Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Nov 28, 2017 - If your organisation is struggling to clear backlogs of integration projects, increase time to value and overcome resource and skills constraints, you’re not alone Eric Thoo, research director at Gartner (Computerworld) writes. The need to connect applications, systems, endpoints and users in complex, multi-organisation ecosystems is growing. This is forcing integration to become pervasive, which is a critical but complex competency that’s now foundational to enabling digital business transformation. Application leaders responsible for integration are having to empower almost every member of their organisation to make this new reality happen.
If your organisation is struggling to clear backlogs of integration projects, increase time to value and overcome resource and skills constraints, you’re not alone. Making pervasive integration capabilities adaptable, at scale and extensive, compels integration teams to seek new ways of accomplishing more with less. As the number of integration technologies continues to expand, making independently designed applications and data structures work together remains a complex challenge for enterprises.
If you’re seeking simpler ways to integrate applications into the enterprise, consider introducing integration platforms armed with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
| AI-enabled integrationSeveral integration technology providers have already AI-enabled their platforms to simplify the development of integration flows, shorten the learning curve, lower skills requirements and assist in the execution of integration processes.
Some targeted, early business benefits of using AI in integration include:
At this early stage, AI in integration platforms is beginning to bring together diverse, commonly required integration functionality. Some iPaaS providers – such as Dell Boomi's Boomi Suggest, Informatica's CLAIRE, SnapLogic's Iris Artificial Intelligence and Workato's Workbot – take advantage of their "integration eye in the sky" on cloud-native platforms and offer AI-enabled recommendations for integration development approaches based on collective patterns.
| Build recommendation enginesA prominent use of AI at present is to enable business roles to perform integration. This is provided through metadata sharing and analysis to build recommendation engines that automate the integration process.
Embedded in integration platforms, recommendation engines have the ability to use graph and cluster analyses on data usage characteristics. This is done by analysing things such as the frequency of data access by data type (how data is stored – via relational, object, document and other structures); the affinity of service components (which data is put together into query objects or mined to create query objects); and the identification of user credentials and job roles involved.
| Emergence of digital integrator technologiesAI techniques applied to integration are emerging as digital integrator technologies — that is, innovations that set out to facilitate the resolution of complex integration problems, including challenges of a scale that would not be addressable by conventional approaches.
Some functional characteristics of digital integrator technologies, such as making recommendations to improve the performance of your integration flow execution, are visible to integration developers. While others, such as helping integration tooling optimise its platform operations, are invisible to developers. These evolving innovations have far-reaching implications in terms of achieving the key dimensions of pervasive integration.
With AI-guided recommendation engines that use machine learning and inference algorithms to deliver step-by-step guidance, building data pipelines and application flows will ideally become an increasingly intuitive effort. This guidance allows diverse personas to use the recommendations of the AI engine to automate highly repetitive integration tasks, which expedites the clearance of integration backlogs that currently worry integration teams.
As the need to use diverse endpoints, deployment models and various integration patterns increases, the integration pipelines inferred by AI engines with access to discovered metadata, tagging and inferred analysis, can provide lessons to streamline and suggest which options to use when integrating applications and data.
This use of AI inside integration software potentially shortens the learning curve of both specialist and less technical integrators to manage data and business flows. This enables an extensive range of roles to perform integration tasks to pervasively address needs.
The use of AI techniques to power integration platforms and complement human capability is on the rise. Plan now for investigating, developing or further extending your integration competencies and technologies to engage in connected infrastructures and systems by including AI as part of your integration strategies and infrastructure.
Eric Thoo is a research director at Gartner, advising clients on data integration practices and technologies. He will speak about data integration strategy at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in Sydney on 26-27 February 2018.
| A Gartner release || November 28, 2017 ||
Nov 28, 2017 - ProductPromo - Emergency services in New Zealand can now tap into some of the world’s best signalling devices, light bars, warning and mass notification systems. That’s because NARVA has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of Federal Signal products for NZ
Federal Signal is extremely well regarded worldwide as a brand of choice for emergency services applications, with the bulk of the range designed and manufactured in the United States.NARVA NZ National Sales Manager, Tim Paterson, says the new partnership increases NARVA’s ability to target opportunities within the ‘red and blue’ Police, Fire, Ambulance Services and related markets, by offering a wider range of high quality products.
“NARVA has a strong existing range of emergency service lighting but now has a well-established, full range of red and blue products to realise the potential in New Zealand,” says Mr Paterson.“The addition of the Federal Signal product line-up provides us with access to a wide selection of market-leading products that enjoy a premium standing amongst emergency service bodies. With these new products on hand, NARVA is now in a much stronger position to take advantage of the opportunities as well as to provide a quality support network to our emergency service customers.”
Federal Signal is best known for its powerful police vehicle-mounted lightbars, along with siren and speaker systems that produce clear, sharp sound to boost safety on the road. It recently added body cameras to this line-up.
There are also lightbars and sirens specifically designed for ambulances and fire appliances, plus a range of warning lights and signalling devices for civil contracting and local authority vehicles.Mr Paterson says the wider availability of Federal Signal products in New Zealand, coupled with backing from NARVA, will greatly assist the brand achieve strong penetration into the local market.
“With NARVA on board there’s the strong stability and industry know-how to properly promote the Federal Signal brand, allowing it to meet its full potential here.”
| A NARVA release || November 28, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 -TBWA Group division Eleven PR has been appointed to launch the iconic Krispy Kreme doughnut brand in New Zealand. The expected opening of Krispy Kreme’s retail and manufacturing plant in Manukau is due in early 2018 and construction of its retail store and manufacturing facility is already underway.
Sydney-based Krispy Kreme chief executive Andrew McGuigan says he is excited by the venture and the company’s entry into New Zealand. “It’s a fantastic brand and one that has been around for 80 years.
“Krispy Kreme will be one of the many Transtasman brands we manage with Eleven PR Australia.”
“It’s an icon that’s already strong globally and we believe there’s huge opportunity for Krispy Kreme to become a Kiwi favourite.”
Eleven MD Angelina Farry said, ‘We are excited to be working with the Krispy Kreme team to bring this iconic brand to New Zealand. It’s a unique brand built on both community and fun.
“Krispy Kreme will be one of the many Transtasman brands we manage with Eleven PR Australia.
“More and more we are finding marketing teams with brands based in both Australia and NZ benefit from the streamlined, Disruption Live approach our model provides.”
| A krispy creme release || November 28, 2017 |||
Nov 28, 2017 - Minister for Trade and Export Growth David Parker welcomed United Kingdom Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox today in Wellington. “Secretary Fox and I have had an opportunity to discuss a range of issues of shared interest and to reflect on the areas of our bilateral trade relationship where we may be able to do more” says Mr Parker.
Minister Parker and Secretary Fox expressed commitment to maintaining maximum certainty and stability in bilateral trade and investment conditions as the UK prepares to leave the EU. This would include a seamless transition of the regulations governing bilateral trade and ensuring New Zealand will not be worse off in its access to the UK market as a result of the UK exiting the EU.
“The United Kingdom and New Zealand have a long-standing, deep and close relationship that is grounded in our shared history, values, institutions, and traditions.
“We are close trading partners, and maintain an ongoing dialogue to discuss trade issues, including the implications of Brexit for our existing and future trade and economic relationship” says Mr Parker.
Secretary Fox and Minister Parker discussed working closely together to identify new opportunities to advance the bilateral trade and economic relationship, including laying foundations to progress towards a comprehensive, modern, high quality free trade agreement once the UK has left the EU.
They also discussed respective approaches to ensuring all citizens share in the benefits from international trade, including by promoting regional development and providing opportunities for businesses of all sizes.
The United Kingdom is New Zealand’s fifth largest trading partner (goods and services combined), and sixth largest export market for merchandise goods.
Link to Joint Statement https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/Trade/UK-NZ-Trade-Joint-Statement.pdf
| A Beehive release || November 27, 2017 |||
Nov 27, 2017 - Blockchain project TravelChain today announced that for their token sale they are not going to use the Ethereum smart contract, which they have posted earlier on GitHub. The token sale is going to be on their graphene-based blockchain and going to start on December 10. TravelChain is a breakthrough in the travel industry and is the core of the SmartTraveling Ecosystem which is going to provide reliable tools for developers willing to create services that meet demands of contemporary leisure travelers.
“Data is the “oil” of the 21st century, but in most cases, it circulates within corporate systems and cannot be used by other companies to create innovative services. We are looking to bring fourth digital revolution in the travel industry using blockchain.” said TravelChain co-founder and CEO Ilya Orlov. “We designed TravelChain to bridge the gap between all stakeholders in the travel industry and incentivize the consumers. Travelution is coming”
| About TravelChain
TravelChain is a decentralized data exchange platform for the travel industry. It is globally scalable data storage infrastructure, secure by its design.
Graphene-based blockchain allows us to make the public information available for every part of the system, while private information is safely encrypted and stored with just the mark about the type of the information inside. Individual users (private or corporate entities) own the keys to their data in order to control secure storage or distributing/selling their data in real time.
A key component of TravelChain is Traveler Passport, a model with distributed trust that allows you to form an image of another person without being acquainted personally. When dealing with unknown people, it is difficult to predict their actions. However, this is critical when it comes to money, private property, and health.
Key features of Traveler Passport:
| MARKET OVERVIEW
Data market is currently not monetized outside of advertising space. Alphabet (Google, YouTube), Facebook, AirBnB, Amadeus and other services barely reach outside base advertising products and services to individuals.
TravelChain provides different models, enabling data sharing among individuals and business on equal terms.
Target for consumers: To make profit from sharing their data, to get the best deals and offers from businesses and an ability to make the C2C escrow deals.
Target for businesses: Information about potential customers, big data for better market analysis, immediate feedback from customers about goods and services and an ability to provide the best possible conditions for any customer. Access to the TravelChain ecosystem data can significantly reduce marketing costs of business.
| TravelToken sale
Travel chain is going for its token sale on 10th December 2017, and it’ll last for up to two month. Limited part of tokens is going to be out there with 15% bonus. The value of 1 TravelToken is going to be around 0,0000016 BTC (26.11.17 rate). In total 693 000 000 tokens shall be released during the TokenSale. For more information, you can check out the travel chain whitepaper https://travelchain.io/files/TravelChain.WhitePaper(ENG).pdf
| A NEWSBTC release || November 27, 2017 |||
Nov 24, 2017 - If you work with machine tools such as turning centers, 5-axis CNC mills, or grinding machines, you probably have some preconceptions about the quality of different machine tool manufacturers. Who makes a more accurate machine: Germany or Japan? Across the globe, whether it’s automobiles, electronics or industrial machine tools, some nations have a reputation for quality, precision and durability. Of course, generalizations aren’t always correct. A quick look around your home or office will inevitably turn up products stamped with “MADE IN TAIWAN.” But this doesn’t mean smallwares, cheap electronics and toys are all Taiwan is capable of manufacturing. When ENGINEERING.com made a visit to several major machine tool manufacturers headquartered in Taichung, Taiwan, what we found was careful engineering and precision manufacturing of machine tools.
For example, we spoke to YCM about their process for stress-relieving their castings over the course of several months to ensure better machine accuracy. Yet for all the high-caliber machine tool manufacturing happening in Taiwan, is anyone taking notice?About Goodway Machine Corporation
Goodway Machine Corporation manufactures multiaxis vertical and horizontal turning centers as well as specialty equipment for Swiss turning, wheel turning, tapping and cylindrical grinding. The firm builds equipment in Taiwan but is expanding its manufacturing in both Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.
The company’s component assembly facility is over 200,000 sqft. of production space located in Taichung, Taiwan, which also hosts a Goodway turning center plant of 208,000 sqft.
In Wujiang, Jiang-Su Province on the mainland, Goodway operates a 720,000 sqft turning center plant and is currently building a new facility in Chiayi Taiwan that will include over million square feet of production space. All of Goodway’s production operates under ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification.
Watch the video above for an inside look at this massive manufacturing operation.
| Source: Engineering.com || November 24, 2017 |||
Nov 24, 2017 - SafePlus, a new Government developed and endorsed health and safety toolkit, is now available to all New Zealand businesses, and is set to help lift the health and safety performance in workplaces across the country. SafePlus currently consists of three products: Resources and Guidance, the market-delivered Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service and the Online Self-Assessment tool.
Malcolm MacMillan, SafePlus Programme Manager says, "New Zealand has an unnecessarily high rate of serious workplace accidents. The social and economic cost of this in New Zealand workplaces is conservatively estimated at $3.5 billion each year, and inflicts an enormous emotional toll on the people affected. We need a change in our workplace health and safety culture and SafePlus provides an important toolkit to achieve that change.
"SafePlus digs deep into a business to assess workers practices, behaviours, attitudes and culture towards health and safety, this behavioural approach helps them identify opportunities and strive for excellence."
The launch of the Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service includes the SafePlus Register of Independent Accredited Assessors so businesses will now be able to directly engage with assessors. The Accredited Assessors have been trained to deliver SafePlus and carry sector specific and generalist experience. This public register can be found at www.safeplus.nz
Mr MacMillan says, "SafePlus Accredited Assessors are an essential component of the SafePlus initiative. The services they provide during an Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service will change the way businesses view their health and safety in the workplace.
"Accredited Assessors use an approach that focuses on the people and their practices rather than written policies and procedures. They engage at all levels of a business, from senior leaders to front line workers, then use these insights to measure a business’s health and safety performance, and provide them with advice and guidance."
SafePlus is a voluntary performance improvement toolkit that defines what good health and safety looks like in the workplace, and sits above minimum legal compliance. It is a joint harm prevention initiative developed by WorkSafe New Zealand, ACC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
SafePlus has been developed in direct response to the Independent Taskforce into Health and Safety, and the Working Safer Reforms. Working Safer is aimed at reducing New Zealand’s workplace injury and death toll by 25 per cent by 2020. The Act’s key emphasis is on everyone in the workplace being responsible for health and safety.
For more information visit safeplus.nz
Nov 24, 2017 - The investment group will grow the niche export apple brand Rockit, which is a mini-apple under licence by Rockit Global. One of the Rockit Global's challenges has been growing enough apples to meet global demand despite production lifting 40 per cent on last year. In spite of higher numbers, the crop sold out several months earlier than last year and delivered a price increase to growers.
The miniature snack apples, sold in a plastic tube, are grown under license in nine countries and sold in airports, sports stadiums, and in cafes in 29 countries. MyFarm chief executive, Andrew Watters said it had worked closely with Rockit Global to create a one-off opportunity for New Zealanders to share in its apple success story. He said Rākete Orchards Limited Partnership would lease and fund the planting of 55 hectares across four orchard blocks in the Heretaunga Plains of Hawke's Bay. This would be the only new planting of Rockit apple trees in New Zealand next year. Rockit Global would provide the Rockit apple trees, orchard management services, packing and storing and markets and sell the apples offshore. The Rākete Orchards lease model, with a term of 18 years plus two rights of renewal of five years each, suited the production of the trade marked apple which had a further 22 years to run under its plant variety rights, Watters said. MyFarm is forecasting that the partnership would generate a higher return than the "darling" of New Zealand horticulture, Gold3 Kiwifruit.
Watters said investors were forecasted to receive the value of their original investment back within seven years.
"It's a stunning product and an outstanding, unusual investment opportunity. Rockit has cleverly marketed its niche as a sweet crisp, small apple perfect for snacking and then carefully controlled its licensing and supply." Applications for the partnership offer for 1300 parcels of $10,000 closes on December 15.
Watters said investors had previously responded swiftly to opportunities to access returns from the pip fruit industry.
"MyFarm's $3.6 million capital raise to purchase a Hawkes Bay apple orchard in July was fully subscribed within one week of issue."
The company is a specialist syndication business providing land-based investment opportunities in dairy farms, sheep and beef farms, the horticulture sector and rural commercial property. It has more than $500 million of rural assets under management.
| Source: FreshPlaza || November 24, 2017 |||
Nov 23, 2017 - New composite material made of carbon nanotubes. Due to their unique properties, carbon nanotubes would be ideal for numerous applications, but to date they cannot be combined adequately with other materials, or they lose their beneficial properties. Scientists have developed an alternative method of combining, so they retain their characteristic properties. As such, they 'felt' the thread-like tubes into a stable 3-D network.
| FULL STORYIn this simple procedure, water is mixed with the carbon nano tubes and dripped into a white ceramic material which is highly porous. Like a sponge, it sucks up the black liquid. If the ceramic scaffolding is chemically etched out, only the fine felted coat remains. The felt made of tiny tubes has thereby interconnected to form a network of larger tubes. The hollow spaces can be filled with polymers, to create a conductive and tear-resistant composite material.Credit: Fabian Schuett
Extremely lightweight, electrically highly conductive, and more stable than steel: due to their unique properties, carbon nanotubes would be ideal for numerous applications, from ultra-lightweight batteries to high-performance plastics, right through to medical implants. However, to date it has been difficult for science and industry to transfer the extraordinary characteristics at the nano-scale into a functional industrial application. The carbon nanotubes either cannot be combined adequately with other materials, or if they can be combined, they then lose their beneficial properties. Scientists from the Functional Nanomaterials working group at Kiel University (CAU) and the University of Trento have now developed an alternative method, with which the tiny tubes can be combined with other materials, so that they retain their characteristic properties. As such, they "felt" the thread-like tubes into a stable 3D network that is able to withstand extreme forces. The research results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Industry and science have been intensively researching the significantly less than one hundred nanometre wide carbon tubes (carbon nanotubes, CNTs), in order to make use of the extraordinary properties of rolled graphene. Yet much still remains just theory. "Although carbon nanotubes are flexible like fibre strands, they are also very sensitive to changes," explained Professor Rainer Adelung, head of the Functional Nanomaterials working group at the CAU. "With previous attempts to chemically connect them with other materials, their molecular structure also changed. This, however, made their properties deteriorate -- mostly drastically."
In contrast, the approach of the research team from Kiel and Trento is based on a simple wet chemical infiltration process. The CNTs are mixed with water and dripped into an extremely porous ceramic material made of zinc oxide, which absorbs the liquid like a sponge. The dripped thread-like CNTs attach themselves to the ceramic scaffolding, and automatically form a stable layer together, similar to a felt. The ceramic scaffolding is coated with nanotubes, so to speak. This has fascinating effects, both for the scaffolding as well as for the coating of nanotubes.
On the one hand, the stability of the ceramic scaffold increases so massively that it can bear 100,000 times its own weight. "With the CNT coating, the ceramic material can hold around 7.5kg, and without it just 50g -- as if we had fitted it with a close-fitting pullover made of carbon nanotubes, which provide mechanical support," summarised first author Fabian Schütt. "The pressure on the material is absorbed by the tensile strength of the CNT felt. Compressive forces are transformed into tensile forces."
The principle behind this is comparable with bamboo buildings, such as those widespread in Asia. Here, bamboo stems are bound so tightly with a simple rope that the lightweight material can form extremely stable scaffolding, and even entire buildings. "We do the same at the nano-scale with the CNT threads, which wrap themselves around the ceramic material -- only much, much smaller," said Helge Krüger, co-author of the publication.
The materials scientists were able to demonstrate another major advantage of their process. In a second step, they dissolved the ceramic scaffolding by using a chemical etching process. All that remains is a fine 3D network of tubes, each of which consists of a layer of tiny CNT tubes. In this way, the researchers were able to greatly increase the felt surface, and thus create more opportunities for reactions. "We basically pack the surface of an entire beach volleyball field into a one centimetre cube," explained Schütt. The huge hollow spaces inside the three-dimensional structure can then be filled with a polymer. As such, CNTs can be connected mechanically with plastics, without their molecular structure -- and thus their properties -- being modified. "We can specifically arrange the CNTs and manufacture an electrically conductive composite material. To do so only requires a fraction of the usual quantity of CNTs, in order to achieve the same conductivity," said Schütt.
Applications for use range from battery and filter technology as a filling material for conductive plastics, implants for regenerative medicine, right through to sensors and electronic components at the nano-scale. The good electrical conductivity of the tear-resistant material could in future also be interesting for flexible electronics applications, in functional clothing or in the field of medical technology, for example. "Creating a plastic which, for example, stimulates bone or heart cells to grow is conceivable," said Adelung. Due to its simplicity, the scientists agree that the process could also be transferred to network structures made of other nanomaterials -- which will further expand the range of possible applications.
| Story Source:
Materials provided by Kiel University. || November 23, 2017 |||
Nov 21, 2017 - Robots are now being developed to sort household recyclables and differentiate between construction wastes. What will this mean for the human workers? Matt Clay in Waste Management World writes about the increasing presence of robots in industry, in particular recyclables and waste, that robots once suitable for only niche applications, are now being developed that can sort household recyclables and differentiate between construction wastes. What will this mean for the human workers? Does it mean the start of robot revolution? How accurate is the technology?
British pre-eminent scientist Prof Stephen Hawking once warned that the “development of full artificial intelligence (AI) could spell the end of the human race”. While we are many years away from AI taking over from humans in true Terminator fashion, technology has changed how we interact.
The rise of smart phones and apps have meant that electronic devices have become an extension of the body; a high tech major organ of communication. Being without it, for many, leads to what is now being called ‘nomophobia’ – the fear of being without your mobile phone.
While devices are becoming more integrated in our daily lives, one industry that perhaps hasn’t seen technological development as fast as others is waste management. Many material recovery facilities (MRFs) do contain teams of near infrared (NIR) advanced machines sorting through waste streams at a lighting pace. Yet, teams of waste pickers – people stood in lines working long and hard hours – still remain to provide final quality control; humans are still key to the operation.
| Continue here to read the full article in Waste Management World magazine || November 21, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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