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According to a story in this morning's NZ Herald, Russell Brown published the audio on his website and it appears to show that Telecom certainly wasn't expecting the government to unbundle the loop. It also hints at how little respect the company has for its customers.

It might appear that the few supporters Telecom once had within the tech sector now have some real egg on their face.

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But enough of this subject, it's now time for something completely different...

An anonymous reader sent me this link about a Kiwi innovator working with electric vehicles in the USA.

It seems that electric vehicles (viable or not) are the new "big thing" in Silicon Valley and there's a Kiwi in there keeping pace with the best of them.

The sad thing is that if Mr Wright were to try and get such a venture off the ground here in NZ, people would just laugh at him.

Even Alan Gibbs, the man behind the amphibious Aquada chose to implement his ideas outside NZ -- for a range of reasons but doubtless NZ's lack of support for such ventures being one of them.

So exactly what's missing here?

Why are Kiwis seen jumping on planes with their good ideas in preference to exploiting them here in Godzone?

We know that venture capital is thin on the ground here but there's no shortage of very smart people who are prepared to work incredibly hard on such projects so why the bright-flight?

Could it be the political climate and our seemingly inexorable drift towards a socialist environment where the government takes an increasing amount of your earnings and spends it on your behalf because you're assumed to be an idiot?

Probably not -- we had the same problems under previous right-wing administrations.

Is it just that young Kiwis need to enjoy their big OE and realise the huge gulf between NZ's hi-tech economy and that of the rest of the world?

The government has made feeble attempts to ramp up the local hi-tech sector but most of those who are so often held up as examples of our potential have succeeded in spite of the government's photo-opportunity handouts, not because of them.

I don't have the answer -- well at least not an answer that would be acceptable to a Labour or National government but perhaps you do?

Jump into the forums and tell everyone what you'd do to turn NZ into the Silicon Valley of the South Pacific.

If Singapore can turn itself into one of the world's key commerce hubs then surely, now the tyranny of distance has been all but abolished by the internet, NZ can metamorphose into a hi-tech hot-spot.

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