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The Smart Home interface

The Smart Home interface

I’ve been living with a HomeKit powered smart home for about the past year now and over that time built a range of device types including…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
My smart home in 2017

My smart home in 2017

I’ve been building out my smart home for the last couple of years, and now HomeKit is finally starting to mature so are the range of…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
My smart home in 2017

My smart home in 2017

I’ve been building out my smart home for the last couple of years, and now HomeKit is finally starting to mature so are the range of…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
Latest Stories
Wall mounted iPad hub

Wall mounted iPad hub

I’ve managed to automate the vast majority of things in my home; for example, every light is smart (either Philips Hue or Lightwave), most…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
Hubs and bridges

Hubs and bridges

I’ve seen a number of people ask what the need of an AppleTV or Hub in a HomeKit setup is for, this article sheds some light on a few terms…
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Leon Barrett
Xiaomi and HomeKit

Xiaomi and HomeKit

I’ve been building my smart home over the last few years and was in the market to add sensors everywhere in an effort to improve the…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
The problem with motion as a trigger

The problem with motion as a trigger

I’ve been building out my smart home for the last couple of years. You can read how I’ve done it here.
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
Hey Siri, why don’t you know I’m awake?

Hey Siri, why don’t you know I’m awake?

I’m a creature of habit and have set my smart home up to reflect this. My weekday morning routine includes a wake up scene that:
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
Tado° HomeKit Review

Tado° HomeKit Review

Tado° have recently released a long awaited HomeKit bridge for their smart thermostats and valves. This is a write up of my current system…
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Leon Barrett
The most exciting HomeKit news from WWDC 2017

The most exciting HomeKit news from WWDC 2017

Apple held their annual developer conference (WWDC) last week. Whilst there wasn’t a huge amount of HomeKit news in the main keynote, the…
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Leon Barrett
Where next for the Smart Home?

Where next for the Smart Home?

There’s a war going on to control your home between Amazon, Google, Apple and a whole host of other brands and platforms. Today however…
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Leon Barrett
4 things to consider when designing your smart home

4 things to consider when designing your smart home

I’ve been building out my smart home over the last couple of years. One question that I seem to be getting more and more recently is where…
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Leon Barrett
5 things I wish HomeKit did now

5 things I wish HomeKit did now

I’ve been living with HomeKit for the last 8 months now and whilst it’s made automating my home a whole lot easier, there are a few things…
Go to the profile of Leon Barrett
Leon Barrett
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