Qantas is rolling out a near life-size replica of Mars rover Curiosity around New Zealand to promote its frequent flyer programme. The sedan-size machine is about 80 per cent as big as the real thing that is exploring the red planet. The Qantas version will be seen at airports and other venues around the country during the next month after touring Australia.

Japanese carmaker Nissan showcases its latest model of 'self-driving' car.

Newstalk ZB's Josh White talks to Xbox New Zealand's Steven Blackburn about the upcoming release of the Xbox One, and the giant screen Microsoft brought along to Digital Nationz, Auckland 2013. Courtesy: Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB's Josh White talks to Jackie Young of the Media Design School about the incredible Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets, which were shown off to the public at the Digital Nationz expo, Auckland 2013. Courtesy: Newstalk ZB

Newstalk ZB's Josh White talked to collector Michael about the incredible collection of vintage gaming consoles and home computers at the Digital Nationz expo, Auckland 2013. Courtesy: Newstalk ZB

The megayacht "A" that slipped into Auckland was at the time the biggest to ever berth in New Zealand, with interior space almost 15 times the size of an average house. The distinctive vessel is owned by Russian Andrey Melnichenko, who has a fortune estimated to be $17.2 billion, and is in Auckland for maintenance ahead of cruising in summer. Video courtesy Greg Bowker.

LADEE, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer robotic probe launched Friday night atop an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur V rocket. The first deep space mission from Wallops Flight Facility, LADEE will orbit the moon to collect information about its atmosphere and environmental influences on lunar dust. Data from LADEE will help scientists better understand other planetary bodies in our solar system. Also, Antares Update, Asteroid Ideas Selected, MAVEN's Wings, Next ISS Crew, Testing, Testing!, Lori Garver Farewell, Be Prepared! and more!. Credit: NASA Television

A blog post by Virgin Galactic on the test flight said: "Today is another historic day for Virgin Galactic. The team have carried out our second powered test flight, once again breaking the sound barrier and heading closer and closer to the stars. "This is a giant step. Our spaceship is now the highest commercial winged vehicle in history! We also successfully tested its feather system for carefree re-entry too - the first time that’s happened on a rocket powered flight."

Christchurch-based Martin Aircraft Company has revealed details of its latest jetpack prototype, which it says has taken a "quantum leap" in performance over the previous model. Courtesy: Martin Jetpack

Kim Dotcom urged New Zealanders last night to oppose the GCSB spying bill - but predicted it would take a change of government next year to protect their privacy. He was joined on stage by New Zealander of the Year Dame Anne Salmond, Law Society representative Dr Rodney Harrison, QC, and Tech Liberty online rights advocate Thomas Beagle.

Kiwi Landing Pad was established in 2011 to help selected high growth New Zealand technology companies establish and grow their business in the USA. Supported by prominent New Zealand technology investors as well as the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Kiwi Landing Pad can offer New Zealand technology companies either short or long-term residence at their office in San Francisco. Tenants gain access to a wealth of experience and are able to create invaluable networks in the US technology, business and investment community. See more at: http://kiwilandingpad.com Excerpts of film are courtesy of kordia.co.nz

The best of the TEDx Auckland 2012 Speakers & Performers compilation video.

Peter Young established Fisheye Films in Christchurch in 1997 and has worked as a freelance director and cameraman. He came to filmmaking the long way, spending the first ten years of his working life mustering, shearing, fishing and fencing. Over this time he developed a strong connection to the land and the people that work on it and this bond remained even with his shift to film and television. Peter has credits in well over a hundred documentaries, among them; BBC’s Blue Planet series, a documentary on giant squids for prime time Discovery, episodes on the South Island for Country Calendar, the acclaimed TVNZ series Explorers,and the final tribute documentary for Sir Edmund Hillary.

Philip Patston is best recognised for his ten-year career as a comedian and entertainer, but it’s his passion for social change that is getting him noticed. An alumni of the New Zealand Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, Philip is a passionate believer that we have a powerful opportunity to reimagine diversity. His focus is on engaging people to achieve positive social change by reinventing the labels with which we categorise ourselves and each other.

Paul has always had a passion for technology and reading and finds it fascinating that we can now carry an entire library around in our pocket. Yet the reading experience has not evolved in more than 2000 years despite storytelling taking disruptive leaps forward with the introduction of film and video games. Booktrack is his answer to addressing the decline in reading and literacy rates that will help make reading relevant again to a new generation of readers.

Matthew Simmons is the CEO of Arvus Group International and currently part of the NZ Clean Energy Centre’s Enterprise Great Lake Taupo (EGLT) team. Matthew’s company, Arvus, is an external source of R&D and innovation worldwide, and has been involved in successful innovations in the fields of Digital Cinema, Loudspeaker design, Acoustics, Optics and Viticulture.

As Chief Executive of the Gibson Group, Victoria leads a group of diverse and talented producers, creatives and technicians. The Gibson Group’s innovative visitor attractions and museum works, and its hugely popular television programmes and films have been exported around the world. Recent projects include an immersive museum outreach project in Copenhagen which has won three prestigious international awards, including one from the United Nations.

Sean is a physicist, decathlete, political advisor and TED fellow. He is originally from New Zealand where he ran for national elected office and helped start New Zealand’s first nanotech company. Sean studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar where he received a PhD for his research on the mathematical patterns that underlie modern war. This research has taken him all over the world from the Pentagon, to the United Nations and Iraq. Previously, Sean worked at NASA on self-repairing nano-circuits and is a two-time New Zealand track and field champion. Sean is now based in San Francisco where he splits his time between mathematical research and his venture capital backed startup Quid.

Professor John Windsor is a surgeon who holds a personal chair in surgery at the University of Auckland. His current research includes the role of toxic mesenteric lymph in the promotion of multiple organ failure; the investigation of specific mitochondrial therapies to restore cellular bioenergetics; the mapping and modulation of gastric electrical activity; and the development of medical devices. Over the last five years, John has published 80 manuscripts, raised $6m in grants and given over 100 invited talks, including Visiting Professorships to Harvard, Oxford, Karolinska, Singapore, Cape Town and Delhi. John is also co-founder and director of the startup SIMTICS Ltd that has developed the ‘Integrated Cognitive Simulator’ for procedural and surgical skills training.

Pip Hall has worked as a full time writer in theatre, film and television for 17 years. An accomplished playwright, Pip has multiple awards to her name including New Zealand’s most significant and prestigious theatre honour, the Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Pip also works extensively in television and film as a writer, story liner, story/script editor, developer, creative producer and actor.

Alistair Knott is a linguist and cognitive scientist working at Otago University‘s Department of Computer Science. He grew up in Brussels, attending the European School, a multilingual institution whose Babel-like environment sparked a lifelong interest in language. Ali studied psychology and philosophy at Oxford University, and then did postgraduate and postdoctoral work in artificial intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. He took up a lectureship at Otago in 1999, where he is now an associate professor. Ali’s research is in computational modelling of human language, with a focus on models of language generation. He worked on some of the earliest text generation systems deployed on the World Wide Web, and on an influential web-based human-computer dialogue system. His current interest is in psychological models of text generation: What are the neural mechanisms which allow people to talk about what they see and do?

Assil Russell is a young dental surgeon from Hamilton who has a passion for helping others. Born in Iraq and raised in New Zealand, at the age of 21 Assil set up New Zealand’s first and only registered medical and dental charity for Iraqi orphans and disadvantaged children – I CARE (Iraqi Children’s Aid & Repair Endeavour). Assil believes that “You don’t have to be a doctor to save lives” and ICARE is now an international movement that is empowering ordinary people from all walks of life to make a real difference, one smile at a time.

David was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He earned a BSc in physics from Carnegie Mellon University, followed by an MSc and PhD in Physics from Ohio State University. While working on university campuses in Michigan and California, David held postdoctoral positions at both Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs. David’s current work is based at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland. He loves to play with ideas and is most happy when he can uncover similar strands of thought on disparate subjects, particularly in science, philosophy and religion. David believes that New Zealand should nurture its intellectual resources as it has done for its environmental riches.

Andrew is arguably New Zealand’s most internationally recognised and published Architect. Last year the worlds most searched architectural Journal, London based ‘World Architecture News’ named his firm, Patterson Associates as one of five Architects world wide “who’s work is set to shape Global Architecture in the 21 century.” He is the designer of New Zealand’s only new build 6 Green Star rated project – Geyser, in Auckland. Rated as international innovator Andrew believes if that if New Zealand is to sustainably succeed its built environment must equal or better its natural environment.

Michelle has a PhD in biomedical materials engineering, runs New Zealand’s only nanomechanical testing laboratory and is a self-confessed adrenaline junkie. Her passion for both sports and science has enabled her to travel the world on the search for her next adventure or research project. With specialist knowledge in nanotechnology, Michelle has contributed to the development of cutting edge technologies. Secretly, however, Michelle has been working on advancing these developments to help her to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a real life superhero.

A Canadian-built helicopter that is powered by a human riding a bicycle has become the first winner of a decades-old $250,000 engineering prize, the US awarder said Friday.

Apple broke antitrust laws and conspired with publishers to raise electronic book prices significantly in spring 2010, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Google is testing the balloons which sail in the stratosphere and beam the internet to Earth.

This video has been created and produced by internet mogul Kim Dotcom, telling the story of the raid on his property from his point of view, and with his own music as the soundtrack. Dotcom says he made the video with a sense of humour because he is "tired of being angry about the raid".

NASA is tracking a large near-Earth asteroid as it passes by the Earth-Moon system on May 31st. Amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere may be able to see the space rock for themselves during the 1st week of June. courtesy ScienceAtNASA