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Basics

Software

Adguard Home or PiHole – How to block obnoxious ads for your whole network

Network wide DNS ad blocker like Adguard Home and PiHoleAds can be a great solution to a big problem. Ads can be really annoying and even a huge security risk, but many modern devices like smart TVs are out of your direct control. Network wide ad blocker can get around Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years24.05.2021 ago
Software

Staying safe – Sending notifications and alarms to your smartphone with Pushover

If anything goes wrong in your smart home (or with your server) it would generally be great to get notified as soon as possible. Sending notifications with the versatile Pushover service is a simple way to do this. Here is how you can also make your smart home text you. Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years17.05.2021 ago
Basics

Simple fix for the biggest annoying error Roborock made with the S50

The Roborock S50 is a great cleaning robot with a great price. I have been using it for quite some time. Unfortunately it is always trying to climb on small ledges (like chair bases) just to get stuck there. Why did Roborock not make the front bumber height adjustable? Anyways Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years12.04.2021 ago
HomeAssistant

Setting up a new smart home with Home Assistant – Using blueprints for easy automations

Blueprints are an awesome new feature in Home Assistant that allow you to build & share generic automations for similar situations. You build a smart home to be able to automate common tasks but sometimes you do not have the time or knowledge to create them. That is where you Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years14.03.2021 ago
Basics

Moving Docker data to an external SSD – a simple step-by-step guide to more stable & secure Raspberry Pi storage

Moving Docker data to an external SSD fixes a major flaw with my smart home system. Many people out there, including me, are running a small home server on a Raspberry Pi – usually running on a SD card with very limited space and a potentially very limited lifetime. Fortunately Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years11.02.2021 ago
HomeAssistant

Customizing the Home Assistant sidebar by adding 3 convenient shortcuts

Home Assistant has a neat UI but many often needed pages are only accessible via a nested menu. Fortunately the Home Assistant sidebar is customizable with some tricks. I found a solution that allows adding new items for much used pages like integrations and automations. How to re-arrange existing entries Read more…

By Oliver, 4 years06.02.2021 ago
Basics

Moving a smart home – a couple of honest tips

You built your perfect smart home over the years and now you are wondering how to move it to a new place? Moving a smart home can be tricky. I have been in this situation only a couple of weeks ago. Here are a couple of tips for moving your Read more…

By Oliver, 5 years27.12.2020 ago
Basics

Tasmota Hue emulation -Adding voice control to Tasmota can be super simple

Adding voice control to your Tasmota device can be super simple. Tasmota Hue emulation allows you to add voice control for any Tasmota device with just a couple of clicks. Here is how to do it. Hue emulation The easiest way of adding voice control via Alexa for generic smart Read more…

By Oliver, 5 years02.12.2020 ago
Basics

Update Tasmota – 2 ways to get the latest and greatest features

Tasmota is an awesome firmware for full local control over smart home devices. While it works great without any intervention here is how to update Tasmota devices if you want the latest and greatest features or you are experiencing issues. Should you update your Tasmota devices? I have been running Read more…

By Oliver, 5 years22.11.2020 ago
Openhab

How to install a new Binding in OpenHab – a simple 5 minute guide

This is a very quick guide on what a “Binding” is in and how to install a new Binding in OpenHab 2. All the information you will need to get started in as few sentences as possible. If you are new to OpenHab: welcome! It is an awesome open source Read more…

By Oliver, 5 years ago

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About this blog

This is my personal slice of the Internet, a place to show my projects and share ideas about all things smarthome, IoT and design

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