State of ElectronicsThe previous episode is here: youtube.com/watch?v=9aJXBreNyZg In this weeks "State of Electronics", the conversation continues by exploring the 1970's & early 80's when the retailing of electronics to hobbyists exploded onto the Australian scene. This period saw the rise of Dick Smith and his retail chain "Dick Smith Electronics" as well as many others who reinvigorated the industry. Gone were the dusty days of "over the counter" electronics and in was "self service". It also heralded the marketing of Electronics, with advertising campaigns, marketing stunts, catalogues and more. In a future "in-focus special" on Dick Smith, we will explore the techniques and marketing tricks he used in more detail, plus cover some great stories too long to include in this episode.
State of Electronics - The Retail RevolutionState of Electronics2015-11-11 | The previous episode is here: youtube.com/watch?v=9aJXBreNyZg In this weeks "State of Electronics", the conversation continues by exploring the 1970's & early 80's when the retailing of electronics to hobbyists exploded onto the Australian scene. This period saw the rise of Dick Smith and his retail chain "Dick Smith Electronics" as well as many others who reinvigorated the industry. Gone were the dusty days of "over the counter" electronics and in was "self service". It also heralded the marketing of Electronics, with advertising campaigns, marketing stunts, catalogues and more. In a future "in-focus special" on Dick Smith, we will explore the techniques and marketing tricks he used in more detail, plus cover some great stories too long to include in this episode.
An in-depth look at the history of computers in Australia from 1949 to 2024. The series of episodes are currently in production and will be released as soon as possible.
A very special thank you to my core team Bronte, Angelo and Steven Pass.
These episodes are made possible with the help of many but I need to specially thank the ACMS, Riley Perry, Adrian Franulovich, Wayne Fitzsimmons (Pearcey Foundation) & Peter Thorne (Pearcey Foundation) for providing such great support, to help make this happen.
ACMS - https://acms.org.au Pearcey Foundation - https://www.pearcey.org.auManufacturing Electronics in Australia - A conversation with Kevin PoulterState of Electronics2020-04-14 | Kevin Poulter is a Radio Historian and a Journalist who formally worked at Pye Telecommunications in Melbourne Australia. In this 2011 interview, Kevin talks about how he got started, how transistor radios affected his career and then becoming an apprentice at Pye. Kevin also comments on the perceptions of the day that manufacturing electronics was not ultimately feasible as manufacturers headed for China. A timely reminder to remind us all of the consequences of outsourcing everything.
Kevin Poulter is currently the President of the HRSA - a radio society based in Australia. You can learn more about Kevin here: au.linkedin.com/in/kevin-poulter-52749249The Physics of Electronics - A conversation with Petar AtanackovicState of Electronics2020-04-04 | In this interview, recorded in Sydney NSW on the 19/10/2010 for "State of Electronics", Chief scientist Petar Atanackovic of Silanna Semiconductor explains how he got started in his career. From early hobby projects building robots and 8-bit computers to studying at university and creating his own startup in Silicon Valley.
At Silanna, a fab based in Sydney Australia, he and his team produce cutting edge technology based on Silicon on Sapphire technology, looking at the quantum effects of perfect crystal structures for the use in solar cells, radio communications as well as the marriage of Analogue & Digital circuits in a single die, on a radiation-hardened substrate. As a physicist and electronic engineer, Petar is on the constant quest to find new materials and techniques in producing faster transistors, detectors, and other semiconductor devices while also looking at other possibilities of using this technology to produce more efficient solar cells and the like at scale.
For more information about Silanna Semiconductor: silanna.com
Please subscribe and hit that like button to help encourage more of these videos. Your support is important to this free archive of interviews.Kurrajong Radio Museum - A conversation with Ian OTooleState of Electronics2020-03-27 | Ian O'Toole founded the Kurrajong Radio Museum - a privately run museum dedicated to the preservation of radio technology near Sydney Australia.
In this interview conducted on the 21/11/2010, Ian explains what he collects, why and how he became interested in electronics and radio. The museum has an amazing number of radios (over 800 at last count 2010), including the radio from the captured North Korean vessel the Pong Su, which sits directly behind Ian in the interview. The collection has a huge number of radios and other devices made by the Australian firm AWA, a father Shaw radio that is similar to the one used by the Antarctic Expedition conducted by Sir Douglas Mawson, and a vast collection of military radios.
For me personally, I was also captivated by the large collection of broadcast equipment, including transmitters, tape recorders, decks and studio gear.
If you visit NSW Australia and are interested in radio equipment/history, take a trip to the Kurrajong Radio Museum which is situated outside Sydney - 842 Bells Line of Rd, Kurrajong Hills NSW 2758 or visit their website vk2bv.org/archive/museum for more information.
Please comment below and hit that like button to help encourage more videos like these.Jaycar Electronics - A conversation with Gary JohnstonState of Electronics2020-03-21 | In this interview from 2010, Gary Johnston of Jaycar Electronics recounts how he started with electronics as a young hobbyist. The conversation covers how he progressed to building amplifiers and other projects of the day. Later, whilst working for a component supplier, he met Dick Smith which would form a long-lasting relationship. Eventually, Dick asked him to work for him and together they worked for several years before Gary went out on his own. Gary started Jaycar Electronics and in this interview, he explains how he managed to steer the company away from the then Woolworths owned Dick Smith Electronics. Today, Jaycar Electronics is the largest franchised hobbyist and enthusiast retail chain in Australia and has stores in other countries like New Zealand as well. Despite huge competition from the Internet and overseas companies, they have survived and continue to provide locals with a chance to walk into a store, ask questions and purchase electronic components and equipment.
This interview took place in Sydney 23/11/2010.Dick Smith Electronics - A conversation with Dick SmithState of Electronics2020-03-14 | Dick Smith revolutionised retail electronics in Australia by opening up "Self Service" style stores. He employed clever and low cost means to promote his business, famously towing an "iceberg" into Sydney harbour as an April fools day joke. In this interview, recorded on the 21/7/2010, Dick Smith recounts how he got interested in electronics, how he got parts and eventually built a multimillion-dollar business selling components to the hobby industry.
For more insight into Dick Smith, make sure you see the episodes entitled "Peter Clark of Magnetic Sound Industries" youtube.com/watch?v=UM20uTCisvM
Dick has contributed to many other episodes of SOE and I thank him very much for his participation.Blogging Electronics - A conversation with Dave L. JonesState of Electronics2020-03-06 | Dave L. Jones is arguably one of the most recognisable faces in electronics today. A successful electronic design engineer, having started at a young age and having been published by the age of just 13 years of age, Dave has worked on military projects with companies such as Thales Australia & GEC Marconi, working on projects such as ocean seismic survey equipment and the Barra Sonar Buoy (which helped save the life of round the world yachtsman Tony Bullimore).
In recent times, he was instrumental in designing hardware development boards for the Australian company Altium, which produces software design tools for the electronics industry.
In 2009, Dave started the EEVBlog which, at the time of this interview, had 5000+ subscribers. In March 2020, the EEVBlog has over 706,000 subscribers!
In the interview (20/7/2010) Dave has a chat with me about his career, how he got started, the success of the EEVBlog and much more. Throughout the State of Electronic series, Dave has contributed to the conversation about electronics in detail and has been a huge supporter of the project.
For more about Dave L. Jones, check out these links: EEVBlog: eevblog.com Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_L._Jones_(video_blogger) Linkedin: au.linkedin.com/in/davidjoneselectronicsAnalog Design - A conversation with Doug FordState of Electronics2020-02-29 | In this episode, Doug Ford of Doug Ford Analog Design recounts his career and how he became an analog electronic design engineer. Doug has worked for Australian companies Jands, Rode Microphones, and now his own company DFAD.
The interview provides for some fascinating insight into how he got started, early learning, education in electronics and finally work experience. Having worked for about 19 years at Jands, where he worked on everything from rock and roll lighting dimmers & consoles, large PA’s, audio mixers, he got to experience a wide range of products. At Rode it was far more targeted towards a single product range - microphones, where he designed (as part of a small team) the Classic Two, a valve-based microphone with a sneaky transistor embedded. This caused a sensation amongst the die-hard valve enthusiasts. Luckily Doug went on to design other microphones with Rode including NT3, the NT1000 and the NTK Microphones.
The interview was recorded at his home workshop on the 20/10/2010 in Sydney for State of Electronics.
Apologies for the audio quality in this interview. I should have used one of Doug’s designs but alas I did not & the location was a bit noisy :-)Silicon Chip - A conversation with Leo SimpsonState of Electronics2020-02-21 | In this interview from 19/7/2010, I interviewed Leo Simpson, the founding publisher of Silicon Chip Magazine, for State of Electronics. Leo explains how he got interested in electronics and then became the publisher of Electronics Australia before starting up his own magazine, Silicon Chip.
Leo retired after a long career and the new publisher of Silicon Chip is his long time right-hand man Nicholas Vinen. For more about Silicon Chip Magazine visit http://www.siliconchip.com.auAvionics - A conversation with Ian McLeanState of Electronics2020-02-15 | Ian McLean took up an early interest in radio, TV and electronics and in 1974 took up an apprenticeship with AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia). AWA was an important company (part Government-owned) that setup many side industries such as Valve manufacturing, white goods, radio & TV manufacturing and everything else in-between. Having formed from AWL in 1913, its CEO Ernest Fisk quickly established several key divisions including AWA Coastal Radio Service, a Marine Division, an Aviation Department, They even opened a fabrication plant in Sydney to manufacture IC’s under the name AWA MicroElectronics Pty Ltd (now Silanna Semiconductor). AWA set up an avionics business that built and maintained the Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) for aircraft - a safety system designed in Australia and exported to the world.
Ian talks about his apprenticeship at AWA and how the company held key contracts to service avionics with TAA and Ansett. At the time of this interview on the 17th of Jan 2011, Ian was working at Rockwell Collins in Melbourne.
Many thanks to Ian McLean for his interview but also the many images he provided.MicroBee - A conversation with Owen HillState of Electronics2020-02-09 | Owen Hill speaks with me about his career and how he brought Australia's first personal computer to the market, the MicroBee, via his company Applied Technologies. The MicroBee was a Z80 based computer, running CPM. It grew out of a hobby project and was wildly successful. So much so, Owen and his team were hard-pressed keeping up with demand. Owen shares his stories of selling computers to schools in Australia, often at the same time as an Apple rep. He goes on to tell us about his efforts in localising keyboards and software for other markets such as Sweeden and Russia when no one else was doing that. MicroBee's ended up being used in a wide variety of fields and situations and had a huge fan base that exists even to this day.
This interview was recorded at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, 21/10/2010 for State of Electronics.Talking Electronics - A conversation with Colin MitchellState of Electronics2020-02-01 | This is a conversation with Colin Mitchell of “Talking Electronics” magazine fame. This interview took place on the 23rd of Feb 2011 in Melbourne. In the interview, Colin talks about his beginnings with electronics, how he got the idea for the magazine and the books that followed. Colin reveals how he was the first to put a printed circuit board on the front of the magazine and in a famous case, on the front of his series of books entitled “FM Bugs”. The Victorian police bought kits from Colin’s store, including one which could listen in to telephone conversations. This caused a lot of problems for Colin, which landed him a seat in the courts. The Australian WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY ACT 1905 was "repealed" by Act No. 136 of 1983 thanks to Colin's case. Colin off course was shocked and dismayed but continued on selling other kits including the famous TEC-1 computer - A Z80 based project with detailed explanations on how to build and program it.
This conversation was used in part in many episodes of State of Electronics.
Please subscribe, share and like this video to help more of these interviews to take place and be released.A conversation with Mike OsborneState of Electronics2020-01-22 | A conversation with Mike Osborne: an electronics engineer who was based in Melbourne Australia, and has appeared on State of Electronics in numerous episodes. Sadly, Mike has passed on, gone silent key and this short video is really a series of excerpts from his 2011 interview. Mike worked for Australian Defense Science (AWA), Byer Tape recorders, lectured in electronic design at Caulfield Institute of Technology (now Monash Uni). He was President of the HRSA (Historical Radio Society of Australia).
Mike was so very knowledgable about the history of Australian and international technology. He will be missed by many. Thank you for your participation in State of Electronics. RIP Michael Osborne.Pearcey Day 2018 - The last 8 years of SOEState of Electronics2018-10-08 | In this weeks episode, we look back at the last 8 years of State of Electronics. At the 2018, Pearcey Foundation, Victorian awards night (known as Pearcey Day), I gave a brief speech about my effort in recording Australia's tech history. I was the last speaker in a line of incredibly amazing speakers (moderated by Dr Peter Thorne) who presented that day, so I had to be very brief with my introduction. For a complete list of speakers and details about the Pearcey Foundation, visit https://pearcey.org.au/2018-pearcey-day-heritage-panel/
What does the Pearcey Foundation do: "The Pearcey Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded in 1998 in memory of a great Australian ICT pioneer Dr Trevor Pearcey. The Foundation operates broadly across the Australian Information Communication Technologies (ICT) sector, from celebrating achievements through national and state awards, to being involved in debate and public policy on critical national issues such as productivity, the digital economy and national infrastructure."
The video that follows the speech, is a summery of interviews that also lists many of the incredible innovations created by Australians and others in Australia. It starts at the dawn of electronics (which roughly occurs at the same time Australia is settled by Europeans in the mid 1800's) and progresses through time to the current day. For me, it shows why it is very important to collect and retell these stories in the hope that it inspires others to make, create and invent the future, no matter what country they might come from.
There are so many people to thank for participating in SOE (over the 8 years) that invariably I will have inadvertently forgotten to properly credit some. Please forgive me and I will do my best to update this description with anyone I might have left off the credits. There are many who did not appear in this highlights video and this was largely due to the limited time I had both to edit the video and also in presenting it to the Pearcey Day attendees. This in no way reflects in the value of these interviews to the SOE project but rather my limited time to effectively revisit the 80+ interviews. Many thanks again to you all and those watching. Cheers.
Don't forget to hit LIKE and share this video wherever possible.Peter Clark of Magnetic Sound IndustriesState of Electronics2018-05-26 | At 96 years of age, Peter Clark has an incredible story to tell. Born in 1922 in England, he lived through the years leading up to the war. Life was hard but simple. Along came WW2 and upset most people’s plans in Europe and the UK. Peter joined the RAF and prepared Spitfire aircraft for battle in a front line squadron during the Battle of Britain. Afterwards, he was moved to a bomber squadron where he worked as a flight mechanic and then flew in bombers as a Flight Engineer. Suffering a crash towards the end of the war, he was grounded. After WW2, he took his discharge in Australia and began the odd job, one of which introduced him to a "Wire Recorder". Wire recorders were developed during WW2 and used by Hitler to make speeches that were broadcast after he had completed them, frustrating the Allies as to where he was. In post war Australia, Peter recognized the potential of the Wire Recorder and started a business called "Magnetic Sound Industries". He believes he was the first to sell them in Australia and recorded politicians in parliament, including Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia at the time. He recorded live gigs/talent shows at a famous haunt known as "Stone's Milk Bar in Coogee" which included many celebrities, up and coming and seasoned performers. From these wire recordings, he cut 78, acetate recordings, and sold these as records for 10 Shillings a pop!
When tape recorders came in, Peter Clark sold those through his shop in George St, Sydney. Everybody wanted one at the time and Wire Recorders quickly fell out of favour. Later, he expanded to record players, audio accessories, microphones and HiFi systems.
Peter Clark lived across the road from Dick Smith at one stage and the young teenager expressed an interest in electronics, so Peter brought home some bits of non working, wire & tape recorders and gave them to Dick to play with. Dick acknowledges that this was one of the reasons he ended up with a career in electronics but also took notes on how Peter advertised his business. Peter had been advised by a local advertising executive, that he should use his name and face to personalize his business, so very often he placed ads in "Radio and Hobbies" magazine, local papers and on local TV which announced products at "Peter Clark of Magnetic Sound Industries", featuring a portrait of Peter smiling broadly. Dick was heavily influenced by this and created his own version, which became synonymous with his business, using both his name and face to advertise.
After a lengthy reign at the top, retailing wire and tape recorders, HiFi and all their accessories, wholesalers waged a heavy campaign in competition and in 1978 Peter finally closed his doors in York St Sydney. Instead, he started a new business in Queensland called "Gold Coast TV Advertising Network" which he still runs today at 96! http://goldcoasttv.com.auThe Shenzhen Innovation Tour 2017 Wraps UpState of Electronics2018-04-28 | This episode is the last in an 18 part series that followed the HardworX innovation Tour of Shenzhen 2017. The 8 day journey took the group through a broad range of factories, providing a good overview of manufacturing choices available in Shenzhen with an emphasis on electronics manufacture but also included visits to factories that built mechanical housings and components as well. The tour was timed to coincide with Makerfaire Shenzhen 2017, allowing many in the group to meet with Makers from all over the world as well as China. The tour group stayed right at the heart of Shenzhen electronics scene, just 2 minutes from the famous Huaqiangbei electronics markets, allowing them to visit whenever possible.
In this episode, the group trawl through the electronics markets for the last time, gather their things and pack up their bags in readiness to fly home. On reflecting about the trip, many on the tour share their opinions on what they witnessed over the last 8 days and share some tips for anyone wishing to make a similar journey. For most though, the trip did demystify Chinese manufacturing and how to engage with them in a meaningful way.
The question is asked, “will there be another tour next year?”. For that, you will need to keep your eye on the HardworX website and see if Vela will run another tour next year.
I would like to extend my special thanks to Vela and the cohort for allowing me to follow along, film and compile this series. It was a special labour of love for me, involving hundreds of hours of editing time. My hope is that this series will be a valuable resource for all who have dreams, in particular, kids in high schools and universities, to see that there is a pathway to a career, as a designer, engineer or entrepreneur (see Incubators and Accelerators in the episode list).
For more about each of the factories that we visited, I highly recommend viewing episodes from this series. Otherwise links are below.
More about Austrade can be gained by visiting https://www.austrade.gov.au
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so as well. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The Factory Tours of Shenzhen - HYX Gears & ITEAD StudiosState of Electronics2018-04-21 | This week, we visit HYX Gears and ITEAD Studios.
In the last two factory tours of our visit to Shenzhen, we learn about the many varied and wide ranging sizes of gears manufactured by HYX. Although our tour was quick, we walked through several facilities of theirs, which featured handmade metal gears, plastic injection moulded gears and metal gears created on CNC hobbing machines. For Brian Gilbert, it was an opportunity to visit his manufacturer of gears, for his product "the Zesy Nimble" 3D Printer extruder - https://zesty.tech
ITEAD Studios makes the Sonoff range of home automation devices which many hackers and makers like Jon Oxer take advantage of (thanks to the onboard ESP8266 chipset) to automate their houses. Jon has made an excellent video about the same factory tour, which you can see here: superhouse.tv/27-visit-to-the-sonoff-factory as well as featured Sonoff products in his Youtube series youtube.com/watch?v=_389pQPLyr8&t=1789s
ITEAD have found the balance between quality and volume production by designing their products for a largely manual, simple manufacturing process. We walk through the lines and witness the rows of human hands on the production line.
As a group we discuss the tradeoff between quality and rapid low cost manufacturing. Both have their place and our many factory tours give us plenty to think about in terms of our needs. In some cases, quality is everything (such as defense, medical, health and safety etc) while in other cases, cost is everything. Determining your “buy in” to this dilemma is a very important step in understanding your requirements. You can buy any amount of quality and this is up to you, the commissioning designer/entrepreneur!
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so as well. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.Artificial Intelligence & AutomationState of Electronics2018-04-14 | Artificial Intelligence, or AI as it is more commonly known, and automation is this weeks discussion point for SOE. After visiting quite a number of factories on our innovation tour of Shenzhen, there was definitely a noticeable trend towards automation in manufacturing for some businesses and not others. The tour group discuss this and it's implications (along with others) to try and make sense of it. Automation is not new to the world with the Luddites smashing the Cotten Gins in the early 1800's, inventions such as the Combine Harvester, Robotics in car manufacturing, CNC of all sorts of machines, etc bringing about changes to the labour force. However, the recent improvements in AI (machine learning and neural networks in particularly) and a desire to implement it, is making it possible for manufacturers to remove most of the "human component" of their processes. These aren't just the obvious, repetitive type of processing jobs but many roles previously thought "safe" from automation/AI like legal researchers, medical staff and even programming/design roles. Many on our tour group have real concerns about jobs, careers and even what humans will do with themselves ultimately. The discussion is very much the results of our tour and our newly learnt knowledge of what is possible in manufacturing specifically, today.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so as well. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The Factory Tours of Shenzhen - Hytera EMSState of Electronics2018-04-07 | Hytera EMS is described as a tier one manufacturer in China, similar in capability to Foxcon as a comparison. This week, we tour the space aged, futuristic factory of Hytera in Shenzhen and experience what it means to be a “super lean”, Industry 4.0 factory!
Hytera manufacturers at scale, producing products at very high volume, for a range of clients. In an effort to improve quality, they have concentrated on automating as many processes as they can. In the quest for perfection in manufacturing, they have developed many software and hardware solutions not found in traditional manufacturing plants, that enable them to control precisely the manufacturing techniques used in their factories. This includes 6 axis robots for assembly, 3D X-ray and AI controlled analysis of solder paste application, component placement and reflow soldering, fully automated testing via robotics, humidity controlled and fully tested inventory, continuous production line from the warehouse via robotic delivery of components to final assembly of finished products in boxes! Its fair to say that Hytera is a world leader in automated, AI controlled manufacturing with 75% of a possible 80% of their current factory completely automated. Hytera isn’t stopping there. They are looking to build a generation 5 factory, which won’t even have lights on because it will be completely automated with no humans working inside.
Amazingly, they are still interested in Startups and even run their own Accelerator program for suitable candidates. Our tour of the factory included some insight into this program, where they explained why they would be interested in selecting a couple of Startups a year and provide access to manufacturing services and more in exchange for some equity in their business.
For many on the tour, this was the most sophisticated production environment that they had seen. Massive in scale, gleaming white and pristine, futuristic and automated with robots coexisting with humans … it was an awe inspiring factory tour.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so as well. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.Hardware AcceleratorsState of Electronics2018-03-31 | Accelerators are this weeks focus of SOE. We drop by and speak to the guys at HAX in Shenzhen, to learn more about what a Hardware Accelerator can provide for Startups. This episode follows on from last week, which featured "Incubators" such as YBF Ventures. If you haven't seen that episode you should definitely check it out here: youtu.be/e9pWgGKbbZw
HAX is known as a "Hardware Accelerator" because it specifically deals with hardware based Startups only. Within that context, they provide equity and technical services, including a full prototyping space to refine your idea, in order to help bring your concept to market. Its called an "Accelerator" because it is a timed (usually about 3 months) intensive program where they will provide a soft landing into Shenzhen, setup your bank accounts, provide all sorts of personal assistance including translation services etc. They will provide a range of support staff like graphic designers, mechanical/electronic engineers, logistical and component sourcing assistance as well as help you to get access to investors and manufacturing partners. In exchange for all of this, they will take equity in your business, so its in their interest to help you achieve your goals.
A recent participant in their program is Australian Startup SmartShepherd. We would like to say a special thank you to Glenn Vassallo for helping out with this episode. You can learn more about their offerings by visiting https://www.smartshepherd.com.au
For more about HAX and what they have to offer, visit:hax.co
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.Incubators and the Role of GovernmentState of Electronics2018-03-24 | For anyone starting a business, there’s always challenges ahead. However tech based startups face perhaps even more challenges. This week, SOE looks at the startup culture and some of the options open to them through services known as “Incubators”. An incubator is a safe place to take your startup to the next level, make use of co-working facilities but also access expert advice and business management skills. Incubators will help you to scale your business and help it grow into a viable concern. SOE features Melbourne based incubator YBF Ventures (formerly York Butter Factory), located in the CBD of Melbourne, Australia. Chief of staff Jason Lim explains in detail what they offer and who they help. Right now, hardware startups in Australia face considerable challenges as there aren’t many (if any) incubators with in-house prototyping facilities and services in Australia. YBF Ventures provides access to experts as needed by bringing them in through their huge list of connections, however as Jason Lim explained, “Watch this space”! For more about YBF's programs, including startup bootcamp and more visit http://ybfventures.com
SOE also asks “when should this incubation begin?” Through HardworX tour participant, Liam Brennan, we visit Box Hill High School in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, to see that his school has a focus on engineering and maker spaces. Equipped with an engineering faculty no less with lathes, mills, soldering stations and 3D printers, the school fosters early incubation of ideas and practical knowhow. We ask, should these maker spacers feed into university degrees and incubators as part of a cultivated career path? Should government help by providing access to more maker spaces at schools and in the community at large?
The tour also participated in an Austrade event held in Shenzhen on one of the nights. Austrade is an Australian government led initiative which helps startups land in 5 key market areas including Singapore, Berlin, Tel Aviv, San Fransisco and Shanghai. This event provided for some interesting presentations including one from a Sydney based company called Eora 3D. CEO Rahul Koduri gave an engaging speech about his experience developing their product and then through Austrade, successfully landed in China to manufacture their product on mass. The 3D scanner they have invented is fascinating and well worth checking out here: eora3d.com
More about Austrade can be gained by visiting https://www.austrade.gov.au and for the landing pad program: australiaunlimited.com/Landing-Pads
The role of government was hotly debated on the last episode. SOE isn’t in the business of being political but rather more concerned with education. In this episode, the role of government and the tech sector is discussed in more detail and points out that different cultures have different degrees of success and failure. Some argue that any involvement, so long as its not “you can’t do that” is OK from government. Others prefer a more background approach where experts and experienced companies like YBF Ventures are given opportunities to develop strategies in providing the needed services to improve the startup culture. For sure people will have opinions on this. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments below but do not denigrate our efforts in providing this information to you. Each opinion will be steeped in the culture in which its based and it isn't alway obvious to others how that effects individuals.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in our tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The xFactoryState of Electronics2018-03-17 | The x.Factory is a "Maker Space on steroids" according to some on the tour. We visit the collaborative effort from the Chaihuo Makerspace, the Chinese Government and Seeed Studios.
if you haven't seen last weeks special on Seeed Studios, you should watch it first: youtu.be/xi_zk9OG1R0
The HardworX tour group visits the incredible x.Factory, and discovers just how space and pedagogy meet to fulfill a dream ... a perfect place to create, make and learn. Being both creative and inspirational, the x.Factory serves to help prototype your ideas as a maker and then to advance to manufacturing that idea. By this I mean it allows makers to learn how to use equipment typically used on manufacturing lines. As a stepping stone, it affords makers the opportunity to create their ideas, prototype them in advance of funding of a startup and then prepares makers for mass manufacturing, while being a stones throw away from the central hub of Shenzhen China.
The x.Factory is open to all (internationals included). Visit their website for more details on conditions: xfactory.io
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The Factory Tours of Shenzhen - SEEED StudiosState of Electronics2018-03-10 | This week, we tour Seeed Studios in Shenzhen. Seeed has an interesting origin story which has eventuated into a flourishing business. They started out as a group of Makers at a Maker Space who just wanted to make things for others. In doing so, they have become the factory for the Maker, providing services like PCB manufacturing, PCB assembly and testing, designing and distributing their own kits as well as those from other Makers. Startups from all over the world prototype and manufacture products with Seeed. They have also connected big players like Microsoft and Intel with the Maker community, by selling their offerings as well.
Seeed provides 3D printing and laser cutting services, Stencil manufacturing, PCB layout services and a Bazaar to sell Makers products to the world. CEO Eric Pan explains how they continue to foster the "Maker Movement" by providing innovative ideas like the Open Parts Library (OPL) which Seeed keeps on hand for quick and efficient prototyping services, and they provide a footprint library for Kiacad and Eagle CAD software, eliminating problems at the design level. See seeedstudio.com/opl.html
Seeed has also collaborated with Make Magazine to bring Makerfaire to Shenzhen. They have collaborated with the local Chaihuo Maker Space and the Chinese Government to bring the xFactory into existence. SOE will tour the xFactory in an upcoming episode. xfactory.io
So come join in and take a tour of the highly efficient but modest sized Seeed Studio factory and see how clever they have been in organizing, maintaining and operating a rapid manufacturing plant. Through the use of "dashboards" to keep track of jobs to the repurposing of "lolly" packaging machines to bag parts, it's a fascinating look into the company.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do so to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of it's viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The Factory Tours of Shenzhen - Kaier WoState of Electronics2018-03-03 | Whether you are prototyping an idea in readiness for your kickstarter campaign, designing a car or manufacturing a high value medical device with low volume production, then this company could be what you are looking for.
Kaier Wo is a prototyping house that operates out of Shenzhen China. SOE and the HardworX tour group take a look at their facilities and services, which include:
CNC machining (plastics, wood and metal) silicon mould vacuum casting, 3D printing, sheet metal casting, RIM (reaction injection moulding), and full assembly.
Like other prototyping houses we visited, they do some similar things, however each one has its own differences also which in this case include sheet metal bending and laser cutting of metal, CNC of wood and more.
Led by factory representative Joe Chen, we looked at the many processes, watched as workers poured moulds and hand cleaned/polished parts etc. If you need just one prototype or want to manufacture in low volume, Kaier Wo might be what you are looking for.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of its viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.The LIFX Production LineState of Electronics2018-02-24 | Following the previous episode, SOE takes a walk down the LIFX production line, investigating how a modern, reimagined light globe is manufactured at scale. If you haven’t seen the previous episode, it is highly recommended viewing in discovering just how LIFX got started as a company, overcame design/engineering issues and set about finding a suitable factory in China: youtu.be/pxSIeIfHF58
In this episode, the HardworX tour participants are introduced to the factory by John Bosua from LIFX. He then takes us into the clean rooms where the SMT work is done. At each stage of the production, the surprising thing to most on the tour was the level of testing performed on the assembly, to eliminate “dead on arrival products”! The tour then wondered into the "Through Hole" assembly area where we witnessed quite manual manufacturing processes of modules, wave soldering, yet more testing and then final assembly of the product into the shell of a light globe. As many on the tour commented, you wouldn’t believe what it takes to make a modern light globe these days until you see it for yourself!
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. It is intended to be objective, educational and informative for all. Any suggestion by comments made or otherwise, will be instantly deleted and you will no longer be able to comment on this channels videos. Please keep this in mind.
State of Electronics welcomes comments but keep them clean and constructive. Remember, its a conversation and not a place to rant!
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do to. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of its viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.LIFX - The BeginningState of Electronics2018-02-18 | The story of how LIFX began is this weeks episode of State of Electronics. Three guys (Phil Bosua, Andy Gelme and John Bosua) got together at Hack Melbourne (CCHS) http://www.hackmelbourne.org and prototyped what would become a wifi controlled light bulb. At that time, it hadn’t been done before. A timely confluence of things allowed this to happen - smart phones, apps, cheap & efficient LED's, wifi modules and an idea.
They ran a very successful kickstarter campaign in 2012 and raised over 1.3 million dollars in the process. That allowed them to overcome many engineering hurdles and set course for China to find a suitable factory.
In this video, we speak with John Bosua, Andy Gelme and Marc Alexander. Marc was the first hardware engineer and former CEO of LIFX (now chief product & technology officer at LIFX) who, together with the team, overcame heat issues, wifi chip selection, factory selection and more. This episode looks into the founding years of a bright startup company, who created a category in lighting and a dream in the process. From humble beginnings in Melbourne Australia to becoming a global player in the world of domestic lighting, LIFX is a great beacon for those who want to follow in their path.
In a followup episode, SOE will tour the LIFX production line and learn how an idea can be manufactured at scale.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. It is intended to be objective, educational and informative for all. Any suggestion by comments made or otherwise, will be instantly deleted and you will no longer be able to comment on this channels videos. Please keep this in mind.
State of Electronics welcomes comments but keep them clean and constructive. Remember, its a conversation and not a place to rant!The Factory Tours of Shenzhen - HLH PrototypesState of Electronics2018-02-10 | This week, SOE tours HLH Prototypes, which is based in Shenzhen China. HLH will make one single part for you or thousands, if thats what you need. They utilize a range of production techniques, including 3D printing in SLA, SLS, DMLS or SLM. They do CNC Machining of plastics and metals, in a huge range of sizes (really large parts are possible) and a vast range of materials. HLH can do rapid tooling, sheet metal forming work, vacuum casting from silicon moulds, all the way up to EDM/Spark erosion tooling for plastic injection moulding. They do plastic injection moulding as well!
Cofounder James Murphy takes us on a tour of the newly built factory and explains many of the processes to help the participants understand the benefits of each.
For many in the group, Silicon Vacuum Moulding opens up a whole world of possibilities.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of its viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
For more about HardworX visit www.hardworx.io For more about this series visit www.stateofelectronics.com For more about Jon Oxer visit www.superhouse.tv For more about Tom Partridge visit www.tectonica.netThe Factory Tours of Shenzhen - Jiafuh Metal & PlasticsState of Electronics2018-02-03 | Jiafuh Metal and Plastics is a manufacturer who designs and produces moulds for plastic components out of a range of materials including Aluminum, Mild Steel and hardened "tool" Steel. They also manufacture plastic enclosures for electronic products, amongst other things, via plastic injection moulding.
In this tour, SOE explores the Shenzhen based factory of Jiafuh, led by General Manager Jimmy Hsu. The tour members are surprised by the many different tool making processes, including a processes known as Spark Erosion or EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining), Surface Grinding, Wire-Cut EDM, CNC Milling and more. The group also appreciated that a great deal of hand skills were still employed to measure (metrology), surface finishing and polishing the moulds known as "tools", in readiness for injection moulding manufacturing.
The group then witnessed the tools in use, and watched on as hundreds of plastic enclosures, for brand name clients, were being produced in the injection moulding part of the factory. Jiafuh has many injection moulding machines and can cater for high volume production. They also offer a range of electroplating and vapor deposition surfacing options, to reproduce metallic finishes on plastic components.
For our group, it was really valuable to see why injection moulding tools are so expensive and understand how they can be extremely economical when it comes to manufacturing at scale. Every designer should understand these processes.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tour videos: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of its viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.
Don't forget to like, share and contribute to this channel. Your support is very much needed to keep it going.
For more about Jiafuh, visit www.jiafuh.com For more about HardworX visit www.hardworx.io For more about this series visit www.stateofelectronics.com For more about Jon Oxer visit www.superhouse.tv For more about Tom Partridge visit www.tectonica.netThe Electronics Markets of ShenzhenState of Electronics2018-01-27 | In this weeks episode, the tour group visits the electronics markets of Shenzhen China. Many of the group have never been to the markets before and what they discover is the worlds largest electronic component market!
The sheer scale and size of the markets, spread across kilometers of cityscape is impressive. There is almost nothing you cannot find in these markets. The markets contain millions of stalls, who often represent manufacturing firms in Shenzhen, and are an excellent resource for components, modules, finished goods and more. Many also have an online presence and make a personal visit to Shenzhen unnecessary, however anyone who has been to Shenzhen and the markets will tell you, that it is well worth the visit, to establish relationships with vendors, understand the eco system and grasp the magnitude of the supply chain. It is truly breathtaking and inspirational.
A special thanks to Jon Oxer for photographing extra material for this episode. Note, some images were recorded from my trip in 2011, 2015 and the most recent trip in 2017.
Please do not forget to Like, Share and Subscribe to this channel. Every little bit helps and your support will help to maintain continuity of this channel.Factory Tours of Shenzhen - DefondState of Electronics2018-01-20 | The Defond Group is this weeks focus for SOE. In this episode, we take a tour of one of Defond’s factories, just outside of Shenzhen China.
Defond started out as a switch manufacturer in Hong Kong, but moved to China to provide a large array of manufacturing services including SMT, Wave soldering, PCB assembly, Plastic injection, Metal stamping, Electro-plating, Winding, Laser cutting and printing. They employ the concept of LEAN manufacturing (to minimize waste), Process automation, Process qualification and control, Supply chain management and have a complete testing solution to certify products for: UL61058 / STP1054 MFI license (wireless communications) RF equipment (functional tester) UL / IEC certification expertise
The tour group experienced a fantastic range of manufacturing processes and learned a great deal about Defond’s ethics, accessibility and business practices. Some of our group had never been inside a factory before so this first factory tour was a huge “eye opener” and a taste of things to come.
For more information about the tour organizer, HardworX visit hardworx.io
Commercial transparency note: This video has not been paid, sponsored or otherwise commercialized by the Defond Group. The views in this video are expressed freely by all of the tour group participants and the filmmaker. The Defond Group was/is aware of the filmmakers intention to make this video and has provided authorization to do so by providing signed release forms and their corporate video for inclusion. However no attempt was made by the Defond Group to limit or control the opinions and views expressed here.
NOTE on "comment" policy for all factory tours: Please understand that this video neither condones nor comments on reputation, labour practices, and other standards, in particular relating to safety. It is intended for educational purposes only, allowing you the viewer to participate in a factory tour. The company has kindly opened its doors to us and allowed us to come and see what they can do in a free and open manner. State of Electronics respects this and asks that you do to. This video has no sponsorship or other influences from the company highlighted. The comments made by participants are the result of this personal tour of the factory and their personal opinions on what they witnessed and understood. However, State of Electronics does understand that some of its viewers will have concerns about standards. Please do not post comments relating to your opinions on safety or other labour practices to this video as they vary greatly from country to country and subsequently will be deleted. Express your views in your own video, using your own footage, and put your name to it to make it count. Thank you for your understanding.MAKEState of Electronics2018-01-13 | In this episode, SOE investigates the reason why humans make things. We look at the importance of making things both from a practical need and a creative standpoint. Making teaches us about the real world ... About materials ... About mechanical and electronic things ... About how to learn. Humans have made things like tools from a very long time ago but also made terrible things like weapons and bombs! So making involves a great sense of responsibility, not only for human existence but also towards our environment.
Nearly all cultures make things and yet in recent times the modern age is rediscovering making things again and how that can unlock personal freedom, fulfillment and happiness. Interviews with Zack Shelby (Microbit), Andrew "bunnie" Huang, Shannon Hoover (Makefashion), Sherry Huss (Maker Media), Angus Gratton, Simon Holmes a Court, Michael Borthwick, Vela Georgiev, Neil Brennan and more discuss the philosophical and practical need for making.
This is a special episode of State of Electronics that looks at the very fundamental force driving us all. Please help this channel to grow by subscribing, sharing and liking! your support is crucial to the ongoing success of the channel. Thank you.
NOTE: Apologies to Katia Vega and her lowered third credit. It should have read "Katia Vega - Assistant Professor UC Davis" https://www.ucdavis.edu/academics/teaching-and-learning/new-faculty/katia-vega/
Maker Media (Make magazine & Maker Faire) is the home of Sherry Huss - makermedia.com/our-team
HardworX is Vela Georgiev's effort which is focused on connecting communities engaged in tech - hardworx.io
Follow Simon Holmes a Court on twitter @simonahac - passionately engaged in the creation and dissemination of the worlds energy resources and a whole lot more.The tour begins and the Makers FaireState of Electronics2017-12-21 | This is the second part of a series about electronics and manufacturing in Shenzhen China. In this weeks episode, SOE continues on a journey of exploration with a group of Electronic Engineers, Makers, Entrepreneurs and Startups on an innovation tour to Shenzhen China.
The group lands in China and quickly becomes accustomed to the heat, humidity, sights and smells of Guangzhou and then later Shenzhen. The first days adventure ends with a fantastic meal before checking into the hotel. Day two kicks off with Maker Faire Shenzhen. The group wonders around the Shenzhen polytechnic, where Maker Faire is held in 2017, and delights in the creativity, cleverness in design and social aspects of the maker movement. With many local Chinese makers showing off their ideas and builds, our group gets an appreciation for the enthusiasm of the local community. SOE also chats with some of the international makers such as Shannon Hoover from Makefashion http://www.makefashion.ca, Zack Shelby from micro:bit http://microbit.org, Sherry Huss from Maker Media as well as locals like Eric Pan from SEEED Studios seeedstudio.com and Kevin Lau from Makernet.
Maker Faire Shenzhen is put on by Maker Media Inc. and is part of Make Magazine makermedia.com
In China, Maker Media has partnered with SEEED Studios, who invited Maker Faire to come to Shenzhen. Maker Faire Shenzhen is now the second largest Maker Faire event in the world behind San Francisco's Bay Area faire.
Our group consists of tour leader Vela Georgiev, participants Andy Gelme, Brian Gilbert, Jon Oxer, Kemal Ajay, Liam Brennan, Noor Magesh, Sarah Last, Tom Partridge, Simon Holmes a Court, Hans Chang and yours truly.
Don't forget to subscribe, like and share this channel and video. Thanks for watching and I look forward in sharing the next episode with you soon.The Makers Road to ShenzhenState of Electronics2017-12-11 | In this weeks episode, SOE follows a group of Electronic Engineers, Makers, Entrepreneurs and Startups on an innovation tour to Shenzhen China. The eleven participants introduce themselves and prepare for an incredible tour of Chinese factories, Maker Faire Shenzhen, the Huaqiangbei electronics markets and more. The group consists of tour leader Vela Georgiev, participants Andy Gelme, Brian Gilbert, Jon Oxer, Kemal Ajay, Liam Brennan, Noor Magesh, Sarah Last, Tom Partridge, Simon Holmes a Court and yours truly. Along the way, I interview Hacker and Activist Andrew "bunnie" Huang, Kevin Lau from Makernet China, Zack Shelby from micro:bit, Sherry Huss from Maker Media and a cast of amazing makers, hackers and entrepreneurs. In upcoming episodes, SOE will look at the Maker Movement as it pertains today, how China is actively creating its own intellectual property for the world market, AI and the future of manufacturing, modern day hackerspaces with SEEED's xFactory, incubators and accelerators like HAX and a whole lot more. There is a lot to talk about, show and tell. So stay tuned to an exciting series of episodes related to the innovation tour of Shenzhen.
Please subscribe and share to help grow this valuable community. Feel free to comment but keep it nice, fair and relevant. If you like this video please hit that like button to show your support. Thanks for watching and I look forward to sharing the next episode with you soon.The Rise of the Maker MovementState of Electronics2017-10-31 | In this episode, State of Electronics looks at the changes to hobby electronics and how that influences the broader view of the profession of electronic design and manufacture. The rise of hobby electronics through open source hardware like Arduino and other hardware such as the Raspberry Pi, leads to a significant shift in the development of individuals within the industry. The democratisation of hardware, service bureaus and crowd funding models creates an environment of hope, change and opportunity.
Please subscribe and contribute to this channel by hitting that like button..
In the next episode, we travel to Shenzhen China with a bunch of makers from Australia with the view of discovering how "makers" can leverage the current climate of "making" and manufacturing, to provide the world with innovative products and services. In addition to this, we visit Maker Faire Shenzhen and look at the culture of "Making Things" from a global perspective.Fun Way into ElectronicsState of Electronics2017-02-04 | In this episode, I investigate the Dick Smith "Fun Way Into Electronics" books & kits and their effect on hobbyists and student engineers. So many Australians in particularly got their start in electronics with these kits and books. This is a somewhat nostalgic look into the impact of the key players, authors and creators of the collection of books and kits with the aim in highlighting their importance overall. Educators of today should take note of the lessons learnt, experience gained from these efforts.
Today is a different world and the internet has largely taken over, however the fundamentals taught in the DSE books and kits are as relevant today as they have ever been.
A huge thank you to Dick Smith and his long serving friends and associates, who participated in the making of this episode.
This episode was made with the generous assistance of Alex Cochran of funwayelectronics.com who is bringing back the Fun Way Kits and owns the intellectual property of the Fun Way Kits and books. If you are interested in buying new versions of the DSE kits have a look at http://funwayelectronics.com for more information.
I would like to thank Andy Gelme and Hackmelbourne for helping out with this episode in organising so many contributions! Join http://www.hackmelbourne.org if your in the area!
The credits tell the true story of everyone who contributed their time and made the effort to make this episode possible - thank you to you all! Your generous time I'm sure will be appreciated by all.
State of Electronics is a personal effort on my part, to try to record and attribute the amazing story that is "technology" and your appreciation by liking, sharing and commenting in a positive manner is so greatly appreciated. If this is not the area of your interest don't worry, future episodes will almost certainly be so please support the channel anyway.
Thank you.Henry Sutton - The Innovative ManState of Electronics2016-07-19 | In this video, I would like to present Henry Sutton - an unrecognised inventor of an incredible assortment of things from the pre 1900 era. This special video is my effort to help get the story out there, for Lorayne Branch, author of the book "Henry Sutton, the Innovative Man". She needs your help to get the book published. Please support her via her Gofundme campaign here: gofundme.com/27w2b4k
or you can help her by donating to the following bank details:
Account Name: LORAYNE BRANCH Account Designator: ATF HENRY SUTTON BOOK PUBLISHING DONATION Account Type: WESTPAC Esaver Home Branch: WENDOUREE BSB: 033607 ACCOUNT No: 000569
In a future episode of State of Electronics, I am looking forward in sharing a great deal more about Henry Sutton and his incredibly inventive mind.
On discovering information about Henry Sutton, I was like many, overwhelmed with his apparent discoveries. After a great deal of research and one on one discussions with experts, I can say that he was a truly exceptional person.Helicopters & Rocket Planes Andrew TridgellState of Electronics2016-02-18 | Andrew Tridgell talks about his experience with the development of UAV's both fixed wing and rotary. Andrew is a computer programmer, who for his PhD thesis, co-developed rsync including the rsync algorithm, a highly efficient file transfer and synchronisation tool. He also was the original author of rzip, which uses a similar algorithm to rsync. He developed spamsum, based on locality-sensitive hashing algorithms as well as being the major developer of Samba. He is the author of KnightCap, a reinforcement/learning based chess engine. Recently Andrew has been contributing to the open source project "ArduPilot Mega", a UAV controller board. For more on Andrew, see his wikipedia entry here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Tridgell
In this video, given at Linux.con.au 2016 in Geelong, he shares his experience in collaborating with Canberra UAV (a hobby based UAV group) where he acts as their lead programmer, in developing new ideas and expertise with unmanned aerial aircraft. Flying a range of aircraft including petrol derivatives, high density electric, experimental VTOL/fixed wing combinations, rockets and helicopters, Andrew talks about their limiting features and their strengths in a fun and informative talk.
Feel free to comment, subscribe, like and share!
To learn more about linux.conf.au 2016 click here: https://linux.conf.au To see their videos on Youtube click here: youtube.com/user/linuxconfau2016ESP8266 by Angus GrattonState of Electronics2016-02-12 | In this video, recorded live at linux.conf.au2016 in Geelong, Angus Gratton explains his (and others) efforts in reverse engineering the ESP8266 module using Free and Open Source tools. His talk covers a brief history of the device, how it came to be and his own anecdotal views on where its all going. With the impending arrival of the ESP32, the ability to upload from the Arduino IDE, the arrival of several open source based frameworks to develop with, the future of the Espressif device is bright. Visit http://espressif.com/en/products/esp8266 for more info on the device.
Angus can be reached on the web here: http://redyak.com.au Superhouse TV - http://superhouse.tv
A huge thank you to Angus and the organises of the conference for allowing me to participate. Further videos from the conference can be viewed on their YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/linuxcon...
Feel free to like, subscribe and share below.Jon Oxer and his Pick & Place MachineState of Electronics2016-02-05 | If you are interested in building electronic "things", then this video might be of interest to you. What if you had to manufacture 50 PCB's using smt/smd devices by a certain date... You could build them by hand, outsource to China but the numbers are pretty low so not attractive to them and it's slow for you. What if you could make them yourself?? That's what Jon Oxer asked himself before deciding to build a "Pick and Place Machine" using open source software and some hardware.
This video was recorded at linux.conf.au 2016 (LCA2016) in Geelong Australia. Many thanks to the organises for allowing me to participate. This video is put up as is "for the record". A huge thank you to Jon Oxer for his support of this channel, me personally and for sharing of his invaluable knowledge.Christmas 2015 AnnouncementState of Electronics2015-12-16 | A Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year to all. This is a special announcement to explain why we will take a short break and return with more great content in the new year. Many thanks for your support so far and we look forward to continuing the discussion about all things electronic very soon!!!An Education in Technology?State of Electronics2015-12-09 | The previous episode is here: youtu.be/3ghw0UNWwaY In 2010, we asked our participants "Australians and other people from all over the world are super keen to get technology into their hands as soon as it is released, and yet, do they understand how it works? Do people understand technology? Can you even get an education in technology (circa 2010)? Are we heading towards a technological blackhole when it comes to the youth of today? With mass consumerism, complexity and integration as major factors, kids these days appear not to be interested in learning about "how things work" ... or are they? The rise of community run learning centres such as "Hackerspaces" have helped many people to get started in 'electronics' by helping them to build a robot, a 3D printer or other CNC machine. Many schools run activities programs that provide mechanisms for a motivated teacher to teach programming and electronic skills to primary and high school students. Despite this, many students never get to experience the thrill of wiring up a circuit, soldering and programming a robot or coding a game because its seen as too hard, too complex and "someone else does that for a living". With electronics so prevalent in our society, so pervasive in every part of human existence, why is it so few of us want to learn and understand it? Electronics is probably the most empowering innovation in human history allowing us to do incredible things in science, medicine, exploration, communications, transportation etc. The list is endless and without it, we would all be back to the victorian era, where life expectancy was shorter, work hours longer and the sharing of knowledge much slower.
As always please contribute to the ongoing conversation by adding your thoughts below. Please take the time to like, share and subscribe to this channel.
I wish to express my thanks to all those that participated in the making of this episode. Thank you for allowing the context of the times to be brought to light and to help visually showcase a very important step in our technological history.
In a future episode, we will look at the current state of education, the challenges facing educators in deciding what to teach, what to drop, in an effort to rationalise the fundamentals of technology.Complexity & IntegrationState of Electronics2015-12-02 | Last weeks episode is here: youtu.be/CLnolhyT5SI In this weeks episode, we ask, has complexity and integration made things harder for anyone interested in learning about electronics? As innovations in electronics leads to discrete components being integrated into miniaturised circuits (known as "Integrated Circuits"), the march of time sees whole IC's being integrated into even more specially miniaturised package, providing even greater functionality with less components. The advent of programmable calculator chips leads to the innovation of the microprocessor/ microcontroller, forming the basis of "software controlled" electronics as well as bringing about the personal computer (PC). As time continued, even the humble PC has been "component-ised" into a single module, which can now be found embedded in larger systems. The recent Raspberry Pizero is an example of this. The steady progression of innovation has perhaps taken away the "building blocks" that early hobbyists used to learn from and replaced them with much higher level components, which are arguably far more complex to understand but provides for an incredible opportunity to do so much more. So for the enthusiast today, how much do they need to understand about the fundamentals of electronics to even begin in the practice? Has complexity and integration left some from the old days behind? In the past, you could have an understanding about virtually anything in electronics (then known as radio) however today that would almost be impossible. Very early on, you need to specialise in a field of electronics/software engineering because technology today is just so vast and complex. So is this complexity another reason people would turn away from electronics as a vocation?
Now that we have established many of the current day obstacles facing hobbyists who want to pursue and practice electronics (in all its forms), next week we will look at the role of education in technology ... is there a problem with our schools and institutions in the way they teach technological subjects? Is electronics even taught at schools anymore?
Join in the conversation by commenting below and please share, like and subscribe. Your support is needed for this channel to survive. Thank you in advance for watching this weeks episode and I look forward in sharing more with you soon.The Decline of Hobby Electronics?State of Electronics2015-11-25 | Last weeks episode is here: youtu.be/hT0aG3SRpRY
In this weeks episode, we ask the question, has there been a decline in hobby electronics since the 1970's & 80's? For the participants, it was hard to differentiate between hobby & industrial electronics and the definition between the two practices is blurred. Keep in mind that most of these interviews took place from 2011 onwards so many opinions I'm sure will have changed over time. At the time, when asked why there was a decline many stated that it wasn't really a decline but rather a shift or change within the industry. Manufacturing of consumer goods in Australia has stopped, putting many suppliers of components out of business. Those that remain feel it's shrinking state, even today. They mention globalisation, the shift overseas for manufacturing, a change in technology that creates a divergence between the kinds of parts hobbyists use and that used by industry. Hobbyists still use the same kinds of parts used in TV's and other consumer goods of the 1970's while current industry has seen a massive shift towards miniaturisation and now use surface mounted parts almost exclusively. These "SMD's" are placed on boards by robots and are tough for human hands to use, let alone a complete beginner. Some participants say it is very important for hobbyists to learn how to solder SMD's and that in fact, with the right knowledge, it is very achievable. Many components today are only made in SMD form and either require the hobbyist to learn how to deal with them or rely on retailers to make "modules" which convert them into a standard through hole form, more easily used by hobbyists on breadboards.
However the perceived decline in electronics isn't just blamed on miniaturisation but also because of the advent of microcontrollers, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's), programmable logic devices (PLD’s), large scale integrated chips (LSI’s). These single chip devices do away with the need for many other components typically used in the 1970’s since they combine many of the traditional external components within the same die. Serial interfaces like UART, I2C and SPI as well as special functions like Memory, PWM and ADC’s are now often supplied in the one chip, making it possible to make a product with a huge amount of configurability and ability, with very few external parts. With limited “discrete” components required, component suppliers have felt the downturn in component demand. If the components were to “dry up” in Australia, the question is, would new people overcome all the hardship, slow delivery, high cost to even take up the practice of electronics as a hobby in the future? This is probably not unique to Australia and many people around the globe probably are in a very similar position. Please feel free to join the conversation and leave your comments below.
In next weeks episode, we pose a new question. Is Complexity and Integration a major barrier to entry into the art and science of electronics?
If you enjoyed this series so far, please consider subscribing. It greatly helps us to continue. Please also "Like" and spread the word by "Sharing" each episode via social media or just simply let others know about it. Until next week. Enjoy!The Changing Face of Hobby ElectronicsState of Electronics2015-11-18 | The previous episode is here: youtu.be/XUdN9soWHOQ In this weeks episode, the discussion continues with a look at the departure of Dick Smith from DSE and the ascent of Gary Johnston's Jaycar Electronics. We also discuss the new threat to local component suppliers, the internet. On the one hand the internet offers quick and free information but on the other, it may proliferate search results with questionable information. To the hobbyist, the internet offers cheap components from global suppliers to anywhere in Australia but may also herald the downfall of local brick and mortar stores.
Join the conversation and add your comments below.
For more on the contributors, see the links below: Jaycar Electronics: http://www.jaycar.com.au the EEVBlog: http://www.eevblog.com Rockby Electronics: https://www.rockby.com.au/Index2012.cfm Tronixlabs: http://tronixlabs.com Silicon Chip Magazine: http://www.siliconchip.com.au Freetronics: http://www.freetronics.com.au Talking Electronics: http://www.talkingelectronics.com Blackmagic Design: blackmagicdesign.com Resurrection Radio: http://resurrectionradio.com.auSOE - Melbourne Cup Announcement 2015State of Electronics2015-11-02 | A quick update from "State of Electronics" To see the "State of Electronics" playlist click here: youtube.com/watch?v=7Xu154715CE&list=PLIizEY7AraGytx9YRynoCqXuWcvvCjQbg We will be back next week (all things being well) with a new episode. This week was tough to organise extra footage, people and stock imagery due to the 4 day weekend here in Melbourne, Australia. As a result we put out this little announcement to explain our absence. This from Wikipedia:
"The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races."
In 1885, Australian Inventor Henry Sutton planned & possibly attempted to broadcast the Melbourne Cup from Melbourne to Ballarat (central Victoria Australia) using metal gas pipes as the signal carrier and the earth as return. The "camera" was based on a Selenium light detector and Nipkow disk, while the projector used a chamber filled with a gas that changed in density depending on the voltage applied across its terminals, to augment light projected through it.
https://federation.edu.au/about-us/our-university/history/geoffrey-blainey-research-centre/honour-roll/s/henry-suttonState of Electronics - The Dusty YearsState of Electronics2015-10-28 | The previous episode is here: youtube.com/watch?v=1EndAZ5DR8o In "State of Electronics" this week, we look at the early years of "Electronics Retailing". "The Dusty Years" is about the struggle for early hobbyists in the field of electronics, in sourcing components. It follows on from their initial steps in scavenging for parts at the Tip, council pickup days & donation of parts by looking at how new parts were sourced pre 1970. Early electronics stores were mostly over the counter experiences, served by "dusty" people and old school professionalism. To the young enthusiast, these early retail experiences were intimidating and inefficient but were quite literally their only choices. "If you couldn't find or swap, you had to go to the shop" says Ian O'Toole. While Disposal and Surplus stores fuelled some creative minds with opportunity, the overall retail experience was seen as pretty bleak prior to the 1970's. Mostly, the retailing of electronics after the second world war was based around Radio and then TV, and was geared towards the trade and not hobbyists. At the beginning of the 1970's however, a retail revolution was beginning to form in Australia, that made the careers of Dick Smith, Gary Johnston and others.
While this series is based in Australia, I believe much of the content is relevant to anyone. From comments left so far, via Twitter and Facebook, I am of the opinion that the experiences described here are universal and thus global.
State of Electronics is a series about technology. While based in Australia, the topics covered will appeal to anyone interested in technology. It will cover the history of electronics in all its "states" and will look at the past, present and future of the field.
Consider Subscribing to our channel if you would like us to post more episodes in the future. Your support is very much needed. Consider hitting the "Like" button as well. It tells us we are making content that you want to see and didn't just stumble across. Feel free to contribute by adding your comments. It is impossible to interview everyone however your voice can still be heard via the comment box below. Or if you have an opinion or experience you would like to share, the comment box is the best place for it.
For more about Silicon Chip Magazine (Australia's only hobbyist Electronics magazine) visit http://www.siliconchip.com.au
For more about Rockby Electronics (Based in Melbourne) visit: https://www.rockby.com.au
For more information on Jaycar visit: http://www.jaycar.com.auState of Electronics - Hunters & CollectorsState of Electronics2015-10-21 | The previous episode is here: youtube.com/watch?v=K44J6d6e9yk In this episode, we look at how people acquired components, to make electronic devices. Some people were loaned components (or old radios), while others had to "dumpster dive" or scavenge on the Tip, while yet others dragged Billy Carts along their streets, picking up discarded TV's, Radios and HiFi equipment for parts. In the past, Disposal Stores sold ex military equipment, which could be stripped for components, while Junk shops and Surplus stores sold off massive back catalogues of parts to anyone interested. While new parts were expensive, used ones were plentiful.
Please Like and Subscribe ... and for more information, visit www.stateofelectronics.comState of Electronics The Role of the Magazines part2State of Electronics2015-10-14 | Previous Episode is here: youtube.com/watch?v=vViU3DDy2dA In this weeks episode, we conclude "The Role of the Magazines" and look at how things are changing. The effect of the internet, alternative sources of information such as the "Hackerspaces" phenomena, online forums such as the EEVBlog and the importance of retaining Australia's only hobby electronics magazine "Silicon Chip" are all discussed.
You can help support Silicon Chip Magazine by visiting their website www.siliconchip.com.au and subscribing.
Please like, share and subscribe to this channel to help support it. You can visit our website at www.stateofelectronics.com
Thank youState of Electronics - The Role of the Magazines part1State of Electronics2015-10-08 | For the last episode in the series see: youtube.com/watch?v=oJziPSawlF8 In this weeks episode, we look at the role of the magazines. Magazines helped to bond the electronic community, by providing resources for people interested in learning electronics, uniting the industry leaders and provided a vehicle for those wishing to advertise products and services. Historically, magazines were critically important to those practicing the art of electronics and introduced technologies, construction methods and ideas to many. In Australia, the industry revolved around the magazines. There were many magazines including "Wireless Weekly", "Radio & Hobbies", "Radio, Hobbies and Television", "Electronics Australia", "Electronics Today International (ETI), "Talking Electronics", "Electronics Today" and quite a few amateur radio and international magazines.
Today there is just one magazine produced in Australia - Silicon Chip Magazine. In part 2, we look at the effects of the internet and the future of magazines.