Blog
Guides, reviews, ideas, and real experiences from a live smart home setup.
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Home Assistant Zones & Geofencing: The Setup That Tells My Wife When the Kids Are at School
Zones are one of the simplest things in Home Assistant and one of the most useful. Once you set them up properly — with the right radius, the right conditions, and a couple of well-built automations — your phone becomes the trigger for things your family will actually notice. Here is how to do it…
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How SimpleLogin Works With Proton Mail (And Why You Need Both)
Most people think private email means a better inbox. It doesn’t. The real goal is control — over who has your address, what reaches you, and what happens when a company sells your data. Proton Mail gives you the encrypted inbox. SimpleLogin gives you the shield in front of it. This is how to set…
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How to Set Up Proton Mail With Your Own Domain (Step-by-Step)
Your email address is only truly yours if the domain is yours. This step-by-step guide walks you through setting up Proton Mail with a custom domain — from buying a domain and configuring Cloudflare DNS to adding your MX, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records correctly. Includes Cloudflare’s DMARC Management tool setup, a Gmail migration walkthrough…
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The Blueprint: How to Set Up Home Assistant From Scratch (The Last Smart Home Platform You’ll Ever Need)
Home Assistant is the most powerful smart home platform on the planet — and it’s free. This guide walks you through everything from choosing your hardware to installing HAOS, adding your first integration, and building your first automation. No developer background required. Just follow the blueprint.
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From a RadioShack Light Switch Motor to 2,600 Devices: My Decade-Plus Smart Home Journey
One IT pro’s honest, funny, and real account of a decade-plus smart home journey — from a teenage RadioShack gadget to 2,600+ devices, four platforms, two kids, a rescued dog, and one very important wife approval rating. Just the unredacted truth about what actually works.
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