With a $1.3 million seed round now under its belt, New Zealand startup Yabble is looking to help everyday consumers get fairly rewarded for their data by shaking up the way information gets bought and sold. Data is a powerful resource in today’s economy. Managed well, it can help businesses get ahead by giving consumers … Read more
The Internet of Things can create tiny efficiencies that amount to a lot of money. Ben Fahy reports on how the IoT is changing the way businesses work. Back in the 1830s, a depressed minister from Massachusetts named Lorenzo Langstroth got into beekeeping as therapy. His hobby eventually led him to develop the moveable comb … Read more
A new website has consolidated data about and involving Māori, making it easier for iwi groups, trusts and Māori communities to access the statistics that impact their lives. A collaboration years in the making, the new Figure NZ and Callaghan Innovation website Pātaka Raraunga aims to make Māori data access easier for everyone. Consolidating thousands … 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
Without a strong legal and ethical framework and clear policy for use, FRT can have grave implications for individual and collective rights, writes Nessa Lynch. Automated facial recognition technology, which involves the use of an algorithm to match a facial image to one already stored in a system, is used in automated passport control and … Read more
New data from tech giant Google shows just how well Aucklanders are complying with our level three lockdown restrictions – and how their behaviour compares to those in Victoria. It’s been about a week since we learned that Covid-19 had returned to the community. A day later, on Wednesday August 12, Auckland was placed into … Read more
The Covid resurgence cluster is now at 29 confirmed cases, with one further unlinked case. Chris McDowall presents the latest information in visual form. With thanks to the Science Media Centre. Information about the resurgence of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand is changing rapidly. These posts collate the most recent statistics … Read more
The Covid resurgence cluster is now at 17 people. Chris McDowall presents the latest information in visual form. With thanks to the Science Media Centre. At today’s 1pm press briefing the director general of health, Ashley Bloomfield, announced 13 new cases of Covid-19 detected outside isolation or quarantine in the Auckland region. All of these … Read more
With roughly 97% of New Zealand enterprises categorised as small businesses – that is, 20 or fewer employees – accounting software platform Xero’s newly released analysis provides a stark picture of the severe impact of Covid-19 throughout the sector. What exactly does the data show? Essentially, the data shows that year-on-year revenue for small businesses … Read more
Beginning today, The Spinoff kicks off a weekly round-up of data tracking the effects and response of Covid-19 around the world – and how New Zealand stacks up. This data and the visualisations of it are both drawn from Our World in Data’s work on the Covid-19 pandemic, which is freely available for re-use. Not … Read more
It’s a crucial factor in keeping the spread of the virus under control, but there’s a whole lot more the government needs to consider than what is technically possible, writes Andrew Chen. Now we’ve exited level four, how do we keep the Covid-19 cases down? A critical part of the puzzle is contact tracing. In … Read more
For a month now, we’ve been asked to stay at home to stop the spread of Covid-19. New data visualisations now show how well we’re following that instruction. The Science Media Centre has funded data visualisations showing when and where we’ve travelled over the past month. Geographer Chris McDowall has made videos following population movements … Read more
Fresh data shows most New Zealanders are staying at home, while activity in some regions has plummeted by 100%. Jacinda Ardern warned that week three would be the hardest period of level four lockdown, and more people would be tempted to leave their homes as the country reached the final stretch. According to Google’s latest … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Data breach blunder hits gun buyback, new poll gives National the numbers to govern, and South Island farm sale blocked by ministers. Another problem has hit the gun buyback programme, denting confidence in both the government and the police carrying out the operation. This time it … Read more
The Gen Z-targeted mobile application TikTok is finally being noticed by adults. But what is it? Here’s a quick explainer. What is TikTok? TikTok was the most-downloaded app in the Apple store last year. It’s a mish-mash of the deceased Musical.ly and Vine, with over 500 million active users. The app allows you to film … Read more
The new and spectacular atlas We Are Here is page after page of haunting, hella beautiful visual data, each chapter introduced with an essay. This one, Lost in the Forest, opens the section on people. At some point in the 1990s, one of the creators of this book tried to impress me by talking about … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Brown, CEO of PredictHQ. This week we talk to Campbell Brown, the CEO of amazing NZ founded … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Local election turnout in focus, NZ First hit with massive data leak, and finance minister unveils whopping surplus. By now it seems apparent that turnout in local body elections is going to be dire. Postal voting effectively finished yesterday, which means anyone who hasn’t yet returned … Read more
A vulnerability has hit users everywhere, New Zealand included, and it reveals something very troubling about the way the tech world works New Zealand Schools, district health boards and even perhaps the halls of power have found themselves compromised by a vulnerability in a video conference app called Zoom. The exploit allows any user to … Read more
Now that we know what the Wellbeing Budget is, the question is how we can create the right political and social environment to support it, says Grant Thornton’s Barry Baker. Growing up in Southland in a single-parent home, my family relied on the Domestic Purposes Benefit and the generosity of charities like Birthright. During that … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan stares into the abyss that is Google and wonders if we are about to experience the birth of a new, even more terrifying capitalism. I feel it most when I’m at the supermarket. I’m standing there looking at jellymeat but at the same time, I’m aware of being embedded in a web of … Read more
A lack of consultation with Māori, and less participation in the 2018 Census across the board, shows that indigenous data sovereignty is more important than ever. You might have heard recently that Statistics NZ has conceded the 2018 census response rate may be down by almost 5%. This was acknowledged as “very serious”. The thing … Read more
Big changes are coming to how companies that operate in Europe collect data. Dave Parry says failure to adopt practices that safeguard privacy could risk New Zealand’s reputation. Over the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed that Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and all your other favourite internet sites have had a pop up mentioning … Read more
Facebook’s shares have taken a nosedive after something to do with data used by Cambridge Analytica. Confused? Here’s what it means, and what could come next. This piece was originally published on Radio NZ. Cambridge Analytica is a London-based consulting firm. It is under pressure over allegations it uses illegally obtained data and social media manipulation to … Read more
It happens every five years (unless there is a major disaster), it helps to guide what we spend billions of dollars on – but did you know it was happening today? Rebecca Stevenson finds the census is causing concern. There is an envelope on my mantelpiece which has “census” on the front of it so … Read more
Good news – troops on deployment all around the world are keeping up their physical fitness and now we have proof! Bad news – troops on deployment all around the world are jogging with their fitness trackers turned on, drawing a helpful map of where they are. But former TUANZ boss Paul Brislen says we … Read more
Street lights in Kansas City have wifi sensors which link with a live map, allowing residents to see traffic and free parking spaces. Clever huh? Mark Thomas says smart cities – those which embrace technology in planning – can reap big environmental and financial rewards. The word “smart” does not appear in Auckland mayor Phil … Read more
The price of kumara has soared in the past two years, so maybe it’s better to buy spuds? Data scientist Aaron Schiff was tired of trying to figure out how to get the best deals, so he built an app. At the supermarket (toddler in tow) I find it very hard to remember grocery prices, … Read more