Category Archives: Business and the Environment

01/07/2010 Posted in Business and the Environment, Cleantech, New Zealand, Waipara 6 Comments

Did I Mention That I Hate NIMBYs?

By Ben Kepes

I’ve written before about the proposal of a local company to build a windfarm in the hills near where I live. An article in The Press newspaper this morning made my blood boil and made me happy that I penned an opinion piece for a soon-to-be-published edition of a newspaper.

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20/01/2010 Posted in Business and the Environment, New Zealand 4 Comments

Department of Conservation and Scams, A Micro-Rant

By Ben Kepes

Traditionally I use my summer road trip to find new tourism travesties to rant about – this year of course is no different. Recently we visited Tane Mahuta, the largest known Kauri tree remaining alive in the world. Tane Mahuta is situated in Waipoua forest, an incredible example of old

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11/12/2009 Posted in Business and the Environment, Compliance, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand 22 Comments

Lobby Groups, Vested Interests and Short Sightedness

By Ben Kepes

(Warning – off topic, but still important) Despite statements to the opposite, New Zealand is a country that gains significant wealth from agriculture and horticulture. That we do so, such a long distance from our main markets, is in part testament to the fact that we’re blessed with significant rain

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23/11/2009 Posted in Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Efficiency, New Zealand 1 Comment

Commoditization… and the Tragedy of the Commons….

By Ben Kepes

My good friend Ruth has started blogging and, in what can only be likened to a “butterfly from the chrysalis” moment, we get to see the thoughts her previous employment have rendered her unlikely to utter. Her latest post looks broadly at the Emissions Trading Scheme and questions the strategy

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08/01/2009 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, New Zealand, Society 7 Comments

Tourism: At What Price. A Treatise on Authenticity

By Ben Kepes

Image via Wikipedia We’re nearing the end of three amazing weeks on the road in the North Island – from the Wairarapa to the East Cape, on to the Coromandel and back through Rotorua and Taupo it’s been a great trip. However an event in Rotorua yesterday motivated me to

16/12/2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, Society 2 Comments

What Part of Rampant Consumerism do People Not Get?

By Ben Kepes

Doing the rounds at the moment is a UK Sunday Star Times story about an undercover operation at an Amazon warehouse. Basically the reporter discovered terrible working conditions, very high demands on staff and not allowance for sick days off. The thing that caused the shock for people (we all

28/10/2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Society 1 Comment

Awesome – VSA 2.0!

By Ben Kepes

The always informative (if generally technophobic) Mr Raf over at Sustento gave me a heads up about Nabuur. In their own words Nabuur seeks to be; an online volunteering platform that links Neighbours (online volunteers) with Villages (local communities) in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Connected through Nabuur.com, Neighbours and

16/10/2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, New business, New Zealand, Web x.0 1 Comment

Another Cool Kiwi Startup

By Ben Kepes

This will just be a quick announcement – a fuller review with some competitor information will be over on CloudAve tomorrow but I thought I’d give notice of a new startup which flicked the “on” switch a few hours ago. Built by a European/New Zealand team, but with its initial

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10/10/2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Efficiency, IT, SaaS, The Cloud 81 Comments

Diversity Competition – Experience Life at the Edge

By Ben Kepes

Over on Geekzone Mauricio wants to send someone into space. Here on Diversity we’re not up to that level (yet) but we do want to send someone to the bleeding edge. I’m a firm believer in the Net PC concept – the idea that a low power machine, leveraging web

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03/10/2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, IT, New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

Of Nimby-ism and Mass Hysteria

By Ben Kepes

Now I’m not going to wade into a discussion about the health-risks or otherwise of cellphone towers. I’m not qualified to comment and I really don’t have the appetite for the fight those sorts of discussions invariably turn into. All I’ll say is that I use a mobile device, and

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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