Why I Buy Einhell Tools
A practical take on Einhell’s shared-battery ecosystem and the mid-range tools that cover my projects and DIY without overspending.
Home Assistant Progress November 2025
An update on the Home Assistant rebuild, focusing on the new dashboard structure, security features, presence detection upgrades, and quality-of-life automations.
Release Notes and Versioning That Help Everyone
Practical patterns for useful release notes and clear versioning. When to choose semantic or date based versions, what to include in each note, and how bad releases and version numbers hurt teams.
Commit Messages and PR Descriptions That Help Everyone
Practical patterns for writing commit messages and pull request descriptions that speed up reviews, preserve intent, and keep projects healthy. Includes templates you can drop into any repo.
Backups with Restic on AWS
A practical guide to backing up to AWS S3 with restic, restoring data when you need it, and managing retention so costs stay sane.
Home Lab Changes Since 1.0.0
A practical walkthrough of the homelab repository changes since 1.0.0: Immich photos stack, backup improvements, a Zigbee2MQTT migration, safer redeploys, and a tidier blog deployment, plus upgrade notes.
Optimising My Office Climate with Home Assistant
A look at how I stabilised the climate in my garage-office using a heater, circulation fan, extractor fan, and dehumidifier — all automated through Home Assistant.
Back on the Blog: An Update After a Busy Summer
After a busy few months of work, renovations, and family time, I’m back to posting. Here’s a quick update on what’s been happening and what to expect next, including some upcoming Home Assistant projects.
Lake Garda: Espresso, Castles, Chaos
A week at Lake Garda that mixed ferries, castles, Eurocamp pool time, and standout espresso, with a faulty hire car and a few storms that became part of the story.
One Month on a Raspberry Pi 5
After a month using a Raspberry Pi 5 as the daily machine, general work and coding are smooth, heavy CAD and slicing stay on the desktop, and the constraints noticeably improve focus and output.