When I go on about free wifi, it’s not just some vague election promise. Someone mentioned that I should have put the reason behind the message on my first billboard, but the reasons are too plentiful. It’s not just about giving businesses and tourists the access they expect in a modern society. It’s also […]
Category: New Zealand
Posts relating to New Zealand.
Making free wifi pay—at no cost to ratepayers
With the first billboard going up in town, I’ve been asked about whether my free wifi programme will cost ratepayers. In a word, no. The wifi programme will be supported by selling the space on the home page. Upkeep of such a service, and I am looking at several alternatives, is in the […]
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Kiwi entrepreneurs launch Snapr to share mobile photos
My friend Edward Talbot, and his friend and business partner Rowan Wernham, launched their Snapr (sna.pr) service today. It’s the ideal way to share geotagged photographs in the 2010s, and I expect these guys to do some great things as Snapr takes off. Snapr was the only Kiwi (if not southern hemisphere) venture to […]
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Something to remember when voting in Wellington
Brenda Wallace is one of the smartest people I know. And when she Tweets, one should pay attention. The below is particularly instructive as we head into election season. You may also like How to come third in a mayoral election As the 2010s dawn, there’s a vacuum on the internet How well we engaged […]
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Connecting with you on Thursday
On Thursday, 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. at Meow, Edward Street, come along and have a chat—we’re doing a “meet the candidate” session. It’s not as formal as the fun evening we had at Soi—it’s a chance to come and pick my brain, and let me pick yours as we head into the real election season. […]
The trouserless journalist
As some of you know, I was at Cape Kidnappers last week, visiting the Napier area for the first time. (I tried getting there last October, but this was as far as I got.) It was for the Audi A8 launch, and we at the office had a good laugh at this lovely and […]
Getting Wellington out of debt—by growing the right businesses
In plain English, when a city is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt—depending on who you believe, the figure is between $200 million and $400 million—how do you get out of the hole? 1. You can sell the family jewels, and there’s water left. We tried this in the 1980s, and now so […]
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What we need from leaders in the new decade: creativity leads the list
My friend and colleague at the Medinge Group, Ava Hakim, passed on a few papers from her day job at IBM. The first is the latest edition of a biennial global CEO survey, while the second asks the next generation of leaders—Generation Y. The aim: to find out what these groups think about the challenges […]
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Let the Outrageous Fortune come
Almost any New Zealander will recognize this image: a cast photograph from the long-running TV series Outrageous Fortune. When I first heard of this show from Antonia Prebble, before she started filming, I have to admit I didn’t think the premise would see it last five years (and counting). But for New Zealand television […]
It’s time to consider open source
Certain media are reporting the city’s [debt] in the $200 million–$300 million mark but our outside-council research reveals this is a very conservative estimate. It’s likely to be more. Regardless of whether it’s $200 million or half an (American) billion (scary just saying it), any deficit that’s nine digits long can’t be good for […]