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VOLUME 34-06 September 2017 LCACE.ORG
President's Corner zon’s Echo and Google’s Home Assistant pro-
By Greg Skalka, President, Under the Comput- vide information and control anywhere your
er Hood UG, CA voice can be heard. Lights, camera, action -
February 2017 issue, Drive Light home control and alarm systems control lights
www.uchug.org / president (at) uchug.org and appliances, allow remote monitoring and
signal when security has been breached. Even
It seems we have more and more technology the laundry room gets into the act with efficient
available in the products we buy. Almost every- washers and dryers with sophisticated fea-
thing is getting networked these days, and the tures. With so much electronics in a modern
categories of products where electronics now automobile, you might have as many proces-
play a major part continue to increase. This sors in your garage as in the rest of the house.
has expanded the number of places to get tech
far beyond the traditional sources of a decade With all this technology spread throughout the
ago. A lot of stores that used to be the tradi- items in your home, practically every store has
tional sources for computers and technology had to become a technology store. Home im-
have gone away, while a lot more shopping for provement stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s
the devices we need is done online. are now much more than lumber yards; since
they sell so many smart appliances and smart
It seems you can’t swing an HDMI cable in home devices, their employees have to know
practically any room in the typical house these more than just nails and screws. The trick is
days (including the garage and often the back getting good tech advice from all those diverse
yard) without hitting something containing elec- stores that now sell smart stuff. You can ex-
tronics. Never mind the TVs, computers, game pect the Sprint, Verizon and ATT stores to
systems, tablets and phones - electronics and have tech-savvy employees, but what about
connectivity have worked their way into almost Walmart, Target, Costco, Ace Hardware and
every device and appliance you see. Practical- O’Reilly Auto Parts?
ly every kitchen appliance has the strong pos-
sibility of being connected to the Internet, con- Ghosts of Tech Stores Past
trolled by a timer or digitally enhanced. Refrig-
erators, microwaves, stoves and dishwashers A few decades ago, there were specific places
are now loaded with tech. Even the lowly meat to go to get high tech items, places like Radi-
thermometer has gone digital. oShack, CompUSA and Fry’s Electronics.
Digital thermostats keep the house tempera- There used to be lots of small independent
ture comfortable while saving energy. Wi-Fi computer stores in San Diego, mostly in the
reaches into every corner of the house and Kearny Mesa area. Maybe it was the decline of
even out onto the patio, through repeaters and the computer, the rise of tech in everything or
extenders. Voice-operated assistants like Ama- (Continued on page 4)
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