I automated my lights first, but energy tracking is what actually saved me money
Rich Edmonds Jun 4, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Richard is the PC Hardware Lead at XDA and has been covering the technology industry for almost two decades. He's been building…
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Samsung TVs just gained native Google Cast, and my Chromecast is officially pointless
Jasmine Mannan Apr 26, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
Home Assistant finally replaced Google Home when I stopped trusting the cloud with my smart home
…Smart TV and streaming devices were easy to integrate. I skipped adding cloud-only devices to avoid messy integration since I was building a locally responsive smart home. I installed Zigbee2MQTT integration…
4 unique integrations you never thought of using with Home Assistant
Ayush Pande Apr 2, 2026, 8:00 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
Home Assistant's best integrations aren't the obvious ones – here's what actually changed my setup
Ayush Pande Mar 20, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
I turned my home server into an AI appliance, and this is the stack that actually stuck
…By integrating the stack with Home Assistant , my server now monitors my workstation’s performance. If my PC is idle, the AI can trigger automation or background processing tasks, turning my hardware…
You can turn "dumb" devices smart without replacing anything; just Home Assistant integrations will suffice
Ayush Pande May 4, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
This self-hosted Office 365 alternative is fine, but here's how I turned it into my private cloud setup
Ayush Pande Apr 14, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
I gave Home Assistant access to my NAS, and it became the dashboard my smart home was missing
Ayush Pande Jun 2, 2026, 10:01 AM EDT Ayush Pande is a PC hardware and gaming writer. When he's not working on a new article, you can find him with…
The X2D proves Bambu Lab understands what desktop 3D printing still gets wrong
…He's written for Macworld , Tom's Hardware , groovyPost , The Mac Observer , and more before beginning here at XDA. Sign in to your XDA account Summary Mechanical nozzle-switch dual extrusion uses…