NZCity NewsLinks -

All Links

29 Jul 2025

Search

Weather live: Downpours begin, power cuts amid rain warnings around country
Civil defence is preparing in Tasman and Northland homes have lost power, as an "atmospheric river" looks set to hit the country.

Disappointed Drake fans: 'I flew from Florida just for this'
One US fan told the BBC she had planned a Europe road trip around the postponed show at Co-op Live.

Businesses should pass Paywave costs on through prices, Nicola Willis says
The government plans to ban surcharges on contactless card payments no later than May 2026.

FortHill Fund launches NZD $50m industrial property raise
FortHill Fund launches a NZD $50 million raise to expand its industrial property portfolio across Auckland, Christchurch, and Otago amid rising demand.

Warriors: Roger Tuivasa-Sheck calls for quick reset after Titans loss
The Warriors aim to regroup before facing the Redcliffe Dolphins on Friday.

Watch: The first trailer for the new Avatar movie
Get ready to head back to Pandora.

Businesses should pass Paywave costs on through prices, Nicola Willis says
Nicola Willis says when a ban on contactless card payment surcharges comes into effect, businesses should pass on the cost to customers as they would any other business cost.

Which detergent is best for washing clothes?
Is using laundry detergent pods, liquids or sheets better? Does it matter if you pour or measure? And are DIY ones any good?

New Zealanders urged to break up with property
Is it time to consider selling your property investments and put the money into assets that actually grow the economy?

Central Pulse shooter Amelia Walmsley to miss Silver Ferns series against South Africa
Amelia Walmsley will miss the Taini Jamison series against South Africa.

Butter wars: ‘Nothing cures high prices like high prices’ – but will market forces be enough?
OPINION: Butter prices in New Zealand rose 46.5% in the year to June.

Government extends tax break for Philip Morris heated tobacco products
The tax break for Heated Tobacco Products is extended to July 2027 despite health warnings

Cafe owner says they'll pass on cost after ban on card payment surcharges
Prices may need to rise at restaurants and cafes due to a ban on credit card surcharges, the sector is warning.

Pro-Ukrainian hackers take credit for attack that snarls Russian flight travel
State-owned Aeroflot cancels dozens of flights, stranding travelers throughout Russia.

Donald Trump accused of ‘cheating’ at golf, again
Two clips purporting to show Trump playing at his treasured Scottish course before announcing a trade deal have prompted more cheating allegations.

‘Over $2000 a year just to park outside my house’: Resident riled by new parking fees
Liam Jackson will have to pay $10 a day to park outside his Tauranga home from next month after the council decided to expand paid parking to the city centre fringe.

Guy Fawkes shooting: Man accused of attacking neighbour’s guest in fireworks dispute
The defendant claimed the fireworks were scaring his daughter.

Kiwi workers wanted: 'The north of Australia is a really good option'
Northern Territory industry leaders were at an Auckland job expo over the weekend to extol the virtues of the vast region of Australia.

7000 steps a day just as good as 10,000 - study
Researchers have found taking 7000 steps reduces the risk of several health conditions including heart disease, dementia and depression, compared with low activity.

One in every 1000 New Zealanders without shelter - Salvation Army
It says other trends include 14 in every 1000 people living in housing considered uninhabitable and 57,000 women experiencing homelessness.

Sam Altman just gave the best reason not to trust ChatGPT
Sam Altman, the face of ChatGPT, recently made an excellent argument for not using ChatGPT or any cloud-based AI chatbot in favor of a LLM running on your PC instead. In speaking on Theo Von’s podcast (as unearthed by PCMag.com) Altman pointed out that, right now, OpenAI retains everything you tell it — which, as Altman notes, can be everything from a casual conversation to deep, meaningful discussions about personal topics. (Whether you should be disclosing your deep dark secrets to ChatGPT is another topic entirely.) Yes, OpenAI keeps your conversations private. But there are no legal protections requiring it to anonymize or indemnify your chats. Put another way, if a court orders OpenAI to disclose what you’ve told it, it probably will. Imagine divorce proceedings where the defendant had multiple chats asking ChatGPT if they should have an affair with a coworker, or something worse. “I think we will certainly need a legal or a policy framework for AI,” Altman told Von, a comedian and podcaster named Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski III who uses the stage name Theo Von on a clip posted to Twitter. “People talk about the most personal shit in their lives to ChatGPT,” Altman said. “People use it, young people, especially use it as a therapist, a life coach, having these relationship problems, what should I do? And right now, if you talk to a therapist or a lawyer or a doctor about those problems, there’s legal privilege for it. There’s doctor-patient confidentiality, there’s legal confidentiality, and we haven’t figured that out yet for when you talk to ChatGPT. “If you go talk to chat about your most sensitive stuff, and then there’s like, a lawsuit or whatever, like, we could be required to produce that,” Altman added. When people talk about running a local LLM on your PC, privacy is often the top selling point. You can run local chatbot apps like GPT4All on a PC with a GPU or an NPU, and more models are arriving all the time. Naturally, you might want to save the output of a local chatbot on your PC. But you don’t have to, and any potentially weird or incriminating conversations can be instantly deleted. (If your PC’s contents are searched or subpoenaed, however, you won’t have access to them. Don’t think about defying a court order or warrant to search your PC by deleting those chats, either — that’s illegal.) Running a local AI chatbot on your PC is perfectly legal and you can tell it anything you want. Just consider a real, human, licensed therapist for the best results.