Spotted on Face book

[G7PSK]

Saw this on FB today and as its an Australian company or was?

[AVGresponding]

Yes, an Aussie electronics chain, Dave has done a few vids featuring them

[SiliconWizard]

"Floats on water". Uh, ok.

[Stray Electron]

"Floats on water". Uh, ok.

  Since they're in the southern hemisphere and not the northern one they must mean on the bottom side of the water, not the top.  It's all relative, right?

[Halcyon]

Yep, Dick Smith (both the person and the company) are still around, although the company is a shell of what it used to be.

There's an article here about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(retailer)

They used to compete with stores like Tandy/RadioShack, but these days they just sell consumer electronics, appliances, white-goods, clothing etc...

Dick Smith the person is here:

[Brumby]

* Awwww SNAP! *

Yes, the retail chain was a big hit.  Starting up in the late 60's, the history is quite a story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(retailer)

Aside from the business, Dick Smith the person is quite switched on with a broad streak of adventure and a touch of mischief.  He is quite the entrepreneur and advocate for many causes, with a strong support for Australia.  He is, dare I say, an Australian icon.

Perhaps the greatest example of the adventurer was his 1982-83 solo flight around the world - in a helicopter.  This was quite the challenge in navigation as it was completed before GPS was made available for civilian use.

Years ago, he ran a competition with an oscilloscope as the prize - an Hitachi 15MHz 2 channel CRO .... and I won it.      (Yes, I still have it and, yes, it still works.)

[SiliconWizard]

Didn't Dick Smith even sell their own computer back in the 80s?