An article by David J Mitchell out of the Cato Institute - When writing a few days ago about the newly updated numbers from Economic Freedom of the World, I mentioned in passing that New Zealand deserves praise “for big reforms in the right direction.” And when I say big reforms, this isn’t exaggeration or puffery. Back in 1975, New Zealand’s score from EFW was only 5.60. To put that in perspective, Greece’s score today is 6.93 and France is at 7.30. In other words, New Zealand was a statist basket cast 40 years ago, with a degree of economic…

  Nufarm CEO Greg Hunt wants to pick up assets regulators may force Bayer and Monsanto to sell. Crop protection company Nufarm wants to swoop on assets that Bayer and Monsanto may have to cut free as part of its $US66 billion ($87 billion) mega merger. After handing down a better than expected profit result on Wednesday, Nufarm chief executive Greg Hunt said he was eyeing potential acquisitions on the expectation that global regulators would force his major rivals to divest assets. "I think regulators will look at portfolio concentration and market share by geography," Mr Hunt said.  "There will…

Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2017, expected to start shipping on October 10 of this year, the world’s most popular 3D CAD software will be available for rent. Since its inception in 1995, SOLIDWORKS has been available as a “perpetual license” for about $4K. While it will continue to offer the application with a one-time up-front purchase cost, Dassault Systèmes, SOLIDWORKS’ parent, is adding an option to rent the software for three-month or one-year periods. The pricing change is offered in response to a growing trend in software towards less big-ticket upfront prices Continue to full article

General Manager Manufacturing and Bioproducts at Scion Elspeth MacRae, with Dr Will Barker, CEO of NZBIO (left) and Jared Scarlett of Baldwins. Scientists at Scion have solved a growing environmental problem for wood panel manufacturers. Warren Grigsby and his team have developed the world's first wood panel resins (glue) using biobased ingredients. That solution has earned the team the "Biotechnology of the Year" award at NZBIO's annual conference in Auckland. When Scion, the Crown Research Institute that specialises in science around forestry, wood products and bio materials, learned the level of formaldehyde emissions from wood panels were being regulated lower…

The Tasman Global Access (TGA) undersea cable is now in the final stages of construction, with the specialised undersea cable ship ‘Ile de Re’ heading towards New Zealand shores. On both sides of the Tasman, Spark, Vodafone and Telstra are investing approximately $US70 million to build the TGA cable, designed to “significantly improve” New Zealand’s international broadband connectivity. The benefits of the TGA cable will include strengthened links into fast-growing Asian markets, important redundancy and resiliency, and better connection with the five main international cable systems currently serving Australia. Last month, the Ile de Re completed the shore landing at…

The government has given the green light for China's Shanghai Maling Aquarius to acquire half of Silver Fern Farms, New Zealand's biggest meat company, with ministers satisfied it will deliver "substantial and identifiable benefit" Continue to full article

Tweets are holding steady at 140 characters, but a variety of additions to your tweets will no longer count against that limit. As The Verge reported last week, Twitter said today it was rolling out expanded tweets around the world. Media attachments including images, GIFs, videos, and polls will no longer count against the 140-character limit. Neither will quote tweets, though if include a link to another tweet in your own that will count as normal. The company is also testing out new replies that will omit usernames of the people you are replying to from the character limit. If…

Another barrier to consumer empowerment has fallen to technological disruption with the launch of a free credit rating service.  CreditSimple.co.nz brings an overseas model to the local scene and gives instant access to an individual's credit score based on information held by credit agencies. The website makes its money by then enabling users to get better deals from banks, energy companies and telecommunication providers, who are big users of credit agency services, and taking a commission on the deal. Continue to full article

It may seem like a simple concept in the Web 2.0 era: connect every 3D printer on the planet through a single network. However, this idea has broad implications for the way that we produce our goods and, as the idea of distributed manufacturing starts to evolve, these implications will be felt more and more. In a future in which almost all of our goods are produced locally and on demand, we may look back at Dutch-American start-up 3D Hubs as a pioneer in the space. In fact, to this author's knowledge, the firm is one of the few that…

The Port of Melbourne has been sold to a consortium including Queensland Infrastructure Corporation, Global Infrastructure Partners and Canada’s Borealis for $9.7 billion, a price the Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas called a “pleasant surprise”. The ABC reports that state legislation enabling the 50-year lease to the Lonsdale consortium passed parliament in March. A price of $6 billion was initially predicted. Continue

If you're considering buying a new PC then one of the biggest questions is whether to invest in a Windows or OS X machine? In this feature we take a look at the advantages and drawbacks of both. It’s a battle that has raged across time and space. Two sides with sworn armies of loyalists, locked eternally in a struggle for dominance. We’ve seen it played out so many times: Android vs iOS, Xbox vs PlayStation, Canon vs Nikon, FIFA vs Pro Evo, ZX Spectrum vs Commodore 64, but today we look not upon those minor conflicts. Instead our eyes…