The substantial growth of the country’s umbrella tech organisation NZTech is indicative of the rapid expansion of the nation’s fastest growing industry, says its chief executive Graeme Muller. NZTech has its eighth annual meeting in Auckland today and NZTech now represents more than 400 organisations across the New Zealand technology landscape who collectively employ 100,000 people. “Our members are startups, local tech firms, multinationals, education providers, financial institutions, major corporations, network providers and high-tech manufacturers. Our goal is to stimulate an environment where technology provides important social and economic benefits for New Zealand,” Muller says. “There is significant growing awareness…

Scientists are working hard to determine the how, why and when of earthquakes, but getting answers is a complex team effort, says a Victoria University of Wellington geophysicist. image004.jpgIt’s 30 years since John Townend recalls first experiencing a big earthquake—the magnitude 6.5 Edgecumbe earthquake, which struck in March 1987 less than 100 kilometres from his high school in Rotorua. The Professor of Geophysics and Head of Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences has been studying the physics of earthquakes ever since. The last few years have seen Professor Townend called on many times for his expertise, most recently…

Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder, argues that the UK Government should abandon plans for launching rockets in Scotland.  Anna Isaac from The Telegraph met with Peter and asked him a few questions: What’s your business background? I’m an engineer. Before I started Rocket Lab, I worked in a New Zealand Government lab, developing advanced materials, structures and superconductors. But even since I was a kid, I’ve built rockets. My very first one used hydrogen peroxide, which was very dodgy – very dodgy indeed. How did you start the company? I started the business about 10 years ago, because I wasn’t…

With Challenger and Defender intently going over their America's Cup campaigns and trying to evaluate the other's performances, there is a fair chance that they'll be looking at the latest content from a new 3D Video application which takes them aboard their rival's AC50 - sitting in the 'shotgun seat' wrote richard Gladwell earlier this week in sailingworld.com. Earlier in the 35th America's Cup Regatta, Race Director Iain Murray confirmed that the teams would have full access to a suite of performance data from their competitors. That is expected to include content that Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New…

Apple's iOS 11 update began trials this week, giving testers a look at a new feature designed to combat distracted drivers says a report by Newshub. The 'Do Not Disturb While Driving' feature will mute iPhones and stop notifications from lighting up the screen whenever the user is driving. It will automatically activate whenever the phone connects to a car's Bluetooth, or if it detects the motion of a moving vehicle. The feature, which can be disabled, can be personalised to automatically reply to text messages and notify people when users are on the road. Navigation or music playback won't…

New Zealanders will get access to more ‘open data’, with $7.2 million earmarked for the next three years to speed its release, Statistics Minister Scott Simpson announced today. “Open data helps businesses, councils, community and charitable groups as well as other data users make faster, better-informed decisions and help solve complex problems. High quality data makes it easier for businesses to innovate and grow,” Mr Simpson says. “Open data is good for an open democracy. More open data will also help everyone see how their tax dollars are being spent and how effective that spending is. “The Government is committed…

Metal from the trash heap may one day wind up inside your smartphone instead of the other way around (Credit: rihardzz/Depositphotos) Stainless steel mesh is often used as filters and screens in facilities such as wastewater treatment plants or in ventilation shafts. But once the material gets coated in rust and weakened, it's usually just discarded. Now Chinese scientists have figured out a way to take that metal trash and turn into high-performing treasure as electrodes in potassium-ion batteries. While lithium-ion batteries are widely used today, they're not without their issues. For starters, they degrade over time, especially if they're…

A fledgling, cutting-edge cyber security Wellington company has launched a virtual chief information security officer (vCISO) service aimed at helping New Zealand businesses to respond as cyber-crime begins to bite. Cyber Toa chief executive and NZTech board member Mandy Simpson says cyber-attacks are a serious risk for all Kiwi businesses. “To be honest, all indications are that cyber-crime is growing in New Zealand. Requests for assistance to the National Cyber Security Centre were up 66 percent in the year to April 2016 and global security provider Symantec put the cost of cyber-crime in New Zealand at $US200 million last year,”…

Science and Innovation Minister Paul Goldsmith today announced an investment of $31.7 million to upgrade New Zealand’s supercomputing capabilities. “The existing supercomputers are at the end of their operating lives and energy intensive by today’s standards. The new supercomputers will deliver up to 10 times the computing capability and more than four times the storage capacity of their predecessors,” says Mr Goldsmith. The computing research service is designed and provided by the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI), a collaboration between NIWA, Landcare and the Universities of Auckland and Otago. “Computational needs of the science community are growing exponentially and from…

Top Kiwi furniture company, the PLN Group, is setting the global industry alight with its world leading nano technology developments. The PLN Group, based in Auckland, is a finalist in the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards, with winners to be announced on June 29. The company is earning up to 40 percent of its revenue off shore from clients such as Citibank, HSBC, Google, Hewlett Packard, Disney and Apple, chief executive Blair McKolskey says. “Our cutting-edge innovations such as the acoustic nano technology is world leading and we are seeking to gain entry into Europe and North America this…

Around 540 million years ago there was a rapid burst of evolution known as the Cambrian Explosion. One hypothesis for this is that the evolution of vision started an arms race. Complex vision improved the ability of animals to navigate and identify objects; it is now regarded as the most important sense. In industry, machine vision is being incorporated to develop industrial processes further, identify areas of improvement and enable intelligent locomotion within robotics. Here, Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director at obsolete industrial parts supplier EU Automation, discusses the role of machine vision in the factory of the future. Machine vision…