Light bulbs based on light-emitting diodes are now universally available, and sales easily outstrip CFLs (compact fluorescent lights). They have virtually replaced halogen lights too, which are gradually being made obsolete. This article offers a few pointers about LED specs - specifically the use of Lumens to describe output in a user-friendly way.
Lumens vs. watts A post about 35mm slide viewers - including a terrible one to avoid at all costs, and some LED-powered ones that offer great results.
Here’s the latest in a long line of useless Business Directory listings that I've reported on in recent years. They mostly originate in Holland – this latest one purporting to be from ‘World Business List’. Apparently, updates are (still) free!
Updated on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 2:51PM by
Alan W
Updated on Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 12:40PM by
Alan W
Updated on Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 1:44PM by
Alan W
I’ve had a few requests asking for advice on replacing the OLED displays in a PURE Avanti Flow. I managed to fix a used, working Avanti Flow which needed a new display but the Avanti Flow is much trickier to repair than an Evoke Flow as it contains a sandwich deck of printed circuit boards inside, each connected by a spaghetti of ribbon cables all located in a restricted space. A full tear-down with photos is here.
Updated on Tuesday, September 24, 2019 at 6:05PM by
Alan W
Wo ist es? This online emporium run by Westfalia Werkzeugcompany GmbH was a goldmine of mostly German quality, hard to find tools, equipment and materials for the homeowner, DIY enthusiast, farmer and hobbyist. Not to be confused with Westfalia towbars, this Westfalia worktools company (“Qualität aus Hagen”) boasted 95+ years of service and had a UK mail order outlet at www.westfalia.net. Seems Westfalia have abandoned the UK market and retrenched to Germany.
Hobbyist electronics magazine Everyday Practical Electronics (EPE) has new owners. It's been taken over by Matt Pulzer, the current Editor who acquired the title from Mike Kenward and Wimborne Publishing Ltd. on 2nd November 2018. The title will now be published by Matt's new company, Electron Publishing Limited.
New title and magazine style coming in March 2019All the core features in the magazine will stay the same but readers can expect a 'refresh' and restyle and this has already started with some column artwork redesigns. The most important news is that, as from April 2019 issue (published in March), the title will revert to its original one of Practical Electronics. The 'Everyday' moniker (inherited from Everyday Electronics, a beginner's magazine) was past its sell-by date and no longer needed, so the original Everyday Electronics title will finally be laid to rest.
Stewart Kearn of Wimborne Publishing is helping with the transition over coming months, so it is hoped to be 'business as normal'. Further changes are in the air including the website and shopping cart, the latter never really having been polished off since it was introduced a couple of years ago.
Change is in the air, with the UK's last remaining hobby electronics magazine looking to appeal to the rising trends in the maker and coding sectors. Constructional projects will still be sourced from Australia's Silicon Chip magazine and there are no plans to move away from them. One benefit is that by the time they appear in EPE, the projects have been fully sorted and sometimes updated, so EPE readers benefit from SC's learning curve.
Interesting and exciting times are ahead, so watch this space for more news.
;)
This article is a tribute to Watford Electronics’ journey from its humble beginnings as a hobby electronics supplier to a major PC system builder and IT supplier in its time.
I retrace their origins and progress, helped by Google Street View, and there's also a download of the Watford 1978 catalogue available along with some contemporary advertisements from Watford, which became saverstore.com during its heyday. Read more...
Reflecting on the loss of Maplin, one of Britain’s last remaining hobby electronics brands and how hobby electronics has changed dramatically since the 1970s. This article documents Maplin Electronics' rise and fall and offers a snapshot of key events along its timeline along with some interesting links, for anyone interested in the hobby electronics industry. Or just for old times' sake.
Updated on Monday, February 26, 2018 at 2:48PM by
Alan W
Updated on Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 3:56PM by
Alan W
Updated on Monday, December 10, 2018 at 1:41PM by
Alan W
Updated on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 at 6:04PM by
Alan W
Updated on Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 12:38PM by
Alan W
Updated on Friday, March 6, 2020 at 12:18AM by
Alan W
If you own an old PURE Evoke Flow DAB/ Internet radio then it's likely the yellow OLED display will have failed by now. They have been impossible to find until now - at last I found a source of replacement displays so this article with step-by-step photos describes how to repair the OLED display of a PURE Evoke Flow.
Pure Evoke Flow OLED It has somehow slipped beneath the radar but the website of saverstore.com - the IT vendor that rose from the ashes of the old Watford Electronics - has disappeared altogether. Nowhere can I find any details about their downfall though.
The website is unreachable and at the time of writing, their .co.uk domain name has been suspended at Nominet too. The dot-com domain merely shows a private registration now.
Clearly a wheel has fallen off but it's very sad to see this particular brand name sink without trace. I used Watford Electronics some 40 years ago to supply parts for my Multi Channel gas Sensor and other magazine projects, when they ran a small shop on Cardiff Road, Watford.
The original Watford Electronics shop, 33/35 Cardiff Road.I believe that originally Watford Electronics was set up by Nazir Jessa and his son Shiraz ran it. The name 'Watford Electronics' is now a dormant company [resulting from changing the name of another associated company to Watford Electronics] controlled by Shiraz Jessa, maybe for sentimental reasons(?). Saverstore.com's address was Jessa House, Finway, Luton founded in the era when the home computer sector was thriving.
Several popular UK PC brand names eventually crashed and burned, including Tiny and Carrera and after diversifying into the IT sector Watford had its fair share of woes. Today's PC market bears no resemblance to the scene of the 1990s and 2000s. A useful write-up on The Register is here.
I won't rake over the ashes any longer but I wrote a piece about the original Watford Electronics shop, as it now appears on Google Street View, here.
I also scanned my catalogue rear cover (image, left), as a nod to those fun, exciting and pioneering days of 1970s hobby electronics that I grew up with, eagerly awaiting my next packet of parts arriving in the post, paid for out of my pocket money.
Alan W
It was known that Watford Electronics reinvented itself as Savastore (and then Saverstore), trading as an IT / PC vendor. This collapsed and was bought out by Globally Limited who in 2008 changed names to Online Distribution Limited.
On 17th May 2017 a winding up order was made against Online Distribution Limited, so unless it gets rescinded, that's the answer - they will have finally, and very sadly, bitten the dust.
Watford Electronics, saverstore.com 