#smart-home
65 episodes · Page 2 of 3
#2220: When Home Assistant Breaks Your Audio
Daniel's multi-room audio setup keeps breaking. We explore whether Snapcast, Volumio, and Mopidy can deliver reliable podcast playback across Raspb...
#2126: Why Auto Wi-Fi Settings Fail You
Stop screaming at your phone: how UniFi transmit power settings actually cause dead zones.
#2100: The Hidden Job of Managing Your Own Pharmacy
Stop making multiple pharmacy trips. Learn how to sync your meds, track inventory, and ditch the amateur pharmacist role for good.
#2091: Solving Problems That Don't Exist
From a $400 juicer that can't run without Wi-Fi to a toaster with more computing power than Apollo 11, we explore absurd gadgets.
#2038: UI-First vs Architecture-First: Choosing Your AI Agent
LobeHub vs. Dify vs. n8n: We break down the chaotic landscape of local AI agents to find the right "brain" for your workflow.
#2002: Brainstorming a Stable-by-Design Smart Home
We explore why Home Assistant is so fragile and brainstorm a stable-by-design future for the platform.
#1941: Why You Can't Zigbee-Wi-Fi Your House
The "mesh" promise fails when you hit the coordinator bottleneck. Here's why multiple hubs don't work like Wi-Fi.
#1934: Why Pro Routers Still Won't Touch Your Light Bulbs
Your Wi-Fi 7 router handles everything except smart home radios. Here’s why the “one box” dream is still stuck in 2026.
#1851: AI Toasters and Poetic Gym Coaches: Why We’re Drowning in Useless AI
From smart toasters that need Wi-Fi to email rewriters that sound like corporate robots, here are the most baffling AI features we’ve seen.
#1770: The Smart Home Tax Is Bankrupting Enthusiasts
Home Assistant's flexibility has become a liability. We explore the usability crisis and the fragile architecture of modern enthusiast smart homes.
#1654: Home Lab Security: Locking Down Your Smart Home
Learn how to prevent a single compromised container from taking over your entire home network and smart devices.
#1243: How to Hack a Smart Home for the Sabbath
How do you navigate a smart home when you can't flip a switch? Explore the engineering behind making modern technology Shabbat-compliant.
#1073: Beyond YAML: Building the Agentic Smart Home
Stop wrestling with YAML. Discover how MCP and local AI agents are transforming Home Assistant into a truly intelligent, aware partner.
#1071: Beyond the Kill Switch: Advanced Router VPN Routing
Stop breaking your smart home. Learn how to use domain-based split routing and WireGuard to gain surgical control over your network.
#960: Why Your $2,000 Smart TV Lags Like a Budget Phone
Why does a $2,000 TV struggle with basic menus? Discover the hidden "Smart TV Tax" and why your display's brain is often stuck in the past.
#934: Open Source Meets Closed Garden: Linux on a Samsung TV
Connect Ubuntu to a Samsung TV wirelessly and learn pro tips for baby-proofing your cable setup in any living room.
#802: Bluetooth Reimagined: Audio and Tracking in Home Assistant
Is Bluetooth the secret weapon for your smart home? Discover how to master persistent audio and low-cost asset tracking with Home Assistant.
#784: The Hidden Cost of Labeling Fever
Stop feeding your power-hungry tools a diet of alkalines. Learn how to switch your whole home to sustainable, high-performance rechargeables.
#762: The Decoupled Smart Home Trade-Off
Tired of your smart home crashing? Discover why moving your home's "brain" to the cloud might be the ultimate reliability hack for your setup.
#759: Why Your Labels Fail: The Physics of Adhesion
Tired of peeling labels? Discover why consumer tapes fail and how industrial-grade solutions can bulletproof your home inventory system.
#758: When Your Camera Stops Being Dumb
Turn passive cameras into active observers. Learn how Frigate and YOLO models use AI to revolutionize home security and object detection.
#731: The EQ Lasagna Problem: A Signal Processing Hierarchy
Stop layering filters on top of filters. Learn the technically correct way to sync your home audio without creating a muddy "EQ lasagna."
#725: Finding a Speaker That Loves Voices
Stop listening to podcasts through tinny speakers. Learn how to choose hardware optimized for the human voice and clear, room-filling audio.
#723: Domesticating Your Home Security: How to Kill the Cloud
Learn how to "domesticate" consumer security cameras by severing their cloud ties while keeping the high-quality hardware you love.