Browsing: technology

News
Social enterprise shows how VR can save New Zealand’s endangered birds
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For Conservation Week this week, social enterprise Squawk Squad and virtual reality studio M Theory have joined forces to go into the classroom and get children excited about saving New Zealand’s native birds through VR technology. The experience takes the viewer through a forest journey alongside a robin bird, who encountering friends and predators along the way.

Features
Can tech save te reo Māori? These entrepreneurs think so
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As the proverb says, ko taku reo taku ohooho, ko taku reo taku mapihi mauria (“my language is my awakening, my language is the window to my soul”). And while there is plenty of attention being placed on our native tongue during Māori Language Week – and an increasing interest from Pākehā in learning the language – Census data shows the number of people who can hold a conversation in te reo Māori on the decline. Many are looking to new technologies for revitalisation – and in the hope that it could get new speakers on board, too.

Opinion
You are your own content
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Accenture Interactive’s Ben Morgan takes a look at how Kiwis are increasingly using their devices for everyday activities, and how organisations can keep up with the demand for content.

Opinion
Finding humanity in the machines
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Humans have been talking to chatbots since the 1960s, but the tech has never been closer to going mainstream than it is now. TRA cultural strategist Antonia Mann considers what this means at a time when customer-centricity has become the buzzword of the day.

News
Index is giving Tinder users a dose of inspiration
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In a time of countless listicles, city guides and review websites, an app by two 23-year-olds aims to cut through all the clutter and offer a curated guide to New Zealand’s Super City. Index, founded by George Howes and Alex Brown, is an app that profiles the top picks for cafés, restaurants, stores and even date ideas, and it’s taking off thanks to another app: Tinder.

News
‘Sounds like a game changer’: Brendan Boughen pledges to publish a book of technology-themed cartoons
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We’ve had a couple of stories recently about the extracurricular creative pursuits of people in the ad industry. So we thought it only fitting to cover those of Brendan Boughen, a Microsoft PR aficionado by day, cartoonist named Jim by night, who’s on the home stretch of his Pledge Me campaign to fund a book of cartoons and writing about people’s obsession with technology.

News
The oracle has spoken: cherry-picking the best bits from Mary Meeker’s latest internet trends report
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Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has gained a reputation as something of a tech oracle as a result of her famed Internet Trend Reports. She has been sharing educated views and revealing data on how technology is changing the world, transforming markets and offering new business opportunities since 2001. And here are some of our favourite slides from this year’s presentation.

News
Comvita makes a beeline for virtual reality
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When thinking about the kinds of brands that would dabble in virtual reality (VR) technology, probably one of the last that would come to mind would be a healthcare brand. But, New Zealand-based global healthcare brand Comvita has given it a crack to share how it sources its manuka honey, so I went along to try it out.

News
Marketing tech company Squiz expands into Auckland, looks to bring marketing and IT closer together
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Australian-owned marketing technology company Squiz has recently expanded in New Zealand, adding an Auckland office to its pre-existing Wellington base. Upon the move, we talked to New Zealand managing director Patrick Fitzgerald about the changing landscape of marketing technology, how the lines are blurring between marketing and IT departments and what the technology developers are doing to help.