Entries by Robert

Experiments with Qik

Qik is a little piece of software that enables you to stream videos directly from your phone to the Web. Use it to stream engaging videos to your friends in Facebook, Twitter, etc. or as your camcorder to capture entertaining and special moments.

With Qik you can stream engaging video live from your phone to the world or use your phone like a camcorder to capture entertaining, interesting and special moments. Go LIVE with your life by streaming anytime, anywhere—right from your phone. Be an eyewitness, capture those first steps, or whip up your own streaming video blog. There are just a million and one uses of Qik.

This is one of the coolest Web things I have played with in a long time. Let me know what you think.



... Robert

I can remember when I was 5 years old and had formulated a theory of how electric motors worked. I got as far as electricity, currents and forces but how the forces "knew" what to do was a mystery to me! So began a career in electronics. In the last 23 years I have been involved in product development, embedded software design, engineering management, technology and innovation management, marketing and business development.

In short it has to date been a rewarding and fascinating time. As a self confessed techie, I love being involved in the latest and most interesting innovations, especially those impacting our everyday lives

... Robert

Edithburgh Dive Weekend 17/18th June '06



















Edithburgh Dive Weekend 3rd September '05


















Jennifer & Myself Diving 'The Lumb', 5th June '05


















Andy & Myself Diving 'The John Robb', 4th June '05

















Whyalla Cuttlefish Weekend, 15th May '05

I have been a SCUBA diver for more than 18 years now and in that time have had the opportunity to dive extensively throughout South Australia. I've dived elsewhere and yes, tropical water is wonderful but my soft spot is for the dramatic offshore waters of Australia's Southern coast. It may be cold but the dramatic scale of walls, caves, ledges, kelp, dolphins, seals, reef fish, oceanic pelagics and the odd rather too large for comfort predator make for what South Australian diving stands for!!

My favorite dive location is Allthorpe Island off the coast of South Australia's York Peninsula. My favorite shore dive is Chinaman's Hat, again on South Australia's York Peninsula.

I wish I could say how many dives I have done but for 10 years I kept no record of my diving, an oversight I now regret, many hundreds I'd say at a pinch! I now teach others to dive and my enthusiasm for the salty realm is as strong as ever.

... Robert

I have been involved in this mad sport for nearly 20 years now and can be found at the bottom of the pool on a regular basis. We play weekly at the Adelaide Aquatics Centre with formally organised teams and games. After the game you will almost certainly find us continuing the proceedings at a nearby watering hole!

Underwater hockey is very similar to field hockey in the way it is played with 6 players in the game per side and 4 players as interchange. We use a puck which, although looks like an ice hockey puck, is made of plastic coated lead. The hockey stick is very short, about 20cm long and is held in one hand. The entire game is played at the bottom of the pool while holding your breath!

Underwater Hockey started in England in 1954, but it was not until 1984 that the first World Championships took place in Chicago , USA where Australia made a clean sweep in Men’s and Women’s winning in both team events. Australian Open UWH Championships were held in 1975. The Women’s UWH Titles commenced in 1981, with the Junior UWH Championships commencing in 1990.

... Robert

I could could tell you a bit about who I am but I'm afraid the story would be obsolete before you get to read it. So let me give you a little of who I am at the time of writing this text. I am having a rich and adventurous life, full of "life experiences" as they say and it is my intention to keep things that way!

I presently live in the quiet city of Adelaide in South Australia. Adelaide may be quiet to some but believe me, there is plenty here to keep anyone thoroughly engaged, enthralled and occupied! You might just have to put in a bit of effort to find it sometimes!

My most recent passion has become the pursuit of excellence in teaching scuba divers. For me it has been a wonderful experience in bringing the brand new uninitiated into a world I have had many privileged years to be part of. Such a stark contrast from my previous life in the world of electronics, technology and computing.

That all being said I am still a technologist at heart and keep my ears to the ground and my eyes out for the latest, the greatest and most fun new things to play with. Today's new ideas may seem like fun and folly for the early adopters but history has shown that the future depends on us. If it were not for our insatiable appetite for ever new and more complex things to fill our lives with then I'm sure we would all still be living in caves and wondering "is this all there is!!".

... Robert

Out there, to the west, silhouette by a shrouded sunset, four ships make their way south.

I have no idea what cargo they carry, the souls on board or the nations they herald from.

Life at sea is not as hard as it once was and a little part of me anchored to dry land wishes it were somewhere out on that horizon.


#semaphore #horizon #ships #aerial #sunset #goldenhour #southaustralia #ocean #seascape #silhouette

When it comes to creating a moody image you just can’t beat that time of the evening known as the ‘Golden Hour’. I should add that there’s Golden Hour in the morning as well that most often goes unnoticed.

As those last rays of sunlight are bent through out atmosphere they are stripped of violet, indigo, and blue and cast this beautiful golden hue on the world, creating a mood unlike any other time of the day.

It’s just after 7pm in the evening, the sun is setting on the Semaphore Palais and the world is bathed in gold.


#semaphore #palaishotel #semaphorepalais #aerial #sunset #goldenhour #southastraila #urbanlife

Crabs might not be the most exciting of critters unless you are a foody, a marine biologist or a scuba diver.

Most crabs are really quite cool and collected critters that just go about their business picking their way through aquatic carrion oblivious to everything going on around them. This makes them ideal subjects to just watch, observe and ponder.

Perhaps not exciting but certainly cool and I’ll always take the time to capture these critters.


#decoratorcrab #dof #thebarge #glenelg #nightdive #critters

It’s 8 kilometres off-shore and 60 feet below waves reflecting a midnight sky. Sleepy critters hang in the watery darkness tolerant to the terrestrial visitor in their midst.

I am on my own down here and my strobes have just failed, … again. It is a recurring problem I’ve not gotten to the bottom of yet (sorry for the pun). Still all is not lost.

By firing up my backup torch and stopping down to f/1.4 I am still able to capture this Southern Flathead resting on the deck.

At this aperture and behind a domed port not much is in focus except for that beautiful jewelled eye at the centre of the frame.


#Flathead #fish #dof #thebarge #glenelg #eye #jewel #nightdive

The Adelaide Fringe is over but the songs from Celtic Sounds still linger in my head.

Angela and Casey’s ‘Black is the Colour’ remains a daily ear-worm that often finds me softly
humming to myself in my day job.

And that’s absolutely fine by me.


#adlfringe2023 #performingarts #singing #song #dance #performance #violin #cetlticsounds #gluttony

Well the Adelaide Fringe has come to the end and what an amazing time we all had. Hundreds of performers shared their art with us and now all that remain are images and memories.

Watching this graffiti artist at work was like being at one of those Fringe shows. His art offered from nowhere, performed in the moment, and like the Fringe, soon gone. All that remains now is a clean brick wall, images and memories.


#arts #graffiti #paint #ironlak #adelaide #ephemeral

How hard can it be? Just play with the sliders until the performance sounds great. Easy, right?

Over the last month and a dozen shows I’ve developed a deep respect for the guy or girl driving the sound desk. Faced with changing shows every day and often several different shows in a single day the sound person has to deal with diverse instrumentation, vocal setups including microphones on stands and headset microphones and often difficult venue acoustics.

Complicate things further with fold-back placement and moving performers with unpredictable feedback risks and that sound engineer is not just technical resource but an active performer in the show.

Despite our strong visually oriented perception of performance it is sound that critically underpins a show. Bad sound distracts and makes us more critical of everything, amazing sound makes us forgiving of even the ugliest performance hiccups.

Dialling in the sound is hard and every sound girl or guy sitting behind those sliders is as much a performer as the artists on the stage and deserve all the credit they hardly ever get!


#performingarts #soundengineering #adlfringe2023 #gluttony #celticsounds #yamaha #yamahaql5 #mixingdesk

I am so proud to be part of ‘Celtic Sounds: Reimaginings’ Adelaide Fringe show this year.

Again, if you are a local and have not yet seen this show then please consider supporting us and coming along so see while you have a chance.


#Celticsounds #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #performingarts

Charmaine Jones and her GOSPO Collective are putting on this amazing show titled ‘Whitney’ at this year’s Adelaide Fringe, a tribute to Whitney Houston and a showcase of the incredible talent of the GOSPO performers.

We experienced the show last night and were blown away by one of the slickest and polished show of the Fringe.

Charmaine to her credit has choreographed and produced an extraordinary showcase of the talent of the GOSPO performers. I only wish there had been a little more Charmaine on here own bringing back the Whitney we all loved and miss.


#Whitneyhouston #CharmaineJones #GOSPOCollective #gospo #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #performingarts

Newry Gals

These young performers from the Newry Studio of Irish Dancing make a spectacular addition to the already wonderful performance of Celtic Sounds: Reimaginings at this year’s (2023) Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Not only do I leave after a performance singing in my head but dancing well into the evening and next day too!


#newrystudio #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #irishdancing #celticsounds #performingarts

‘The Choir of Man’ is a great show. The performers are talented, have amazing voices, stage presence and thoroughly entertained their enthusiastic audience.

Yes I enjoyed the show and of course it’s about men but I really missed the feminine balance. At times I found it just a little too ‘blokey’.

I soon got over my ‘blokey’ thing, let my feminine side fill in the gaps and settled back to enjoy the show for what it was, ‘The Choir of Man’.


#choirofman #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #thejungle #beer #pub #performingarts #blokes

Life on the Fringe

The western parklands are teaming with life; even more so during the Adelaide Fringe Festival.

Fruit bats in the sunset sky and possums in the dark of night share Gluttony and the Garden of Earthly Delights with a different kind of wildlife.

Happily they all habitat this space amid the music, the noise, the frivolity and the craic that is the Adelaide Fringe.


#possum #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #animals #wildlife

Tucked away in an out of the way corner of Gluttony is a little door into a the curious world of charismatic creatures, pretentious portents and enchanting entities.

I did not see her at first, this exotic mermaid reclining atop a vintage chaise longue. When I did she emerged fully formed in my mind the way a leafy seadragon emerges from its camouflage of weed and algae.

To my surprise I found her engrossed in a story written more than 200 year ago about a Swiss family bound for Australia only to be marooned on an uninhabited tropical island.

Do mermaids read Wyss? Well this exotic beauty seems as engrossed in the story of us as was Disney’s Little Mermaid with her Prince Eric. I hope she finds happiness in this curious and whimsical place.


#Mermaid #clubcurious #adlfringe #fringe2023 #gluttony #swissfamilyrobinson #JohannDavidWyss

I’ve been privileged this Adelaide Fringe season 2023 to be part of this wonderful group of performers and their show ‘Celtic Sounds: Reimaginings’.

Their talent, commitment and hard work leading up to these shows has been inspiring to witness and rewarding to be involved.

If you are a local and have not yet seen this show then please consider supporting us and coming along so see while you have a chance.

I promise, the music will continue in your head long after the show is over.


#Adelaide #fringe #fringe2023 #celticsounds #gluttony #ireland #dance #irishdance #celtic #performingarts #singing

One of southern Australia's most exotic fishes is the South Blue Devil. Even though they are quite common on along the greater Adelaide coastline I still experience great delight when ever I come across one on a dive.

Firstly let me say they are the grumpiest looking fish I know! Juxtaposed with that scowling face is the most amazing iridescent blue and flowing body. Combined it creates a uniqueness uncommon in fishes of South Australia.

Grumpy, gorgeous, exotic and local. I am happy to dive with these guys any time.


#bluedevil #southernbluedevil #paraplesiopsmeleagris #thebarge #night #scuba #diving #underwaterphotography #portrait #glenelg #southaustralia #fish

I grew up to the music of ‘The Police’ and later loved Sting’s solo work. In all the intervening years I’d never seen a live performance of either. This week I was stung at last and finally got to see Gordon Sumner, AKA ‘Sting’, live here in the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

Wow! Despite being 70 years old Sting sang with the power and tone of a self half his age. For nearly 2 hours he rocked us with his 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar, wowed us with his musicianship and gave his all to make it a special night for us all.


#Sting #performingarts #adelaide #entertainmentcentre #concert #livemusic #music

Recently I took a little detour on my way home from the ‘day job’. There are a few places I like to go at Outer Harbor giving access to some beautiful seascapes and at times breathtaking bird life.

On this moody evening the wildlife had made itself scarce, probably moving east to the protection of Torrens Island under the threat of a coming storm. There was drama unfolding in the western sky and that’s where I was drawn.

The sun remains hidden behind the brooding clouds, but there is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in.


#Ocean #seascape #sunrays #storm #clouds #aerial #outerharbor #blackandwhite #sunset #leonardcohen

Fiery sheets of rain fall in the western horizon but none of it reaches the water below while the ocean is calm even as storm clouds loom overhead.

I loved the incongruity of this scene tonight as people played and swam in the warm shallows while small boats lingered out at sea.

What a beautiful night to be out.


#Grange #beach #ocean #sunset #goldenhour #twilight #southaustralia #rain #storm #clouds

Eleven years ago today I originally shared this image, titled ‘The End of Time’.

Back then I did not write or share the story behind the image. I could not. Today I will tell its story.

Growing up this was our family clock which stood proud on the kitchen mantelpiece, struck its gong once on the half hour and rang the full count of hours on the hour. Once a week my dad would wind both springs and adjust the time. I do not recall it ever stopping in his healthy years.

The sound of that clock’s chime is one of my fondest memories of home.

In dad’s last bed ridden days we would visit regularly and I often found the clock had stopped. This both saddened me and made me angry. I would always leave with the clock wound, the time set right, and give an admonished plea to someone to please keep it running.

On this evening, eleven years ago and a day, I captured this image of our family clock as an idea about how little time we had left with dad and that it would soon be over.

He died peacefully the next day, eleven years ago today.

I miss you dad.


#dad #clocks #death #time #mechanicalclocks #memory

There was something lovely about today. The people I work and play with seemed happier and the day had a beautiful lightness about it.

Add to that a gorgeous balmy evening with my girl and nothing could have been lovelier.


#Red #rose #abstract #love #beauty

Watch a Common Gurnard Perch (Neosebastes scorpaenoides) for a while and at some stage it will sneeze a shower of debris. Watch it even longer and you just might see some poor critter vanish in a cloud of debris. The source of the sneeze now obvious.

Gesundheit!


#CommonGurnardPerch #Neosebastesscorpaenoides #gurnard #perch #fish #thebarge #night #scuba #diving #nightdive #southaustralia #glenelg #underwater #photography

This Mosaic Leatherjacket, (Eubalichthys mosaicus) on my ‘Barge’ night dive was another unwitting sleep swimming subject as torches and strobes brought light to the darkness.

The strange thing about lighting up the night time sea floor it that is seems to have minimal impact on the nocturnal state of its inhabitants. Daytime fishes keep on sleeping. Nighttime critters keep on foraging. It’s pretty much business as usual.

Still I can’t help wince that my strobes firing at point blank range don’t trigger some distress. Hopefully nothing that therapy cant
help with when me and my lights have gone.


#MosaicLeatherjacket #Eubalichthysmosaicus #leatherjacket #triggerfish #fish #thebarge #night #scuba #diving #nightdive #southaustralia #glenelg #underwater #photography

Nestled in a clump of rocky reef at 20m this Brownspotted Wrasse (Notolabrus parilus) is doing what all good wrasse do at eleven o’clock, sleeping.

Sleeping fish are an amusing part of night diving. They do not lay there with eyes closed but seem to be in some vacant trace staring out into the ocean. Some nestle under ledges or wedge themselves in crevices. Others lay flat against some vertical surface propped up by the sea floor or other structure. Inside of wrecks where there is no current some fish just simply hang in mid water; asleep.

You can come right up to them, fire strobes, pull faces and they will not budge. However just one touch and they instantly react, usually swimming strait into something else before they have regains their full faculties.

It was an amazing night out on the ocean last night. The sea was millpond calm, the stars were bright and the late rising moon just stunning over the water. The dive on ‘The Barge’ out from Glenelg was worth the late night effort.

At least some got some sleep last night but not me.


#BrownspottedWrasse #Notolabrusparilus #wrasse #fish #thebarge #night #scuba #diving #nightdive #southaustralia #glenelg #underwater #photography

If you have a taste in music that extends even a little beyond mainstream popular music and you have never heard of Jacob Collier then I suggest you explore his work and see where it takes you.

If you are a multi-instrumentalist with a passion for musical theory I might just continue this conversation to include words like ‘rocks’ and other ‘planets’.

Regardless, fire up YouTube or your favourite media platform and spend some time with Jacob and you might never listen to music in the same way ever again.


#2022 #adelaide #concert #djesse #Jacobcollier #jazz #musician #performingarts #thebartontheatre #harmony #jacob #collier #music #performer #prodigy