Category: Internet of Things

Top Smart Home recommended devices

For quite a few years I have tried out many devices for smart homes and lived with them to figure out what works most consistently. For myself, there is also a need for things to share information and allow for automatons that use complex logic. An example of this is that while I do want my lights to turn on when I get home, I only want them to do so if it is dark outside and at a brightness that reflects the time of day that I am getting home. This kind of automation requires many devices to share information across my network, but some devices make that process easier than others. With that in mind, here are my recommendations on smart home devices that play nice with each other. Continue reading Top Smart Home recommended devices

IOT Holiday Lights

This tutorial will walk you through setting up a string of colorful holiday lights that connect to the internet. The lights can display many types of animations and colors based on information sent to it using Adafruit’s IO service. Once connected and programmed, IFTTT can be used to set date triggers as well as change animations based on your GPS location, the weather report for the day, and even when you are getting a call from your mother.

The hard stuff is already done and with just a bit of soldering and a few code edits, you will be deep into the beast known as the Internet of Things. Continue reading IOT Holiday Lights

Installing Home Assistant with HASSbian

Home Assistant is one of the most versatile and powerful home automation platforms and it is complacently open source. Once set up, it can be accessed from any web browser and allows your to create complex automation that put services like IFTTT to shame. Continue reading Installing Home Assistant with HASSbian