Technology in the news – Articles from 2011

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Stuff.co.nz article, 21 March
A Taranaki designer is calling on businesses to take some pride in their surroundings and embark on a planting binge to transform the "asphalt jungle" he says dominates the sector.
Discussion starter:
• Human factors in design: landscape design
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.
NZ Herald article, 22 March
The rapid development of mobile technology is opening up an ever wider range of possibilities and threats for governments, businesses and citizens.
Discussion starter:
• Future of technolog
• Impact of technological change
NZ Herald article, 22 March
US professor Pamela Ronald will be at the NZBIO conference in Auckland tomorrow to talk about how organic farming and genetic engineering can contribute to sustainable agriculture.
Ronald, a professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis, will talk about her book, Tomorrow's Table, co-authored with her organic farmer husband.
New York Times, 23 March
The cellphone has been more than a cellphone for years, but soon it could take on an entirely new role - standing in for all of the credit and debit cards crammed into wallets. Instead of swiping a plastic card at the checkout counter, consumers would merely wave their phones. There's just one hitch: While the technology is already being installed in millions of phones - and is used overseas - wide adoption of the so-called mobile wallets is being slowed by a major behind-the-scenes battle among corporate giants.
NZ Herald article, 23 March
Scientists are working with a highly sophisticated robot with a twist. This robot is designed to learn like a human. Instead of programming the robot with lines of code the creators wanted to learn from what it experiences. They are hoping that this will mean the robot becomes more flexible in its actions.
Stuff.co.nz, 23 March
Scientists believe they are one step closer to creating time travel. American physicists from Vanderbilt University believe they may be able to use the Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest atom smasher buried underground near Geneva, to send a type of matter called the Higgs singlet into the past. But they're unsure if the Higgs singlet actually exists and whether the machine can produce it, according to a report by Live Science.
NZ Herald article, 23 March
As New Zealand considers how best to expand its high-value manufacturing sector as a route to boosting our export returns, Industrial Biotechnology provides one particularly bright spot in suggesting we are headed in the right direction.
That is industrial biotechnology, a diverse sector driven by the twin megatrends of climate change and population growth, and which is in many ways the epitome of value-add.
Discussion starter:
• Nature of Technology: Megatrends; interdisciplinary nature of technological practice.
• Technological products: New materials formulation and their potential impacts on future product function
Stuff.co.nz article, 23 March
Six Christchurch pupils have created a device that uses a pot of boiling water to charge cellphones, power a light and run a radio. The device was developed in a backyard shed after the St Thomas of Canterbury College pupils came up with the idea after the September 4 earthquake.
Discussion starter:
• Technological modeling: prototype development
• Enterprising attributes: generating, identifying and assessing opportunities
Stuff.co.nz article, 23 March
If you've experienced a World of Wearable Art show and yearned for a closer look at how those spectacular garments are constructed, this museum in Nelson - the city where WOW was born - is the place to go.
For some visitors, the biggest surprise is not the frocks but the gorgeously restored classic cars on display.
Taranaki Daily News, 23 March
The Opunake Surf Reef Trust is struggling to contact the company building its problem-plagued artificial surf reef.
Representatives from ASR Ltd failed to turn up to a meeting with the trust and South Taranaki District Council in January to discuss what can be done to get the reef to work.
ASR has also not provided the trust with any details of what needs to be done to finish the project.
"They haven't turned up. I've tried and tried and tried to get them to come to a meeting and to send some information down and none of it has arrived, so I'm getting rather frustrated," trust chairman David Lusk said.
"They were to have sent information down regarding what was required to complete the reef and I haven't even seen that."
NZ Herald article, 25 March
New spy software has gone on sale in New Zealand to allow parents to monitor their children's text messages and cellphone calls. The technology even has a GPS tracking device so parents know exactly where their children are at any given moment. However, some groups have voiced concern about how the technology might be abused.
Discussion starter:
• Characteristics of Technology: Social and cultural influences and impacts
• Characteristics of Technological Outcomes: 'proper function' and 'alternative function'
Cubed E-zine, March
Queuing, unpacking and repacking our suitcases is the price of Airport security. Suitcases go through an x-ray and any suspicious image means the luggage is sent on to a second machine, but a new 3D scanner may speed things up. The idea is that the bags could have a three dimensional scan and be viewed from any angle, enabling the security people to get a much better idea of the contents of a piece of luggage much faster.
Discussion starters:
• Nature of Technology: Collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of technological practice
• Digital Technologies: computer programming - algorithmic design
NZ Herald article, 2 April
The story of the Q-Sub and its development is one of typical Kiwi determination, doggedness and a willingness to find new solutions to apparently impossible problems.
Stuff.co.nz article, 5 April
Computer animation has a problem: when it gets too realistic, it starts creeping people out. Most recently, moviegoers complained about the near-realistic depiction of humans in Disney's 3D flick Mars Needs Moms.
Discussion starter:
• Computer animation issues

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