From Smart Bulbs to Skynet: The 2026 State of my Home Automation

From Smart Bulbs to Skynet: The 2026 State of my Home Automation
When I left Elastic, one of my goals was to dive deep into home automation and finally "level up" my setup. Looking back at where I started when we first moved to Graham, it’s almost comical. Back then, "Home Automation" was just a few Philips Hue bulbs and a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant that didn't do much. It was essentially a glorified light switch connected to Alexa. Fast forward to today, and the Raspberry…

Do you need more than a M4 Mac Mini?

Do you need more than a M4 Mac Mini?
Anyone who knows me is well aware that I am really particular about my setup and organization in general. I just finished managing cables after switching out my old M1 Mac Mini I use in my office for a new M4. It's the 2nd M4 Mini I've purchased. I've been using one in the shop as a workstation for a few months now. I admit I don't push these computers too hard, but for a…

Logitech MX Mechanical Mini & Master 3S

Logitech MX Mechanical Mini & Master 3S
I am a bit of a keyboard nerd. Earlier this year when I did my Marie Kondo impression and decluttered my computer junk, I had several keyboards I sold. I was in the market for a new main keyboard now that I keep a PC in the living room and that PC's previous keyboard is a loud clicking RGB gaming keyboard. There was nothing really wrong with it, but I had two issues with the…

Bring in the RTX4090

Bring in the RTX4090
I've been long in the tooth with the 2080TI in my main machine for awhile. I've been doing a lot more work training and using large language models lately, so I decided it was time for a serious upgrade to get more VRAM. I had to get a 1000w power supply as well, but it's a serious upgrade.

Cisco Network Upgrade Complete

Cisco Network Upgrade Complete
I've been using a variety of different brand switches in a patchwork to get all of the network and camera devices I am using connected. The network mess was causing performance issues so it was time to take a more serious approach to the network. I need to connect two buildings, and power many PoE devices. The backbone of the network is two Cisco CBS350-24P-4X managed switches connected via 10Gbps SFP+ over copper. The old…