It's no coincidence that several recent Net Art News articles have mentioned New Zealand; a surge of digital activity in these distant islands has caused a ripple in the net, and it's been noticed. The Aotearoa Digital Arts list has been going strong for two years, ex-pat digital artists are making visits home and the second Version Festival is about to begin in Auckland, 4-9 December. Version offers electro-centric performance, installations, presentations and discussion with national and international artists. Adam Hyde, returning from Latvia to take up a residency at Waikato University, will be giving a seminar about net.labels and models for content distribution. Later in the festival he performs as radioqualia, with Honor Hager, streaming live from the UK: sounds of the solar system arriving via radio telescopes are 'played' in real time by the pair. Other works include a typewriter that plays music, a collection of gadgets that create orchestral sounds and Seam, a live VJ event with nine video artists, three audio producers and a computer to facilitate audience interaction. Version is organised by a non-profit collective, dedicated to promoting digital media artists and events in New Zealand. - Helen Varley Jamieson.