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Sony Music Unlimited Review

I’m about 1/3rd through a two month trial of Music Unlimited but like many trials, I’ve already made a decision about what I’ll be doing at the end of the trial. Pro’s: - Affordable (NZ$15/month), essentially the cost of one digital album if bought on itunes. – Great audio quality – Songs are quick to load (i.e. …

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Blackhole Trojan ‘hopefully’ Gone

Firstly, I’ll start by apologising to anyone who visited this site over the past year or more since it was infected by a trojan/virus.  Hopefully you were sensible and had adequate anti-virus protection and were not infected. I thought I’d better give an explanation for why the site had been down for several days… A …

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Corin’s Roadtrip, final day – Whakamaru

Megan told Liv before that this was Daddy’s favorite place. I never realised but I think it is. I went for a 7:30am swim and Meg and Liv had a paddle.

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Corin’s Roadtrip: Day 2 – Motueka

It’s 3:45pm and we ‘re sitting at our campsite at top10 holiday park. We’ve got the best site in the park (at least from Liv’s point of view which funnily enough, often coincides with ours). We flew down to Christchurch on Jetstar on Monday morning (great experience) but had to wait for a couple of …

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Gran Turismo Spec B, Made for Dad’s

At the moment the very early hours of the new year (3am) find me playing Gran Turismo. It’s a great game, the graphics are awesome, the physics feel realistic and there’s an insane amount of content, but what I really want to talk about is Spec B which I’m ‘playing’ at the moment. For those …

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Sony Music Unlimited ReviewBlackhole Trojan ‘hopefully’ GoneCorin’s Roadtrip, final day – WhakamaruCorin’s Roadtrip: Day 2 – MotuekaGran Turismo Spec B, Made for Dad’s

Aug
24

U2 Bringing ‘the Claw’ to Auckland in 2010

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Update (17/11): Lots of people seem to be looking for the start times related to the U2 concerts.  Thanks to Maxx (public transport looks to be a great way to get to the concert) we have the details.  The gates open at 4:30pm, Jay-z will hit the stage at 7:30pm and U2 will rock the kasbah at 9:15pm.   Should be sweeeeet.

U2 have announced a second show (as expected) on Friday the 26th of November.  Tickets go on sale at 9am on September the 9th (Thursday).

Follow U2Auckland on twitter for all the latest news about the upcoming U2 concert.

So you’ll all have heard that U2 are coming back to New Zealand’s shores in November for a one off (yeah right) concert.

Since I’m getting quite a few hits to my older posts from people looking for info on this gig, I thought I would list all the stuff we know in one place.

- [First] Concert will be at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium on November 25th
- Tickets will go on sale on the 3rd of September (9am) Update: from Ticketek
- Jay-Z will be the support act for Australia and New Zealand

Ticket Prices:

TICKET LIMIT: 8 tickets per transaction.

Ticket Prices (Updated only names):
P1 Seating: $299.90
P2 Seating: $229.90
P3 Seating: $174.90
P4 Seating: $109.90
P5 Standing: $99.90
P6 RED ZONE: $349.50
P7 Seating: $39.90

Transaction fees apply (up to $18).

More details: Ticketek

Stadium Layout:

Frequently Asked Questions:

What time does the concert start?
4:30pm

Are cameras allowed?
Non-professional equipment is allowed (not sure how they define ‘professional)

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Aug
12

Playstation Plus Month 3 Content

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So, I’m actually really enjoying my Playstation Plus subscription. I suppose you’re pretty much in bonus territory when you sign up for the two games you get in month 1.

The content for month 3 (1 September to 30th September 2010) has been announced.

Games
Sam and Max: Devil’s Playground (entire season)
Vector Tower Defense (minis)
Echoes (minis)
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (PS one Classic)

Full Game Trials
Warhawk (Plus exclusive 50% discount for Plus members on purchase)
Inferno Pool

Special Offers
LittleBigPlanet: Ico and Shadow of Colossus costume pack – 50%
Metal Gear Solid (PS one Classic) – 50%
Warhawk – 50%
PixelJunk Shooter – 20%

Premium Game Downloads
Exclusive UFC Undisputed 2010 downloads

Dynamic themes and Premium Avatars
Exclusive PlayStation Move theme
Exclusive Fish Tank theme
EyePet Blue Goalie Avatar
EyePet DJ Avatar

I’m pretty stoked about the full game downloads.  I was intrigued by Sam & Max when I last played it back in 2006 and an entire season seems like excellent value.  It also suits my ultra-casual gaming habit.  I also happen to love tower defense games and this one reviewed well.

PS+ continues to not be for everyone, but having sunk my money in, I’m still glad I did.

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Aug
11

Kiwibank Follows Others in Increasing Interest Rates

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Kiwibank this morning followed all the other leading banks in increasing their floating rates by 0.25% from 5.90% to 6.15%.

19/03/2010 7/05/2010 12/05/2010 24/05/2010 22/06/2010 2/07/2010 6/07/2010 11/08/2010
Variable 5.65% 5.65% 5.65% 5.65% 5.90% 5.90% 5.90% 6.15%
Revolving 5.65% 5.65% 5.65% 5.65% 5.90% 5.90% 5.90% 6.15%
6 month fixed 5.75% 5.75% 5.99% 5.99% 6.10% 6.10% 6.10% 6.35%
1 year fixed 6.15% 6.15% 6.35% 6.35% 6.45% 6.45% 6.45% 6.45%
18 month fixed 6.49% 6.49% 6.69% 6.69% 6.69% 6.69% 6.69% 6.69%
2 year fixed 7.10% 7.10% 7.30% 7.30% 7.30% 6.99% 6.99% 6.69%
3 year fixed 7.70% 7.70% 7.70% 7.70% 7.70% 7.70% 7.25% 7.19%
4 year fixed 8.20% 8.20% 8.20% 8.20% 8.20% 8.20% 7.55% 7.45%
5 year fixed 8.50% 8.50% 8.50% 8.50% 8.50% 8.50% 7.75% 7.75%

They also cut their mid-long term rates with a hefty cut to the two year rate.

I personally subscribe to the philosophy of ‘spreading your eggs’ by having a combination of two fixed periods pieces and a floating revolving credit account.  My first fixed period is due to expire in November so I can see myself picking up a 2 year fixed rate for that amount just to keep that mix of fixed and floating.

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Aug
06

Pomparkour in Auckland

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This has to be a candidate for best ad of the year.  If all ads were this cool I wouldn’t fast forward through them.

Check out this page from Campbell Live for an article on how they did it.

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Jul
22

Auckland Super City Candidates

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This post is now out of date, please check the Auckland Council website for the full list of candidates.

With less than a month until nominations close (20th Aug) for the Super City Mayoralty Race, I thought it was timely to list the candidates in one place with a little bit about each of them.

It’s worth noting that as a council employee, I’m obliged not to publicly support any of them or to give them any assistance, so you should not interpret any of my comments in such a way.

Len Brown -Most Aucklanders will know Len for his recent credit card controversy, but he has been mayor of Manukau City since 2007.  Len is seen as a “centre left” option.

John Banks -The current mayor of Auckland City has had two terms and is well connected with both the Citizens & Ratepayers group and the National Party.  John is seen as a “centre right” option.

Simon Prast – Simon is best known for his acting and business involvement in the arts.  Not too much is known about his policies apart from his favour for supporting the arts.

Andrew Williams – The ‘colourful’ and often discussed mayor of North Shore City was elected in 2007 and has been controversial throughout his mayoralty.

Colin Craig – I hadn’t heard of Colin until he appeared (rather spookily) in a google ad in gmail.  He comes from a commercial background and is involved in the property industry.  His policies seem to place him right in the centre of the spectrum.

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A full list of candidates will be released after nominations close on the 20th, so until then, this is a list pulled together from a bunch of news articles.  So if I’ve missed anyone, add the details in a comment and I’ll add them to the list.

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Jul
16

Final Powershop Review – 1 Year On

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You may also be interested in:

Powershop Review – 1 Month On
Powershop Review – First Impressions

16/12/10 – Powershop is currently running a promotion for 12 days of free power for new customers who are referred. If you’re keen, leave your email address as a comment and I’ll refer you.

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Well, the year has gone by pretty quickly since I started using Powershop.  I’m still as enthusiastic about Powershop and it’s savings as I was a year ago and to cut to the crux of the post, I have saved money.

Below are the numbers I used to produce the graph further down the page, the numbers in red I don’t have for Genesis as I didn’t spend an entire year with them before switching to Powershop, so I have estimated the amounts based on winter unit prices.

January February March April May June July
Genesis 82.83 103.64 139.09 201.36 172.01 182.31 223.51
Powershop 127.99 144.19 131.3 133.69 140.66 148.19 154.8
351 426 501 491 668 708 868
August September October November December Total Annual Power Bill
Genesis 197.79 167.1175 121.74 78.95 131.21 1801.56
Powershop 149.85 132.16 149.85 121.56 155.63 1689.87

So, it’s all pretty simple really.  I had two goals, to reduce my overall spend on power.  In the last column of the data you can see that the total under Powershop was $111.69 less than under Genesis, so the first goal was achieved.

The second (and more important) goal for me was to level out my power bills.  The best way to see this is to look at the flatness of the pink line (Powershop) vs the blue line (Genesis).  This is a huge change and makes a real difference for managing our cash flow.  It’s worth mentioning that this doesn’t happen automatically, you have to monitor your monthly spend and buy the right mix of powerpacks to ensure you have extra power banked for the winter without overspending or having any of the power expire.

So, if you’re considering a move to Powershop, it’s my advice that you should stop thinking about it and do it.

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