AI plan for Kiwi cancer app
helped the once-struggling provincial capital rebuild, she says. ‘‘Now the locals put their shoulders up, put their chins out, and tell their friends what a cool place Whangarei is. We’ve got young people coming back to raise their families.’’
A few miles north, the little farming neighbourhood called Maromaku is Going country.
In the 1960s and 1970s, brothers Ken, Sid and Brian Going carved out an extraordinary niche in Northland and All Blacks rugby history. And when we arrive at the next house, Jared and his father Sid sit down with us on the deck overlooking the shortmowed front lawn where the three brothers perfected their famous triple-scissors move, used to precise effect in numerous Northland tries.
This is the house where the brothers grew up. Then Sid and Colleen Going brought up their five children there. And now Jared is running the dairy and sheep farm, with his three little daughters and one son running around his ankles.
Together, we sketch up a Going family tree. By our count, at least 16 Goings have played rep rugby, and several went on to represent their nation.
At 73, Sid Going remains the most famous. And he still remembers executing that triplescissors move with his brothers against the Lions, in 1977 in Whangarei. On that occasion, a late Lions tackle saved the try just short of the scoreline, and the Lions won the day.
Sid reckons the brothers’ magical combination might have made the difference if they’d all been selected for the All Blacks that series. (But as Dick Langdon muses, I suppose everyone says that).
Afterwards, as with every other game he played in New Zealand, Sid headed straight back to Maromaku and the farm. There were up to 180 cows to be milked early the next morning.
He still loves rugby – but like so many others, he harks back to the old days with nostalgia. Sid doesn’t think much of pro rugby, or ‘‘pedantic’’ referees trying to take all the contact out of a contact sport.
Jared, 43, doesn’t know if he’ll make it to the game in Whangarei on Saturday.
But all those famous Goings will certainly be invited to enjoy the seafood and beers at Kamo Rugby Club the next day. So too 93-year-old Dick Langdon – he’s invited. And the shellfish – they’ll be as good as ever. GUN enthusiasts say a botch-up that saw 35,000 error-ridden copies of the Arms Code distributed nationally has heightened distrust and frustration with the way police administer firearms laws.
Police were this week forced to tell gun owners to destroy a recently circulated update to the Arms Code containing ‘‘a number of errors’’.
Among the errors in the 70-page booklet was a claim licensed firearms owners would be ‘‘required to justify the number of firearms you hold when the police inspect your firearms security’’ when no such requirement exists under the Arms Act.
Gun advocates say the booklet debacle indicated police wanted to implement an illegal gun control policy targeting law-abiding shooters rather than gangs and other unlicensed users.
But Superintendent Chris Scahill, national manager of police response and operations, denied that claim, saying it was a case of ‘‘simple wording errors’’ not picked up by an external technical advisory committee.
He was not aware of claims by the Firearm Owners United NZ Facebook group that contractors hired by police to vet and monitor gun users were asking some to justify the number of guns they owned.
Gun users see the Arms Code botch-up as another blow on top of concerns that law changes proposed last month by KIWI skin cancer check app, Firstcheck has partnered with artificial intelligence health app Your.MD, to allow smartphone users to get in touch with skin specialists without entering a clinic.
With this partnership, Your.MD’s machine-powered health platform will now refer users with skin concerns to Firstcheck.
Users of the app can submit photos of a skin mole for review via their mobile device, which will then be sent to a doctor or specialist.
Firstcheck co-founder Hayden Laird, said innovation in the digital health space was key as more people looked to online websites to search symptoms, which could often lead people in the wrong direction.
‘‘Skin cancers and melanomas can usually be treated successfully if caught early enough. We’re trying to get things picked up much earlier, because skin cancer is preventable and a survivable disease,’’ Laird said.
New Zealand currently has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, with 356 deaths in 2013 from the disease.
Laird said the app connected users to over 35 skin doctors and specialists across Australia and Parliament’s Law and Order Committee would penalise licensed users rather than crack down on illegal firearms.
Wellington firearm safety trainer Nicole McKee – one of two independent advisers appointed by Police Minister Paula Bennett to review the select committee’s recommendations – is among those who believe the changes won’t cut gun crime.
‘‘The majority of the recommendations are not in the best interest of the firearms community and will not affect criminal behaviour.’’
But Scahill disagreed, saying some recommendations targeted controlling illegal gun activity.
McKee said the Arms Code printing botch-up showed police were not adequately resourced to enforce gun laws.
‘‘Trust in the police by the firearms community has deteriorated immensely and this sort of thing just adds to it.’’
Bennett said she had made it clear to police she was ‘‘very disappointed’’ over the release of the unapproved version of the Arms Code.
We should really have won it. I suppose everyone says that . . .’ DICK LANGDON, ABOVE
New Zealand.
While the app was free to download, users must pay a minimum of $20 to send the photos and details to a qualified dermatologist, who was able to assess whether the patient needed urgent treatment, or alternatively, advise what they needed to look out for in the future.
Users can also purchase a smartphone dermoscopic lens that captures magnified images of moles.
The app has already reached over 10,000 downloads in Australia and New Zealand. Firstcheck launched with $500,000 in investment capital from New Zealand angel investors and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund.