Converting Cisco Aironet From Lightweight To Autonomous Mode

If I was to assume, my house has better WiFi coverage and is more reliable than yours. Over an 800m2 of my property on multiple levels, my signal strength in a survey averaged -53dBm on 2.4ghz (a bit less on 5ghz) and it cost in 2023, $100. I will get to the details shortly. A … Read more

Part 3 – Architectural Cost Optimisation – Practical Design Steps for Architects and Developers

Did you miss part one and part two of this this multi part series on ‘Cost Optimisation’? In part 3 of this multi-part blog series, I am going to cover, as per the title ‘Architectural Cost Optimisation’.In prior posts I have spoken about foundational primitives, what you can change and tune in the cloud without changing your … Read more

Monitoring Solar Consumption With A ESP32/8266 and LED Lights

Since having a PV (Photo Voltaic) solar array installed on my roof earlier in the year I have become a more aware of the energy consumption of my house. In my post ‘Making Data Driven Decisions With A PV Array, Home Assistant and MQTT‘ I am leveraging consumption data to make decisions in my house, … Read more

Evaluating Azure Ampere Altra Based VM’s

They are finally here. As I pen this article in September of 2022, Azure finally has ARM based (aarch64) compute to compliment the slew of x86 offerings in the form of Intel and AMD SKU’s, which all add to increase the completeness of vision within the Microsoft Cloud. It’s not often I comment on new … Read more

Part 2 – Infrastructure Cost Optimisation In The Cloud – Practical Design Steps For Architects and Developers

Did you miss part one of this one of this multi part series on ‘Cost Optimisation’? In part 2 of this multi-part blog series, I am going to cover, as per the title ‘Infrastructure’, but that’s a pretty wide remit. Stay tuned for further posts where I cover more progressive infrastructure topics, but in this … Read more

Automagically Keeping Cool In Zwift

Cycling has always been something I have been passionate about. With the COVID-19 induced lockdowns I finally decided to purchase an indoor trainer (Garmin TACX Neo 2T) and like so many people around the world, I use Zwift as a means to hit my distance targets each week. Spoiler – Want to see a demo? … Read more

Cost Optimisation In The Cloud – Practical Design Steps For Architects and Developers – Part 1

Cost. I have been fortunate to work for and help migrate one of Australia’s leading websites (seek.com.au) in to the cloud and have worked for both large public cloud vendors. I have seen the really good, and the not so good when it comes to architecture. Cloud and cost. It can be quite a polarising … Read more

Creating a Soft-Remote with MQTT and Home Assistant

Technology is amazing and as much as we want to use our smart phones or ask Alexa, Google and Siri to take action, nothing beats a physical button. In almost all cases they are faster and it’s a good reason why I practice passive automation. Walk into a room and its dark, then the light … Read more

Tech Tee-Shirts: How to make friends and influence people

Who are you? The world of IT is big and ever-growing. Do you just blend in? Maybe you do, and that is fine (and could be appropriate), but perhaps your role is more of an evangelist, one of the plethora of IT based architects, a CxO, a Head Of, or even as the role I … Read more