A nice rant by Bernard Hickey against the rushed Auckland electrification decision. I’m not arguing with him on the rushed aspect, nor on the specifics of this particular decision, which seem to be remarkably absent. However the comments have unveiled a cars versus buses versus trains versus whatever war. Let me copy my comment on …
Continue reading “Trains, buses and cars – we need them all”
Is this the first response to Powershop? Via a secret source, Contact energy is offering 12% prompt payment discounts, up from 10%. In this game that’s a huge discount. Click on the picture to see the original (it looks the same). I don’t get the “no credit card” rule though – at least not from …
Continue reading “Is Powershop forcing a competitive response already?”
I want another power cable for my Zumo motorcycle GPS unit. It’s so I don’t have to rip the one out of my KTM here in Perth, which gives me the option of doing an epic KTM sand tour again later this year. So I Googled “Zumo Power Cable”, and find DirectDepot – a US …
Continue reading “Why living in NZ sucks, and how you can profit”
Fairfax (Reuters) belatedly opines that Directorships are not a reward, but actual work. It’s an article based on US companies, but is applies to every jurisdiction. I absolutely agree – a directorship is a very serious obligation. I propose a simple philosophy Blame the Board of Directors for failed companies Credit the CEO and management …
Continue reading “Blame directors for failure, CEOs for success”
Go to the home pages of Dell.com.au or Dell.co.nz or Dell.com and search for “30 inch monitor” Marvel at the results. Well don’t bother actually – as here are those results. On Dell.com you use this search box. and get a nice list of 30 inch monitors. No surprise there. There are even some NEC …
It’s in Perth, and ready for Autumn and Winter riding into the desert. What a great way to go. <I’ve had this in storage since Feb 09 in Fremantle – and it is still for sale>
After reviewing the raw output from the 6 groups, let’s now turn to the published “Top Twenty” list, and some quick comments. Job Summit – Top Twenty Core Workplace and Employment Issues 1. Retain and Upskill – the nine day fortnight Retain jobs by reducing wage costs while firms earnings are down. Retain jobs short …
Continue reading “Dissecting the NZ job summit output – Top twenty”
The Government sponsored Jobs summit was on Friday, and on the beehive website you can read the input documents, breakout descriptions, attendees, power point bullet outputs and a top 20 laundry list. So lets get to it. I believe a summit was a good idea – the depression looms, and that also the focus on …
Continue reading “Dissecting the NZ Job Summit output – Group outputs”
So Powershop lowers switching costs, but as you can see from the headline it also lowers actual costs. So how much can you save? If you are like me – then a lot. I was using Contact, who like the other companies, charge in two ways – cents per unit consumed (kWh) and a service …
A while back Ari from Powershop gave me, and a few others, a demonstration of Powershop – a new way to buy electricity. It’s pretty cool – you can choose which supplier you buy your units from each time you buy. I loved the idea. It reduces the pain and cost of switching from one …
Continue reading “Powershop lowers switching costs – and that is good”
#blackout Section 92A of Amended New Zealand Copyright Act comes into effect on the 28th of February, 2008. The chilling effect of 92A has been reported here before – one email to an unused address, and a family’s internet connection was switched off. It is pleasing that MP’s from all sides have indicated that this …
Somewhat by mistake I found myself reading something that Kevin Roberts had written – he apparently has a blog in NZHerald. This post was about new Queen Street, Auckland, Gelato shop – Giapo, and here’s what he had to say about it: The store has been created as a Lovemark and is dripping with Mystery, Sensuality, …
New Zealand has the third highest car ownership per person in the world, the economist informs us. That’s amazing, especially as tiny Luxembourg tops the list. It’s especially amazing when you are standing at a rental car counter during summer and unable to get a car. Luxembourg is only 80 x 30 kms, and while …
Continue reading “Lower the barriers to raise car ownership”
Business listings is a winner take all game right? After all – why would you have more than one set of Yellow Pages in your house? So Yellow’s purchase of Finda is a great move. Right? Well not exactly. When was the last time you used Wises, Finda, Yellow Pages or UBD? My answer is …
A big change when I came back to Wellington late last year was the emergence of Green Cabs. What an overdue idea, and what a great one. It’s a triple play – better for the environment, better for the drivers and better for customers. Their fleet of bright green Toyota Prius cars cost …
Continue reading “Well done Green Cabs. Now – about that website?”
Lance Wiggs 