What Vodafone’s Super Wifi is really like in practice

While I saw Vodafone’s Super Wifi commercials, I never thought to act on them, since (mistakenly) I thought it was something to do with cellphones. Might have been the gadgets they used in the commercial.    But, after talking to Raghu, their sales’ rep in Pune, a city outside of Mumbai that I know well, […]

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Crunching the COVID-19 numbers for June 15

I hadn’t done one of these for a long time: take the number of COVID-19 cases and divide them by tests done. For most countries, the percentage is trending down, though there has been little movement in Sweden. I hadn’t included Brazil, Russia and India before, but as they are in the top part of […]

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Don’t group Chinese New Zealanders into one faceless bunch

Some visiting Australian friends have said that they are finding New Zealand politics as interesting as their own, although I don’t think this was meant as a compliment. Those of us in New Zealand had a few days of House of Cards-lite intrigue, in that it was stirred up by a conservative whip, in an […]

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What a great opportunity for New Zealand that lies before us

Above: When I refer to Hillary in the below blog post, I mean the self-professed ‘ordinary chap’ on our $5 note.   As the results of the US presidential election came in, I didn’t sense a panic. I actually sensed a great opportunity for New Zealand.    I’ve been critical of the obsession many of […]

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There can be only one, unless you forget to register your design: the Range Rover Evoque and the copycat Landwind X7

The stunning original: the Range Rover Evoque. There has been a lot of ongoing press about Landwind’s copy of the Range Rover Evoque (a road test of the Evoque comes next week in Lucire, incidentally), one of my favourite Sloane Ranger SUVs. There’s no way Landwind would have come up with the design independently, and, […]

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Read the report: Deloitte actually doesn’t blame migrants for increased corruption

Deloitte has published a report on the increasing corruption in Australia and New Zealand, which Fairfax’s Stuff website reported on today.    Its opening paragraph: ‘An increase in bribery and corruption tarnishing New Zealand’s ethical image may be due to an influx of migrants from countries where such practices are normal.’    The problem: I’m […]

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John Cleese is wrong about humour

Has John Cleese become embittered?    He suggests that the Bond films after Die Another Day (his second and final) were humourless because the producers wanted to pursue Asian audiences. Humour, he says, was out.    ‘Also the big money was coming from Asia, from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, where the audiences go to watch […]

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Joan Rivers had better facelifts, but it’s the future of the black cab

Part of me admires Nissan for going after the taxi market in a big way in New York and London.    Another part of me wonders why on earth the London Hackney Carriage solution is so ugly.    I think Nissan should have asked Mr Mitsuoka for advice on how to Anglicize one of its […]

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In praise of Zoho Mail

  Now that all of our email, bar a handful of client accounts, are going through the paid version of Zoho Mail, I couldn’t be happier.    When we shifted things over, my friend and web development expert, Nigel Dunn, suggested either Google or Zoho. He’s a big fan of Google, and I can see […]

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Autocade turns four, and it’s about to get its two millionth page view

It’s hard to believe but Autocade is four years old this month. In fact, its actual birthday was some time last week.    It’s been busy at work, so Autocade has received a little less attention in the last 12 months, though things were buoyed when Keith Adams (of AROnline) added a whole bunch of […]

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