Elijah: 11 years blogging in Europe

11 years old that is – Elijah was blogging about his family’s trip around Europe. My favorite post was from Berlin: My Parents dragged me out to the country side to the 1936 Olympic Village, where they made me walk around the ruins in the hot and dry sun…. Although Elijah clearly saw this as …

Yale’s expansion is great for foreign students

Each year 5300 or so people attend Yale College – the 4 year undergraduate part of Yale University. For the 2007-8 undergraduate class, there were 19,323 applicants – and a huge porportion of them deserve to go to Yale, or a similar institution. However only 10% got offers and 7.1% make it to the first …

Fairfax’s WAToday launches – if you can find it

Fairfax’s long- awaited Western Australia site is here. This, and the BrisbaneTimes are important as they show, or do not show, whether a major media company can enter a competitors market by launching an online site. Like say NZ Herald entering Wellington, or Fairfax NZ entering Auckland, or the WSJ entering the UK. This will …

Timeexchange: really not the best name

timeexchange.co.nz it seems, as noted already in comments by ACTUS Technology’s President Joe, already exists as timeexchange.net, and he is not happy: Name: Joe P**** Email: ***@******.com Website: http://www.timexchange.net Lance, In reference to your post “A Trade Me Spin off – timeexchange”, I would like to ask you to have it removed or to note …

Apple: What we really need on Monday

It is a sure thing that the iPhone will be updated from Tuesday, and will even be available in a bunch of new countries, including Australia and New Zealand. I know this for sure not just because of the persistent rumours everywhere, but also as I couldn’t even follow Rowan’s advice and buy an iPhone …

The WWDC Apple show – how it got so big

It’s the annual Steve Jobs speech at the WWDC – (Word Wide Developer Conference) on Monday morning US Pacific time. While we wait for the new iPhone, Snow Leopard and a host of other rumours, check out the history of Steve’s “just one more thing..” at his WWDC speeches. That link (do check it out)  …

Best before, ok afterwards – food safety

Brilliant dailymail  about best-before dates. The writer, Jonathan Maitland, from the Daily Mail has written an excellent article on the supposed perils of eating food past it’s best-before date. Jonathon  is someone that wields a certain flexibility on “best before” dates, figuring if he is careful (usually by cooking well) then he can eat pretty …

Welcome to the Asylum

AOL has launched a new site downunser – Asylum.com.au It’s aimed at “men”, and so covers such vital news as “world’s sexiest weather girls“, “10 worst tattoos ever” and as they say it: If you’re looking for Weird Legos or elaborate sex toys — we’ve got it. So it’s not the thinking man’s website, and …

A Trade Me Spin off – timeexchange

We are starting to see a few more spin off from Trade Me staff that are launching websites on their own. The first significant start up founded by someone working at Trade Me was Findsomeone which was created by Nigel while he was pulling a day job at Trade Me, and which was then bought …

What to do next? – crazy idea number 2

The next option for ludicrous post-June plans is to go for a bicycle ride. My brother and family are driving around Australia starting from July 1 and going North from Sydney. Therefore I could start from Perth around the same time and rendezvous with John and co. somewhere between Broome and Darwin. After the rendevous …

What to do next? crazy idea number 1

I’m finishing up a couple of contract at the end of June, wondering what I shall do next. Being in Colombia sure made me miss South America, and so is it purely coincidence that I came across the route for the 2009 Dakar race? That’s some pretty fun terrain on that map – I’ve been …

Departure tax going, but a bad job doesn’t help

Thank goodness. Auckland airport’s embarrassingly poor departure tax system is for the trash heap – and rightly so. For example – what can’t you see in this photo of the departure tax place next to the immigration entrance? That’s right – the price. You can’t see the price. A simple sign saying “Departure tax – …