01 ACTIVE
The Gear Log
Every object I own is on the record: the job it does, and the note where it earned its place or failed and taught me something.
52 items on the record
◆ personal tech lab
rev. 2026.10
Jash
Jacob_
Tech Observer · System Thinker · Relentless Tinkerer
I'm interested in how technology behaves in the real world, not specs, not marketing, but actual usage. I measure, test, and iterate, then write down what I find.
• Most systems fail at the last 10% of execution• Ease of use > features• If you don't track it, you'll overestimate it• Good systems remove decisions• Reliability is underrated• Complexity should have a reason• Invisible systems are the best ones• Most systems fail at the last 10% of execution• Ease of use > features• If you don't track it, you'll overestimate it• Good systems remove decisions• Reliability is underrated• Complexity should have a reason• Invisible systems are the best ones
Current obsessions
05 open threads 02 ACTIVE
Smart Home Systems
A fully automated house on Zigbee. Reliability first. Features only if they survive a month.
118 devices online
03 PROTOTYPE
NFC Tracking
Tap-based logging so recording a use costs zero thought.
~1.2s per log, prototype
04 ACTIVE
Personal Dashboards
Everything visualised. If it isn't on a panel, it isn't real.
6 panels built
05 ONGOING
Low-Friction Tech
Minimal setup, maximum usability. Systems that just work.
0 manual steps, the goal
+ I believe in
- 01Simple, reliable systems over complex ones
- 02Automation that saves friction, not just time
- 03Observable metrics and dashboards
- 04Open-source tools I can modify
− I avoid
- 01Over-engineered setups
- 02Feature bloat and unnecessary complexity
- 03Things that don't work reliably
- 04Systems I don't understand
What I'm building
in progress · % are my estimates NFC usage tracker Hardware done, logging layer in progress. ~72%
Personal analytics dashboard Six panels built, device usage patterns next. ~55%
Smart home expansion 118 of 124 devices online. The job now is keeping the mesh reliable, not adding more. 95%
Field notes
all 5 notes → 2026.09.15 · smart home Home Assistant Green and the Atomberg Fans Three fans onto Home Assistant in under five minutes, using a community plugin from HACS. The setup was the easy part. The decision it makes you take first, Atomberg's cloud or an IR blaster, is the one worth thinking about. 2026.08.01 · home network Home Network Update: PoE Switch and In-Wall APs I've been adding smart home devices for a while and the network was quietly becoming the bottleneck. So I surveyed the house before buying anything else. Here's what the heatmaps showed and what one access point actually fixed. 2026.06.24 · smart home Six Months with the Aqara A100 129 days after installing it the batteries died and every way into my house died with them. Fingerprint, NFC, watch, app, all useless at once. What got me in was a powerbank ordered off Instamart and a USB-C port nobody ever reviews. 2026.05.05 · smart home Getting Started with Home Assistant and Aqara Every device I'd bought answered to a different company's servers. Home Assistant is how I pulled that back in, running on a second hand mini PC that costs less than one of the switches it controls.