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211-467: Dick Smith Electronics Holdings Limited was an Australian chain of retail stores that sold consumer electronics goods, hobbyist electronic components, and electronic project kits. The chain expanded successfully into New Zealand and unsuccessfully into several other countries. The company was founded in Sydney in 1968 by Dick Smith and owned by him and his wife until they sold 60% to Woolworths in 1980, and

422-575: A Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) for as little as $ 10 with the purchase of a C64. This deal meant that the consumer could send the TS1000 to Commodore, collect the rebate, and pocket the difference; Timex Corporation departed the computer market within a year. Commodore's tactics soon led to a price war with the major home computer manufacturers. The success of the VIC-20 and C64 contributed significantly to Texas Instruments and other smaller competitors exiting

633-557: A minority government can be formed if support from other parties during confidence and supply votes is assured. The governor-general appoints ministers under advice from the prime minister, who is by convention the parliamentary leader of the governing party or coalition. Cabinet , formed by ministers and led by the prime minister, is the highest policy-making body in government and responsible for deciding significant government actions. Members of Cabinet make major decisions collectively and are therefore collectively responsible for

844-468: A protectionist and highly regulated economy to a liberalised free-trade economy. Unemployment peaked just above 10% in 1991 and 1992, following the 1987 share market crash , but eventually fell to 3.7% in 2007 (ranking third from twenty-seven comparable OECD nations). However, the global financial crisis that followed had a major effect on New Zealand, with the GDP shrinking for five consecutive quarters,

1055-551: A public company . At the time of the listing, the market capitalisation of the company was valued at A$ 520 million, less than two years after Anchorage had purchased the company for A$ 20 million. Anchorage initially retained 20% of the shares in the new company but had fully divested their holdings by September 2014. From 1 October 2013, Dick Smith took over the operation of the home entertainment department in 30 David Jones retail stores in Australia and online. The venture traded under

1266-552: A barge cloaked in white plastic sheeting and topped with firefighting foam , an April Fool's joke. The company profited from the CB radio boom of the 1970s and by the end of the decade had stores in all mainland states. Though many CB radio stores closed when interest waned at the end of the 1970s, Dick Smith Electronics thrived on exploding PC sales and its established electronic components and kit lines. To ensure almost every electronic enthusiast in Australia had one of his catalogues, it

1477-467: A car park in the Sydney suburb of Neutral Bay with a total capital of only AU$ 610 (equivalent to A$ 7500 in 2018). Initially, the business focused on installing and servicing car radios . In 1969, the business's success required it to move to bigger premises, first Atchison Street, St Leonards , later Carlotta Street, Artarmon with flagship store nearby, on the Pacific Highway , Gore Hill . When

1688-414: A compatible video game console , to run these programs today. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists . In 2011, 17 years after it was taken off the market, research showed that brand recognition for the model was still at 87%. In January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc., Commodore's integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated

1899-527: A consistent group that's not growing... it's going to shrink as part of our business." One computer gaming executive stated that the Nintendo Entertainment System 's enormous popularity – seven million sold in 1988, almost as many as the number of C64s sold in its first five years – had stopped the C64's growth. Trip Hawkins reinforced that sentiment, stating that Nintendo

2110-607: A custom chip for waveform generation, the C64 could create superior visuals and audio compared to systems without such custom hardware. The C64 dominated the low-end computer market (except in the UK, France and Japan, lasting only about six months in Japan ) for most of the later years of the 1980s. For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two million units sold per year, outselling IBM PC compatibles ,

2321-437: A disk drive, and using BASIC 2.0 simplified VIC-20 owners' transition to the 64. "The choice of BASIC 2.0 instead of 4.0 was made with some soul-searching, not just at random. The typical user of a C64 is not expected to need the direct disk commands as much as other extensions, and the amount of memory to be committed to BASIC were to be limited. We chose to leave expansion space for color and sound extensions instead of

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2532-500: A high level of innovation . Poverty in New Zealand is characterised by growing income inequality; wealth in New Zealand is highly concentrated , with the top 1% of the population owning 16% of the country's wealth, and the richest 5% owning 38%, leaving a stark contrast where half the population, including state beneficiaries and pensioners, receive less than $ 24,000. Moreover, child poverty in New Zealand has been identified by

2743-475: A keyboard, so any software that required a keyboard could not be used. In 1990, an advanced successor to the C64, the Commodore 65 (also known as the "C64DX"), was prototyped, but the project was canceled by Commodore's chairman Irving Gould in 1991. The C65's specifications were impressive for an 8-bit computer, bringing specs comparable to the 16-bit Apple IIGS . For example, it could display 256 colors on

2954-460: A lack of software; although most commercial CP/M software can run on these systems, software media is incompatible between platforms. The low usage of CP/M on Commodores means that software houses saw no need to invest in mastering versions for the Commodore disk format. The C64 CP/M cartridge is also not compatible with anything except the early 326298 motherboards. During the 1980s, the Commodore 64

3165-412: A large spike in 1984 when 2.6 million were sold. After that, sales held steady at between 1.3 and 1.6 million a year for the remainder of the decade and then dropped off after 1989. North American sales peaked between 1983 and 1985 and gradually tapered off afterward, while European sales remained quite strong into the early 1990s. Commodore itself reported a robust sales figure of over 800,000 units during

3376-469: A leftover feature of the unsuccessful MAX Machine. These cartridges map into $ F000 and displace the KERNAL ;ROM. If Ultimax mode is used, the programmer will have to provide code for handling system interrupts. The cartridge port has 16 address lines , which grants access to the computer's entire address space if needed. Disk and tape software normally load at the start of BASIC memory ($ 0801), and use

3587-637: A lower price and more flexible hardware, it quickly outsold many of its competitors. In the United States, the greatest competitors were the Atari 8-bit computers and the Apple II. The Atari 400 and 800 had been designed to accommodate previously stringent FCC emissions requirements and so were expensive to manufacture. Though similar in specifications, the C64 and Apple II represented differing design philosophies; as an open architecture system, upgrade capability for

3798-492: A mid-1984 conference of game developers and experts at Origins Game Fair , Dan Bunten , Sid Meier , and a representative of Avalon Hill said that they were developing games for the C64 first as the most promising market. By 1985, games were an estimated 60 to 70% of Commodore 64 software. Computer Gaming World stated in January 1985 that companies such as Epyx that survived the video game crash did so because they "jumped on

4009-419: A need Smith had felt. In those days, hobbyists could buy components only from larger wholesale companies better set up for dealing with commercial customers. After touring overseas electronic stores to study modern merchandising methods, Smith introduced self-serve shopping, a breakaway from the longstanding counter-sales setup found in component sales at the time, and produced an annual mail-order catalogue with

4220-549: A new production process, and a shortage of 1541 disk drives, which also suffered rather severe reliability issues. During 1983, however, a trickle of software turned into a flood and sales began rapidly climbing. Commodore sold the C64 not only through its network of authorized dealers but also through department stores, discount stores, toy stores and college bookstores. The C64 had a built-in RF modulator and thus could be plugged into any television set. This allowed it (like its predecessor,

4431-766: A party must win at least one electorate or 5% of the total party vote before it is eligible for a seat. Elections since the 1930s have been dominated by two political parties , National and Labour . More parties have been represented in Parliament since the introduction of MMP. New Zealand's judiciary , headed by the chief justice , includes the Supreme Court , Court of Appeal , the High Court , and subordinate courts. Judges and judicial officers are appointed non-politically and under strict rules regarding tenure to help maintain judicial independence . This theoretically allows

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4642-615: A project to design the graphic and audio chips for a next-generation video game console . Design work for the chips, named MOS Technology VIC-II (Video Integrated Circuit for graphics) and MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface Device for audio), was completed in November 1981. Commodore then began a game console project that would use the new chips—called the Ultimax or the MAX Machine , engineered by Yash Terakura from Commodore Japan. This project

4853-400: A series of conflicts between the colonial government and Māori tribes resulted in the alienation and confiscation of large amounts of Māori land. New Zealand became a dominion in 1907; it gained full statutory independence in 1947, retaining the monarch as head of state . Today, the majority of New Zealand's population of 5.25 million is of European descent ; the indigenous Māori are

5064-443: A series of television commercials after the C64's launch in late 1982. The company also published detailed documentation to help developers, while Atari initially kept technical information secret. Although many early C64 games were inferior Atari 8-bit ports , by late 1983, the growing installed base caused developers to create new software with better graphics and sound. Rumors spread in late 1983 that Commodore would discontinue

5275-609: A similar chain that at one time consisted of about 30 stores. In some cases, this meant that for a time two Dick Smith stores operated in the same suburb. In New Zealand, Dick Smith Electronics had over 75 locations. They included the "Powerhouse" stores, the first of which opened in Hamilton , followed by Manukau and Sylvia Park in Auckland , and Palmerston North . A third brand "Dick Smith Technology" store opened in Lower Hutt , following

5486-562: A similar trend to dairy, the number of vineyards doubling over the same period, overtaking wool exports for the first time in 2007. Commodore 64 The Commodore 64 , also known as the C64 , is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show , January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas ). It has been listed in

5697-513: A small BASIC stub (such as 10 SYS(2064) ) to jump to the start of the program. Although no Commodore 8-bit machine except the C128 can automatically boot from a floppy disk, some software intentionally overwrites certain BASIC vectors in the process of loading so execution begins automatically (instead of requiring the user to type RUN at the BASIC prompt after loading). About 300 cartridges were released for

5908-529: A substantial data section. The company promoted itself with wacky-style and Smith's own publicity stunts. For example, Smith claimed that he would tow an iceberg from Antarctica to Sydney Harbour , cut it up into small bits and sell it for 10 cents a cube. On the morning of 1 April 1978, it appeared as if he had succeeded as hundreds of phone calls reporting the iceberg began flooding into local newspapers and radio and television stations, most of which were from Dick Smith employees. The "iceberg" turned out to be

6119-474: A system lockup or other undesirable side effects if the restore key is accidentally pressed (which activates the NMI thread). The C64 retained the VIC-20's DE-9 Atari joystick port and added another; any Atari-specification game controller can be used on a C64. The joysticks are read from the registers at $ DC00 and $ DC01 , and most software is designed to use a joystick in port 2 for control rather than port 1;

6330-558: A trade which provided the basis for strong economic growth in New Zealand. High demand for agricultural products from the United Kingdom and the United States helped New Zealanders achieve higher living standards than both Australia and Western Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1973, New Zealand's export market was reduced when the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community and other compounding factors, such as

6541-551: A wider range of products than the smaller DSE stores, especially in the computing, audio-visual and amateur radio areas, and introduced Music to the range. Some installation services were also introduced as well as Computer repairs and upgrading. In 2002 and 2003, the Powerhouse concept changed to focus on a broader consumer market and less towards electronics enthusiasts. Component ranges shrank and general electronics books ceased to be stocked. The Yaesu amateur radio dealership

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6752-484: A yearly average of more than 2,000 hours of sunshine. The southern and southwestern parts of the South Island have a cooler and cloudier climate, with around 1,400–1,600 hours; the northern and northeastern parts of the South Island are the sunniest areas of the country and receive about 2,400–2,500 hours. The general snow season is early June until early October, though cold snaps can occur outside this season. Snowfall

6963-419: Is Club Caribe . First released as Habitat in 1988, Club Caribe was introduced by LucasArts for Q-Link customers on their Commodore 64 computers. Users could interact with one another, chat and exchange items. Although the game's open world was very basic, its use of online avatars and the combination of chat and graphics was revolutionary. Online graphics in the late 1980s were severely restricted by

7174-760: Is 20 KB of ROM, made up of the BASIC interpreter, the KERNAL , and the character ROM. Because the processor can only address 64 KB at a time, the ROM was mapped into memory and only 38 911  bytes of RAM (plus 4 KB between the ROMs) were available at startup. Most " breadbin " Commodore 64s used 4164 DRAM with eight chips totaling 64K of system RAM. Later models, featuring Assy 250466 and Assy 250469 motherboards , used 41464 DRAM (64K×4) chips which stored 32 KB per chip (so only two were required). Because 4164 DRAMs are 64K×1, eight chips are needed to make an entire byte;

7385-609: Is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy , although its constitution is not codified . Charles III is the King of New Zealand and thus the head of state . The king is represented by the governor-general , whom he appoints on the advice of the prime minister . The governor-general can exercise the Crown 's prerogative powers , such as reviewing cases of injustice and making appointments of ministers , ambassadors, and other key public officials, and in rare situations,

7596-704: Is a member of the United Nations , the Commonwealth of Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and participates in the Five Power Defence Arrangements . Today, New Zealand enjoys particularly close relations with the United States and is one of its major non-NATO allies , as well as with Australia , with a " Trans-Tasman " identity between citizens of

7807-473: Is also consistent with a much debated questionable third line of oral evidence, traditional genealogies ( whakapapa ) which point to around 1350 as a probable arrival date for many of the founding canoes ( waka ) from which many Māori trace their descent. Some Māori later migrated to the Chatham Islands where they developed their distinct Moriori culture. A later 1835 invasion by Māori resulted in

8018-564: Is classified as a non-self-governing territory , but is administered by a council of three elders (one from each Tokelauan atoll ). The Ross Dependency is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica , where it operates the Scott Base research facility. New Zealand nationality law treats all parts of the realm equally, so most people born in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and

8229-488: Is commercially available today and under active development. It features a full GUI in character mode, and many other modern features. A version of CP/M was released, but this requires the addition of an external Z80 processor to the expansion bus. Furthermore, the Z80 processor is underclocked to be compatible with the C64's memory bus, so performance is poor compared to other CP/M implementations. C64 CP/M and C128 CP/M both suffer

8440-869: Is common in the eastern and southern parts of the South Island and mountain areas across the country. New Zealand's geographic isolation for 80 million years and island biogeography has influenced evolution of the country's species of animals , fungi and plants . Physical isolation has caused biological isolation, resulting in a dynamic evolutionary ecology with examples of distinctive plants and animals as well as populations of widespread species. The flora and fauna of New Zealand were originally thought to have originated from New Zealand's fragmentation off from Gondwana, however more recent evidence postulates species resulted from dispersal. About 82% of New Zealand's indigenous vascular plants are endemic , covering 1,944 species across 65 genera . The number of fungi recorded from New Zealand, including lichen-forming species,

8651-459: Is equivalent to 15% of the population of New Zealand. New Zealand has a strong presence among the Pacific Island countries, and enjoys strong diplomatic relations with Samoa , Fiji , and Tonga , and among smaller nations. A large proportion of New Zealand's aid goes to these countries, and many Pacific people migrate to New Zealand for employment. The increase of this since the 1960s led to

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8862-453: Is exercised by the Government , led by the prime minister , currently Christopher Luxon . Charles III is the country's king and is represented by the governor-general , Cindy Kiro . In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes. The Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory );

9073-440: Is heavily dependent on international trade, particularly in agricultural products. Exports account for 24% of its output, making New Zealand vulnerable to international commodity prices and global economic slowdowns . Food products made up 55% of the value of all the country's exports in 2014; wood was the second largest earner (7%). New Zealand's main trading partners, as at June 2018 , are China ( NZ$ 27.8b), Australia ($ 26.2b),

9284-650: Is made up of two main islands and more than 700 smaller islands . The two main islands (the North Island , or Te Ika-a-Māui , and the South Island , or Te Waipounamu ) are separated by Cook Strait , 22 kilometres (14 mi) wide at its narrowest point. Besides the North and South Islands, the five largest inhabited islands are Stewart Island (across the Foveaux Strait ), Chatham Island , Great Barrier Island (in

9495-436: Is not known, nor is the proportion of those fungi which are endemic, but one estimate suggests there are about 2,300 species of lichen-forming fungi in New Zealand and 40% of these are endemic. The two main types of forest are those dominated by broadleaf trees with emergent podocarps , or by southern beech in cooler climates. The remaining vegetation types consist of grasslands, the majority of which are tussock . Before

9706-500: Is present. The second revision is found on all C64s made from late 1982 through 1985. The final KERNAL ROM revision was introduced on the 250466 motherboard (late breadbin models with 41464 RAM), and is found in all C64Cs. The 6510 CPU is clocked at 1.023 MHz (NTSC) and 0.985 MHz (PAL), lower than some competing systems; the Atari 800, for example, is clocked at 1.79 MHz ). Performance can be boosted slightly by disabling

9917-452: Is that, whether or not some settlers arrived before 1314, the main settlement period was in the subsequent decades, possibly involving a coordinated mass migration. It is also the broad consensus of historians that the Polynesian settlement of New Zealand was planned and deliberate. Over the centuries that followed, the settlers developed a distinct culture now known as Māori. This scenario

10128-509: Is to regulate "the natural environment with particular emphasis on resource management ", while territorial authorities are responsible for sewage, water, local roads, building consents, and other local matters. Five of the territorial councils are unitary authorities and also act as regional councils. The territorial authorities consist of 13 city councils, 53 district councils, and the Chatham Islands Council. While officially

10339-629: The 1973 oil and 1979 energy crises, led to a severe economic depression . Living standards in New Zealand fell behind those of Australia and Western Europe, and by 1982 New Zealand had the lowest per-capita income of all the developed nations surveyed by the World Bank . In the mid-1980s New Zealand deregulated its agricultural sector by phasing out subsidies over a three-year period. Since 1984, successive governments engaged in major macroeconomic restructuring (known first as Rogernomics and then Ruthanasia ), rapidly transforming New Zealand from

10550-827: The ANZAC tradition it shares with Australia. In addition to Vietnam and the two world wars, New Zealand fought in the Second Boer War , the Korean War , the Malayan Emergency , the Gulf War , and the Afghanistan War . It has contributed forces to several regional and global peacekeeping missions, such as those in Cyprus , Somalia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , the Sinai , Angola , Cambodia ,

10761-617: The Apple II , and Atari 8-bit computers . Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview, "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years." In the UK market, the C64 faced competition from the BBC Micro , the ZX Spectrum , and later the Amstrad CPC 464 , but the C64 was still the second-most-popular computer in

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10972-444: The Commodore 1702 monitor, providing even better video quality than a composite signal. Aggressive pricing of the C64 is considered to have been a major catalyst in the video game crash of 1983 . In January 1983, Commodore offered a $ 100 rebate in the United States on the purchase of a C64 to anyone that traded in another video game console or computer. To take advantage of this rebate, some mail-order dealers and retailers offered

11183-605: The Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); and the Ross Dependency , which is New Zealand's territorial claim in Antarctica . The first European visitor to New Zealand, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman , named the islands Staten Land , believing they were part of the Staten Landt that Jacob Le Maire had sighted off the southern end of South America. Hendrik Brouwer proved that

11394-671: The European Union ($ 22.9b), the United States ($ 17.6b), and Japan ($ 8.4b). On 7 April 2008, New Zealand and China signed the New Zealand–China Free Trade Agreement , the first such agreement China has signed with a developed country. In July 2023, New Zealand and the European Union entered into the EU–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement , which eliminated tariffs on several goods traded between

11605-692: The Gondwanan supercontinent. About 25 million years ago, a shift in plate tectonic movements began to contort and crumple the region. This is now most evident in the Southern Alps, formed by compression of the crust beside the Alpine Fault . Elsewhere, the plate boundary involves the subduction of one plate under the other, producing the Puysegur Trench to the south, the Hikurangi Trough east of

11816-605: The Great Depression . The depression led to the election of the first Labour Government and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state and a protectionist economy. New Zealand experienced increasing prosperity following the Second World War, and Māori began to leave their traditional rural life and move to the cities in search of work. A Māori protest movement developed, which criticised Eurocentrism and worked for greater recognition of Māori culture and of

12027-609: The Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 12.5 and 17 million units. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$ 595 (equivalent to $ 1,880 in 2023). Preceded by the VIC-20 and Commodore PET , the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes ) of RAM. With support for multicolor sprites and

12238-614: The Hauraki Gulf ), D'Urville Island (in the Marlborough Sounds ) and Waiheke Island (about 22 km (14 mi) from central Auckland). New Zealand is long and narrow—over 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) along its north-north-east axis with a maximum width of 400 kilometres (250 mi) —with about 15,000 km (9,300 mi) of coastline and a total land area of 268,000 square kilometres (103,500 sq mi). Because of its far-flung outlying islands and long coastline,

12449-568: The Iran–Iraq border, Bougainville , East Timor , and the Solomon Islands . New Zealand has an advanced market economy , ranked 13th in the 2021 Human Development Index , and fourth in the 2022 Index of Economic Freedom . It is a high-income economy with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$ 36,254. The currency is the New Zealand dollar , informally known as

12660-469: The KERNAL went from two separate chips into one 16 KB ROM chip. The PLA chip and some TTL chips were integrated into a DIL 64-pin chip. The "252535-01" PLA integrated the color RAM as well into the same chip. The smaller physical space made it impossible to put in some internal expansions like a floppy-speeder. In the United States, the 64C was often bundled with the third-party GEOS graphical user interface (GUI)-based operating system, as well as

12871-566: The Legislative Council , until this was abolished in 1950. The supremacy of parliament over the Crown and other government institutions was established in England by the Bill of Rights 1689 and has been ratified as law in New Zealand. The House of Representatives is democratically elected, and a government is formed from the party or coalition with the majority of seats. If no majority is formed,

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13082-472: The Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum . It enjoys particularly close relations with the United States and is one of its major non-NATO allies ; the United Kingdom; Samoa , Fiji , and Tonga ; and with Australia , with a shared Trans-Tasman identity between the two countries stemming from centuries of British colonisation. Nationally, legislative authority is vested in an elected, unicameral Parliament , while executive political power

13293-432: The Southern Alps , owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington , and its most populous city is Auckland . The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture . In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became

13504-452: The Statute of Westminster , confirming that the British Parliament could no longer legislate for the country without its consent. The British government's residual legislative powers were later removed by the Constitution Act 1986 , and final rights of appeal to British courts were abolished in 2003. Early in the 20th century , New Zealand was involved in world affairs, fighting in the First and Second World Wars and suffering through

13715-405: The Telnet protocol. There were major commercial online services , such as Compunet (UK), CompuServe (US – later bought by America Online ), The Source (US), and Minitel (France) among many others. These services usually required custom software which was often bundled with a modem and included free online time as they were billed by the minute. Quantum Link (or Q-Link)

13926-435: The United Kingdom and negotiate a treaty with the Māori. The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in the Bay of Islands on 6 February 1840. In response to the New Zealand Company's attempts to establish an independent settlement in Wellington , Hobson declared British sovereignty over all of New Zealand on 21 May 1840, even though copies of the treaty were still circulating throughout the country for Māori to sign. With

14137-457: The United States Department of State noted that the New Zealand government generally respected the rights of individuals, but voiced concerns regarding the social status of the Māori population. In terms of structural discrimination , the New Zealand Human Rights Commission has asserted that there is strong, consistent evidence that it is a real and ongoing socioeconomic issue. One example of structural inequality in New Zealand can be seen in

14348-402: The VIC-20 and Commodore 64 . In 1981, the Super-80 kit computer was developed as a joint venture between the company and Electronics Australia magazine. The company expanded its product range, especially during the 1970s and 1980s, and stocked items such as the Heathkit electronic kits, satellite TV receiving stations, Beeple pagers and The Dick Smith Wizzard computer game. The company

14559-401: The West Coast of the South Island to semi-arid in Central Otago and the Mackenzie Basin of inland Canterbury and subtropical in Northland . Of the seven largest cities, Christchurch is the driest, receiving on average only 618 millimetres (24.3 in) of rain per year and Wellington the wettest, receiving almost twice that amount. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all receive

14770-424: The caldera of one of the world's most active supervolcanoes . New Zealand is prone to earthquakes . The country owes its varied topography, and perhaps even its emergence above the waves, to the dynamic boundary it straddles between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates . New Zealand is part of Zealandia , a microcontinent nearly half the size of Australia that gradually submerged after breaking away from

14981-430: The reserve powers (e.g. the power to dissolve Parliament or refuse the royal assent of a bill into law). The powers of the monarch and the governor-general are limited by constitutional constraints, and they cannot normally be exercised without the advice of ministers. The New Zealand Parliament holds legislative power and consists of the king and the House of Representatives . It also included an upper house,

15192-544: The seven-continent model. New Zealand's climate is predominantly temperate maritime ( Köppen : Cfb), with mean annual temperatures ranging from 10 °C (50 °F) in the south to 16 °C (61 °F) in the north. Historical maxima and minima are 42.4 °C (108.32 °F) in Rangiora , Canterbury and −25.6 °C (−14.08 °F) in Ranfurly , Otago . Conditions vary sharply across regions from extremely wet on

15403-552: The "Kiwi dollar"; it also circulates in the Cook Islands (see Cook Islands dollar ), Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands . Historically, extractive industries have contributed strongly to New Zealand's economy, focusing at different times on sealing, whaling, flax , gold, kauri gum , and native timber. The first shipment of refrigerated meat on the Dunedin in 1882 led to the establishment of meat and dairy exports to Britain,

15614-437: The 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy , followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture ; international tourism is also a significant source of revenue. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations , Commonwealth of Nations , ANZUS , UKUSA , Five Eyes , OECD , ASEAN Plus Six , Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ,

15825-622: The 1991 fiscal year, but sales during the 1993 fiscal year had declined to fewer than 200,000 units. Throughout the early 1990s, European sales had accounted for more than 80% of Commodore's total sales revenue. In 1982, Commodore released the MAX Machine in Japan . It was called the Ultimax in the United States and VC-10 in Germany. The MAX was intended to be a game console with limited computing capability and

16036-938: The 2024 Global Peace Index , New Zealand is the 4th most peaceful country in the world. New Zealand's military services—the New Zealand Defence Force —comprise the New Zealand Army , the Royal New Zealand Air Force , and the Royal New Zealand Navy . New Zealand's national defence needs are modest since a direct attack is unlikely. However, its military has had a global presence . The country fought in both world wars, with notable campaigns in Gallipoli , Crete , El Alamein , and Cassino . The Gallipoli campaign played an important part in fostering New Zealand's national identity and strengthened

16247-556: The 40-pin IC package. These are used for two purposes in the C64: to bank-switch the machine's read-only memory (ROM) in and out of the processor's address space, and to operate the datasette tape recorder. The C64 has 64 KB of 8-bit-wide dynamic RAM , 1 KB of 4-bit-wide static color RAM for text mode, and 38 KB are available to built-in Commodore BASIC 2.0 on startup. There

16458-553: The 64C computer, which is functionally identical to the original. The exterior design was remodeled in the sleeker style of the Commodore 128 . The 64C uses new versions of the SID, VIC-II, and I/O chips being deployed. Models with the C64E board had the graphic symbols printed on the top of the keys, instead of the normal location on the front. The sound chip (SID) was changed to use the MOS 8580 chip, with

16669-475: The 64C, a redesigned 64, which Compute! saw as evidence that—contrary to C64 owners' fears that the company would abandon them in favor of the Amiga and 128—"the 64 refuses to die". Its introduction also meant that Commodore raised the price of the C64 for the first time, which the magazine cited as the end of the home-computer price war . Software sales also remained strong; MicroProse , for example, in 1987 cited

16880-415: The Apple II was granted by internal expansion slots, whereas the C64's comparatively closed architecture had only a single external ROM cartridge port for bus expansion. However, the Apple II used its expansion slots for interfacing with common peripherals like disk drives, printers, and modems; the C64 had a variety of ports integrated into its motherboard, which were used for these purposes, usually leaving

17091-564: The Apple II+ (upgraded within months of C64's release to 64 KB with the Apple IIe) and 48 KB for the Atari 800. At upwards of $ 1,200 , the Apple ;II was about twice as expensive, while the Atari 800 cost $ 899. One key to the C64's success was Commodore's aggressive marketing tactics, and they were quick to exploit the relative price/performance divisions between its competitors with

17302-439: The Atari or Apple, like the ability to change color of the character basis across the screen. That gave us a lot of color capability that had not been exploited. With sales booming and the early reliability issues with the hardware addressed, software for the C64 began to grow in size and ambition during 1984. This growth shifted to the primary focus of most US game developers. The two holdouts were Sierra , who largely skipped over

17513-418: The C128 would be 100% compatible with the C64, thereby raising the bar for C64 support. In a case of malicious compliance , the 128 design was altered to include a separate "64 mode" using a complete C64 environment to try to ensure total compatibility. The C64's designers intended the computer to have a new, wedge-shaped case within a year of release, but the change did not occur. In 1986, Commodore released

17724-472: The C64 because "it will sell the most on that system". In Europe, the primary competitors to the C64 were British-built computers: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum , the BBC Micro , and the Amstrad CPC 464 . In the UK, the 48K Spectrum had not only been released a few months ahead of the C64's early 1983 debut, but it was also selling for £175, less than half the C64's £399 price. The Spectrum quickly became

17935-459: The C64 in favor of Apple and PC-compatible machines, and Broderbund , who were heavily invested in educational software and developed primarily around the Apple II. In the North American market, the disk format had become nearly universal while cassette and cartridge-based software all but disappeared. Most US-developed games by this point grew large enough to require multi-loading from disk. At

18146-629: The C64 include Pascal , C , Logo , Forth , and FORTRAN . Compilers for BASIC 2.0 such as Petspeed 2 (from Commodore), Blitz (from Jason Ranheim), and Turbo Lightning (from Ocean Software ) were produced. Most commercial C64 software was written in assembly language, either cross-developed on a larger computer, or directly on the C64 using a machine code monitor or an assembler. This maximized speed and minimized memory use. Some games, particularly adventures, used high-level scripting languages and sometimes mixed BASIC and machine language. Many third-party operating systems have been developed for

18357-533: The C64's 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 -year production. Claims of sales of 17, 22 and 30 million of C64 units sold worldwide have been made. Company sales records, however, indicate that the total number was about 12.5 million. Based on that figure, the Commodore 64 was still the third most popular computing platform into the 21st century until 2017 when the Raspberry Pi family replaced it. While 360,000 C64s were sold in 1982, about 1.3 million were sold in 1983, followed by

18568-450: The C64's price was $ 149 ; with an estimated production cost of $ 35–50 , its profitability was still within the industry-standard markup of two to three times. Commodore sold about one million C64s in 1985 and a total of 3.5 million by mid-1986. Although the company reportedly attempted to discontinue the C64 more than once in favor of more expensive computers such as the Commodore 128 , demand remained strong. In 1986, Commodore introduced

18779-479: The C64, but it was the only non-discontinued, widely available home computer in the US by then, with more than 500,000 sold during the Christmas season; because of production problems in Atari's supply chain, by the start of 1984 "the Commodore 64 largely has [the low-end] market to itself right now", The Washington Post reported. Some of the graphics modes on the 64 are really strange, and they have no analogs to

18990-453: The C64, avoiding the Plus/4's flaws. The successors had many improvements such as a BASIC with graphics and sound commands (like almost all home computers not made by Commodore ), 80-column display ability, and full CP/M compatibility. The decision to make the Commodore 128 plug compatible with the C64 was made quietly by Bowen and Herd, software and hardware designers respectively, without

19201-488: The C64, most arcade conversions were produced by UK developers and converted to NTSC and disk format for the US market, American developers instead focusing on more computer-centered game genres such as RPGs and simulations. In the European market, disk software was rarer and cassettes were the most common distribution method; this led to a higher prevalence of arcade titles and smaller, lower-budget games that could fit entirely in

19412-400: The C64, primarily during the machine's first 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years on the market, after which most software outgrew the 16 KB cartridge limit. Larger software companies, such as Ocean Software , began releasing games on bank-switched cartridges to overcome the 16 KB cartridge limit during the C64's final years. Commodore did not include a reset button on its computers until

19623-509: The C64. As well as the original GEOS , two third-party GEOS-compatible systems have been written: Wheels and GEOS megapatch. Both of these require hardware upgrades to the original C64. Several other operating systems are or have been available, including WiNGS OS, the Unix-like LUnix, operated from a command-line, and the embedded systems OS Contiki , with full GUI. Other less well-known OSes include ACE, Asterix, DOS/65, and GeckOS . C64 OS

19834-551: The CBM-II line, but third-party cartridges had a reset button. A soft reset can be triggered by jumping to the CPU reset routine at $ FCE2 (64738). A few programs use this as an exit feature, although it does not clear memory. The KERNAL ROM underwent three revisions, mainly designed to fix bugs. The initial version is only found on 326298 motherboards (used in the first production models), and cannot detect whether an NTSC or PAL VIC-II

20045-522: The CPU. Because doing so necessitates swapping out the I/O registers, interrupts must first be disabled. By removing I/O from the memory map, $ D000 – $ DFFF becomes free RAM. C64 cartridges map into assigned ranges in the CPU's address space. The most common cartridge auto-starting requires a string at $ 8000 which contains " CBM80 " followed by the address where program execution begins. A few C64 cartridges released in 1982 use Ultimax mode (or MAX mode),

20256-663: The Chatham Islands Council is not a unitary authority, it undertakes many functions of a regional council. The Realm of New Zealand, one of 15 Commonwealth realms , is the entire area over which the king or queen of New Zealand is sovereign and comprises New Zealand, Tokelau , the Ross Dependency , the Cook Islands , and Niue . The Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand. The New Zealand Parliament cannot pass legislation for these countries, but with their consent can act on behalf of them in foreign affairs and defence. Tokelau

20467-626: The Commodore and IBM PC markets as its top priorities. By 1988, PC compatibles were the largest and fastest-growing home and entertainment software markets, displacing former leader Commodore. Commodore 64 software sales were almost unchanged in the third quarter of 1988 year over year while the overall market grew 42%, but the company was still selling 1 to 1.5 million units worldwide each year of what Computer Chronicles that year called "the Model T of personal computers". Epyx CEO Dave Morse cautioned that "there are no new 64 buyers, or very few. It's

20678-580: The Commodore bandwagon early". Over 35% of SSI 's 1986 sales were for the C64, ten points higher than for the Apple II. The C64 was even more important for other companies, which often found that more than half the sales for a title ported to six platforms came from the C64 version. That year, Computer Gaming World published a survey of ten game publishers that found that they planned to release forty-three Commodore 64 games that year, compared to nineteen for Atari and forty-eight for Apple II, and Alan Miller stated that Accolade developed first for

20889-545: The Dick Smith brand, trademarks, intellectual property, and its online business in Australia and New Zealand for an undisclosed price. The Dick Smith brand has been transitioned to an online-only store selling a wide variety of consumer items. The last physical retail stores closed on 3 May 2016. On 25 July 2016 Dick Smith Electronics' creditors placed what was then left of the company in liquidation . Creditors were expected to lose up to A$ 260 million. Though not connected with

21100-477: The Government as a major societal issue; the country has 12.0% of children living in low-income households that had less than 50% of the median equivalised disposable household income as of June 2022 . Poverty has a disproportionately high effect in ethnic-minority households, with a quarter (23.3%) of Māori children and almost a third (28.6%) of Pacific Islander children living in poverty as of 2020 . New Zealand

21311-549: The January 1982 Consumer Electronics Show , as recalled by Production Engineer David A. Ziembicki: "All we saw at our booth were Atari people with their mouths dropping open, saying, 'How can you do that for $ 595? ' " The answer was vertical integration ; due to Commodore's ownership of MOS Technology's semiconductor fabrication facilities, each C64 had an estimated production cost of US$ 135 (equivalent to $ 350 in 2022). In July 1983, BYTE magazine stated that "the 64 retails for $ 595 . At that price it promises to be one of

21522-456: The MMP system, each person has two votes; one is for a candidate standing in the voter's electorate , and the other is for a party. Based on the 2018 census data, there are 72 electorates (which include seven Māori electorates in which only Māori can optionally vote), and the remaining 48 of the 120 seats are assigned so that representation in Parliament reflects the party vote, with the threshold that

21733-601: The Māori of later years. According to an early European synthesized interpretation of various Māori traditional accounts, around 750 CE the heroic explorer, Kupe , had discovered New Zealand and later, around 1350, one great fleet of settlers set out from Hawaiki in eastern Polynesia. However, from the late 20th century, this story has been increasingly relegated to the realm of legend and myth. An alternative view has emerged from fresh archaeological and scientific evidence, which correlates with doubts raised by historians everywhere as to

21944-535: The NES. Because of lower incomes and the domination of the ZX Spectrum in the UK, almost all British C64 software used cassette tapes. Few cassette C64 programs were released in the US after 1983 and, in North America, the diskette was the principal method of software distribution. The cartridge slot on the C64 was also mainly a feature used in the computer's first two years on the US market and became rapidly obsolete once

22155-431: The NMI and exits. Run/stop-restore is normally a soft reset in BASIC which restores all I/O registers to their power-on default state, but does not clear memory or reset pointers; any BASIC programs in memory will be left untouched. Machine-language software usually disables run/stop-restore by remapping the NMI vector to a dummy RTI instruction. The NMI can also be used for an extra interrupt thread by programs, but risks

22366-765: The North Island and South Island had never been formalised, and names and alternative names were formalised in 2013. This set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui , and South Island or Te Waipounamu . For each island, either its English or Māori name can be used, or both can be used together. Similarly the Māori and English names for the whole country are sometimes used together ( Aotearoa New Zealand ); however, this has no official recognition. The first people to reach New Zealand were Polynesians in ocean going waka (canoes). Their arrival likely occurred in several waves, approximately between 1280 and 1350 CE. Those Polynesian settlers, isolated in New Zealand, became

22577-584: The North Island, and the Kermadec and Tonga Trenches further north. New Zealand, together with Australia, is part of a wider region known as Australasia . It also forms the southwestern extremity of the geographic and ethnographic region called Polynesia . Oceania is a wider region encompassing the Australian continent , New Zealand, and various island countries in the Pacific Ocean that are not included in

22788-600: The North Island, saw thousands of imperial troops and the Royal Navy come to New Zealand and became known as the New Zealand Wars . Following these armed conflicts, large areas of Māori land were confiscated by the government to meet settler demands. The colony gained a representative government in 1852 , and the first Parliament met in 1854. In 1856 the colony effectively became self-governing, gaining responsibility over all domestic matters (except native policy, which

22999-595: The PET over the standard C64's separate components, which could be easily damaged, vandalized, or stolen. Schools did not prefer the Educator 64 to the wide range of software and hardware options the Apple ;IIe was able to offer, and it was produced in limited quantities. Also in 1983, Commodore released the SX-64 , a portable version of the C64. The SX-64 has the distinction of being

23210-623: The Ross Dependency are New Zealand citizens. During the period of the New Zealand colony, Britain was responsible for external trade and foreign relations. The 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should be allowed to negotiate its own political treaties , and the first commercial treaty was ratified in 1928 with Japan. On 3 September 1939, New Zealand allied itself with Britain and declared war on Germany with Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage proclaiming, "Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand". In 1951,

23421-658: The South American land was a small island in 1643, and Dutch cartographers subsequently renamed Tasman's discovery Nova Zeelandia from Latin , after the Dutch province of Zeeland . This name was later anglicised to New Zealand . This was written as Nu Tireni in the Māori language (spelled Nu Tirani in Te Tiriti o Waitangi). In 1834 a document written in Māori and entitled " He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni "

23632-751: The T20 Big Bash League cricket, a number of tennis tournaments including the Hopman Cup , World Tennis Challenge , Brisbane International and the Sydney International . The company was a sponsor of the National Rugby League nine-a-side tournament, the Auckland Nines and of the AFL club Richmond from 2008 until the end of 2011. New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in

23843-471: The Tarawera eruption except for three of a decade or so earlier. Radiocarbon dating and pollen evidence of widespread forest fires shortly before the eruption might also indicate a pre-eruption human presence. Additionally, mitochondrial DNA variability within the Māori populations suggest that Eastern Polynesians first settled the New Zealand archipelago between 1250 and 1300, Therefore, current opinion

24054-486: The Techxperts" branding. In March 2009, Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe confirmed the end of Powerhouse as a separate entity, also adding that the company's third consumer electronics brand Tandy would be gradually phased out over the next three years as the stores' leases ended. This phase left "Dick Smith" as the sole brand in the parent company's consumer electronics division. The mail-order catalogue so central to

24265-466: The Treaty of Waitangi. In 1975, a Waitangi Tribunal was set up to investigate alleged breaches of the Treaty, and it was enabled to investigate historic grievances in 1985. The government has negotiated settlements of these grievances with many iwi, although Māori claims to the foreshore and seabed proved controversial in the 2000s. New Zealand is located near the centre of the water hemisphere and

24476-744: The UK after the ZX Spectrum. The Commodore 64 failed to make any impact in Japan, as their market was dominated by Japanese computers, such as the NEC PC-8801 , Sharp X1 , Fujitsu FM-7 and MSX , and in France, where the ZX Spectrum, Thomson MO5 and TO7 , and Amstrad CPC 464 dominated the market. Part of the Commodore 64's success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs , including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology . In

24687-642: The United Kingdom became increasingly focused on its European interests, while New Zealand joined Australia and the United States in the ANZUS security treaty. The influence of the United States on New Zealand weakened following protests over the Vietnam War , the refusal of the United States to admonish France after the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior , disagreements over environmental and agricultural trade issues, and New Zealand's nuclear-free policy . Despite

24898-467: The United States's suspension of ANZUS obligations, the treaty remained in effect between New Zealand and Australia, whose foreign policy has followed a similar historical trend. Close political contact is maintained between the two countries, with free trade agreements and travel arrangements that allow citizens to visit, live and work in both countries without restrictions. In 2013 there were about 650,000 New Zealand citizens living in Australia, which

25109-527: The United States, it has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have been made for the Commodore ;64, including development tools, office productivity applications, and video games . C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or

25320-655: The VIC-20) to compete directly against video game consoles such as the Atari 2600 . Like the Apple IIe, the C64 could also output a composite video signal, avoiding the RF modulator altogether. This allowed the C64 to be plugged into a specialized monitor for a sharper picture. Unlike the IIe, the C64's NTSC output capability also included separate luminance/chroma signal output equivalent to (and electrically compatible with) S-Video , for connection to

25531-505: The VIC-II's video output via a register write. This feature is often used by tape and disk fast loaders and the KERNAL cassette routine to keep a standard CPU cycle timing not modified by the VIC-II's sharing of the bus. The restore key is gated directly to the CPU's NMI line, and will generate an NMI if pressed. The KERNAL handler for the NMI checks if run/stop is also pressed; if not, it ignores

25742-511: The VIC-II) and Charles Winterble (manager of MOS Technology), they proposed to Commodore CEO Jack Tramiel a low-cost sequel to the VIC-20. Tramiel dictated that the machine should have 64 KB of random-access memory (RAM). Although 64- Kbit dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips cost over US$ 100 (equivalent to $ 283.29 in 2023) at the time, he knew that 64K DRAM prices were falling and would drop to an acceptable level before full production

25953-438: The arrival of humans, an estimated 80% of the land was covered in forest, with only high alpine , wet, infertile and volcanic areas without trees. Massive deforestation occurred after humans arrived, with around half the forest cover lost to fire after Polynesian settlement. Much of the remaining forest fell after European settlement, being logged or cleared to make room for pastoral farming, leaving forest occupying only 23% of

26164-422: The banner "David Jones Electronics Powered by Dick Smith" and promoted televisions, computers, tablets, home office, audio-visual and other digital products, with employees and inventory transferred over to Dick Smith. By the second half of 2014, sales were running at A$ 1.4 billion per annum. Prior to bankruptcy, management used fraudulent accounting methods to acquire A$ 124.89 million in loans falsely alleging it

26375-413: The branding "Dick Smith Technology". The store's design and product range was completely reworked incorporating a more modern feel while removing all electrical componentry and much of its tools. These products were replaced with a larger range of Windows computers, gaming, televisions and Mac computers, much of which had previously been only sold in Powerhouse stores. Following further strategic review,

26586-404: The canoe of Aoraki ' ) for the South Island . Early European maps labelled the islands North (North Island), Middle (South Island), and South ( Stewart Island / Rakiura ). In 1830, mapmakers began to use "North" and "South" on their maps to distinguish the two largest islands, and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of

26797-509: The cartridge port free. Commodore's was not a completely closed system, however, the company had published detailed specifications for most of their models since the Commodore PET and VIC-20 days, and the C64 was no exception. C64 sales were nonetheless relatively slow due to a lack of software, reliability issues with early production models, particularly high failure rates of the PLA chip , which used

27008-420: The category of home computers under $ 500 . Despite criticizing its "slow disk drive, only two cursor directional keys, zero manufacturer support, non-standard interfaces, etc.", the magazine said that at the C64's price of less than $ 200 "you can't get another system with the same features: 64K, color, sprite graphics, and barrels of available software". The Tandy Color Computer was the runner up. The Apple II

27219-654: The company decided to push forward with the new concept under the reworked "Dick Smith – Talk to the Techxperts" branding, merging all existing Dick Smith Electronics and Powerhouse stores under the same banner. In late 2008 the new Dick Smith logo and format was rolled out with many Powerhouse stores such as Macquarie Centre and Auburn being rebranded to fit the new unified company logo. "Large Format Stores" opened in Chadstone Shopping Centre and Bendigo , Marion , Perth , Innaloo , Rockingham , Hobart and Stockland Rockhampton under new "Dick Smith – Talk to

27430-461: The company establish "Dick Smith Powerhouse" super-stores across the east coast of Australia . The first Powerhouse store was opened in Bankstown in 1996. These were several times bigger than regular stores at approximately 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) and contained departments for the main product categories and supermarket-style checkouts. The "Powerhouses", as they were known, carried

27641-608: The company for 34 years, its founder Dick Smith expressed dismay at the closure and put it down to the "utter greed of modern capitalism". DSE's first foray offshore was the establishment Dick Smith Electronics (HK) Limited in Hong Kong in 1978. It operated a small buying office and one retail store, at two locations in Ashley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui , Hong Kong. The store targeted tourists generally and Australians, in particular, looking for tax-free DSE products. An international edition of

27852-448: The company's board but receivers Ferrier Hodgson were appointed by the creditors. CEO Nick Abboud stepped down on 12 January. Having failed to secure a buyer for the stores, receivers Ferrier Hodgson announced, on 25 February 2016, that all 363 DSE stores in Australia and New Zealand would be closed, with the loss of 2,460 jobs. On 15 March 2016 it was revealed that Kogan.com , the online retailer founded by Ruslan Kogan , had acquired

28063-617: The company's success from the early days was last published in 2009, giving way to the online sales platform. On 31 January 2012, after nearly 30 years of ownership, Woolworths announced that after the results of a strategic review and a $ 300 million restructuring, it would close up to 100 Dick Smith stores and sell the business. The company was sold to Anchorage Capital Partners in September 2012, for an initial cash payment of A$ 20 million and ultimate total price of some $ 115 million. It has been argued that Anchorage only put up $ 10 million in cash,

28274-403: The computer will not function without all of them present. The first chip contains Bit 0 for the memory space, the second chip contains Bit 1, and so forth. The C64 performs a RAM test on power-up and if a RAM error is detected, the amount of free BASIC memory will be lower than the normal 38,911. If the faulty chip is in lower memory, then an ?OUT OF MEMORY IN 0 error is displayed rather than

28485-445: The computer's memory without requiring multiloads. European programmers also tended to exploit advanced features of the C64's hardware more than their US counterparts. The Commodore 64 Light Fantastic pack was release in time for the 1989 Christmas holiday season. The package included a C64C, a Cheetah Defender 64 Light gun and 3D-glasses. This pack included several games compatible with the light gun, including some developed purely for

28696-474: The consequences of these decisions. The 42nd and current prime minister, since 27 November 2023, is Christopher Luxon . A parliamentary general election must be called no later than three years after the previous election. Almost all general elections between 1853 and 1993 were held under the first-past-the-post voting system. Since the 1996 election , a form of proportional representation called mixed-member proportional (MMP) has been used. Under

28907-419: The core voltage reduced from 12V to 9V. The most significant changes include different behavior in the filters and in the volume control, which result in some music/sound effects sounding differently than intended, and in digitally-sampled audio being almost inaudible, respectively (though both of these can mostly be corrected-for in software). The 64 KB RAM memory went from eight chips to two chips. BASIC and

29118-519: The cost of producing the disk drive. In March 1994, at CeBIT in Hanover , Germany , Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995, noting that the Commodore 1541 cost more than the C64 itself. However, only one month later in April 1994, the company filed for bankruptcy . When Commodore went bankrupt, all production on their inventory, including the C64, was discontinued, thus ending

29329-516: The country has extensive marine resources. Its exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the world, covering more than 15 times its land area. The South Island is the largest landmass of New Zealand. It is divided along its length by the Southern Alps . There are 18 peaks over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft), the highest of which is Aoraki / Mount Cook at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft). Fiordland 's steep mountains and deep fiords record

29540-497: The criminal justice system. According to the Ministry of Justice , Māori are overrepresented, comprising 45% of New Zealanders convicted of crimes and 53% of those imprisoned, while only being 16.5% of the population. The early European settlers divided New Zealand into provinces , which had a degree of autonomy. Because of financial pressures and the desire to consolidate railways, education, land sales, and other policies, government

29751-581: The disk features. As a result, you will have to handle the disk in the more cumbersome manner of the 'old days'." The version of Microsoft BASIC is not very comprehensive and does not include specific commands for sound or graphics manipulation, instead requiring users to use the " PEEK and POKE " commands to access the graphics and sound chip registers directly. To provide extended commands, including graphics and sound, Commodore produced two different cartridge-based extensions to BASIC 2.0: Simons' BASIC and Super Expander 64 . Other languages available for

29962-446: The earlier CBM/PET systems and the Atari 400 and Atari 800. This means that no memory space is dedicated to running a disk operating system , as was the case with earlier systems such as the Apple II and TRS-80 . Commodore BASIC 2.0 is used instead of the more advanced BASIC 4.0 from the PET series, since C64 users were not expected to need the disk-oriented enhancements of BASIC 4.0. The company did not expect many to buy

30173-686: The early 19th century, Christian missionaries began to settle New Zealand, eventually converting most of the Māori population. The Māori population declined to around 40% of its pre-contact level during the 19th century; introduced diseases were the major factor. The British Government appointed James Busby as British Resident to New Zealand in 1832. His duties, given to him by Governor Bourke in Sydney, were to protect settlers and traders "of good standing", prevent "outrages" against Māori, and apprehend escaped convicts. In 1835, following an announcement of impending French settlement by Charles de Thierry ,

30384-470: The entire electronics business landscape was remodelled by the Whitlam government's across-the-board 25% tariff cut in 1973, for the loss of 138,000 manufacturing jobs, Smith moved with the market and met the competition with a re-emphasis on imported electronic components and finished products. Alongside the car radio business, he opened "Dick Smith Wholesale". The business catered to electronics hobbyists, meeting

30595-405: The extensive ice age glaciation of this southwestern corner of the South Island. The North Island is less mountainous but is marked by volcanism . The highly active Taupō Volcanic Zone has formed a large volcanic plateau , punctuated by the North Island's highest mountain, Mount Ruapehu (2,797 metres (9,177 ft)). The plateau also hosts the country's largest lake, Lake Taupō , nestled in

30806-407: The field. The price war with Texas Instruments was seen as a personal battle for Commodore president Jack Tramiel. Commodore dropped the C64's list price by $ 200 within two months of its release. In June 1983 the company lowered the price to $ 300 (equivalent to $ 900 in 2023), and some stores sold the computer for $ 199 . At one point, the company was selling as many C64s as all computers sold by

31017-684: The first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1769 the British explorer Captain James Cook became the first European to set foot on and map New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi which paved the way for Britain's declaration of sovereignty later that year and the establishment of the Crown Colony of New Zealand in 1841. Subsequently,

31228-455: The first commercial full-color portable computer . While earlier computers using this form factor only incorporate monochrome ("green screen") displays, the base SX-64 unit features a 5 in (130 mm) color cathode-ray tube (CRT) and one integrated 1541 floppy disk drive. Even though Commodore claimed in advertisements that it would have dual 1541 drives, when the SX-64 was released there

31439-456: The flagship catalogue was published in support of the operation. In the face of fierce competition from established local retailers and disappointing sales, the business closed in June 1980. Dick Smith Electronics registered for business in New Zealand in 1981 and is believed to have opened a store the same year. In 1992, the company acquired and rebranded the retail business of David Reid Electronics,

31650-417: The formation of the Pasifika New Zealander pan-ethnic group, the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country. Permanent migration is regulated under the 1970 Samoan Quota Scheme and the 2002 Pacific Access Category, which allow up to 1,100 Samoan nationals and up to 750 other Pacific Islanders respectively to become permanent New Zealand residents each year. A seasonal workers scheme for temporary migration

31861-482: The hottest contenders in the under- $ 1,000 personal computer market." It described the SID as "a true music synthesizer ... the quality of the sound has to be heard to be believed", while criticizing the use of Commodore BASIC 2.0, the floppy disk performance which is "even slower than the Atari 810 drive", and Commodore's quality control. BYTE gave more details, saying the C64 had "inadequate Commodore BASIC 2.0. An 8K-byte interpreted BASIC" which they assumed

32072-518: The islands are uninhabited except for about six people at Raoul Island station. These islands put the northern border of New Zealand at 29 degrees South latitude. After the 1982 UNCLOS , the islands contributed significantly to New Zealand's exclusive economic zone . In 1891, the Liberal Party came to power as the first organised political party. The Liberal Government , led by Richard Seddon for most of its period in office, passed many important social and economic measures. In 1893, New Zealand

32283-436: The judiciary to interpret the law based solely on the legislation enacted by Parliament without other influences on their decisions. New Zealand is identified as one of the world's most stable and well-governed states. As of 2017, the country was ranked fourth in the strength of its democratic institutions, and first in government transparency and lack of corruption . LGBT rights in the nation are also recognised as among

32494-405: The knowledge or approval by the management in the post Jack Tramiel era. The designers were careful not to reveal their decision until the project was too far along to be challenged or changed and still make the impending Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Upon learning that the C128 was designed to be compatible with the C64, Commodore's marketing department independently announced that

32705-511: The land in 1997. The forests were dominated by birds , and the lack of mammalian predators led to some like the kiwi , kākāpō , weka and takahē evolving flightlessness . The arrival of humans, associated changes to habitat, and the introduction of rats , ferrets and other mammals led to the extinction of many bird species, including large birds like the moa and Haast's eagle . Other indigenous animals are represented by reptiles ( tuatara , skinks and geckos ), frogs , such as

32916-403: The largest minority, followed by Asians and Pasifika . Reflecting this, New Zealand's culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening of culture arising from increased immigration to the country . The official languages are English, Māori , and New Zealand Sign Language , with the local dialect of English being dominant. A developed country , it

33127-412: The late-70s. Many DSE-brand products were re-branded versions of the same or similar products sold in parallel by their manufacturers. Dick Smith Electronics own-brand System 80 computer, which was a clone of the Tandy TRS-80 Model I , led a highly successful line, including the Dick Smith Cat (an Apple II clone), the VZ-200 and VZ-300 . The company also sold brand name personal computers such as

33338-424: The latter being common. New Zealand is a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement, known formally as the UKUSA Agreement . The five members of this agreement compromise the core Anglosphere : Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Since 2012, New Zealand has had a partnership arrangement with NATO under the Partnership Interoperability Initiative. According to

33549-456: The long white cloud') is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the whole country before the arrival of Europeans; Aotearoa originally referred to just the North Island . Māori had several traditional names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui ( ' the fish of Māui ' ) for the North Island and Te Waipounamu ( ' the waters of greenstone ' ) or Te Waka o Aoraki ( '

33760-421: The longest recession in over thirty years, and unemployment rising back to 7% in late 2009. The lowest unemployment rate recorded using the current methodology was in December 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic , at 3.2%. Unemployment rates for different age groups follow similar trends but are consistently higher among youth. During the September 2021 quarter, the general unemployment rate was around 3.2%, while

33971-406: The market leader and Commodore had an uphill struggle against it in the marketplace. The C64 did however go on to rival the Spectrum in popularity in the latter half of the 1980s. Adjusted to the population size, the popularity of Commodore 64 was the highest in Finland at roughly 3 units per 100 inhabitants, where it was subsequently marketed as "the Computer of the Republic". By early 1985

34182-400: The massacre and virtual extinction of the Moriori. In a hostile 1642 encounter between Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri and Dutch explorer Abel Tasman 's crew, four of Tasman's crew members were killed, and at least one Māori was hit by canister shot . Europeans did not revisit New Zealand until 1769, when British explorer James Cook mapped almost the entire coastline. Following Cook, New Zealand

34393-431: The most tolerant in Oceania . New Zealand ranks highly for civic participation in the political process, with 82% voter turnout during recent general elections, compared to an OECD average of 69%. However, this is untrue for local council elections; a historically low 36% of eligible New Zealanders voted in the 2022 local elections , compared with an already low 42% turnout in 2019 . A 2017 human rights report by

34604-462: The nebulous United Tribes of New Zealand sent a Declaration of Independence to King William IV of the United Kingdom asking for protection. Ongoing unrest, the proposed settlement of New Zealand by the New Zealand Company (which had already sent its first ship of surveyors to buy land from Māori) and the dubious legal standing of the Declaration of Independence prompted the Colonial Office to send Captain William Hobson to claim sovereignty for

34815-467: The need to support modem data transfer rates as low as 300 bits per second . Habitat's graphics were stored locally on floppy disk, eliminating the need for network transfer. The C64 uses an 8-bit MOS Technology 6510 microprocessor that is almost identical to the 6502 but has three-state buses , a different pinout , slightly different clock signals and other minor changes for this application. It also has six I/O lines on otherwise-unused legs on

35026-429: The new computer; the latter set a final deadline for the first weekend of January, to coincide with the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The product was code named the VIC-40 as the successor to the popular VIC-20 . The team that constructed it consisted of Yash Terakura, Shiraz Shivji , Bob Russell, Bob Yannes, and David A. Ziembicki. The design, prototypes, and some sample software were finished in time for

35237-475: The number of dairy cows doubling between 1990 and 2007, to become New Zealand's largest export earner. In the year to June 2018, dairy products accounted for 17.7% ($ 14.1 billion) of total exports, and the country's largest company, Fonterra , controls almost one-third of the international dairy trade. Other exports in 2017–18 were meat (8.8%), wood and wood products (6.2%), fruit (3.6%), machinery (2.2%) and wine (2.1%). New Zealand's wine industry has followed

35448-434: The packs release (Mindscape.) In the United States, demand for 8-bit computers all but ceased as the 1990s began and PC compatibles completely dominated the computer market. However, the C64 continued to be popular in the UK and other European countries. The machine's eventual demise was not due to lack of demand or the cost of the C64 itself (still profitable at a retail price point between £44 and £50), but rather because of

35659-612: The popular Apple II . The C64 is often credited with starting the demoscene subculture (see Commodore 64 demos ). It is still being actively used in the demoscene, especially for music (its SID sound chip even being used in special sound cards for PCs, and the Elektron SidStation synthesizer). Even though other computers quickly caught up with it, the C64 remained a strong competitor to the later video game consoles Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Master System , thanks in part to its by-then established software base, especially outside North America, where it comprehensively outsold

35870-447: The price and reliability of 1541 drives improved. A handful of PAL region games used bank switched cartridges to get around the 16 KB memory limit. As is common for home computers of the early 1980s, the C64 comes with a BASIC interpreter, in ROM. KERNAL, I/O, and tape/disk drive operations are accessed via custom BASIC language commands. The disk drive has its own interfacing microprocessor and ROM (firmware) I/O routines, much like

36081-442: The protected endangered Hamilton's Frog , spiders , insects ( wētā ), and snails. Some, such as the tuatara, are so unique that they have been called living fossils . Three species of bats ( one since extinct) were the only sign of native land mammals in New Zealand until the 2006 discovery of bones from a unique, mouse-sized land mammal at least 16 million years old. Marine mammals, however, are abundant, with almost half

36292-448: The reliability of interpretations drawn from the oral evidence of indigenous peoples, including from Māori. Regarding the arrival of these Polynesian settlers, there are no human remains, artefacts or structures which are confidently dated to earlier than the Kaharoa Tephra, a layer of volcanic debris deposited by the Mount Tarawera eruption around 1314 CE. Samples of rat bone, rat-gnawed shells and seed cases have given dates later than

36503-413: The remainder of the funds being sourced from the business itself through liquidation of inventory, plant and equipment, and taking provision for future onerous lease payments, a process described as "the greatest private equity heist of all time". In November 2012, Nick Abboud was appointed CEO . In December 2013, Dick Smith was floated by Anchorage on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), becoming

36714-428: The remaining 40% two years later. In 2012, Dick Smith had 263 stores around Australia. It also had 62 stores around New Zealand, including 20 in Auckland. The company closed all of its stores in 2016, four years after its acquisition by Anchorage Capital Partners, though the Dick Smith brand name continues as an online brand operated by Kogan.com . The business started in 1968 in a small $ 15-rent-per-week premises in

36925-407: The rest of the industry combined. Meanwhile, TI lost money by selling the TI-99/4A for $ 99 . TI's subsequent demise in the home computer industry in October 1983 was seen as revenge for TI's tactics in the electronic calculator market in the mid-1970s, when Commodore was almost bankrupted by TI. All four machines had similar memory configurations which were standard in 1982–83: 48 KB for

37136-400: The same Powerhouse product range. Its e-commerce website had been using a search engine by SLI Systems that learns from what the users search for. The Powerhouse brand was discontinued in 2009. From 1980, DSE operated a small number of stores in the United States, in Northern California and Los Angeles , but had closed by the end of the decade. DSE sponsored the Melbourne Stars in

37347-437: The screen, while OCS based Amigas could only display 64 in HalfBrite mode (32 colors and half-bright transformations). Although no specific reason was given for the C65's cancellation, it would have competed in the marketplace with Commodore's lower-end Amigas and the Commodore CDTV . In 1982, the C64's graphics and sound capabilities were rivaled only by the Atari 8-bit computers and appeared exceptional when compared with

37558-434: The show, after the team had worked tirelessly over both Thanksgiving and Christmas weekends. The machine used the same case, same-sized motherboard, and same Commodore BASIC 2.0 in ROM as the VIC-20. BASIC also served as the user interface shell and was available immediately on startup at the READY prompt. When the product was to be presented, the VIC-40 product was renamed C64. The C64 made an impressive debut at

37769-480: The signing of the treaty and declaration of sovereignty, the number of immigrants, particularly from the United Kingdom, began to increase. New Zealand was administered as a dependency of the Colony of New South Wales until becoming a separate Crown colony , the Colony of New Zealand , on 3 May 1841. Armed conflict began between the colonial government and Māori in 1843 with the Wairau Affray over land and disagreements over sovereignty. These conflicts, mainly in

37980-420: The software needed to access Quantum Link . The 1541 drive received a matching face-lift, resulting in the 1541C. Later, a smaller, sleeker 1541-II model was introduced, along with the 800 KB 3.5-inch microfloppy 1581 . In 1990, the C64 was repackaged in the form of a game console, called the C64 Games System (C64GS), with most external connectivity removed. A simple modification to the 64C's motherboard

38191-422: The southwestern Pacific Ocean . It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island ( Te Ika-a-Māui ) and the South Island ( Te Waipounamu )—and over 700 smaller islands . It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia , Fiji , and Tonga . The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including

38402-400: The system ROMs and the I/O area at $ D000 . If the KERNAL ROM is swapped out, BASIC will be removed at the same time. BASIC is not active without the KERNAL; BASIC often calls KERNAL routines, and part of the ROM code for BASIC is in the KERNAL ROM. The character ROM is normally invisible to the CPU. The character ROM may be mapped into $ D000 – $ DFFF , where it is then visible to

38613-467: The total workforce in 2016. In 2017, international visitor arrivals were expected to increase at a rate of 5.4% annually up to 2022. Wool was New Zealand's major agricultural export during the late 19th century. Even as late as the 1960s it made up over a third of all export revenues, but since then its price has steadily dropped relative to other commodities, and wool is no longer profitable for many farmers. In contrast, dairy farming increased, with

38824-486: The two regions. This free trade agreement expanded on the pre-existing free trade agreement and saw a reduction in tariffs on meat and dairy in response to feedback from the affected industries. The service sector is the largest sector in the economy, followed by manufacturing and construction and then farming and raw material extraction. Tourism plays a significant role in the economy, contributing $ 12.9 billion (or 5.6%) to New Zealand's total GDP and supporting 7.5% of

39035-481: The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 was 9.2%. New Zealand has experienced a series of " brain drains " since the 1970s that still continue today. Nearly one-quarter of highly skilled workers live overseas, mostly in Australia and Britain, which is the largest proportion from any developed nation. In recent decades, however, a " brain gain " has brought in educated professionals from Europe and less developed countries. Today New Zealand's economy benefits from

39246-441: The upper bits of $ DC00 are used by the keyboard, and an I/O conflict can result. Although it is possible to use Sega gamepads on a C64, it is not recommended; their slightly different signal can damage the CIA chip. The SID chip 's register $ D419 , used to control paddles, is an analog input. A handful of games, primarily released early in the computer's life cycle, can use paddles. In 1986, Commodore released two mice for

39457-403: The usual BASIC startup banner. The C64 uses a complicated memory-banking scheme; the normal power-on default is the BASIC ROM mapped in at $ A000 - $ BFFF , and the screen editor (KERNAL) ROM at $ E000 – $ FFFF . RAM under the system ROMs can be written to, but not read back, without swapping out the ROMs. Memory location $ 01 contains a register with control bits for enabling or disabling

39668-847: The world's cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises ) and large numbers of fur seals reported in New Zealand waters. Many seabirds breed in New Zealand, a third of them unique to the country. More penguin species are found in New Zealand than in any other country, with 13 of the world's 18 penguin species. Since human arrival, almost half of the country's vertebrate species have become extinct, including at least fifty-one birds, three frogs, three lizards, one freshwater fish, and one bat. Others are endangered or have had their range severely reduced. However, New Zealand conservationists have pioneered several methods to help threatened wildlife recover, including island sanctuaries, pest control, wildlife translocation, fostering, and ecological restoration of islands and other protected areas . New Zealand

39879-400: Was "the last hurrah of the 8-bit world". SSI exited the Commodore 64 market in 1991, after most competitors. Ultima VI , released in 1991, was the last major C64 game release from a North American developer, and The Simpsons , published by Ultra Games , was the last arcade conversion. The latter was a somewhat uncommon example of a US-developed arcade port as after the early years of

40090-569: Was a US and Canadian online service for Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers that operated from November 5, 1985, to November 1, 1994. It was operated by Quantum Computer Services of Vienna , Virginia, which in October 1991 changed its name to America Online and continued to operate its AOL service for the IBM PC compatible and Apple Macintosh . Q-Link was a modified version of the PlayNET system, which Control Video Corporation (CVC, later renamed Quantum Computer Services) licensed. The first graphical character-based interactive environment

40301-515: Was accused of failing to act, and chose not to publish their post mortem investigations. On 4 January 2016, with the value of shares in Dick Smith Holdings having fallen by more than 80% since they were listed on the ASX in December 2013, a halt in trading was requested. The following day, Dick Smith Holdings Limited (and associated entities) was placed into administration by its major creditors National Australia Bank (NAB) and HSBC Bank Australia . McGrathNicol were appointed as administrators by

40512-521: Was an early seller of telephone equipment including answering machines , cordless and novelty phones. In 1980, the company had grown to 20 stores and the founder and his wife sold 60% of the company's shares to large general retailer Woolworths . The Smiths sold the balance of the company's capital to Woolworths in 1982, the total transfer price coming to A$ 25million. The company continued to add to its network of small "main street" stores in suburbs and regional cities across Australia. The late 1990s saw

40723-403: Was based on a cut-down version of the hardware family later used in the C64. The MAX was discontinued months after its introduction because of poor sales in Japan. 1983 saw Commodore attempt to compete with the Apple II 's hold on the US education market with the Educator 64 , essentially a C64 and "green" monochrome monitor in a PET case. Schools preferred the all-in-one metal construction of

40934-409: Was because "Obviously, Commodore feels that most home users will be running prepackaged software - there is no provision for using graphics (or sound as mentioned above) from within a BASIC program except by means of POKE commands." This was one of very few warnings about C64 BASIC published in any computer magazines. Creative Computing said in December 1984 that the C64 was "the overwhelming winner" in

41145-569: Was centralised and the provinces were abolished in 1876. The provinces are remembered in regional public holidays and sporting rivalries. Since 1876, various councils have administered local areas under legislation determined by the central government. In 1989, the government reorganised local government into the current two-tier structure of regional councils and territorial authorities . The 249 municipalities that existed in 1975 have now been consolidated into 67 territorial authorities and 11 regional councils. The regional councils' role

41356-416: Was eventually cancelled after just a few machines were manufactured for the Japanese market. At the same time, Robert "Bob" Russell (system programmer and architect on the VIC-20 ) and Robert "Bob" Yannes (engineer of the SID) were critical of the current product line-up at Commodore, which was a continuation of the Commodore PET line aimed at business users. With the support of Al Charpentier (engineer of

41567-472: Was granted in the mid-1860s). Following concerns that the South Island might form a separate colony, premier Alfred Domett moved a resolution to transfer the capital from Auckland to a locality near Cook Strait . Wellington was chosen for its central location, with Parliament officially sitting there for the first time in 1865. In 1886, New Zealand annexed the volcanic Kermadec Islands , about 1,000 km (620 mi) northeast of Auckland. Since 1937,

41778-408: Was included free in the popular electronics magazines Electronics Australia and Electronics Today International . The catalogues included ever-increasing amounts of data on electronic components, which helped make it an essential reference for anyone involved in electronics professionally or as a hobby. Private-branding (as "Dick Smith" or "DSE") was introduced on a large range of products from

41989-430: Was introduced in 2007, and in 2009 about 8,000 Pacific Islanders were employed under it. New Zealand is involved in the Pacific Islands Forum , the Pacific Community , Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation , and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (including the East Asia Summit ). New Zealand has been described as a middle power in the Asia-Pacific region, and an emerging power . The country

42200-431: Was made to allow cartridges to be inserted from above. A modified ROM replaced the BASIC interpreter with a boot screen to inform the user to insert a cartridge. Designed to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega's Master System , it suffered from very low sales compared to its rivals. It was another commercial failure for Commodore, and it was never released outside Europe. The Commodore game system lacked

42411-461: Was needed to purchase stock for boxing day sales. CFO Michael Potts was found guilty and ordered to repay $ 43M to NAB in June 2021. Around the time of closing, it was widely considered one of the largest private-equity heists of all time, with Anchorage Capital ultimately turning $ 10m in to $ 520m in less than two years. (They added $ 10M from Dick Smith itself in order to pay the $ 20M purchase price). Multiple court cases and class actions resulted. ASIC

42622-405: Was offered. In late 2007, Powerhouse stores also transferred many other small components, tools, leads and connectors to small stores, continuing to distance the super-stores from the company's electronic enthusiast roots. In early 2008, following Woolworths' review of its consumer electronics division, Dick Smith Electronics renovated its flagship store at Westfield Hornsby , as a "concept" under

42833-414: Was only one and the other became a floppy disk storage slot. Also, unlike most other C64s, the SX-64 does not have a datasette connector so an external cassette was not an option. Two designers at Commodore, Fred Bowen and Bil Herd , were determined to rectify the problems of the Plus/4 . They intended that the eventual successors to the C64—the Commodore 128 and 128D computers (1985)—were to build upon

43044-403: Was reached. The team was able to quickly design the computer because, unlike most other home-computer companies, Commodore had its own semiconductor fab to produce test chips; because the fab was not running at full capacity, development costs were part of existing corporate overhead. The chips were complete by November, by which time Charpentier, Winterble, and Tramiel had decided to proceed with

43255-450: Was relinquished, ending a 27-year partnership. Electronic kits were transferred to the smaller DSE stores and were replaced by the short-lived appearance of small appliances such as kettles , coffee makers , toasters and frypans . A home installation service known as "PowerSquad" to install major items such as TVs and computer systems or to provide set-up and training on smaller items such as wireless networking , MP3 players and iPods

43466-446: Was the first nation in the world to grant all women the right to vote and pioneered the adoption of compulsory arbitration between employers and unions in 1894. The Liberals also guaranteed a minimum wage in 1894, a world first. In 1907, at the request of the New Zealand Parliament, King Edward VII proclaimed New Zealand a Dominion within the British Empire , reflecting its self-governing status. In 1947, New Zealand adopted

43677-429: Was the first to introduce a minimum wage , and the first to give women the right to vote . It ranks very highly in international measures of quality of life , human rights , and it has one of the lowest levels of perceived corruption in the world. It retains visible levels of inequality , having structural disparities between its Māori and European populations. New Zealand underwent major economic changes during

43888-417: Was the winner in the category of home computer over $ 500 , which was the category the Commodore 64 was in when it was first released at the price of $ 595 . Commodore had a reputation for announcing products that never appeared , so sought to quickly ship the C64. Production began in the spring of 1982, and volume shipments began in August. The C64 faced a wide range of competing home computers , but with

44099-544: Was translated into English and became the Declaration of the Independence of New Zealand . It was prepared by Te W(h)akaminenga o Nga Rangatiratanga o Nga Hapu o Nu Tireni , the United Tribes of New Zealand , and a copy was sent to King William IV who had already acknowledged the flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand, and who recognised the declaration in a letter from Lord Glenelg . Aotearoa (pronounced [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa] in Māori and / ˌ aʊ t ɛəˈr oʊ . ə / in English; often translated as 'land of

44310-418: Was used to run bulletin board systems using software packages such as Punter BBS, Bizarre 64, Blue Board , C-Net, Color 64 , CMBBS, C-Base, DMBBS, Image BBS, EBBS, and The Deadlock Deluxe BBS Construction Kit, often with sysop -made modifications. These boards sometimes were used to distribute cracked software . As late as December 2013, there were 25 such Bulletin Board Systems in operation, reachable via

44521-528: Was visited by numerous European and North American whaling , sealing , and trading ships. They traded European food, metal tools, weapons, and other goods for timber, Māori food, artefacts, and water. The introduction of the potato and the musket transformed Māori agriculture and warfare. Potatoes provided a reliable food surplus, which enabled longer and more sustained military campaigns. The resulting intertribal Musket Wars encompassed over 600 battles between 1801 and 1840, killing 30,000–40,000 Māori. From

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