Smart devices, connected gadgets, embedded tech for makers.
I've murdered more houseplants than I care to admit, so I built a soil moisture system that texts me before things get dire — and waters the plants while I'm in Vegas. Here's the full weekend build, from capacitive sensors to Home Assistant automations.
Cloud doorbells promise convenience, but they're quietly shipping footage of your porch to servers you'll never see. We built a Raspberry Pi replacement that runs Frigate for person detection, keeps every byte on your own network, and came in under $100.
We put a no-name $12 hot plate head-to-head with a mid-range unit across three real maker projects, from QFN microcontrollers to 0402 passives. Here's what the temperature data, solder joints, and smoke revealed about whether cheap reflow is actually viable.
Your router, TV, and game console are already running 24/7 — and every one of them has a spare USB port. Here's how to safely siphon 5V from the electronics you already own to power sensors and microcontrollers, no new outlets or batteries required.
Your bricked smart speaker isn't trash — it's a repair challenge. Here's how a budget hot air station, a USB serial adapter, and some patience can resurrect gadgets the manufacturer gave up on years ago.
That $10 USB logic analyzer in your parts bin can read the secret conversations happening inside your robot vacuum, fitness tracker, and every gadget in between. We walked through three real teardowns using sigrok and PulseView — here's what we learned.
A $150 mini PC, a Zigbee dongle, and a weekend of tinkering can replace every subscription your smart home leans on. Here's how we built a fully local automation stack — and what it actually costs to run.
From freezer loggers that text you before the ice cream melts to package cameras for the porch, these eight ESP32 builds keep watch while you're on the road. Each one is scored on build time, cost, and — most importantly — whether it survives a week unattended.
A $30 USB radio stick and Zigbee2MQTT can replace a proprietary hub entirely — and unlike that Samsung box, nothing gets bricked when a company changes its mind. Here's the full parts list, setup walkthrough, and the honest cases where you should just buy the commercial hub.
Your garage door opener works fine — it just isn't smart. We scored seven retrofit approaches, from plug-and-play ratgdo to bare-knuckle relay wiring, on install difficulty, Home Assistant support, and safety sensor handling.
After a multi-day ISP outage left our block offline, I built a LoRa mesh network with Heltec and LilyGO boards that routes messages and sensor data without touching the internet. Here's the full build, real suburban range numbers, and what six months of battery data taught me about offline-first design.
We spent twelve months living with a mixed-brand smart home built on Matter and Thread to see if the interoperability hype survives contact with reality. Spoiler: some of it works beautifully, some of it still requires the apps you were hoping to delete.
We ordered a pile of no-name sensors from AliExpress and turned them into a legit backyard weather station on an ESP32. Here's the full build log, including the calibration headaches nobody warns you about and how to keep the enclosure alive through a Midwestern summer.
That $8 smart plug doesn't have to phone home to a server in another country. These open-source firmware projects turn bargain-bin hardware into serious, privacy-respecting automation gear.
We strapped both boards to a power meter, pinged them across a cluttered 2.4GHz spectrum, and lived with them for a month. Here's which $5 board deserves a spot on your workbench.