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Lifting the Lightbox lid: a look inside Telecom’s new digital venture
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Ever since Telecom was legally precluded from using the ShowmeTV name, the industry has been curious as to what moniker would be introduced as a replacement. Since that debacle three months ago, Telecom’s digital ventures (TDV) unit has been very cagey about releasing any further information about its online TV offering. But now that all has been revealed, we sat down with head of programming and local content Maria Mahony to find out more about what Lightbox offers.

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Parking spots on demand
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Theres an app for everything these days. From one that tells you the best time to go for a pee during a movie to an app that prevents embarrassing drunk dials, it’s amazing that we don’t have an app that reminds us to blink. Now, adding to the list of ridiculous apps, theres one that sells public parking spots.

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WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg on taking over the world one blog at a time
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WordPress has become synonymous with blogging and online writing. And while there’s no guarantee of the quality of the content released via the interface, Wordpress founder Matt Mullenweg has effectively democratised online publishing, making it possible for everyone from the emo teen to the food-loving grandmother to share their thoughts online. The tech entrepreneur recently stopped off in New Zealand, and Idealog sat down to with him to find out a little more about what makes him tick.

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Are these the end times of the traditional media agency?
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With the emergence of channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, the role of the traditional media agency is being challenged, changing and by some predicted to crumble completely. ZenithOptimedia’s business director Alex Lawson questions whether we still need a media agencies when everything can go out digitally and for free.

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TRN launches Auckland radio station, extends ZM brand onto TV
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TRN has announced the launch of a new Auckland-based radio station and the extension of the ZM radio brand onto TV in the same week that MediaWorks is set to unveil the Edge TV. We chatted to chief content officer Dean Buchanan about these moves. PLUS: Radio Sport relegated to AM and TRN crashes The Edge TV launch party.

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Paralympic medallist at Attitude Pictures takes out Apollo Award
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Fourteen years ago, Jai Waite dove into a wave in Greece and hit a sandbar, becoming paralysed from the chest down with only limited function in his arms and hands. Now, as production editor at Attitude Pictures, he’s won a prestigious Apollo award for his documentary “Jimmy Wants a Job” – and it was edited using his knuckles.

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Do you understand agency life? Tell Nielsen
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Tell Nielsen the truth about your scandalous agency lifestyle. Nielsen even has a drinkable offering in return for your time (‘you” being advertising folk) and your secrets. There are ten cases of wine (six bottles in each) to be won for those who fill in a survey to help Nielsen ‘understand agency life’. Everyone who completes it will receive a short report from Nielsen about the findings.

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Wi-fi dogs — new start up from Jose and T-mobile
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T-Mobile has joined with DDB Tribal to introduce us to Spanish entrepreneur Jose and his ‘wi-fi’ dogs, who assist holiday makers in searching for wi-fi. The dogs are trained to sniff out frequencies from the nearest router and can be rented by the hour. Or we could just go with T-mobile’s travel plan.

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Eco warriors, unite!
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The ubiquity of Che Guevara’s face on the bodies of people across the world stands as testament to the fact that there’s something inexplicably appealing about being associated with a revolutionary cause. Add to this the fact that the spirit of Guy Fawkes has been resurrected as the face of the online anti-totalitarian movement, and it becomes quite evident that people still believe some battles are worth fighting for. Using this revolutionary drive as a premise, Replay Jeans has released a new spot via 180Amsterdam that places its consumers as the revolutionaries fighting against the faceless totalitarian regime bent on destroying the earth.

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From agency to muesli – Jono Sorensen’s next venture
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When Jono Sorenson left advertising agency Carat in March to become a sales director at Diverse Media, he signed up there for only three days a week – because the rest of his time he now devotes to muesli.
He and fellow muesli-fan/fiancé Lucy Leckie have launched The Muesli Hub – “a platform to build your own muesli online and have it delivered to your door”. They want to inspire people to re-prioritise breakfast.

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GSL Promotus fights rheumatic fever for HPA campaign
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It’s winter and for some people in New Zealand that means a trip to the hospital for injections or even open heart surgery, because of rheumatic fever.
GSL Promotus is behind a national Health Promotion Agency campaign to let more people know that strep throats, if left untreated, can develop into rheumatic fever in at-risk populations. The campaign involves six different TVCs, a multitude of radio ads (in English, te reo Maori, Samoan and Tongan), online videos and banners, and Adshel posters.

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HPA gives smoking a creepy face
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In an effort to dissuade potential smokers from picking up that first cigarette, the Health Promotion Agency has launched a new campaign via GSL Promotus that gives a tongue-in-cheek depiction of exactly how ugly a relationship with cancer sticks can be.

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Kiwi social auction outfit BuddyBid looks to turn likes into sales
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With all the inane questions, like farming and ‘brain teasers’ posted on social media, many brands seem to think their customers are absolute morons. But as ASB’s well-awarded Like Loan showed, social media can occasionally serve a useful commercial purpose, with all the likes the app received giving the bank the details of almost 18,000 potential customers and delivering a solid business result. That campaign was a bespoke app, but a similar philosophy applies to Kiwi social auction company BuddyBid, which is currently raising some cash to take the idea overseas.

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Our eyes deceive us
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A new OK Go music video is generally cause for great celebration, given their consistent record of producing amazing visual treats. Strangely, no-one seems to remember their music, perhaps because their videos overshadow the songs. But the band has embraced that and accepted the challenge to continually raise the bar, and it’s done it again with its latest optical illusion-heavy clip.

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