Things I build, break, fix, and write about

25 April 2026
Setting lifecycle tracking for kitchen appliances with Home

I stopped treating appliance failure as a surprise and built a Home Assistant replacement schedule around dates, run counts, and service history. It is plain, slightly dull, and far more useful than trusting memory when a garbage disposal starts sounding like it is chewing gravel.

25 April 2026
Security Advisory – 24 Apr 2026

Daily security advisory summary for 24 Apr 2026

24 April 2026
Network segmentation through VLAN, DNS and firewall strategy

A proper network blueprint is mostly unglamorous discipline, VLANs with a job, DNS that stays in its lane, firewall rules that mean something, and...

24 April 2026
Security Advisory – 23 Apr 2026

Daily security advisory summary for 23 Apr 2026

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23 March 2026
Stellar Blade (PS5) + 2 more Amazon tech bargains

Check out these top Amazon deals including Stellar Blade for PS5 at £28.6.

22 March 2026
Petabyte leaks start with uncontrolled backup access

A single compromised credential reaching both production and backup storage across the same network boundary turns one day's data loss into months or years. Isolation done badly is barely isolation at...

21 March 2026
Video file naming and structure for decade-scale retrieval

A video archive you cannot read a decade later is just a warm drive waiting to die. Ambiguous filenames and missing verification schedules kill cold storage video archival; fix those two things, and...

20 March 2026
Backup retention policy: writing it down saves arguments

A backup schedule that works is not the same as a documented one. When recovery fails and a client asks why their data is gone, a working cron job and a vague memory are not a defence; a policy...

16 March 2026
Object storage encryption at rest in homelab setups

Encryption without object lock is a half-measure. A misconfigured script or compromised service account can still wipe everything, which is why S3-compatible storage on a homelab needs layered defence...

16 March 2026
Ring Outdoor Camera Battery + 2 more Amazon tech bargains

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16 March 2026
Document what your backup excludes, not just what it covers

I've built backup jobs that looked fine right up until the restore failed. The gap between what you think is covered and what actually is covered lives in the space where documentation should be;...

16 March 2026
Docker Compose for portable homelab deployments

Vendor lock-in creeps in quietly: a pinned cloud dashboard, a backup tool in a proprietary format, a reverse proxy config hardcoded to an IP nobody wrote down. By the time you need to migrate, the...

15 March 2026
Mitigating Win+X paste attacks with PowerShell settings

Use this blueprint to harden Windows Terminal and PowerShell, reduce exposure and detect post-compromise behaviour. You get clear settings, AppLocker and WDAC guidance, logging checks and audits you...

10 March 2026
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max + 3 more Amazon tech bargains

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