Bizchat – SME questions

SME’s make up some 96% of businesses in New Zealand and it’s almost a national tradition for SME owners to get out, network with their peers and finding answers to their business questions around a barbeque or over a beer.

While NZS.com is currently focused on building an online resource for SME’s to help find answers for presenting themselves on the web, it’s bizchat that’s working to build a community site aiming to recreate those peer-to-peer conversations over the barbeque covering the complete spectrum of Q & A’s.

Any site that’s looking to help SME’s in such an open, community oriented way is a great resource for the New Zealand business community and well deserving of support.

Founded by SME owners, bizchat aims to fill a hole in the market where answers to questions are facilitated better by conversations with other SME’s who have already been through the same situation and are interested in helping their counterparts.

Building a vibrant and dynamic forum with varying channels of information is a key part of their initiative as they look to cover SME specific news feeds, events relevant for SME’s and a resource library sourced from varied support organisations.

If you’re thinking of starting a business or already have one and are looking for sales & marketing ideas, pop through to www.bizchat.co.nz and have a look around their forums.

Microsoft and Yahoo Deal

Early this morning (NZ time) Microsoft and Yahoo officially announced a deal that’s been in the making for months.

In simple terms, Microsoft will now power Yahoo! search while Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.

Frederic Lardionis from ReadWriteWeb discusses that Yahoo is effectively giving up on competing in the search engine business and is focusing all its efforts on the search advertising side of the business, which it will be running for both Yahoo! and Microsoft (through Bing).

The key terms of the agreement are;

• Agreement is for 10 years
• Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;
  Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.
• Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.
  Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.
  Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.
• Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.
• Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.
• Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.
• Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.
• At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.
• The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.

The Microsoft and Yahoo deal is entirely focused on gaining a percentage share of the search market that can actively compete with the dominant Google share (particularly in the US) of around 70%.

What will this mean for New Zealand? In reality, very little. It’s well known that Google has a higher than 90% market share, however with the Yahoo!Xtra relationship this will effectively join Yahoo!/MSN/Bing/Xtra into a single search engine powered by Bing in New Zealand.

Miss Auckland

The search is on to find Auckland’s most beautiful and intellectual young woman, so if you want to see the show or go along and support a contestant, make sure you book your accommodation Auckland now.

The winning Miss Auckland contestant will represent Auckland in the Miss Universe New Zealand Pageant in 2010.
The Miss Auckland beauty pageant aims to present a night of glamour and excitement, and this year’s event to be held this Saturday, August 1, will be no exception.

The show is professionally choreographed to present the contestants in an opening dance number, swimwear from Moontide, designer fashion garments from Annah Stretton’s collection, and finally in their formal evening gowns.

The contestants this year are vibrant, focused and career orientated. Their involvement in the Miss Auckland pageant provides them with marketing and public relations opportunities, and the chance to go on to represent Auckland and compete for the title of Miss Universe New Zealand.

In addition to 22 stunning contestants, magician and illusionist Andre Vegas will astound the audience with his magic, so the show is set to be a fun-filled evening. If you plan on supporting a contestant, why not make a weekend of it, book a hotel room for your friends, and be a part of the nightlife after the show.

There are plenty of great hotel deals to choose from, so start holiday budgeting, get your girlfriends together and plan a weekend of glamour supporting Miss Auckland and the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation.

Miss Auckland continues to raise valuable funds for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation, and contestants are hoping to exceed the $8000 raised for the charity in July 2007.

The event will be held at SKYCITY Theatre from 8pm, so if you book hotel rooms nearby you’ll be just a glamourous catwalk-stride away from the action.

Choose A Payment Gateway

Want to join the rest of the 21st century and start selling your products and services online? There are now more e-commerce and retail management solutions available than you can shake a stick at, but how do you pick the payment gateway that’s right for you?

And with so many ways to accept credit card payments via your website, how can you ensure you’re getting a fair deal?

Choosing a payment gateway that’s right for you and your business can make or break your e-commerce venture. One of the main traps to avoid is getting locked in to excessive fees, so think about the long term costs and do your research to decide which payment gateway is going to be most cost effective and beneficial for your business over time.

Payment gateways can open up a whole new world of potential clients and customers, but choosing the right payment gateway from the get-go will ensure you see real returns

Fine Dining

Auckland bars and their counterparts around the country are pampering parents with indulgent evenings out and fine dining now that the kids have gone back to school.

Class is back in session, and parents around the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief after an action-packed break.

The last two weeks may have been all about keeping the kids entertained and out of trouble, but now that the holidays are over for another term, parents from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the south are taking some much needed time out themselves with some relaxation and fine dining.

If you need a night out with the grown-ups, book a babysitter for a couple of hours, set up the latest High School Musical DVD at home, get in your glad-rags, and venture out to indulge in some fine dining and adult conversation at one of the country’s finest ecotourism inspired hotspots.

There is an excellent selection of stylish Auckland restaurants to choose from for a quiet wine with friends, or a spot of fine dining near the waterfront.

And you can always pick up a drive-through treat for the kids on your way home.

New Zealand International Film Festival

Movie buffs and film fanatics brace yourselves, because the New Zealand International Film Festival is now underway, bringing an abundance of festival flicks to cinemas around the country.

Fifteen New Zealand cities and towns will this year host the annual festival, which for the first time will relinquish its various regional names to be called the New Zealand International Film Festival. The film festival has grown nationally since the merging in 1984 of the Auckland International Film Festival, founded in 1969, and the Wellington Film Festival, founded in 1972.

A wonderful mix of genres, topics and storylines are covered this year, with films focusing on Framing Reality, highlighting Music and Dance, paying homage to Animation, and much more.

And for all you fashionistas out there, I highly recommend The September Issue, which gives a delicious inside look into the production of the fashion world’s annual bible, the September issue of Vogue.

I caught a preview screening of the film, which follows the notoriously icy Anna Wintour (the woman who inspired Meryl Streep’s character in The Devil Wears Prada) as she and her minions pull together the most important, and lucrative, issue of the year.

Overall I found The September Issue engrossing, entertaining, and unexpectedly candid, and a very promising glimpse at what the rest of the films offered at the New Zealand International Film Festival this year will bring.
The Festival is now underway in Auckland and Wellington, and will travel the country, finishing in Whangarei in November.

For more information and screening times in your nearest town check the official website.

New Zealand Earthquake

An earthquake in Fiordland measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rattled the South Island and sparked a 90-minute tsunami alert last night.

Though the quake appears to have caused little damage, an alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii was issued for southern New Zealand soon after it struck at 9.22pm, 100 kilometres north-west of Tuatapere in Southland.

The earthquake was estimated to be approximately 12 kilometres deep, and was followed by two sizeable aftershocks, the first of a 6.1 magnitude 20 minutes later, and the second measuring 5.9 just before 2am.

Though both quakes were far from any towns, phones went down in east Invercargill power was out in Otatara, and a water main was broken in Winton, north of Invercargill.

The quake was felt strongly in Dunedin, Invercargill and Timaru, and Christchurch residents have reported feeling it as a long, rolling motion. People as far north as Wellington are said to have felt the earthquake to a lesser extent.

At 7.8 on the Richter scale, last night’s quake in Fiordland was among the second largest earthquakes records in New Zealand since European colonisation. The only one to top it was the 8.2 magnitude quake in Wairarapa on January 23, 1855.

One of New Zealand’s most famous earthquakes, also measuring 7.8, was in Napier in 1931, and caused the largest loss of life and most extensive damage of any recorded New Zealand quake.

News of last night’s earthquake was quickly picked up by world media, with reports appearing within the hour on BBC, CNN and Sky News websites.

For more information on New Zealand earthquakes check out the seismology category on NZS.com.

.nz OpenPGP KeyServer

.nz Registry Services (nzrs.net.nz) has recently launched the first open public keyserver in New Zealand (hat tip to Mauricio from Geekzone for the news).

The OpenPGP keyserver is available through pgp.net.nz and is part of a global network of servers where your OpenPGP keys will quickly replicate to if you update the NZ keyserver.

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is a security tool used to sign, authenticate and encrypt emails to help secure them. If you’re interested in reading more about OpenPGP you can read more about through the Wikipedia PGP page.

Auckland Florist Online | New Zealand

Looking for Auckland florists or a florist online to help you brighten up someone’s day?

Winter may mean the blooms in your garden are in hibernation mode until Spring, but that doesn’t mean you can’t spoil friends and family with delightful bouquets of fresh New Zealand flowers.

And to save you a trip out into the cold, why not look for a florist online to help you select or create the perfect bunch?

Offering the finest, freshest quality flowers and the convenience of ordering with the click of your mouse, online florists make it easier than ever to spoil your loved ones with gorgeous flowers.

There are a number of fabulously creative New Zealand florists now offering their expertise and services online and delivering nationwide and internationally, so jump on your laptop and start searching.

To find a florist online check out the NZS.com directory.

Winter Packages

Looking for a way to beat the blues mid winter? If hitting the slopes isn’t your thing, why not indulge in something a little more relaxing and warm up in a luxury hotel for a few nights?

There are tons of great winter packages around this time of year, with many fantastic off-peak season bargains leaving more mini-break cash in hand for a spot of shopping.

Modern hotels offer the ultimate in style and comfort, so whether you pick somewhere close to home or you decide to get out of town for a few nights, pamper yourself and select one of the luxury hotel rooms on offer around New Zealand to unwind and spoil yourself.

Make a luxury hotel booking

online now for a romantic mid winter weekend away, a girls or blokes getaway, or to take some luxurious time out just for you.

For more ideas on winter packages and mid winter getaways check out the NZS.com

directory.