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17 Jan 2025

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'A sensible decision': Chiefs coach pragmatic on losing All Black to Japan
Absorbing the short-term pain to prevent prolonged suffering appears to be the Chiefs’ attitude towards Shaun Stevenson’s sabbatical.

Cautious optimism in NZ at news of Gaza ceasefire
"Hopefully the blood will stop, hopefully people won't be afraid of the sky, hopefully children will hear a bird rather than a bomb."

The specialist removing insects from ears at least once a week
When Marg Hunt heard there were hundreds of ACC claims relating to cockroaches in ears, she laughed: "That's bread and butter for me."

Vivienne Westwood exhibition opens in Wellington, on first stop of global tour
The retrospective explores the work of one of the pioneers of punk fashion.

Kiwi musicians waiting to hear if they have lost everything in LA fires
Asti and Luca Newman evacuated their rental home in Topanga Canyon when the fires broke out - over a week later they still can’t go home.

Company accused of forging customer’s signatures on loan contracts worth over $700k
Neville Rodgers says he took out loans on the understanding they were on fixed rates, but later discovered they were floating and the contracts were allegedly signed by someone else

Nintendo just dropped a first-look video for the Switch 2 coming this year
I’d almost stopped believing it’d happen, but the highly anticipated announcement has finally hit. Today, on January 16, 2025, Nintendo has officially announced the Nintendo Switch 2. The successor to the Nintendo Switch looks very similar but comes with a bigger display, upgraded internal hardware, and larger Joy-Cons that attach and detach magnetically (instead of sliding on rails). Here’s the first-look trailer for the Nintendo Switch 2: In the video, we also see straight away that a new Mario Kart is being released for the Switch 2! That’s hardly surprising, of course, but it’s nice to know that it won’t be a lone console release. No other launch games were announced, but we did get a possible release date. When will the Nintendo Switch 2 release? At the end of the trailer, we see a date that isn’t too far off: April 2, 2025. That’s less than three months away! But it’s unclear whether this is the release date for the console. The trailer mentions “Nintendo Direct” with the date, so presumably we’ll get a Switch 2 presentation on that day. We don’t know whether the Switch 2 will be released immediately afterwards. Some believe that a release at the end of April or start of May is more likely, supported by the fact that Nintendo has planned so-called “experience events” from April 4 to 27 in North America. Either way, we won’t have to wait that long before the console releases. Nintendo still hasn’t mentioned a price for the Switch 2, which is rumored to be slightly higher than its predecessor, somewhere in the range of $399.99. A price bump would make sense if its performance can keep up with an Xbox Series S or Valve’s Steam Deck. Nintendo Switch 2 specs We’ll probably find out more information about the Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2, but numerous leaks (some that have come from Nintendo itself) have already revealed a lot. For example, the console will have an OLED display and backwards compatibility with Switch games. As for hardware, the specific specs (which are still unconfirmed as of this writing): Size: 10.67 x 4.58 x 1.24 inches with Joy-Cons attached (about 271 x 116.4 x 31.4 millimeters) Display size: 8.4 inches (about 213 millimeters) Processor speed: 1,100.8MHz (handheld) and 998.4MHz (docked) Graphics speed: 561MHz (handheld) and 1,007.25MHz (docked) RAM speed: 2,133MHz (handheld) and 3,200MHz (docked) RAM bandwidth: 68.26GB/s (handheld) and 102.40GB/s (docked) It’s a great day for Nintendo fans because we finally have certainty about the console and when it’s going to release.

Thousands in fines issued for fishing near Cook Strait power cables
One skipper went into the cable zone despite knowing it was illegal, while another person laid cray pots in the area.

SailGP, Luke Combs fans urged to take public transport, despite Auckland trains not running
Auckland's rail network is shut for a month and some ferry services canned, but people can still "travel smoothly", Auckland Transport says.

Whooping cough death highlights failures in healthcare system - Maori paediatrician
Maori are disproportionately affected by the disease, with "shocking immunisation rates" leading to over-representation in hospital admissions.

Dancing in the dark: Raves at crack of dawn 'magic'
Dancing in the dark from early in the day is liberating - and has health benefits to boot, a longtime fan says.

‘He’s a predator’: Survivor of sexual abuse by influencer urges others to come forward
“It’s kind of devastating to know he’d been doing it for over a decade” - one of David Grr’s survivor’s says.

Jimmy Spithill: Someone will break 100km/h - hopefully this weekend
SailGP team boss talks top speeds, T-foils and getting tired of losing to his Kiwi mates.

When did NZ become obsessed with country music?
American country music star Luke Combs packing out Eden Park TWICE would have seemed unthinkable to most. When did he, and the genre, become so popular?

This new Zigbee tech could turn Philips Hue lights into motion sensors
Matter may be the big new thing in the smart home arena, but the old Zigbee protocol still has some tricks up its sleeves, and this one’s pretty cool: The ability to transform Zigbee devices, such as Philips Hue lights, into motion sensors. It’s called Ambient Sensing and apparently it works with a simple firmware upgrade and without additional hardware. Even better, all the motion sensing happens locally, no cloud required. The news was teased Wednesday in a YouTube video posted by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the group that’s behind both the Zigbee and Matter protocols. Ambient Sensing works with both new and existing Zigbee devices, according to the video, which demonstrates how Zigbee mesh networks can be divvied up into “precise” motion-sensing zones within your home such as in your living room, entry hall, or garage. When those motion zones detect activity, they could trigger automations that turn nearby lights on, fire off security alerts, or perform other tasks. The CSA video is light on details, but it does note that Ambient Sensing can be enabled with an over-the-air update, and without the need for additional hardware. So, when will these Ambient Sensing updates be available? That’s not immediately clear, but given that the CSA is a standards group, we’ll probably have to wait for Zigbee device manufacturers to implement the feature in their hardware. Of course, one Zigbee device maker that jumps to mind is Philips Hue, which has long employed the Zigbee protocol in its smart lights. (Indeed, anyone using Hue lights with the Hue Bridge is sure to have multiple Zigbee mesh networks present in their home.) We don’t yet know whether Hue is looking at Ambient Sensing specifically, but as Hueblog points out, there’s long been chatter that Hue is interested in turning its lights into motion sensors. (We’ve reached out to both Philips Hue and the CSA for comment.) That shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Wiz, Hue’s sibling brand (both companies are owned by the same parent, Signify) already offers a similar motion-sensing technology for its lights. Unlike Ambient Sensing, Wiz’s SmartSense tech leverages Wi-Fi signals rather than Zigbee, but both appear to employ the same basic technique: detecting motion by sensing disturbances within wireless networks. If Hue does adopt Ambient Sensing, the benefits would be immediate: You could easily set up motion zones that would turn your Hue lights on and off as people enter or leave a room, all without needing to install a separate motion sensor. Even better, your Ambient Sensing-enabled Hue lights would be able to trigger security alerts when they detect motion where there shouldn’t be any. (Philips Hue does make traditional motion sensors, and its Hue Secure cameras can detect motion.) Given Hue’s recent foray into home security, Ambient Sensing seems like a perfect fit for the brand. Will it actually happen? We’ll have to wait and see.