A few years ago I published the nzcoapi gem which was primarily a wrapper for ‘difficult to navigate’ SOAP API provided by the New Zealand Companies Office.
The API has been grandfathered and a flash new NZBN API is available which is a lot cleaner and easy to use. I had to update a number of applications and have now released an updated Ruby Gem which makes interacting with the new NZBN API a breeze.
Simple and fast authenticating API wrapper for the New Zealand Companies Office. Full...
Minds + Machines (MMX) is a gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) investment vehicle listed on the AIM under MMX.
Firstly, a gLTD is the suffix to a domain name, such as .com, .xyz, .vip etc. In around 2008, ICANN decided to open and publish new gLTDs through an application and auction process. The owner of the gLTD typically sells domain name rights on an annual (think lease) basis to customers (so for instance enabling Mike to have his website domain name as mike.vip).
MMX is interesting as it is the only pure-play publicly listed vehicle with a portfolio domains. This...
If your business is in importing physical products, maximising your margin and minimising transit time are key factors in success. One element which took me a while to work out is how to navigate customs clearance promptly and efficiently. To give some context, at the time we were airfreighting thousands of dollars worth of product a week from the United States and Asia across several shipments. Also a few pallets from China via air or sea freight on a semi-regular basis.
Below is a bit of background information, but ultimately the best case is to signup for a NZ Customs...
The New Zealand Companies Office is pretty special - the extent of publicly available information is world class. Particularly when compared with ASIC where users have to pay for search results. Access to full historical directorships, major shareholdings and key data is pretty useful.
There are some technical difficulties with the ‘Restful’ API which can make even the simplest functionality or reporting incredibly a little frustrating in a production application! Some significant functionality is not available through the API but can be retrieved with a little bit of HTTP trickery.
I’ve been using the Alibaba (and more recently the AliExpress platform) for the last five years. I was incredibly excited to get access to their prospectus and being able to pore over the business in detail from the the boards position. From a personal experience there are four key points, highlighted below, on why I’m bullish on Alibaba.
Alibaba will change eCommerce. Worldwide.
I’ve noticed a fascinating pattern emerging with consumer products from China. The quality and design of Chinese made has improved significantly over the last few years with manufacturers finding some product design mojo. In recent times we’ve...