PICTON

Picton is a town in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It is close to the head of Queen Charlotte Sound near the north-east corner of the South Island. The population was 2928 in the 2006 Census, a decrease of 72 from 2001. The town is named after Sir Thomas Picton, the Welsh military associate of the Duke of Wellington, who was killed at the Battle of Waterloo.
Inter-island ferries to and from Wellington arrive and depart here by way of the Marlborough Sounds. Most of the sheltered part of the route is through Tory Channel, south of Arapawa Island. The township of Waikawa is a couple of minutes' drive from Picton, practically part of the same town. Waikawa boasts a marina, one of the largest in New Zealand.
As of 2001, the unemployment rate in Picton was 4.3%, compared with 7.5% for all of New Zealand

Transport

 The Main North railway line and State Highway 1 link Picton southwards to Blenheim, Christchurch and beyond, while the scenic Queen Charlotte Drive (shorter in distance but usually slower than State Highway 1/State Highway 6 via Rapaura, near Blenheim) winds westward to Havelock.
Picton is the main link between the South and North Islands, with scheduled ferry service over Cook Strait. The two main shipping companies operating this route are Interislander and Strait Shipping, with both offering Roll-on/roll-off capabilities for cars, trucks and sometimes trains.
The TranzCoastal long-distance passenger/tourist train from Christchurch makes a daily return trip to Picton.
Picton Airport at nearby Koromiko has regular services to Wellington and charter flights around the Marlborough sounds.
Nearby settlements are at Anakiwa, Waikawa, and Ngakuta Bay.
The Edwin Fox Maritime Centre features the Edwin Fox, the only surviving ship that transported convicts to Australia, which is undergoing preservation.

Education

The first school opened in Picton in 1861 at the corner of Devon Street and Broadway. A new school opened in 1882, and part of the old school was moved to the new site, but was destroyed by fire in 1928. A Catholic Convent school opened in 1915, and was replaced by St Joseph's in 1924.
Queen Charlotte College is a secondary (years 7-15) school with a decile rating of 4 and a roll of 400.
Picton School is a contributing primary (years 1-6) school with a decile rating of 3 and a roll of 120.
St Joseph's School is a state integrated contributing primary (years 1-6) school with a decile rating of 5 and a roll of 25.
All these schools are coeducational. Other primary schools in the area are at Linkwater, Koromiko and Waikawa.

[NZ Herald] ALL BLACKS

All Blacks: Sonny Bill mystery solved

Updated 10:38 AM Thursday Oct 27, 2011

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Sonny Bill Williams' absence from the parades around the country will have disappointed his many fans. Photo / Getty Images

It's been on the minds of many All Black fans post Rugby World Cup.
Where's Sonny Bill?
As the All Blacks have travelled the country, thanking fans for their support and being applauded in return, the star centre has been absent from the victory parades.
But today it's been revealed the sick family member that kept him from joining in the post-victory celebrations - his grandmother - is out of hospital.
Now the star is back to considering his rugby future - with speculation mounting about whether he will stay in New Zealand for the 2012 season.
Sonny Bill missed seeing tens of thousands of fans salute the All Blacks in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington as he visited his grandmother.
However on his Twitter account this morning, he revealed she was out of hospital.
"Nans back home thanks for all your prayers.. Now manager putting me under the pump!"

- Herald Online staff

Wellington showcases a variety of architectural styles from the past 150 years – 19th century wooden cottages, such as the Italianate Katherine Mansfield Birthplace in Thorndon, some streamlined Art Deco structures such as the old Wellington Free Ambulance headquarters, the Central Fire Station, Fountain Court Apartments, the City Gallery, and the former Post and Telegraph Building, as well as the curves and vibrant colours of post-modern architecture in the CBD.
The oldest building in Wellington is the 1858 Colonial Cottage in Mount Cook.The tallest building in the city is the Majestic Centre on Willis Street at 116 metres high, the second tallest being the structural expressionist State Insurance Building at 103 metres.Futuna Chapel in Karori was the first bicultural building in New Zealand, and is thus considered one of the most significant New Zealand buildings of the twentieth century.

The Bucket Fountain, Cuba Street. Erected in 1969.

Old St Paul's is an example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture adapted to colonial conditions and materials, as is St Mary of the Angels. The Museum of Wellington City & Sea building, the Bond Store, is in the Second French Empire style, and the Wellington Harbour Board Wharf Office Building is in a late English Classical style. There are several restored theatre buildings: the St James Theatre, the Opera House and the Embassy Theatre.
Civic Square is surrounded by the Town Hall and council offices, the Michael Fowler Centre, the Wellington Central Library, Capital E (home of the National Theatre for Children), the City-to-Sea Bridge, and the City Gallery.
As it is the capital city, there are many notable government buildings in Wellington. The circular-conical Executive Wing of New Zealand Parliament Buildings, on the corner of Lambton Quay and Molesworth Street, was constructed between 1969 and 1981 and is commonly referred to as the Beehive. Across the road from the Beehive is the largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere, part of the old Government Buildings which now houses part of Victoria University of Wellington's Law Faculty.
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is on the waterfront.
Other notable buildings include Wellington Town Hall, Wellington Railway Station, Dominion Museum (now Massey University), State Insurance Building, Westpac Stadium, and Wellington Airport at Rongotai. Leading Wellington architects include Frederick Thatcher, Frederick de Jersey Clere, W. Gray Young, Bill Alington, Ian Athfield, Roger Walker and Pynenburg and Collins.
Wellington contains many iconic sculptures and structures such as the Bucket Fountain in Cuba Street and Invisible City by Anton Parsons on Lambton Quay. Recently a number of new kinetic sculptures have been commissioned, such as the ZephyrometerThis giant 26-metre orange spike built for movement by artist Phil Price has been described as "tall, soaring and elegantly simple" and which "reflects the swaying of the yacht masts in the Evans Bay Marina behind it" and "moves like the needle on the dial of a nautical instrument, measuring the speed of the sea or wind or vessel.

Tourism

Wellington is marketed as the 'coolest little capital in the world' by Positively Wellington Tourism, an award-winning regional tourism organisation set up as a council controlled organisation by Wellington City Council in 1997. The organisation’s council funding comes through the Downtown Levy commercial rate.
In the decade to 2010, the city saw growth of over 60% in commercial guest nights. It has been promoted through a variety of campaigns and taglines, starting with the iconic Absolutely Positively Wellington advertisements. The city’s long-term domestic marketing strategy was a finalist in the 2011 CAANZ Media Awards.
Tourism is a major contributor to Wellington’s economy, injecting approximately $1.3 million into the region annually and accounting for 9% of total FTE employment. The city is consistently named as New Zealanders’ favourite destination in the quarterly FlyBuys Colmar Brunton Mood of the Traveller survey and it was fourth in Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2011’s Top 10 Cities to Visit in 2011.
New Zealanders make up the city’s largest visitor market, with 3.6 million visits being made to Wellington each year. Kiwi visitors spend on average $2.4 million a day in the city. The capital has approximately 540,000 international visitors each year, who spend 3.7 million nights and $436 million in the city each year. Wellington's largest international visitor market is Australia, with over 210,000 making the trip across the Tasman and spending a total of approximately $334 million annually.
Cruise tourism to the capital is experiencing a major boom, in line with nationwide development. The 2010/11 season saw 125,000 passengers and crew visit the city on 60 liners. There are 80 vessels booked for stopovers in the 2011/12 season – estimated to inject more than $31 million into the region’s economy and representing a 74% increase in the space of two years.
Wellington is a popular conference tourism destination due to its compact nature, cultural attractions, award-winning restaurants and access to government agencies. In the year ending March 2011, the city hosted 6495 conference events involving nearly 800,000 delegate days; this injected approximately $100 million into the economy.

1. 12 Fun and Functional Devices for Your Wi-Fi Network
2. Configuring 802.1X in Mac OS X Lion and Later
3. 5 Pros and Cons to 5 GHz Wi-Fi Routers
4. The 6 Biggest Wi-Fi Security Mistakes
5. Free Wi-Fi Apps for Android Devices
6. Setting Up Wi-Fi for a Small Business
7. 802.16e vs. 802.20

WiMAX: Broadband Wireless Access

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the IEEE 802.16 standards-based wireless technology that provides MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) broadband connectivity. WiMAX is an Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems, also known as the IEEE WirelessMAN air interface. WiMAX-based systems can be used to transmit signals as far as 30 miles. So far, WiMAX can offer a solution to what is normally called the "last-mile" problem by connecting individual homes' and business offices' communications.

Cable/DSL Broadband Access

Currently, there are cable and DSL broadband access services in the marketplace. But, their practical limitations in features and deployment have prevented them from reaching many potential broadband Internet customers. The wired broadband connection provided by cable and DSL is an all-consuming and expensive process. A large number of areas throughout the world currently are not able to access broadband connectivity. Traditionally, DSL can only reach about 18,000 feet (three miles) from the central office switch, and this limitation means that many urban and suburban locations may not be served by DSL connectivity. The limitation of cable is that many older cable networks have not been equipped to offer a return channel, and converting and deploying these networks to support high-speed broadband can be expensive.

Wireless Standards

Drawing on hundreds of experts in the telecommunications industry, the IEEE has established a collection of wireless standards that include IEEE 802.15, also known as Bluetooth, for the Personal Area Network (PAN); IEEE 802.11, also known as WiFi, for the Local Area Network (LAN); 802.16 for the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), and IEEE 802.20 for the Wide Area Network (WAN).
Unlike WiFi, WiMAX's range is typically measured in miles rather than feet. The main distinction of the difference between the two standards means that WiFi is focused on a local-area networking (LAN) technology and that WiMAX is a MAN technology.
The 802.16d standard of extending 802.16 supports three physical layers (PHYs). The mandatory PHY mode is 256-point FFT Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM). The other two PHY modes are Single Carrier (SC) and 2048 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) modes. By the way, the corresponding European standard—the ETSI HiperMAN standard—defines a single PHY mode identical to the 256 OFDM modes in the 802.16d standard.

Why WiMAX?

WiMAX covers a couple of different frequency ranges. Basically, the IEEE 802.16 standard addresses frequencies from 10GHz to 66GHz. The 802.16a specification, which is an extension of IEEE802.16, covers bands in the 2GHz-to-11GHz range. WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles with a typical cell radius of 4–6 miles.
WiMAX's channel sizes range from 1.5 to 20MHz as well, and offer a WiMAX-based network the flexibility to support a variety of data transmitting rates such as T1 (1.5Mbps) and higher data transmitting rates of up to 70Mbps on a single channel that can support thousands of users. This flexibility allows WiMAX to adapt to the available spectrum and channel widths in different countries or licensed to different service providers.
WiMAX supports ATM, IPv4, IPv6, Ethernet, and VLAN services. So, it can provide a rich choice of service possibilities to voice and data network service providers. In addition, WiMAX provides an ideal wireless backhaul technology to connect 802.11 wireless LANs and commercial hotspots with the Internet.
The WiMAX-based solution is set up and deployed like cellular systems using base stations that service a radius of several miles/kilometers. The most typical WiMAX-based architecture includes a base station mounted on a building and is responsible for communicating on a point to multi-point basis with subscriber stations located in business offices and homes. The customer premise equipment (CPE) will connect the base station to a customer as well; the signal of voice and data is then routed through standard Ethernet cable either directly to a single computer, or to an 802.11 hot spot or a wired Ethernet LAN.
WiMAX-based solutions include many other advantages, such as robust security features, good QoS (Quality of Service), and mesh and smart antenna technology that will allow better utilization of the spectrum resources. Also, the WiMAX-based voice service can work on either traditional Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) voice or IP-based Voice, also known as Voice over IP (VoIP).

WiMAX Connectivity and Solutions

WiMAX allows equipment vendors to create many different types of IEEE802.16-based products, including various configurations of base stations and customer premise equipment (CPE). WiMAX also allows the services provider to deliver many types of wireless access services. The WiMAX can be used on a variety of wireless broadband connections and solutions:

• "Last Mile" Broadband Access Solution—Metropolitan-Area Networks (MAN) connections to home and business office, especially in those areas that were not served by cable or DSL or in areas where the local telephone company may need a long time to deploy broadband service. The WiMAX-based wireless solution makes it possible for the service provider to scale-up or scale-down service levels in short times with the client request.
• Backhaul networks for cellular base stations, bypassing the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); the cellular service providers can look to wireless backhaul as a more cost-effective alternative. The robust WiMAX technology makes it a nice choice for backhaul for enterprises such as hotspots as well as point-to-point backhaul solutions.
• Backhaul enterprise connections to the Internet for WiFi hotspots. It will allow users to connect to a wireless Internet service provider even when they roam outside their home or business office.
• A variety of new business services by wireless Internet service provider.

Who Are Working on WiMAX?

The WiMax Forum is a non-profit organization formed in 2001 by Nokia Corp. and Ensemble Communications Inc., etc. Right now, the WiMAX Forum has more than 110 members of equipment, semiconductor suppliers, and services providers such as Alcatel, AT&T, Fujitsu, Intel, Nortel, Motorola, SBC and Siemens, and so forth. The WiMax Forum aims to support wireless metropolitan-area networking products based on IEEE 802.16, like the Wi-Fi Alliance has done for wireless LANs and IEEE 802.11. The WiMAX Forum has most recently been working to promote the adoption of IEEE 802.16-compliant equipment, certification, and interoperability testing. In 2003, Intel Corp. became a major supporter of the WiMax Forum.
In order to bring interoperability into MAN, the WiMAX Forum is focusing its efforts on establishing a baseline protocol that allows equipment and devices from multiple vendors to interoperate and that also provides a choice to buy equipment and devices from different suppliers.
Currently, there are no WiMax-certified products yet available in the market, but the race is already on. At the Intel Developer Forum in September 2004, Intel showed off its first samples of a WiMAX chipset that has been named Rosedale. Intel is planning to offer WiMax transmitters by 2005, and expects to ship WiMax devices for the home and office to take off by 2006. Also, Intel hopes that notebooks will begin to incorporate WiMAX technology during 2006, and by 2007, handsets for mobility will be available. Intel has already signed up Proxim and Alcatel to develop WiMAX base-station and CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) kits. Fujitsu Microelectronics America Inc. in early 2005 expects to introduce a new WiMAX-based single-chip solution for deployment in base stations and subscriber stations as well; the product integrates both PHY and MAC functionality. Siemens Information and Communication Mobile also plans to build complete WiMAX-based solutions for establishing fixed, broadband speed metropolitan area wireless radio networks.

Think about how you access the Internet today. There are basically three different options:

• Broadband access - In your home, you have either a DSL or cable modem. At the office, your company may be using a T1 or a T3 line.
• WiFi access - In your home, you may have set up a WiFi router that lets you surf the Web while you lounge with your laptop. On the road, you can find WiFi hot spots in restaurants, hotels, coffee shops and libraries.
• Dial-up access - If you are still using dial-up, chances are that either broadband access is not available, or you think that broadband access is too expensive.

The main problems with broadband access are that it is pretty expensive and it doesn't reach all areas. The main problem with WiFi access is that hot spots are very small, so coverage is sparse.
What if there were a new technology that solved all of these problems? This new technology would provide:

• The high speed of broadband service
• Wireless rather than wired access, so it would be a lot less expensive than cable or DSL and much easier to extend to suburban and rural areas
• Broad coverage like the cell phone network instead of small WiFi hotspots

This system is actually coming into being right now, and it is called WiMAX. WiMAX is short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, and it also goes by the IEEE name 802.16. ­
WiMAX has the potential to do to broadband Internet access what cell phones have done to phone access. In the same way that many people have given up their "land lines" in favor of cell phones, WiMAX could replace cable and DSL services, providing universal Internet access just about anywhere you go. WiMAX will also be as painless as WiFi -- turning your computer on will automatically connect you to the closest available WiMAX antenna.
In this article, we'll find out how WiMAX works, what engineers are doing to make it better and what it could mean for the future of wireless Internet.

Tauranga

                                                             Tauranga

Tauranga (pronounced /tʰaʉɾaŋa/ TOE-rang-a) is the most populous city in the Bay of Plenty region, in the North Island of New Zealand.

It was settled by Europeans in the early 19th century and was constituted as a city in 1963.Tauranga City is the centre of the sixth largest urban area in New Zealand, with an urban population of 120,000 (June 2010 estimate).

Tauranga is located around a large harbour that extends along the western Bay of Plenty, and is protected by Matakana Island and the extinct volcano of Mauao.

Situated along a faultline, Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty experience infrequent seismic activity, and there are a few volcanoes around the area (mainly dormant). The most notable of these are White Island and Mauao (Mount Maunganui), nicknamed "The Mount" by locals

Climate

Due to its sheltered position on the east coast, Tauranga enjoys a warm, subtropical climate. This has made it a popular location for lifestyle. During the summer months the population swells as the holidaymakers descend on the city, especially along the popular white coastal surf beaches from Mount Maunganui to Papamoa.

Education

Main article: List of schools in Bay of Plenty, New Zealand#Tauranga City

Tauranga is home to the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and a branch of the University of Waikato.

The main state secondary schools include:

§  Aquinas College a co-educational state-integrated Catholic school founded in 2003 for years 7 through 13.

§  Tauranga Boys' College, with over 1800 boys.

§  Tauranga Girls' College, with over 1500 girls.

§  Otumoetai College, with around 1900 pupils.

§  Bethlehem College, a Christian educational institution for kindergarten, primary and secondary level students, with around 1500 students.

§  Mount Maunganui College, a co-educational secondary school, with over 1500 students.

Christian educational institutions in Tauranga include Bethlehem Campus, a college for both children and adults established in 1988;Tauranga Adventist School, a state integrated Christian community school catering for Year 1 to 8 students and established in 1974; andAquinas College, a Catholic college established in 2003.

There is also a Rudolf Steiner School in Welcome Bay, catering for birth to 12 year olds.

Transportation

One of the main transportation methods in the city are the Bay Hopper bus and Go Bus.

Tauranga Airport provides daily domestic flights to all around the country.

 Tauranga is the largest city in the Bay of Plenty and one of the fastest growing population centres in the country. Downtown Tauranga has several historically significant areas to view during a scenic walk around the area. The Strand waterfront area has undergone a major redevelopment in the past few years, and is home to a number of cafés, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs, as well as a range of accommodation options. Tauranga’s harbour is in evidence almost everywhere you go, providing the urban area with an attractive waterfront setting. Fishing, sailing, diving and dolphin tours are easy to arrange, or check out one of the local beauty spots – McLaren Falls or the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park.

Functional facts: Approx. population 103,635, i-SITE Visitor Centre, domestic airport

  

 Referance: www.wikipedia.org

AUCKLAND

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The Auckland metropolitan area (commonly pronounced /ˈɔːklənd/), in the North Islandof New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with a population of over 1.4 million residents, 31 percent of the country's population.Demographic trends indicate that it will continue to grow faster than the rest of the country. Increasingly cosmopolitan, Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world,and has seen many people of Asian ethnicity move there in the last two decades. In Māori Auckland's name is Tāmaki-makau-rau, or the transliterated version of Auckland, Ākarana.

The 2010 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 4th equal place in the world on its list, while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2010 ranked Auckland in 10th place. In 2008, Auckland was classified as an Alpha-City in the World Cities Study Group’s inventory by Loughborough University, the only one in the country.

Auckland lies between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and theWaitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water.                    JOBS

 Auckland, New Zealand’s largest population centre, is poised between two enormous harbours and dotted with extinct volcanic cones. The region is a fusion of four cities – Auckland, Manukau, North Shore and Waitakere – with cultural elements that span from Polynesia and Asia to the United Kingdom and Eastern Europe. While Auckland acts as a gateway to New Zealand, it’s also a destination in its own right. Visitors can explore the islands of the Hauraki Gulf by ferry or charter boat, walk the forest tracks of the Waitakere Ranges, follow wine trails and enjoy the relaxing pleasures of urban life by the sea. 

Functional facts: Approx. population 1.3 million, international airport, cruise ship port, several i-SITE visitor centres.refer