Urgh, I was considering setting up a self hosted Firefox sync. I don’t use syncing at all currently but thought it might be useful.

I didn’t know the account system was a separate dependency. Hosting that seems a bit of burden so I think I will just stay not using sync.

At this point I’m quite heavily invested in smart home tech, but smart locks are one of the few things I haven’t touched.

Any exploit found in these devices could be packaged into a smartphone app and easily accessed by anyone. Someone hacking the lock that way would look no different to a legitimate user. Firmware updates for these devices seem sporadic at best.

It’s a security concern I don’t want to have to worry about, even if there are convenience benefits.

If you have nay knowledge of networking (or want to learn), start setting up restricted VLANs to isolate your smart devices. Only allow them access to specific services/devices like your media server.

For dedicated hardware, there are plenarily of options. A Raspberry Pi will work to start with, there are Linux images with Kodi such as LibreELEC and osmc (I have used both in the past and they worked fine), and Android TV images also that can run apps. I suppose you could also set up a generic Linux install and run the Jellyfin client or similar - not sure if there any turnkey options for that.

We have a couple of Apple TV boxes and they perform well, the Jellyfin apps for them have really improved in the last year or so too.

Which handheld is that? Looks nice.

What’s wrong with Elegoo? I don’t have their printers but I’ve used a fair bit of their filament which seems to be good value.

Considering an upgrade myself so wondering what to avoid.

There is an Amiga port of C&C too, although it requires accelerator hardware.

Would be interesting to see how much of the game could be ported to a completely native system of the era.

It’s worked well for me so far. I chose Homarr because it has a GUI for dashboard creation, I wanted the whole family to be able to use it and they aren’t all up to editing YAML etc.

I use Homarr and initially created a really complex dash, but I’ve since whittled it down to just the bare essentials as a homepage.

Links to my most used web pages and self hosted services, and a couple of vital metrics that I would need to act upon quickly.

For everything else I have Grafana dashboards I can dip into as I need to.

A VPS is going to have all the same problems as a local server in terms of inexperienced users, and will also add all the extra hassle of managing and paying for the VPS account.

I would say the best options for emergency access are local backups and documentation, which you already have. You could also consider keeping additional copies of essential passwords (like email accounts etc) in a simpler vault like Keepass. Or even physical copies written down in a security envelope in a safe.

It’s amazing how far technology has progressed.

I hadn’t heard of Moonfin before, it looks promising as an Apple TV client. Any pitfalls with it?

Maybe you could improve this by using two separate Firefox profiles? One for the normal tabs you keep open all the time, and another for the temporary ones which you can apply much stricter data retention settings to?

I’m using Jellyfin with 2 Apple TV 4Ks, one newer and one older. As other commenters have said there is no complete official Jellyfin app for Apple TV.

Swiftfin is the in development new app for Apple platforms, but it still very incomplete. Basic video playback works, but there are a lot of missing features like music and live tv support. The interface is functional but still fairly crude, and in the current version there’s a lot of ugly overflow issues in the UI. Video playback has always been reliable for me though. It will improve as development progresses but for now it’s very much a work in progress.

The other option is Infuse, which has a much nicer and mature UI, but also isn’t fully feature complete for Jellyfin. It also a proprietary app with a subscription to unlock all features. I’ve tried the free version and it seems to work well enough, video playback was smooth.

I think there are few other small apps but I haven’t tried them.

I wish there were better options for clients as the Apple TV is the best streaming box I’ve found but the Jellyfin support could be better.

This has always felt like something that doesn’t belong in a web browser to me.

I’m using a Drayton Wiser thermostat, which uses WiFi but has a fully local integration via HACS. Has worked great for me so far.

I have a smart water meter installed by the utility provider with a cloud integration, unfortunately the readings have a 24-48h delay so it’s no use for real time monitoring.

A proper permissions system for entities has long been one of my most desired features for Home Assistant. It should be possible to set visibility and control for each entity and user.

Trying to do control access via dashboards as always seems the wrong way around to me.

So far the only inline option I’ve found is this dimmable switch from Samotech. I haven’t tried one yet myself, and there’s mixed reviews online. For the lamps I have I only want an on-off switch though, not a dimmer.

Making due with plugging them into smart plugs for now, but an inline option would be much neater.

I’d say it’s always best to avoid Zigbee devices going offline, its neither convenient for automation or good for the mesh for devices to keep dropping.

Disable or remove the lamp switches. Add more smart buttons if there is a need for a physical control near the lamp.

As it happens I’m actually looking for a smart lamp switch if anyone knows of any options.