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• Building smarter machines
  New York Times, 24 June
  Synthetic speech, autonomous robots, computers beating the best humans at chess and checkers. As computers grow ever smarter, a look at developments in the field of artificial intelligence.
  Discussion starters:
  • Machine intelligence
  • Voice recognition software
• Lag in advancement of oil spill cleanup technology
  New York Times, 24 June
  Two decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, cleanup technology has progressed so little that the biggest advancement in the Gulf of Mexico disaster — at least in the public's mind — is an oil-water separator based on a 17-year-old patent.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological modeling: Prototype testing; validity of evidence
• E3 Expo showcases latest in gaming Technology
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 25 June
  Microsoft's new Kinect system does away with controllers altogether, using a trick array microphone and camera peripheral to map players' bodies and then use their movements to control gameplay.
  Discussion starters:
  • Control technology
• 3D - increasing the gaming sp
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 25 June
  How 3D games are changing the experience
  Sony was pushing 3D gaming hard at E3, handing out glasses to everyone in its massive media conference to demonstrate its stunning Killzone 3 game in multi-dimensional glory.
  There is a solid list of titles that will take 3D to the gaming masses - and after seeing Killzone 3 and the long-awaited Gran Turismo 5 in action, there's no doubt that it is impressive.
• Google eyes up fast-growing Indonesia
  www.nzherald.co.nz, 25 June
  JAKARTA - Google says that internet use in Indonesia was expanding at a fast pace and was the leading emerging economy in terms of growth.
  "Users are growing very, very fast. Indonesia is about to explode," Google Asia Business Development director Emmanuel Sauquet said of Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
  "It has very diverse and very active online communities. It's the right place for us to come now," he said. "Compared to other emerging countries, Indonesia is the fastest growing country."
• Aucklanders play musical stairs
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 30 June
  What would make you walk up the stairs instead of taking the escalator? What if the stairs played like a piano when you stepped on them?
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Modelling: prototype testing
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: proper function / alternative function
• UPDATE: Loophole revealed in airport check-in machines
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 30 June
  It has been a week since we revealed loopholes in airline security - so have they been changed?
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Systems: system design – ongoing performance and maintenance
• Solar lamp reduces air pollution
  BBC </em> online<em>, 2 July
  The developers of a solar lamp that aims to replace kerosene-burning lights in developing countries have won a prestigious environmental award.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technology: appropriate technology
• New bar code-based system works improve consistency in fruit quality
  New Zealand Trade & Enterprise website, 6 July
  Hawkes Bay IT company ABC Software is targeting Australia as a potentially major export market for a system it has been developing to track a wide variety of fruit through every step from tree to consumer.
  Discussion starters:
  • Software development
  • Quality assurance procedures
• Report: Gulf of Mexico awash with abandoned oil wells
  NZ Herald, 7 July
  There could be more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurking in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, according to an Associated Press investigation report – producing an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological systems: reliability within system design and performance
  • Characteristics of Technology: Socio-cultural influences - regulatory requirements, environmental impact
• New adhesive for tape, label industry developed
  Sciencedaily.com, 7 July
  An incidental discovery has produced a new pressure-sensitive adhesive that may revolutionize the tape industry -- an environmentally benign product that works very well and costs much less than existing adhesives based on petrochemicals.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: proper function / alternative function
  • Technological Products: new material formulation / fitness for purpose
• Solar plane completes 24 hour flight
  BBC </em> online<em>, 8 July
  An experimental solar-powered aircraft which took off during daylight has landed safely in Switzerland after successfully flying through the night. The feat is a step toward the makers' aim of circling the globe using the power of the Sun to fuel the plane.The aircraft used super-efficient solar cells and batteries to stay in the air after the Sun's rays had faded.
  Discussion starters:
  • Advances in solar power technology
  • Material properties related to performance capability
• Doctors keep pace with heart from afar
  NZ Herald, 9 July
  An innovative pacemaker not only keeps a 13-year-old boy's fragile heart ticking, it also lets his doctor keep watch on it from hundreds of kilometres away.
  Discussion starters:
  • Digital Technologies - data collection and transfer
  • Medical technology – remote diagnosis
• New Auckland viaduct to open shortly
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 13 July
  It's the busiest stretch of road in New Zealand at the moment, with 160,000 cars using it every day – and right beside it, high above Newmarket, they have been building its replacement.
  Discussion starters:
  • Construction and Mechanical Technologies: technical innovation; socio-cultural considerations
• PowerTread &ndash; Turning cars into energy generators
  TV3 Campbell Live video, 15 July
  Two West Auckland inventors have come up with a device which take the energy created by the weight and speed of your car and converts it into electricity – a device which may have the potential to make large shopping malls self-sufficient in energy consumption.
  Discussion starters:
  • Renewable energy technolog
  y • Technological Modeling: proof-of-concept; prototype testing
  • Ingenuity, invention and innovation