… You’d either have to grab the proprietary Voice Preview system or look into a DIY setup involving microcontrollers/single-board computers, microphone modules, and a lot of programming wizardry. Or, you could take the easy path as I did by turning an old smartphone into a Home Assistant satellite . …
… Sticking to prominent brands doesn’t make your smart home infallible You need local control more than anything else Let me be clear here: opting for a smart device from a reputable manufacturer is always better than choosing one from a no-name brand, especially when you’re a beginner. …
… Related 4 reasons an ESP32 display beats an old tablet for a smart home dashboard Learn about the unexpected advantages of choosing an ESP32 display over a tablet for your smart home dashboard. …
… On the smart home front, however, I’ve transitioned to microcontrollers. To be precise, I’ve started using ESP32 boards for the majority of my smart home experiments. …
… On your smart home layer, it can show you the current brightness of your office lights. The perks of DIY are that you get full customization, which isn't available on the Elgato Stream Deck. …
… Related Should you use Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Matter in your smart home? My setup didn’t need it diyHue is the right tool for a mixed-protocol smart home with Wi-Fi lights, Zigbee devices, DIY hardware, and several voice-control setups. …
… Related I run my entire smart home from a single mini PC with Home Assistant If you'd have told me my smart home would be controlled from one box I wouldn't have believed you When the “just works” smart home hubs show their limits Paying the price for convenience I started building my smart home wi… …
… Make your smart speaker smart again It felt like the smart speaker was the Trojan horse of the cloud era. …
… As I got familiar with the ESP32 microcontrollers , building devices became fun. Yet I wondered if Pi was still needed in the smart home loop. Slowly, I moved my Raspberry Pi projects to $5 ESP32 boards to see if the low-power microcontrollers could handle the load. …
… Broadlink RM4 Pro The Broadlink RM4 Pro is a Wi-Fi enabled remote control that helps integrate infrared and RF-controlled devices into a smart home. $45 at Amazon IR control still has limits despite the native support Know them before diving in There are a few trade-offs, but none of them are dealb… …