Home in Iraq
New Zealand’s family-run Atconz Real Estate Development will spend $1 million on a housing development in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, near the regional capital Erbil. Plans for the “New Azadi” project call for the…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Digital industrialists
David ten Have, the 34-year-old CEO of Wellington company Ponoko features on the cover of Inc. Magazine, as part of an article called ‘The Future of Manufacturing’. “Ponoko did not invent the laser cutter….
Dances with fish
New Zealand marine biologist Sunil Kadri, co-founder of Optoswim Technologies, is the O2 X Male Entrepreneur of The Year, awarded in London for technology Kadri created to improve the production of farmed salmon, dubbed…
Flights of Fancy
Christchurch engineer Glenn Martin, inventor of the Martin Jetpack, recently offered a test flight of the machine on eBay at a starting bid of US$30,000 for six flights. The bidding was open to anyone…
Wireless lifesavers
Auckland University scientists have developed the technology to power a wireless heart pump which could eventually be an alternative to heart transplants. Scientists from the University’s Bioengineering Institute, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering…
Living with Fur
New Zealand researchers, including Professor Malcolm Sear of the University of Otago, have found those who lived with dogs and cats for significant periods of time were less likely to develop allergies, compared with…
Rescuing the Bumblebee
The short-haired bumblebee, Bombus subterraneus, was introduced to New Zealand from England between 1885 and 1906 to help pollinate crops. The bumblebee died out in the UK in 2000 because of loss of habitat and intensive…
Cheap shots for seats
Air New Zealand recently used social-networking site Twitter to seek opinion on a new Grab-a-seat campaign, which featured six advertisements poking fun at six local destinations. The 9000 followers of Grab-a-seat were asked to…
Out With the Old
Invercargill inventor Grant Ryan, 40, unveiled his YikeBike- an electric 10kg mini penny-farthing for the 21st century- at the Eurobike international trade show in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Daily Mail’s Paul Harris takes the bike…
Reef makers
Raglan-based marine consultants and artificial reef designers ASR Ltd are profiled in surf publication Drift magazine. Drift’s George Mojo talks to ASR principal Dr Kerry Black about reef-building and creating “surfable waves” without environmental…
Blumsky’s selling point
Former Wellington mayor, shoe salesman and business mentor Mark Blumsky has written a book promoting the secrets to success for small business owners: differentiation and attitude. Slippers: Service and Selling begins with an allegory…
Green, green grass
New Zealand dairy cooperative Fonterra’s “secret weapon is vast acres of clean grass.” “What we’re very good at in New Zealand is growing good, high-quality grass,” says area manager of Fonterra’s South Taranaki site Rod O’Beirne. “We…
Looking to the sun
New Zealand power company Meridian Energy Ltd has purchased a Californian-based solar power facility Cleantech America for $8.1 million enabling the electricity generator to explore the potential of solar power in New Zealand. “Hydro…
Robotic travel plans
Victoria University associate professor and tourism futurologist Dr Ian Yeoman predicts self-cleaning hotel rooms, sleep deprivation tablets to fight off sightseeing fatigue, robot prostitution and hotel rooms so clever they’ll be able to detect moods and change…
Easy in the back paddocks
Fielding farmer David Short has invented a battery-powered shearing handpiece that can be used in the yards or paddocks, and for minimal cost. Short has spent four years perfecting the design and now the…
Sidhe’s smashing game
Wellington-based game production studio Sidhe Interactive has launched its self-published title Shatter onto the Playstation Network, a game which combines classic brick-breaking with the latest effects and a fully scored soundtrack by Wellington multi-instrumentalist…
Flying Doctors
New Zealand hospitals and medical clinics are attracting American doctors hoping to find “adventure, fulfillment” and a change. Kathryn T. Starkey, MD, a gynecologist in a two-physician practice in Auburn, N.Y., liked providing medical…
Extolling winged virtues
A New Zealand manufactured turbine-powered bush plane, the P750 XSTOL is being promoted in Alaska by a Californian dealer who says the aircraft rivals the traditional Cessna turbine aircraft for travel in the American…
Eblack strummer wins
New Zealander Mason Maddox or “massi4h”, a member of the 2009 eBlacks team, has won a gold medal at the World Cyber Games Asian Championship in Singapore. Maddox won gold competing on the Xbox…
Supernova discovery
Oxford dairy farmer Stuart Parker, 37, had been scanning the North Canterbury skies through his telescope for 15 years searching for a supernova before finally coming across one – now named SN2009GJ – on…
Jet back to Oshkosh
Christchurch inventor Glenn Martin, 49, will make another appearance, albeit without his Martin Jetpack, at this year’s EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to report on the progress of his personal flying machine, to give…
On the rocks
Minus5 creator Craig Ling has opened another ice bar, this time in Stillwater, Minnesota. “Patrons looking for something really cool will now be able to don a parka and gloves and step into an…
Front row seat for Kirk
Former Fairfax boss and All Black great David Kirk is the newly appointed executive chairman of the Pacific Equity Partners-owned Hoyts cinema group. The move, which will also see Kirk invest his own money…
Sting in UK market
Family-owned business Nelson Honey is seeking approval to market its bee venom honey in Britain, claiming the product alleviates the symptoms of arthritis. Britain’s Food Safety Authority has to approve the marketing of any…
Hell has no borders
New Zealand fastfood chain Hell Pizza will open 30 franchises throughout Ireland by 2016. The first Hell’s Pizza was launched in Dublin earlier this year, which made Ireland the fifth country to open a…
Currant discovery
A recent study lead by Roger Hurst of the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research (NZIPFR), has discovered that blackcurrant extract improves athletic performance. The findings, which were published in the American…
Oaks from iPods
New Zealanders John and Sarah Lewis, directors of London-based company AcornHQ, are encouraging iPhone and iPod owners to offset carbon emissions associated with the devices by making a small donation to an oak…
Gene Predictions
University of Auckland researchers have developed the world’s first test to measure the risk for individual smokers and ex-smokers of developing lung cancer with a simple mouth swab, trade named Respiragene. The test combines…
Investing in Breath
Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd is offering investors shares in Onslow Carbon Forest, an established Douglas-fir forest east of the township of Roxburgh for $25,000 allowing investors the potential to earn carbon credits, and…
Investing in New Zealand
A number of New Zealand companies are seeking alliances with the Silicon Valley’s tech investors and entrepreneurs in an effort to grow and extend their reach into world markets. “Everyone realises the best thinking…
Good as gold
Zespri is encouraging Malaysians to eat two kiwifruit a day in a six-month campaign dubbed ‘Extreme Nutrition, Extreme Vitality’. In its promotional flyer, Zespri claims that kiwifruit has immune-boosting qualities; it contains twice the…
Awards for inspiration
New Zealand retailer Michael Hill was one of 50 finalists in the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year awards held in Monte Carlo. Last year in New Zealand, judging panel chairman David…
Whiteware deal
Fisher & Paykel has signed a US$50 million deal with Chinese appliance maker Haier, which will see the Qingdao-based manufacturer take a 20 per cent stake in the New Zealand company. Haier has signed…
Safe appointment
New Zealand-born businessman, David Thodey, 54, has been appointed the new chief executive of Australia’s Telstra Corporation, taking over the role from controversial out-going head, Solomon Trujillo. Thodey, who has been with Telstra since…
Something to be said
“What’s curious about the relative health of the New Zealand banking system is that it’s dominated by four big Australian banks,” writes The New Yorker’s James Surowiecki. “This seems to complicate the oft-floated argument…
Island fortunes
Fifty-four-year-old Aucklander Graeme Hart is the wealthiest man in Australasia with an estimated net worth of $4.7 billion. For the first time since Forbes Asia started keeping track of global fortunes, a New Zealander…
Influenza Expert
New Zealand virologist Richard Webby has provided an expert perspective on the swine flu outbreak. Now based in Memphis at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Webby is the head of a WHO Collaborating Centre…
Webby Award Success
Wellington-based online accounting software provider Xero and Auckland-based mobile advertising agency The Hyperfactory won eight awards at the 13th Annual Webby Awards in New York. The Hyperfactory dominated the mobile advertising category with six…
Mothers make green
Ecostore founder Malcolm Rands has been touring American hypermarket chain Meijer promoting his environmentally friendly household cleaning products, the stores the exclusive retailer of his products. A well-known environmentalist in New Zealand, Rands is…
Merino magic
For the fourth year running South Canterbury merino farmers Barrie and Yvonne Payne, owners of Visulea Farm in Maungati, have won the Loro Piana Record Bale Award for the highest price paid for a…
Space traveller
Gisborne-born aeronautic engineer Lester Waugh has been presented with a New Zealand flag which has traveled 216 times around the earth in the space shuttle Discovery. The gift from Nasa was a “rare honour”,…
Up in the Trees
New Zealand directory company Yellow has built a Tree House Restaurant using only resources listed in its books. The restaurant, described by Lucy Gauntlett of the Los Angeles Times as “a graceful pod that…
All that Jazz
The rapid growth of New Zealand’s premium new apple variety Jazz has reached another milestone this year with over 1.2 million cartons of apples forecast to be exported in 2009. Revered for its outstanding…
Purple potato on the gravy train
Plant and Food Research, New Zealand’s sole potato breeder, has developed a new purple skinned potato as one of 16 new cultivars bred by the company. Purple Heart, as the potato is called, is…
Reigniting the value of wool
As Chair of Wool Partners International, Theresa Gattung is at the forefront of a campaign to reignite the value of one of New Zealand’s oldest export commodities on the world stage. Gattung…
Sailing into the US
New Zealand global procurement company Unimarket is in the process of finalising a move to Annapolis, Maryland in the United States, where it plans to hire 100 new employees by 2011. Founder and chief…
Making more milk
New Zealand scientists at AgResearch have discovered some keys to dramatically increasing milk production in the country’s cows. Researchers investigated the potential of epigenetic regulation, or changes in gene expression caused by chemical changes…
Universal access
High-speed broadband Internet access is coming to over three quarters of the country over the next decade, in a 3 billion dollar project jointly funded by the private and public sectors. “This model aims…
Rating a medical return
American Doctor Jackie Underwood seems to prefer the American medical system, after spending a year spent practicing at a rural New Zealand hospital. Having recently returned to her home in Newark New Jersey, Underwood…
Money in bank
Billionaire investor and philanthropist Richard Chandler, who heads Singapore-based investment fund Orient Global, has bought a 3 per cent stake in Russian commercial bank Sberbank for $430 million, reports The Guardian. Chandler’s Sovereign Global…
Hot competition
Blenheim-based company Carbonscape — one of only five companies to make the shortlist in the Financial Times global Climate Change Challenge — makes charcoal from biomass for the sequestration of carbon using industrial microwaves….
Electric Rules
“In New Zealand, an idea has been floated to convert up to 60 per cent of the country’s automobile fleet to electric vehicles, which would be e charged with wind power,” writes daily trade…
A bright future
23 March 2009 – New Zealand was breaking its own records for renewable energy production in the final quarter of 2008, creating 74 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Boosted by full lakes,…
Scaling nature
New Zealander Paul McCathie is a former arborist who in 2005 founded Goodleaf Tree Climbing Adventures on the Isle Of Wight. McCathie “works with only one tree, a 60ft ancient oak, and in two…
Link Rethink
A Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences study has found that alcohol abuse may increase the risk of depression, instead of the other way around as was previously thought. This new study included…
A personal charm
Hermann Seifried was laughed at when he arrived on the South Island 40 years ago, looking to make wine. Today, he is the proud owner of an outstanding winery, and the father of an…
