Building a smart home isn’t just about cool gadgets; it’s about making life simpler and more accessible for everyone in the house. In my latest project, I wanted to build upon my previous tablet installation to give my son more autonomy in his room. The goal was to give him the ability to turn his lights and TV on or …

Hey guys! How’s it going? I hope you’re all doing really well out there. Today’s video isn’t a tutorial. Instead, we’re going to talk about my experience with MicroCloud, the open-source, scalable cloud solution from Canonical. When I say “cloud,” I don’t mean AWS or Google Cloud. MicroCloud is all about taking that cloud experience and bringing it home to …

Testing a Local AI Powerhouse That Actually Respects Your Privacy Over the years I’ve tested several self-hosting ecosystems like CasaOS, ZimaOS, UmbrelOS, a few different NAS operating systems, and probably some other stuff I’m not remembering at the moment. Each one promised to make self-hosting easier, but they all had their quirks and limitations. Recently I learned about another platform …

One of the biggest issues we face in modern society is the constant deluge of information. On a day to day basis, we are inundated with the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of everyone on the planet. The problem with this level of saturation is that we often don’t give ourselves enough time to sit with our own ideas, emotions, and …

Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing really well out there today. I recently spent some time testing out a self-hosted note-taking app called Alexandrie, and I wanted to share my experience with you. If you’re looking for a Docker-based alternative to commercial note apps like Notion or Evernote, this might be worth checking out. What is Alexandrie? Alexandrie is an …

I recently explored Tugtainer, a Docker container management tool that’s been gaining attention in the home lab community. It showed up on Reddit, in my Discord server, and in Ethan Sholly’s newsletter around the same time, so I figured it was worth checking out. Understanding Tugtainer Tugtainer is a self-hosted application that helps manage Docker container updates through a web …

If you’re in the self-hosted or homelab community, you know how quickly bookmarks can multiply. Over time, what started as a handful of helpful URLs turns into a messy collection spread across browser folders, sticky notes, or half-forgotten tools. That’s where ThinkDashboard comes in. In this post, I’m diving into ThinkDashboard. It’s a lightweight, self-hosted bookmark dashboard that’s all about …

A while back, I shared the containers and services running in my homelab, and a bunch of you asked about the hardware powering it all. Well, I’ve been putting off that follow-up because, honestly? I’m lazy. And I didn’t want to make a video that would be outdated the second I hit publish. But here’s the thing—my setup just went …

HomeHub is revolutionizing how families organize their daily lives with a lightweight, privacy-focused dashboard that puts you back in control of your data. If you’ve been searching for a self-hosted solution that combines shopping lists, chore tracking, expense management, and more, all in one clean interface, you’ve just found it. What Makes HomeHub Different from Other Family Organizers? Let’s be …

Self-hosted file sharing solutions have become increasingly popular as people seek more control over their data and privacy. When I discovered Palmr through Ethan Chalet’s self-hosted newsletter, I was immediately drawn to its promise of being a privacy-focused, open-source alternative to services like WeTransfer and SendGB. After spending a weekend testing it thoroughly, I have mixed but ultimately positive feelings …