Social networking is bound to change in 2014 as some of the main services out there have jumped the shark. You may say they jumped them ages ago, but the lack of innovation inside Facebook and its subsidiaries is beginning to hurt them. After having campaigned for six months for the Wellington mayoralty, […]
Tag: innovation
Campaign update: videos three to five
I have been posting these on the videos’ page as they became public, but maybe I should have added them to this blog, too, for those of you following on RSS. The multilingual one seems to have had a lot of hits. They have been directed by Isaac Cleland, with Khadeeja Dean on sound. Lawrance […]
Cities are, or at least should be, driving globalization
My friend and colleague William Shepherd directed me to a piece at Quartz by Michele Acuto and Parag Khanna, on how cities are driving globalization more than nations—a theme I touched upon on this blog in March 2010. As he said, I had called it three years ago, though admittedly Acuto and Khanna have […]
Read More… from Cities are, or at least should be, driving globalization
Staying a step ahead: the economic benefit of gimmicks
Wifi on the waterfront is now a normal part of Wellington life—but in 2009 some felt it was a gimmick. When I proposed free wifi as a campaign policy in 2009, it was seen as gimmicky by some. I wasn’t a serious candidate, some thought. But those ideas that have demand, such as wifi, have […]
Read More… from Staying a step ahead: the economic benefit of gimmicks
When it comes to convention centres, it pays to think ahead
The New Zealand International Convention Centre has been announced in Auckland. In 2010, my campaign team proposed a convention centre for Miramar Wharf, which would include a technology complex, in a format that could have been licensed to other countries, earning royalties for the Wellington business that came up with the idea. The location was […]
Read More… from When it comes to convention centres, it pays to think ahead
Wellington isn’t ‘dying’, but we’re going to have to prove our mettle
That didn’t take long, John. I know, the economic statistics aren’t pleasant. Wellington’s economy is stagnant and our population growth lags behind Auckland’s and Christchurch’s. I did predict this in 2010. The difference is that I don’t give up on us quite so quickly. I don’t think political leaders should. […]
Read More… from Wellington isn’t ‘dying’, but we’re going to have to prove our mettle
Big doesn’t necessarily mean right
Long before Google started pissing me off with its various funny acts (such as spying on users without their consent), it released a program called Google Earth. I installed it in July 2009 on my laptop, and decided to feed in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009, just to see how it had rendered […]
It’s official today: I am running for Mayor of Wellington again
It’s probably the worst-kept secret among some of the political circles, but I am running for Mayor of Wellington. Wellington is a world-class city, with generous, creative, industrious, innovative and independent people who punch above their weight. And it’s time, I believe, for some leadership and some 21st-century thinking, to bring the right people […]
Read More… from It’s official today: I am running for Mayor of Wellington again
Thinking to the future as Lucire turns 15
I’ve written so many editorials about Lucire’s history for our various anniversaries that now we’ve turned 15, I feel like I’d just be going over old ground. Again. I’d do it maybe for the 20th or 21st, but the story has been told online and in print many times. But 15 is a bit […]
Small is beautiful, whether it’s a company or a country
My friend Summer Rayne Oakes at Source4Style put me on to an article in The Guardian by Ilaria Pasquinelli, on how small firms drive innovation. If the fashion industry is to survive, she says, it must team up with the small players where innovation takes place, thanks to the visionaries who drive those firms. […]
Read More… from Small is beautiful, whether it’s a company or a country