It’s New Years Eve! Happy New Year from the entire team at NZS.com. What have you got planned for tonight? New Years Eve parties at home are always a fun way to ring in the new year, and they needn’t be organised or too stressful - just grab your Christmas leftovers and get everyone to bring a bottle of wine! Throw on some internet radio, and dance the night away.

There are several music festivals going on around the currently which started a day or so ago, but if you missed out on them don’t forget the summer months have heaps more music and dance events to come, next up is the Big Day Out on January 16.

Most of you will still have a few days up your sleeves before you begin work for 2009, so make the most of your time off by jumping in the car and heading on a short summer beach holiday - we’re lucky enough in New Zealand that no one is more than an hour or so from the sand!

Now that the Christmas hoopla is over, you can welcome in the New Year with one of the fantastic summer music festivals on offer around the country!

Rhythm and Vines 09 is set to be the biggest event this the New Years, with bands such as The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Public Enemy and Shihad venturing to sunny Gisborne for the 4-day festival. This year, the festival also offers several accommodation options, from standard tent sites to luxury, all inclusive VIP tenting - a real treat for Kiwi music lovers.

Have you though about how you’re going to get to the Rhythm and Vines festival, or other summer music festivals such as the Big Day Out (January 16, in Auckland)? Bus travel is certainly the way to go - you don’t want to even attempt finding a park at one of these massive events. But don’t worry, you won’t have to restrict yourself by taking a standard council bus all the way there, just find a bus company who are making a dedicated trip from Auckland to Gisborne (or get picked up on the way).

Buses to Rhythm and Vines 09 depart on the morning of December 28, so get in now to avoid disappointment, and ring in the New Year in musical bliss!

Image from Flickr.

The New Zealand treasury has forecast between 68,000 and 87,000 job losses for Kiwis during the next 15 months, along with a bigger Government deficit ($11 billion within 5 years) that those that were announced pre-election.

However, Finance Minister Bill English is determined not to let the Government’s rising debt burden future workers, and strongly believes in our Government’s ability to turn the situation around with “a combination of effective management of Government spending and higher than expected growth rates”. Mr. English is determined on seeing this through.

With all of this talk about Government debt going on you’d be silly not to think about your own personal debt. How are your financial management skills? Effective personal budgeting and changing your spending habits (i.e. living only with the use of a charge card which must be paid monthly, rather than a credit card - which you just pay the minimum and are constantly accruing high interest). Individual money management is the key to ensuring even in tough times, your standard of living can remain as good as ever.

Christmas is almost here! With just five full days left the silly season has officially begun. Office parties, late night Christmas shopping, out-of-town family starting to arrive.

Once you’ve got your Christmas day menu sorted for next Thursday, have you thought about how you’re going to celebrate the day? Christmas traditions in New Zealand are normally pretty low-key for most Kiwi families - presents in the morning, then food, sun, food, and more sun.

If you’d like to celebrate the holiday with a traditional Christian Christmas in mind, find a church service to ring in the celebratory day, and reacquaint yourself with many of your favourite Christmas carols from your childhood.

Image from Flickr.

The Digital Publishing Forum launched recently with an aim to move New Zealand’s most popular cultural pursuit into the digital age.

At the moment there are only a few options in the US for people seriously looking into reading published works on an electronic book. The Amazon Kindle was launched in late 2007 to a lot of fanfare, and Sony’s Reader has recently came into the market as well.

Martin Taylor, Forum Director, discusses that one of the ideas behind the formation of the Digital Publishing Forum is to encourage companies such as Amazon to make their ebook devices available in the New Zealand market;

“New Zealand already has a substantial book export industry with up to 20% of its turnover coming from exports, much of this in educational markets. The digital opportunities can greatly expand this.”

Digital publishing has been going on for some time already from New Zealand, although the majority of the work is commercial in nature, and published as PDF documents available online through your PC. The new readers being developed attempt to closely mimic the feel of reading an actual book, and are of course closely linked (particularly with the Kindle and Amazon) to the opportunity to buy many more ebooks through a connected service.

Everyone’s looking at ways to cut costs at this time of year, especially on necessities like the design and printing of promotional products and materials. Did you know that you can custom design all of your marketing materials and anything for printing NZ online, all by yourself?

Making the expense of a graphic designer unnecessary, custom online design is easy for your business cards, postcards, calendars, promotional giveaways, t-shirts and almost any other marketing products you can think of. Instead of going to a small printer who will laboriously do everything on a small scale, custom online designing and printing means you get the benefits of fully-automated manufacturing: low prices.

Because everything is digital and fully automatic, you can have anything you custom design online printed in small quantities, meaning the big savings don’t just come with the big orders. You can choose from pre-made templates and images, or upload your own easily, and spend as much (or as little) time organising the design of your marketing materials as you like. You’re then just a few clicks away from having the printing process started for you and delivered to your door!

Image from Flickr.

Debit cards are a reasonably new thing in New Zealand and are being pitched quite strongly as the answer to shopping online this holiday season. If you’re concerned about going over budget on the credit card, or you don’t yet have a credit card (and tend to borrow one off a parent or flatmate), a debit card may be the solution for you.

The Visa debit card from Westpac (called the DebitPlus Card) has been introduced as the best way to shop online and overseas when attaching to a New Zealand bank account.

Also launched this year is the Loaded Card, again from Visa and available through New Zealand Post’s new website, loadedcard.co.nz which is a re-loadable pre-paid Visa card. This card provides roughly the same benefits in shopping online as the DebitPlus, however it is not attached to a standard bank account.

Debit cards that can purchase online are the standard option in many countries overseas (e.g. in the UK with Maestro and Solo cards) although in New Zealand it was EFTPOS that took off from an early stage (which could not easily transact online).

The highly anticipated sequel to the smash hit movie follow up of Sex and the City has been confirmed - and supporting star Cynthia Nixon lead on today that there’s a possibility of scenes being filmed in New Zealand!

Nixon, who played Miranda the fire-headed lawyer in the series and this year’s movie, lead on that there may be a storyline involving her character and a billionaire from down under, moulded along the lines of a younger, sexier version of media czar Rupert Murdoch. While Nixon said nothing is confirmed, she was excited about the prospect of travelling to New Zealand to film scenes for the sequel.

While no dates are set and the film is still in very early pre-production, all of the four girls of SATC have confirmed their return once more. The series created a cult phenomenon from 1998 to 2004, and the movie claims its place as one of the most successful romantic comedies of all time, earning more than US$400 million world wide. It is current available to buy or rent on DVD.

Image from Flickr.

With the holidays just around the corner, you and your family are probably itchy to get on the road to your Christmas destination of choice. Whether it be camping or big city dwelling, have you thought about your options for car hire New Zealand?

Car hire Auckland in particular can be daunting around this time of year (the city being the hub of international arrivals), especially if you leave it to the last minute. Booking early is essential, as there’ll be floods of tourists around the Christmas and New Years period snapping up all the rental cars New Zealand has to offer.

When you’re planning your car rental early you’ll have the luxury of choosing the car to perfectly suit you and your holiday needs the best. Check out our article on rental cars New Zealand for advice on the types of cars you can rent in NZ, their capabilities, and what kind of journey they’ll be best for.

Image from Flickr.

Today the Official Cash Rate (OCR) was slashed by 150 base points (1.5%) from 6.5% down to 5% by the Reserve Bank Governor Allan Bollard.

There has been speculation over the past week with many initially expecting a drop of 100 base points. In the last few days the common expectation appeared to have shifted to a likely 150 base points which puts interest rates at a 5 year low.

The move has broken records for the largest drop since the OCR was introduced in 1999.

Banks have started to reduce their interest rates accordingly with Alan Bollard directly pushing for this outcome quickly;

“To ensure the response we are seeking, we expect financial institutions to play their part in the economic adjustment process by passing on lower wholesale interest rates to their customers.”