Technology in the news – Articles from 2010

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Design news articles

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NZI Business video, 14 May
Edward de Bono contends that we developed a thinking culture concerned with finding the truth, and that we have never created a thinking culture for adding value.
Discussion starters:
• Creative thinking: risk taking to move forward
NZI Business video, 19 May
Over the past six years, an Auckland-based business has grown its innovative amphibious boat-building enterprise from initial proof-of-concept, through production prototyping to a stage of profitability – all in a period of recession.
Discussion starters:
• Technological Innovation
• Growing an enterprise
www.nzherald.co.nz, 26 May
The architecture firm which designed the Yellow Treehouse north of Auckland has been approached to do other similar structures.
Peter Eising of Pacific Environments, which won a national award from the Institute of Architects this month, said his firm owned the treehouse copyright. It cost about $600,000 to build, he said, and he is confident it can be done again.
BBC News online, 3 June
The notion of tapping into high altitude winds was first posed in the 1970s, but was not technically possible. However, recent advances in materials, computing resources and unmanned aerial vehicles have now made the idea viable. As a result, a handful of companies are now exploring different designs to generate cheap renewable energy from the skies.
Discussion starters:
• Energy innovation
New York Times online, 5 June
Oil continued to pour from a runaway oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday as engineers worked to close two of four vents on a capping device lowered onto the gushing riser pipe. Now, technicians involved in the operation say they are concerned that as they succeed in gathering more and more oil, they may have trouble handling and storing all of it.
www.stuff.co.nz, 8 June
A New Plymouth-based medical bed manufacturer has been named as the winner of the 2010 Australian International Design Award of the Year. The award was for its M8 intensive care bed, which was praised by the judges for its outstanding design, attention to detail, and innovation.
Discussion starters:
• Product development: a human-centred approach to design
news.bbc.co.uk, 15 June
A solar-powered plane is getting ready to hit the skies once again - this time, at night.
It will be the first ever manned night flight on a plane propelled exclusively by solar energy. Solar Impulse will lift off from an airfield in Switzerland, on a sunny day sometime at the end of June.
It will then fly around, charging the solar cells on the plane's wings, in a bid to generate enough energy for the electric motors to last until dawn.
TV3 Campbell Live video, 16 June
Promoters of a new shoe say reducing the 13,000 injuries reported each year, is as simple as changing how we run.
Discussion starters:
• Product design
TV3 News video, 19 June
With 20% of New Zealand homes now having a heat pump installed corrosion problems may become a serious issue.
Discussion starters:
• Technological products : material properties and fitness for purpose
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
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
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
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
NY Times / International Herald Tribune, 19 July
Disasters teach more than successes. While that idea may sound paradoxical, it is widely accepted among engineers. They say grim lessons arise because the reasons for triumph in matters of technology are often arbitrary and invisible, whereas the cause of a particular failure can frequently be uncovered, documented and reworked to make improvements.
Discussion starters:
• Nature of Technology: Importance of failure analysis
NZ Herald, 2 August
Investing in design is now paying dividends for a Taranaki company facing tough global competition in the niche market of supplying specialised beds used by hospitals.
Discussion starters:
• Better-by-design (BBD) programmes
• Lean manufacturing

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