I read an article this morning which declared that owners of digital video recorder (DVR) consoles and hard drive recorders like MySky generally ignore all advertising on TV, but watch more TV that those without said consoles.

Half of DVR owners claim to fast-forward through all advertisements, and it appears that stay-at-home mothers are most acquainted with the fast-forward button - 9 out of 10 surveyed reported to not watch commercials when watching a recorded program on their DVR.

I am actually a recent convert to hard drive recording, having purchased a DVR about a month ago, for two reasons. The first was naturally, so I could record everything I enjoy watching during the week and watch my favourite shows at a convenient time (say, five shows in a row on a Sunday morning?). The second reason was, just like stay-at-home mums, to fast-forward ads. I actually made a point of buying a console with a thirty-second skip button, so I wouldn’t even have to keep an eye on my fast forwarding, I can just press that button eight times (advertisement breaks on New Zealand television are typically 4 minutes in total).

What does this mean for television advertising and its future? I can truly say that I am pretty much unaffected by small screen advertising, because I rarely even see it… but if television shows are funded solely on advertiser commercials, am I contributing to the jeopardisation of quality television on New Zealand screens?

Image from Flickr.

You’ll know of course that NZS.com is a New Zealand resource for online content.

So, what does it mean when, completely out of the blue on a Friday afternoon, NZS.com receives hundreds of people from all around the United States suddenly coming to NZS.com in search for the “New Zealand National Symbol“?

Perhaps Oprah talked about New Zealand and asked her audience what the national symbol was? Or a nationwide radio competition asked listeners who were keen for a major prize? I’m sure if those happened they would probably make the national news here in NZ.

This raises an interesting question, what is our national symbol? Is it the kiwi or the silver fern?

Image from Flickr.

Latest netball results from this weekend’s competition (Round 6, May 10 - May 12):

• Steel lost to the Tactix; 48-51 in Invercargill
• Firebirds beat the Swifts; 66-52 in Brisbane
• Mystics lost to the Magic; 45-59 in Auckland
• Thunderbirds beat the Fever; 66-50 in Adelaide

Check out the netball standings to find out where your team is currently placed, and stay tuned to the for more ANZ Championship netball results…

Image from Flickr.

You’ll probably know that New Zealand Post recently updated the entire postcode system across New Zealand. Every single postcode in existence changed to another unique number that you need to use when addressing physical mail.

So, what’s your current postcode?

New Zealand Post have thankfully provided a set of useful online tools that I came across today when looking for the postcodes of a particular business. Their Address and Postcode Finder is useful as it’ll show you a boundary map page (once you click through to the “view map” link).

Just in case you’ve forgotten how physical mail actually works (when was the last time you sent a written letter to someone?) they also have helpful tips on How to Address Mail.

The introduction of the new postcodes has lead to a complete set of updated addressing standards, that have now been implemented alongside the new postcodes to bring New Zealand up to international standards in postal service addressing.

Image from Flickr.

With the main event being played in three ‘flights’ before getting to the final table, this is how the finals of the New Zealand Poker Champs played out:

Flight One ended on thursday 8th and nine players were set to progress to Sunday’s NZ Poker Champs final table. 36 players started the day’s play, and the nine to progress were Craig Giles, Ken Eastwood, Wayne Paaka, David Bradford, Richard Grace, Martin Cardno, Graeme Putt, Kwang Son and Nilesh Naidu.

Flight Two started with 59 players and was condensed down to 15 to progress through to the New Zealand Poker Championship final table. A big name to be cut from flight two was Team PokerStars pro Lee “Final Table” Nelson, on the table was 2 hearts, 10 hearts, 2 clubs and 9 spades, and Nelson went all in with an ace and a king, but when the jack hearts came out on the river, it was Nick Wright’s pocket eights that knocked Nelson out.

The final table was finalised with 41 players set to dual it out for the New Zealand Poker Champs crown after flight three finished up on Saturday 10th. Nick Wright came in with the overall chip lead with $140,000, followed not far behind by David Bradford, David Borg and last years champion Eric Assadourian.

The final table was set to be a thrilling encounter with many big names starting with large stacks, but it was Australian David Borg who eventually outplayed compatriot Tony Hachem. Borg made a flush on the river after Hachem went all in to take the $100,000 first prize and the biggest win of his career - as was crowned the New Zealand Poker Champion for 2008.

Runner up Hachem took home $54,000, and the highest placed New Zealand player was John Pye who finished third and picked up a cheque for $34,000.

Final results of the New Zealand Poker Championships are below:

Latest super 14 results from this weekend’s competition (week 13, May 9 - May 11):

• Hurricanes beat the Force; 21-10 in Wellington
• Bulls beat the Brumbies; 28-17 in Pretoria
• Highlanders lost to the Blues; 15-40 in Dunedin
• Reds lost to the Crusaders; 21-27 in Brisbane
• Sharks beat the Cheetahs; 33-14 in Durban
• Lions beat the Chiefs; 33-27 in Johannesburg
• Stormers drew with the Warratahs; 13-13 in Cape Town

Check out the Super 14 standings to find out which team is on top, and stay tuned to the blog for more Super 14 results..

Image from Flickr.

With the New Zealand Poker Championships in full swing, 3 of the 5 tournaments already have their winners.The opening event of the tournament being the Canterbury Championship - No Limit Holdem was taken out by Richard Grace. Richard was up against 72 other players but went down to the wire against a mate of his and took home $16,500 winnings for his efforts.

The second event was the Peter Peko Memorial - Pot Limit Holdem / Omaha, there was a total of 59 players contesting this event with a total prize pool of $29,500. New Zealand’s Sam He was the eventual victor who received the top prize of $10,000.

Australian Poker star Eric Assadourian became the only player to defend a New Zealand Poker Championship title in the history of the tournament, when he took out the New Zealand Pot Limit Omaha Championship. Assadourian headed off a field of 60 players to walk away with $10,000 in winnings.

The top 3 for each of the events are listed below.

Do you struggle week after week to find the latest Lotto results, Big Wednesday results and Keno results? NZS.com is now your source for all of your results - we’ve launched our brand new New Zealand Lotto section today!

We are dedicated to providing results from the latest draws to you in an simple to navigate format which is easy on the eye. Unlike many other online lottery results sources, NZS.com provides past draw winning numbers, so if you find a ticket in an old pair of pants that went unchecked, this is where you can find out if you were a winner! Remember that your old tickets are valid for 12 months.

The History of Lotto is actually quite interesting - beginning thousands of years ago in China, the first records of a lottery was put in place to help fund the construction of the Great Wall of China. Since then both the Roman Empire and Queen Elizabeth I’s England have benefited from lottery funding, along with several ivy-leave American universities.

NZ Lotto has been in place since 1987 and is a popular pastime for hundreds of thousands of Kiwis. During the 1990s Keno was launched as a daily lottery option for the thrill of the draw, and three years ago in 2005 Big Wednesday was launched to give Kiwis the chance to win the ultimate lifestyle: luxury cars, boats, baches and cash.

Make sure you bookmark the New Zealand Lotto page on NZS.com!

Image from Flickr.

I was surfing the net over the weekend and came across a private yacht called “Octopus”. What a yacht it is! At 126m long, it is apparently the largest privately owned yacht in the world - costing US$200 million and has a permanent crew of 60. It has two helicopters, seven boats, and a 10-man submarine that has the capacity to sleep eight for up to two weeks underwater. Talk about luxury accommodation!

The cost to maintain the yacht and cover crew salaries is estimated at US$20 million a year, and that’s before you drop anchor and leave the dock.

The man that owns this behemoth, Paul Allen, is the co-founder of Microsoft. It is just one of three he owns, although the other two yachts are not as big.

This maritime mammoth got me thinking, what else do those who can afford anything spend their millions on? Here are some of the luxury purchases made by the uber-wealthy according to Forbes.

Private Planes

Private Planes are to billionaires what Ferraris are to programmers who have cashed in their stock options. They are the thing they’ve always wanted and now can finally afford. The most popular is the Gulfstream V which retails for around US$40 million., although there are reports of a couple of A380’s on order for private use at a whopping US$280 million.

Sports Teams

Perhaps buying a sports team is a repressed adolescent fantasy for rich guys who could never play sports in high school and can now afford to buy the whole team? Paul Allen reappears here thanks to his purchase of the Seattle Seahawks NFL team and the Portland Trailblazers NBA team. Mark Cuban who founded Broadcast.com owns the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, and lets not forget Malcolm Glazer who famously purchased Manchester United Football team and also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL team.

Collecting

Many of the veterans of the Forbes 400 rich list have been collecting for years, but for some of the newer billionaires, it’s a more recent passion. Bill Gates made several headlines through his purchase of celebrated artworks, the most important of which was when he paid approx US$30 million in 1994 for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Leicester Codex.

Getaways

There is a reason why a getaway is called what it is - because people don’t want to be found. Every Billionaire owns at least one, but the whereabouts are jealously guarded. Media Mogul Robert E. Turner has made no secret about his. Over the past several years, he has spent nearly half a billion dollars acquiring land around the world including 13 separate ranches in six western states, totalling 1.7 million acres - making him the largest landholder in the United States outside of the federal government.

Clothes

It is easy to say that a billionaire, like an 800 pound gorilla, can wear anything he wants. But billionaires are getting more dress savvy, thanks in part to the skill of master menswear tailor Gian DeCaro, whose Seattle shop has made hand-sewn suits for most of the city’s high tech elite.

Yachts

After purchases by the likes of Paul Allen, luxurious superyachts have become one of the big ticket items billionaires like the most. Larry Ellison, CEO of software giant Oracle is another with a fondness for sailing yachts. Jim Clarke former chief of Netscape has just recently commissioned a multi-million dollar, 292-foot three master, that when completed will be the world’s largest sloop.

Staff

The single biggest expense that any billionaire can accrue is manpower. Getting all the people you need to fly your planes, build your homes, manage your ranch, hang your paintings and cook your meals can add up. To get help getting help, billionaires turn to companies like Starkey International, a Denver based firm that specialises in training and placing household management staff around the world. Entry level household staff can earn as much as $35,000 to $55,000, depending on skills, while more experienced estate level managers can earn up to $125,000 a year.

Whilst these things are clearly luxury items to the average wage earner, it still begs the question: why?

And the simple answer is “because they can”!

Image from Flickr.

The 2008 New Zealand Poker Champs has already begun and is being held between 3 May and 11 May at the Christchurch Casino. The popular and entertaining “Celebrity Challenge for Charity” will again feature at the 2008 New Zealand Poker Champs where some of New Zealand’s most famous faces will have their best poker faces on. The winning celebrity will donate their winnings to their selected charity.

The Canterbury Championships, the South Island Championships, Peter Peko Memorial and New Zealand Pot Limit Omaha Champs will again feature in 2008.

Big star names that have expressed interest in playing in this years tournaments include international cricketer Shane Warne, 2005 WSOP Main Event champ Joe Hachem and professional poker player Kenna James.

The New Zealand Poker Championship tournament details are listed below.