A team of scientists recently set off on an expedition to the deep seas near New Zealand to sample various deep sea creatures, but what they found surprised them: a ‘supergiant’ amphipod measuring about 13 inches long.

Amphipods are shrimp-like crustaceans that thrive in lakes and oceans the world over, so they’re not an uncommon sight. What’s uncommon about the latest find, however, is just how big it is; amphipods are generally only between 2 and 3 centimeters long, but this supergiant amphipod is about 20 times that size.

“The moment the traps came on deck we were elated at the sight of the snailfish as we have been after these fish for years,” expedition leader Alan Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab said in a press release.

“However, seconds later, I stopped and thought ‘what on earth is that?’ whilst catching a glimpse of an amphipod far bigger than I ever thought possible. It’s a bit like finding a foot-long cockroach,” Jamieson said.

This isn’t the first time a supergiant amphipod has been seen–abnormally large amphipod specimens were first discovered back in 1899, according to a report, but weren’t seen again until the 70s and 80s.

“The surprising thing is that we have already been to this deep trench twice and never come across these animals before,” Jamieson added.

“In fact a few days after the discovery we deployed all the equipment again on the same site and we didn’t photograph or capture a single supergiant; they were there for a day and gone the next.”

Supergiant amphipod discovered in deep seas near New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

Megaupload, a file hosting service, was recently shut down due to piracy. The founder, Kim Dotcom who’s real name is Kim Schmitz, was arrested, as were several executives. Authorities seized Kim’s property including 18 vehicles under the belief that he was running a $175 Million piracy operation.

Although the founder claims that he’s innocent in regards to piracy and money laundering, the various license plates on his vehicles show an interesting side. Whether they’re in a joking manner or not, with everything up against him currently, it’s not exactly a good look for someone who could be locked up for a long time.

Via USA Today:

“Besides a $23 million home that was considered New Zealand’s most expensive residence, he had 18 vehicles, including a 2010 Maserati convertible, a 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead coupe, half a dozen high-end Mercedes AMG models, a 1959 Cadillac convertible and a Von Dutch Kustom motorcycle. Affixed to the flashy cars were eye-catching vanity license plates. Among them: “EVIL,” “GOOD,” “GOD,” “STONED,” “CEO,” “MAFIA,” “HACKER” and “GUILTY.”

Kim and executives are still being held in New Zealand despite US authorities wanting to extradite them to the US. Yesterday, he appeared in court for a bail hearing, although the judge reserved his decision. A decision will be made today on whether or not he and the executives in custody, will be granted bail.

There’s been concerns over the fact that he may flee, but considering that the feds have seized all of his assets, he might not be able to last long running from the law. Combine that with the fact that he’s 6 feet tall and weighs over 300 pounds, not exactly someone who isn’t that noticeable.

Do you think Megaupload should have been shut down?

Megaupload Founder Had 18 Vehicles Seized, Rather Ironic License Plates is a post from: The Inquisitr

And conservationists were today battling to save another 40 of the whales on Farewell Spit on the South Island. Efforts to save the animals included using one refloated whale on a pontoon to encourage the others away from the shore again.

Volunteers managed to free 17 of the larger group of 100 pilot whales that were initially stranded. A further six whales remained unaccounted for.

According to John Mason, area manager of the country’s Department of Conservation, the whale pod were briefly swimming in shallow water but became stranded again by the evening as the tide went out.

“It’s disappointing, they just came back on shore,” he said.

Department of Conservation area manager John Mason said volunteers would try to keep the whales cool and wet until dark.

He said after that, all they could hope for was that the whales would swim away on the next high tide during the night.

Pilot whales, which are members of the dolphin family and  grow to about 20 feet in length, regularly strand themselves in large numbers during the New Zealand summer months.

Experts describe Farewell Spit as a whale trap due to the way its shallow waters seem to confuse whales and diminish their ability to navigate.

Just earlier this month, 18 pilot whales were successfully re-floated after 25 of the animals,were stranded at the sand spit.

Here is a video on the New Zealand pilot whale stranding:

via Mirror

New Zealand Whale Stranding: 36 Pilot Whales Dead, 40 More in Danger [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

When New Zealand based Megaupload was shut down this week it sparked outrage from the likes of hacktivist group Anonymous but the real trouble lay with website founder “Kim Dotcom” who had his home raied by New Zealand police shortly after the website closure.

According to officials Dotcom, real name Kim Schmitz, “retreated into the house and activated a number of electronic locking mechanisms.”

Eventually the Megaupload CEO made his way into a barricaded panic room and police officials had to cut their way in.

Once inside the panic room they found the 37-year-old video and software pirate next to what appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun.

When speaking to AFP the police chief in charge of the operation noted:

“It was definitely not as simple as knocking at the front door.”

Police then proceeded to seize various items from the home including a pink Cadillac. They also froze out nearly $8.8 million in assets from bank accounts belonging to the Megaupload founder.

Seen as a flight risk because of his actions at his home Dotcom and three Megaupload employees were denied bail.

New Zealand police raided the millionaires compound on behalf of US Authorities who are now looking to extradite Dotcom and his Megaupload crew for piracy charges in the United States.

As of now Megaupload has been shut down by the US Government on very valid charges of piracy. Anyone who has ever used the website knows how easy it was to watch pirated TV shows and movies and download various software files with included serial numbers and hacks.

Do you believe the US government acted outside it’s jurisdiction in having Kim Dotcom brought to justice for offenses created by Megaupload?

Megaupload Founder Hid From Police Inside Panic Room is a post from: The Inquisitr

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the incident happened just before 7:30am on Saturday local time (18:30 GMT Friday).

While the official cause of the crash has yet to be determined, Radio New Zealand reported that a cyclist saw flames licking up the side of the basket below the hot air balloon. The cyclist said he saw 32-foot high flames trailing from the descending balloon.

“It came down like a bloody rocket and then there was a big bang,” nzherald.co.nz quoted local resident David McKinlay as saying.

Reports from the area, which is said to be popular with balloonists, say the horrible accident occurred in bright, clear conditions with little wind.

More details of the New Zealand hot air balloon crash will be released as information becomes available.

Hot Air Balloon Crash Kills 11 in New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s official, Facebook’s new Timeline feature, a complete redesign of how Facebook shows a users profile page is finally rolling out. However it will be users in New Zealand and not the United States who get first dibs at the programs new output.

According to Facebook’s Sam Lessin the Timeline feature will roll out in the region and then go out “more broadly” soon.

Under the new layout Facebook removes some of the emphasis from recent updates and allows users to g

ain a better sense of a users “long-term” history all the way back to when they launched their Facebook page. In fact a user could potentially fill in dates from before their time on Facebook, tracking their entire life all the way back to birth.

Facebook has also added the ability for users to add memorable events and choose how to display those events in their updates field.

Also more present via the new Timeline layout is better placement of Apps, the ability to showcase profile photos with a visual banner above the profile show and better access to scale for screen size based on the type of device being utilized.

Using Facebook Developer access here’s a screenshot of the Timeline I have been testing for several months:

Facebook Timeline Starts Rolling Out To Users…In New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

It was only a little over a week ago that Happy Feet, the internationally famous emperor penguin, was released back into the wild after he was found wandering about the shores of New Zealand in June. Researchers spent a considerable amount of time and money nursing Happy Feet back to health, but it may have all been in vain.

The transmitter that was attached – or, to be specific, super glued – to Happy Feet, which was designed to transmit a signal every time it broke the ocean’s surface, has stopped sending transmissions. This has lead some to believe that the transmitter could have fallen off – or that Happy Feet was eaten by a shark or a whale.

Happy Feet was on a journey back home to Antartica after being released from New Zealand earlier this month. When the emperor penguin was originally found in New Zealand, he was found to be exhausted and, after extensive medical procedures – about $30,000 worth, reportedly – it was discovered he had eaten sand, apparently mistaking it for snow.

After specialists successfully nursed Happy Feet back to health, Sirtrack, a company specializing in wildlife tracking, fitted Happy Feet with a tracker, intending to allow people at home to follow Happy Feet on his journey back home.

Despite the grim outlook for Happy Feet, Kevin Lay, of Sirtrack, remains hopeful. He said:

“There are some species that will forage on emperor penguins. It’s not likely that it has happened to Happy Feet because of the area he was in.”

The firm responsible for tracking Happy Feet posted this final message over on their website:

“Finally, as we expect many people are, the team at Sirtrack are disappointed that we are unable to track Happy Feet’s progress any further. We have enjoyed being part of this project and hope that Happy Feet is making his way home.”

via The Guardian

Happy Feet penguin goes missing, possibly eaten is a post from: The Inquisitr

Parents wishing to name their children Lucifer or even change their own name are out of luck in New Zealand. Country officials this week announced that they have banned the name from their Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages after three parents recently requested the name for their newborn children.

Lucifer isn’t the first name to be banned by the country, in the last two years they have banned 102 other names, many which included a single letter, number and even punctuation marks (sorry Ke$ha you would be out of luck).

It’s not just names considered to be evil or markedly odd, “Messiah” has also been added to the list.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald the list includes some pretty crazy names including “Violence” and “Number 16 Bus Shelter.” One child in the country was named “Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii” although a judge in 2008 changed that young girls name to something more “normal” when she was 9-years-old.

Other banned named on the list include such gems as Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, and Sex Fruit. Yes someone seriously wanted to be in public with their child and say ‘Get over here Sex Fruit” which in the U.S. would get you thrown in jail or beat up by everyone within hearing distance.

New Zealand Bans The Name “Lucifer” From Legal Name List is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nearly four months after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 182 people and costing New Zealand up to $10 billion in damages, Christchurch was hit with a series of tremors, the most powerful being a 6.0 magnitude earthquake at 2:20 PM local time (10:20 PM ET) on Monday.

There have been no reported fatalities at this time, but according to New Zealand’s Civil Defense, 10 people suffered minor injuries. Two people were also reportedly rescued from a damaged church, but there have been no other reports of people trapped as a result of damage.

Unfortunately, it’s not over quite yet for Christchurch. Today’s series of tremors are, according to New Zealand’s GNS Institute, an expected result of the February earthquake, and the latest earthquake may even set off fresh seismic activity.

“We would expect a number of aftershocks in the magnitude 4.0 to 5.0 range on the coming days and weeks,”  Kelvin Berryman, GNS’s Manager of Natural Hazards Research told Reuters.

via Yahoo

[Image]

Christchurch, New Zealand Hit With More Powerful Quakes is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake on February 22 claimed 63 deaths and cost the life insurance industry a combined total of $12.5 million.

The Investment Savings & Insurance Association (ISI) tracked insurance payouts made to families and combined trauma, death, disability and other payouts to determine that the average payout was $199,000.

According to the associations findings 180 claims were accepted for redundancy while 16 were accepted for income protection and two for trauma and/or permanent disability.

According to ISI chief executive Peter Neilson the tragedy at Christchurch has proven that insurance agencies are not attempting to avoid paying on claims.

Nielson spoke about the importance of life insurance, noting:

“Hopefully the February earthquake will help more people to realize that life insurance can be an important part of their family’s financial protection, and that they can trust their life insurer will be there for their family when tragedy strikes.”

A tragedy is always hard to overcome, at least in 63 cases insurers rushed to help families begin to rebuild their shattered lives.

$12.5 Million Paid Out By Insurance Company’s For Christchurch Quake is a post from: The Inquisitr

New Zealand has two things I want, middle-earth and now Windows Phone 7 Devices. It’s being reported that New Zealand is the first region to receive Microsoft’s newest mobile operating system with the OS’s first phone launching in the island country today.

Here’s a shot of the NZ HTC Trophy which was purchased at Aotea Square in Auckland.

[via Engadget]

Windows 7 Phones Now Available!…In New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr

In July New Zealand’s National Business Review (NBR) decided to jump the curve and put all its content behind a paywall – the same thing that people like Rupert Murdoch and other news media moguls are recommending.

NBR it seems was betting on the idea that their content was unique enough that people would be willing to pay for access to the content. Well at least enough people that would make up for the drop in readership that they were expecting by the move. When it was happening New Zealand blogger Lance Wiggs wrote about it on his blog where he said

This is an indication that the NBR leaders don’t really understand the current news internet business model. The aggregators, such as google news, are driving traffic to the NBR site, and without them the NBR would be even worse of than it is. By locking them out of the subscription area NBR will dramatically reduce their ability to make their compelling, orginal and timely content available to the world. The writers behind the wall will lose relevance, and the newspaper itself will diminish.

Yesterday Lance posted another follow-up to his original posts that takes a look at how successful, or not, this move behind a paywall has been for NBR. The short of it as you can see in the graph is that this has definitely turned out to be not such a good idea.

NBR’s page impressions have clearly declined since the wall was erected, and we can expect that this was expected by them. It’s surprising to me that Interest.co.nz had not performed better versus NBR though:

Here are all of their key traffic statistics measures gathered into one chart. and all indexed from April 6 as above:

It’s not hard to tell that NBR definitely took a hit from the move to a paywall model and in most cases it doesn’t show any signs of abating. Sure NBR might be a ‘local’ news organization that some will say shouldn’t be used to forecast what might happen to big ‘global’ newspapers like The New York Times or other big brand papers. The problem is that NBR, much like the Wall Street Journal, is a specialized news publication and as such it should be able to sustain, or even grow, its revenue based on the fact tha tit is a unique provider in contrast to its competitors.

Yet we can see that its numbers are floundering and if it can happen to a niche paper like NBR how can people like Murdoch expect that the same thing won’t happen to their news properties that report the same news as their competitors who aren’t going behind a paywall?

Brand names in news – like The New York Times or Washington Post – may at one time been able to cash in on their brand recognition factor but that was before literally anyone could have the same type of recognition.

It’s a changing world out there in newspaper land where looking to the future doesn’t mean falling back on the past thinking it’ll save your ass – because it won’t.

What newspapers can learn from New Zealand’s NBR paywall – FAIL! is a post from: The Inquisitr

For those who aren’t regular readers of this site, this site is Australian owned. We’re hosted in the United State because Australian hosting is insanely expensive, but so is visiting here as I found out tonight.

Let me say upfront that if you’ve never been to Australia, you should. As a survey pointed out last week (I tried Googling it without success) the survey found that Australians are proud of their own country more than other places, by several points, and roughly 10-20% vs what Americans think of themselves. Whilst being proud of your country may not always be a great thing, I’d say in this instance that it is justified. Think America, with no guns, universal health care, high wages and low unemployment. Yes, you can have all of those combined.

As much as I love my country however, there’s one flaw: it’s expensive. Put aside the drop in the US dollar, and the price of accommodation here, at least outside the odd city is way more expensive than many other places. Maybe not Europe, but everyone expects Europe to be expensive. I’m talking relatively spending on a AUD or USD basis.

I did Seattle and San Francisco in August, and I did 4 1/2 star and 5 star accom on both legs. Both times were cheaper (even given the dollar difference, which was better at the time) vs Australia for even 3 star.

So I’m spending next weekend (Friday night to Monday night) in New Zealand. The flight itself is shorter than flying to Western Australia, a state I spent nearly 10 years in. But the cost of the flight vs when I flew to Western Australia late September is under one half the cost for our family of three. I don’t know what the price of NZ vs AUS is from the US, but I do know that the West Coast to Australia has never been cheaper. If you can get a cheaper fair the saving might balance the rest vs NZ, but I can’t say for sure.

Here’s what I’m doing: for <$500 AUD (about $470 USD) I’ve booked 3 nights accommodation, including two nights in a Hyatt Regency (5 star) and one night in the Quest Rotarua (which are usually about 4 stars but flat like), and car hire. I’d struggle to get a decent sized car in Australia for that money, and the equivalent hotels + car would be closer to AU$1000, if you’re lucky.

There was an article this week in an Australian newspaper about how the tourism industry is doing it tough due to the exchange rate vs the US dollar. Let me say that even when the rate was 60c that Australian hotels were still grossly over priced vs their American equivalents. What I’ve found though is that New Zealand gets that over charging drives tourists away and has priced to fit.

Given the cost, my forthcoming trip to New Zealand will probably not be my last. What does it say when I can go away to overseas for significantly less than a domestic trip under 2 hours to somewhere like Queensland.

Why you should visit New Zealand before Australia is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a post back on September 23 New Zealand author Brian Edwards puts forth the proposition that our public libraries are just a form of theft and that people who lend their friends books are thieves.

Yes you read that right. Every time you take a book out at the library you and the library are stealing money from book authors. It seems that Mr. Edwards feels that book authors should be paid every time a library lends out a book. In his opinion the act of lending books is tantamount to taking food out of his mouth

Every public library in New Zealand bought at least one copy of Helen. And they lent each of those copies to other people to read for… nothing. Last year there were still 227.4 copies of the book in New Zealand public libraries. If each of those copies was taken out by one person a month, that’s 2,729 people who read but didn’t pay for my book – my six month’s work. At $4.50 per unsold copy (ed: his share of book sales in stores), that’s a theoretical loss of income to me in one year of $12,280.

He continues on and accuses libraries of grand theft copyright

But there’s a principle here: when one person buys a book and lends it to another person to read, they effectively become an accessory to theft. Their generous act amounts to little more than stealing the author’s work. When a public library buys a book and lends it to thousands of other people to read, it’s grand theft copyright and really no different from illegally downloading music or movies or copying CDs or DVDs on your computer.

I’m still shaking my head over this one. Michael Masnick at Techdirt puts it best

Edwards also seems fully enamored with the myth that copyright law is based on some sort of "labor theory" — that the more time you put in, somehow the more money you deserve to get out. While I’m unfamiliar with New Zealand copyright law, in the US, such theories have been widely discredited in the courts repeatedly. And, of course, they make no sense when viewed alongside the actual purpose of copyright law. Edwards seems to believe that copyright is welfare for creators, rather than an incentive to create.

In the meantime, perhaps the public libraries of New Zealand can do Mr. Edwards a favor next time he publishes a book: don’t buy it. Ditto for anyone who might think of lending it… er… I mean, being an accessory to a crime in distributing copyrighted materials.

I would add that maybe the libraries in New Zealand should pull his books – just to be on the safe side of the law.

New Zealand author thinks libraries are a form of theft is a post from: The Inquisitr

New Zealander’s have always had a strong competitive streak, but we’ve just found a video that shows that when they aren’t tending to sheep, New Zealander’s are something special.

The video shows a man catching a Marlin by jumping out of a helicopter and tackling it in the water.

For those of you not familiar with a Marlin, the fish is well known for being able to reach speeds of about 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph) and grow to 5 metres (16 ft) in length and 670 kilograms (1,500 lb) in weight. The short version is we aren’t talking about a small fish here by any stretch.

They build them tough in New Zealand, as this video demonstrates:

Now THIS is how you catch a fish is a post from: The Inquisitr

Copyright laws around the world are in the process of being re-written and in many cases they are a draconian move into the the past with us – the users – being made out to be the worst criminals in the world. With secret meetings being held by world governments in order to get the entertainment backed ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) passed there is an increasing push to increase Internet censorship and people’s access to the Internet being removed by accusations alone.

The newest country to fall in line with this is New Zealand whose new copyright law would see supposed file shares kicked offline based on accusations rather than court convictions. As part of the hearings around this new copyright law entertainment lawyers have been making the rounds telling everyone in the government that the backbone of the ability to take down illegal things on the Internet – otherwise known as the DMCA – isn’t that bad since bogus take downs are in fact very rare.

Enter Google who in written submissions and the numbers to back it up say that the exact opposite is the case (emphasis mine)

In its submission, Google notes that more than half (57%) of the takedown notices it has received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998, were sent by business targeting competitors and over one third (37%) of notices were not valid copyright claims.

As such, Google says "Section 92A puts users’ procedural and fundamental rights at risk, by threatening to terminate users’ internet access based on mere allegations and reverse the burden of proof onto a user to establish there was no infringement."

It goes on to say, "Section 92A undermines the incredible social and economic benefits of the open and universally accessible internet, by providing for a remedy of account termination or disconnection that is disproportionate to the harm of copyright infringement online."

The submission also takes issue with the claim that user education is stated as a “primary purpose” of the draft code, "but there is little reference to education about users’ rights, including limitations and exceptions enabling lawful use of copyright protected works, in addition to their obligations."

Source: PC World Magazine – New Zealand

I may not be the biggest fan of Google but in this case I throw them the high five.

Google provides some slapdown on who really serves DMCA notices is a post from: The Inquisitr

The fact that governments the world round love to trot out violent video games as the cause of kids gone bad is one thing; but in New Zealand you could get jail time for buying you kid that violent video games. Bill Hastings the country’s Chief Censor believes that parents caught buying games like Grand Theft Auto for their kids should be punished with three months jail time or a fine of up to $10,000.

They might think the offence is silly, but it ain’t… That’s what the law says, but… you’re not going to have police officers in every bedroom… There would certainly be some shock value to prosecuting a parent who gives their under-18 child access to a restricted game. It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business.
I think the word ‘game’ can mislead people for sure. It’s not checkers. For the first time in history, kids are more savvy with technology than parents… parents need to get up to speed on the digital divide. They need to look at what their kids are playing and doing…

It should be the pleasure in being able to sleep at night knowing that you have done the right thing by your kids. That should be the motivating factor.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

Ya .. that’s gonna work really well.

Buying violent video games could net parents jail time is a post from: The Inquisitr

Times are tough in the media business, and mistakes are being made. Yesterday we reported on a rather interesting Krispy Kreme graphic in Augusta, Georgia, and today it’s a weather report from New Zealand.

Someone at One News forgot to double check the graphics before they appeared on screen, with the following result:

(via Huffpost)

Weather Fail is a post from: The Inquisitr

YouTube has announced a new deal with New Zealand’s ONE News for an election debate centered on user contributed questions. The deal is similar to the CNN/YouTube debates held earlier this year, but with one significant difference: this debate comes later in the political process, and includes New Zealand’s current Prime Minister.

ONE News on Television New Zealand is New Zealand’s leading news service, with their 6pm bulletin having an audience share of 44%.

The ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key will air live in New Zealand October 14, with each candidate answering questions submitted by users on YouTube New Zealand. Google describes the deal as a historic first, marking the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate.

The official debate channel can be found at nz.youtube.com/debate.

YouTube teams with ONE News for New Zealand election debates is a post from: The Inquisitr

The above video is from this weeks The Gruen Transfer, and is the hottest viral video in Australia at the moment. The full screen version (without the studio laughing) can be viewed at invadenewzealand.com. More details on the show here. The show is also available on the Australian iTunes store and on the Gruen Transfer site (there’s another great invade NZ ad as well), but likely georetarded, so you’ll have to visit “other” sites to download it.

Invade New Zealand is a post from: The Inquisitr