Projects & Tech

Technology Is More Fun When You Build With It

Technology has always been one of the things I enjoy experimenting with.

Sometimes that means building a smarter home, improving my network, running services in my home lab, or finding a better way to automate something. Other times it might mean trying a new gadget, exploring AI, or figuring out how different pieces of technology can work together.

This is where I share the tools, equipment, projects, experiments, and ideas I'm working with.

EXPLORE MY TOOLS

VIEW MY SETUP

What I’m Working With

Most of my technology projects fall into a few areas. Some are practical, some are experiments, and some simply start because I want to know if I can make something work.

🏠 Smart Home & Automation

I use smart-home technology to bring different devices and systems together instead of relying on a single ecosystem.

Home Assistant is at the center of many of those projects, allowing me to experiment with automations, sensors, lighting, energy monitoring, and devices from different manufacturers.

EXPLORE SMART HOME

🌐 Networking & Home Lab

My home network and home lab give me a place to run useful services while also providing an environment where I can experiment, learn, test ideas, and improve how everything works together.

That includes virtualization, network monitoring, secure remote access, and other services running behind the scenes.

SEE THE TOOLS

🤖 AI & Automation

AI is becoming another interesting tool for experimenting, solving problems, researching ideas, creating content, and finding ways to automate repetitive tasks.

I'm especially interested in practical uses of AI—where it can make a process easier, help explore an idea, or become part of a larger automation.

More AI and automation projects coming soon.

Featured Technology

Bringing My Smart Home Together with Home Assistant

One of the challenges with smart-home technology is that devices from different manufacturers don't always work together naturally.

Home Assistant gives me a central place to bring those devices together and build automations that aren't limited to a single brand or ecosystem.

That gives me more flexibility to experiment with lighting, sensors, energy monitoring, scenes, and other automations around the house.

SEE THE TOOLS I USE

Inside My Setup

Here are a few pieces of technology currently playing a role in my home network, smart home, and projects.

Zigbee Coordinator

A dedicated Zigbee coordinator helps connect compatible smart-home devices while keeping much of the communication local.

My coordinator is powered over Ethernet, which also gives me more flexibility in where it can be located.

VIEW MY SETUP

Energy Monitoring

Power-monitoring smart plugs can do more than turn devices on and off.

I use them on different devices to track electricity usage and to create automations based on whether equipment is actively drawing power.

VIEW MY SETUP

Travel Technology

Technology doesn't stay at home.

A travel router gives me a familiar private network while traveling and provides another layer between my devices and public Wi-Fi networks.

SEE MY TOOLS

Home Lab & Infrastructure

Some of the most useful technology in my house is the technology you normally don't see.

My home lab provides a place to run virtual machines and services for things such as home automation, secure remote access, network monitoring, testing, and learning.

Having my own environment also gives me the freedom to experiment without relying entirely on cloud services.

EXPLORE MY TOOLS

Things I Like to Experiment With

Technology changes quickly, which means there's almost always something new worth learning or trying.

Smart Home

Automations, sensors, lighting, energy monitoring, and finding ways to make devices from different ecosystems work together.

Networking

Home networking, remote access, Wi-Fi, network monitoring, security, and improving how devices communicate.

AI & Automation

Finding practical ways to use AI and automation for research, workflows, content creation, and everyday tasks.

Gadgets & Technology

Computers, accessories, travel technology, electronics, and interesting devices that solve a problem or introduce something new to experiment with.

Projects

Some technology projects start because I need to solve a problem. Others begin simply because I want to understand how something works.

As I build, test, and improve those projects, I'll collect them here.

Home Automation

Automations, sensors, integrations, lighting, energy monitoring, and experiments built around making the smart home more useful.

More projects coming soon.

Network & Home Lab

Servers, networking, monitoring, remote access, virtualization, and experiments running behind the scenes.

More projects coming soon.

AI & Software

Experiments involving AI, automation, software, data, and new ways to make repetitive or complicated tasks easier.

More projects coming soon.

Looking for Something Specific?

Tools I Use

Want to know more about the software, services, networking equipment, and other technology I use?

The Tools page focuses on the technology that helps power my projects and systems.

EXPLORE TOOLS

My Setup

Looking for specific devices and equipment?

My Setup contains a closer look at some of the hardware currently being used in my home network, smart home, and technology projects.

VIEW MY SETUP

Have a Technology Idea?

Have a technology, automation, smart-home, networking, or AI project you think would be interesting to explore?

I'm always curious about new ideas and different ways technology can solve real problems.

SEND ME AN IDEA

Keep Exploring

Technology is only one part of what I explore.

Check out my latest adventures, read more stories on the blog, or come back to see what I'm experimenting with next.

EXPLORE ADVENTURES

READ THE BLOG

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