Some of Wellington’s most innovative technology companies and local industry stars are showing their skills at today’s Gadgets, Games and Geeks techfest.

The event offers an exciting opportunity for the public to see both the latest innovations, and catch-up on industry trends, developments and expertise.

Organised by Wellington IT networking association Unlimited Potential, Gadgets, Games and Geeks has established itself as the premier showcase and networking event for Wellington’s IT sector.

Local speakers at today’s event include Andy Satterthwaite – the executive producer of Sidhe, New Zealand’s only games maker with a high international profile. Sidhe’s latest release, Shatter, is one of the highest rated downloadable games for PlayStation.

Gadgets, Games and Geeks will be showcasing the latest gaming technology, software and other technologies and services.

Wellington companies featured include Instinct Entertainment, which has developed the world’s first ‘point and click’ mobile game creator, and Virtual Expos, the first mass market virtual event software to offer the ‘real-world’ feel of a live expo.

Gadgets, Games and Geeks is a free event and will run today from 4.30pm at the  St James Theatre, Courtenay Place.

It’s the time of year when Hollywood celebrates the making of good movies, awarding Oscar statuettes to top movie stars and film makers.

The lights of Tinseltown have been somewhat dimmer in recent years, with political and economic turbulence hitting the US and ongoing strife in Iraq. In fact, the Oscars 2008 were almost a non-event thanks to the cinematic nightmare of the Writers Guild strikes – which caused actors to threaten a total boycott of the event. Now settled, the strikes are already fading into distant memory as the red carpet is rolled out in preparation for glitz and glam, Hollywood style, to recognise the best movies of 2007.

Best Picture Oscar nominations

2008 nominations have failed to draw cinema crowds – together they total the second-lowest box office total in 20 years…

• Atonement – Set in 1935, telling the story of sisters Briony and Cecilia Tallis who are caught up in a series of tragic misunderstandings and mistakes.
• Juno – A smart, opinionated 16-year-old falls pregnant and decides to give up her baby for adoption, only to find herself in a complicated situation with her child’s adoptive parents.
• Michael Clayton – An attorney at a corporate law firm experiences a breakdown that threatens an important deal. When ‘fixer’ Michael Clayton is called in to tidy the situation, he finds himself forced to make difficult ethical decisions.
• No Country For Old Men – Another winning film from the Coen brothers, telling the tale of a man who witnesses a drug deal gone wrong – sparking a chase by a murderous sociopath.
• There Will Be Blood – Set in the early 20th century, this film follows the path of a cruel oil prospector who will stop at nothing to gain power and wealth.

Find a full list of Oscar nominees online, including Best Actor and Best Actress nominees, or head to your nearest movie cinema for a peak at nominated films.

Image from Flickr.

The annual Coast to Coast race was first organised in 1983 by New Zealand athlete Robin Judkins. The inaugural race involved a respectable 79 competitors – a number dwarfed by the 800 participants in the 2008 Coast to Coast event.

Individuals and two-person teams can take part in the endurance multisport event, competing over one or two days to claim the top spot in what has become known as one of the best adventure races internationally.

Are you ready for this? You’ll need to get in a few months of Coast to Coast personal training so you’re prepared to cross the South Island from Kumara Beach on the West Coast of the South Island to Sumner Beach in Christchurch. The race involves cycling 140 kilometres (over three stages of 55km, 15km and 70km), running 36 kilometres (including 33km of mountainous terrain as you traverse the Southern Alps) and kayaking 67 kilometrees along the Waimakariri Gorge. Phew.

Nelson born Richard Ussher was the overall winner, finishing the race in 11 hours, 3 minutes in what he describes as a “close to perfect” race. The result was exactly what the professional athlete was looking for, after a disappointing 10th place finish in 2007. Ussher has had two earlier first place wins.

First place was taken in the women’s race by Canadian Emily Miazga, who also claimed the win two years ago. In one of the closest victories in the race’s history, Miazga overtook defending champ Fleur Pawsey just 2km from the Sumner finish line. After claiming first place with a whoop, Miazga said to win the race was “a real honour”.

View full race results online. And, if you think you’ve got what it takes, why not enter the Speights Coast to Coast next year or find another adventure race to test your endurance?

The 15th World Buskers Festival kicks off today in Christchurch and continues until January 27th. Forty acts from ten countries, including New Zealand, will perform their various talents around the streets of the city.

When the busking festival started fifteen years ago, there were eight acts and two events which drew 8,000 people. Last year’s festival played host to more than forty national and international acts, staged in excess of 450 shows and drew 250,000 people into the central city.

This year’s festival boasts the largest contingent of circus, street and stage acts Christchurch has ever seen. There are
jugglers, comedians, contortionists, unicyclists, clowns, musicians, dancers, acrobats, living statues and aerialists.

With day time shows around the city, it’s great entertainment for families, with adult shows in the North Quad of the Arts Centre and at the Civic every night.

I always look forward to this time of year, as there are so many different acts appearing all over the central city as part of this busking festival. It’s the cheapest ten days of entertainment you will get!

When it comes to New Zealand search, we’re onto it. As the home of smart search in New Zealand, NZS’ers like to stay on top of both local and international search trends, so it was a must for us to attend the inaugural New Zealand Search Engine Room Conference on Tuesday 13th November in Auckland.

The first major outing for the search engine industry in New Zealand was attended by companies from within the growing NZ search industry, as well as by many sales and marketing managers looking to get in on the rise of performance-based search advertising around the world.

Big name exhibitors
Exhibitors included Google, SLI-Systems, Netconcepts, FirstRate, Alekemi and SureFire, along with representatives from many big name brands such as Microsoft, Yahoo! and DoubleClick. Dr Grant Ryan from Eurekster was the keynote speaker who kicked off the morning sessions, with heavyweights from the search industry – Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft – completing the morning.

Competition in the NZ search market
New Zealand Google Marketing Manager, Paul Webster, will face a growing challenge in the coming year; Yahoo! Search Marketing head, Willie Pang, was adamant their introduction to the market will increase competition dramatically and help shift some of Google’s majority share (90%) of the search market in New Zealand, to Yahoo!

Liz Fraser, NZ Business Manager for MSN New Zealand, was optimistic about the new role MSN has within the New Zealand search market, announcing that the site is about to be re-launched. Liz stated that in the long-run, Microsoft see the greatest search competition solely between Microsoft and Google; this comment sparked some interest from the attendees, as she was effectively writing off the Yahoo! representative sitting next to her on the panel.

Bebo popular with young New Zealanders
A quick talk from the Australia / New Zealand manager for Bebo showed the level of influence the community site has in the 15 to 24-year-old market in New Zealand – Bebo has more traffic than TradeMe. Bebo’s new media relationship with TVNZ was touted as the first of its kind in the world, allowing Bebo access to 70% of the New Zealand Internet audience.

NZS.com at the Search Engine Room Conference
As NZS.com General Manager, I was a speaker at the conference, discussing the emergence of local directories in the small New Zealand market.

We’re already anticipating next year’s event – which should offer a similarly diverse and dynamic programme combining issues such as search marketing, search engine optimisation, blogging and social search.

Fancy an excuse to dress up and have a flutter on the horses?

New Zealand Cup and Show Week is just that. This annual Christchurch event brings together the best of horse racing, frivolous frocks ‘n hats, fine dining and a few drinks in the sunshine. Throughout Cup Week, Addington and Riccarton Race Courses come alive with racing events and entertainment, including the New Zealand Galloping and Trotting Cups, Ladies Day, Guineas Day and Show Day race meetings. The event is an impressive feature on the New Zealand horse racing calendar, pulling over 125,000 punters to the racetrack for a fling.

Highlights of the week’s entertainment prove there’s something for everyone:

New Zealand Trotting Cup – As well as betting on horses that are in fine form, well-dressed fillies and lads will be in to win coveted Best Dressed titles.

Southern Amp – Rock bands and DJ’s for Christchurch’s hip young things… ready your ears for Opshop, Concord Dawn, The Veils and more.

Royal New Zealand Show – Country comes to town for this family agricultural show with stalls, animals and fairground rides.

Style Christchurch – Established fashion designers and retailers give us a taste of designer gears for Summer ‘07 and Winter ‘08.

Take time out at the biggest New Zealand horse racing event – there’s more than just horses!

Here are two words for you: Personal. Responsibility.

As an advocate for the environment, I also harp on about personal responsibility when it comes to these things. If you’re not going to do something positive, then those around you won’t bother either. But if you do take positive action, then others around you may be inspired to do the same (think how wide your social circle reaches). On a larger scale, if people take action on an issue, the trend will gain momentum until it’s a fully-fledged social movement.

Now Hubbards (yes, the friendly face of breakfast cereal) has launched the Carbon Crusade, with lofty ambitions to battle climate change. Er, I mean Climate Change. Yes, it’s big, but they’re doing it one step at a time with the philosophy that every step counts.

The Carbon Crusade is a series of off-road running and walking events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Each participant will walk or run a 13-15km course, stopping halfway to plant four native trees. Climate change is caused by rising levels of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, which are attributed to (among other things) the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, petrol, gas and coal. Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) is the most predominant greenhouse gas – trees absorb and store CO₂, so they’re the perfect antidote. By taking part, you’ll also get the chance to admire stunning views from usually inaccessible parts of our be-oot-iful country.

Get into it; you know you want to.

This weekend a worldwide event called Software Freedom Day will be held to publicise open source and free software. Here in New Zealand, we have a handful of events being organised by local enthusiasts. So, if you want to find out more about open source and free software, then go along to one of the events.

Software Freedom Day is a global, grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of software freedom and the virtues and availability of free and open source software. Local teams from all over the world organise events on the third Saturday in September.