Really, home automation is about convenience. Having said that, I do strive to automate all the things, so the first effect of Alexa going away would be me trying to automate more stuff somehow and ...

The first step toward building a smart home is deciding which smart home platform to use. Google Home and Amazon Alexa are two of the best on the market, offering support for hundreds of third-party ...

Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to stay online tricky — not to mention making my homestead smarter.

On the hardware front, you can use an old smartphone with a working mic and speaker to use the Home Assistant Companion app on it. Alternatively, buy a tiny $15 Atom Echo smart speaker to start small ...