There’s something oddly satisfying about seeing a post from someone who’s just installed their first self-hosted doorbell camera. It takes me back to my own journey down the rabbit hole of home automation and self-hosted solutions. What starts as “I just want to see who’s at the door” quickly evolves into running virtual machines, comparing AI detection algorithms, and debating the merits of different RTSP streams at 2 AM.

The original poster mentioned they’re running MotionEye via Proxmox VE, which honestly brought a smile to my face. Here’s someone who’s taken the plunge into virtualisation just to avoid paying monthly fees to Ring or whoever. That’s the spirit that keeps the self-hosted community alive, even when it means wrestling with configuration files instead of just scanning a QR code.

The recent surge in porch pirates and the general desire to keep our homes secure has many of us looking into security cameras. But the market has become a minefield of subscription-based services, turning what should be a one-time purchase into yet another monthly drain on our bank accounts.

Yesterday, while browsing through various online discussions about security cameras, I noticed a clear trend emerging. The community seems to be gravitating towards two main contenders in the subscription-free space: Eufy and Reolink. What caught my attention wasn’t just the number of recommendations, but the consistent praise for their reliability and feature sets.

Remember when the scariest thing about having a robot vacuum was whether it might eat your charging cables? Those were simpler times. The recent revelation about Roomba test footage ending up on Facebook has left me feeling both frustrated and concerned about the direction we’re heading with smart home technology.

Sitting here in my study, watching my own robot vacuum methodically cleaning the house, I’m struck by how easily we’ve welcomed these devices into our most private spaces. The story about beta testers’ private moments being shared on social media is particularly disturbing, even if they had technically “consented” to data collection.