06:28 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Steven Steger knows how to sell patents. The proof: he’s fresh from selling bankrupted Canadian telecommunications company Nortel’s patent portfolio for US$4.5 billion.
2011-11-14 16:23:40 // Idealog
The government is certainly keen to prove its commitment to science and technological innovation – its newest policy will involve pumping $60 million into a series of 'National Science Challenges' to stimulate R&D.
2011-11-10 12:48:33 // Esther Goh
Scientist, social entrepreneur and inventor Sir Ray Avery is an inspirational Kiwi if ever there was one – and you can catch him at a public lecture at Massey University’s Albany campus next month.
2011-11-07 17:10:20 // Idealog
Dunedin-based Pacific Edge has added to its suite of patents with new ones issued in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand for its technology for the detection of gastric cancer.
2011-11-04 13:32:46 // Pattrick Smellie
// The Idealog Blog
For three years, Prime Minister John Key has talked a good game on the importance of innovation policy, but it took an election – and perhaps just a touch of Prime Ministerial frustration – to force the pace on the long-stalled plans for Industrial Research Ltd.
2011-11-02 09:03:27 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Networking is a necessary evil of the working world, and an "inefficient" one at that, according to Kiwi entrepreneur Chirag Ahuja.
2011-11-01 11:20:47 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Howick College's head of junior science Steve Martin believes students today aren't fully challenged in school. The Virtual Lesson project changes that.
2011-10-31 11:12:00 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #35: features
Deirdre Robert takes a sneak peek inside Avanti’s techy hub and finds the brand on track for success.
2011-10-26 12:29:36 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
There's no shortage of great ideas emerging from New Zealand, but Kiwi companies need a stronger connection to the rest of the world, according to Alcatel-Lucent.
2011-10-24 09:01:56 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
In the grand scale of things, New Zealand may be a mere speck at the bottom of the globe – but we’ve got a role to play on the world stage, if we’re prepared to seize the opportunity.
2011-10-20 23:00:21 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Cameras flashed, glasses clinked and pink paperclip trophies were dished out tonight as 250-plus gathered for the 2011 NZ Innovators Awards ceremony at the HP/Intel Winter Garden in Wynyard Quarter.
2011-10-13 10:49:28
By tailoring the product development process for different kinds of innovations, companies can generate immediate revenues while cultivating future opportunities, writes Conrad Wai.
2011-10-11 13:48:26 // Idealog
| 2 comments
Waikato business incubator SODA has joined forces with NZTE to increase the number of high growth startups in the region.
2011-10-06 10:52:45 // Peter Kerr
It's clear that our primary industries need to be less commodity, more market, writes Peter Kerr. The question remains how.
2011-10-03 11:15:42 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #35: now
| 1 comment
New Zealand transport is charging ahead in the wireless realm – and an Auckland company is in the driver’s seat.
2011-10-03 09:39:48 // Idealog
Industrial Research Limited (IRL) and the University of Auckland’s commercialisation company UniServices are planning to team up to boost business innovation in the high-value manufacturing sector.
2011-10-03 08:32:48 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A young New Zealand entrepreneur has taken out the top prize in the 2011 AUT Venture Fund with his concept for a tablet app that enables children to create their own picture books.
2011-09-29 12:09:25 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Keen to rub shoulders with some of New Zealand’s top innovators and to hear guest speaker Chris Liddell? Of course you do, and you'll get your chance at the New Zealand Innovators Awards cocktail event next month.
2011-09-27 14:57:38 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
The Innovators Awards need you! Get voting and let us know who deserves the title of New Zealand's most innovative person, product or organisation.
2011-09-27 09:58:57 // Peter Kerr
// The Idealog Blog
The main message from the Rutherford Innovation Showcase Digital Content Forum was that some weightless exports have a fair bit of profit margin attached.
2011-09-26 17:19:10 // Idealog
New Zealand needs a few lessons in competitiveness, if you put stock in the World Economic Forum's opinion, and November will see delegates from more than 40 countries descend on Auckland to build alliances, explore new models and envision what's next in economic development.
2011-09-22 16:13:20 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Professor Sir Paul Callaghan has written a business plan for New Zealand – and it doesn’t include winning the World Cup.
2011-09-22 13:23:19 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Applications for MSI's internships programme, which pays companies to take on interns for R&D purposes, close next week.
2011-09-19 17:14:05 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Two Kiwis are behind what has been dubbed an 'eBay for science', an online marketplace that connects scientists to other institutions with the equipment and means to carry out experiments that their own universities do not have.
2011-09-19 11:29:56 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Educating the generation of the future – what more noble pursuit can there be? But while the teaching profession too often flies under the radar, the hunt is now on for New Zealand’s most innovative school teacher, with a professional development package worth more than $5,000 at stake for the recipients.
2011-09-15 17:25:30 // Esther Goh
It's been a turbulent year for Albany-based CleanFlow Systems; just after the opening of its new R&D facility, cofounder and chief technical officer Geoff Logan was killed in a plane crash off Orewa Beach in March. But now the high-tech firm has signed a multi-million dollar deal that will see it acquired by US-based RedZone Robotics.
2011-09-14 11:41:48 // Idealog
Putting consumers back in control is the driving force behind a new investment auction website that enables people to find, compare and invest in different term deposits from banks and non-bank institutions.
2011-09-13 12:10:52 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Business ideas from nanofibres to bio-pesticides and magnetic resonance have been named the best that Kiwi ingenuity has to offer as finalists in the 2011 New Zealand Innovators Awards.
2011-09-13 10:11:16 // Idealog
New Zealand and the UK are forging new ground in the science and innovation sector with a new working group to be set up following the signing of an agreement yesterday.
2011-09-09 08:56:16 // Paul Adams
// The Idealog Blog
Until New Zealand adopts a more sensible patent tax regime local innovators should think long and hard about where best to locate their intellectual property.
2011-09-02 09:26:46 // Victoria Young
| 1 comment
Liquid Strip, the brainchild of Greg Morgan, removes solids from wastewater and converts them into a pellet or slug form that can then be used as fuel for fires.
2011-08-29 09:17:45 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Massey University has appointed its first ever Innovator-in-Residence, who will work with a range of local companies to amp up their innovation processes and boost quality and productivity.
2011-08-25 10:01:38 // Esther Goh
| 5 comments
"Ten or twenty years from now it will be absurd to think of creating a book without a Booktrack, it’ll be like creating a movie with no sound," says Derek Handley.
2011-08-22 11:13:37 // Idealog
Low-value transactions are proving a winner with users of Snapper, an electronic payment method used as a replacement for cash.
2011-08-18 09:33:38 // Esther Goh
| 2 comments
Tech entrepreneurs are the target of a $2.8 million talent development programme on track to launch in the new year in partnership with the private sector, designed to bring various players in the innovation space closer together.
2011-08-17 10:58:05 // Peter Kerr
More good stirring of the innovation system in Wellington, with a fair potential for much of central New Zealand to benefit as a result.
2011-08-16 10:10:46 // Esther Goh
A second $50 million round of research and development grants has been announced by the government, benefiting a total of 19 tech companies in fields from manufacturing to biotechnology, electronics and software development.
2011-08-16 09:46:33 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
| 9 comments
Entries for the Innovators Awards may have closed, but the fun is only just beginning. Now for the People's Choice!
2011-08-12 10:25:40 // Idealog
Thousands of cryogenics research projects around the world will soon be using Kiwi technology now that New Zealand's Jade Software has signed MMR Technologies as a partner.
2011-08-11 09:40:21 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
So there's some wheels arranged in a line on a boot. The wheels will help you get places faster. Or think of it as ice skating during warmer weather.
2011-08-10 17:13:58 // Esther Goh
| 1 comment
Just a year old, Kiwi startup Vend has raised a big chunk of capital from Europe and now has its sights set firmly on the US market.
2011-08-10 09:37:40 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Massey University business incubator ecentre celebrated its 10th anniversary last week, with chief executive Steve Corbett setting an ambitious five-year goal of tripling its revenue from alumni companies to $100 million.
2011-08-10 09:28:42 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
Prior to the advent of the pop-up toaster, people toasted bread by placing it in a metal frame and holding it over a fire.
2011-08-09 09:18:00 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
The story goes that a farmer took a bundle of turkey feathers into a broom factory in Iowa in 1870, and asked if they could be made into a brush ...
2011-08-04 09:27:30 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
It's a leisure submarine for the rich and famous, aka an underwater car you keep on your superyacht.
2011-08-03 09:17:21 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
It's a go-kart with sails. Or is it a yacht with wheels? A land sailor? Whatever it is, it's powered by the wind.
2011-08-02 09:07:27 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Combining dancing with strangers and painting, Noise Ink was an interactive installation commissioned for the Auckland Arts Festival.
2011-08-02 08:40:52 // Esther Goh
If you're looking to start a new business, New Zealand's not a bad place to do it - nowhere in the world can you do so more quickly, and it won't break the bank.
2011-08-01 10:52:04 // Esther Goh
Dr Dianne Gleeson has won the inaugural Women in Science Entrepreneurship Award, receiving $50,000 of venture development advice and access to an international advisory board with experience in science commercialisation.
2011-08-01 08:59:45 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Rex bionic legs give hope to those who have sustained spinal injuries that they may in fact walk again.
2011-07-28 15:40:05 // Idealog
A groundbreaking interactive water pollutant monitoring system has been launched in New Zealand, with the Māori sector in particular expected to benefit.
2011-07-27 09:50:19 // Esther Goh
A Masterton man’s plan to sell his patented steel-mesh safety goggles worldwide has been awarded a $60,000 prize package to further expand his business.
2011-07-27 08:44:50 // Idealog
A new method of producing wood-plastic pellets has been licensed by Crown research institute Scion to a company that will see it commercialised in Europe to the tune of $10 million in royalties.
2011-07-26 11:19:19 // Esther Goh
A New Zealand company has secured $1 million to help advance development of its technology to diagnose prostate cancer.
2011-07-25 08:21:06 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
It baffles all who try to solve it, except for the world record-holder who completed it in 5.66 seconds.
2011-07-21 10:01:23 // Idealog
Hawkeye UAV Limited, a Palmerston North aviation company, has been awarded $30,000 as the first successful applicant in a new government programme dedicated to the Manawatu.
2011-07-18 09:41:49 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
Ah, those crazy Swiss people. First they invented the Swiss Army Knife, now they've come up with a way to turn your car into a house.
2011-07-18 08:20:28 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
We Idealogues are fond of Sir Paul Callaghan; he loves our country and has plenty of thoughts on how we can make it an even better place. And more importantly, he's not afraid to share them.
2011-07-08 12:12:58 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
'Fast Company’s' Rae Ann Fera delves into the mind of creativity and innovation thinker Sir Ken Robinson and discovers why ”creative industries” is a dirty word.
2011-07-05 12:49:36 // Idealog
Inventors can look forward to a faster, cheaper and more streamlined trans-Tasman patent process in the very near future.
2011-07-04 18:42:17 // Design Daily Team
Air New Zealand's long-haul redesign, a springless trampoline and a more efficient sheep drencher have scored at the prestigious International Design Excellence Awards.
2011-07-04 07:30:00 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #33: innovate
The first thing you should do if you think you have a good idea: check that it's actually a new one.
2011-07-01 10:00:00 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #33: innovate
| 1 comment
Creating a culture of innovation through leadership means listening to other people's ideas, too.
2011-06-30 10:00:00 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #33: innovate
Last year Idealog published Cash for Ideas—The Idealog Guide to Commercialising Your Ideas. In its pages we brought together an expert panel from six of the top innovation support firms in the country. We enjoyed it so much, and learned so much, that we are doing it again.
2011-06-23 13:56:04 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
It's easy to forget that not everyone uses technology that begins with a lowercase i. And a couple of Kiwi companies bestowed with Microsoft Partner awards are living examples of doing this well.
2011-06-22 06:00:00 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A 3D modelling service, a massive interactive public wall and an uplifting public health game have placed New Zealand among the winners at the innovative World Summit Awards.
2011-06-17 11:41:20 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
A Waikato engineer says his invention could save the wine industry tens of thousands of dollars and proves even ideas that "sound like a load of crap" are worth a go.
2011-06-10 06:00:00 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #33: features
| 1 comment
Kate Bezar rejected all the rules of business and made up her own rules about publishing to create the ‘mook’ — a magazine/book hybrid that’s as inspirational as its subject matter. By Kris Herbert.
2011-03-16 15:43:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In 2001, the combination of 9/11 and the collapse of Ansett brought Air New Zealand to its knees. With a loss of self-belief and pride, coupled with a dislocation between employees and managers, the airline needed a transformation and it needed it fast. Rob Fyfe came on board shortly after to undertake a strategic review that focused on defining the airlines identity. There was one thing the airline had that no other airline could lay claim to—its New Zealandness. Speaking at the NZTE Better by Design CEO summit, a captivating Fyfe explains how Enzed’s personality and stories have become the design and innovation ethos for Air New Zealand and everything it does, and in the process, have turned the airline around through reinvention.
2011-03-10 13:54:21 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #32: now
Rick Boven, executive director of the New Zealand Institute, took over from founding director David Skilling, who was not only very tall but had some large shoes to fill. So 18 months on, is Boven making his own mark? And what’s his big issue for 2011?
2011-03-09 13:55:09 // Mike Hutcheson
// Idealog #32: workshop
Have you ever noticed that really competent people can explain things simply? Einstein managed to summarise the basic structure of the entire universe in five characters: E=mc2.
2011-02-17 12:29:08 // Rebekah White
// Idealog #31: features
| 2 comments
The long summer days, the idle time,
friends, a change of pace—it’s the perfect
time to think up new ideas for the New Year.
To get you started, we talk with some of
New Zealand’s most serially creative ideas
people. By Rebekah White
2011-02-04 11:45:00 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
This milk is green but that’s not because it’s lime flavoured. As well as looking pretty dam cool, this “paper mache” milk bottle also has a sustainability twist. And soon the GreenBottle will be rolled out to supermarket shelves across the UK, starting this week in Cornwall.
2011-01-27 06:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A USB that doubles as an AA battery? Why not? Designer Wonchul Hwang has created this USB that, when in your computer, recharges so it can be used as an AA battery when needed.
2011-01-19 23:13:08 // Hadyn Green
// Idealog #31: features
| 4 comments
There’s nothing quite like Webstock.
Perhaps that’s because it runs counter
to everything the experts said a Kiwi web
conference should be. By Haydn Green
2011-01-18 10:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If you don’t like being jolted from your sleep by a regular annoying alarm clock, then perhaps this alternative alarm clock creation, allowing you to be awoken by the wafting smell of sizzling bacon, might appeal more to your taste.
2011-01-12 11:47:11 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Polaroid has just unveiled its original, rather nifty and innovative new product line called Polaroid Grey Label, enlisting the help of none other than Lady Gaga who, as “creative director”, helped to create sunglasses that act as both a Polaroid camera and functional sunnies.
2010-12-13 16:44:26 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Never underestimate what a spot of tinkering can lead to. When Kiwi designer and artists Turi Park was tinkering with abstract shapes and colours in his Wellington family home and studio back in 2002, he struck upon a bright and interactive artwork creation that would eventually see him secure a spot at the 100% Design London trade show, following in the footsteps of the only other Kiwi to do so, David Trubridge. Back home, the work would be housed as part of the Dowse Art Museum collection.
2010-12-13 11:30:08 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re Andrew Carol, it’s Lego. In his spare time, the Apple software engineer has taken to recreating a complex computer that originates from 100 BC. Back in the day, the highly intelligent mechanical computer was built by Greek engineers to predict celestial events and eclipses with unprecedented accuracy. So, how did Carol do it? Check out this film to see the spectacular plastic mechanics in action.
2010-12-02 14:42:44 // Anya Kussler
// Idealog #30: features
| 1 comment
The Les Mills gym empire is a very fit enterprise—good numbers, good effort, good attitude. So why is Phillip Mills suggesting some radical changes, not just for his company, but for the whole industry? Anya Kussler finds out. Plus turning at the top.
2010-12-01 09:22:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A pair of creatives have come up with a rather quirky and somewhat political retort to the TSA’s newly tightened full body san safety measures. And they’re using the TSA’s own airport x-ray technology to get the message, quite literally, accross.
2010-11-25 11:28:46 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
ngrid Fetell is a human factors specialist at design and innovation consulting firm IDEO. In a nutshell, her job is to bring human-centred thinking to design challenges in a wide range of industries. She’s big on design and delight—in other words, how design can create positive emotion. We caught up with her on her recent visit to Enzed as part of the NZTE Better By Design CEO summit, where she spoke to the audience about factoring culture into the design process. She tells us why she’s drawn to design as a change agent and shares her favourite Kiwi designs.
2010-11-18 16:10:52 // Keith Newman
// Idealog #30: features
A new twist on fire pumps could see a tiny Hawke's Bay workshop booming in a new niche market. Keith Newman visits the innovators of Tikokino.
2010-11-12 12:06:11 // Rosie Bosworth
// The Idealog Blog
It’s not what you sell, it’s the who you are and also having a powerful personality that matters. It's also not about what you design, it's about how you configure the culture behind what you design that counts. That’s according to both home-grown and international leaders of some of the worlds most successful and innovative firms, speaking at last week’s Better By Design CEO summit in Auckland.
2010-11-01 15:45:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We’re loving these wallpapers from Paper Room. Inspired by the honesty of raw materials, they’re a super quick way to transform a home or work space into an urban loft style retreat. The photographic digital prints look like the real thing, whether a naturally aged concrete wall, old weathered bricks, or a wooden fence with character. These materials transferred onto wallpaper transform a space, giving it a completely different architectural appeal. The Feature Industrial range is available on two bases; wallpaper and reStick MATT.
2010-11-01 14:19:29 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
A Kiwi company could be revolutionising the electric car market, thanks to the recent London launch of the world’s first wireless technology, which allows parked or moving electric cars to charge automatically. Called IPT (Inductive Power Transfer), it works by fitting cars with a receiver pad to charge automatically when parked over transmitter pads buried into the ground. The wireless charging pads are designed to function beneath asphalt, submerged in water or covered in ice and snow. Fast-forward into the future, and the technology could be embedded into road infrastructure so IPT cars can be charged on the move.
2010-10-27 09:14:06 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
With one of the 10 competitions in the Solar Decathlon 2011 being centered around communications, the First Light team tell us how strategic design company Designworks has produced the foundation for the positioning of the First LightNZ brand, as well as ongoing strategic advice leading up to the Washington event.
2010-10-15 16:23:30 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re not fond of the 111 Navy Chair featured in the previous story, perhaps sitting on a 3-D scribble is more your style? The C-Bench and C-Stone, by Belgian designer Peter Donders, were created by twisting a single string of carbon fibre around a form that was then removed. The result is a light, distinctive—yet very strong (carbon fiber is used to produce Formula One race cars)—structure that brings scribbles into 3-D reality.
2010-10-15 15:51:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you don’t like to drink Coke, perhaps you’d like to sit on it instead—well, sit on the bottle at least. Never slowing down in its bid to brand the world, the Coca Cola Company has inched its way into the furniture market, playing the good corporate citizen with these recycled chairs
2010-10-12 17:35:48 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Adding to the list of big name corporations applying a green lick of paint to their business ethos, Starbucks have taken a turn on the sustainability road and on the way they’ve found their WoJo, and it’s all thanks to Kiwi design company The Formary. WoJo is a new fabric made from sustainable New Zealand wool that is woven with jute fibers from Starbucks recycled coffee sacks.
2010-10-06 16:18:17 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
We love this clever and very practical pizza box design by New York-based (how appropriate) firm E.C.O, who specialise in innovative green packaging solutions. Their Greenbox encapsulates their innovative philosophy perfectly. While it may look like any ordinary pizza box, the patented design incorporates a multitude of functions including four serving plates and a storage container that fits tidily into your fridge. Here's how it works:
2010-10-04 12:08:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
There’s nothing like a meddling mass of metal in the form of a power pylon to create a blight on the landscape. Enter Boston-based Choi+Shine Architects, “A practice of thoughtful design”. Thoughtful indeed as these adapted pylons show. The pylons have been proposed for the Icelandic landscape, and require only small alterations to the existing pylon design.
2010-10-01 23:09:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
It’s the Oscars of the New Zealand design world, where discerning designers don their best black tie ensembles and rock nervously back and forth as they wait to (hopefully) hear their name called as one of the winning entries in the Best Design Awards. The awards, organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, have literally just wrapped up and the eclectic—and often electric—list of winners is out. An electric bike described as the extraordinary lovechild of a Segway and a Penny Farthing; an electric fence that unfolds like a clothesline; a New York loft conversion and a stage set that resembles a 1970s space mission control room, were among the high profile winners at tonight’s event...
2010-10-01 14:27:17 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a real house. Well it is, sort of. The only difference is that this house is a fraction of the size of what a real house is. This is just one of the homes on offer from New York-based Brinca Dada, makers of sophisticated, modern and intelligent dollhouses. The benefits? Well for one, your living room floor will look a lot tidier.
2010-09-28 10:50:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
It’s a plant that can be used to make paper, clothing and even car body panels. But its properties can also be used to build the environmentally-friendly homes of the future, according to researchers at the University of Bath. A consortium based at the University has constructed a small building on the Claverton campus out of hemp-lime to test its properties as a building material. It's hoped the project will provide enough potent data to persuade the mainstream building industry to use this building material more widely.
2010-09-23 14:10:56 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Sustainability is not a passing fashion. That’s one of the key messages in the ample new book by Brazilian designer Dalacio Reis, 'Product Design in the Sustainable Era'. But sustainable design isn’t just about creating products with minimal impact on the environment. As this book demonstrates with over 100 innovative and award-winning projects from over 20 countries, sustainable design can look mighty impressive and sophisticated.
2010-09-21 09:27:22 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You have to see this one for yourself. Clothing you can literally spray on? Why not? Fabrication technology is just around the corner from being made readily available, but its uses extend beyond just the body beautiful.
2010-09-15 16:24:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s all go for design agency Designworks with their plans to open their new office in the Garden City next month. The agency, of Air New Zealand’s speedy check-in terminals and Skycouch fame, will be building on the success of existing South Island clients like PGG Wrightson, AMI Insurance and Silver Fern Farms.
2010-09-13 11:50:15 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
Welcome to first blog entry by First Light, the Kiwi team competing on the world stage against some of the world’s brightest student minds in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. The team won a place in the competition with a unique, solar-powered concept inspired by the “Kiwi Bach”, making them the only team from the Southern Hemisphere to have ever reached the finals of the competition. In this entry, they explain how they’re planning on overcoming the challenge of shipping a whole house halfway round the world.
2010-09-10 15:12:28 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Who knew the folks at eBay were so creative? Every year the company hosts an Innovation Expo that invites eBay employees from every department and level of the organisation to develop prototypes for new products and breakthrough innovations. And this year, with 250 employees on nearly 80 teams competing, the competition was stiff and in the end, so was the winner (yet pliable at the same time).
2010-09-10 13:51:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
AUT’s inaugural three-day design challenge recently wrapped up and saw teams armed with not much more than $100 and basic prototyping materials (and some steely determination). Their challenge was to create the missing element for a baby incubator, recently designed by Ray Avery's independent development agency Medicine Mondiale, for use in developing countries. Watch as the challenge unfolds.
2010-09-06 16:24:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Buy this device for your partner and you risk forever loosing the ability to converse and socially engage with them. The name says it all: The Ultimate Gaming & Gadget Chair. Among its features are built-in games consoles, a computer, TV/PVR, video and music player, and should all that entertainment prove too much of a strain, there’s also a back massager. All of these features are aimed at transporting users to a zone “ far away from the outside world”.
2010-09-03 15:05:26 // Dwight Whitney
// Idealog #29: export
It’s marvellous that Harvey Keitel likes our beer and the world is gaga over Middle Earth, but are such accolades enough to shore up your particular exporting reputation?
2010-09-03 11:45:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What better way to optimise road space and ease traffic jams than by creating a bus that doesn’t require its own lane, but rather drives over cars on the road? The "three-dimensional fast bus" allows cars less than 2 meters high to travel underneath the upper level carrying passengers, and it's coming to Beijing.
2010-09-02 17:37:31 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
The Best Awards finalists were announced today and there's a delicious selection of Kiwi genius on display
2010-09-01 12:49:48 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The recycling bin may no longer be the sole destination for your plastic bottles thanks to this enlightening concept by designers Lie Zhong-Fa, Lee Sang-Bong & Ji Jung-Ah. The + (Plus) Conjunctive Flash Light doubles as a regular torch AND a lamp for illuminating your campsite, or as the designers suggest, your living room.
2010-08-31 10:27:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ever wondered what a city operating entirely on artificial intelligence would look like? Richard Hardy, a Bartlett School of Architecture graduate, created this stunning Transcendant City movie as a reaction to a society that is currently not responding effectively to environmental dangers. “Transcendence” in this case refers to a point when artificial intelligence has reached or surpassed that of the human.
2010-08-31 09:24:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Finding plastic a little boring, designer Leva Kaleja opted for a more delicate paper approach in creating these “bride” pendant, table and floor lamps.
2010-08-30 17:20:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This is compact travelling like you’ve never seen before. And, thanks to a creative vision and some clever software, German designer Cornelius Comanns has brought his bachelor thesis in Industrial Design to life, transforming a Piaggio APE 50 tricycle into a small one man camper.
2010-08-27 10:45:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
While many car park building designs in Chicago have a tradition of disguising themselves as office buildings with false façades, a U.S-based architectural and engineering design firm has attempted to break from that model and deliver an entirely new aesthetic, by way of an 11-story energy-efficient parking garage in Chicago — the first of its kind for the city — featuring wind turbines, a rain water collection system and electric car plug-in stations.
2010-08-26 11:22:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Tribu Design is a website that, as it name might suggest, pays tribute to the best in furniture and product design — with a twist. Rather than settling for the hippest and smartest contemporary design, the site allows you to search as far back as the 1800s, where you can stumble across designs such as Graham Bell’s solid wood Gallows phone from 1876, or Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s chair from 1897.
2010-08-26 09:55:50 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
One Kiwi company has fared particularly well at the recent red dot awards, which honour top design trendsetters from around the world, across a broad range of cartegories. Auckland based multidisciplinary design company, Alt Group, swept up seven ‘red dot: communication design’ awards. The red dot awards, which are judged by a panel of 15 of the world’s foremost design experts, recognise the best in product design, communication design, and design concepts from around the globe.
2010-08-25 16:56:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a couple of newfangled product designs for your discerning pleasure - the Dandelion Stool by Design K and Ta-Rae lamps by Design Virus.
2010-08-24 12:28:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
US Company Zebra Imaging has brought architecture planning to life with their innovative holographic pop-up buildings. In this video, chief technology officer and co-founder Michael Klug, gives us a hands-on demonstration of the technology at work.
2010-08-19 09:37:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Why lie on a bed of nails when you can sit on a bench of pencils? The aptly named Pencil Bench is the award-winning work of UK design company Boex 3D Creative Solutions. The inspiration for the bench stemmed from an office conversation in which the designers asked themselves whether an everyday office object could be incorporated into a piece of furniture
2010-08-17 13:02:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Remember Tamagotchi’s? Their cool factor may have reached its expiration date some time ago in the 90s, but the digital ‘pet’ device has been given a makeover by researchers at Victoria University, who have planted a living microorganism inside the toys. The novel twist hasn’t gone unrecognized either, with the device, called a Tardigotchi, winning first prize in the Digital Language category at the 2010 Electronic Language International Festival (FILE) in Brazil.
2010-08-13 15:31:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Is it a car? Is it a plane? Well it’s both actually. Terrafugia has just released specifications and computer graphics of its next generation flying car Transition, which is currently under construction at the company’s Massachusetts facility.
2010-08-09 13:12:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
One quick glance at the picture below might leave you wondering what you’re actually staring at. Italian designer Davide Conti has created these award-winning optical illusion chairs, called MAGICA and MAGICA2. By replacing two of the chair legs with plexiglass, Conti has created a physics-defying illusion.
2010-08-04 12:04:06 // Simon Young
// Idealog #28: workshop
| 3 comments
Cars have been sold the same way for decades. It's time for a grand experiment.
2010-08-03 09:24:41 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
These may look like ordinary wallets, but think again. Researchers at MIT have come up with an inventive approach to help combat your shopping itch. Called Proverbial Wallets, each wallet is fitted with a subtle device that interacts with you every time you feel the urge to splurge.
2010-07-29 12:22:19 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
At the leading edge of change, Dan Heyworth, the founder of a modular system for building architect-designed, energy-efficient houses, says the whole building industry is “extremely fraught, messy and complex” – and has been for many years. He believes a huge shake-up is due to create different ways of designing for the average person with an average budget.
2010-07-29 12:09:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
On March 22 this year, Adventure Ecology founder and environmentalist David de Rosthschild, along with his crew, set sail from San Francisco on the Plastiki, a unique 60-foot catamaran engineered from approximately 12, 500 reclaimed plastic bottles .
2010-07-29 00:04:12 // James Hurman
// Idealog #28: features
Adman James Hurman knows what it’s like to be branded a plagiarist—and why we're so quick to believe that a ‘fresh’ idea is actually a cheap rip-off. Why, then, do so many ideas emerge at the same time from different places?
2010-07-28 12:17:07 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Ordinarily, wrapping your bike around a pole wouldn’t be a highly sought after result. But for 21-year-old designer Kevin Scott, that’s exactly the result he was hoping for. His nifty bendable bike is designed to tie securely around a lamppost and be locked safely, without the use of a lock or chain. Handy.
2010-07-26 16:37:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We love Wu Yu-Ying "Breathing" chair – a chair that moulds specifically to the shape of the person sitting in it.
2010-07-26 16:15:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a novel approach to parking your car when space is at a premium. Cardok is an automated parking solution that doubles your parking space and provides more security than a locked garage.
2010-07-22 14:55:19 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #28: features
When Keith Alexander realised a childhood dream and reinvented the trampoline, he also created a global business and relaxed thousands of nervous parents. By Amanda Cropp
2010-07-22 09:50:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Why settle for poaching or scrambling your eggs when you can quite literally shoot ‘em up?
2010-07-20 11:48:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In this video, German industrial designer Dieter Rams (central to the design behind the Braun brand), shares his crafty insights on everything from record player design to the trusty shaver.
2010-07-16 14:52:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We love this product which, single-handedly, redefines the idea of a portable coffee machine.
2010-07-16 13:59:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Two New Zealand-based childhood friends have created and launched a world-first product which gives people who usually use wheelchairs the opportunity to climb up and down stairs, sit, stand, step backwards, sideways and forwards. In a nutshell, it provides the opportunity for people in wheelchairs who want to walk to do just that.
2010-07-14 14:00:19 // Jason Smith
// Idealog #28: workshop
Innovation in New Zealand is on the decline. It's time to ask: do we really value new ideas?
2010-07-13 16:05:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In just over a week, one lucky up and coming Kiwi designer will rise to prominence when the winner of the tenth annual James Dyson Award is announced. Judging by the three finalists announced today, the competition is stiff.
2010-07-12 12:58:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Steven Rodrig is a Cuban- born “inventive and environmentally conscious artist” who transforms e-waste into anything from insects to flowers to cityscapes. He refers to his work as “PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Mixed Media”.
2010-07-09 16:22:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here’s one that’s not for the faint of heart, or should that be the faint of heights? With Diana Ross in tow, the world’s most expensive hotel (NZ$8.5 billion), the Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore, has opened for business.
What are some of the resorts standout features? Well for starters, there’s the infinity pool located 55 storeys high – just don’t look down.
Lucy Ballinger from MailOnline explores further.
2010-07-09 12:27:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
These days children have a plethora of devices to play with - Game Boy, PlayStation, Nintendo Wii – to name a few. Still, nothing quite beats the joy derived from the tried and true plastic favourite LEGO.
New York City opened its first LEGO store earlier this week and instantly engaged with customers and passersby by giving them the chance to help construct a 15-foot-tall model of a Big Apple near its entrance.
Frank Bonomo from core77 explores all the LEGO knickknacks in the new store, including what else but a LEGO video game. There’s also a great video illustrating the giant apple construction.
2010-07-08 14:08:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Review: 'Eco House Book' explores numerous practical and creative ways to make your home more sustainable, but not at the expense of style.
2010-07-08 11:29:26 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #28: now
You know the television scene is getting weird when TVNZ launches a new channel on Sky’s pay platform. But Eric Kearley, the broadcaster’s new head of digital, reckons it heralds a new age of co-operation in New Zealand media. Others say TVNZ is already irrelevant. So is Kearley just rearranging the deckchairs?
2010-07-08 10:37:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Sustainability is often confounding to designers, developers, and managers regardless of how important they view it. Serial design entrepreneur Nathan Shedroff will be speaking at Unitec next week to help make sense of it all.
2010-07-07 11:21:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This is Kiwi ingenuity at it's best. Jen and Rich, owners of Wishbone Design, have crafted a sustainable bike that grows with its rider. It's so good, that Time Magazine even featured it in its annual Style & Design 100.
2010-07-06 13:05:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
When the architecture firm behind the London Eye were challenged by a brief that asked them to design ‘the most incredible living experience in the world,’ they came up with the kinetic Villa Hush Hush.
2010-07-05 15:32:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If we asked you what the five most important works of architecture created since 1980 are, what would you say? Vanity Fair posed this question to 52 experts. What were their pics?
2010-07-05 08:49:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
It seems like pop-up stores have been, well, popping-up all over the place recently. Iconeye pointed us to this great example of a foldaway bookstore constructed for the London Festival of Architecture.
The concept uses cardboard as shelving for the books, and can be broken down and easily recycled at the end of the festival.
2010-07-02 16:13:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here's a very cool product we spotted courtesy of endemicworld.com. This snazzy sound activated drum light does exactly what its name suggests. Hit the drum (it replicates a real drum noise - of course) and presto, you have light. Be sure to check out the video.
2010-07-02 13:00:21 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Residents of the city of Guangzhou, in south-east China are enjoying contemporary apartment designs from the drawing board of Ignite Architects in New Zealand.
2010-07-01 17:30:32 // Hadyn Green
// Idealog #28: features
| 4 comments
The sneaker. It’s a cheap canvas shoe with a cheap rubber sole—or at least it used to be.
2010-06-30 17:00:02 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Last year Design Quarterly named him one the Top Ten Australian and New Zealand Designers. His creative furniture design is known to push the boundaries between interior design, installation art, and exhibition design. We delve into the creative depths of Tim Wigmore’s mind and find out what makes him tick.
2010-06-28 14:49:57
// The Idealog Blog
Ever wished you could literally 'catch' a colour? Well now you can - in paint form anyway. The iPhone and Design Daily sponsor Resene have teamed up to create the clever ColourMatch application.
2010-06-23 16:18:15 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
A group of young architects from Victoria University is set to compete on the world stage against some of the world’s brightest student minds in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon.
2010-06-23 13:43:55 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
The University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning is giving you a reprise from cold winter evenings by offering up 16 free toasty lectures from July to October.
2010-06-22 21:14:21 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #28: interact
Pixar senior animator Andrew Gordon is making his way down under for SP10 in August. We caught him in June to ask about the future of Andy, Buzz and Mr Incredible.
2010-06-17 12:52:15 // Mitchell Hall
// Idealog #27: features
| 5 comments
The world’s biggest companies have a new strategy: outsourcing innovation. At the forefront of this new industry
is the founder of New York-based Fahrenheit 212, Geoff Vuleta from Timaru.
2010-06-01 11:33:44 // Alistair MacKenzie
// Idealog #27: celsias
| 2 comments
There is an alternative to the concrete jungle—a renewable, flexible, light, strong and cost-effective building material that does grow on trees.
2010-04-23 11:48:21 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #27: interact
Eric Ries has watched promising companies burn, accidental ideas succeed and bad products turn good. Working out why has led him to his own methodology, the Lean Startup. But will Silicon Valley’s rules work in Enzed?
2010-04-01 07:43:05 // Ben Corban & Dean Poole
// Idealog #26: features
As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Dean Poole and Ben Corban, co-founders of Alt Group, would agree. On a European jaunt to pick up a coveted grand prix prize at the red dot design awards, they kept a detailed travelogue. Here are their top five observations and predictions for the year ahead.
2010-03-26 09:16:56 // Bette Flagler
// Idealog #26: features
There’s something odd about the very small: weird physics and some very big money. Bette Flagler meets the New Zealanders making giant strides at a nano scale.
2010-03-17 12:49:00 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #26: interact
Bill Payne, one of America’s leading angel investors, is in New Zealand for three months to share his 25 years’ experience with angels and entrepreneurs—and you can meet him for free.
2010-03-04 14:10:33 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog #26: features
| 3 comments
Catch those upstart Aussies by 2025. That’s the aim of John Key and his young Turks. Dream on, John. Government inaction and the biggest recession in 70 years are conspiring to bring us level with the home of Borat by 2025. Vincent Heeringa reckons we need a better plan to avoid becoming New Zealistan.
2010-02-23 22:44:00 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A new report by IBM and the Univerity of Auckland into the state of Kiwi innovation reveals two surprising facts, and one dismally old one
2010-01-13 11:07:00 // Mitchell Hall
// Idealog #25: interact
Product innovation can often be a case of the confused leading the irrational. No wonder three out of four projects fails. But Robert Cooper, a leader in new product development, consultant to the Global 1000, author and seminar speaker, has a simple fix
2009-12-11 09:58:45 // Mike Brown & Natasha Lampard
// Idealog #25: interact
| 1 comment
Webstock 2010 is nearly upon us. Webstock’s senior VPs reflect on past glories—and those yet to come.
2009-12-10 13:04:51 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #25: guide
The dog ate my intellectual property protection. If you find yourself snapping a self-portrait while holding up some sketchy diagrams and today’s paper or posting notes to yourself by registered mail in an effort to prove that your original inspirational ideas are indeed yours, you need help.
2009-12-08 14:09:12 // Andy Kenworthy
// Idealog #25: guide
The first thing to get clear in your mind about the innovation and ideation process is that it is a process, and one you should consciously control.
2009-11-19 12:52:49 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #24: now
| 1 comment
Online maps are low-res, low-impact and usually low-rent. But a Christchurch company has mapped the city in high-res—including some local interiors.
2009-10-07 12:19:14 // Sangeeta Anand
// Idealog #23: now
| 1 comment
How do you improve the definitive land yacht? By putting it on the water, of course.
2009-10-06 16:31:11 // Chris Tobias
// Idealog #23: celsias
John Key is doing his best to scythe sustainability from the government dictionary—and maybe he’s right. The S-word has baggage. It's about disagreement, good and bad science, frugality and fear. Chris Tobias suggests how to move beyond the arguments.
2009-10-02 11:23:14 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #23: features
| 5 comments
We pay for the Herald, but not for its website; we’ll give money to Sky while we let the state-owned TVNZ struggle. As business thinkers proclaim the age of the free and Rupert Murdoch heads a fightback, Matt Cooney asks if we really know the value of a dollar. Plus keep on giving.
2009-09-15 13:56:31 // Paul Reynolds
// Idealog #23: workshop
| 1 comment
Innovation always has a history. Two books remind us that the present isn’t the only age of wonder.
2009-09-08 10:00:36 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog
Visual effects: 100 years of inspiration. Now that the wow factor of the latest FX fades so quickly, it’s fascinating to see the creativity of the vintage effects. Love that traffic shot.
2009-08-13 14:47:39 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
Walking through the supermarket with wires running through your cheek and a camera in your mouth may sound odd to most, but for AUT Colab resident Matt Kenyon, it's all in a day's work. Seeking to challenge the 'powers that be' through the appropriation of popular culture, Kenyon not only challenges it, he throws it on its head and turns it inside out.
2009-07-31 11:40:36 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Don Brash’ Productivity Commission is doomed for a simple reason: The Don. He's too divisive and wonkish to lead New Zild into the great productivity debate.
2009-07-27 09:00:00 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
Todd Wackrow spent just 3 months at the Icehouse and now look, he's really tall. Idealog asks why.
2009-07-21 15:17:41 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
James Madelin had an idea. Now it's a global business. Vincent Heeringa meets the man from Orbis.
2009-07-17 12:27:49 // Deirdre Robert & Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
The Icehouse Business Growth Centre is opening its doors to all tyre-kickers and wannabe billionaires at an Open Day on July 29. Idealog asks startup director Ken Erskine what it takes to become the next Sammy Morgan.
2009-07-17 10:04:05 // Anya Kussler
// Idealog #22: features
| 1 comment
A dry, stony bit of Hawke’s Bay, once a speedway and a quarry, now produces full-bodied red wines the equal of thousand-bucks-a-bottle Bordeaux. What’s the secret? Anya Kussler discovers what lurks in the once-unwanted soils of Gimblett Gravels. Plus beau Bordeaux and the top six.
2009-07-14 16:55:25 // Deirdre Coleman & Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
It might sound like science fiction, but being able to accurately predict and offer customised treatment for disease based on an individual’s genetic makeup, plus social and environmental factors, is well within reach, according to Professor Nikola Kasabov of AUT University.
2009-07-09 09:56:21 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #22: now
| 2 comments
Three Fisher & Paykel veterans have a radical new design for domestic wind generation. It’s a long way from the DishDrawer.
2009-07-03 08:44:52 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #22: interact
Innovation isn’t just a commercial buzzword. It can transform our schools, hospitals, public spaces, transport, workplaces and our leisure time. And now New Zealand has its own organisation dedicated to encouraging new thinking to transform Kiwi society.
2009-07-01 08:57:45 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #22: interact
The inaugural Onya Awards will celebrate the achievements of our best-is-yet-to-come web luminaries.
2009-06-06 18:42:45 // Jason Kemp
// The Idealog Blog
One of the developing trends I have been noticing is the big rise in uber-connected people leveraging their social and business networks for a common cause. I support this but wonder if some of the media ripples from the all of this activity are being somewhat discounted?
2009-05-14 15:02:04 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
Disruption is the word of the moment for business books: YouTube is disrupting TV; Skype is disrupting telecomms; free is disrupting, well, everything. If you’re the incumbent, disruption spells disaster. So it’s a surprise to find a global incumbent, advertising agency TBWA—recently named 24th in the Top 50 Most Creative Companies by Fast Company magazine—make disruption a core plan for business development. I asked TBWA\Whybin chief executive David Walden and executive creative director Andy Blood: just what’s wrong with the status quo?
2009-05-07 11:51:32 // Vincent Heeringa
// Idealog TV
If you’re the incumbent, disruption spells disaster. Right? Not so, say Andy Blood & David Walden of TBWA\Whybin. Here’s how they they welcome disruption
2009-02-25 12:45:48 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog
Matt Jones wowed the crowd at Webstock 2009, reinventing the idea of ‘the city’ in front of our eyes. Plants that twitter, organic architecture and a world haunted by d(a)emons
2009-02-21 09:21:39 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
So. Webstock is over for another year and, in an attempt to wean myself over the legal, but highly addictive, drug that is the Webstock event, I though I’d write the roundup, the epitaph, my personal catharsis from Webstock
2009-02-20 18:28:12 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Damian Conway is a PhD in computer science and, until recently, was honorary professor of computer science at Monash University. He’s a designer, a columnist and an author.
2009-02-20 15:34:12 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Tom Coates is a product designer who has worked for UpMyStreet and the BBC and now works for Yahoo. He’s currently working on fire eagle. a location capturing, managing and sharing service.
2009-02-20 14:48:29 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Matt Jones is a designer who was formerly creative director for the BBC news online. He was with Nokia as the director of UX design and he’s now with Dopplr.
2009-02-20 11:45:25 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Annalee is editor of science/fiction blog i09.com and a former policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She asks what today’s science fiction telling us about where our technology will go tomorrow?
2009-02-05 11:04:13 // Nicky Chapman
// Idealog #19: features
Flying in the face of popular opinion, in a tiny niche in a difficult industry, Julia Marshall’s Gecko Press has proven the naysayers wrong. By Nicky Chapman
2009-01-21 09:21:26 // Rosie Bosworth
// Idealog #19: features
Some companies have a secret place, hidden from day-to-day business, where adventurous staff plan a radical makeover. Rosie Bosworth sheds light on the Black Room
2008-11-21 10:44:14 // Peter Griffin
// Idealog #18: features
The music biz is struggling, but Mikee Tucker is always ready to take a punt. His Loop label sells indie Kiwi music adorned with the labels of megabrands. He‘s packaged music with t-shirts, AA Memberships and broadband, bought rights to Aerosmith and Nirvana and opened an office in LA. Peter Griffin charts Loop’s hits and misses
2008-08-22 10:27:39 // Simon Young
// Idealog #16: workshop
Want to know what’s special about your brand? Here’s how to innovate from that insight. Plus insight vs fact and five ideas to get more ideas
2008-08-01 16:22:33 // Allen P Webb, Hayagreeva Rao & Robert Sutton
// Idealog #16: features
Brad Bird met Walter Disney’s master animators when he was 11. Now he’s heading a new age of animation at Pixar, but he’s still inspired by the attitude of those old originals: they were never satisfied. Bird shares his lessons on talent, failure and challenging success
2008-06-20 12:16:09 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #15: features
They came to ART Venture to speed up their design, sculpture, dance, music, festival, symposium, architecture, TV and waka projects. And they all did one thing: slow down. Gena Tuffery learns why good things take time—and great things take up to 18 months
2008-05-23 12:00:54 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #15: now
| 5 comments
Wellington Airport’s planned terminal building has its critics. Here’s why we love it (and what’s wrong with other airports)
2008-02-28 12:47:24 // Sally Blundell
// Idealog #14: features
| 3 comments
A mystery illness left Garth Murray’s memory shattered, his focus lost, his working days over. Help came from an unexpected quarter: his own dreams. Sally Blundell tacks Murray’s strange trip from sickbed to hi-fi innovator
2008-02-21 11:29:27 // Bette Flagler
// Idealog #13: features
Our kiwifruit industry was built by combining the Chinese gooseberry with Kiwi know-how. Now a New Zealand company is returning the favour, working with Chinese growers to raise the plants needed for its natural, healthy sweetener. But they need to step carefully, reports Bette Flagler—Big Sugar is watching
2007-11-15 09:49:02 // Meridee Walter
// Idealog #12: now
Patrick Morris’ eureka moment has taken the world of pot plants and literally turned it on its head
2007-10-10 10:28:19 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #11: now
Water is good for you—but water bottles are bad for dolphins, endangered birds and cute puppies. The bottles thrown away today in New Zealand will take around 1,000 years to decompose
2007-06-21 13:49:10 // Jason Kemp
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A key challenge for policy makers is how to tell a compelling story with numbers. It is not easy to visualise the impact of change in a meaningful way—but help is now at hand.
Ironically it doesn’t come from the business intelligence (oxymoron alert) community—it is more the result of being able to add graphical tools and creative vision to the core data. The person driving this vision is Dr Hans Rosling a global health professor. Google like the approach so much that they have now invested in the gapminder software developed by Rosling
2006-11-16 02:00:00 // David MacGregor
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
My aging Saab burst a pipe the other day. A minor bump in the road I thought. But, for some reason motor vehicle repairs seem to conform to Drucker’s Law of Business Planning. Everything takes twice as long as expected. And costs twice as much. After handing over nearly four hundred dollars I was back in action. Slow, stately action, admittedly, but action nonetheless.
It got me thinking. Most Kiwis have paltry amounts in their bank accounts. We have one of the worst savings records in the developed world. Think about it. How long could you survive if your income stopped - as of now?
So, when is a good time for car repairs?…
