Category Archives: Business

Idiot taxes mean business opportunity

Posted on June 17, 2009 by

A while back I wrote about Dick Smith being a stupid place to buy stuff. The cheapest HDMI cable you can buy on sale at Dick Smith, with the 15% discount, is a staggering $55.23. Despite a Dick Smith staff … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Internet Business | Tagged , | 5 Comments

BNZ’s Netguard costs $5, but is the least bad option

Posted on June 15, 2009 by

I’ve blogged before about BNZ’s stupid Netguard Card – which has codes on it to allow you to login to your bank account. Perish the thought that you are travelling when the new one is issued, or that you lose … Continue reading →

Posted in Business | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

The Fail of Bing. And google.

Posted on June 3, 2009 by

Like everyone else I have been trying out Bing.com – Microsofts “new” search engine. It’s useless. Here is the result page for “buy car” – with “pages from New Zealand selected”. Firstly it is difficult to see where the advertisements … Continue reading →

Posted in Business | 8 Comments

When to resign from a board

Posted on June 2, 2009 by

Over at the SEC is an excellent letter from Richard E Middlekauff – who just resigned from the board of Heelys, Inc – a shoe company. Here’s why: 1: The shareholders are not maximising their return after the company was … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Investing | 1 Comment

A few fun GM Chapter 11 facts

Posted on June 2, 2009 by

A quick read of the General Motors Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition gives some fun facts about the collosal disaster that is GM. Total Assets: $82.3 Billion Total Debts: $172.8 Billion. That’s 217% of assets, $90.52 billion in net debt and … Continue reading →

Posted in Business | 8 Comments

Well done Trade Me, but the threat remains

Posted on May 25, 2009 by

There’s an interesting article over at eBay strategies, which talks about how eBay lost the market for classifieds and mentions that Amazon is taking out the top end. (If you work at Trade Me then you should have eBay Strategies … Continue reading →

Posted in auctions, Business, Internet Business, Trade Me | Tagged | 6 Comments

I’ve joined Equip – a Better by Design consultancy

Posted on May 25, 2009 by

Better By Design is a NZ Government sponsored program that seeks to help high growth companies become design-led – and thus turn into great companies. The end goal of Better by Design is for New Zealand companies to generate more … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, NZ Business | 2 Comments

Red Bull is a tobacco company

Posted on May 24, 2009 by

A scary article in the NZHerald on how a Brooke Robertson lost 55 Kg of weight by abandoning foods and solely drinking Red Bull. “I managed to wean myself off it by being in hospital for that long but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, media, NZ Business | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Let’s deliver mail once a week

Posted on May 24, 2009 by

From this great illustration of the average US Postal Service residential customer’s mailbox we can glean some interesting facts. Amongst them is numerical evidence as to why I don’t check my mail very often. There are almost 200 billion pieces … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, NZ Business, Politics | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Why are Harcourts not yet on Trade Me?

Posted on May 22, 2009 by

There’s a fun discussion happening over on the Unconditional Blog – which if you have not found it yet is well worth following. I commend Alister Helm for not only his writing, but also for balancing the real estate industry … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Internet Business, Trade Me | 5 Comments

Let there be light

Posted on May 22, 2009 by

A simple idea – cover a 55,000 sports stadium with solar panels, and use them to power (75% of) the lights. This is in Taiwan, ready for the World Games, and, more importantly, Rugby sevens. When there is no match … Continue reading →

Posted in Business | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

BMW’s new bike – the S1000RR

Posted on May 12, 2009 by

BMW has just released the street version of their Supersport bike. This is an important event in the decade long takeover of the marque by horsepower crazy hoons. Those hoons still believe in ABS and traction control – this bike … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Motorcycling | 1 Comment

The media is no longer the message

Posted on May 4, 2009 by

An interesting survey by eMarketer, via WebProNews: Stop. Don’t look too hard at the table. This survey is fundamentally flawed. The flaw is simple, and it reflects an old mode of thinking: These days the media is not the message. … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Internet Business, media | Tagged | 6 Comments

How to twitter if you are a corporation

Posted on April 22, 2009 by

Twitter, for members of my family and those other 4 people that read blogs and have not yet discovered it, is a microblogging service that has just hit the main stream media. By definition it is therefore passé, but in … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Internet Business, media, NZ Business, telecom, Trade Me | Tagged , , , | 18 Comments

Amazon is failing to be the iTunes of book world – so far

Posted on April 18, 2009 by

I’m warming on the idea of the Kindle – Amazon’s ebook reader. I like it for mass reduction, especially when travelling – it sharply reduces mass that you need to cart around on an airplane or  motorcycle. I like it … Continue reading →

Posted in Broadband, Business, Internet Business, NZ Business | Tagged , , | 2 Comments