This comprehensive, landmark book surveys products our society has made since pre European times. Begining with ingenious Maori tools, traps, lures and more, it moves to pioneer-era inventions, the industrial and agricultural inventions of early entrepreneurs such as Hayes Machinery and the products of the housewife’s friends – Shacklock and Fisher & Paykel – to our modern era, with its sophisticated products such as the Yike bike and Formway furniture, products which hold their own in international company. There’s inspiration, dedication, perspiration and not a little number eight wire and genius about the huge range of products that have been made and designed here, and enthusiastic and expert author Michael Smythe shares with the reader the ‘essence of Kiwi’ that’s in all of them.

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326 is very proud to unveil ‘the drum light’ where music meets function. 326 is a local design collective a.k.a the playtime brand of award winning Design Business Studio Alexander. Utilising the classic lines of drum stand and snare this light looks great in any location and is fully height adjustable. One tap of the drum activates a set of LED lights within the snare and one further tap turns them off. The sound activation is designed not to be triggered by any ambient noise. Check out the images and video. Enquiries via the shop or leave a comment, we’d love to know what you think.

A functional funky ergonomically designed lightweight acrylic knee suspended device which allows effortless use of a Notebook or Laptop whilst at Work, Rest or Play…

Maiden New Zealand Ltd is a new small home based privately owned and operated family business set-up to solely manufacture and direct market “Plaform9” innovation, Maiden New Zealand feel they have come up with a very funky functional modern device to protect our children’s laps from toasted skin syndrome which can cause skin cancer and also protect our men’s reproductive potency…

1: Is your or your man’s laptop lowering your chances for a baby?

According to a study from researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, laptops release enough warmth to overheat testicles within 15 minutes…Published online November 8, 2010, in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the study recruited 29 males to use laptops sitting either with their legs together or apart. Researchers found that the temperature in the scrotum increased by 1 degree in 11 minutes when the men sat with their legs together. Sitting with legs apart (a 70-degree angle) seemed to reduce the amount of time it took heat to reach the testicles, but overheating was still noticed (after about 30 minutes). Researchers speculate that heating the scrotum may impair sperm production and sperm output in men actively trying to conceive, according to an LA Times piece.

2: Have you ever worked on your laptop computer with it sitting on your lap heating up your legs?

If so, you might want to rethink that habit. Doing it a lot can lead to “toasted skin syndrome”, an unusuallooking mottled skin condition caused by long-term heat exposure, according to medical reports. In one recent case, a 12-year-old boy developed a sponge-patterned skin discoloration on his left thigh after playing computer games a few hours every day for several months.

Dr. Kimberley Salkey, who treated the young woman, was stumped until she learned the student spent about six hours a day working with her computer propped on her lap. The temperature underneath registered 51 degrees. That case, from 2007, is one of 10 laptop-related cases reported in medical journals in the past six years.

The condition also can be caused by overuse of heating pads and other heat sources that usually aren’t hot enough to cause burns. It’s generally harmless but can cause permanent skin darkening. In very rare cases, it can cause damage leading to skin cancers, said the Swiss researchers, Drs. Andreas Arnold and Peter Itin from University Hospital Basel.

Platform9 is made from an Acrylic material which has fantastic heat resistance characteristics together with very funky modern aesthetics is a timely innovation to protect our leg tops and our busy men’s testicles.

Maiden New Zealand is a Husband & Wife team with many years of business to business experience with excellent work ethics and complementary skill sets and they very proud that our product is 100% Kiwi designed and fabricated with the support of a select group of partners based in the heart of West Auckland, New Zealand.

For more product information visit www.platform9.co.nz

Where’s John? Is Mike still at lunch or in a meeting? Tired of not knowing where the team are? Digital Fusion have put a modern twist on the traditional In-Out board by creating an online version using web 2.0 technology. Tabzon shows you the location and availability of all staff at a glance. And it only takes a click to update someone’s status or to reveal their contact details.

Being able to quickly view everyones’ status and whereabouts eliminates guesswork, saves time and leads to a more efficient workplace. You’re only a click away from updating your own status, someone else’ status or looking up one of your teams contact details.

It is ideal for any organisation that has more than a handful of employees, particularly if staff are mobile or in and out of meetings.

Because it’s web-based, there’s no software to install and Tabzon can be accessed from anywhere that has an internet connection. Since it’s release in April there have been nearly 1000 groups signed up from all corners of the globe and there are plans afoot to add iPhone and iPad versions.

A few reviews of Tabzon here:

http://tinyurl.com/3xey5th
http://tinyurl.com/2vrslwo

“Love it! Simple, web based, free. All what I was looking for. Small office with < 10 employees, large building. Great for receptionist!” Jared Gunter – Savannah Baptist Association, US

Great idea! Please don’t add any feature that complicate it. Works perfectly! Robin White – Reunion Island Coffe, Canada

http://tabzon.com

A world-leading inorganic composite material developed by a University of Auckland research team that promises to revolutionise environment purification of air and water has won this year’s top award in the Spark $100K Challenge.

PhotoPURE – developed by a group of PhD students and their supervisor Professor Wei Gao – has already attracted interest in health circles for its air purification capabilities and within the waste water treatment industry because of its novel and advanced blend of nanoscience and photocatalytic technology that brings both higher effectiveness and lower cost.

The new technology, a green process that creates no secondary contaminants or other harmful by-products, means environmental impurification can be eradicated through the use of light energy.

Due to its unique ‘nanoarchitecture’, PhotoPURE is more efficient and provides a longer-lasting purifying effect, the developers say.  With its low energy consumption, long life-time and minimal maintenance requirements, PhotoPURE is set to radically reduce purification costs whilst offering improved air and water quality.

“It is always exciting to see a company embedded within The University of Auckland’s science and entrepreneurial pathways come out on top in this competition, but PhotoPURE really does stand out as an initiative that could have global ramifications, particularly within the world’s healthcare systems,” Business School Dean Professor Greg Whittred says.

Spark Steering Committee chair Geoff Whitcher says it is pleasing to see PhD students combining with their professor in an initiative of this quality. PhotoPURE combines groundbreaking ideas with up-to-the-minute technology and a global vision for commercialising its potential.

PhotoPURE –  created by students Jenny Xu, Jenny Chu and Ian Yan along with Professor Gao – has won $20,000 and six months’ incubation time at business incubator The ICEHOUSE.

Runners-up are the Healthy Memory Company, a venture looking at ways to improve the brain’s resilience and reduce memory loss in baby boomers, which won $10,000 in seed capital and three months in the ICEHOUSE.

Third equal place-getters were G I Joes, which has developed a medical device for diagnosing gastric problems through the electrical activity of the stomach, and One Beep, which proves inter-connectivity via radio waves for computers in impoverished and remote regions of the world.

Spark, in its eighth year, encourages a spirit of innovation and culture of enterprise at The University of Auckland, and has already fostered the creation of 65 start-up ventures which collectively employ more than 250  people and sell products in 22 countries.  The 2010 Spark Challenge has seen 286 entries whittled down to 65 semi-finalists and then 12 finalists.

Spark chief executive Graeme Fielder says selecting the winner this year has not been an easy feat.  “The entries have been extremely diverse, matched with strong teams with ideas that have introduced new medical devices and aids, food products, purification and communication technologies, and social ventures that sought to end poverty or encourage fair trade.

“In addition to our next generation of entrepreneurs, Spark this year in particular has stimulated a wave of individual transformations.

“This includes graduates taking entrepreneurial mindsets to high profile corporate positions, scientists and engineers obtaining an appreciation of the path of commercialisation and importance of intellectual property, graduates becoming social pioneers or continuing their business education at top US business schools.”

PhotoPURE contacts:

Ian Yan – 021 055 3312
Jenny Xu
Dr Wei Gao
Jenny Chu

www.spark.auckland.ac.nz

If you haven’t heard about dealeater yet, you really are behind the times. To sum it up, it is basically a platform where you can get together with people in your city and used this collective power to get great deals at a range of local establishments.

Each day Dealeater offers a new deal and they have been trawling cities negotiating deals at a range of bars, restaurants, cafes, activities, health and beauty stores and much more so you can live the life of a socialite without the credit card bill that goes with it. Simply purchase the coupon at www.dealeater.co.nz , a coupon will be emailed to you, print and redeem at your leisure.

Since launching last year Dealeater has built its subscriber list and has been able to negotiate some excellent deals- usually around the 50% mark. Recently they took a break to change the process and structure of the site and now they are back bogger and better.  The Wellington site launched on Friday August 20^th and Christchurch and Auckland will not be far off.

As Daniel Taiaroa, Chief Dealeater put it “University gave me a lesson in the economics of being broke. Dealeater basically allows people to act as a buying syndicate so we can join forces and get some group purchasing power. No vendor is willing to negotiate when you get to the counter, but when 50 of you are buying the same thing- people start to listen”.

The Dealeater iPhone App is available at the App Store, but is currently is the process of being update to run with the new website. But it is easy to keep up to date by signing up to the mailing list through their website, tracking them down on Facebook or following on Twitter.

The Dealeater subscriber list is rapidly expanding, and that means more leverage to get even better deals in your city!

Mobile marketing leader Run The Red is celebrating a major win with KHF Media after the interactive online drama Reservoir Hill won New Zealand’s first International Emmy, in Cannes, France.

Reservoir Hill competed internationally in the Children and Young People’s category. It was New Zealand’s first Emmy nomination.

KHF Media created the web-based show in association with TVNZ and New Zealand on Air. Reservoir Hill screened online in New Zealand on TVNZ On Demand from October to December last year and is now screening on TV2 on Sundays at 12pm.

Run The Red developed the mobile functionality that was pivotal to the show’s interactive success by allowing viewers to interact and actively participate in steering the storyline by texting Beth, the show’s main character.

Over 5,000 viewers engaged with the show by text or using an online mobile phone simulator.

Reservoir Hill was praised for its interactive storytelling by the International Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences President Bruce Paisner, who said, “This year’s winners have masterfully demonstrated how to enhance the viewers’ multi-platform experience.”

“The mixture of drama and SMS technology is highly innovative and Run The Red were a great partner in developing this quite unique application. It was crafted in a way that integrated our story and video postproduction process with Run The Red’s technology”, said KHF Media Director David Stubbs.

Ben Northrop, Run The Red CEO, says the team are thrilled to have helped create the Award-winning show. “We knew when we helped develop Reservoir Hill that it would be a big success, and the International Digital Emmy reflects the huge response from New Zealand fans. Congratulations to the KHF team and everyone involved in making a fantastic product and winning a Kiwi first!” said Northrop.

With the launch of the new Telecom Music Store on 24 June 2009, many are comparing it to Apple’s iTunes Store.

The iTunes Store has been around for years and is recognised as the largest legal music retailer in the world, and although we all know the Telecom Music Store is never going to take out iTunes title, the new Telecom Music Store is billed as New Zealand’s largest mobile music store.

So we here at Etch are going to break-down the two for you, so you can choose which digital music store is best suited and most convenient for you.

iTunes Store

The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store, launched by Apple in early 2003. It allows the user to purchase and transfer songs easily to an iPod through the iTunes application.

Until recently the iPod was the only digital music player that could work in conjunction with the iTunes Store. Now using Wi-Fi technology you can access the iTunes Store with an iPod Touch and iPhone for music on the go.

The store has more than 10 million songs available, with new songs added to the iTunes catalog every day. As well as music, audiobooks, video, games and apps are available to purchase through the iTunes Store.

While most downloaded files have previously included restrictions on their use, earlier this year iTunes initiated a shift into selling DRM-free music. Digital rights management prevented files from being copied to an MP3 player or other device.

Apple has also recently introduced three tiers of pricing: $1.29, $1.79 (where most songs sit) or $2.39. Prices are dependent on popularity and the price set by the record company.

Telecom Music Store

Telecom’s music store offers customers of the new XT network just over 3 million songs, which are accessible through TWorld, Telecom’s XT internet portal and downloadable to certain music-store-capable XT mobiles.

The cost to download music on your XT Mobile is currently $1.99 per track and it’s free to browse. Customers can also preview a song for up to 30 seconds for free before purchase.

The new Telecom music store has been criticised for wrapping its songs in copy protection or DRM. With iTunes recently eliminating its DRM many wonder why Telecom hasn’t done the same. There is an exception however, if you upgrade or change XT mobiles you can re-download each song.

What is unique about the Telecom Music Store is it has a local feel with Kiwi artists featuring on the home page. You can also check out “What’s fresh” and just like iTunes you can get high-spec graphics, bios and photos of key artists and albums.

Thinking of purchasing a smartphone in New Zealand? Well, we’re actually incredibly lucky. Not only do we have the iPhone, but it’s available to be purchased without a contract for use on PrePay. Only one other country in the world offers this, Italy, and they price the iPhones at 50% more than we do in New Zealand.

The iPhone 3G and 3GS will work on all 3 providers in NZ – Telecom (XT),Vodafone, and 2Degrees. Obviously the most internationally recognisable smartphone, the iPhone is also considered worldwide to be the best smartphone available. It is available in different memory sizes, and currently available in two different variations.

The original 3G-enabled iPhone, the iPhone 3G, is still available in the 8GB black model for $979 (although Vodafone are currently running a promotion in which you get an iPhone 3G 16GB for the price of the 8GB).

The new iPhone 3GS boasts several new features such as better camera and videocamera, voice recognition, compass, and twice the speed. It is available in both black and white, 16GB for $1149, and 32GB for $1379.

Personally, I would not consider purchasing the original 8GB iPhone 3G.  The new model is significantly faster, and with its extra features and at least double memory capacity, makes it by far superior. For the small amount extra you are getting a huge amount more.

As to which capacity you purchase is entirely personal. I use the 16GB model and this is enough for 10 full-length movies, several music videos, my entire music collection of around 1000 songs, my entire photo library of over 5000 photos, and countless Apps. However if you want more movies and/or more music, go for the 32GB model to be safe.

The iPhone is renowned for is simplicity – it has a simple design with minimal buttons, and its interface is incredibly easy to use. The iPod function is by far the best media player on any smartphone on the market, and is better yet with seamless intergration with Apple’s famous iTunes software. Along with the App store, boasting over 80000 apps for anything you can possibly imagine, the iPhone is a clear winner if you want to be able to use extra features with native applications on your smartphone.

The camera on the iPhone 3G is 2MP, but shows surprisingly good results for sharing online and viewing on the computer. The new 3GS has an improved 3.2MP camera with autofocus, and a tap-to-focus feature, along with a videocamera. The iPhone 3GS’ camera is really quite amazing for a phone-camera, and shows incredible results for sharing online and viewing on a computer.

The internet browser on the iPhone is fantastic, and is without a doubt the winner against both the HTC Magic and the Nokia N97. Load times are very fast on both 3G network and WiFi, and these are increased on the iPhone 3GS. Nifty features make browsing even better, like double tapping to zoom in and out, along with pinching the screen for more careful zooming. Most formats of video can be streamed.

A minor, although surprisingly nice, feature that the iPhone 3GS has over the 3G is physical. The 3GS’ screen is coated in a new material that almost entirely eliminates smudge marks. When I head of this online I thought it may be a bit of a gimmick, but after actually using the 3GS and comparing it to my 3G, I can say that it really does work. Keeping your iPhone looking pristine is something you will want after you are a proud owner!

For everyday consumers (not heavy users) NZ is well catered for with mobile data plans. Telecom’s XT network offers the best, with 3 different tiers. 20MB for $6, 120MB for $12, or 240MB for $18, each charged monthly. These amounts are plenty for everyday internet browing, Twitter and Facebook usage, YouTube streaming, photo uploading, and even downloading songs or apps. Vodafone offers one add-on for internet, $10 a month for 100MB. And of course both Telecom and Vodafone offer casual use of $1 a day for 10MB, only on the days you use it. 2Degrees does not yet offer any mobile data plans.

We all know that you can find love or lust online but now you can also find it with the help of your mobile phone. With the recent surge in technology and a constant stream of new mobile phones to hit the market, apps are popping up all over the place that helps you to do that very thing.

The Apple App Store, Telecom, the recently rolled out Ovi Store by Nokia, as well as the BlackBerry App World all have applications that can help you on your way to find that special someone. From hints and tips on love for both men and women to easy access to dating sites and web chat. It is now easier than ever to find your perfect mate.

So we here at Etch are giving you our top 5 applications to help you out this summer in your search to find love or something like it.

New Zealand SpeedDate

New Zeland SpeedDate is a fun way to find lots of single kiwis, quickly and conveniently. You can download New Zealand SpeedDate through the Apple App Store for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Its features include being able to create a free profile with your basic information, view thousands of photos of New Zealand men and women and receive messages from anyone who writes to you.

Love and Romance Tips

If you want to improve your love life, this app is for you. Regardless if you have just started dating or have been in a relationship for 20 years this app comes with well researched tips useful for every couple.

You can download this app through the Apple App Store and its features include daily romance tips for both sexes as well as a reminder system for special dates such as your anniversary.

NZDating

Exclusive to Telecom NZDating is New Zealand’s most popular dating and friendship website. Easy access through Telecom’s T-World, you can now login, search for members and find out who’s online all while on the go with one of Telecom’s latest mobile phones.

Sex Appeal Test

The Sex Appeal Test was established by using psychological criteria, which apparently tells you exactly where you can score points with the opposite sex and which areas you should perhaps improve.

A fun app that no doubt will keep you entertained for a few hours which is available for download through the Ovi Store.

Dating Tips by Tracey Cox

Fresh, chatty, and filled with Tracey Cox’s (former editor of cosmopolitan magazine) personal tips and hilarious anecdotes, Superdate takes the reader through the fundamentals of dating, then shows you how to express the messages you want to send and how to read what other bodies are saying to you. Packed with exciting concepts like getting what you want and seductive body language, you will learn how to become better at attracting the opposite sex. And you can do it on all on your mobile phone.

This app is available for download through the BlackBerry App World.