Today I ran into an interesting article about the Amazon Alexa voice service (AVS). This used to be available only on the Amazon Echo device but is now also available for non-Echo devices. In this case they run it on a Raspberry Pi 2! A while back I wrote a … read more…
The new RFXCOM plugin for Homeseer 3 doesn’t have the RFX Weight script anymore. So I decided to write it, but not as extensive as it used to be. What it does An event runs this script if your Weight Scale device value changes. The event will get the last weight … read more…
Here’s an issue I have run into many times: great plugin/script for Homeseer, but it lacks a web-based configuration page. Result: you need to edit a physical file on your Homeseer server to make changes. Not ideal. So the idea arose to create a piece of code that would – based … read more…
After moving to a different house I decided to get rid of the old crappy X10 technology…. Wow! Suddenly there is….. – no doorbell press notifications – no heating control (solved: smart thermostat) – no central ventilation control Decision: embrace Z-Wave. After talking to a couple of people the following products have … read more…
Always on voice recognition 8 Radio’s Web based configuration App for both Android and iOS. There are so many solutions that offer apps for smartphones and tablets but they all have the same problem. The second you want to do something, you need to – Grab your phone – Unlock … read more…
For quite a long time the Google Chromecast had been sitting in my mind. There was an unexplainable attraction but not enough to conquer the “why DO I need it?”. As a dear friend of mine says: “Why do I need it? Feeling beats relevancy” For years I have been searching … read more…
For quite some time I wanted to run a local DNS server so I don’t have to remember IP addresses. Yes, there’s many, it’s not my memory. In the huge amount of instructions I was unable to find exactly what I needed. Therefore I will post my configuration that might be helpful … read more…
A while ago I got a call from a friend saying that I had to check out this new Kickstarter project: Plugaway This really looks interesting. Wall plugs that can be remote controlled that also monitor the energy consumption. Looks a bit like a product we’re been using for years … read more…
An updated version of the Worldpopulation script is now available. about 2 weeks ago I noticed that the old script did not work anymore. The problem turned out to be the source website (www.census.gov) which had changed the URL. I have updated the script to version 0.5, supporting … read more…
In an attempt to move away from the few X10 modules I have left in my house I ordered a Plugwise Stealth. This is an ‘appliance’ version of the Plugwise Circle. The Stealth is smaller than the Circle but I expected it to be way smaller. It’s not that small … read more…
