Alexa is arriving in Australia and New Zealand early next year

 One more bit of news out of tonight’s Alexa State of the Union Keynote at AWS Re:Invent in Vegas. Amazon is finally bringing its voice service to Oceania. After several months of rumblings, the company announced today that Alexa will be arriving in Australia and New Zealand at some unspecified point in early 2018. In the meantime, it’s opening up its tools for developers, in order… Read More

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Why this New Zealand politician’s speech from 2013 has gone viral in Japan

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Words can wield power for a long time after they’ve been spoken.

A speech regarding same-sex marriage made by former New Zealand National MP Maurice Williamson has found popularity four years after it was delivered, as a rational rallying cry for marriage equality in Japan.

A clip of Williamson’s speech has now gone viral in Japan with over 170,000 retweets at the time of writing, picked up by BuzzFeed.

So, why now? The Twitter video was posted as a direct response to remarks made by the General Council Chairman of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, Wataru Takeshita. He was widely criticised for recently saying that he was “opposed” to the idea that state guests’ same-sex partners should be invited to events hosted by Empress Michiko and Emperor Akihito. Read more…

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New Zealand’s nationwide Secret Santa is rather adorable

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It seems like if there’s anywhere to be in the world, it’d be in New Zealand.

These holidays, New Zealanders are set to again participate in a nationwide Secret Santa, organised by the country’s postal service, NZ Post. 

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Secret Santa, sometimes called Kris Kringle, is an activity where one person gives a (usually small) gift to another person, but the recipient is not told who it came from. It requires a group of people, and names are drawn at random. 

New Zealand’s nationwide Secret Santa has been going since 2010, but NZ Post took the reins in 2013. It now has a warehouse to facilitate gift exchanges, and there are more than 3,500 Secret Santa participants this year — you just need a Twitter account to enter, and a Twitter handle is the only clue you’ll receive for your recipient, for gift ideas. Read more…

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New Zealand’s prime minister delivered a sick burn to Donald Trump

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New Zealand’s new prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has really hit the ground running. 

Although the PM started her term with the tragic loss of her internet-beloved cat, Paddles, things are comin’ up Milhouse after an apparent little dig at U.S. President Donald Trump.

In an interview with New Zealand news site Newsroom, Ardern, who was elected in October, recapped her recent visit to the East Asia Summit.

Best bit? A small serving for Trump.

“I was waiting to walk out to be introduced at the East Asia Summit gala dinner, where we all paraded and while we were waiting, Trump in jest patted the person next to him on the shoulder, pointed at me and said, ‘This lady caused a lot of upset in her country,’ talking about the election.” Read more…

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Tim Cook tweets congratulatory message to Australia but uses the wrong flag

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Looks like Tim Cook might have sent this tweet out a little too quickly.

The Apple CEO on Wednesday congratulated Australia on saying “yes” to same-sex marriage — except he added an emoji of the flag of New Zealand.

Congratulations Australia! Another important step toward equality for all. 🇦🇺 #MarriageEquality

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) November 15, 2017

The original tweet was quickly deleted and a new tweet sent out, this time, with the correct flag.

The original tweet that was sent out

The original tweet that was sent out

Image: @officialmicca/twitter

But the mistake had already been spotted by some on Twitter, and one guy pointed out how it’s tough searching for emoji on Apple’s keyboard: Read more…

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Email bot wastes a scammer’s time with mindless chit-chat

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While you might be wise enough to delete or flag emails promising great wealth in far-flung countries, not everyone is so savvy to these scams.

To ensure these scammers have less time to prey on real people, New Zealand online safety organisation Netsafe has developed a tool called Re:scam

It’s an artificially intelligent email bot which engages with scammers in mindless, never-ending conversation, full of unrelated questions that waste their time — it’s a similar strategy adopted by Mashable‘s scam crusader Scamalot. Read more…

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Drake tests out new untitled song during his world tour

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Drake is busy doing the world tour thing, but that doesn’t stop him from trying out some new material.

The Canadian R&B artist was in Auckland, New Zealand in the last week as part of his “Boy Meets World” tour, and tested out a previously unheard song on the crowd of screaming fans.

It has no title or release date as yet, but here’s a 24-second snippet of what it sounds like. There’s references to champagne and death.

Drake performing a New Song 🌺🌎pic.twitter.com/Hf2uwZXMXG

— Drake 🦉 (@TalkOnRoad) November 6, 2017 Read more…

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Farewell to Paddles, New Zealand’s beloved first cat

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New Zealand’s first cat and internet sensation, Paddles, has sadly died.

The ginger and white cat belonging to the country’s new Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was struck down by a car on Tuesday, according to the New Zealand Herald

A neighbour found it hoping that it was unconscious, but a vet later pronounced it dead. 

Hi, I’m Paddles and I am the First Cat of New Zealand. I have opposable thumbs, I’m purrty specialpic.twitter.com/MPkxdhWCRu

— Paddles (@FirstCatofNZ) October 21, 2017

“I’m pretty upset,” a neighbour told the newspaper. “She’s very much part of the neighbourhood. Most people around here would know who she is.” Read more…

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