The Lance J. Technoweb

I have a large window in the front of my house and a roller shade was just the right window treatment for it.  But I also wanted to automate it. My MotionBlind Upgrade kit and my new roller shade I looked around to buy something that I was comfortable with, but simple non-automated roller blinds can be expensive, especially when they're larger than 6 ft x 6 ft.   This is disappointing, as a roller blind is just a tube with a small amount of synthetic cloth but can easily cost hundreds of dollars. Plus, since I wanted a smarthome blind, we're talking $500 or more from the "service oriented shops". I'm a tech guy.  I think can do better. After thinking about DIY and creative solutions, I decided to try out the Eve MotionBlinds Upgrade (MBU) kit.  This kit transforms an ordinary roller blind into a smart blind.  The MotionBlinds mechanism is basically consists of a small motor and battery in a long metal tube.  This motor tube slides into a roller blind ...

I like measuring things, and I like the weather.  So why shouldn't I own a weather station?  I've thought about it for several years, but never committed to it. Why not? Cost! But since I found a $35 solution, this year I did it! My Weather Station Configuration Why did it take me so long? When I looked online, I saw a bunch of $120 to $1000+ kits that did everything: wind, rain, solar radiation, barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, lightning, etc.  They looked big and complicated, and was more than I wanted to spend on what amounts to be a toy. The reasons I didn't buy one of these weather stations: Installing a weather station seemed like a pain in the butt. My property isn't really set up for quality weather data collection (limited open space, with trees, buildings, fences, etc). I didn't want to spend a lot of cash on finicky equipment.   Every other weather-related thing I've ever purchased has been pretty limited. But then I learned that this is...