What a surprise it was to log onto the Stuff website today and see the headline pictured to the left “Peter Griffin is God”. One of the better headlines the subs have come up with, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately it was that other Peter Griffin …
MoreSony New Zealand was responsible for leaking one major tidbit of news about the upcoming functions of the Playstation 3, namely, that it will be able to be used as a digital recorder, ala Tivo and MySky. Recently I’ve also been looking at some of the g…
MoreLesson number one: Don’t eat at the Thai restaurant at Paihia. I did on the evening of Morgo’s second day after just about everyone else had dispersed south and my stomach has only just come right. The Thai beef tasted a little funny when I was eating it but I just assumed that was the tang of MSG or something. Boy did I pay for that mistake!
Anyway, Morgo was a great event once again. I hope the feature below, which ran in The Business gives the impression of a tight-knit group of entrepreneurs getting together to discuss some of the issues their businesses are facing, because that’s what Morgo is. Without any proper representation for the IT sector at an industry level it’s sort of a defacto event for setting the agenda, examining the isues of importance. In addition to the feature, I also blogged from Morgo for the Herald:
MORGO: A tale of two tech listings
MORGO: Going global from NZ
MORGO 2007 – highlights from the tech talkfest
By Peter Griffin
Jenny Morel knows how to get a good crowd together. The venture capitalist’s invite-only retreats have, for five years straight, drawn the top ranks of the tech sector.
Last week’s Morgo summit in Waitangi was no different.
The seeds of business deals have been planted at Morgo, stock exchange listings quietly planned. A sense of kinship pervades the proceedings. The competitive spirit may have come out during the haphazard games of Segway polo held on the manicured lawn of the Copthorne Hotel, but Waitangi was full last week of innovative people united in the goal of growing their technology businesses quickly.
If anyone knows a thing or two about that, its Trademe founder Sam Morgan, who in the space of seven years built his tiny internet auction business into the country’s most popular website before selling it last year to Fairfax in an unprecedented $700 million deal.
Morgan also knows the value of Morgo – he met entrepreneur Craig Meek at last year’s conference and went on to invest in his data visualization company, iVistra. It was Morgo that put him in touch with DeviceWorks, which recently won worldwide attention with its Lomak light-operated mouse and keyboard, which is designed to help the disabled use computers. Morgan is now an investor in the business and is casting the net wide for new opportunities to plough his share of the Trademe sale proceeds into. Morgan’s investment adviser accompanied him to Morgo in the hope of finding some leads.
“I’ve made a few start-up investments and I’ve made a few social investments,” says Morgan.
“I don’t invest in stem cell research, just because I don’t get it,” he says.
He has underwritten the formation of a micro-finance scheme in Samoa and in addition to iVistra and Lomak, has put money into people management software maker Sonar6. Morgan spent much of his talk at Morgo outlining how little his life has changed since the Trademe sale. He has earn-out targets to meet, so is still preoccupied with Trademe.
“I’m planning on being there in some capacity for quite a while yet,” he says.
But he recognizes succession planning is underway and that involves building a team he trusts – then leaving them to get on with their work. His “Don’t be a dick” mantra, the equivalent of Google’s “Don’t be evil”, became a bit of a catchphrase at Morgo.
“Moving out of the picture means making sure everyone has the ‘Don’t be a dick’ certificate,” says Morgan, who sits on the board of listed accounting software Xero, the creation of another Morgo regular, Rod Drury.
“I really hope it’s the Nokia of New Zealand,” Drury said of Xero towards the end of his speech at Morgo.
“This is a ten year play. I plan to work until I’m at least 50,” he added.
After last year selling his mail archiving company Aftermail to US software company Quest, Drury could have retired. That wasn’t an option. Drury says the aim was always to sell Aftermail so he could fund his next venture, which he always anticipated would be a public company, listed on the NXZ.
“I thought if we want to be here in the long term, we’ve got to do it as a public company,” he said.
For Drury, preparing Xero for going global has meant investing heavily in getting top talent onboard and designing a software platform that can easily be tweaked for bigger markets.
“The breadth of the wall chart was built from day one,” he said.
“We did a lot of R&D so… we could have one system across the world.”
Sysdoc founder and director Katherine Corich faced a different challenge trying to scale her document management company in Britain – negotiating the old boy’s network that pervades business over there.
“It’s definitely a land of old boy networks,” she told Morgo. No more obvious was that than in the Government sector, where Korich says seven IT providers claim over two-thirds of the budgeted IT spend.
“You have to align yourself with one of ten providers. I’ve focused on getting non-executive directors with extensive UK government experience,” she said.
If those who spoke at Morgo honed in on some specific examples of how they have refined their businesses for global expansion, it was left to Endace-founder Selwyn Pellet to issue a rallying cry for the tech sector in general.
“As New Zealanders, we don’t have to be second class citizens. We are good,” Pellett reminded his fellow entrepreneurs.
But reeling off a list of similarly small countries that have grown thriving technology sectors – Ireland, Israel and Finland among them, he reminded them that New Zealand is “outgunned and outnumbered” and needs some visionary thinking to stay competitive.
“If you stick with five – ten per cent growth a year, it’s not going to happen,” said Pellett.
“The business plan needs to be a hairy-arsed audacious goal.”
Endace, a maker of networking management technology with a global blue chip client base, was the first New Zealand registered company to list on the London stock exchange’s alternative investment market.
“If you want to get out of the trenches and start charging, list your company,” Pellet advised. But for those considering a public listing, and there were several at Morgo, we told them to “look beyond the listing”, to have a long term goal for success.
“We listed Endace. The end goal was the listing. Suddenly we had to pump really hard to get going again.”
Endace had created seven New Zealand-based millionaires who have gone on to reinvest.
“Instead of us being bought, we’re going around the world buying companies.”
“The entrepreneurs in the room have to do more and more companie
s. They’re not allowed to retire,” he added.
Andy Lark, a Silicon Valley-based marketing guru, who heads NZTE’s technology beachhead in the US and is a director of Morel’s No. 8 Ventures, likewise encouraged kiwi entrepreneurs to think big.
“The real model for me is Israel. These guys are building more hi-tech companies than any small nation on earth,” he said.
“It’s because they’ve differentiated between what’s a good business model and what allows them to succeed outside of their market.”
Later, in a small session devoted to using the internet to overcome the tyranny of distance, he explained how much New Zealand companies can do with blogs, wikis and search engines to cheaply market their companies.
“People are breaking down the barriers between themselves and the customer using the web,” he said.
“Information is a commodity and it doesn’t cost too much to share it.”
MoreGriffin’s Gadgets has been quiet for an unacceptably long period of time by blogging standards – over a month! I’ve nevertheless been busy on some creative projects, at least one of which will hopefully bear fruit in the coming months. In the meantime …
Moreby Peter Griffin | from the New Zealand HeraldDigital satellite TV operator Freeview admits a “stuff-up” with its flagship brand of set-top boxes marred the service’s launch, but says the technical glitches are now behind it. Freeview general manage…
MoreI didn’t get a chance to post these last week as I was tied up posting on another blog. Webstock Mini was a great event and credit to Natasha Hall and the others on the team who continue to put on some worthwhile internet events in Wellington.The new I…
Moreby Peter Griffin | from the Herald on SundayPhotos courtesy of my friend Ellie who visited Nasa in 2003 and got up close and personal with the Mars Rover!It has to be one of the more unusual job descriptions ever advertised: spend 18 months locked in a…
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The stories in the Sunday papers about Millie Holmes’ problems with pure methamphetamine reminded me of Cyan Sunday, a feature screenplay I wrote very quickly a couple of years ago. The story is about an intelligent young woman, Charlotte White, who is also a very good P cook who has created a lucrative little business in Auckland supplying the gangs with high grade merchandise for their street drug trade.
Charlotte likes to deal to her favour customers from the rear pew of St. Patrick’s and when leaving church one Sunday she is knocked unconscious and kidnapped by Thomas Schumacher and his colleague Keith. The two are middle aged bankers whose children’s lives have been ruined by the P Charlotte sells. Frustrated at the pace of the police investigation into Charlotte’s activities, Schumacher decides to take matters into his own hands leading to the following scene…
INT. SCHUMACKER’S GARAGE — MORNING
The garage door closes behind Thomas’ car. He and Keith climb out and slide Charlotte across the backseat. She is limp within their arms but begins to revive and fight.
THOMAS
Get the chain and lock!
He holds Charlotte while Keith grabs a chain off a workbench that runs the length of one side of the garage. Thomas slaps Charlotte across the face twice and she stops struggling. He drags her to a steel chair that sits with its back hard against a boat trailer which holds a large red speed boat. Taking her arms he holds them together behind the chair while Keith wraps the chain tightly around them and loops the chain through the safety latch of the trailer.
Charlotte looks up at Thomas groggily. He leans against the workbench tired form the exertion. He points at her.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
There she is. Doesn’t look like a drug baron
does she? With a broken nose, chained up. It’s
not like the movies. No henchmen, no weapons?
He flicks a look at Keith who pants away wearing a Balaclava.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
You did check her for weapons?
MR GREY
I checked, just a mobile phone and
some keys.
A shot of the phone and keys sitting on the workbench.
THOMAS
Good.
The three of them regard each other. Charlotte spits onto the garage floor. The spit is red, laced with blood.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
Be my guest. And scream away if you want.
We’re pretty private here.
CHARLOTTE
(clears her throat)
What is this, you want me to cook for you?
Thomas bursts out with forced laughter. Keith joins him from behind his mask. The laughter carries on, echoing in the garage. Charlotte studies the two men and looks around the garage. A series of shots with the men’s laughter over the top: Tubs of paint on a shelf, a ride-on lawn mower parked in the corner, fishing rods hung from the rafters of the garage.
THOMAS
I think you’ve done enough of that for one
career, madam. Think of this as the Spanish
Inquisition but it doesn’t matter if you truly
do believe in God, which you obviously do
because you deal drugs in church!
Schumacher breaks out laughing again. Charlotte scans the room, looking for an out. A shot of her hands exploring the chain and the safety latch of the boat trailer.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
No, this is a confessional in which you are
going to tell us every detail of your operation,
who supplies you with the cold pills, where
you make it and how your dealer network
functions. Understand?
CHARLOTTE
You’re wasting your time, I’m just a dealer, I
get given the stuff and sell it on the streets, I
don’t know whose above or below me.
THOMAS
Bullshit! We’ve been watching you for weeks.
You’re not some curb-crawling drug pusher.
You’re a major player in Auckland, below the
radar. Till now.
Thomas walks up to Charlotte and looks down at her.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
Now the game is over. It’s confession time
and you better not leave out any details.
CHARLOTTE
Or what?
THOMAS
Or what? Or what?
Thomas goes back to the workbench and opens a drawer full of tools. He begins taking them out and placing them on the table during the next piece of his dialogue.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
Well it’s your industry Miss White, you
know what the thugs running it are capable of.
What was that I read in the paper the other
day?
He slams down a hammer on the workbench.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
About that guy working for the Head Hunters?
He was stealing from the gang apparently,
skimming off his own cut of the merchandise
and selling it. Under the table, so to speak. They
cut his head off. A farmer found it in his sewage
pond. They never found the rest of him! Identified
him by his crowns!
He takes a long MACHETE out of the drawer and holds it up for Charlotte to see.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
I can’t claim to be an expert in the use of this thing,
but I’ll give it a go.
He throws the machete on the workbench and nods to Keith. They walk towards Charlotte who retracts against the boat trailer. Schumacher produces a tape recorder, presses the record button and balances it on the speed boat.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
Who supplies you with the pills?
Silence from Charlotte. Thomas produces a smaller knife from his pocket and points it at Charlotte.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
(irritated)
I’m serious, you mess around and I’ll cut
flesh, I swear I will. Where are the pills
coming from!
Silence from Charlotte who sits defiantly. Thomas looks at her annoyed, trying to look staunch. Then he nods to Keith and they walk into the corridor leading to the garage, out of view of Charlotte.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
(whispered)
The bitch is going to be difficult.
He paces around the plush corridor – designer lights, expensive tiles and artwork on the walls.
THOMAS (CONT’D)
I was serious when I said I was prepared to
hurt her, to make her talk.
KEITH
Hurt her? How much?
THOMAS
It depends how difficult she is. I can’t say
she’s got off to a great start. I’m going to ask
her about the source again and if she doesn’t
talk I’m going to cut her?
KEITH
Cut her? You could kill her?
THOMAS
I’m not going to kill her, just a flesh wound. I’m
not going to stab her!
Keith is sweating profusely. He wipes his face with a handkerchief.
KEITH
You could hit an artery or something. What then?
We turn up at the hospital with some girl bleeding to
death? How do we explain that?
THOMAS
I’ll cut her on the ear, cut a piece out of her ear. See
how she handles that.
KEITH
Are you serious?
INT. SCHUMACHER’S GARAGE — MORNING
Charlotte is sitting on the steel chair, the blood drying on her face. She strains to hear the conversation in the hallway and can make out the gist of it. She runs her fingers over a NUT on the trailer’s safety latch, worrying it.
INT. SCHUMACHER’S HALLWAY — MORNING
THOMAS
(angry)
I’m dead serious. What the hell are we doing here? I’m completely serious. I’m not going to cut her ear off I’m going to stick the end of this knife into her eye ball!
He goes to go back into the garage, worked up. Keith grabs him and pulls him back.
KEITH
Wait, wait. Calm down. Okay? Cut her
on the face, away from her neck. If she
doesn’t talk!
They look gravely at each other. Thomas nods resolutely and looks at the knife. Keith puts his Balaclava back on. They walk out of screen and we hold on a thermometer on the wall of the garage. The temperature is 32 degrees.
Moreby Peter Griffin | Herald on Sunday
A pasty looking child was the centre of attention in Japan last week. He made faces, rolled around on the floor and barked out words. None of that would be too special were if not for the fact that CB2, as he’s called, is a robot.
CB2 has a biomimetic body, which includes dozens of actuators to replicate muscles and sensors to simulate touch and hearing. Tiny cameras substitute for eyes.
When CB2 stands up, he needs the support of an adult and his legs shake just as those of a child who is learning to walk would.
CB2’s creators hope the robot can be used to improve understanding of how children develop human relation skills – learn language, recognize objects, interact with other people.
The Japanese have been fascinated by robots for decades, but biomimesis, the imitation of biological functions, is seen by many scientists worldwide as the key to building robots that can operate in unstructured environments. That science is in its early days, but
think of the Terminator or the hordes of sleek androids in I Robot as the ultimate biomimetric robots.
Robots already man the assembly lines of car and electronics factories the world over. It’s a different story when it comes to consumer uses for robots. We’ve been told for years that robots will be infiltrating the household, but the only one to successfully do so has been the Roomba vacuum cleaner, which motors around your floors sucking up dust, mapping out your home in its memory so it knows where it has already cleaned.
Sony last year ditched its much loved Aibo robotic dog and the Qrio humanoid robot because the robots, while impressive, simply didn’t have commercial appeal.
But while the home may remain robot free for a good few years yet while models that can cope in non-structured environments are developed, there is plenty of robotic progress being made in other fields.
The US military, for example, is taking to robots as it seeks to lessen the risk of its soldiers being killed or injured.
The Battlefield Extraction Assist Robot (BEAR) from US robotics company Vecna, is designed to rescue an injured soldier, scooping the body into its arms so that other soldiers aren’t put at risk retrieving their wounded comrades.
The six-foot tall BEAR can cross unstable ground and stay upright thanks to the use of gyroscopes and motors controlled by computer. It can carry over 200kg in its arms and kneel down to gently scoop up a wounded soldier. It even has a teddy bear face to put wounded soldiers at ease. It’s expected to be ready for testing within five years.
Built on a much smaller scale, but potentially as useful in the war zone, are LANdroids, tiny robots that can be dispersed to form a wireless radio network to maintain communications.
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing LANdroids to overcome the problem of patchy radio communications in the field. The idea is that the robots are light enough to be carried by soldiers so they can be dropped at regular intervals to collectively form a wireless network for voice and data communications. Mounted on wheels, The LANdroids will also be self-adjusting, so that they can change position to ensure the best signal strength of the network. DARPA wants to get the average cost of a LANdroid down to around US$100 which will be a tall order given the sophisticated work they will be expected to perform.
The robots are coming in all shapes and sizes, but are unlikely to appear any more humanlike for some time to come.
On the web:
http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/solicitations/open/07-46_PIP.pdf
http://vecnarobotics.com/robotics/
NEW WALKMAN PHONES
Ahead of the iPhone’s arrival Sony Ericsson has announced two new music phones with similar memory storage to Apple’s music phone. The Sony Ericsson W960 has 8GB (gigabytes) of internal storage, Wi-fi networking, a first for a Sony Ericsson phone and high-speed data access. There’s a 3.2 megapixel camera and the W960 has smartphone capability syncing Windows email and documents. The slimmer W910 also has the digital camera but not the hefty onboard flash memory allowance. It’s unique feature is “Shake Control” which lets the user shake the handset to turn the playlist to random. You can see the Nintendo Wii’s influence there. The new phones will debut before Christmas.
Philip Baker, who worked on Apple’s Newton PDA device back in the early 1990s has an interesting blog post about the iPhone. The hype surrounding the new device which will be released on June 29, is reminiscent of that which greeted the Newton, says Ba…
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PETER GRIFFIN 
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