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• Cable TV in Pursuit of Mobility
  New York Times, 3 March
  What Cable in the United States is doing to fight the internet: 'We're not going to sit here watching the Internet nibble away at our very existence, people. We're not going to behave like the music industry, either. We won't start suing people for going with the technological flow. We need to work with the changing times instead of fighting them.'
• iPad 2 tablet launched
  BBC News online, 3 March
  Apple has launched the second generation of its iPad tablet computer at an event in San Francisco. The company said the machine featured a faster processor, improved graphics, and front and rear cameras. Apple leads the industry in sales of tablet devices, but is beginning to face competition from rivals such as HP and Samsung.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital infrastructure: Trends in computing
• News Corp bets on iPad for future of news
  TVNZ News, 3 March
  The Daily has been launched as the world's first iPad only newspaper. Like traditional hard newspapers it's a mixture of news, sport and entertainment but has the bonus of video and audio content as well.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital media: publication formats
• Kittens With Jet Packs? Not Yet, but These Inventors Are on It
  New York Times, 4 March
  It was the end of a three-day binge of invention in March 2009. Bre Pettis, Zach Hoeken Smith and Adam Mayer had locked themselves in a bare cement room in Downtown Brooklyn pretty much around the clock. No one was hollering Eureka; they had to chase screws that rolled under the table.
  They were building a three-dimensional printer, a machine that works like an inkjet printer except that it squirts molten plastic, not ink. The layers of plastic rise into almost any shape - bolts, tools, toys - based on digital models sent to the printer from a computer.
• Primary School becomes first in NZ to wear a 'Green Roof'
  Happyzine.co.nz article, 06 March
  Remarkables Primary School, a newly built enviro school, is one of a handful of schools throughout the world which can boast a green roof, which doubles as an outdoor classroom.
  Discussion starter:
  • Building design: Optimising land use; aesthetics and functionality
• Kaspar the friendly robot helps autistic kids
  Stuff.co.nz, 09 March
  Eden Sawczenko used to recoil when other little girls held her hand and turned stiff when they hugged her. This year, the four-year-old autistic girl began playing with a robot that teaches about emotions and physical contact - and now she hugs everyone.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Modeling: Prototype testing
  • Key competencies: Relating to others
• Technology to 'print' a complete house is just around the corner
  NZ Herald article, 14 March
  Imagine being able to rebuild Christchurch with the click of a mouse. Architects and engineers produce plans down to the last detail using computer-aided design (CAD) software. Then, hit print and - not quite instantly, but after a few days - completed buildings appear before our eyes.
  It sounds like fantasy - yet it's not that fanciful.
  Discussion starter:
  • Computer aided design and manufacture: Contour crafting; 'additive manufacturing'
• Out-of-date eftpos terminals cut off
  Stuff.co.nz article, 14 March
  Hundreds of retailers across New Zealand have been disconnected from the computer network which linked their Eftpos terminals to banks, after the network operators said the out-of-date terminals posed risks to the safety and security of transactions.
  Discussion starter:
  • Digital infrastructure: connection and interaction of component
  • Characteristics of Technological outcomes: Fitness for purpose
• The Mechanics of a 'Meltdown'
  New York Times online, 14 March
  The difference between a partial meltdown and a full meltdown at a nuclear plant is enormous, both in the degree of damage and in the potential release of radiation.
  Discussion starters:
  • Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: Catastrophic failur
  • Technological products: Technological Products: relationship between the properties of materials and their performance capability
• Rebuilding Christchurch business: Cabbage Tree Creative
  NZ Herald article, 16 March
  A Christchurch-based web agency that specialises in design, development and online marketing in the tourism sector, learnt after the September earthquake that their business wasn't resilient enough. Changes put in place have allowed the company to keep servicing its clients as normal just days after the February quake.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Modeling: Redundancy and reliability; cost benefit analysis
  • Digital Technologies: Digital infrastructure
• Building shelters that can withstand a tsunami
  Newscientist.com article (with embedded video), 17 March
  Among proposed solutions is an innovative and affordable submarine-shaped reinforced concrete structure that would literally ride the waves, keeping up to 80 people safe inside.
  Known as the STATIM Shelter System, the tubular structures would be tethered, but could float freely. Designed to survive temporary submersion and to be self-righting and built from reinforced concrete, they should also be sturdy enough to survive being battered with debris in a major tsunami.
  Discussion starters:
  • Technological Products: relationship between the properties of materials and their performance capability
  • Technological systems: Redundancy and reliability
  • Manufacturing technology: modular construction
• Urbis Design day
  TV3 Nightline video, 19 March
  Urbis Design day provided an opportunity for 50 creatives to show off their work around 13 different Auckland locations. TV3's Nightline took a sneak peek at one project, a collaboration between Furniture Lab, Dulux paint and design outfit We Love Inc.
  Discussion starter:
  • Structures and machines: creative design; transformation of energy
• Hi-tech press a plot twist for publishers
  NZ Herald article, 20 March
  First, bookworms were able to buy digital books on electronic readers; now a New Zealand company will print out a single copy of that book and mail it to your front gate.
  With technological developments like this, it's little wonder book stores such as Whitcoulls and Borders are in trouble.
• Protein shake in a cone
  Sunday Star Times article, 20 March
  When Sean Nixon got home from a gym workout one night, all he wanted was some icecream. Wouldn't it be great, he said to his mates, if there was a dessert that had as much benefit as a protein shake but tasted as good as chocolate ice cream. That's about the time he decided to invent one.
  Discussion starters:
  • Processing technologies: New food product development
  • Principles: Future focus - Enterprise attributes
• The changing tide of boardmaking
  Taranaki Daily News, 21 March
  The number of surfboard shapers in New Zealand has been declining steadily over the past 10 years. Blanton Smith explores the effect cheaper imported boards from China are having on the industry.
  The artisan's weathered hands have been through this routine a thousand times before. With pencil in hand he traces the edge of a template, cutting along the lines until the piece of foam (known as a blank) resembles a surfboard. Picking up the planer and sander the master craftsman smoothes out the sharp, rugged edges into smooth curves. He casts his practised eye over the board looking for blemishes and imperfections, correcting them as he goes. For finer details sanding blocks and shaper's gauze are used, blending the slightest of angles into symmetrical curves.