re: what have you done with AI today?

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Will you elaborate on this?

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so real quick overview; i have a PC used as my Plex server with a ton of unused processing power. The Home Assistant "server" requires very little to run so I installed it on there since that is my 'hardened' server and most likely to be up and running.

Background
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During the TN ice storm we lost power for 2 weeks and internet for a month. Even though i purchased many of my smart devices in a way that they should work locally, I sadly neglected actually testing the setup so we lost all ability to control many of our lights; the schedules that we depended on no longer fired. This was particuarly bad for these scenarios:

- reptile lights on/off each morning/night to keep them happy and on a schedule without me forgetting to do it
- some switches are not easily accessible; my pool table light for instance is a smart plug on a beam 16' from the floor so no way to turn that on without a ladder the whole duration of the internet outage
- my reolink setup and sonos should have been able to run localy; at least feed the sonos DLNA-based local music stored on my PC but again, i never set that up.
- garage and door locks need to work during outage and when i'm not home, wife and 17yo daughter can feel safe that the house is secure.


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So after everything came back to life, i was annoyed and determined to fix it. The most obvious solution (thanks to this board) was getting my head out of my arse and finally getting HA going (HA is free, btw).


My objectives were as follows:
- Fix the local control issues
- Install HA and actually do something with it
- Create a kick-arse dashboard control center i wanted to live on a 42" touchscreen display behind my bar.

While #3 seemed gratuitous (it kinda is) I needed a way for my daughter ( who has zero apps on her phone that plug into the HA) to glance at it and know she is safe and if there is anyone approaching the house.

The idea being an audio alert (followed by the camera view of the person approaching the house going FULL SCREEN) would draw her attention and she could also see if the house is locked at the same time.

again, peace of mind.

the rest was gratutious FOR MY PLEASURE
- tempest local weather station dashboard
- news ticker and LSU sports ticker
- youtube/canjunomics in a frame so i can always keep an eye on baseball games while pretending to be listening to my wife talk about throw pillows
- music player for the SONOS in the room with the bar and why the frick not; let's create a full-screen mode for that as well.

Long story short, Claude/HA *fixed* the Local control issue and even had me pull the plug on the router and test everything with the internet down.

So, thats the gist of V1; i can expand on
- installation
- device integration
- coding or
- hardware procurement

if you want to know more on any of these.

Keep in mind, this took maybe 3 weeks total; this was not at all difficult as long as you let claude or chatgpt help you set things up and go step by step.

i have one govee light strip that unfortuantely fell off the wall. i guess i can try to install it somewhere but i lost most of the diffusers since they broke when they fell and i had cut them the correct size for this odd area so i'll have to see whats left.

here it is in its 'one time' glory before the glue failed.

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i have one govee light strip that unfortuantely fell off the wall. i guess i can try to install it somewhere but i lost most of the diffusers since they broke when they fell and i had cut them the correct size for this odd area so i'll have to see whats left.

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This stuff is awesome. I had some under cabinet lighting that lost the stickiness that came with it. This stuff has lasted for years since.

https://a.co/d/0gtEtUBg

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Are you saying a human will always be better able to decipher handwriting and avoid 2 million dollar mistakes?

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AI should recognize when things are off. It has saved me more than once.

I used Notebook LM to make me a podcast on the history of watches. I was not expecting the voices to be this real! It's in the format of 2 guests talking back and forth about it. Pretty crazy.

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Blocked it from being used in my organization. Just kidding - but we're not actually far off from that because some folks don't understand the dangers of putting proprietary information into public AI.

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Same. It’s not just the boomers doing it