Blog
With the release of iOS 11, Apple switched from JPG to HEIC to store your photos. The High-Efficiency Image File Format saves a lot of storage space on your devices while still maintaining your pho...
I've been adding more and more devices to my smart home lately, so naturally, my garage door opener had to follow. But instead of swapping it out for a new unit, I used a Shelly 1 and a cheap door ...
Static websites are still a hot topic. They are fast, and they're incredibly secure because there isn't a CMS to hack. Once you build a static website, however, the question becomes: Where do I hos...
Last year I made that video in response to a sponsorship offer that I got from various VPN providers. They all told me the same thing: our service is the best way to protect your privacy, and we we...
Many devices in my home have become "smart" over the last couple of months, with one big exception: my trusty 3D printer. It's a super reliable Prusa i3 MK3, but it lacks an internet conn...
I have a few ESP32's running in my house. A few of them are running 24/7 and require an always-on WiFi connection. That's been quite tricky to implement. I used to include various checks throughout...
My DIY home energy monitor has been running for almost a year now. It's been recording my electricity consumption every second and everything is neatly archived in my AWS account.
Still, though, th...
Every year I sit down and take a look at how my YouTube channel has been doing. I reflect, evaluate, and set goals for the coming year. This year is no exception. January 13th, 2020, marks my fourt...
By now, it's no secret that the ESP32 is my go-to chip for making IoT devices. They're small, powerful, have a ton of onboard features, and they're relatively easy to program.
However, when using i...
Running an ESP32 on a battery is a tricky operation. The chip is a powerhouse, and with power comes great responsibility. In this post, I’ll outline how I got an ESP32 to run for over 15 weeks (and...
I'm a geek and got infected with the "smart home" virus. I bought a smart doorbell, smart cameras, smart TV, smart outlets, smart buttons, smart thermostats… A ton of devices in my home a...
One day I was wondering: how much electricity is flowing through my apartment right now? Looking online I found various sensor devices like Smappee and Sense, but those are relatively expensive and...
Lately, I’ve been using GitLab CI more and more to replace my Jenkins server. The main purpose is to run unit tests on my code and to deploy it to various services. A few older projects still requi...
It's been three years since I started my YouTube channel, Simply Explained. In previous years (2017, 2018) I wrote blog posts where I reflected on what I did right, wrong and what I would improve. ...