Automated Home Show

It took me weeks to give myself permission to make this decision and share it with you.

It's not something that I ever expected might happen.

After reading this research paper I've decided to switch off my wifi router and turn off most devices in our home.

I have a toddler and my wife is pregnant with our second. I'm putting their health above everything else, even if it might seem like a rather extreme move to some.

I'm not walking away from smart home tech and will remain active in the space, but as far as bringing tech and gadgets into our home goes, it will be on a case-by-case basis as opposed to just rushing in headfirst without considering whether there might be any tradeoffs or potential long-term health risks before doing so.

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I've been trying to find a solution so that we can have smart lights in our new home for a few months.

I bought an IKEA Jetstrom smart ceiling light, found a local electrician to help me get it powered and then...

Failed completely.

I guess this is one of those smart home fails you have to go through before getting to the next win!

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In this solo episode, I share an update on what's happening in my smart home.

Wifi 7 is great, smart lights are causing me some headaches and I got a few new toys to play with too.

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Smart home expert David Webster joins me to talk about smart window treatments.

This conversation is beginner-friendly, but David also does a good job of explaining some more advanced concepts in an easy-to-understand way.

If you enjoy this conversation, be sure to check out the conversation that I published right before this one with Jason Turner, VP of Powershades about much the same topic.

Learn more about Automated Home here.

Powershades VP Jason Turner joins me for a chat about smart shades and some innovative ideas they're implementing for their clients across the US.

You can check them out at powershades.com.

Check out my next conversation with David Webster where we also cover smart window treatments, but in a slightly more beginner-friendly way.

Learn more about Automated Home here.

We recently moved into a smaller place and as expected, some parts of our smart home went smoothly, while other pieces broke.

This is a quick update on things, some plans for the future and a short funny story.

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I had this conversation with David Webster recently after someone posted on the Automated Home forums asking for feedback on a proposed smart home build for his 6,000-square-foot home.

David understands this stuff more than anyone else I know, so it was a very interesting conversation and good to learn more about the "why" with regard to some of David's points of view.

This was going to be a private conversation between David and I, but we agreed to record the conversation, so I hope you enjoy it.

Learn more about Automated Home here.

David Webster joins me again to talk about smart lighting considerations.

David is a smart home expert and electronic engineer, so he understands things at a very deep level.

As someone who is NOT an electrical engineer, I ask some questions that a beginner might be wondering about so there's something for everyone.

The conversation ends with the promise of continuing the conversation and some cursory discussion about Homey.

Learn more about Automated Home here.

I feel like I've climbed a mountain (well, perhaps a small hill) because I finally figured out the issue with not being able to immediately re-trigger the flow to turn the lights on when motion is detected outside our front door.

I also share some of the smart devices that I've added to our home recently and share a recent funny story.

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David and I discuss the good and the bad of Homey Pro, what we each think about Home Assistant and David talks about how AI could make smart homes way better very soon. 

***Apologies for the out-of-sync audio***

This conversation was recorded using the same software as the last time I spoke to David and for some reason, our files are out of synch by about a second. It sounds like I'm constantly talking over the top of David and David is very slow to respond to anything, but that's not the case. I was torn on whether to publish this or not, but decided to publish it because David's a smart guy and there's some good info in this conversation. I think I might try to some other option to record the next call.

Learn more about Automated Home here.