Year of Voice: A Bigger Deal Than You Think | Self-Hosted 108
Oct 20, 2023
auto_awesome
Paulus Schoutsen, Home Assistant's founder, discusses the Year of Voice, recent legal actions from Mazda, and a third-party audit. Other topics include converting dumb devices into smart ones with ESPHome, Nextcloud setup recommendations, and Tailscale VPN features.
Zima Board and Zima Blade offer customizable and affordable options for small home server setups.
Frigate is a popular and stable NVR software with facial recognition capabilities.
Exploring Nextcloud alternatives can help find the best fit for individual needs.
Implementing TailScale with PFSense and HAProxy allows easy access to local services while maintaining privacy and security.
Deep dives
Zima Board and Zima Blade
The Zima Board and Zima Blade are small home server options that offer attractive and hackable features. The Zima Board costs around $120 to $200 and features two to four Celeron processors, up to 8GB of RAM, 32GB of EMMC storage, two SATA connectors, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a PCI 2.0 slot, and a mini display port. The Zima Blade is a bare-bones version with similar specs, but at a lower cost. Both options provide flexibility and customization for small home server setups.
Frigate NVR Software
Frigate is a popular NVR software that has gained positive attention. It offers fast performance, stability, and facial recognition capabilities. It is being used by many users who have switched from other NVR solutions like Blue Iris. While it has performed well, some users have experienced stability issues with certain hardware configurations. Overall, Frigate is considered a preferred NVR solution on Linux, and many users are enjoying its features.
Nextcloud Alternatives
When it comes to Nextcloud alternatives, there are various options available, but it can be overwhelming due to the fragmented nature of the space. Some alternatives support LDAP, while others use OIDC. Each alternative has different configurations, making the decision more complex. However, some promising options to explore are Nextcloud Pi, Albi, and Castomatic. It is recommended to experiment with different alternatives to find the best fit for individual needs.
TailScale Implementation
The implementation of TailScale, a zero-config VPN, has proven to be successful using PFSense and HAProxy with the VPN on-demand feature. This setup allows for easy access to local services remotely without exposing them to the internet. By integrating TailScale with PFSense and HAProxy, users can access local services using fully qualified domain names (FQDNs) while maintaining privacy and security. This solution has been highly praised for its convenience and effectiveness.
Opinions on Closed Source Software
A user shared their experience working on infrastructure for a million-plus user app while also being a self-hoster. Based on their 20 years of experience, they recommend sticking to plain open-source software. They have found that closed-source or proprietary software can lead to long-term issues, while open-source software, such as Jellyfin, offers more benefits and reliability in the long run. The user echoes the sentiment of valuing open-source alternatives and their positive experiences with them.
Setting up a scientific environment for training AI models is challenging
Setting up scientific environments for training AI models can be complex and require specific configurations. The speaker describes the difficulties encountered when working on a Docker container with GPU pass-through for training.
Tailoring AI models using voice samples recorded by a satellite
The speaker discusses a method called fine-tuning, which involves using voice samples recorded by a voice satellite to customize AI models for individual users. By recording audio and repeating certain phrases, the model can learn about the user's unique voice and tailor its responses accordingly.
Home Assistant's founder, Paulus Schoutsen, shares details about the Year of Voice, recent legal actions from Mazda, and the results of a recent third-party audit.
Plus, our recommended Nextcloud setup, converting dumb devices into smart ones with ESPHome, and more.
Special Guests: Brent Gervais, Listener Jeff, and Paulus Schoutsen.
⚡ Self-Hosted on the Podcastindex.org — Send a Boost into the show via the web. First, top-up Alby, then head over to our entry on the Podcast Index.
ESPHome — ESPHome is a system to control your microcontrollers by simple yet powerful configuration files and control them remotely through Home Automation systems.
2023: Home Assistant's year of Voice - Home Assistant — TL;DR: It is our goal for 2023 to let users control Home Assistant in their own language. Mike Hansen, creator of Rhasspy, has joined Nabu Casa to lead this effort. We’re starting off by building a collection of intent matching sentences in every
Removal of Mazda Connected Services integration - Home Assistant — Home Assistant is disappointed that Mazda has decided to take this position. We’re also sad that Mazda’s first recourse was not to reach out to us and the maintainer but to send a cease and desist letter instead.
Year of the Voice - Chapter 4 - YouTube — We’re building an open voice assistant that does not share your data. Join us for our fourth progress update. You don't want to miss this one.
$13 voice assistant for Home Assistant - Home Assistant — This tutorial will guide you to turn an ATOM Echo into the world’s most private voice assistant. Pick up the tiny device to talk to your smart home. Issue commands and get responses!
ATOM Echo Smart Speaker Development Kit — ATOM ECHO is a Programmable Smart Speaker based on the M5ATOM design. With its compact form factor measuring only 24 * 24 * 17 mm, this speaker delivers impressive capabilities. Easily play music wirelessly using the BT capabilities of the ESP32 from your mobile phone or tablet.
Unleash Your Creativity with ESP32-S3-BOX-3 — ESP32-S3-BOX-3 is based on Espressif’s ESP32-S3 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 5 (LE) SoC, with AI acceleration capabilities. In addition to ESP32-S3’s 512KB SRAM, ESP32-S3-BOX-3 comes with 16MB of Quad flash and 16MB of Octal PSRAM.
Anker PowerConf S330 USB Speakerphone — A USB speakerphone with 4 high-sensitivity microphones to pick up all voices within 3m in super-high clarity.
Symfonium: Music player & cast - Apps on Google Play — Symfonium is a simple, modern, beautiful and highly configurable music player, with a unique vision to be the central control point of your music. Add one or multiple media providers.
