Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

14 Nov 2017 - Former Prime Minister Sir John Key spoke to a crowd of 350 at the launch party of professional services firm K3 last Thursday night. he event at Auckland’s Maritime Room celebrated the establishment of K3, a professional services firm which brings together legal, accounting and consulting services under one roof. With more than half of K3’s Legal team fluent in Mandarin and the firm’s extensive links with the Chinese community, Sir John spoke at length about New Zealand’s relationship with China.

“As PM I went to China seven times and everyone knows that I’m a massive China fan. I think the opportunities are enormous, the country is amazing, and the leadership is doing extremely well,” said Sir John, who noted he arrived at the K3 event in an Uber, not a Crown car.

Challenging convention was a subject also covered by K3 Directors Mark Kirkland and Marcus Morrison who spoke about how K3 is looking at business differently, and their desire to make a genuine difference to New Zealand businesses.

“Professional services firms have been run in the same way for generations. But the market has changed extremely rapidly so we think that traditional model needs to change too. Businesses today want a greater depth and breadth of service that is outcome oriented. Our goal is to become New Zealand’s most trusted professional service firm,” said Morrison.

Reflecting on his time as Prime Minister, Sir John said while he has no wish to be PM now, he is extremely grateful for the time he had as leader of New Zealand

“One of the things you can do when you’re Prime Minister is you can shape the country and you really can make a difference. Hopefully [during] the time I was there, we were able, as a government, to economically put New Zealand on a much stronger footing.

“Whatever you think of the world, I reckon most people get up in the morning and they don’t want to be dependent on the state and they do want to look after themselves, they do want to look after their family and they have a lot of personal pride,” said Sir John, to much applause from the audience.

He’d been doing a lot of travelling and had realised New Zealanders tended to overestimate how much other countries knew about “a country of 4.8 million at the bottom of the planet. New Zealand has an amazing reputation but, man, we have to keep fighting for our place in the world.”

The impact of technology was covered by Sir John, who recalled a recent incident at an Under Armour store in China, where he wanted to buy a pair of Jordan Speith golf shoes. At the counter he tried to pay for the shoes using AMEX, Visa, Mastercard and even cash, all of which were rejected by the salesperson.

“So I said, what do you take? And she said, WeChat or Alipay, and that’s it, that was the only thing they accepted. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s really changing. If you look at China, they have some of the most impressive leadership that you’ll find and they’re developing some of the most amazing technology.” He said China’s tech industry was out-stripping Silicon Valley and predicted it would be well ahead of the USA in a decade.

Although Sir John avoided talking specifically about the new coalition government, he did allude to it. “There’s a lot of rhetoric out there that’s anti-migration, anti-investment, anti-trade. But we have to back ourselves to succeed and not be afraid of people coming to New Zealand, don’t be afraid about foreign capital coming in to our companies, don’t be afraid about engaging in free trade deals. If we buy into the Trump rhetoric, we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said.

| A K3 releases  ||  November 14,  2017   |||

Nov 14 2017  -  Human-induced global warming is happening faster than ever and accelerating, according to a new measurement index developed by an international team that includes the Director of Victoria University of Wellington’s New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, Professor Dave Frame.

The researchers’ real-time Global Warming Index will be updated continuously on the website www.globalwarmingindex.org and provides improved scientific context for temperature stabilisation targets, with the potential to reduce climate policy volatility.

The index and its data have been announced in a paper for the Nature research journal Scientific Reports.

Warming exceeded 1°C above mid-nineteenth-century levels in 2017 and is increasing at a rate that leaves little time to achieve the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, say the researchers.

“Global temperatures may be pushed up temporarily by El Niño events or down by volcanic eruptions,” says Dr Karsten Haustein from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, lead author of the paper. “We combine temperature observations with measurements of drivers of climate change to provide an up-to-date estimate of the contribution of human influence to global warming.”

The level of human-induced warming reached 1.02°C above the average for 1850–79 in November 2017 (with a 5-95 percent uncertainty range of 0.89–1.20°C) based on the HadCRUT4 temperature dataset from the UK Met Office, or 1.08°C when estimated using a version of HadCRUT4 that interpolates over poorly sampled regions such as the Arctic.

“This Global Warming Index has been increasing continuously since the nineteenth century, with no pause in recent decades,” says Dr Haustein. “It has risen at a rate of 0.16°C per decade over the past 20 years, and is expected to average 0.96°C above 1850–79 for the decade 2010–2019. Worryingly, it appears to be accelerating, despite the recent slowdown in carbon dioxide emissions, because of trends in other climate pollutants, notably methane.”

Professor Frame says: “A robust, continuously updated index of human-induced warming— the only component of global temperatures we have any control over—is essential to monitor progress toward meeting temperature goals. We hope the Global Warming Index will provide this essential information to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] process.

“Using our index, as well as www.climateclock.net, in conjunction with carbon budget estimates based on current emissions, the remaining time until we cross the anthropogenic warming target of 1.5°C or 2°C can be monitored continuously.”

Paper co-author Professor Myles Allen, also from the University of Oxford, presented the team’s findings to delegates of the UNFCCC conference in Bonn, Germany, on Monday 13 November, at a UN Side Event sponsored by Victoria University of Wellington, in partnership with the Universities of Oxford and Reading and Norway’s CICERO Center for International Climate Research.

The paper’s other co-authors were Professor Piers Forster from the University of Leeds in the UK, Dr Friederike Otto and Dr Daniel Mitchell from the University of Oxford and Professor Damon Matthews from Concordia University Montreal in Canada.

| A Victoria University release   |||  November 14, 2017   |||

14 Nov 2017  -The New Autodesk Connect and Construct Exchange partner program tames construction app chaos.  LAS VEGAS, Nov. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At its 25th annual flagship user conference, Autodesk University, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) previewed its next generation BIM 360 platform, a seamless cloud service connecting the entire construction project lifecycle. Autodesk also launched the "Connect and Construct Exchange," a new BIM 360 integration partner program designed to bring third-party software applications and data into the BIM 360 construction workflow. The Connect and Construct Exchange launched with more than 50 inaugural BIM 360 integrators. 

The next generation of BIM 360, built on the Autodesk Forge platform, supports informed decision-making throughout the construction project lifecycle by centralizing all project data in a single place. Autodesk Forge is a connected developer cloud platform which enables customers and partners to create customized, scalable solutions for engineering, construction and manufacturing challenges. BIM 360 connects project stakeholders and workflows at all stages of the building lifecycle – from design to construction to operations, from the field to the office and back. BIM 360 removes the uncertainty that plagues construction projects of all sizes by pairing its project management tools and database with machine learning analytics and insights. The result is closer collaboration among project teams, greater transparency about changes, and improved data continuity that translates into increased profitability.

"Construction projects are growing more complex, but Autodesk meets that challenge head-on with BIM 360, making construction work safer, simpler, and connected," said Andrew Anagnost, president and CEO, Autodesk. "With the confusion of an ever-increasing number of construction apps across the industry, the option to manage all project data in a single cloud platform results in more predictable building project outcomes."

Developed with Autodesk Construction Industry CustomersThe new BIM 360 platform is a result of collaboration between Autodesk and 500 construction professionals from 100 organizations who informed the company's software development process. Autodesk BIM 360 solutions presently house almost four million models, and BIM 360 customers have logged approximately 200 million field observations.

"Autodesk made it a priority to work in lock-step with construction professionals to build the BIM 360 platform, which has resulted in a game-changing project management service," said Andy Leek, director, Virtual Design and Construction at PARIC, a St. Louis, Missouri based construction services firm. "Construction software is so fragmented with endless vendors claiming to offer the best mousetrap for each particular process. PARIC is trying to solve all of our problems as seamlessly as possible, and Autodesk BIM 360 could ultimately be our backbone to connect everyone from design to ownership in one place."

Connect and Construct ExchangeBIM 360 connects fragmented workflows across preconstruction, execution, fabrication, installation, and facility management. The new Autodesk Connect and Construct Exchange launched today adds value for each of these phases of construction with an inaugural group of more than 50 BIM 360 integration partners of which more than 40 are now available on the exchange. The exchange's goals are to showcase, catalogue and generate awareness for all applications and integrations to the next-generation BIM 360 platform so customers and partners have a broad choice of solutions to enhance and extend their workflow to better meet their unique construction needs.

"Rhumbix enables construction teams to manage timekeeping, quantity tracking, and other critical tasks from the palm of a hand with just two taps on a mobile device," said Zach Scheel, CEO, Rhumbix. "Our seamless integration with BIM 360 ensures that everything on the job site is tracked and communicated back to the home office and field trailer."

Rhumbix modernizes construction field operations, helping builders go paperless in the field and improving how they measure and manage labor productivity to be more profitable.

AvailabilityAvailable immediately. Learn more about Autodesk's next generation BIM 360 platform preview. Visit Connect and Construct Exchange for more information on Autodesk BIM 360 integration partners.

New ZealandCADPRO Systems is New Zealand’s leading supplier of professional Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology an an approved provider on the Autodesk Services Marketplace. They specialise in providing Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology to architects, engineers, contractors and owner/operators in the Architecture, Engineering & Construction markets, as well as Digital Prototyping solutions for Engineers & Manufacturers.

14 Nov 2017  -  Port Taranaki is withdrawing from the container sector, including closing its container transfer site. Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper said changes to the New Zealand supply chain had prompted the decision, particularly the introduction of larger international container vessels, the development of inland ports for the containerisation of products, and the increased use of rail transport linking regions to ports with international departures. With coastal shipping impacted by these changes, there was now reduced incentive for shipping lines to call at Port Taranaki.

“We have not had a full container service at Port Taranaki for three years – the last container ship to call was in October 2014,” Mr Roper said. “Since then we have worked hard with potential customers and shipping lines to make it viable to call at the port.

“However, container services rely on scale and throughput, and with the changes to the national supply chain, we have been unable to secure sufficient trade to attract shipping lines. As a result we will no longer seek to recommence a container shipping service.”

Mr Roper said the decision would result in the closure of the container transfer site.

“As a service to Taranaki companies, through an arrangement with shipping lines we have maintained a container transfer site, making containers available to local importers and exporters,” Mr Roper said. “However, with Port Taranaki’s decision to withdraw fully from the container sector, the container transfer site will close.”

Mr Roper said the port was in consultation with two staff who would potentially be affected by the closure of the container transfer operation.

The site is expected to close at the end of January. From 1 December the site will operate from 7am to 3pm weekdays.

In addition, Port Taranaki has closed the cold store on the Blyde Wharf, which stored chilled and frozen products for the dairy and poultry industries. The closure, which was effective from 1 November, resulted in the loss of one position at Port Taranaki.

“Because of the halt in container trade in the past three years, the cold store has been under-utilised, which is why we decided to close it,” Mr Roper said.

The decision to withdraw from the container business has been made following a strategic review of the container sector by the Port Taranaki Board.

Board chairman Peter Dryden said the changes occurring within the New Zealand supply chain and the need to operate a sustainable and successful business for the benefit of the Taranaki community, had brought about the review and subsequent decision.

“After examining our position in the container sector and what we believe are permanent changes to the New Zealand supply chain, investing in future capability to be competitive, such as machinery and systems, was not viable,” Mr Dryden said.

“Port Taranaki will now focus on growth in other areas of the business, such as our burgeoning log business, as well as concentrating on our core business of bulk liquids, bulk dry products and support of the offshore oil and gas sector,” he said.

Mr Dryden said the port would retain its mobile harbour cranes in support of other work, including Port Taranaki’s offshore business.

“We will be working with local logistics providers to ensure continuity for Taranaki importers and exporters,” he said.

| A Port Taranaki release  ||  November 9,  2017   |||

14 Nov 2017  - Port Taranaki is proud to be working with the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) to host an open day on the HMNZS Endeavour this Sunday (19 November).  The public open day would undoubtedly be a highlight of the Endeavour’s final visit to her home port, Port Taranaki chief executive Guy Roper said.

“Port Taranaki has had a long association with the Royal New Zealand Navy and Endeavour, and we are proud to be part of these very special celebrations in the lead-up to the ship’s decommissioning in December,” Mr Roper said.

“While it is sad this will be the last time Endeavour will berth at Port Taranaki, it is also a time to celebrate the unique bond our region has with the Navy and this ship in particular.

“We look forward to our continued close association with the Navy through its decision to make Port Taranaki the home of the newest member of its fleet, HMNZS Aotearoa.”

HMNZS Aotearoa, which will be the largest and most high-tech ship the RNZN has operated, will be in service from 2020.

Public tours of the upper decks of the HMNZS Endeavour will take place between 10am and 4pm on Sunday. Shuttles will take groups from Port Taranaki’s ‘East Gate’, on Ocean View Parade adjacent to the New Plymouth Yacht Club and Ngamotu Beach, to the Endeavour and return, the last shuttle will depart from the East Gate at 3:30pm.

Visitors to the ship will need to wear sensible, covered footwear. If needing assistance due to limited mobility, please let staff on the gate know.

Moturoa School will be on-hand with a fundraising sausage sizzle and the RNZN will have souvenirs available, recognising the decommissioning of the vessel.

| A port Taranaki release  ||  November 14,  2017   |||

14 Nov 2017  -  According to Forbes, more than $2.3 billion has been raised in token sales, aka “ICO’s” so far in 2017. As an entrepreneur who has raised more than $300 million of venture capital equity financing in my career, and whose company is holding an ICO in just a few days, I have mixed thoughts about the current ICO bubble. Like many, I’ve been enthralled by the technical elegance and enormous potential of blockchain technologies. And, one cannot help but be fascinated by the amount of capital flowing into cryptocurrencies and ICO’s.

Like many, I’ve also been repulsed by the ICO scams and hype marketing, turned off by the pay-for-play ICO cottage industry, and frightened by the speculative dynamics of cryptocurrencies and token markets.

In a previous post I discussed some of the cringiest moments we’ve encountered during the ICO process.

In this post I present some of my thoughts on the ICO Bubble, implications of the increased ICO volume and noise, and my suggestions for the community to adopt requirements for better ICO’s.

This is a work in progress, intended to spur conversation, and I encourage and welcome everyone’s feedback.

The ICO Bubble in ContextFrom a macro perspective, bubbles serve as an acceleration purpose in technology cycles. The capital markets are currently sizing up cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies much like they did for the emerging Internet companies in the late 1990’s. Back then, hundreds of dot-com companies raised globs of money pre-revenue on big ideas alone and went public long before they should have. Most of those companies didn’t survive, while a handful of the dot-com bubble babies like Amazon and Google went on to dominate. However, any way you slice it, the capital markets’ appetite for speculating on the future value of Internet technologies fueled a massive wave of innovation that fundamentally improved and connected the world. And, many of the ideas that initially failed were recast and reborn years later as successful ventures, once ideas caught up with technical realities and consumer adoption.

Bubbles reflect investor excitement and optimism for game-changing ideas and outsized returns. Bubbles also educate markets. Many consumers first got intrigued by the Internet by following booming Internet stocks, just as many consumers today are first becoming familiar with blockchain and crypto by learning of booming Bitcoin prices.

Blockchain today is like 1993 internet — we’re still at the early stage of building protocols and middleware — albeit with 1999 bubble hype. The current cycle is more compressed than the 1993–2000 dot-com cycle because blockchain technology is based on immediately recognizable economic value, whereas Internet companies were valued based on potential future profits and stock prices. The dot-com bubble was fueled by investor enthusiasm to get into those zero-to-one projects, much as the crytpo bubble is today.

Continue here to read the full article by Board Member OpenST Foundation. Founder and CEO of Simple Token. Founder & CEO of Pepo.Board Member OpenST Foundation. Founder and CEO of Simple Token. Founder & CEO of Pepo.  ||  November 14,  2017   |||

14 Nov 2017  -  Desktop Metal is a US based company committed to bringing metal 3D printing to engineers and manufacturers, today announced it will begin accepting international pre-orders of its metal 3D printing system, the Studio System™ from companies throughout Asia Pacific. The announcement comes as Desktop Metal is experiencing tremendous interest and demand from manufacturers and strategic partners around the globe.

“Our vision is to make our Desktop Metal 3D printing solutions accessible to engineers and manufacturers around the world,” said Ric Fulop, CEO and co-founder of Desktop Metal. “We plan to begin offering our metal 3D printing technology internationally and will be accelerating production to meet worldwide demand first for our Studio System and later for our Production System. Our partnerships with best-in-class resellers in each of these geographies bring us closer to making metal 3D printing solutions available to all who want to realize the benefits of rapid prototyping and mass production of metal parts. We are excited to see what happens next in manufacturing as we welcome these new countries to our landscape.”

To support its international expansion plans, Desktop Metal has developed strategic partnerships with authorized Desktop Metal international resellers to immediately begin pre-selling its Studio System throughout APAC, including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Australia and New Zealand. To date, the company has partnered with 13 resellers throughout APAC to pre-sell and support its systems. Availability of the Studio System will vary by country. Interested buyers should visit www.desktopmetal.com/international for the complete list of APAC resellers and country-specific information.

About the Studio SystemThe Studio System, which debuted in May 2017, is the first office-friendly metal 3D printing system for rapid prototyping and is 10 times less expensive than existing technology today. The Studio System is a complete platform, including a printer, a debinder, and a sintering furnace that, together, deliver complex and even impossible geometries of metal 3D printed parts right in an engineer’s office or on the shop floor.

To manufacture metal 3D printed parts at scale, Desktop Metal also debuted the only 3D printing system for mass production of high resolution metal parts today, the Production System.

| A Desktop Metal release  ||  November 14,  2017   |||

14 Nov 2017  -  The mother of all produce sanitisation machines has arrived in Australia, fresh off the ship from Germany, as the country takes its food safety technology to the next level. Dubbed ‘The Food Safety Supercharger’, the custom-made 250-kilogram test-unit creates a stream of ‘supercharged air’ by applying an electric current to normal air. Using this disruptive technology, it has the capacity to kill microbial pathogens on the surface of fresh produce and nuts, without leaving any chemical residues.

Housed at a NSW Department of Primary Industries laboratory, this world-first machine aims to eliminate microbial contaminants such as Salmonella, Listeria and E.coli which cause foodborne illness outbreaks. Other spoilage-causing moulds can also be suppressed, offering a longer shelf-life and reduced food waste.

Hort Innovation fund manager Tim Archibald said the technology – which is part of a $5M jointly-funded project with the NSW Department of Primary Industries – has never been commercially used on food.

“The Food Safety Supercharger is here, and Australia is on track to introduce some of the most sophisticated sanitation technology in the world,” Mr Archibald said. “While there are good post-harvest practices already in place in Australia, when isolated contamination incidents occur, farmers are devastated.”

“This supercharged air technology has the exciting potential to limit product recalls, minimise trade disruptions and ensure consumers are confident about the produce they are buying. It also offers an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional food sanitisers.”

Lead researcher, Dr Sukhvinder Pal Singh, explained that supercharged air is plasma, which is the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas.

“Natural plasma in the universe, such as the sun’s surface, has a temperature of thousands of degrees Celsius, while human-made, non-thermal plasma is only 30 to 40 degrees. That is why the technology can also be referred to as ‘cold plasma’,” he said.

Dr Singh presented the bold idea of applying cold plasma technology to fresh produce and nuts to Hort Innovation about a year ago.

“It was a transformative idea that presented a high reward for the horticulture industry if it worked,” he said. “Non-food sectors such as automotive, aerospace, textile, polymer, electronics and biomedical were already using the technology – particularly overseas, but it had never been applied to fresh produce.

“Once support was secured from Hort Innovation, which encourages disruptive technology, our team was able to start the research with the first-generation plasma unit. We then engaged a world-leading machine manufacturer in Germany to create a custom unit.”

Dr Singh said through their early testing, his team has determined that it is possible to kill bacteria and moulds in a short treatment time but there is a still a lot of research to come. He said now the latest generation of the machine is in the lab, the efficiency at which researchers can decontaminate produce is significantly higher than with their previous test unit, which was one-fifth the size.

He said after determining which fruit, vegetables and nuts are responsive to the treatment, the research team needs to ensure the killing of microbial pathogens does not compromise the quality and nutritional value of food.

“Ultimately, we would like to see this technology work and provide a pathway to commercialisation and for growers and packers to adopt it. Time will tell, but the early signs of this research are certainly promising.”

The research is due for completion in 2021. See a video of the technology in action.

| A Hort Innovation release  ||  November 14,  2017   |||

14 Nov  2017  -  The revelation that Winston Peters filed court proceedings against Bill English and Paula Bennett at 4:59pm on the eve of the election makes a farce of his coalition negotiations with National. The decision was made as soon as the special votes gave Lab-Gre-NZF a comfortable three vote margin. Free Press (almost) feels sorry for all those who voted for and even made large donations (when will they be declared?) to New Zealand First but ended up with the former President of the International Union of Socialist Youth for a Prime Minister backed by a clean sweep of seven Maori seats.

119-1

For the first time, but very unlikely the last, in this term of Parliament, ACT voted against the whole House. When National abandoned the taxpayer and voted with the Green Party, Labour, and New Zealand First, ACT stood alone against New Zealand’s already excessive entitlement culture being further expanded.

What was the Bill?

National voted to expand (taxpayer) Paid Parental Leave to 26 weeks. Labour lied in the process saying the OECD average is 38 weeks (actually 17.7), but most countries have terrible policy we’d be looking over the shoulder of the dumbest guy in class anyway. Continually expanding entitlements has been the road to ruin since at least Roman times, here we are again.

Free Lunches All ‘Round

Paid Parental Leave is just part of Labour’s ‘Great Loosening.’ By abolishing Three Strikes, Andrew Little has told 2,500 of the country’s most violent criminals who have strike offences ‘have one on me.’ Even people who never supported Three Strikes think that’s nuts. Then there’s the first year free for students, but this weekend saw a new loosening from Carmel Sepuloni.

Latest Loosening

Ms Sepuloni now says that the Government won’t dock the welfare payments of beneficiaries who refuse to name the child’s other parent. This opens the taxpayer up to two kinds of behavior and we don’t know which one is worse: Deadbeat Dads get off Scott-free (who else is going to name them?). Meanwhile fraudsters get to claim maximum benefits while receiving under-the-table child support.

Lurching Left

This Government is so hard left that we are starting to miss the Clark/Key era. Lindsay Mitchell helpfully points out this 2004 exchange between ACT’s Heather Roy and then Labour welfare Minister Steve Maharey: Roy: “When will he admit that this is just a rort so that fathers can dodge child support, and why should taxpayers always have to pick up the bill?” Maharey: “It is a rort, and I have said time and time again in this Parliament that fathers must front up to their obligations, and we will make sure they do, as much as we can.” Today’s Labour caucus would expel Maharey for saying such things.

No Substance

It is not unkind to say Jacinda Ardern did nothing in her first nine years in parliament but it is inaccurate. While she never passed a valuable Private Members Bill, uncovered a major scandal or appeared to do much of anything in nine years, she worked hard on herself and her image.

Off to the Spin Doctor

Free Press has been approached by people astonished to see her reading papers at the airport that weren’t about the country’s future but hers. They appeared to be studies of herself through the eyes of the media. We’d be a lot better off right now if she’d read a bit about international relations.

Secure the Borders

You can’t win power in Australian politics without securing the borders. No Australian politician can give in to Ardern’s posturing on refugees without paying a heavy political price at home. Australian politicians know that giving into Ardern’s offer to take Australian refugees will do two things: One, encourage more to come in the hope they’ll be let into New Zealand and, Two, give the Manus Island detainees entry to Australia with New Zealand passports. They won’t back down because they can’t.

Not Actually Humane

If Ardern wants to help refugees she should adopt ACT’s Canada-inspired policy of allowing community groups to sponsor extra refugees above and beyond the taxpayer funded quota –if they pick up the bill. The Canadians find that private refugee programs perform better than Government ones (Free Press readers won’t be surprised). Her current alternative is just encouraging people to take dangerous boat journeys (and needlessly irritating our most important ally).

Me Too

The National Party has leapt to the defence of Partnership Schools. The help is welcome as the Schools are the best thing that the previous Government did. In fact, they form the only policy that an incoming ‘left wing’ Government can’t easily stomach. If David Seymour ever feels important enough to write political memoirs we’ll all know how extraordinary this turn of events is.