Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Feb 07, 2018 - Late last year Rolls-Royce launched R2 Data Labs, to act as an acceleration hub for data innovation New Zealand being one of the locations. The new organisation, which brings together expertise from across the business, builds on 30 years of data-led services and business model innovation. Using advanced data analytics, industrial Artificial Intelligence and machine learning techniques, R2 Data Labs develops data applications that unlock design, manufacturing and operational efficiencies within Rolls-Royce, and creates new service propositions for customers.
Feb 07, 2018 - A businessman who gave up in the face of ''too much bureaucracy'' while seeking funding from government agency Callaghan Innovation has been left outraged at news of its multimillion-dollar entertainment bill.
Feb 07, 2018 - British manufacturer Dyson will open an office in New Zealand in May and says it could use the country and as a test bed for future products, which are set to include electric vehicles. Tom Pullar-Strecker reports on Stuff this morning that the company's Sydney-based managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Glenn Andrew, told Stuff that the New Zealand business would initially employ about a dozen staff and Dyson was looking for recruits through its website.
Feb 07, 2018 - Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s leading airline operators, is set to launch a blockchain-based loyalty wallet to enhance and further frequent flyers’ spending of accumulated air miles.
Singapore Airlines (SIA), has announced its plan to launch a loyalty digital wallet based on blockchain technology for its KrisFlyer frequent-flyer program, enabling travelers to easily spend their air miles at retail partners. The application will help with ‘everyday spending’ of passengers’ digital KrisFlyer miles in ‘point-of-sale transactions at participating retail merchants,’ the announcement added.
Feb 06, 2018 - Update: Tuesday 6th February with only few tickets left at selected booking agents, whatsoninvers.nz can now confirm that the 2018 Bluff Oyster Festival is sold out!
Feb 06, 2018 - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is calling for urgent attention to address infrastructure challenges in order to secure the industry's future.
"Having the infrastructure to grow is vital to our industry's future. But in many key places, it is not being built fast enough to meet growing demand. And there are worrying trends which are increasing costs. One of these is airport privatizations. We have not found the correct regulatory framework to balance the interests of the investors to turn a profit, with the public interest for the airport to be a catalyst for economic growth. All the optimism supporting strong aircraft orders will mean nothing if we don't have the capability to manage traffic in the air and at airports," said Alexandre de Juniac in his keynote address to the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit (SAALS). The theme of the Summit is 'Reimagining Aviation's Future'.
Feb 6, 2018 - Emirates Engineering has announced an agreement with Qantas for aircraft maintenance, including the stripping and repainting of eight Qantas A380 aircraft starting next month.
The aircraft will be repainted with the latest Qantas livery at the state of the art Emirates Aircraft Appearance Centre in Dubai. The agreement also covers the replacement of landing gear for one Qantas A380 aircraft by Emirates Engineering this month.
"We are delighted to be working with Qantas for maintenance on their A380 aircraft. As the largest operator of Airbus A380s with over 100 aircraft in our fleet, Emirates Engineering has built strong expertise over the years in the maintenance and repainting of this aircraft type," said Mohammed Jaffar Nasser, senior vice president of Engineering Maintenance.
"We have worked hard to create efficiencies and productivity gains across all lines of maintenance, thereby freeing capacity and allowing us to offer our services and know-how to external customers. Our goal is to promote Dubai as a centre of excellence for Airbus A380 maintenance. We have the knowledge, infrastructure, competence and the confidence to achieve this goal," he added.
Emirates operates all-A380 daily services from Auckland and Christchurch to Dubai and beyond.
The maintenance agreement between Emirates and Qantas complements the strategic commercial partnership that is in place between the two airlines and heralds the start of collaboration in the areas of maintenance and engineering.
The Emirates Aircraft Appearance Centre is the world’s largest dedicated aircraft painting facility owned by an airline. During the last financial year, Emirates Engineering completed 38 aircraft paint makeovers at its dedicated paint hangar.
In addition, the centre has also installed a number of customised and eye-catching decals on Emirates’ fleet of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft including most recently the tribute livery of the late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding father of the United Arab Emirates, and special decals dedicated to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Emirates received its first A380 in 2008 and is today the largest operator of this aircraft type with 101 of the world’s largest commercial passenger aircraft currently in its fleet. The airline’s engineering division operates modern, extensive facilities in Dubai that include seven heavy maintenance hangars and four light maintenance hangars that can all accommodate the A380s. It also the most experienced and equipped Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) provider in the world for the iconic double decker aircraft with over 110 A380 C-Checks completed to date.
| An EmiratesEngineering release || February 06, 2018 |||
Feb 06, 2018 - With over 83 million passengers traveling through Dubai International Airport, it was the world’s third busiest airport in 2016. The city itself is booming, with an annual population growth of just over 10%.
While it’s the undisputed business hub of the Middle East, Dubai has set an ambitious goal: To be the first blockchain-powered government in the world by 2020.
It’s a bold transition for the city but one that might not be as far-fetched as you think. Blockchain-powered smart cities are more attainable than people imagine. The uses for blockchain within cities are nearly endless, but there are some major areas where blockchain will represent a dramatic improvement.
Let’s look at a few of those areas to see how blockchain can impact city life in the coming years. After all, if Dubai’s experiment with blockchain-powered government works out, there’s no telling who might follow suit.
Inefficiencies
Cities around the world are already working to become what we call “smart cities.” They’re using IoT connected devices to do everything — from detecting gunshots to monitoring traffic and air quality.
And guess what? All of those IoT devices can be registered on the blockchain.
There are plenty of opportunities to add blockchain to city systems that are already connected. These systems gather plenty of data that could be placed on the blockchain. Upgrading to blockchain would make it easier for city governments to access and manage that data.
Say, when the light in an IoT connected lamp post goes out, it could trigger an automatic message to officials in charge of replacing it.
Right now, there are silos of data. Not every security camera or electronic lock is made by the same company. Not every parking garage uses the same parking sensors to determine capacity. If we could securely organize all of that data onto an interoperable backbone, then law enforcement (or government officials or whoever is allowed access to the data) would be able to get that access without going through multiple separate parties.
Blockchain could help solve many city inefficiencies almost immediately.
Public Safety
Communication and data sharing can have a positive effect on public safety as well. Recently, I had a conversation with a company in Boston who is trying to use the blockchain space for public safety data in police departments. Their data is very loosely organized. Silos of data are inaccessible to police stations in different neighborhoods within the same city. The current system is very rudimentary, partly because there’s no better way to share sensitive data between departments.
Blockchain can provide a secure system for sharing sensitive data. Wires won’t be crossed, and opportunities won’t be missed due to a lack of communication. This still has to be weighed against a citizen’s right to privacy and the government’s limit to tracking individuals. But it’s good to see people are talking about sharing data and working on preventative measures, such as analyzing crime statistics and planning police patrols around that information.
Public Transportation
Most major cities rely heavily on public transportation. Some of them can’t operate without it. There are opportunities to put blockchain to work here.
New York City recently awarded a $573 million-dollar contract to transition from their refillable MetroCard to electronic readers. Right now, New York commuters have to manually swipe the cards and refill with money as needed. In cities like San Francisco and London, you don’t even need a card. You can scan your phone and deduct payment from connected accounts such as Apple Pay or PayPal.
The next step would be to use a blockchain-based system for pay. If commuters have a blockchain wallet on their smartphone, they could pay for any transit pass, loyalty programs, or purchase without a card.
And that may give extra incentive to take public transport.
Smart Incentives
Another interesting aspect of blockchain-powered cities is how they can incentivize citizens to make positive decisions.
Here’s a hypothetical:
Say you decide to take public transportation to work every day this coming week instead of driving. When the wallet registers you’ve used public transportation all week, you get a discount on your energy bill for that month. Or maybe you’re credited for one free bus ride.
Whatever it is, the incentive has to gently push people towards ethical, sustainable, and transparent ways of consuming and producing goods and services.
This could lead to more sustainable, habitable cities with fewer issues and inefficiencies. At the end of the day, that’s what blockchain can help us accomplish — smarter, healthier cities. And if Dubai makes good on their goal in 2020, we may have an example to follow in just a few years.
Source: By Samantha Radocchia, Co-Founder at Chronicled (2015-present). Originally published on Quora. || February 6, 2018 |||
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
|
|