Home Assistant, a free open-source smart home platform with over 1,500 device integrations, officially supports installation on the Raspberry Pi 4 and 5, requiring at least 2GB RAM and a 32GB microSD card. The software carries no subscription or feature paywall, though add-ons like cloud remote access are optional paid extras. Once installed, users can automate their homes based on triggers like location, power usage, NFC tags, or device state changes.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-19
A Hacker News poster argues that AI-related submissions have come to dominate the site's feed over the past couple of months, crowding out other hacker-relevant stories. They cite two recent examples—a Lenovo solid-state cooling laptop and Brax Industries' open-source smart home devices—that received little engagement despite being technically interesting. The poster suggests YC could curate underexposed posts or add tagging so users can filter content by topic.
news.ycombinator.com
· 2026-09-11
A Home Assistant user rerouted their Withings Body+ smart scale's data by pairing it with an original ESP32 board over Bluetooth Classic instead of relying on Withings' cloud servers. The ESP32 receives weigh-in data from the scale and forwards it to Home Assistant over Wi-Fi using ESPHome, with an AI coding assistant helping reverse-engineer the undocumented Bluetooth protocol from the Withings Android app.
didac.dev
· 2026-09-03
Anker introduced MindBase, an AI-powered smart home hub that centralizes control of its security, energy, cleaning, and audio devices while running a large language model on-device for local processing. The hub offers up to 48TB of local storage with no subscription fees and connects to third-party ecosystems like Matter, Apple HomeKit, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Home Assistant via a feature called EasyOmni Link. Alongside MindBase, Anker's Eufy brand also revealed new security hardware including the E50 NVR system, a video doorbell, and a window camera.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-03
GoKawiil