home automation - Tech Wizardry

Hubitat to Home Assistant: Why I Stopped My Transition

September 24, 2026 by Kyle Bryant

Hubitat to Home Assistant hybrid setup with old PC running Home Assistant OS and Hubitat Elevation hub

My Hubitat to Home Assistant transition abruptly stopped, but for the best reason. I found a hybrid setup that keeps flawless Alexa control while unlocking Home Assistant automations with Big Pickle AI.

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Home Assistant Mac Mini Kiosk Display: HAOS-kiosk Setup Guide

September 1, 2026 by Kyle Bryant

Old Apple Mac Mini running Home Assistant bare-metal with HAOS-kiosk displaying a home automation dashboard on a monitor

From Headless to Headful: Turning My Old Mac Mini into a Home Assistant Dashboard with HAOS-kiosk When I first put Home Assistant bare-metal onto an old Apple Mac Mini I had lying around in the closet, I was convinced it was going to be a headless server. Install HAOS, tuck the Mini into the closet, … Read more

Hubitat Maker API + Home Assistant: The Simpler Integration

August 28, 2026 by Kyle Bryant

Hubitat Maker API direct connection to Home Assistant showing REST API integration architecture

Integrate Hubitat with Home Assistant using Maker API for direct, fast communication without bridge complexity. Setup takes just 15 minutes.

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Home Assistant on Linux: Self-Hosted Automation Without the Cloud

August 20, 2026 by Kyle Bryant

Home Assistant dashboard on Linux showing automation status and connected smart home devices

If you’re tired of cloud-dependent smart home systems and want complete control over your home automation, Home Assistant on Linux is the answer you’ve been looking for. As someone running Home Assistant on a dedicated Linux machine, I can tell you that self-hosted home automation fundamentally changes how you think about smart home security and … Read more