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Simply Explained

Simply Explained
How I Built an NFC Movie Library for my Kids When I was a kid, my sister and I had a tower of VHS tapes we watched endlessly. Fast-forward to...
a year ago
8
a year ago
When I was a kid, my sister and I had a tower of VHS tapes we watched endlessly. Fast-forward to today, and my children's movie collection is vastly different. It's completely digital and dispersed across services. I wanted to recreate the tangible magic of my childhood for them.
Simply Explained
Analyzing Link Rot in My Newsletter (After 31 Editions) I've been writing a monthly newsletter for the past 2.5 years. In every edition, I link to...
a year ago
7
a year ago
I've been writing a monthly newsletter for the past 2.5 years. In every edition, I link to interesting articles related to science and technology. I thought it would be interesting to analyze how many of those links are still accessible, and how many have succumbed to link rot....
Simply Explained
How I Use Alfred to Search My Obsidian Notes Faster (with Spotlight!) In this post, I’ll show you how I integrated Obsidian into Alfred so I can search my vault from...
a year ago
9
a year ago
In this post, I’ll show you how I integrated Obsidian into Alfred so I can search my vault from anywhere on my Mac. I just open Alfred, type “note” followed by my query, and see my search results. Hit enter and the correct note opens in Obsidian. Easy and quick!
Simply Explained
Year in review: 2022 Every new year I reflect on the previous year and set new goals. I'm focusing primarily on my...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
Every new year I reflect on the previous year and set new goals. I'm focusing primarily on my YouTube channel and newsletter, but there are personal reflections in here as well. Last year was an off year for me, and I'm gearing up to make up for lost time in 2023.
Simply Explained
Smart lights behind a wall switch (Shelly + ESPHome) Using smart light bulbs means you can no longer use your physical wall switches because the bulbs...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
Using smart light bulbs means you can no longer use your physical wall switches because the bulbs need constant power. I think that's pretty dumb. Using a physical switch can be way faster than using an app to control the lights.Here's how you can put a Shelly in between the...
Simply Explained
Serverless Anagram Solver with Cloudflare R2 and Pages Six years ago, I reworked my anagram solver so it would run on top of AWS Lambda and DynamoDB....
over a year ago
7
over a year ago
Six years ago, I reworked my anagram solver so it would run on top of AWS Lambda and DynamoDB. However, this year I realized I didn't need server-side code or a database at all. I could make it completely static by pre-computing anagram solutions.
Simply Explained
Integrate Home Assistant with Apple Reminders I recently integrated Home Assistant with Apple Reminders so that automations can create new todos....
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
I recently integrated Home Assistant with Apple Reminders so that automations can create new todos. This is trickier as it sounds, because Reminders has no API that can be accessed from Home Assistant. Here's how I worked around that problem with a script, input text helper and...
Simply Explained
How WebP Images Reduced My Bandwidth Usage by 50% Last year I migrated this website from Jekyll to Eleventy. This year, I’m finally implementing WebP...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
Last year I migrated this website from Jekyll to Eleventy. This year, I’m finally implementing WebP images to save bandwidth and make this site even faster to load! This simple change reduced my bandwidth usage by 50% and is still backwards compatible with old devices and...
Simply Explained
Tracking gas usage with ESPHome, Home Assistant, and TCRT5000 In 2019, I built an energy monitor to keep track of our electricity consumption. Then, in 2021, Home...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
In 2019, I built an energy monitor to keep track of our electricity consumption. Then, in 2021, Home Assistant added an Energy Management feature that keeps track of electricity and gas usage. So naturally, I had to make my gas meter smart as well.
Simply Explained
My Sixth Year as YouTube Creator (statistics + retrospective) Every new year I reflect on the previous year and set new goals. Last year has been my most...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
Every new year I reflect on the previous year and set new goals. Last year has been my most successful year on YouTube so far, and I'd like to share some statistics and thoughts. I will also go over how my email newsletter is doing and where I'm headed. And finally, I'll set...
Simply Explained
EZStore: a tiny serverless datastore for IoT data (DynamoDB + Lambda) I've been working on a few IoT projects recently, and while prototyping, I need a simple but...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
I've been working on a few IoT projects recently, and while prototyping, I need a simple but flexible data store. I just want to push data to an API and query and visualize it later on.There are many solutions for this, but most are expensive or very limited. So I set out to...
Simply Explained
ESP-IDF: Storing AWS IoT certificates in the NVS partition (for OTA) When using AWS IoT Core, most tutorials will tell you to include device certificates in your...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
When using AWS IoT Core, most tutorials will tell you to include device certificates in your firmware. While that does work, it means you won't be able to run over-the-air updates.In this post, I'll show how to store AWS certificates in the NVS partition. This will make it...
Simply Explained
Securely access home network with Cloudflare Tunnel and WARP When Cloudflare announced that their Tunnel service would become free, I saw an opportunity to...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
When Cloudflare announced that their Tunnel service would become free, I saw an opportunity to strengthen the security of my Home Assistant instance. Until now, I have been using Cloudflare's CDN to connect to my HA instance, but that required opening ports on my router and...
Simply Explained
I Built a CO2 Sensor and It Terrifies Me Governments are pushing CO2 sensors to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but proper ventilation is...
over a year ago
10
over a year ago
Governments are pushing CO2 sensors to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but proper ventilation is equally important for our health and even our cognitive performance.In this blog post we'll look at a DIY CO2 sensor: how it runs ESPHome, how it integrates with Home Assistant, how it...
Simply Explained
Filtering spam on YouTube with TensorFlow & AI My YouTube channel has been attracting a lot of spammers. They try to trick people by saying they...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
My YouTube channel has been attracting a lot of spammers. They try to trick people by saying they know how to profit from trading cryptocurrencies or that they can recover lost wallet keys.I've been marking these comments as spam, thinking that YouTube would learn to recognize...
Simply Explained
Building a killer NAS with an old Rackable Server Like many others, I'm generating a lot of digital data. Constantly taking photos, writing scripts,...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
Like many others, I'm generating a lot of digital data. Constantly taking photos, writing scripts, taking notes, coding projects, and making videos. I'm storing all these files on Google Drive, which has been very reliable but also a bit risky. What if Google closes my account?...
Simply Explained
How I Structure My ESPHome Config Files I'm a big fan of ESPHome. I have 24 devices running it, and I only buy new IoT devices when I know...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
I'm a big fan of ESPHome. I have 24 devices running it, and I only buy new IoT devices when I know they can run ESPHome.ESPHome is a modular firmware that you have to configure with YAML files. You define what components it should load and how it should talk to the hardware of...
Simply Explained
Howto Virtualize Unraid on a Proxmox host Here's how to run Unraid as a virtual machine under Proxmox. This is useful when you're already...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
Here's how to run Unraid as a virtual machine under Proxmox. This is useful when you're already using Proxmox and if you want to use Unraid as a NAS.
Simply Explained
MAX17043: Battery Monitoring Done Right (Arduino & ESP32) Building a battery-powered IoT device? Then you'll want to monitor the battery's percentage. Here's...
over a year ago
Simply Explained
Preventing Cumulative Layout Shifts with lazy loaded images (Eleventy + markdown-it) There's nothing more annoying than a website shifting down just as you're about to click on a button...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
There's nothing more annoying than a website shifting down just as you're about to click on a button or link. This is called a layout shift, and Google has declared war on them. They've added layout shifts to the Core Web Vitals, and if your website has a lot of them, it will get...
Simply Explained
Migrating This Blog From Jekyll to Eleventy Jekyll has been powering this site for many years now. It replaced my WordPress setup, and I haven't...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
Jekyll has been powering this site for many years now. It replaced my WordPress setup, and I haven't looked back. Over the last few months, I have become fed up with Jekyll. It's slowing me down. Time to replace it with something new and shiny!
Simply Explained
Good Home Automation Should be Boring I'm a huge fan of Home Assistant to automate various things around the house. I often look at other...
over a year ago
5
over a year ago
I'm a huge fan of Home Assistant to automate various things around the house. I often look at other people's setup for inspiration, and one thing struck me. Many people have cluttered dashboards and use Home Assistant to track just about any metric they can.That's quite different...
Simply Explained
ESP32 Cam: cropping images on device The ESP32 camera is the cheapest microcontroller with a built-in camera that you can buy. The OV2640...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
The ESP32 camera is the cheapest microcontroller with a built-in camera that you can buy. The OV2640 sensor has a max resolution of 1600x1200, but sometimes you don't need the entire image.In this post I'll show how to crop the images on the ESP32 itself, before sending it of to...
Simply Explained
Retrospective: My Fifth Year on YouTube For the past 4 years, I have made a habit of reflecting on the previous year and set goals for the...
over a year ago
7
over a year ago
For the past 4 years, I have made a habit of reflecting on the previous year and set goals for the new year. This year is no exception, but now I try to set better goals while reflecting on some personal things in life.
Simply Explained
Secure Home Assistant Access with Cloudflare and Ubiquiti Dream Machine I've become increasingly reliant on Home Assistant to automate various tasks around the house. But...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
I've become increasingly reliant on Home Assistant to automate various tasks around the house. But how do you safely expose your instance to the internet for remote access?You want to be able to log in from a remote location, but how to keep others out? This post will show how...
Simply Explained
Shelly 2.5 + ESPHome: potential fire hazard + fix If you have flashed your Shelly 2.5 with ESPHome, make sure to configure GPIO16. Otherwise, the pin...
over a year ago
5
over a year ago
If you have flashed your Shelly 2.5 with ESPHome, make sure to configure GPIO16. Otherwise, the pin will be short-circuited and cause the unit to heat up significantly, creating a potential fire hazard!
Simply Explained
Impact of Adblockers on Google Analytics (vs. Plausible) Adblocker usage is quickly rising, with some estimates saying that almost 25% of internet users have...
over a year ago
5
over a year ago
Adblocker usage is quickly rising, with some estimates saying that almost 25% of internet users have one installed. Not only do they block advertisements, but also analytics scripts (like Google Analytics, Matomo, etc.)So that begs the question: what is the impact of these...
Simply Explained
Shelly 2.5: Flash ESPHome Over The Air! It's no secret that I'm a fan of Shelly products to automate various devices in my house. They're...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
It's no secret that I'm a fan of Shelly products to automate various devices in my house. They're well built, tiny and rock solid, and best of all: compatible with ESPHome.I flashed ESPHome onto all my Shelly 1's, but for some reason, I have issues with my Shelly 2.5 devices......
Simply Explained
Tuya IR Hub: control Daikin AC (Home Assistant + ESPHome) The release of ESPHome v1.15 brought better support for infrared climate control. This was enough to...
over a year ago
10
over a year ago
The release of ESPHome v1.15 brought better support for infrared climate control. This was enough to finally make my YTF IR Hub useable. Here's how I flashed ESPHome onto it and how I configured it for my Daikin AC and Home Assistant.
Simply Explained
Building Air Quality Sensor: Luftdaten + Home Assistant Luftdaten (now Sensor Community) is a global sensor network that measures air quality around the...
over a year ago
10
over a year ago
Luftdaten (now Sensor Community) is a global sensor network that measures air quality around the world. Best of all: it's open-source and anyone can build a sensor.I was very curious to see the air quality in my neighborhood, so I decided to build myself a sensor. And of course,...
Simply Explained
HEIC to JPG: Build a Quick Action with Automator With the release of iOS 11, Apple switched from JPG to HEIC to store your photos. The...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
With the release of iOS 11, Apple switched from JPG to HEIC to store your photos. The High-Efficiency Image File Format saves a lot of storage space on your devices while still maintaining your photos' quality. However, it does become problematic if you want to share those files...
Simply Explained
Make Your Garage Door Opener Smart: Shelly 1, ESPHome and Home Assistant I've been adding more and more devices to my smart home lately, so naturally, my garage door opener...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
I've been adding more and more devices to my smart home lately, so naturally, my garage door opener had to follow. But instead of swapping it out for a new unit, I used a Shelly 1 and a cheap door contact sensor to make it smart for less than $20!It runs ESPHome (open-source, no...
Simply Explained
Static webhosting benchmark: AWS, Google, Firebase, Netlify, GitHub & Cloudflare Static websites are still a hot topic. They are fast, and they're incredibly secure because there...
over a year ago
5
over a year ago
Static websites are still a hot topic. They are fast, and they're incredibly secure because there isn't a CMS to hack. Once you build a static website, however, the question becomes: Where do I host?In other words: what is the fastest static website hosting provider in 2020?...
Simply Explained
Why I don't take sponsorships Last year I made that video in response to a sponsorship offer that I got from various VPN...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
Last year I made that video in response to a sponsorship offer that I got from various VPN providers. They all told me the same thing: our service is the best way to protect your privacy, and we were hoping you could convey this message in one of your videos.So I decided to do...
Simply Explained
Monitoring my 3D printer with a Pi Zero, Home Assistant and TinyCore Linux Many devices in my home have become "smart" over the last couple of months, with one big exception:...
over a year ago
7
over a year ago
Many devices in my home have become "smart" over the last couple of months, with one big exception: my trusty 3D printer. It's a super reliable Prusa i3 MK3, but it lacks an internet connection.So I decided to use a Pi Zero to keep track of my 3D prints and send the progress to...
Simply Explained
ESP32: Keep WiFi connection alive with a FreeRTOS task I have a few ESP32's running in my house. A few of them are running 24/7 and require an always-on...
over a year ago
11
over a year ago
I have a few ESP32's running in my house. A few of them are running 24/7 and require an always-on WiFi connection. That's been quite tricky to implement. I used to include various checks throughout my code, but that's not scalable.What I need is something running in the...
Simply Explained
Home Energy Monitor: V2 My DIY home energy monitor has been running for almost a year now. It's been recording my...
over a year ago
5
over a year ago
My DIY home energy monitor has been running for almost a year now. It's been recording my electricity consumption every second and everything is neatly archived in my AWS account.Still, though, there is room for improvement. It's time to look back, evaluate & improve the design....
Simply Explained
Retrospective: 4 years on YouTube Every year I sit down and take a look at how my YouTube channel has been doing. I reflect, evaluate,...
over a year ago
8
over a year ago
Every year I sit down and take a look at how my YouTube channel has been doing. I reflect, evaluate, and set goals for the coming year. This year is no exception. January 13th, 2020, marks my fourth year on YouTube. Time to do a little retrospective.
Simply Explained
Multitasking on ESP32 with Arduino and FreeRTOS By now, it's no secret that the ESP32 is my go-to chip for making IoT devices. They're small,...
over a year ago
6
over a year ago
By now, it's no secret that the ESP32 is my go-to chip for making IoT devices. They're small, powerful, have a ton of onboard features, and they're relatively easy to program.However, when using it together with Arduino, all your code runs on a single core. That seems a bit...
Simply Explained
ESP32: Tips to increase battery life Running an ESP32 on a battery is a tricky operation. The chip is a powerhouse, and with power comes...
over a year ago
9
over a year ago
Running an ESP32 on a battery is a tricky operation. The chip is a powerhouse, and with power comes great responsibility. In this post, I’ll outline how I got an ESP32 to run for over 15 weeks (and counting) on a single 1000mAh battery.