From Tuya to Home Assistant: A Kiwi’s Smart Home Journey

Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS or YAML.

Check out The Smartest House for Zooz devices at the best prices

Apollo Automation are the makers of open source smart home sensors built for the Home Assistant ecosystem. They're an official Open Home Foundation commercial partner and their devices are built with local control, privacy, and reliability in mind, giving you full control and flexibility right out of the box.

Phil is a Melbourne based web developer who lives and breathes technology. When he's not at his day job, he’s in his home office attempting to simplify his life through complicated tech.

Rohan from Toronto, Canada works in the Technology sector as an architect designing network and datacenter solutions for his customers. His passion for technology stems from there and extends to IoT and home automation

I’m a Kiwi bloke with over 30 years in the tech world and a long history of homelab tinkering. My smart home adventure kicked off in 2017 when I tried to patch a few household problems with some smart bulbs and a very questionable AliExpress garage door opener. Things limped along until 2018, when I discovered Home Assistant and everything finally made sense. It helped me wrestle my chaotic mix of devices off the cloud and under control, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

I’m also a father of five, so most of my life has been a balancing act of work, family, friends and trying to squeeze in a hobby before someone needs something. Now that the kids are mostly grown, I’ve finally got a bit more breathing room to dive back into the things I enjoy, including sharing what I’ve learned about smart homes and homelabs.