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...
Do you want to trigger a macOS shortcut when you connect or disconnect a USB device? Look no further than the FREE app Stecker. There can be occasions when you would like to trigger a macOS Shortcut when you connect or disconnect a specific USB device. For example, maybe you have...
If you are using Home Assistant and want to determine if the Apple Sleep focus mode is on or off so you can use it in automations, this post is for you. While on the surface this may seem like a trivial task, due to Apple's limited Focus APIs and...
Today, on June 28, 2023, Proxmox Virtual Backup Server 3.0 has been released to the public. This post will walk you through an in-place upgrade of Proxmox Backup Server 2.4 to 3.0. Proxmox is a very popular virtualization platform for home enthusiasts to run their servers on. It's a great...
This post covers using an Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake) CPU with Proxmox VE 8 to do VT-d vGPU passthrough to a Windows 11 Pro VM. This enables multiple VMs on the same Proxmox host share the GPU via virtual functions (VFs). What is VT-d vGPU and how is it...