Turning Things Off When Nobody Is There
The cheapest kilowatt hour is the one you never use. Most of my energy savings come from devices simply switching off when nobody needs them.
For this one I built a slightly more involved automation. It runs through n8n, a tool that chains steps together visually, and uses an AI step to judge whether a room is really empty.
The result is quiet: things go off overnight and I do not have to think about it.
Building A Control Unit For My Desk
My desk collects too many separate remotes and apps, so I am building one small control unit that sits within reach.
It is based on ESPHome, a way to give cheap microcontrollers a job and connect them to my house software without writing much code.
The plan is to switch between lighting scenes and kick off routines with a single press. Progress updates will follow.
Fixing My Recurring Memory Problem
One thing has annoyed me for a long time: my house software runs out of memory whenever it has to compile something bigger in the background.
That mostly hits when I build firmware for my own sensors or when a heavier add-on kicks in. The system slows down or the build simply fails.
In this clip I show the approach that finally took the pressure off. If a full walkthrough would be useful, say so and I will record one.
Why Robot Arms Are The Next Step
Vacuum robots have become ordinary. The more interesting question is what comes after a machine that only drives across the floor.
My bet is on half humanoid helpers with arms: emptying the dishwasher, picking toys off the carpet, pouring a coffee.
Two things make that plausible right now, better AI and falling hardware prices. This is a forecast, not a review of something I have at home.
The Battery Life Surprised Me Most
When I put a smart lock on my door I quietly expected to be charging it every few weeks.
That turned out to be wrong. It keeps going for a remarkably long time on a single charge, which is the part I did not see coming.
That detail matters more than any feature list, because a lock that needs constant attention is a lock you end up regretting.
Sensors That You Never Notice
The classic motion detector in the corner has always bothered me. It is visible, it is chunky, and it only reacts when you wave at it.
Millimeter wave sensors work differently. They are tiny radar units that pick up presence even when someone sits perfectly still.
That points at homes where you stop noticing the technology at all, because it disappears into the room. Right now that is where I think things are heading, not something I have finished building.
Renovating My Office And Video Studio
The room I work in is also the room I film in, so the renovation has to satisfy two very different jobs at once.
Acoustic panels are part of the plan, mostly so recordings stop sounding like a bare room.
For the lighting I am going with WLED strips, addressable LED tape controlled over the network, tied into my house software so office light and studio light are just two different scenes.
Hiding The Wiring Inside A Light Sphere
Exposed cables and bare LEDs ruin the look of an otherwise tidy project, and mine was heading exactly that way.
The fix was unglamorous: a printed housing around the electronics plus gaffer tape, the matte fabric tape used on film sets, to keep everything covered and dark.
Magnets hold the base against the glass, so the whole thing still looks clean and I can still get inside when something needs changing.
Why Open Beats Closed In Smart Homes
For years the market belonged to closed systems where every device only talked to devices from the same brand. That era is running out.
Home Assistant is the reason I say that. It is free, open source, and it speaks the shared protocols that let hardware from different makers work side by side.
It also picks up new things like AI features quickly, and without a monthly fee attached. That combination is hard for a closed platform to match.
A Year Of Smart Home Projects In Review
Twelve months of tinkering, condensed into one clip. I went back through everything that actually made it into the house this year.
Some of it was playful, like controlling my home through smart glasses. Some of it turned into real infrastructure, including an assistant that handles appointment booking for me.
The common thread is Home Assistant and self built sensors, and the question of how far a do it yourself setup can be pushed before it breaks.
A Smart Lock Solves A Rural Problem
Living outside town means the kids run off into the woods and you follow them. Comfortable, until you notice the key is still sitting in the front door.
It happens more often than people admit, and it is exactly the kind of small habit that turns into a real risk.
A smart lock quietly removes the problem, because there is no key left hanging anywhere in the first place.
Controlling An LED Matrix With Presets
The LED matrix in my room can do far more than one static color, but only if something decides what it should show and when.
I saved a set of lighting presets in WLED, the software that drives the strips, and then let my house software call them up.
From there the light can follow the time of day, the mood I picked, or who is currently in the room. The long version of this build is a separate video.
Magnets Hold The Glass Sphere Together
The last open question in this build was how to attach a 3D printed base to a glass sphere from IKEA without gluing everything shut forever.
My answer was neodymium magnets, the small very strong kind. A few of them on the base, matching ones on the sphere.
The connection holds firmly and still comes apart in a second, which matters because the electronics live inside. The full build is covered in its own video.
Mulled Wine At The Right Temperature
Mulled wine has a narrow window: too cool and it tastes flat, too hot and you burn your tongue and boil off the good part.
So I used the mug that reports its own temperature to keep it exactly where I want it.
A slightly absurd use of the technology, and honestly one of the more satisfying ones this winter.
Ideas Wanted For My Connected Mug
I got a smart mug as a gift and did what I always do with new gadgets: I connected it to Home Assistant, the software that runs the rest of my house.
Now its temperature sits in the same dashboard as my lights and sensors, which means it can trigger things or react to them.
The obvious uses are done. I am mainly curious what other people would automate with it.
What Would You Automate With A Mug
A mug that knows how warm it is sounds like a gimmick, and for the most part it is one.
Still, once the value lands in my house software it becomes a signal like any other, and signals can be used.
So this is an open question rather than a tutorial: what would you actually do with it?
Cooling The Car Before I Reach It
During a podcast recording with a fellow smart home tinkerer, the talk drifted to one of my simpler routines: the portable air conditioner in the car starts on its own, and the trigger is how far away I still am.
The idea is that arriving should not mean sitting in stale heat for the first few minutes. My phone location is enough of a signal to decide when the unit should switch on.
It came up almost as an aside in that conversation, which is often when the more practical automations surface.
Two Things I Would Add To The Toniebox
The audio box my kids use is a solid product, but I have two wishes on my list for the next generation.
The first is wireless charging on the pad, so putting it down is all it takes. The second is a proper hook into Home Assistant, the open source software I use to tie my house together, so the box could take part in routines instead of standing apart from them.
Neither is exotic. I am simply hoping the manufacturer hears the request.
My Mailbox Alert Keeps Getting Fooled
The notification that tells me mail has arrived has one recurring flaw: someone in the house lifts the flap to peek inside, and the system reports a delivery that never happened.
So the problem is not the sensor. It is telling apart a real drop-off from a curious check by one of us, and I have not landed on a clean answer yet.
This clip is a slice of a longer podcast conversation with another smart home hobbyist where we compared the automations we actually keep running.
Putting A Time Limit On Kids TV
Screen time was a daily negotiation here, so I handed part of it to the house. Home Assistant, the open source hub I run, watches the Apple TV and knows when it is in use.
From there it is straightforward: a daily allowance, a look at what is being watched, and a message when the box is running.
I walk through the setup step by step, from connecting the streaming device to defining the limits themselves. The point is less about control and more about keeping the daily rhythm intact.
