2025.2 - Broadcasting our backups to OneDrive and Google Drive
Feb 5, 2025
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Discover the latest updates to the backups feature and how the Home Assistant voice assistant gains exciting new skills. The hosts delve into Logitech's new office occupancy sensor and its smart applications. Learn about the challenges and experiences of upgrading to version 2025.2, along with improvements in encryption and convenience. Explore enhanced Bluetooth management and innovative smart home integrations, all while enjoying new broadcasting features that elevate voice control in your smart ecosystem.
The introduction of Logitech's office occupancy sensor highlights a growing trend of utilizing smart home technologies in corporate environments, raising privacy concerns about employee monitoring.
Recent updates to Home Assistant's backup functionalities enhance user experience by allowing customizable encryption settings and improved scheduling options, ensuring data security and flexibility.
Deep dives
Logitech's New Office Presence Sensor
Logitech has introduced a new office presence sensor designed for use in corporate environments, such as conference and meeting rooms. This device utilizes millimeter wave sensors to detect room occupancy and can monitor how long spaces are in use, potentially allowing for automated controls like turning off lights when no one is present. The discussion raises concerns regarding staff monitoring, such as tracking heart rates and time spent at desks, which compels consideration about privacy in workplace settings. This shift indicates a growing trend of integrating smart home technologies into office environments, although the pricing may limit widespread adoption in home settings.
Updates to Backup Features in Home Assistant
The recent updates have made significant improvements to backup functionalities in Home Assistant, addressing community feedback concerning file encryption. Users can now enable or disable encryption per storage location, although backups stored with Nabucasa must remain encrypted. Additionally, encrypted backups can be effortlessly decrypted upon download, streamlining the process for users. Enhancements to scheduling options have also been made, allowing for flexibility in backup triggers and the reinstatement of choices to create backups during updates, ensuring minimal data loss during system changes.
Exciting Developments in Voice Assistant Capabilities
The podcast discusses new features in voice assistant technology within Home Assistant, particularly the ability to broadcast messages across multiple devices. This allows users to issue commands like setting thermostat temperatures or making announcements using text-to-speech capabilities. Further advancements include integrating calendars with language models for enhanced conversational interactions and automating notifications through VoIP systems. These innovations represent substantial steps in making smart home technology more interactive and user-friendly, especially for households using multiple voice assistants.
2025.2 is here with a bunch of new updates to the backups feature, and the Home Assistant voice assistant gets some long awaited new skills. Meanwhile Rohan and Phil discuss a new office occupancy sensor from Logitech, and an issue with HACS
Easily connect to Google and Amazon voice assistants for a small monthly fee that also supports the Home Assistant project. Configuration is via the User Interface so no fiddling with router settings, dynamic DNS, or YAML.