I gave my NAS a job Synology never advertises, and now it runs my house
…Of course, the real value comes from the automation engine. You can have rules that dim the lights when a movie starts on Plex, or another that locks the front door and…
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My local LLM finally understands my house better than Google ever did
…Most setups that work reliably still depend heavily on traditional Home Assistant automations for important tasks. Motion-based lighting, security routines, climate control, and scheduled actions are usually handled the old-fashioned…
My smart curtains were the silliest yet most useful smart home products I ever purchased
…By automating daily light shifts at the window level, retrofitted curtain drivers bridge the gap between physical human habits and natural light cycles, reducing domestic friction. The friction of physical curtains Blackout…
Your next car will run more Google software than ever, and here's why that matters
…We're talking about direct system-level control over seat actuators, climate controls, interior lighting, exterior cameras, mirrors, and vehicle telemetry. By standardizing the software architecture, Google provides automakers with a uniform…
RapidRAW is the free, open-source Lightroom alternative I've been waiting for
…Without overly complicated menus and a handful of sliders, Lightroom can make photos look great, and on top of that, it features automatic adjustments that make things way easier. Most of the…
Home Assistant users are building smarter homes than Google and Amazon ever will
…I've got an automation that gently wakes the house every morning with a staggered switch on of lighting at increasing levels, at least when it's a weekday. Another that lets…
The cheapest smart home automation I ever set up cost me less than a dollar
…If your idea of automation is lights reacting to occupancy, blinds opening on a schedule, or devices responding passively to your presence, NFC tags do not replace any of that. They are…
I gave Claude Cowork access to my Home Assistant config, and it unlocked automations I didn't know were possible
…The main automations that Claude suggested include: CO2 alert (Office + Kitchen, threshold 1200 ppm) Bedtime door auto-lock (fold into Night routine) Auto-lock on departure Sunset lights (Living Room + Ground Floor…
Home Assistant finally has an AI tool worth the complexity, if you can get past the onboarding
…The best use case isn’t asking it to turn on a light. It’s asking why a light keeps turning on, why an automation behaves differently after a restart, or whether…
I almost threw away my old laptop and now It’s my most reliable Home Assistant server
…After that, I moved away from Windows and installed a lightweight Linux system. What it actually does Light automation and a smart home that finally feels smart I started with the obvious…