Russell Brown goes off the grid on Great Barrier Island to see out what it takes to get the local community online and connected. In the lead-up to Christmas on Aotea Great Barrier Island, locals were bracing for the deluge. Every holiday season, the island’s permanent population of around 900 multiplies and this summer, with … Read more
This commendable and realistic decision again underlines that it is the police, not government, who are largely responsible for the reduction in cannabis prosecutions over the past 15 years, writes Russell Brown. The news that New Zealand police have discontinued the annual Helicopter Recovery Operation, which has, each summer for more than two decades, teamed … Read more
Unilever is on a mission to eliminate fossil-derived carbon from all of its cleaning products by 2030. Russell Brown learns how the company is cleaning the carbon out of its cleaning products. There’s a train coming and we’re all on the tracks. We know it’s coming, everybody’s talking about the train and how much it’s … Read more
As the amount of time we spend online continues to increase, so too does the possibility we’ll be exposed to scams, hacks and data leaks. But do we really understand the risks, or how we can avoid them? You probably have a mental image of who falls victim to cyber-crime. And it’s probably wrong. In … Read more
To take pressure off New Zealand’s swamped recycling system, Ecostore is taking on the responsibility themselves. Russell Brown reports on the brand’s attempt to lead the way. Shopping dates. We all do them, right? Nights out are all very well, but sometimes it’s good to go out in the daylight together and do the errands. … Read more
Russell Brown talks to Auckland business RUSH about the challenges and rewards of being an ethical business in the competitive world of technology design. “We design technology to better serve humankind.” It’s the first thing you read on RUSH’s website, and it’s also written on a banner in the middle of its Parnell office. It’s … Read more
In the sixth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown looks at the draft algorithm charter, the government’s commitment to transparent and accountable use of AI. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. In the … Read more
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown discovers that maybe AI has better musical taste than humans. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. I am a middle-aged man and suddenly my … Read more
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click … Read more
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a modern weed documentary and … Read more
In the fourth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ana Arriola, general manager and partner at Microsoft AI and Research, about ethics and transparency in tech. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. … Read more
Russell Brown spoke to Dylan Haley about how he’s rejuvenating Gisborne’s film culture. Dylan Haley used to muse that he could do his work – creating poster and packaging art for film distributors – anywhere in the world. After all, he rarely saw his Hollywood clients in person anyway – the Los Angeles traffic made … Read more
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. At this year’s AI … Read more
In the second episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s new monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown explores how aware machines really are. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. Here’s a thing to understand: artificial intelligence isn’t magic and machines … Read more
In the first episode of The Spinoff’s new monthly podcast, Actually Interesting, Russell Brown explores the world of A.I. and the way it’s already affecting our lives. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. When you hear the words “Artificial Intelligence” your … Read more
The details for the 2021 referendum on legalising personal cannabis use have been published. What will the question be? Will there be legislation and can the government elected in 2020 change it? And are cannabis cafes on the horizon? Russell Brown makes sense of it all Since the 2017 confidence and supply agreement between the … Read more
Russell Brown travels to Rotorua, Whakatāne and Gisborne to see what data is doing in the regions. For 650 years, people have been hushed by the sunsets of Ohinemutu. The hills to the west of Rotorua, as if gently parted by hand, let the light stay longer and lower here. It sends a blush up … Read more
The livestreamed atrocity in Christchurch has put into sharp focus the pernicious potential of online media, and the ways that misinformation can erode democracy. Russell Brown explains Four weeks on, it has expressed the best of us. And the worst of us. On the one hand, social media has provided a valuable platform for public grieving. It … Read more
This week the Auckland radio station 95bFM celebrates its 50th anniversary. Russell Brown looks back at the station’s history, the hurdles it’s overcome, and why it thrived. To understand what 95bFM is celebrating this week, it’s useful to look at what New Zealand was like in 1969 when a group of University of Auckland students … Read more
The National Party has underscored the importance of the drug law reform debate by appointing its deputy leader to a new role devoted to the issue. Is there any reason for hope, or should we prepare for wedge politics, asks Russell Brown The charitable view of Paula Bennett’s appointment to the new role of National … Read more
In 2017 New Zealand imported a massive 20,000 e-bikes and that number is likely to have grown exponentially in 2018. But what do you need to know before you buy one? Russell Brown has the lowdown. First published 12 May 2018. If you think you’re seeing more e-bikes on the road, you’re not wrong. In … Read more
Russell Brown talks to Moira Lawler of Lifewise Trust about Housing First, a programme designed to get the most vulnerable homeless people into stable accommodation irrespective of mental or physical wellbeing or any history of substance abuse A while ago, Moira Lawler got a concerned call from Wellington. Something bad had happened with a Housing First tenant … Read more
The medicinal cannabis bill filed today in the name of National’s Whangarei MP Shane Reti is vastly better-conceived than the government bill it seeks to supplant. But it’s not perfect, writes Russell Brown. It’s no secret that members of the Health select committee were moved by many of the oral submissions they heard while considering … Read more
Next week, a new trans-Pacific fibre-optic cable connecting New Zealand to Australia, the Pacific and onto the United States will light up, changing the way data travels around the Pacific. In November 2000, New Zealand’s first trans-Pacific fibre-optic cable, the Southern Cross system, lit up for New Zealanders. We finally had our first direct connection … Read more
It’s an unfurling scandal which saw tenants evicted and millions spent on cleaning homes. Now it appears a tenant was kicked out after seeking help for his addictions, writes Russell Brown. In June 2015, Jesse B became one of the hundreds of Housing New Zealand tenants to have an order made against them at the Tenancy Tribunal … Read more
Commute Week: Last year New Zealand imported a massive 20,000 e-bikes and that number is likely to grow exponentially. But what do you need to know before you buy one? Russell Brown has the lowdown. If you think you’re seeing more e-bikes on the road, you’re not wrong. In 2014, according to Statistics NZ, there … Read more
It traces its origins to Rhythm and Vines, and has taken a chunk of the festival payments industry across the Tasman too. Russell Brown discovers the company behind summer fun is getting serious to find new customers. Have you ever looked, I mean, really looked at that chip on your wrist? If you’ve attended Rhythm … Read more
A social enterprise on the East Coast has been set up to capitalise on a global trend towards natural health products and bring economic recovery, Russell Brown reports. A little over two years ago in Ruatoria, 20 locals met at the invitation of a local hapū trust to discuss economic development for a community with few … Read more
As Housing NZ prepares to develop the corner near Russell Brown’s house in Point Chevalier, he muses on the redevelopment, gentrification and spiralling growth in real estate values of the Auckland suburb he calls home. Last week, I wandered around the corner to watch the news crews assemble outside Jacinda Ardern’s Point Chevalier home in … Read more