Recent Paul’s Tech Makeover Stories

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While I still plan to wire Ethernet into my home office, I’m experimenting with Powerline networking in the furthest reaches of the house.

I knew we’d make smart home mistakes and that we would go down certain roads only to backtrack after things didn’t work out.

I was just pondering the pointlessness of all the Google Home smart speakers we have. And then Google saved the day.

It’s time for a quick smart home check in to see where we’re at and look ahead at what we’d like to accomplish in 2019.

Anyone interested in smart home technologies will immediately run into a long list of issues. And it's hard to know where to start.

In the three months or so since we've switched (back) to cord-cutting services, we've been mostly happy with the decision.

Using a cord-cutting service requires the ability to give up expectations we have from the past and be open to doing things differently.

Our experience with cable TV has been hugely negative. And after struggling with it for months, we're going back to a cord-cutting service.

In 2017, we moved to Pennsylvania and underwent what I think of as Phase 1 of our smart home makeover. For 2018, I have bigger plans.

I really enjoy the sound quality of Sonos wireless smart speakers, but I don't like the cost or compatibility issues.

In the past week, a few unrelated events have brought some closure to what I will call the first phase of our personal tech makeover in Pennsylvania.

As many predicted, and as I had feared, streaming TV services simply aren't ready for prime time. So we've gone crawling back to cable TV.

I couldn't be less happy with our TV situation, which is the exact opposite of what I'm trying to achieve at the new house.

I previously discussed the crazy mess of lighting controls in our new home. This week, we're finally almost done fixing it.

After just a few weeks of testing cord-cutting services in our new home, I've uncovered something unexpected.

While it's taking us longer than I'd hoped to get up and running in the new home, we've started planning the improvements that it needs.

We're currently using multiple music subscription services and speaker systems, and that has to change.

The next four weeks are going to be busy and interesting. But when it's over, we should be fully moved to Pennsylvania.

I've never experimented with smart home technology. But I think I've found the right places to start with the new home we're moving to.

We're still about a month away from our move to Pennsylvania, but I've started planning for our cord-cutting future.

We're moving, and I'm using this change as an excuse to re-evaluate the personal technology we use.

We're planning a big move, and while this is a stressful and uncertain time, I'm rethinking the personal technology we use day-to-day.