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Viewing 211 to 225 of 313 articles

• 'Magic' process turns kiwifruit into gold
  NZ Herald, 3 September
  New Zealand researchers have cracked what seems like modern-day alchemy creating compostable bioplastics from kiwifruit waste, which will be used to make combined spoon and knife utensils known as "spifes".
  Discussion starters:
  • Process technology: Bioplastics; reactive transformationse
  • Technological modelling: functional modelling; prototyping
• It's cool to recycle
  TV3 News video, 3 September
  Thirty thousand children from all over the world regularly click on the minimonos site where kids are encouraged to think about sustainability and have fun at the same time. The New Zealand website looks to make it cool to recycle.
  Discussion starters:
  • Nature of technology : sustainability – socio-cultural influences
  • Digital Technologies: web site design
• Ping is music to ears
  New Zealand Herald, 3 September
  Users of Apple Inc's iTunes software will now be able to see what songs their friends are buying and where their favourite bands are playing next.
  These social features are part of Ping, a new Apple service akin to Facebook, Twitter and other popular social networks. People can sign up, then find friends, acquaintances and public figures to "follow".
• Samsung unveils iPad competitor
  www.odt.co.nz, 3 September
  Samsung has unveiled a new tablet PC named Galaxy Tab as the latest device meant to rival Apple's popular iPad.
  The device offers users "a new galaxy of possibilities" with features such as mobile video conferencing and a video chat function, Samsung Europe telecom executive Thomas Richter said at Berlin's IFA consumer electronics fair.
• US military eyeing NZ made Jetpack
  New Zealand Herald, 4 September
  Two years after unveiling the Jetpack at the Oshkosh Airshow in the United States, Christchurch's Martin Aircraft Company is discussing possible military uses for its flying machine with the US Department of Defence.
  The firm's chief executive says possible applications include a remote-controlled, unmanned version of the propeller-powered aircraft - which has the potential to fly at heights of up to 10,000 feet (3048m) - being used as an "airborne missile platform".
• First coal to biological fuel project
  Scoop, 7 September
  LanzaTech and one of the largest coal producers in China, Henan Coal and Chemical Industrial Corporation (HNCC), have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the production of ethanol fuels and chemical products through the integration of coal gasification and LanzaTech's biological fermentation process.
  Discussion starters:
  • Nature of Technology: collaborative practice
  • Process technology: Green energy manufacturing
• Latest money saving gadgets prove to be big money makers
  New Zealand Herald, 7 September
  Demand is rising in the US for gadgets that squeeze out that last blob of toothpaste and help get the suds out of tiny slivers of soap.
  Marketers of these gizmos tout how the pennies they save by reducing waste can add up. Cheapskate gadgets may be a sign of the times, but they're also a sign of how product makers and retailers are trying to get people back in the spending habit.
• New uses for earthquake rubble
  TV3 News video, 7 September
  Demolition createws plenty of concrete rubble. Every year around 160,000 tonnes of it ends up in NZ landfills, so finding ways to reuse it is now a priority.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological products: material sustainability.
  • Processing Technologies: formulating processed products
• NZ microbe to produce ethanol from Chinese pollution
  New Zealand Herald, 8 September
  A New Zealand biotech firm is set to use its patented microbe technology to convert the polluting byproducts of one of China's biggest coal producers into ethanol.
  Auckland-based LanzaTech has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Henan Coal and Chemical Industrial Corporation, a China Fortune 500 company, to produce ethanol and other chemicals through its biological fermentation process.
• Christchurch earthquake videos
  TVNZ news video, 9 September
  Raw aerial vision showing flooded and cracked Canterbury farmland.
  Discussion starters:
  • Performance properties of materials
  • Structural design and engineering
  • Utilities infrastructures
  • Regulatory requirements
• Christchurch earthquake videos
  New Zealand Herald online video, 9 September
  Steven Joyce checks out damaged ports.
  Discussion starters:
  • Performance properties of materials
  • Structural design and engineering
  • Utilities infrastructures
  • Regulatory requirements
• Google cranks up web search speed with 'Instant'
  New Zealand Herald, 9 September
  SAN FRANCISCO - Internet giant Google began delivering turbocharged search results overnight, offering suggested web links as fast as a person can type.
  After two days of teasingly tinkering with the Google logo, or "doodle," atop its home page, the California company ended the mystery by unveiling "Google Instant" - a speedier route to Web search results.
• Global designs
  New Zealand Herald, 9 September
  Meet Margo Acland, the quietly driven force behind one of New Zealand's most successful design brands.
  Margot Acland, director and founder of Citta Design, is a woman who has the element of surprise tucked into her fastidiously formed bag of tricks. Few will realise that the business she started in 1989 has grown, almost stealthily, under her guidance, to employ a team of 100 and has its sights set on becoming a significant global player in the arena of homeware design. Acland makes no song and dance about it.
• History in the making
  New Zealand Herald, 10 September
  Looking back at interior design helps inform today's choices, says visiting lecturer Stephen Taylor.
  I am sitting in Cavit & Co.'s Parnell showroom, surrounded by elegant furnishings, looking at a new chair.
  Visiting British interior design historian Stephen Taylor is looking at the chair too.
• Local rocket buffs catch Nasa's eye
  NZ Herald, 12 September
  Auckland-based aerospace company Rocket Lab made history on November 31 last year by launching the first privately constructed rocket from the Southern Hemisphere. Now the company has received a research grant from the US Office of Naval Research to study new rocket propulsion methods and fuels.
  Discussion starters:
  • Hybrid fuel technology