cool tech in q3 of 2025 less than $50

August 8, 2025 :: Casey Robinson

#tech

Sometimes it’s the little things that make life easier. Here are a few small purchases I’ve made recently that have been surprisingly useful in my day-to-day.

🚗 ESR MagSafe Car Mount – $27

I’ve been looking for a simple, reliable way to keep my phone in place in my 2008 car, and this ESR MagSafe mount nails it. I’ve always loved the Apple MagSafe system—even though I use an Android phone with a MagSafe case. (No, it doesn’t mean I dislike Apple or the iPhone. I just stick with what I know.) The mount holds my phone securely and makes navigation so much more convenient.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆ (7/10)
Tags: TV-MA, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Slice of Life, Fan Service, Comedy

Overview

High School DxD is a manga adaptation of the popular anime series. To my knowledge, it doesn’t fully complete the first season’s story arc, but it still makes for a pretty enjoyable read.

The series follows the anime closely in the beginning but tapers off slightly toward the end. Thankfully, the changes aren’t major, so it doesn’t feel jarring if you’re reading the manga after watching the anime.

people are building smart homes wrong

August 17, 2025 :: Casey Robinson

#Productivity

Intro

people are making there smart home wrong because we gave them the wrong ideas. why i say that it is because we have marked it as a smart speaker that dose it all. that we will have a JARVIS that will make it all work like what we see in iron man. that idea is not bad but we are doing something that is not going to work for the long jevery but fast and not a hastel. but i shoud be clear that i am not a expert in a smart home but i do know that we see it as wee speak to a google home or a Alexa. with that is not the ancer becasuse of 2 reations.

I have a smart home for a few reasons, but they mainly come down to creativity and being hands-off.

To be honest, I don’t see someone owning an Alexa or another smart speaker as truly having a smart home—that’s just a fancy light switch. And apps aren’t the full answer either.

Being Creative

• I enjoy building cool automation, like having my lights change to random colors or using a web-hook from my notes app to start my kettle.
• It’s fun for me as a consumer to buy interesting gadgets that give me new possibilities for automation.

Being Hands-Off

• Improving efficiency so the human element doesn’t forget: for example, my AC automatically switches from 64°F at night to 72°F when I open the door in the morning.
• Eliminating unnecessary context switching—I don’t have to stop what I’m doing to handle small tasks.
• Improving family living by having lights turn on automatically so people can see where they’re going and avoid touching light switches, which also reduces germ spread.

Conclusion

Do I need a smart home? No—plenty of people live without one.
But as a nerd who values productivity and the ease of walking into a room without doing anything, I’m a power user. I self-host my own system with Home Assistant, which makes my setup both hands-off in daily use and hands-on when it comes to building and maintaining it.

Everyone seems to have a different definition of a “smart home.” For some, it’s asking Alexa to turn on the lights. For others, it’s having dozens of sensors and automations running quietly in the background. But right now, what passes as “smart” in the consumer market often feels half-baked.

From my perspective, there are three big problems holding smart homes back—and unless these are fixed, the term “smart home” will remain misleading.