Looking to attach another language to my resume, I found the language teaching service Duolingo. The website takes English-language-users through the basics of other tongues.

The government recently gave SkyCity the right to operate a few extra pokies in exchange for building a new convention centre. More than a few commentators were aghast at the decision to increase the number of filthy money suckers and concerned about the impact it might have on low-income families. But please, won’t someone think of the rich people? What impact will more conventions have on them? Turns out there are some similarities between the two groups because in an article in Wired magazine about the rise of meditation and mindfulness in Silicon Valley, it described another, some might say even more insidious addiction that is becoming increasingly prevalent in some areas of the business community.

We at StopPress HQ are big fans of sandwiches. Footlongs, six-inchers, club, cucumber, PB&J and even the occasional Marmite one. Putting things between two layers of bread is the best way to eat them. Which is why we’re frothing at the mouth to be giving away two $50 Subway SubCards to our readers.

Old Spice has gained a reputation for entertaining hyperbole. But an architect who gets his hands dirty? That’s taking things too far.

Direct mail doesn’t tend to get the same level of attention that other ‘sexier’ channels like online or TV get. But according to the ASA ad spend figures for 2012, it’s on the rise, with addressed mail up 16 percent to $58 million. So why the increase? And is it effective? NZ Post and Key Research attempted to find out.

Packed full of bullet-time goodness, Telecom’s latest ad campaign for its Ultra Broadband products brings the anticipation of high speed antics, without having to show any of it.

At first glance it’s a photo so incredible it must have been made up. A Whittaker’s van crashed into Paeroa’s iconic L&P bottle monument. The positioning of the two iconic New Zealand food brands’ logos seem to be right out of a Hollywood movie product placement. It turns out it is too good to be true.

Lawyers are scary, especially for young startups looking to make it big in the world. Buddle Findlay’s simple lead generation tool helps it get infront of the next wave of Kiwi world-beaters.

Music streaming service Spotify recently conducted a dubious survey in a few different markets to find out the most misquoted song lyrics. Surprisingly, AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, which definitely features the words ‘I was caught in the middle of a rhino attack’, or the Aussie anthem, which definitely features the words ‘Australians all let us ring Joyce’, didn’t make any of the lists.

Our weekly wrap of good things, strange things, funny things and other things from inside the intertubes.

How’s New Zealand doing when it comes to corporate social responsibility? Must try harder, says Interbrand’s managing director James Bickford.

When he was alive, Bruce Lee was a fighting machine. But for a Chinese ad, Johnnie Walker and BBH have managed to turn the CGI version into a boring, overly earnest, self-help guru who runs his hands through water slowly and says things like ‘do you have the guts to follow your gut’. Where are the flying kicks?

Do you know a business or marketing department that could benefit from real-time reassurances of their supposed awesomeness? You might want to treat them to a ‘fliike’ Facebook like counter.

Offices are great. Free envelopes, unlimited instant coffee, beautiful fluorescent light, increased chances of early death. But how do you accurately portray this scene? Getty Images has collated a series of strange images from its collection. And we’re sure everyone (especially those who find life-size parrots attractive) will be able to relate.

There have been plenty of column inches dedicated to matters of online security and data collection in recent months. So how easy is it for ‘freaks to take over your life?’ by stealing someone’s identity? Duval Guillaume Modem, the Belgian agency behind the fantastic ‘Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square’, decided to find out by scaring the bejesus out of one Tom Degroote in an effort to draw attention to safe internet banking behaviour.

Today’s Best Thing on the Internet award goes to this little gem from UK pop culture blog Us vs Th3m, which produces rather convincing plot lines for Doctor Who using only six lines of JavaScript.

Dumb TVs are out. Smart TVs are in, although several studies show very few actually use the TVs for their intended purpose or even connect them to the internet because, as Wired says, “Smart TVs are the literal, biblical devil.” According to NPD, “fewer than 15 percent of smart-TV owners are listening to music, surfing the internet or shopping on their TVs.” But BGH is trying to change all that with a new campaign via Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi and Primo that shows a man with an annoying erection, a man getting punched in the face and a man looking for a prostitute—and all of them like to send emails to actors from their TV.