ByEmily Dolloff

I’ve always been a gadget girl and I’ve always been attracted to technology and what it can do. I remember the day I got my first stereo system. It was the whole package and I’d waited a long time for it. Dolby surround sound with speakers as big as a small child, dual tape deck, 6-disk CD changer, VCR AND an equalizer. I completed the package with a 19” CRT television that fit just right on top of my stereo cabinet. I watched movies and listened to CDs in all my stereo’s glory as it shook the walls of my 150sq ft bedroom. My friends and I even figured out how to win a radio contest while being in class at the same time through the stereo. We rigged the VCR and the radio together and programed the VCR to record the radio show at specific times. You had to listen to the station 3 times a day, write down the song they play at the specific time and at the end of 30 days whoever had the most correct answers won 100 CDs. To this day still the only radio contest I’ve won.

My old stereo is now down to the two speakers and old receiver being used in my brother’s garage. The VHS and cassette tapes are long gone and a few CDs kick around collecting dust around my house. I tried to explain how complicated it was to make a playlist once to my kids. A moment met with limited success as I put together a dance mix for them in about 15 minutes on my computer which automatically synced to my daughter’s iPod and played wirelessly to my Sonos speakers.

Now my focus has switched from how loud of a stereo can I have in my house to how cool of a house can I have! I tell Siri to turn on my bedroom light, I tell Alexa to turn on my living room and I can check on the air quality in my bedroom from anywhere. I couldn’t impress my kids with my cassette tape mix stories, but I sure can impress them by turning the lights off on Dad while he’s home and we’re at the grocery store.

It’s no surprise that I have quickly become attached to and am slowly working on home automation in my home. We continue to expand our offerings at Small Dog Electronics both online and in our stores. Naturally it’s tough to troubleshoot customer issues without trying these products first hand, so I test as much product as I can!

Thank you for reading Tech Tails!

Emily Dolloff
emily@smalldog.com

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