Long before I launched Political Wire, I was wiring up lamps, scripting batch files, and trying to make computers talk to light switches.
Smart Home Projects is the newsletter I wish had existed when I was getting started — practical, opinionated, and deeply hands-on.
It’s for people who don’t just want to buy smart home gadgets, but want to understand how they work, how to connect them, and how to make them do something genuinely useful.
Where It Started
My obsession with home automation goes back more than 40 years.
In the 1980s — before the World Wide Web, before Wi-Fi, before “smart home” was a marketing term — I wrote a small MS-DOS utility called SendX10. It allowed users of early X10 systems to send command codes directly from a PC over their home’s electrical wiring.
At the time, X10 was revolutionary. Instead of rewiring a house, you could send on/off and dim/bright signals through the existing power lines to control lamps and appliances. It was clunky. It was slow. It was magical.
SendX10 was designed as automation glue:
Scriptable from batch files
Integrated into everyday DOS workflows
Built for hobbyists using X10 Powerhouse controllers
From the DOS command line, you could trigger any appliance using house and unit codes. Drop it into AUTOEXEC.BAT and your desk lamp could turn on when your computer booted. Launch your communications program and automatically power up the modem.
I also wrote a companion utility, SyncX10, to synchronize the X10 interface clock with the PC — because if your timers drifted, your automations failed.
Even then, reliability mattered.
An Early Lesson in the Pre-Internet Economy
My programs were released as shareware — a $15 fee if you found them useful.
This was early digital monetization. Users downloaded fully working software and, if they were inclined, mailed a check to my parents’ home address.
There was enormous friction. No PayPal. No Stripe. No “Subscribe” button.
Just envelopes and stamps.
Yet the checks kept arriving for years — even after I’d left for college. The software spread across bulletin board systems like Circuit Cellar, long before the web as we know it today.
That experience taught me two things:
If you build something genuinely useful, people will support it.
Distribution changes everything.
Those lessons eventually shaped how I built Political Wire.
Today’s smart home landscape is infinitely more powerful than X10 ever was — but it’s also fragmented, confusing, and often built more for marketing than for capability.
Smart Home Projects is about:
Real-world home automation setups
Apple Home, Matter and how to make them work
Practical wiring, hardware, and reliability lessons
Security, sensors, energy management, and lighting design
The trade-offs vendors don’t advertise
Projects that actually improve daily life
I approach this the same way I approached those early DOS utilities: as someone who wants systems that are scriptable, dependable, and extensible.
Not gimmicks.
What You’ll Get
Each issue focuses on something concrete you can do to improve your smart home.
It’s opinionated. It’s technical when necessary. It’s grounded in real-world experimentation.
And like those early shareware days, it’s driven by curiosity about what’s possible when you connect the right pieces together.