Join Pandora Internet Radio’s head music analyst Steve Hogan in Auckland next Monday for a free, intimate, one off session as he describes the inner workings of Pandora’s groundbreaking Music Genome Project and why humans will always understand music better than machines.

Using the premise that innovative ideas can at first be ugly, intimidating or even scary, US-based technology company GE has released a new spot, via BBDO New York, that aims to show how that ugliness can be converted into something beautiful when placed in the right hands.

Samsung New Zealand and Colenso used the recently reported “black cats aren’t adopted because they look bad in photos” story to create a social campaign with renowned animal photographer Rachael Hale McKenna. The campaign created a solution for cat photographers, whilst at the same time highlighting features of their latest smartphone, the Samsung GS5.

You voted, and Steinlager Pure and DDB NZ’s Born to Defy campaign won the People’s Choice Award in the annual Stoppress/Mediaworks TVC of the Year. Co-op Bank Record Profits and Augusto’s Lydia Ko goes Pro were second and third.

Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ Paul Catmur shares his thoughts on Geoff Ross’ journey to becoming “a vodka millionaire and New Zealand’s favourite business guru”.

Last night’s third episode of The Block screened for the first time this season without My Kitchen Rules NZ (MKR NZ) diverting viewers to TV One, which could have been its big chance to exclusively engage viewers after a dismal episode two. But its plans were foiled by the leaders’ debate.

If you liked the sound of wood, then you’ll probably like the sound of racquets and balls. James Murphy, he of LCD Soundsystem fame, has teamed up with IBM for the US Open to make unique songs from the data generated from tennis matches. And it’s predicting it will have almost 400 hours of ‘music’ by the end of the tournament.

Spark Ventures’ subscription video on demand service Lightbox launched yesterday (here’s our take on the various streaming options) and while plenty of early adopters seemed pretty excited about that, it’s launched a campaign via Consortium to get the rest of the country to pay attention.

Kelly Addis has returned to the homeland after 14 years in Melbourne to open an Auckland branch of ad agency Zoo. And he’s confident its model—and its trans-Tasman knowledge—will make it an attractive proposition for New Zealand and Australian clients.

When a bunch of high-powered Silicon Valley female leaders strip off and model underwear in their workplaces, is it demeaning or just a bit of brave fun? Lingerie brand Dear Kate’s campaign photographed senior women in the high tech industry modeling its bras and undies, touting it as ‘high performance underwear for high performing women”.

Last night, at an event hosted at the Mental Health Foundation in Auckland, Google announced to 70 representatives from 50 Kiwi not-for-profit organisations that it will give eligible New Zealand charities and community organisations free access to advertising and technology worth $120,000 in each case per year.

Comedian and actor Ricky Gervais, who currently stars in Netflix original Derek, has branched out and stepped into the lead roles of several of Netflix’s shows for a new campaign that aims to promote some hit programming available through the online streaming service. The 60-second spot sees the rotund actor stepping into House of Cards, Lilyhammer and Orange is the New Black as he becomes part of the storylines that he has followed on Netflix.

It’s no secret that football has become a massive business enterprise, which relies on the appeal of handsomely paid sports stars to drive revenue. And while Cristano Ronaldo’s abs and Neymar’s consistently changing hairdos are successful at attracting interest from fans, Italian playmaker Andrea Pirlo has something that no other player has: a sullen face that seems incapable of being pleased. And in a move that shows it’s possible to even capitalise on things conventionally considered undesirable, Pirlo’s Turin-based club Juventus has now launched a campaign that encourages viewers to send in videos that might be able to impress the player.

Barnes, Catmur & Friends has taken some time off torturing pizza eaters and giving RTD drinkers “Woodies” to ask Kiwis some important questions. In a new print and online-based campaign for its client Boundary Road Brewery, the agency has compiled a series of questions for an initiative called ‘ The Unauthorised Beer Census New Zealand 2014’ in an effort to find out more about the nation’s beer drinkers.