Tag Archives: home sweet home

2020-2022 mega update

It seems somewhere along the way I’ve lost my passion/time for updating this blog. I personally blame getting the bike as now I have yet another exciting way to spend rather limited amounts of available time, but it’s probably largely … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Introduction to Xiaomi Zigbee IoT/Smart Home devices

I’ve recently been experimenting with Xiaomi Zigbee IoT/Smart Home devices. These devices are super affordable (approx $20-55NZD) and make it very easy and affordable to upgrade a home with useful smart devices. My plan is to do a more detailed … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Heating Project

Having gone through three Wellington winters in our home, Lisa and I really didn’t want to make it a fourth this year. Whilst our property is fortunate enough to get a lot of sun during the day, it still can’t … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Wellington Home Automation Hackers

I’m slowly setting up more and more Internet-of-Things stuff in my house and because of my interest in this space I’ve started a Wellington Home Automation Hackers meetup that will meet monthly! If you’re in Wellington and are interested in … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Firewall rules for HomeKit with HomeAssistant

I’ve recently been playing with the popular open source home automation software Home Assistant. One of the nice features of this platform is that it can export most of the devices it manages as HomeKit devices for easy use from … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The bathroom fan debacle

I completed this project a while back and had the images saved up for a blog post – somehow almost a year has gone by since then in a blink of an eye. But anyway, enjoy this delayed update about … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Firebase FCM upstream with Swift on iOS

I’ve been learning a bit of Swift lately in order to write an iOS app for my alarm system. I’m not very good at it yet, but figured I’d write some notes to help anyone else playing with the murky … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Detectatron

I recently installed security cameras around my house which are doing an awesome job of recording all the events that take place around my house and grounds (generally of the feline variety). Unfortunately the motion capture tends to be overly trigger happy … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Surveillance State “at home” Edition

A number of months ago I purchased a series of Ubiquiti UniFi video surveillance cameras. These are standard IP ethernet cameras and uses a free (as-in-beer) server agent that runs happily on GNU/Linux to manage the recording and motion detection, which … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

HowAlarming

The previous owners of our house had left us with a reasonably comprehensive alarm system wired throughout the house, however like many alarm systems currently in homes, it required an analogue phone line to be able to call back to … Continue reading

Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments