Quick Wigram update. Denis is working with a tenant of the airfield (don't want to name names incase it makes life even more tortuous for them) to raise issues through official channels regarding problems which run to the core of the very process by which the plan change was recommended.
Namely three points:
a) The commissioner appointed to prepare a report on the plan change (and thus the utility of Wigram) did not consult with relevant people, both because they were not specifically tasked as such - they were tasked to receive submissions drawn as a result of the public notice in the paper (the applicability of public notices in the paper in this modern age is another story, probably written by Douglas Adams), not seek them out - and because the people most affected were forbidden contractually from commenting. There were NO aviation submissions to the proposed change.
b) The statement which was presented in the report regarding the present usage of Wigram as being "aviation related businesses and activities have ceased, over time, to operate from and use this part of the Wigram airfield and associated facilities" is factually incorrect, indeed records show the NZ Flying School alone operates 13 aircraft and brings in something like $10 million dollars a year to the Christchurch economy. ( It is worth noting that this statement also appeared basically word for word in the initial notification of the proposed plan change, long before the submissions were receieved let alone the commissioners report written, you can draw your own conclusions from that. )
c) The Council was apparently advised that they had "no option" but to approve the plan change, which was approved "pursuant to clause 17(2) of the [Resource Management Act]". This advise received by Council, was factually incorrect, the relevant clause of the RMA indicate that the council has the option to approve, but does not require such action, allowing the Council to defer the action. ( Note, it is unclear due to public excluded proceedings regarding this matter in the last year as to whether there are other reasons for which the Council may have had "no option", again, you can draw your own conclusions. )
It's also worth having a quick squizz at the Flying School's charter ( http://www.nzflyingschool.com/ ) paying particular note to the pains at which the Flying School has gone to acknowledge and respect the Tangata Whenua, and the Treaty. It is a great shame that Ngai Tahu Property Group Limited do not see fit to return the respect and support afforded by these businesses to the people that Ngai Tahu Property Group Limited apparently respresent.
Going Zero G - and please update your Geekzone profile
Later this week I am off to Las Vegas to participate in a Zero G flight.
I will have some videos and photos from the flight - but in the meantime I recommend people update their Geekzone profile...
Xero goes more mobile...
Web-based accounting just got more mobile than before - Xero has just announced they have added support for Windows Mobile (Internet Explorer Mobile) and BlackBerry (Opera Mobile), in addition to their previously announced Apple iPhone mobile site.
Point your mobile browser m.xero.com to see it in action.
Geekzone Software Store reopening - and a sofware discount code
A few months ago we entered into an agreement with Mobihand to power a new Geekzone Software Store, which came live a couple of weeks ago, under a new subdomain (store.geekzone.co.nz) - but it still can be accessed from the old www.geekzone.co.nz/store address.
Their platform offers a very complete range of mobile software for Windows Mobile Professional, Windows Mobile Standard, Symbian and Palm OS.
That worked quite well because their platform offers an incredible flexibility for me to configure campaigns, discounts, bundles, specials and most importantly to get reports out of the system - now I know exactly what is selling and what is interesting for users of all these mobile platforms.
We started with a 20% discount code that expired today. This code was well used, so I decided to create a new discount code - "Geekzone" - that will give buyers 15% discount in all products.
I've created a couple of best-seller modules and inserted in our Software page. There you can see all the best-seller software for each platform. Really cool information. Note that this page is only a selection - for the full catalogue you have to visit Geekzone Software Store.
And remember to use the discount codes.
Microsoft's new (and confusing) ad
Well. Microsoft sure have left me in a confused state of mind (along with many others). Do I need to say more?
TelstraClear Mobile is here!
Taking a few days off sick, and finally back on my computer - noticing that TelstraClear now has introduced their mobile service!
Their "Invitation Mobile Plan" is $20 a month for 24 months (only available for TelstraClear home phone and broadband customers though) and provides a free Nokia 6275i and some good calling rates.
500 TXTs is the only cap (which sounds like Telecom $10TXT, on which TelstraClear's network runs on), so calls just run on...
... but their $0.29/min national (and national mobile) call rate is pretty good - way better than some postpaid plans from Telecom or Vodafone.
There are quite a few things that I've noted:
- $0.20/min voicemail
- $3/MB internet usage
Those are pretty big things to get worried about if you use the internet a lot - $3 per megabyte is way worse than casual on Vodafone, as they charge $1/MB after the 10MB we get (but at least that's better than Telecom then, as they have $0.01/KB, which probably is restricting TelstraClear's ability to undercut that further)
All up - this sounds great for talkers (and is okay for texters) with a free Nokia and great calling rate that plenty of people would love on a mobile at only $20 per month.
Microsoft Windows DirectX SAMI Code Execution
Microsoft Windows DirectX could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system.
Microsoft Tech Ed New Zealand 2008 keynote now available in video streaming
If you were not able to attend this year's Microsoft Tech Ed New Zealand, or simply want to watch it again, Tech Ed Live is now hosting the keynote with politicians John Key and David Cunliffe, followed by Microsoft GM Live Mesh Amit Mital.... (more in the full post)
iTunes 8?
As a new iPod owner (3 weeks), I'm waiting for iTunes 8.0 so I can decide if it sucks for windows or not. I think it's about time Americans got out of bed.
Stay, um... Tuned???
yeah, I know....
#tenz8 Notes from the Field at NZ Tech-Ed 08 day 2
| Time | Where | Comments |
| 02-09-2008 8:30 | Breakfast | great conversations |
| 02-09-2008 9:00 | BIN309 | changed my mind, from ARC to SQL |
| 02-09-2008 9:10 | BIN309 | is it just me, or does Pat Martin remind anybody else of Malcolm McDowell? |
| 02-09-2008 9:20 | BIN309 | this class is full |
| 02-09-2008 9:30 | BIN309 | merge statement is very verbose |
| 02-09-2008 9:45 | BIN309 | death by PowerPoint |
| 02-09-2008 10:00 | BIN309 | super dump! should I shout skull ? |
| 02-09-2008 10:45 | WEB304 | web future starting. @kiwitwitter is in it |
| 02-09-2008 10:50 | WEB304 | each country thinks broadband speed is better elsewhere |
| 02-09-2008 11:00 | WEB304 | contrary to all appearances Scottha is not really a Budhist |
| 02-09-2008 11:15 | WEB304 | reach out and Touch some device |
| 02-09-2008 11:30 | WEB304 | finally Chris Auld has found his niche: he's a hopeless panelist but a great convenor |
| 02-09-2008 11:45 | WEB304 | "Silverlight gets us around the limitations of HTML, is the future of the web" |
| 02-09-2008 12:00 | WEB304 | just realised: unlike 2005, have no time for labs, too many good sessions |
| 02-09-2008 12:10 | DEV260 | TFS version control starting |
| 02-09-2008 12:30 | DEV260 | @kiwitwitter it was fun thanks |
| 02-09-2008 13:00 | DEV260 | death by PowerPoint |
| 02-09-2008 13:25 | DEV260 | multiple forward integration for each reverse integration |
| 02-09-2008 13:40 | Lunch | listening to Trika talk about certification |
| 02-09-2008 15:00 | LAB | doing labs |
| 02-09-2008 15:30 | LAB | trika was lovely and gracious |
| 02-09-2008 16:00 | LAB | missed 2 sessions 2 do 1 MVC lab. glad i did but MVC not 4 me |
| 02-09-2008 16:30 | LAB | im loving sub sonic too much to MVC |
| 02-09-2008 17:00 | LAB | just did another lab: Test Management |
| 02-09-2008 17:10 | WEB317 | ASP.NET AJAX SP1 starting |
| 02-09-2008 18:20 | WEB317 | ScriptManager EnableHistory=true |
| 02-09-2008 18:25 | WEB317 | @blackmael MVC seems 2 be 3-tier on the presentation layer. y bother? |
| 02-09-2008 20:15 | Tech-Fest | idea 4 next year: have a dinner on Tuesday for those not inclined to booze |
| 02-09-2008 20:20 | Tech-Fest | great idea Intergen: earplugs in survival kit |
| 02-09-2008 20:25 | Tech-Fest | takeaways 4 dinner, heading back to hotel |
| 02-09-2008 20:30 | Tech-Fest | latte anyone? |
| 02-09-2008 23:00 | Hotel | Completed compiling Tweats into Blog Post |
Google Fixes Terms and conditions for Google Chrome
After many posts and panicked reactions about the following clause in the licence for Chrome
"11. Content license from youOn the official Google blog they have pointed out the following:
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services."
"Whenever we release a product in beta as we just did with Google Chrome, we can always count on our users to come up with ways to improve it. This week's example: several eagle-eyed users and bloggers have expressed concern that Section 11 of Google Chrome's terms of service attempts to give us rights to any user-generated content "submitted, posted or displayed on or through" the browser.And of course they are stating this update will be retro active and cover everyone who has downloaded Google Chrome since its launch.
You'll notice if you look at our other products that many of them are governed by Section 11 of our Universal Terms of Service. This section is included because, under copyright law, Google needs what's called a "license" to display or transmit content. So to show a blog, we ask the user to give us a license to the blog's content. (The same goes for any other service where users can create content.) But in all these cases, the license is limited to providing the service. In Gmail, for example, the terms specifically disclaim our ownership right to Gmail content.
So for Google Chrome, only the first sentence of Section 11 should have applied. We're sorry we overlooked this, but we've fixed it now, and you can read the updated Google Chrome terms of service. If you're into the fine print, here's the revised text of Section 11:11. Content license from youAnd that's all. Period. End of section."
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.
Good on Google, whilst they might not do everything right, and occasionally scare the bejeezus out of privacy advocates / activists,
nobody can accuse them of not being proactive!
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