Jonathan Cotton 
It’s the new national pastime and New Zealand’s fastest-growing tech industry. Jonathan Cotton finds out how New Zealand is staying connected to this billion-dollar global opportunity. Gus, my 11-year-old son, will talk to you about gaming. He’ll talk to himself about gaming. Under the right circumstances, he’ll talk to a potted plant about gaming. And … Read more
This month Chorus launched its new Hyperfibre service across most of the country. How fast does it go? And what does it mean for New Zealand’s digital future? The Spinoff spoke to Kurt Rodgers, Chorus network strategist, to find out. OK, ‘Hyperfibre’. What is it? Simply put, Hyperfibre is ultra-fast – like, staggeringly fast – … Read more
More than 500,000 native trees have been planted through the Trees That Count programme, funded by New Zealanders and the local business community. Here comes Christmas, and with it the season’s usual tsunami of plastic garbage: trinkets bought, exchanged, discarded. Wasted. But how else is one expected to navigate the gift-giving season? Simply refuse to … Read more
Jonathan Cotton looks at where the government is getting all the money to pay for the Covid-19 recovery, and where that debt is taking us. New Zealand is borrowing huge amounts of money to get us through the Covid-19 crisis. But borrowing what? From whom? And how will we pay it back? Perhaps even more … Read more
With Christchurch’s first Techweek over and done, Jonathan Cotton takes a moment to look back and ask the question seemingly on every tech-conscious Cantabrian’s lips: Could Christchurch become the centre of New Zealand’s burgeoning tech boom? ‘The Next Silicon Valley’ seems to be a term that describes everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The … Read more
Jonathan Cotton goes to Techweek’17’s Future of Food event in Christchurch to find out how New Zealand can innovate our way to a bigger slice of the $1 trillion global food market. It’s the brutal hour of 7:30 in the morning and I’m at the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce on Kilmore Street for The … Read more
Jonathan Cotton hears how technology can help literally save the world at Techweek’17’s Disrupting Climate Change event in Christchurch. Big-brained idealistic-types made up the crowd at Wednesday night’s Disrupting Climate Change event at the EPIC (Enterprise Precinct and Innovation Campus), part of Christchurch’s Techweek’17 offering. There’s was lots to hear and lots to learn. The … Read more
Contrary to what many people in the city of sails might assume, there is in fact an entire country outside of Auckland. Here our Christchurch correspondent curates the best of Techweek’17 in the south. Let’s all say it together: New Zealand should become a digital economy. We get it already. Cow poo is poisoning the rivers … Read more