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01 Dec

Posted at 09:05h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

No, apparently, but the tale is convoluted. Harman/Kardon is a very old US maker of high fidelity equipment with many famous patents and products under their belt. But it was sold to Samsung. And apparently there are a number of Harman/Kardon plants open in mainland China - Shanghai, Suzhou, and Shenzhen. Some may make the speakers seen here, but you'd have to ask the distributor for confirmation. Wherever they originate, the quality of manufacture is superb. The speakers are of the wireless type that depend upon a signal from a smart device or other Bluetooth broadcaster. I note from the bottom of the smaller type - the Citation One Mk II - that there are some connectors - a power supply and a USB service input port. The speaker contains Chromecast and the ability to work with some of the voice-command networks.   The larger one is either a Citation 300 or Citation 500 but darn me if I had the wit to turn it over and see which one. Both can do the complete Chromecast, streaming service operation the same as the smaller...

29 Nov

Posted at 09:42h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Or " How to hear with your eyes ". Sales people in business need engineers - good ones - people who can make products that work efficiently and well. Engineers need designers who can make the products look good. Designers need sales people skilled in business who can sell the products to willing customers. It's the cycle of life, and Bang & Olufsen seem to have been able to make it go round successfully since the 1920's. We're now well past the Beogram turntables or the Beodeck cassette players of my youth, but the design team has not stopped making innovative and stylish gear for listeners; listeners who want the equipment to look good even before it is switched on. The shapes of the B&O speakers I found at Wanderlust suggested that they might be called Beocan and Beobun...

26 Nov

Posted at 08:22h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

I do not wish to make Mr Van Gogh feel sad, so I will wait until he is out of earshot before spruiking today's goods. The use of headphones or ear phones for sound reproduction is as old as wireless broadcasting. Indeed, even when there is no radio signal involved, headphones are a valuable means of putting sounds right into the ear - particularly when there is loud external noise trying uto interfere. We've all seen airplane pilots and ship's talkers wearing various forms of headset. And nearly all of them have not been wireless - they've been attached to the switchboard by a sturdy electrical cable. You can do that at home, too - plug yourself into the hifi or the TV or whatever, and get superb quality sound despite the household din going on round you. And the household may bless yo for it, if you are getting deafer and need to turn your music up a lot more than you used to. They appreciate not hearing opera in the middle of a reality show. No need to ask me...

24 Nov

Posted at 08:39h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

And not the embarrassing kind either - I'm talking about the water-based fun that you can get with Wanderlust drones. There are a lot of things you can do in the water besides your laundry. Swimming, surfing, fishing, etc. If it's you alone you can propel yourself about on any number of electric surfboards or underwater torpedoes. And you can send out drones to do your bidding as well - possibly with more safety than going in yourself. Take this one as an example - it's dedicated to underwater photography as it slips through the shallows. Find a reef and some bright sun and you can Cousteau to your heart's content in safety. Think of it as a guided action camera. The rather dramatic image  ( courtesy of I'm not sure what I did...

22 Nov

Posted at 09:31h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

If you are going to go somewhere, go to Wanderlust in Murray Street first. You may have more fun on your journey. Of course, not all journeys are fun, and not all travellers need to be happy as they go. Occasionally a prison transport van goes by on the road and I never hear merry voices singing rollicking songs about the life of crime. But that's not Wanderlust customers - they can have a bit of fun. The wheeled goods in the shop are dedicated to this. There are electric scooters, Segway balancing wheeled carts, electric bicycles, and what looks suspiciously like an electric trail bike. The sizes  ( and presumably the prices ) grow as you get the more sophisticated wheels. Ans as you go faster, you pay more...

19 Nov

Posted at 09:33h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Remember I showed a shop in Hay Street Mall last year called  " Wanderlust "? The one with all the cutting edge fun things? Well, I'll let you into a secret - it was by Camera Electronic. It's moved recently - and now it's right by Camera Electronic - they've shifted lock, stock, and lens barrel into premises next door to the CE Murray Street shop. Go west along Murray and the shop on the left as you look into the CE door is Wanderlust. The facade has lost the pink door that was a fixed feature of Hay Street Mall and now has more of the CE corporate image. Speaking of corporate images, I noted as I walked from the underground train station to CE that a number of fancy retailers - Louis Vuitton, Chanel, TAG Heuer, etc. have set up shops on Murray Street as well. Possibly trying to benefit from the prestige of being located near Camera Electronic. A wise business decision upon their parts and let us hope they do well. But back to Wanderlust. There seems more floor space in this...

17 Nov

Posted at 08:19h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

Not going to enter into a debate about which is better - analog or digital - or to take one side or the other. I've done the one and do the other and in both cases I'm just grateful when I can see the faces in the pictures and the horizon is straight. But I am curious as to whether there will be any new developments of value in the analog field in the future. I was drawn to this speculation earlier in the year by the news that the Perth photo markets were set to reopen in November after a two-year hiatus. I wondered if there would be a flood of secondhand digital or whether we'd see the same old run of film cameras. I also experienced the shock of the old encountering the new when I went to a hifi retailer seeking a small CD player for a studio system. Oh Dear Me, I can buy amazing new Bluefi things that are probably better, but if I do not want to start up with new technologies, I'll be reduced...

12 Nov

Posted at 08:44h in Blog, Dick's Rant by [social_share]

If that title sounds like a meme from a social media site, forgive me. At least there are no kitten pictures*. But it's true, and for the person who wants to be paid for their photography it needs to be a prime thought before they start. This applies if they hope for cash or just judge's praise. I wish I could say that I've always adhered to the maxim, but I haven't - and when that happens, nothing else works. The business photographer is frequently in the same position as a film actor - they are judged by their last performance. This is awkward when fate or fortune step in and deal a bad job or a bad result. Equipment breakdown or lack of knowledge can make it all stop - I had one of these a week ago. Fortunately it was a small glitch, but I am going to be extra vigilant that it doesn't happen again - or I would get a reputation as an unreliable worker. How to prevent this sort of thing? a. Get as much real knowledge about your...