The bug that only showed up once a week
My assistant kept losing its Google login every seven days. The fix turned out to be one setting.
The log
Notes from projects at home and on the bench. I'm early in my IT career and learning fast, so I write things down — partly to remember, partly in case it helps someone else. Every entry has a plain-English version and an under-the-hood version.
Rethinking cloud-only smart bulbs
What I learned when my "smart" lights turned out to depend on someone else's servers.
My backup went from 5.9 GB to 66 MB
Turns out a good backup is as much about what you leave out.
The password that never arrived
I stored a secret the "right" way. The program that needed it never got the message.
Swapping a gaming PC for a 6-watt mini PC
My always-on server didn't need a graphics card. It needed to be cheap to leave running.
I gave my AI assistant its own user account
Before I let a bot read my email, I gave it a room of its own — with a lock on the door.