I wish I could still buy plain old corded blinds. I managed to find someone selling the precisely correct size for my apartment on Amazon despite the rule against it but now I’m staying in a house with windows of different sizes and no window coverings at all, and I’m misdirecting my spite towards my neighbors by forcing them to see me rather than buying cordless blinds.
Despite being a software developer, I don’t like “smart home” stuff. I recently spent several hundred dollars getting a couple of three-way light switches wired up (I wanted to be able to control the light from multiple locations) and people told me to get the much cheaper and more flexible smart bulbs and wireless switches, but for some reason I can’t put into words I didn’t want that.
(I suppose this is the same urge that pushes me to buy a car with a manual transmission, which in 2025 is severely limiting my options.)
When I got started with my smart home setup, my primary concern was privacy and local control, so I went with an ethernet zigbee coordinator and zigbee bulbs, motion sensors, switches, plugs, etc. Everything runs from a micro PC running Home Assistant OS. It’s been rock solid for years, with no reliance on cloud services, and with no data leaving my house.
The only tricky bit was automating some can lights in the bathroom, but I solved that one by installing a wifi Shelly 2.5 dual channel roller shutter relay, with one channel connected to the light switch and the other to the bathroom fan. This was also the project that led to my discovery of WAGO connectors, which are vastly superior to wire nuts. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Also work in software, and still tweaking the smart home setup to be as intervention free as possible. The upside of the blinds is that I can leave the house and they automatically close to keep cool. When my morning alarm goes off it opens the top half to let in natural light - I’m a heavy sleeper so this is well worth it for me personally. Still haven’t set up smart switches, but it’s next on the list. Ideally a guest could stay and never even know it’s “smart”.
I’m also a developer. I had a some light automation set up, and one day decided to revert the whole thing.
When I enter a room I flip the switch, and the lights come on. It’s so elegant and simple, no sensors or wifi required.
I do have one automated light in my basement, but it is just a dumb motion sensor in my laundry room. that’s nice when my hands are full, otherwise I’m capable of toggling the lights.
People do some cool stuff with automation, but for the most part these are solved problems. I don’t need to hit a movie button on my phone and have the room reconfigure itself. I do, however, need to get my steps in, so I’ll walk across a room.
Normal light bulbs with semi-smart switches isnt the worst compromise. I definitely dont want smart blinds though - they’re expensive as fuck to purchase and I bet the motors break frequently.
I use Lutron’s Maestro brand because then I can get a little remote that runs on a CR2032 battery. Then I just buy a mount for that remote and bam - 3 switch that cost me $70 instead of a multiple hundred dollar wiring job.
I wish I could still buy plain old corded blinds. I managed to find someone selling the precisely correct size for my apartment on Amazon despite the rule against it but now I’m staying in a house with windows of different sizes and no window coverings at all, and I’m misdirecting my spite towards my neighbors by forcing them to see me rather than buying cordless blinds.
Despite being a software developer, I don’t like “smart home” stuff. I recently spent several hundred dollars getting a couple of three-way light switches wired up (I wanted to be able to control the light from multiple locations) and people told me to get the much cheaper and more flexible smart bulbs and wireless switches, but for some reason I can’t put into words I didn’t want that.
(I suppose this is the same urge that pushes me to buy a car with a manual transmission, which in 2025 is severely limiting my options.)
When I got started with my smart home setup, my primary concern was privacy and local control, so I went with an ethernet zigbee coordinator and zigbee bulbs, motion sensors, switches, plugs, etc. Everything runs from a micro PC running Home Assistant OS. It’s been rock solid for years, with no reliance on cloud services, and with no data leaving my house.
The only tricky bit was automating some can lights in the bathroom, but I solved that one by installing a wifi Shelly 2.5 dual channel roller shutter relay, with one channel connected to the light switch and the other to the bathroom fan. This was also the project that led to my discovery of WAGO connectors, which are vastly superior to wire nuts. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Also work in software, and still tweaking the smart home setup to be as intervention free as possible. The upside of the blinds is that I can leave the house and they automatically close to keep cool. When my morning alarm goes off it opens the top half to let in natural light - I’m a heavy sleeper so this is well worth it for me personally. Still haven’t set up smart switches, but it’s next on the list. Ideally a guest could stay and never even know it’s “smart”.
I’m also a developer. I had a some light automation set up, and one day decided to revert the whole thing.
When I enter a room I flip the switch, and the lights come on. It’s so elegant and simple, no sensors or wifi required.
I do have one automated light in my basement, but it is just a dumb motion sensor in my laundry room. that’s nice when my hands are full, otherwise I’m capable of toggling the lights.
People do some cool stuff with automation, but for the most part these are solved problems. I don’t need to hit a movie button on my phone and have the room reconfigure itself. I do, however, need to get my steps in, so I’ll walk across a room.
Normal light bulbs with semi-smart switches isnt the worst compromise. I definitely dont want smart blinds though - they’re expensive as fuck to purchase and I bet the motors break frequently.
I use Lutron’s Maestro brand because then I can get a little remote that runs on a CR2032 battery. Then I just buy a mount for that remote and bam - 3 switch that cost me $70 instead of a multiple hundred dollar wiring job.