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Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

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Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#61

Post by sundvor »

flog wrote: post #11
ravenstine wrote: post #3

Wow, I always kind of assumed Dick Smith was just a fictional mascot like Betty Crocker, but he was a real dude. I lived in New Zealand for a short while growing up and we used to refer to Dick Smith Electronics as "Dip-shit Electronics" because the prices could be pretty outrageous. It was otherwise a pretty cool store, though; think somewhere between Radio Shack and Best Buy.

DSE was an absolute rip off, but it was pretty much the only game in town. As a kid it was an amazing place for me to spend an hour on the weekends pottering around all the electronic kitsets and latest computer parts/gadgets. I would credit DSE with fostering a lot of my love of computers and technology. I am quite sad it no longer exists.

As a Norwegian expat in Melbourne since early 2000s I'd somewhat equal the DSE experience to Frithjof Arngren in Norway in the late 70s/80s (for any Norwegians lurking around here).

I never got to Arngen's stores, if any, but those printed catalogues were truly amazing experiences of full on geek.

There were a lot of design similarities to Dick Smith ie the prominently featured hand drawn heads.

Today I see he has a website in his name, which is ... unique. I have no better way to describe it.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#63

Post by robbiep »

tim-- wrote: post #44
barrysaunders wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jaycar still does a lot of this! The one in Central Park Sydney still does a lot of workshops, they have a maker hub, sell a lot of the class electronic components and things like that. Nothing like it used to be with Dick Smith and Radio Shack everywhere, but there's still a few places around.

The maker hub is pretty cool! They have a 3D printer service, where for ~$0.40 per gram you can bring your STL file, and they will print it while you watch a movie at the Cinemas next door. I wish there were more places like this in Sydney. I have floated the idea of starting a hackerspace in Sydney City with a bunch of friends, but it has never really got beyond the talking phase. The cost of renting a small (~90 sq…

I wonder whether you could approach the startup hub or one of the coworking spaces there and see if they’re keen on putting some space aside for it? Occupancy is waaay down and will probably stay that way for quite a while.

Actually, I could probably have a conversation with the space I’m in - if you wanted to reach out to me?

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#64

Post by twelvechairs »

throwawaylinux wrote: post #47
twelvechairs wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the man generally but disagree with his views on hard immigration caps for Australia. I agree population is a major sustainability issue but find these caps far too elitist and authoritarian - while it just pushes the same issues elsewhere globally. Though nobody should be judged on one view alone. Everyone has their failures and blindspots

Harvesting 21st century's most valuable resource -- the best and brightest people -- from disadvantaged countries is horrific. It's colonialism, in my opinion. I'm always astounded by people in rich western countries boasting about how they poached all this talent from some of the poorest countries on earth. Like, yeah that's great you got another doctor for your healthcare system that spends billions of dollars exte…

Yes brain drain is an issue but quite a different one to the sustainability issues of global overpopulation. Its complex but I do think allowing people to study and work overseas does come back as a net benefit. Your doctor story can fall at a few hurdles - maybe they can't get the training at home, maybe they would turn to another industry just to get a reasonable salary if thats the option, maybe even if they can study overseas and return they don't have the opportunities to practice in their home country. I've seen all of these happen.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#65

Post by robbiep »

smackeyacky wrote: post #32
__d wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jaycar has taken over the "over-priced retail" segment of the electronics store market that DSE used to hold (and Tandy before that). But most of the old stores are gone as everything has moved online.

I don't know that is entirely true. My local Jaycar (regional Australia) is still a good source for smaller bits and bobs, and I buy a lot of stuff there like circuit board varnish that nobody else would bother to stock. even then I don't mind paying a small premium for a USB cable or whatever because having a jaycar locally is fantastic for what I do. They still have a decent selection of things like soldering irons…

I had no idea they had arduinos etc!

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#66

Post by Tehdasi »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #55
ravenstine wrote: post #3

Wow, I always kind of assumed Dick Smith was just a fictional mascot like Betty Crocker, but he was a real dude. I lived in New Zealand for a short while growing up and we used to refer to Dick Smith Electronics as "Dip-shit Electronics" because the prices could be pretty outrageous. It was otherwise a pretty cool store, though; think somewhere between Radio Shack and Best Buy.

In the early days DSE was like jaycar. An electronics store with kits and diy computers. Dick sold it off years ago. The stores are part of Kogan now (importing and flogging chinese stuff).

"In the early days DSE was like Jaycar." Not that surprising. The origin story of Jaycar is that when DSE was being sold to Woolworths DS took aside an exec at DSE and said that Woolworths were going to run DSE into the ground. He advised the exec to start up his own rival chain, which he did, and thus Jaycar. Still, whilst Jaycar appears to be quite successful, DS wasn't entirely right, it took 34 years for the brand to die.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#67

Post by ggm »

inopinatus wrote: post #48
throwawaylinux wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The earth is already beyond the sustainable carrying capacity of humans. We have exterminated thousands of species and that's mostly without the effect of climate change. And that's just now, not even if we had everyone on earth with the living standards of an Australian or German or American. Australia is already "big Australia", Australia's record on habitat and species destruction is horrific. It just astounds me…

No-one is advocating for "massive populations", so you're pretty much throwing shade on a straw man. Anyone suggesting that Australia, for example, could handle more people, is still thinking in terms of economic, social, and environmental stability. On the contrary, though, advocating for population reduction is inherently classist, since this requires government management, and ruling classes will inevitably protec…

Since he depends on unemployed working-class poor people to keep wages down and secure a high rate of profit, This is a rather odd model. I guess he'd rather import bodies, than grow them.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#68

Post by skissane »

rajamaka wrote: post #30
threeseed wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dick Smith is a legend He was a legend. For many of us in Australia he is remembered more for his racist, xenophobic views and efforts in advising the One Nation party.

I thought he was just a proponent for "Small Australia" and by extension of that anti-immigration? Never really heard anything racist or xenophobic from him but to be fair having paid that much attention.

He chose to publicly ally himself with Pauline Hanson on the topic of immigration. Hanson has a long history of anti-immigration positions publicly justified in terms of racial/religious animus (in the 1990s targeting Asian people, more recently she has made Muslim people her primary target); when she starts trying to justify anti-immigration policies based on population growth concerns, most people (quite rightly) view that as a disingenuous fig-leaf for her real position, but Smith seems incapable of seeing that insincerity himself.

I don't think he is personally motivated by racial/religious animus. I think he is genuinely concerned about the potential impacts of population growth on the environment, housing affordability, traffic congestion, quality of life, etc. However, I think he has a poor understanding of how other people are going to perceive his decision to publicly ally himself with a politician who has a clear record of that animus.

Re: Dick Smith (Entrepreneur)

#69

Post by monkeycantype »

twelvechairs wrote: post #43
throwawaylinux wrote: post #26

He is a persona non grata since he started advocating for sustainable population policies. Funny how nobody talks about that any more. I've had an "environmentalist" get red faced and belligerent toward me for daring to suggest the most effective way to reduce humanity's environmental footprint would be to reduce population. Insisting that the earth's human carrying capacity was 100 billion(!!) and therefore I was wr…

I like the man generally but disagree with his views on hard immigration caps for Australia. I agree population is a major sustainability issue but find these caps far too elitist and authoritarian - while it just pushes the same issues elsewhere globally. Though nobody should be judged on one view alone. Everyone has their failures and blindspots

There’s a messy conflict between different ideals and agendas in Australia’s immigration debate that will be familiar to people in other countries too. Immigrants have made modern Australia, and progressive people want them to feel welcome and their achievements recognized, and want to be open to their families and to refugees, but at the same time immigration is used as an economic lever to lower wages and conditions, and having large numbers of people working with fragile visa statuses is corrosive for democracy, there’s no clean path through this.
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