Jan 15, 2018  -  Mercury NZ has selected Tesla as the provider for a scalable national grid-connected battery trial after a tender process launched last September.  A direct grid-connected battery is a large-scale battery able to take, store and return energy directly to the national grid, making it possible to provide energy when usage is high or supply is disrupted.

Jan 12, 2018  -  Statistics reveal the number of passengers through the terminal was the highest number for any month on record.  Chief Aeronautical and Commercial Officer Justin Watson says 638,043 passengers used the terminal during December, up 4.8% on the previous December. "This equates to more than the entire population of Canterbury and the West Coast through the terminal during the past month alone," he says.

Jan 11, 2018  -  New Zealand tech stars are leading a global team in launching the world’s first ever blockchain platform for the multi-billion-dollar global online ratings and review industry. Kiwi tech business experts including 2017 New Zealand chief executive of the year award winner Leigh Flounders and NZTech and FintechNZ chair Mitchell Pham are at the forefront of the launch of Lina.review which is ground-breaking and disrupting the online review world.

Jan 11, 2018  - Jim Anderton: An ordinary extraordinary man writes Megan Wood on NewsRoomOpinion: Over the last few days I, like many others, have been thinking about Jim, his legacy and what made him the political force he was. Much of the public commentary has rightly focused on his enormous sense of principle and the major contribution he made to our country. Jim was an absolute giant of New Zealand politics, and his life and accomplishments are already turning into legend.

Jan 10, 2018  -  Long before the start of the harvest the New Zealand avocado crop was estimated to be down by approximately 50% due to the bi-annual nature of the trees. The latest estimate has the New Zealand export crop at approximately 2.2m trays down from over 5m in the previous year.

No Kudos for Labour Coalition in Handing Over Beleaguered IT Developer

Fugitive IT developer Kim Dotcom’s scalp is seen as a trophy of rapidly diminishing value in the United States where it was so ardently sought until a year ago.  Should the larger-than-life IT avatar turn up manacled in the United States the result is likely to be the opposite of the one intended when New Zealand law enforcement and intelligence agencies launched the airborne raid on his live-in headquarters in 2012.

Jan 9, 2018  -  A bristol Freighter aicraft is to be restored in the city where it was built more than 60 years ago.  Shipped from New Zealand, where it had been in storage since last flying in 1977, it will be restored at Aerospace Bristol.  

Jan 9, 2018  -  The government could introduce a charge on single use plastic packaging such as plastic drink bottles, the Prime Minster has said.  Appearing on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show, the Theresa May spoke of the success of the 5p carrier bag charge introduced a few years ago and said a similar levy could be slapped on plastic bottles, as well as bubble wrap, cutlery, and polystyrene takeaway boxes in a bid to reduce single use plastic packaging and reduce pollution in the world’s oceans.

Jan 9, 2018  -  Apple isn’t immune to Meltdown and Spectre, the major bugs in basic computing architecture that were announced yesterday to widespread amazement and horror. In an announcement, the company said that “all Mac systems and iOS devices are affected,” which sounds right, but that mitigations are either already in place or on the way.

If you’re still not clear on the whole debacle, I went into detail on it yesterday. Basically, a couple of tricks processors have been using for decades turn out to have a couple extremely serious vulnerabilities and could be used to reveal all kinds of protected data to malicious actors.

Fortunately, as Apple puts it, “there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time.” But you better believe it won’t stay that way for long. To prevent being the lucky first victim (that we know of) of one of the most serious security issues of the decade, please do check if your devices are up to date.

For some devices, it was handled a while ago: “Apple released mitigations for Meltdown in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2.” Apple Watch is safe, since Meltdown is a problem with Intel processors and it doesn’t have any. Although reports have warned of performance hits, Apple says it has observed “no measurable reduction” in benchmark scores.

For Spectre, which is a trickier beast both to take advantage of and to fix, patches are forthcoming. “Apple will release an update for Safari on macOS and iOS in the coming days to mitigate these exploit techniques.”

If you’re wondering why people keep saying “mitigate” instead of “fix” or “counteract” or something, it’s because Meltdown and Spectre take advantage of computing practices so basic that avoiding them is extremely difficult and complex. And new variants of attacks may very well circumvent the protections companies have put together during the last few months during which the exploits were kept secret. The mitigations and patches will probably multiply.

In the meantime, since the exploits seem to only apply to code running natively on your machine, Apple’s advice is “downloading software only from trusted sources such as the App Store.” Nice try, Apple! I’d rather face an existential threat to computing than use the Mac App Store

Source:  TechCrunch  |  January 4, 2018   |||

Jan 4, 2018  -  DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider, has been named 2018 Top Employer for Asia Pacific as well as eight countries in the region: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

The award was conferred by Top Employers Institute, a global organisation recognising excellence in employee conditions, making this the fourth consecutive year that DHL Express has received the award. This further establishes the company as a regional leader in employment practices and talent development, with a workplace culture built on respect, recognition and equal opportunities.

“The DHL culture is built on the two R’s – Respect and Results. When we value our employees, and provide them with opportunities to achieve, we’re able to deliver the world-class results that our customers rely on to grow their businesses,” said DHL Express Asia Pacific CEO Ken Lee. “It is an honour to be acknowledged as a leading employer and an excellent workplace in Asia Pacific once again, and a testament to the hard work and effort that all our employees invest in really making DHL Express a byword for excellence.”

The Top Employer award has consistently recognised DHL Express’ sustained investment in talent growth, including its Certified International Specialist (CIS) and Certified International Manager (CIM) programmes that have trained over 43,000 employees in Asia Pacific. Nearly 75 percent of executive positions in the region end up being filled by internal candidates thanks to the company’s talent development initiatives, and women hold one in three management roles in DHL Express.“Diversity in leadership and the workplace help us better understand the full range of our customers’ needs and stories – resulting in more effective service for their businesses,” said DHL Express Asia Pacific Human Resources Senior Vice President A. Mateen. “Thanks to a strong diversity management framework in place, coupled with comprehensive feedback from our annual Employee Opinion Survey, we’ve established a workplace culture where everyone has not only a voice, but also the opportunity to grow to their full potential.”

This year, DHL Express was also named Best Employer 2017 for Asia Pacific and nine other countries region-wide, as well as ‘Best Employer for Women in the Workplace’ in South Korea and Taiwan, by human capital firm Aon Hewitt. The Great Place to Work Institute also recognised DHL Express as one of the ‘Best Multinational Workplaces in Asia’ for five countries as well as the broader Asia Pacific region.

DHL Express Sri Lanka Country Manager Dimithri Perera commenting on Sri Lanka’s contribution towards this overall recognition said: “We are proud that in the year 2017, DHL Express was adjudged a Top 25 ‘Best Companies to Work for in Sri Lanka’ and also won the Maiden award for ‘Best Multinational Corporation in Sri Lanka’ as well as the prestigious Gold award for ‘Best in Medium-Sized Enterprise Category in Sri Lanka’ awarded by Great Place to Work Institute. These awards have contributed to DHL Express in Asia Pacific earning continuous recognition as one of the most inspiring and rewarding places to work where people can unlock their potential and deliver value to our clients.”

“The success of any logistics operation depends on the skill, adaptability, and resilience of its people, translated across numerous cultures and geographies,” added Ken Lee. “At DHL Express, we’re committed to creating an environment where all employees can thrive and grow. We’re extremely proud to have nearly doubled the number of awards for our culture and workplace this year compared to 2016: Each award encourages us to keep working towards a more inclusive, effective, and empathetic culture in every market where we do business.”

Source:  MirrorBusiness   ||  January 3, 2018   |||