Technology in the news – Articles from 2010

2012 onwards | 2011 | 2010

Design news articles

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TVNZ Close Up video, 28 September
From duck-hunting caps with solar-powered lights to a machine that makes sushi in one simple step, the work of more than 30 Kiwi inventors will be on display at Porirua's Pataka Museum.
Discussion starters:
• Nature of Technology: the process of invention.
NZ Trade and Enterprise - Success Stories, October
New Zealand designers are noted for their fresh approach and several kiwi businesses are exporting that talent with significant success. Five businesses are finalists in the 2010 New Zealand International Business Awards category for best use of design.
Discussion starters:
• Embedding design principles across a business
• Understanding end-user needs
TV3 News video, 1 October
Mattel® (NZ) today announced a voluntary recall of 10 products distributed in New Zealand during the past seven years. The recall is a precautionary measure because of potential safety issues. There have been no reports of injuries in New Zealand. Retailers have been asked to remove affected product from stores. Customers are asked to discontinue using the products immediately and contact Mattel® (NZ) for a repair kit, a refund or a replacement product.
Discussion starters:
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: quality assurance; safety standards; fitness for purpose.
Stuff.co.nz, 6 October
Grenades are not exactly synonymous with life-saving, but they have inspired a young Sydney designer to create an award-winning device that could save swimmers from drowning.
Discussion starters:
• Technological products: performance properties and material selection
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: Fitness for purpose in its widest sense
TV3 News video, 6 October
The waka Te hono ki Aotearoa has made its way from its construction base in Northland to the Museum Volkenkunde in the Netherlands to be part of the Mana Maori exhibition. The waka, which was specially commissioned by the museum for the six-month exhibition in Leiden will then travel around Europe, supporting New Zealand events, before travelling to Gallipolli for the centenary of Anzac Day in 2015.
Discussion starters:
• Characteristics of Technology: historical positioning; social and cultural influences
• Specialist knowledge and skills: construction technologies
The National Business Review, 6 October
The Designers Institute of New Zealand has given accolades to the buildings voted the most well-designed of the year at its annual Best Design Awards.
The awards, established in 1988, recognise the best design in products, graphics and interactive designs.
NY Times online, 12 October
A video camera is attached to a weather balloon and sent more than 30km into the stratosphere. The camera returned safely to the ground with the help of a small parachute in a round trip taking about 90 minutes. A seven minute edited account of the voyage, posted on the video-sharing site Vimeo, has become a viral success, attracting more than one million views since it was first uploaded
Discussion starters:
• Technological Products: Relationship between the properties of materials and their performance capabilities; safety regulations
• Nature of Technology: regulatory requirements; safety considerations
TV3 Campbell Live, 14 October
Auckland is ploughing ahead with the country's biggest ever roading project - The Western Route. However, the small community of Waterview says they're paying a very high price for the new motorway – breathing it in. Waterview will have a giant ventilation stack in its back yard, right next to a school.
Discussion starters:
• Characteristics of Technology: socio-cultural impacts and influences
• Technological modeling: functional and practical reasoning – how to make it happen / should we make it happen
Bay of Plenty Times, 21 October
A walking stick with a light and a computer mouse kinetically charged and readily available in case of an emergency. These are just two of the innovative designs four graphics and technology students are responsible for - earning them the title of New Zealand's top young designers.
Hawkes Bay Today, 1 November
Success in a competition to design new gates for the Rotary Pathway has also netted Hawke's Bay students national design awards.
Thomas Daulton, from Lindisfarne College, has won the secondary school category of the nationwide Transpower Neighbourhood Engineers' Awards, a competition run by the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ). He earned $1000 for his school.
NZ Herald, 4 November
A squalid flat along a busy thoroughfare of San Francisco, seems an unlikely setting for a cleaning revolution.
But that's exactly what happened when Adam Lowry and his flatmate and university friend Eric Ryan began running small-scale tests from their home in 2000, and ambushing supermarket owners with their ideas.
New York Times online, 5 November
From one end, this concrete and glass house looks as if it had burst through the rocks on which it stands. From the other, it seems to nestle into them, a civilized shelter in a wild setting. Of course, the reality involves inspired design and engineering, but the appearance is magical nonetheless.
Discussion starters:
• Site integration
• Good design: could we, should we?
Dominion Post, 8 November
A family road trip has seen a Wellington student stumble upon an innovation that could cut the number of traffic accidents caused by sleepy drivers.
Fourth-year Massey University industrial design student Rachel Moller, 21, has created a range of roadside rest-area furniture to entice tired motorists to take a break.
The circular outdoor tables feature a light beneath the tabletop to make them stand out at night and become a beacon for motoring locals, tourists and long-haul drivers.
NZ Herald, 8 November
With big overseas projects under its belt, design company is now keen to do more work at home.
While many New Zealand companies have been suffering in the past few years, design company Space Studio has been busy working on projects in the Pacific.
TV3 News video, 16 November
A Christchurch invention has hit the cover of Time magazine after being picked as one of the 50 best inventions of 2010.
Discussion starters:
• Turning comic book fantasy into reality

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