by JAK | Jun 9, 2015 | general business, industry futures
Much to the surprise of IT folks the tax department in NZ has decided to pick a little known IT firm in Colorado to replace the current tax system. The NZherald reports US firm wins contract in $1b IRD project “The Inland Revenue Department has selected Fast...
by JAK | Jun 2, 2015 | culture, video
Back when I was a teenager in rural New Zealand I voraciously read the novels of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. I started with One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, The First Circle and Cancer Ward. In a 1970’s world we were still concerned with the Soviet Union and...
by JAK | May 30, 2015 | big ideas, industry futures, video
At TEDxAuckland 2015 -two of the most outstanding talks were about health issues. Prof Grant Schofield spoke about putting the public into public health, and Dr Hong Sheng Chiong on Fighting blindness with $20 and a smart phone Grant told a story about a diabetes...
by JAK | May 21, 2015 | culture, industry futures
The short answer is no. A news story this week 5 Banks to Pay Billions and Plead Guilty in Currency and Interest Rate Cases “Adding another entry to Wall Street’s growing rap sheet, five big banks have agreed to pay about $5.6 billion and plead guilty to...
by JAK | May 12, 2015 | big ideas, industry futures, video
It has been just over a week since the Tesla Powerwall battery was announced by Elon Musk. As he mentioned this represents a fundamental transformation in the way that energy is used in the home and in businesses. What the Powerwall battery enables is a way to bridges...
by JAK | May 8, 2015 | general business, industry futures
Buried away in a story on substandard concrete being supplied to 70 sites in Auckland are a few clues that the building industry sector is heading for another disaster. New Zealand’s largest publicly listed company Fletchers via their subsidiary Firth is being...
by JAK | May 6, 2015 | big ideas, development, industry futures, video
A few days ago Tesla solved one of the bigger problems for renewable energy – low cost storage. “Tesla’s home battery, named “Powerwall,” is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that mounts on the wall and comes in 7 kilowatt-hour or 10 kilowatt-hour...
by JAK | May 3, 2015 | big ideas, TEDx
TEDxAuckland 2015 #TEDxAkl was most excellent yesterday. Sixteeen speakers, live music, great coffee and 2000 or so attendees all along for the ideas adventure. wow just wow #tedxakl was mindblowing and amazing and all things wonderful!! — @vivsternz@mastodon.nz...
by JAK | Apr 13, 2015 | big ideas, industry futures, TED, video
Back in the early 90’s I read a book called ‘Maverick’ by Ricardo Semler. In it he tells the story of of how the hyperinflation of Brazil opened his eyes to a radical re-thinking of the way that companies worked. The story told in the Maverick book...
by JAK | Apr 9, 2015 | big ideas, culture, TEDx
Back in 1810 on May 3rd Lord Byron swam across the Darnadelles Straits apparently inspired by the legend of Hero and Leander where Hero swims across each night to be with his lover on the other side. In 1979 Sir Bob Harvey ( TEdxAuckland 2015 speaker) did that swim...
