MCP
MCP, and what it means for a house
The Model Context Protocol gives an AI assistant a described, permissioned way to operate real systems. That is a bigger deal for home automation than it sounds.
Journal
Notes from the plant room.
What we have learned installing this kit in houses people actually live in — the parts that work, the parts that are oversold, and the decisions worth getting right early.
Voice
Voice assistants that do not need the cloud
Local speech recognition and language models are now good enough for a house. What that changes, and where voice is still the wrong interface.
AI
What AI actually does in a house
Stripping the marketing out of it. Four things machine learning genuinely changes about living in an automated home, and several it does not.
Home Assistant
Home Assistant in a house you actually live in
It is the most capable home automation platform available and it is free. Neither of those facts makes it the right answer for every house.
Matter & Thread
Matter, honestly assessed
The interoperability standard did not fail, and it did not deliver what the announcements promised. Here is what it means on a real project.
IoT security
Your doorbell is on the same network as your laptop
Most smart homes are one compromised device away from a bad afternoon. Segmentation is unglamorous, cheap, and the single highest-value thing you can do.
UniFi
Designing a UniFi network for a large house
Where the defaults are fine, where they will bite you, and the handful of decisions that determine whether the Wi-Fi is still good in five years.