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Air New Zealand has teamed up with American actors Katie Holmes and Cuba Gooding Jr. for its latest safety video A Fantastical Journey. The video is an Alice in Wonderland inspired adventure featuring a number of iconic locations throughout New Zealand including the Southern Alps, Otago – including Dunedin and the Moeraki Boulders, the Conway River in Canterbury, Wellington, Mt Taranaki, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel, Tolaga Bay north of Gisborne, White Island and the Auckland Harbour Bridge. New Zealand singer and songwriter Gin Wigmore has also recorded her own unique version of the song ‘My Little Corner of the World’ as the backing track for A Fantastical Journey. Katie Holmes says it’s been fun working alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and the Air New Zealand crew to produce A Fantastical Journey. “I was really excited to be a part of this project – the safety video is creative, magical and funny. The scenery is also beautiful and makes me want to get down to New Zealand!” Cuba Gooding Jr. says he wanted to get involved in Air New Zealand’s latest safety video as he does a lot of travelling and loves the fun and different approach. “They make you laugh, smile and pay a little bit more attention. I’ve also enjoyed working with Katie Holmes and Kiwi artist Gin Wigmore – her voice is enchanting and soothing, exactly what you need for safety video!” Air New Zealand General Manager of Global Brand and Content Marketing Jodi Williams says A Fantastical Journey will put all eyes on New Zealand by showcasing some of the best the country has to offer. “With the help of Hollywood stars Katie Holmes and Cuba Gooding Jr. our latest safety video takes viewers on a journey taking in New Zealand’s stunning beauty, incredible culture, friendly people and amazing flora and fauna, while also sharing the airline’s key safety messages. “We’ve taken a different approach creatively with our latest safety video, working closely with our creative agency True, and Auckland-based production company Assembly throughout the process on the special effects to help take people on a magical tour of the country.” Gin Wigmore says she’s loved teaming up with Air New Zealand again after first working with the company on its first creative safety video the ‘Bare Essentials’ in 2009 which featured the hit ‘Under My Skin’ from her first album and then again more recently to record a version of the track ‘Tomorrow’ from the movie Annie for the airline’s Where To Next? campaign. “I feel privileged to record my own version of ‘My Little Corner of the World’ as it’s always a good challenge to re-produce a song, especially when it’s already so great. It’s also fantastic to see this track feature amongst some stunning New Zealand scenery, including my little corner of the world – the Coromandel.” Air New Zealand’s safety videos have collectively generated more than 108 million views online to date along with significant international media exposure including the likes of CNN, BBC and the Daily Mail. A Fantastical Journey will be rolled out across the airline’s fleet from today and can be viewed online here.
The Reserve Bank has developed a short video to help the public identify the ‘real deal’ Brighter Money banknote. The video explores the banknote’s sophisticated security features, showing the public how to identify a genuine banknote by the ‘look, feel and tilt’ sensory approach used by other central banks to identify a counterfeit. “Being able to identify a real New Zealand Series 7 Brighter Money banknote is important to maintaining New Zealand’s low counterfeit rate,” says Reserve Bank Head of Currency, Property and Security Steve Gordon. "New Zealand has a low counterfeit rate by international standards and the Bank wants to keep it that way. One of the ways we can do this is by ensuring the public know how to identify the security features on our banknotes. Use the video’s three prompts - look, feel and tilt, to make sure your banknotes are the genuine article.” In addition to the new video, the notes and coins pages of the banknotes have been updated to make them easier to read, navigate and find information. The video is available in English and Te Reo Māori. More information
| A RBNZ release || July 12, 2017 |||
New changes to update kiwifruit regulations and help future-proof the industry will come into force on 1 August 2017, Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy has announced today.
“These changes were announced last year and will help ensure the industry is best structured for future growth,” says Mr Guy.
New amendments to the Kiwifruit Export Regulations will:
“These changes will give Zespri more options for promoting the ownership of its shares by active kiwifruit growers.
“They will give Zespri greater certainty for investing in activities such as research and development and in the marketing of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit, and ensuring that Kiwifruit New Zealand has the skill sets it needs to robustly consider collaborative marketing applications.
“These amendments won’t change the industry’s ‘single desk’ export framework, but will provide more certainty for Zespri’s shareholders and growers.
“These regulatory updates are the Government’s response to the industry’s self-review of its performance through the Kiwifruit Industry Strategy Project.”
Kiwifruit sales from New Zealand have reached record levels with 137.7 million trays sold in the year to March 2017, worth over $2 billion in export revenue. Global sales revenues are forecast to reach $4.5 billion by 2025.
| A Beehive release || July 11, 2017 |||
New Zealand is a long way from the rest of the world. It takes three to four hours to fly from Auckland to the big eastern Australian cities; over half a day to reach the US West Coast or Southeast Asia; and most of a day to reach Europe.
Our geographic isolation has advantages – for instance, it’s easier to manage biosecurity controls to protect our local environment and agricultural exports – but also many economic costs. As the gravity model of trade predicts, countries that are further away from each other tend to trade less. In other words, our distance means that we aren’t selling as many goods and services to Europeans, Asians, Americans, and other people in general as we could, given New Zealanders’ relatively high skill and education levels, propensity to innovate given the right incentives, and generally reasonable policy settings. And, equally, we’re not buying as much from them as we could.
There are two reasons why this is a bad thing for our living standards:
First, exporting less means that there are fewer opportunities for New Zealand companies to ‘scale up’, which limits their productivity and their ability to successfully innovate. Result: Lower levels of economic productivity and lower incomes. Second, importing less means that many New Zealand businesses operate in ‘niches’ with little competition, which limits the pressure they face to lower prices or improve processes. Result: Higher prices that reduce what we can buy with our lower incomes.
We can’t do much about the physical distance – although . . .
| Continue reading the full article with images and supporting material on Greater Auckland || July 12, 2017 |||
Schneider Electric announced the success achieved with WaterForce, provider of water management and irrigation solutions in New Zealand. Schneider Electric worked with Schneider Electric.svg WaterForce to develop a cloud-based IIoT mobile-control solution, built on Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT technologies, which enables farmers to operate irrigation pivots with greater agility, efficiency and sustainability.
Agriculture accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world’s water consumption. As global food demand grows, water use is expected to rise, making efficient irrigation critical. With Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure architecture, WaterForce developed a cloud-based IIoT solution enabling farmers to monitor and control irrigation pumps and pivots from their computer, tablet or smartphone.
“Every day I adjust my pivots and pumps for a variety of reasons—shifts in the wind, rain levels, crop requirements or local regulations,” said Craig Blackburn, director/farm manager of Blackhills Farm, “Now I can monitor and control my irrigation system easily from my mobile phone, saving me hours of time not spent driving around the farm. With information at my fingertips, my farm is more productive, water and energy costs are lower and crop yields higher.”
Unique to this solution is its ability to work with a farm's existing equipment, such as irrigation and pump controllers. This means no significant capital investment is required before seeing benefits.
“Most farms are not built to handle large software installations,” said Ron McFetridge, director of WaterForce. “Using a lightweight, cloud solution with mobile capabilities has been key to expanding IoT capabilities to these farms. By leveraging our relationship with Schneider Electric, we can focus on our core business—effective water management—knowing that the information management, analytics and automation side is covered.”
WaterForce’s solution integrates multiple components of Schneider Electric’s software and hardware product portfolio, including cloud and mobility solutions, HMI/SCADA, variable speed drives and soft starters. The solution is built using Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, which includes a collection of integrated enterprise tools including devices, software, cloud, data and analytics.
“By 2050 we will need 55% more water to nourish the growing demand for food, so efficient irrigation is critical,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president of information, operations and asset management at Schneider Electric. “We believe driving operational improvements and efficiencies at these farms is a key component to sustainably feeding the planet. EcoStruxure simplifies the integration between the connected products, edge control, and apps and analytics, to provide an innovative solution that responds to the specific needs of these farmers.”
“Schneider Electric leverages Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT technologies to equip farmers with the ability to unlock new insights and make the best possible decisions in real-time around water usage and energy efficiencies,” said Sam George, director of Microsoft Azure IoT at Microsoft Corp. “We are proud to partner with Schneider Electric on a global solution that’s digitally transforming agriculture and paving the way for a sustainable future.’’
| A Smart Industry release || July 10, 2017 |||
New Zealand-based ammonia sensing equipment manufacturer Photonic Innovations Ltd. has partnered with ammonia refrigeration system supplier Active Refrigeration.
In a sign of increasing demand for ammonia-based refrigeration systems in New Zealand, locally-based ammonia sensing equipment manufacturer Photonic Innovations Ltd. has partnered with another NZ company, ammonia refrigeration system supplier Active Refrigeration, in their first national distribution deal.
“It is fine timing. Ammonia’s popularity as a refrigerant has increased dramatically due to its green credentials,” said Dr. Ojas Mahapatra, CEO of Photonic Innovations.
Photonic Innovations Ltd. manufactures laser-based ammonia detectors and has recently been encouraged by interest in its products from large and small food processing businesses concerned with safety.
“At the same time health and safety regulations have also tightened to ensure that companies manage the significant risks that comes with ammonia usage. The end result is a strong demand for high quality, reliable and affordable ammonia sensors,” said Dr. Mahapatra.
“We are very excited and proud that we are able to deliver a world-class technology, in fact a world-leading product, for the safety of people who use ammonia,” he added.
Active Refrigeration, which is one of New Zealand’s biggest players in ammonia refrigeration, also sees safety as a top priority, particularly given the increasing number of ammonia systems in use.
“We are proud to partner with Photonic Innovations for nationwide distribution. Active Refrigeration has a history of promoting and installing natural refrigeration solutions with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability,” said Mr. Craig Duff, Active Refrigeration’s managing director.
“We have a strong focus on leading-edge innovation and workplace safety with a nationwide support network. Partnering with like-minded companies such as Photonic Innovations with a paralleled ethos is simply a good fit to support our industry,” he added.
“ It is fine timing. Ammonia’s popularity as a refrigerant has increased dramatically due to its green credentials." – Photonic Innovations CEO Dr. Ojas Mahapatra
Photonic Innovations is encouraged by the demand and sees a growing market for ammonia systems in New Zealand as well as in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.
"We plan on having 100 units in the field in New Zealand by the end of the year. We're shipping our first units to Australia next week so that is also a very exciting frontier for us,” said Photonic Innovations Sales Manager Daniel Healy.
“Our products have become extremely popular in Australasia and are gaining ground rapidly. We will make our products available to other parts of the world shortly,” added Dr. Mahapatra.
| A Ammonia21 release || July 10, 2017 |||
Now the first six months of the year are done and dusted, NIWA forecasters have been analysing the country’s weather statistics to see where we stand compared to last year’s record breaker.
If you’ve been feeling a little cooler, it’s because temperatures are notably down on average. The first six months of last year set up 2016 to become the hottest year on record, with an average temperature of 15.2°C. For January to June this year that figure has dropped to 13.8°C. NIWA forecaster Ben Noll says while the first six months of 2017 were 0.02 degrees above the long-term (1981-2010) average, that was nothing compared to the same period last year were a whopping 1.43 degrees above average.
In spite of the cool-down, January-June 2017 still ranks as the 39th-warmest January-June period in the last 109 years, according to NIWA’s Seven Station Temperature Series. Mr Noll says the direction from which the air is coming plays an important role in temperatures across New Zealand. Sub-tropical northerlies tend to draw down warm, humid air while southerlies via the Southern Ocean can pack a chilly punch.
Unlike 2016, January-June of 2017 has not had an abundance of northerly winds. Out of the first six months of 2017, just February and April experienced predominantly northerly winds. Conversely, the first half of 2016 saw five out of the first six months (February through June) have a notable northerly wind bias.
A buoy with the ability to “phone home” has been deployed in Wellington Harbour today to monitor currents, waves and water quality in the harbour.
The buoy is part of a joint project between NIWA and Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) around monitoring Wellington Harbour health. The buoy can deliver real time data of currents, waves, salinity, temperature, oxygen, chlorophyll, ocean acidification and wind. Named WRIBO (Wellington Region Integrated Buoy Observations), it was deployed from NIWA’s flagship research vessel Tangaroa this morning, south east of Matiu/Somes Island.
Real time data delivery
NIWA coastal physicist Dr Joanne O’Callaghan has been leading the project and says the buoy’s key advantage is the ability to deliver information immediately.
“The buoy makes a phone call to a computer and sends back data of up-to-date conditions in the Harbour. This means we don’t have to wait for good weather to collect the data which is never easy in Wellington.”
The buoy is three metres high and powered by solar panels. It has been constructed by NIWA’s mooring technician Mike Brewer over several weeks at Greta Point and is the most complicated of its kind in New Zealand waters.
One of its key roles will be to monitor plumes from the Hutt River that wash into the harbour following heavy rain. These plumes carry sediments and nutrients from the Hutt catchment to the Harbour.
“We have not sampled the Harbour routinely before and this will help us learn how much the river influences the harbour waters,” Dr O’Callaghan says.
Analysing water quality in plumes
A number of instruments will be attached to the buoy to enable scientists to analyse Harbour response at various depths. River plumes are only one to two metres thick so there is an instrument just under the surface to capture it. Waves and currents move sediments during storms so there is an instrument near the seabed and two more through the water to know the size of the impact.
“The plumes last for three to five days but the material is in the system for much longer.”
A trial buoy was deployed last September and found that surface salinity in the Harbour gets very fresh after large amounts of rain from events such as cyclones. Water quality instruments observed an algal bloom after ex-tropical cyclones Debbie and Cook.
GWRC coastal scientist Dr Claire Conwell says this is the beginning of a dedicated water quality monitoring programme for Wellington Harbour and the region’s coastal marine area.
“This information will help us to make links between the freshwater and marine environments, and to assess the impacts on water quality of land-based activities,” Dr Conwell says.
“A key focus for us is to also make the data accessible, so we’ll be working with the NIWA team after the buoy is deployed to get the data streaming via our respective websites. In the long run, we’d like to see this sit alongside other data from buoys across New Zealand, forming part of a national network.”
Contact
Dr Joanne O’Callaghan, NIWA coastal physicistPh 04 386 0466
Dr Claire Conwell, Greater Wellington Coastal ScientistPh 04 830 4216
|A NIWA release || July 10, 2017 |||
The globally acclaimed industrial software solution Wonderware is set to be exclusively distributed in New Zealand by Schneider Electric.
The move from Schneider Electric reaffirms its commitment to the innovation and growth of industrial software solutions, with the distribution deal effective as of this month.
There will be a dedicated locally based technical sales and support team in place and global expertise supporting the New Zealand market.
Software director for the Pacific at Schneider Electric, Damien McDade says the company is delighted to be the exclusive distributors of Wonderware, a solution which is currently used in over a third of the world’s industrial and manufacturing plants.
“We have over 500 worldwide experts in the field and combined with local support, it is fantastic for our valued partners and customers to be able to access,” says McDade.
According to Schneider Electric, the reason for the industrial software solution’s popularity is that it is open, easy-to-use, scalable, secure and versatile that ultimately empowers people to connect, control, understand, and optimise their operations.
The addition of the full Wonderware portfolio (which was part of the Invensys acquisition in 2014), now complements the extensive software portfolio offered and distributed by Schneider Electric.
“We look forward to being able to offer our valued partners and customers the extensive range of software options and customise to their requirements both now and in the future,” says McDade.
Schneider Electric says its range of software solutions available to its integrators, partners and end users is expansive and covers everything from entry level to those for complex large scale industrial operations.
Ultimately, it is these new and innovative solutions for the industrial and manufacturing sectors that is helping to keep New Zealand in the game by enabling collaboration and making operations more productive and cost-effective in an increasingly cornered market.
| A Schneider Electric release || July 11, 2017 |||
On Thursday 29 June more than 950 hand-picked students from schools throughout the country and their careers advisors and teachers attended the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation’s Big Construction Tour, which returned for its third year.
Students spent the day visiting some of the country’s biggest construction sites and developments and being introduced to the wide variety of opportunities available in the building and construction industry.
In midst of a nationwide construction skills shortage, this was an excellent way for students to learn the value of a career in the building and construction industry. It also provided a chance for the students to make valuable connections with industry leaders which may open doors to their future careers. Some employees even advised the students of current vacancies in their team and encouraged them to consider applying.
The Big Construction Tour 2017 was held in a number of regions around New Zealand including Auckland, Hamilton, Cambridge, Tauranga, Rotorua, Hastings, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill.
| A BCITO release || July 10, 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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