As in 2011, government once again handed out $3.28 million dollars to the various political parties. But while the spoils remained same, the number of recipients increased from 11 to 17 political parties for this year’s allocation. The question now, however, is what the parties plan to spend the money on, and what they hope to acheive through their pre-election campaigns. So, in an effort to find out a little bit more about Labour’s promotional moves, we sent a few questions to the party’s campaign manager David Talbot. Here’s what he had to say.

The robots are here. And they’re increasingly doing the jobs of humans. Recently, there’s been a bit of chat over AP’s decision to get computers to write some business stories and writing in Wired last year Kevin Kelly surmised that “before the end of this century, 70 percent of today’s occupations will likewise be replaced by automation”, just as they were over the industrial revolution. Jono and Ben took this idea and ran with it for a recent skit that shows expendable labour getting their own back on technology. And with some studies showing TV is still very strong and others showing ‘screen-stacking’ is increasingly prevalent, there’s a rather self-aware scene at the end.

Having cash in the wallet is an increasingly rare phenomenon for many Kiwis. So is throwing your wallet into the bin in favour of using your phone or a digital currency an option in New Zealand? And what’s ‘coming soon’? We’ve cherry-picked a few interesting developments in the payment space.

Continuing our ridiculous series on what the government could buy with the measly tax dollars it earns from tech multinationals, we decided to turn the barb toward Google, which was recently revealed to have paid only $227,000 in tax over the course of 2013. And while this is ten times more than the pittance paid by Facebook, it still didn’t quite measure up to what one would expect from an organisation that made US$15.42 billion of revenue globally in the quarter ended 31 March 2014. When the Herald reported on Google’s tax bill, it went for the optimistic headline ‘Google’s NZ tax bill on the up’. And since the team here at StopPress also tends to be optimistic about everything except for the livers of those working in the ad industry, we decided to compile a list of all things National could splash out on at its probable re-election party later this year.

Despite the fact that more Kiwis are buying online—and buying with their mobile devices—many Kiwi businesses aren’t taking that into account when it comes to their websites. And that’s costing them dearly, says a report from direct marketing and digital agency Twenty. It says bad user experience cost Kiwi businesses over $1 billion in sales to overseas websites last year, a big chunk of the total $2.3 billion spent online by Kiwis for the year in total. And it might be worse this year, with the jump in online spending since last year twice as high for offshore than for local.

There are a range of logos and ads that feature unintentional (or occasionally intentional) genitalia. And Airbnb, the extremely popular “global community marketplace that connects travelers seeking authentic, high-quality accommodations with hosts who offer unique places to stay”, appears to have added its name to that list with the launch of its new brand identity ‘Belong Anywhere’.

Tipp-Ex is a slightly surprising brand to be renowned as a social innovator, but its previous interactive YouTube videos about bear hunting and birthday parties have cemented that position. Now it’s tapped into the ‘wisdom’ of the crowd once again (along with BIC) and convinced them to help rewrite Pharrell Williams’ book Inspiration. PLUS: Weird Al’s riff on Happy.

In an effort to make the online news-reading experience less time consuming and little more convenient, Aucklander Anthony Patrickson and his team have developed The Daily Youser, an app that gives iPad users access to content from different sources in one place.

The crews that assist touring musos are called roadies for good reason—they tend to spend a lot of time on the tarmac moving from one destination to the next. And during these long days on the road, band managers and promoters affiliated with the musicians need to be one step ahead, in the sense that they have to ensure that there’s an audience at the next destination. And while this might be easier for major musicians that have audiences included with just about every venue on earth, the same cannot be said of the up-and-comers who have no guarantee of cheering masses. So, in an effort to rectify this problem, Julien Mitelberg and his team have developed Bandsintown Manager, an app that makes it easier for artists and managers to connect with potential fans and promote upcoming gigs.

Slingshot’s decision to open the door to give Kiwis access to geo-locked sites such as Netflix has come under scrutiny for potentially contravening international copyright laws, but this hasn’t dissuaded consumers from visiting the site. According to the Herald, the number of Slingshot customers accessing movie websites like Netflix has quadrupled since the internet company unblocked them several weeks ago. But with the growing popularity of the SVOD site, there comes the possibility of some serious brain warping. As indicated by three clips from the new US-based Netflix campaign, we could essentially be setting ourselves up for a future of awkward (but somehow endearing) proposals, bizarre visits to the doctor and anti-climactic airport reunions.

From men in white coats to stickers showing awards won to independent accreditation, endorsements give consumers confidence that what they spend their cash on is up to snuff. And Consumer NZ, the Kiwi non-profit that started in 1959 to delve into the quality of products and services and investigate consumer issues, has launched a scheme called Consumer Trusted to enhance that. PLUS: Consumer’s new (slightly confusing) website.

As NZ On Air and Colmar Brunton’s recent media consumption study showed, Kiwis still seem to love TV. But while it might be on, the TNS Connected Life survey shows viewers might not be paying attention due to the increasing prevalence of ‘screen-stacking’. PLUS: an entertaining ode to single-tasking.

After working with the likes of the Internet Party, Schick, Metro magazine and 2degrees in the local market, Auckland-based digital company Interlike is now setting its sights on the Russian market.

Sales of traditional ‘gumboot’ tea are on the wane in New Zealand. But there’s growth in the area of specialty teas and Dilmah is trying to tap into that by promoting the nascent arts of tea mixology and tea gastronomy. So can they convince young Kiwis to sip on a tea with their chargrilled steak?

Jessica Simpson has helped sell countless women’s magazines around the world. And Woman’s Day managed to nab some exclusive photos of her special day for the latest issue. But an eagle-eyed reader sent us one of the photos from the spread and someone’s failed to fix up a bit of cheeky face-fixing.

Swedish car manufacturer Volvo has appointed Republik to its media and creative account, and this move will see the agency part ways with Peugeot after 10 years.

Facebook has revealed a series of insights on how the Kiwi political parties are doing in the lead up to the 2014 general election. And given that 1.8 million Kiwis log in to Facebook on a daily basis and that ‘election’ was the second-most commonly used phrase on the site in 2013 (only bettered by Pope Francis), the social media channel is becoming an increasingly important space for politicians to share their policies—or general vitriol—with potential voters.

This week Ian Thorpe revealed he was gay in an interview with Michael Parkinson. A few months back, Michael Sam and Jason Collins became the first openly gay men to be drafted into the NFL and NBA respectively. And New Zealand and many other nations have legalised gay marriage. So progress is certainly being made in the area of gay rights, at least in the developed world. But there’s still a long way to go. And as John Browne’s book The Glass Closet, ASB’s response to Thorpe’s news and OUTLine’s 100% OK campaign show, the business community can lead the way.

In the 80s, after the rest of the world turned its back on David Hasselhoff, the German fans stuck with their bare-chested man. And although his slow-motion running along the beach and his talking car do play a part in this fame, it is in fact his singing career that has made him a staple on television screens in the country in the latter parts of the decade.

Recently, a chatbot called Eugene Goostman is thought to have passed the Turing test by convincing a few people it was a 13-year-old boy (RadioLab discussed the issue of talking to machines in a great podcast a few years back). And as artificial intelligence continues to develop, human-android interactions will become an increasingly common—and perhaps problematic—occurrence. But even if they have our sentience, they can never have our smell. Unless …

To commemorate the return of the Pretzel Bun, Wendy’s commissioned the Boyz II Men trio to give a smooth and sonorous rendition of the tweets sent in by fans of the hybrid burger.

ASB has launched a new campaign via Saatchi & Saatchi to draw attention to its GetWise initiative, which has been created to educate kids on how to be smarter with money. In the new 60-second spot called ‘Creating cash-clever Kiwis’, a series of adorable kids are depicted giving imaginative answers to questions about money. Then, once the kids have had their say, a narrator interjects saying that ‘kids have some funny ideas about money’ before prompting viewers to visit the GetWise section of the website.