The Automobile Association is calling on petrol companies to display all their petrol prices and says the government should force them to if they don't.
Under the law petrol companies are required to display the price of all fuel products at the pump - and they are meeting that obligation.BP petrol station in Kaikōura
The AA says petrol companies should put the price of premium petrol as well as 91 octane on their roadside boards. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
But AA petrolwatch spokesperson Mark Stockdale said there were many complaints about service stations not putting the price of premium petrol on their roadside price boards.
In a survey of AA members, 77 percent said they kept an eye on roadside boards and 81 percent felt all fuel prices should be on them.
The boards are required to show the price of 91 and diesel, but not 95 or 98 octane. It's estimated 20 percent of cars in New Zealand use premium petrol.
| Continue to the full article | January 19, 2017 |
Slack, the popular work chat app, has launched one of the features that users have been clamoring for over its entire lifetime: threaded messages.
On Wednesday, the company began the process of rolling out the update to all of its users, which will allow them to keep conversations about a particular topic corralled into a single thread. The feature is designed to keep conversations on a particular topic out of the main flow of a chat channel, the company said in a blog post.
Starting a thread just requires users to hover over a message, click the “Start a Thread” button, and type their response. Replies will be grouped into a sidebar thread, and a small link will appear below the original message showing who has replied to a thread and how many replies it has garnered.
Users have been requesting threaded replies for years as a way to help deal with crowded chat channels where multiple conversations are going on at once. Slack allows users in a channel to talk with one another in a single, uninterrupted flow, which means it can be difficult when folks are discussing two or more different topics. This feature should help with that, along with assisting in reducing clutter from ancillary discussions.
Launching threaded replies will also help Slack compete with other messaging services like Microsoft Teams, which has pushed its support for threading replies as a key feature. Microsoft is slated to make Teams generally available next month, and a recent survey of IT professionals showed them optimistic about the tech giant’s chances of competing with Slack.
| Continue to full article here | January 18, 2017 |
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mondelēz International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDLZ) has reached an agreement to sell most of its grocery business in Australia and New Zealand to Bega Cheese Limited (ASX:BGA) for $460 million AUD. The transaction adds the iconic VEGEMITE brand and other well-established grocery brands to Bega’s portfolio. The move enables Mondelēz International to further focus its portfolio and drive profitable growth by investing in its core snacks categories and Power Brands, including Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate and Oreo biscuits.
“We’re extremely proud of our history as the custodian of the VEGEMITE brand for over 90 years, transforming it from its local roots into a global icon that’s synonymous with Australia,” said Amanda Banfield, Vice President Australia, New Zealand and Japan for Mondelēz International. “It’s been a privilege stewarding this brand, which is found in almost every Australian household and is part of the fabric of the nation. As we continue to execute our strategic growth plan, with a keen focus on core snacks categories and global Power Brands, we’re excited to see VEGEMITE and these much-loved brands continue to grow and thrive under Bega’s ownership.”
Bega Cheese’s Executive Chairman Barry Irvin said he was ecstatic to be bringing together two companies with an Australian heritage spanning over 200 years. "We believe these iconic brands alongside the Bega Cheese brand are strong building blocks to enable Bega Cheese to become a great FMCG business.
“We feel privileged to be taking on the responsibility and guardianship of one of Australia’s most loved brands, VEGEMITE, and look forward to working with the people at 1 Vegemite Way in Port Melbourne to continue the legacy of this great company.”
Included in the sale are Mondelēz International owned brands – VEGEMITE, ZoOsh, Bonox – and other products that use the Kraft brand under license, such as peanut butter, nut spreads, processed cheese slices, ambient cheese spread, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, Kraft Easy Mac and Kraft Mac & Cheese. Bega will receive a license to the Dairylea brand for use in Australia and New Zealand. The Philadelphia business is not included in the deal as it is a Mondelēz International Power Brand.
The Port Melbourne manufacturing site will transfer to Bega as part of this agreement and approximately 200 colleagues who spend most of their time working on this part of the business will be offered roles on comparable terms with Bega. The transaction is expected to close in the coming months.
The Reserve Bank has released a Bulletin article examining the core macro-economic model it uses to support the monetary policy decision making process.
The New Zealand Structural Inflation Model (NZSIM) provides the central organising framework for the Reserve Bank’s forecasting and economic analysis. It is a structural model that provides a platform for evaluating the growth and inflation effects of various economic scenarios, including potential policy responses.
The Bulletin article provides a brief review of the Bank’s recent forecasting models, the philosophy underpinning the design of NZSIM and explains how the model is used in the Reserve Bank’s forecasting process.
More information
| A RBNZ press release | January 19, 2017 |
Airbus is planning to test self-piloted personal aircraft by the end of the year as a way of reducing traffic on inner-city roads.
The announcement was made by the aerospace group's CEO, Tom Enders, on Monday at the DLD digital tech conference in Munich.
During his keynote speech, Enders said Airbus is investing in driverless technologies and artificial intelligence, which could lead to them developing a fleet of flying cars.
"One hundred years ago, urban transport went underground. Now we have the technological wherewithal to go above ground," he said, adding that he believed the company would be testing flying single-person transport by the end of the year.
"We are in an experimentation phase. We take this development very seriously," he said. "If we ignore these developments, we will be pushed out of important segments of the business."
Enders also noted how the development could affect city planning and infrastructure, saying that flying means you don't need to "pour billions" into concrete bridges and roads.
The personal aircraft is being explored in Airbus' Project Vahana. The project grew out of the company's Urban Air Mobility initiative, dedicated to less-conventional vehicle concepts, like vehicles to transport individuals or helicopter-style vehicle that carry multiple riders.
The aim would be for people to book the personal aircraft using an app, similar to car-sharing schemes such as Uber.
Airbus has also been working on "vertical take-off and landing" (VTOL) technology that would allow vehicles to pick up passengers in busy urban areas, and has said it expects to be putting them into production by 2021.
"We seek to help enable truly vertical cities by opening up urban airways in a predictable and controlled manner," said the company in a blog post.
"We believe that full automation will allow us to achieve higher safety by minimising human error. Our aircraft will follow predetermined flight paths, with only minor deviations if obstacle avoidance is needed."
Airbus' announcement appears to support transport designer Paul Priestman's prediction last year that passenger-carrying drones would be the future.
"We've got these electric drones flying around everywhere," he said. "[Electric planes are] just a scaled up version really. I think that's going to get really interesting – it could be the beginning of personalised transportation."
"It's like going back to the idea of jetpacks, but with lots of little drones," he added.
Airbus has filed a number of unusual patents over the years. In 2014 the company applied for a patent on bicycle-style seats that would replace seat cushions with saddles, and in 2015 filed one for two-storey passenger seating that would make the most of unused cabin space by stacking travellers one on top of another.
Most recently, the company patented removable aeroplane cabins for faster boarding.
| Originally published on Dezeen | January 17, 2017 |
The experience of a New Zealander who served in three White House Administrations suggests Chris Liddell will have a front row seat to history while working as an assistant to Donald Trump.
Peter S Watson grew up in Mt Eden and attended Auckland Grammar, but a career in law later spanned top US law firms and saw him become involved in politics.
Watson worked for George Bush Snr's Administration as a director of Asian Affairs for the United States National Security Council, and later held top posts in the George W. Bush Administration.
A Republican, he was appointed chairman of the high-powered US International Trade Commission by the Clinton Administration.Chris Liddell. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Doug Sherring. Chris Liddell. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Doug Sherring.
Back in New Zealand in 2007, Watson - now president of the Dwight Group, a Washington, D.C.-based investment bank - told the Herald of the experience and pressures of working in the White House, at times directly reporting to the President.
As Asian director of the National Security Council - the advisory group to the President - Watson's role covered South East Asia, Indochina and the South West Pacific.
He played a part in efforts to end the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and had to respond to coup attempts against the then Philippine president Corazon Aquino.
Watson, a dual citizen of New Zealand and the US, recounted being in the situation room when rebel forces were strafing Aquino's presidential palace.
"When these crises are evolving, you always have to keep in the back of your mind a sort of DNA reference of what you stand for long term," he said of the experience.
Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley, international relations scholar at the University of Auckland, said a New Zealander being appointed to the sort of positions held by Watson and now Liddell was unusual.
That was despite a large number of foreigners working in Government in the US, which was an "amazing open system", Hoadley said.
As well as his business experience, Liddell was previously chairman of Project Crimson, a charitable trust that aims to protect New Zealand's endangered pohutukawa and rata trees.
"He does have a green inclination - like all New Zealanders do - and that may in fact put him at odds with Trump's 'drill baby, drill' and 'climate change is a hoax' approach," Hoadley said.
"He will be his own man - he has been chairman of Xero and he is pretty strong minded individual. He won't be bulldozed by Trump's somewhat misdirected urges."
Hoadley said Liddell had the chance to make a difference.
"The good thing about Trump - if there is any good thing about him - is he does want governmental reform, he wants change, he wants efficiency like a well-run business.
"If Liddell can contribute to tidying up the apparatus of US Government that must be good for everyone."
| MyInforms.com | January 18, 2017 |
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242