In January 2021 the Wi-Fi Alliance started their Wi-Fi 6E certification prorgram, which included the all new 6 GHz band. In January 2024 the Wi-Fi Alliance announced their Wi-Fi 7 certification program. Wi-Fi 7 builds on the prior 6E standard with even higher performance across all bands, including 5 GHz...
This blog post compares the major differences between Ruckus Wi-Fi controller options for users seeking a premium home Wi-Fi experience. I provide detailed information on both Ruckus Unleashed and Ruckus One. If you're considering upgrading your home Wi-Fi, check out this post for enlightening information on why Ruckus should be...
For Home Assistant users that want hyper local weather information, the 2023 ECOWITT Wittboy Weather Station GW2001, with Wittboy Wi-Fi Hub is an excellent choice. Unlike a traditional weather station that you might be thinking of, the Ecowitt Wittboy is solid state with no moving parts. If you are using...
For the last couple of years I've written detail posts on my dream home office setup. Now that 2024 is almost here, it's time for an update! If you want some inspiration for your own home office, look no further! I've included products links (non-affiliate) for nearly everything in my...
When building a smart home based on Matter it is critical that you get networking gear with working IPv6 multicast support. This post covers how to configure both IGMP (IPv4) and MLD (IPv6) snooping for Netgear M4300 Pro AV fully managed switches. If you have TP-Link Jetstream switches, check out...
When building a smart home based on Matter it is critical that you get networking gear with working IPv6 multicast support. This post covers how to configure both IGMP (IPv4) and MLD (IPv6) snooping for TP-Link Jetstream (business class) managed switches. Finding a switch with working IPv6 multicast support is easier...
In this final installment of my smart home deep dive on Matter and Thread, I cover a ton of practical advice on how to set yourself up for success with Matter. Even if you aren't using Home Assistant and are entirely into Apple Home, Google Home, etc. the last section...
This is the second installment of the Smart Home Matter and Thread deep dive series. In this post we deep dive into IPv6 routing, and how the Home Assistant Matter controller does failover at the network level between two Apple TVs. I'll also show you how this fails with HAOS...
 Hot off the press is Proxmox VE 8.2, which GA'd in late April, 2024. It is based on Debian Bookworm 12.2, and has a number of new features like defaulting to Linux Kernel 6.8. This post is a completely refreshed version of my popular Home Assistant: Proxmox VE 8.0 Quick...
The modern Smart Home has a host of new standards to enable what is supposed to be a seamless experience across multiple ecosystems. These new standards include Matter and Thread, both of which the likes of Amazon, Google, Apple, Samsung, and Home Assistant support to various degrees. There's A LOT...
I recently purchased the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Watch Series 2 Ultra, both of which have "Action Buttons." Since I hadn't explored Apple shortcuts much before, I decided to dive deep into Apple automation. This post focuses on my Apple Watch Ultra action button shortcut. You don't need...
I've recently run across a few (new to me) great macOS apps that really enhanced my productivity. This post covers ALL of my top macOS apps, including new additions such as BetterDisplay, Warp, Raycast, Dropover, Rectangle, and more. Each of these apps are amazing in their own way.One aspect of...