Home Automation

Say No to WiFi Home Automation

The best option is to use something that communicates over RF such as:

• Zigbee
• Z-Wave
• Insteon
• X10
• etc

I recommend these because they only send data when it is required and is not always communicating with the base station. Unlike the following, which I do not recommend:

• WiFi
• Bluetooth
• Bluetooth LE

 WiFi and Bluetooth will clutter your home with radio waves, slow down bandwidth and waste energy. Not to mention I still believe that too much radio waves is not healthy. At the very least do not get any WiFi home automation products such as Wall Sockets, Light Switches, etc. They are made by manufacturers because they are easier to setup, however the cost both financially, health wise and bandwidth wise, is not worth it.

Vera Controller is an example of a simple setup Z-Wave system, easier than WiFi. I have tried this system and while they advertise you do not need the cloud, you actually do. Without the cloud the Vera system is severely limited, you can barely make any configuration changes and most of the feature are in the cloud. Without the cloud you have basic control.

In the end I used HomeAssistant with a USB Z-Wave controller and I absolutely love it. I even have my Hikvision NVR and standalone IP cameras displayed in the same interface as my Z-Wave devices.

Password Manager

While there are many password manager applications out there, some I have tried such as KeePass and LastPass. Others, that I have not tried include and cannot comment on:

• 1Password
• Bitser
• Dashlane
• Enpass
• Intuitive Password
• Keeper
• Mitto

However I wanted a hardware password manager, so I found Mooltipass Mini.

https://www.themooltipass.com/

Mooltipass is a great little piece of hardware that encrypts your credentials with AES256 and requires two factor authentication (PIN + Smart Card). This device supports Windows, Linux, Mac and even Apple and Android devices (most). It only requires the APP and or Web Plugin to load your passwords, once that is completed you can use it in manual mode and not require any additional software/plugin. Best of all its OpenSource and fairly cheap!!!

DJI Mavic Pro

Pro's and Con's of the DJI Mavic Pro

Pro:

• Portable
• High Quality Build
• 4K Camera
• Video Stabilization using Gimbal
• Flight stability
• Ease of use

Con:

• Firmware upgrade can stop you from flying or restrict your usage
• Data collected about the user and usage is insane

Network Attached Storage

Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Solution (For Me)

I recently found myself looking for a NAS solution for my backups and put a lot of time into the research before making a decision. I decided to go with FreeNAS and I will tell you why.

I looked at Western Digital(WD), ASUSTOR, D-Link, Buffalo, QNAP and Synology. However they all had the following flaws in my mind:

• Underpowered (Low RAM and CPU spec's)
• Limited upgrade-ability
• Disaster recovery nightmare (Need to buy the same unit to recover data in case the hardware fails)

So I decided to go with FreeNAS on custom build hardware or HP Proliant MicroServer G8 for the following reasons:

• Xeon CPU (High powered & ECC (Error Correcting Code)
• ECC RAM + More GB of RAM
• Protection of Bit Rot or Data Degradation (ZFS will compare the checksum of each data block on the mirrored drive pairs and fix the corrupt data.)
• Disaster Recover (DR) (In the event of a hardware failure I can boot into FreeNAS on ANY computer and get my data back. As long I as my RAID is mirrored or I have the config file).

The price actually works out to be about the same for the custom build or server grade hardware as with the off the shelf consumer ones, however you will have a more powerful machine and peace of mind. You can purchase all the parts individually such as case, Motherboard that supports ECC RAM, Xeon CPU and that has built in web management interface similar to iLo, DRAC or CIMC (Cisco). The remote management is quite useful as you can remote power on/off your device from a web browser, remote KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse), remote diagnostic, etc. Or go with an off the shelf product like the HP Proliant MicroServer G8 or Dell PowerEdge T130.

My Favourite Android APK's

Here is a archive of Android Apps in APK format for my personal use.

OpenVPN Connect

net.openvpn.openvpn.apk

Date: March 9, 2015 Size: 2.2MB  Creator: OpenVPN Source: Google Play Store

Hikvision iVMS HD

com.mcu.iVMSHD.apk

Date: April 7, 2015 Size: 16MB  Creator: Hikvision HQ Source: Google Play Store

Hikvision iVMS

com.mcu.iVMS.apk

Date: December 7, 2015 Size: 11MB  Creator: Hikvision HQ Source: Google Play Store

Skylink Remote Android Application

www.ecthk.net.skylinkremote.apk

Date: N/A Size: 6.9MB  Creator: SkyLink Home Source: Google Play Store

These are Android Applications that I use or use to use, I am creating this page to archive them for my future personal use. For example Sky Link HomeControl App was pulled from the market and I am glad I kept a copy.

Dynamic DNS

Best Free Dynamic DNS Solution

Dynamic DNS

When DynDNS stopped providing free Dynamic DNS services I was left searching for a solution. I found NO-IP.org which I used for a few years, but got fed up with having to login every month to re-activate. So I found a solution that provides that, before I tell you about it. Let me list a few services and the pro's and caveats I found with them.

AFRAID (https://freedns.afraid.org/)
   Pro:
    -Free

   Con:
    -TBD

DuckDNS (https://www.duckdns.org/)
   Pro:
    -Free

   Con:
    -Must use existing credentials (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc.)

No-IP (http://www.noip.com/)
   Pro:
    -Free

   Con:
    -Monthly Login and Captcha Re-Activation

Hurricane Internet Services (https://dns.he.net/)
   Pro:
    -Free

   Con:
    -Requires too much personal information for registration

FreeMyIP (https://freemyip.com/)

   Pro:
    -Free
    -Anymous
    -No Registration
    -No Expiration
    -No Ad's

   Con:
    -Not sure if it is trustworthy



Keywords: Free Dynamic DNS, DynDNS Alternative, No-IP Alternative, 

Windows Server Disable TLSv1.0

We all know by now that TLSv1.0 is broken we must disable it to protect ourselves from this vulnerability, here are the two registry key's that need to be created to disable TLSv1.0:

Launch RegEdit and navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL\Protocols\"

In the "Client" & "Server" key and create a DWORD (32 bit) entry and call this "Enabled" and set the value to 0, also create a DWORD (32 bit) entry called "DisabledByDefault" in both "Client" and "Server" Folders/Keys.

"Enabled" - Disables TLSv1.0
"DisabledByDefault" - Advertises that the server can or cannot accept TLSv1.0