fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
5’2 nd 5’5💞🌎
Tags: Life, Baby, Storytelling, Writer, Love

Yea…when I said I can leave him for his happiness I found my self too foolish…why ami that foolish to him…god may know tht right…bla bla bla what ever…but I’m not finding his replies…I’m not finding his messages…what’s wrong with my foolish love…what’s Wrong with my selfish love towards him…!?

Hush god whatever Ive decided to end up this story…the story of one of my foolish love…but how can I…how can I be happy after leaving that love…!?

Yea when this sort of thought came into my mind…I received a message saying “I MISSED UH BBY" and how come it would be true…!? How come he would be that thoughtless about me…this is what I always feel regret about my love…

I always see his picture in my eyes when I’m near that mirror…what to do know..have you any idea about my madness…!!?

Damn handsome man…he was my heart I saw…but how to feel myself getting rid from this…!? May I go far to him…or else may I go far to my life…

My happy place or my sad place was he…but now I’ve became the cruel minded girl ever…

“ I do love you till the extinct if this sky…

I do love uh till the extinct of this world….

Uh were my frst message…nd also uh were my last message ever…

How come uh become the faded moon to my life…

As uh know I’m always that star which follows moon..

But why my moon had changed his phase of never appearing back…

Should I wait for uh…or shall I move on by my habits of forgetting uh..!!!?”

I hope uh may read this👀💞

Bye bye gud ni8 guys😋 thanx for listening for this mad girl🙌💞
Look Out, Moms! Kylie Jenner Is Building a Baby Brand
By: Daily Popstar
Tags: Baby, News, Celebrity, Moms, Stars

Kylie Jenner just revealed that she’s building a brand-new empire. In addition to her crazy-successful beauty brand, she’ll soon be launching “Kylie Baby.”

Kylie’s Next Empire

We’ve got a lot of grudging respect for Kylie Jenner around here. The youngest self-made billionaire is a savvy marketer who understands the influencer economy better than just about anyone else. Since she’s a fashionable young mom herself, it makes total sense to expand into the baby market.

TMZ reported that the youngest Kardashian-Jenner girl recently trademarked “Kylie Baby.” According to the paperwork, she intends to sell everything from baby furniture to blankets to lotion. In theory, you’ll be able to buy everything you need to raise a baby from Kylie-even a breast pump!

In the past, Kyle has been very smart about teaming up with partners who manufacture and ship her products. That helps her keep overhead costs low-and keep those profits sky-high! You can expect her to do the same here, and that she’ll be very strategic about where these products are sold.

Kylie Baby Will Rule the Market

Jessica Alba built a billion-dollar business with her Honest Company, which sells natural baby products. Kylie is taking things much, much farther. Not only will she be competing with Jessica in the lotions and creams department, but she’ll also have Kylie Baby products for literally everything a new mom might need.

Need a stroller? Kylie Baby has you covered. What about a crib and matching linens? Kylie plans to offer those too. Car seats, diaper bags, changing tables-the trademark paperwork covers an entire baby brand empire.

She’s Designing Clothes, Too!

Love ’em or hate ’em, but the Kardashian-Jenner sisters are undeniably masters at self-promotion and branding. (Well, maybe not Kourtney. We still don’t understand Poosh.com!) Kylie also plans to design children’s clothing, which seems like a no-brainer. Her trademark includes “bottoms, dresses, footwear, jumpers, sweaters, scarves and costumes for use in children’s dress up play.”

That last item is interesting, isn’t it? Do you think Kylie will release dress-up costumes so your toddler can look just like her? Will we see tiny tots in waist-length wigs and sparkly fishnet dresses, like her look from the Met Gala?

Kylie’s Sisters Will Pitch In

Regardless, Kylie has a built-in army of nieces and nephews to help promote her new line. Expect to see Instagram pics of Kim, Kourtney, and Khloe’s kids wearing Kylie Baby clothes, being pushed in Kylie Baby strollers.

Everything will probably be beige and modern-minimalist, since that’s the family’s signature look. And it will be overwhelmingly successful, just like everything else this modern-day mogul touches. We just hope she won’t try to cross the streams and make bronzers and Lip Kits for babies.
Essential Clothing For Newborns
By: Julie Ann Serah
Tags: Parenting, Life, Baby, Kids, Fashion

Clothing is an important matter of life. For newborn babies, there is something extra care to take for it . Here are those essential clothing for your newborn babies

1.Hooded Towels

Babies have very sensitive skin. A new towel that has extra soft fabric will help keep newborn baby skin healthy. Babies are at risk for certain illnesses that adults and older children don’t have to worry about so much. Having a set of designated “baby towels or hooded towels” helps keep baby healthier and less likely to catch a cold or worse. Newborns tend to poop and pee a lot. If you like the way your towels look now, consider investing in some towels specifically for a baby that you can get rid of when they’re grown.Babies have more trouble maintaining normal body temperature and chill easily–especially following bath time. Getting towels that are extra warm, absorbent, and soft will keep baby comfortable as you’re dressing them after bath time.

2. Birth Suits or Pajamas

When the baby is born, they will sleep, on average, 18 hours per day. It’s essential that they’re comfortable. For warmer weather: choose thin cotton, one-piece sleepers, or bag sleepers; these are like nightgowns, but they have a closure across the bottom. For colder weather: opt for heavier-weight footy pajamas, also called blanket sleepers. With pajamas or birth suits, It’s better to be recommend anything that buttons as opposed to those that zip; it’s far too easy to accidentally zip-up sensitive areas when you’re doing a midnight diaper change.

3.. Onesie

Onesie is a purposeful baby clothing for newborn babies. The purpose of a onesie is to allow for your baby the comfort of a shirt with the added benefit of not having to worry about the shirt riding up as well as keeping cloth diapers from falling down throughout the day. Quite often the onesie comes with “enveloped” shoulder that expands the opening where the baby’s head is fed through. This offers ease in both putting on and taking off the onesie.

4. Baby Mittens

These little mittens, also known as hand covers, are designed to cover newborn hands to prevent their nails from scratching their sensitive skin. Although they have elasticized wrists, these mittens don’t go far enough up the arm to stay on. Mittens are not much inevitable if those small and sharpend nails are regularly plucked up
Sleep Problems And Nighttime Feedings
Tags: Baby Sleep Breastfeeding, Baby Feedings, Baby, Baby Care, Sleeping Problems

Although your baby may give up regular nighttime feedings on his own by the time he’s three months old, do not expect — or insist — that such a young infant give them up altogether, all of a sudden.

But if your child is at least three months old, still nurses or requires a bottle at bedtime, and needs to eat again several more times during the night, then the extra feedings may well be causing the extra wakings. If that is the case, you may be able to help him sleep better by decreasing the number of these feedings.

However, if your baby takes in a substantial amount of food — from extended feedings at the breast, or bottles adding up to more than eight ounces over the course of the night — then he has learned that certain times of night are mealtimes. To eliminate these feedings suddenly wouldn’t be wise or nice.

The amount of milk or juice your child drinks during the night may be considerable. If he finishes four full eight-ounce bottles, that is a large amount for even an adult to consume overnight.

Solving The Problem

If you have concluded that excessive and unnecessary feedings at night are disrupting your child’s sleep, you will be relieved to learn that although such feedings can lead to severe sleep disturbances, the problem is also one of the easiest to fix.

Two things need to be addressed. The first is to reduce or eliminate the nighttime feedings to avoid their various sleep-disrupting effects. The second is to teach your child new sleep associations so that he can fall asleep without being held, without eating, and without sucking on the breast or bottle. You can do these things at the same time, or one at a time.

To fix the problems caused by the feedings, start by gradually decreasing the number of nighttime feedings, their size, or both. Just don’t stop the feedings suddenly. A program designed to allow new patterns to develop will be easier for him follow.

Your goal is to gradually move your child’s feelings of hunger out of the nighttime and into the daytime. Once there is only a single remaining nighttime feeding left, you can choose to stop that feeding right away — instead of gradually — if you prefer, since the total amount of ingested food during the night is now fairly small.

If you are working on sleep associations and hunger patterns simultaneously, put your child in bed as soon as each feeding is over, even if he wakes and begins to cry. If you nurse him and he sleeps next to you, move him off of you when the feeding is done so that he can learn to fall asleep without using your breast as a pacifier. You’ve just fed him, so he is not hungry — now you are only changing his expectation of what happens while he falls asleep.

Within a week, if all goes well, you will have finished cutting down or even eliminating the nighttime feedings. After that, continue applying the technique of progressive waiting at any waking at night (except for feeding times) until the wakings stop. It should not take more than another few days.

Get Child Psychologist’s Weird Trick..(HERE)
Honey For Babies!!!
By: Healthy Line
Tags: Babies Health, Baby, Honey

Some of the people apply honey to their child’s tongue. It’s the habit of giving honey to the child to stop crying.

The child is also likely to taste the honey. But it’s not good of giving honey to the child before getting one year. There is a bacterium called “clostridium botulinum” in honey which affects the child’s healthiness.

The immunity is created for a child after getting one year old. So a child’s body can’t fight against this kind of bacterium.

And also the digestive system of the child is affected by this kind of bacterium. Because of this, the child will be suffered from botulism which leads to problems of breathing and body weakness.

The first symptom of the child who is affected by this kind of bacterium is constipation. There are some more symptoms like getting pain in the abdomen of the child; at the time it may cry continuously while moving its hands into the abdomen side.

And the child won’t suck the milk even if it gets hungry. Because of that, its body will be weakened and body weight will be decreased due to insufficient meals it takes.

Finally, it starts to close its eyes when the body condition becomes worst. If the symptoms have been a sight, it’s necessary to take the child into the hospital.

In conclusion, the time period of producing immunity to the child is one year. So the breastfeeding is the best protection until it gets one year old. Breastfeeding fights against viruses and bacteria to protect the child.

That is what the doctors recommend to give only breastfeeding until a child gets six months old and not to give any other meals in this period. You can give honey after getting one year old. But it should be given low volume till the child gets three years old.
How often should I bathe my baby in summer?
By: Manoj Rai
Tags: Baby Care, Baby, Summercare, Baby Bath

Your child is likely to sweat a whole lot in the hot weather. This doesn’t necessarily indicate you require to wash her more frequently. Yet providing her more regular baths, if she appreciates them, can be a great way to cool her down.

Bear in mind hot weather doesn’t mean use cold water so, use water that feels warm but not warm to your skin when you put a couple of decreases on your wrist or elbow joint’s inner side.

If you have a bath thermometer, the excellent bathroom temperature level is thought to be 38 degree celsius (100.4F), almost the same as body temperature.

When showering your baby, take special care to wash her neck, underarms, and other noticeable folds up in her skin and dry them well after that.

When your infant sweats a lot, the sweat glands can come to be trapped below the skin. This implies that the skin can obtain aggravated as well as establish a rash.

If you do intend to make use of extra baths to maintain your child cool, you possibly do not require to make use of a cleanser on her more than daily.

Allow her to take pleasure in the water for no more significant than five to 10 minutes at a time. If you feel that your infant’s skin is obtaining dry, minimize the variety of bathrooms and see if that assists.
Baby Food Recipes-Banana
By: Dgal Wld
Tags: Baby, Baby Feeding Bottles, Baby Products, Baby Care, Baby Food

baby food for 4 months and up

stage 1 baby food

creamy and smooth

nutrient-dense

great for spoon-feeding or served in a reusable pouch

easy organic baby food recipe — use organic bananas (which are only cents more than standard bananas)

easy to make — 5 minutes of hands-on time

Bananas: are the key ingredient in this recipe. I like using organic bananas in my baby food recipes as the price is very comparable to conventional and they are usually readily available, but you can use whichever ones you prefer.

are the key ingredient in this recipe. I like using organic bananas in my baby food recipes as the price is very comparable to conventional and they are usually readily available, but you can use whichever ones you prefer. Rosemary: while this recipe uses fresh rosemary to give it a nice earthy taste, you can also add a pinch of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, fresh chopped mint or basil to this recipe as well. I would not recommend using dried rosemary to this recipe as it is too hard and will not incorporate into the puree as well as fresh does.

Tip on Bananas: while any ripeness of bananas will work, I have found that the bananas that are ripe (several brown spots)tend to work best in this recipe.

Adding Spices

In this recipe, we are adding in a pinch of fresh rosemary, but feel free to use the following spices instead — cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mild curry powder, mint, basil or ginger (see quantity recommendations in the recipe card).

Tip on Spices: I always added in spices to my baby food purees, but you can add or leave out spices in all of your baby food. You do you! Either way, this puree will taste amazing.

Instructions
The perfect day (Day 34)
By: Sara Tomsic
Tags: Parenting, Baby, Newborn, Motherhood, Baby Sleep

Otto and I had the perfect day. His daddy went back to work and we managed just fine. As I already wrote, days with a baby fly by so fast. We wake up, eat and change a diaper, and it’s already lunchtime.

Anyhoo, Otto’s thirty-fourth day of life has been amazingly perfect. We have been following the Little Ones Newborn Sleep Program since Sunday (we started with 5–7 weeks) and it has worked like a charm.

I have been giving him little more breastfeeding time as is specified as I also decided to offer him food when he asks for it. Developmentally and emotionally, he benefits tons from that.

But all in all, I notice that he is calmer both during the day and night, as I feel he comes out more rested as he has before. He is less in our arms, and when he is, it’s really quality time.

I started reading children’s stories to him, we play, make faces, we talk to each other and he gesticulates and makes noises for an answer.

He spends more and more time on the floor, on his back, and on his tummy. Our little boy is growing stronger each day, now able to turn his head on his own.

So after enough sleep, we went for a walk. The days are so nice and we had an hour and a half long bask in it. He doesn’t get it full-frontal as his skin is sensitive, but still, fresh air will do him good.

My husband and I listen to other people’s experiences with the first months of their newborns and we are so grateful our baby boy is such an angel.

Motherhood in numbers:
Bumkins Sleeved Bib / Baby Bib / Toddler Bib / Smock, Waterproof, Washable, Stain and Odor Resistant, 6–24 Months — Gray Chevron
By: Best Bacare, Baproduct Top World
Tags: Baby, Bumkins, Bib

The Bumkins Sleeved Bib saves one outfit at a time. With a handy crumb catcher / catch-all pocket for containing spills. Generously sized and made from Bumkins lightweight, waterproof, easy-wipe, stain and odor resistant fabric. Single ply construction means no worrying about icky stuff growing between layers of fabric. Without a cotton layer, stains and smells don’t stick. Wipeable and machine washable for easy cleaning so you can use it over and over again! Plus, it’s safe to use. Our bibs are BPA-free, PVC-free, vinyl-free, phthalate-free and lead-free. Sized to fit ages 6 to 24 months. Adjust fit with back tie closure and adjust sleeve length with the elasticized cuff. Measures approximately 14” across the chest, 13” from neck down and 32” from cuff to cuff. Designed in Arizona, responsibly made in China.FITS 6 TO 24 MOS — Sized to fit ages 6 to 24 months. The crumb catcher / catch-all pocket helps contain spills. Adjust fit with back tie closure and adjust sleeve length with elasticized cuff. Measures approximately 14" across the chest, 13" from neck down and 32" from cuff to cuff. Wipeable and machine washable for easy cleaning so you can use it over and over again!

SAVING YOU FROM MESSES — Generously sized to help you save an outfit! Our sleeved bibs are made from Bumkins lightweight, waterproof, easy-wipe, stain and odor resistant fabric. Single ply construction means no worrying about icky stuff growing between layers of fabric. Without a cotton layer, stains and smells don’t stick.

SOFT YET STRONG — Made from Bumkins signature waterproof, stain and odor resistant fabric that’s both durable and soft, our bibs stand up to messes, yet are lightweight and comfortable.

LAB TESTED SAFE — At Bumkins, we take pride in our rigorous product testing to ensure you have the safest possible products. Our bibs are BPA-free, PVC-free, vinyl-free, phthalate-free and lead-free.

EASY-TO-CLEAN — Our fabric is wipeable and machine washable. Turn pocket inside-out to wash. To extend the life of our bibs, we recommend hang drying our quick-dry fabric.

Price:

Source Link:

Bumkins Sleeved Bib / Baby Bib / Toddler Bib / Smock, Waterproof, Washable, Stain and Odor Resistant, 6–24 Months — Gray Chevron
Baby Spoon & Fork Training Set (2pk) Fun Giraffe Design | Soft Silicone BPA Free | Infant & Toddler Utensils for Mealtime and Self Feeding (Iron & Blue)
By: Best Bacare, Baproduct Top World
Tags: Blue, Baby, 2pk

Whether you’re using the ezpz happy mat or munchkin suction bowls we know how difficult it is weaning your little one off of mom-assisted feeding time. That’s why we created our Ali+Oli Spoon & Fork training set. Your little one will love our oval fork design that makes picking up food easy, and our uniquely contoured spoon that helps scooping up softer foods a breeze. Our infant spoons and forks encourage self feeding and are a great addition to your silicone toddler mealtime plates. We have made a soft ergonomic grip that encourages your little one to hold the spoon properly. Our adorable giraffe design brings joy to feeding time and kids love it. We’ve created some wonderful color combinations to go with almost any plates for babys. So give them a try and watch how quickly your little one picks up on self feeding.🍓 GREAT FOR YOUR LITTLE ONE to build confidence when learning about self feeding.

🍋 UNIQUE OVAL FORK DESIGN makes picking up solid foods fun & easy for your baby.

🍊 AN EASY ERGONOMIC GRIP utensil for babies that encourages proper hand placement while feeding

🍉 A PERFECT SPOON ANGLE to help your baby learn hand-to-mouth coordination while eating

🍇 WITH A LIFETIME GUARANTEE no questions asked. We stand behind all of our baby products

Price:

Source Link:

Baby Spoon & Fork Training Set (2pk) Fun Giraffe Design | Soft Silicone BPA Free | Infant & Toddler Utensils for Mealtime and Self Feeding (Iron & Blue)
I know best (Day 35)
By: Sara Tomsic
Tags: Parenting, Baby, Mother Intuition, Newborn, Motherhood

Before I had a baby, I was sure that it will be possible to let other people from our immediate family interact and take care of Otto. As I personally don’t have a problem with sharing him and the joy he brings, nature does. Or better said, no one smells as good as I do.

Well, my husband is next in line and then for a long time, no one he is all that comfortable with handling him. So as much as I would like to have time to do things that I enjoy or spend time alone with my husband while someone else steps in for an hour or two, there is literally no time at this moment to spare. All is spent on Otto’s wellbeing.

For the next few months.

And there is another thing nature provided mothers. The skill of knowing what’s best for our child. No advice from others (well doctors and other professionals, naturally — well, even then it’s also a subject to critical appraisal) trumps mother’s intuition. Since we got home from hospital my husband and I have been doing it on our own (having done tons of research before and we still are learning) and day by day we get to know our child a little bit better.

Because of that, I lost it today (again) when I got another “well-intended” advice about breastfeeding. True, it has been a challenge, but Otto is doing beautifully. For anyone to suggest I should get the quality of my milk checked because Otto is signaling he is hungry by putting his fingers to his mouth is showing that first, this person doesn’t know or has forgotten facts about babies and second, doesn’t know my son’s behavior.

I shouldn’t have reacted as I had and in normal circumstances, I probably wouldn’t. But for anyone who isn’t a professional, hasn’t had experiences for himself and doesn’t know my baby to assume to know best — well, I told them where to take their advice.

All the developmental literature speaks of the mother’s bond being the best and the most needed for a newborn to thrive. The benefits of the paternal bond are also emphasized in the physical and emotional growth of a child. We do take this very seriously and try to educate ourselves, ask about people’s experiences, rely on our intuition, etc. And again, Otto is one happy and healthy baby.

Motherhood in numbers:
I have a Daughter Now
By: Daisy Miclat
Tags: Life, Newborn, Baby, Parenthood

I’ve been sitting here for the past 30 minutes wondering what to do for my “alone time”. For the last 4 weeks, I’ve been nurturing of a newborn whilst being on lockdown. I forgot what it’s like to have some “me” time, and now i’m sitting here not knowing what to do. It doesn’t help that we also have covid 19 going on. I can only do so many things at home — writing being one of them. So here we go…

I have a daughter now.

There’s more to that statement…

I’ve never loved someone more in my life. Husband is up there as well.

Everyday, I start to miss her more and I get sad knowing that she’s growing up so quickly. It’s only day 26 of her life Daisy. Get a hold of yourself.

I’ve contemplated and thought back on my life before my daughter and being married, and I think, “Wow. What a carefree life. No responsibilities, no person to care for, no strings attached…” Then I compare it with now and think, “Wow. This depth of love that i’m receiving and giving is worth the responsibilities, the challenges, and the memories with these two humans.”

I’m making all the right moves. I know it’s right, because i’m not fighting with life. I’m surrendering to the moments.

I’m a mom now. My body doesn’t look the same. My mind has changed. I worry about every little thing going on. Google is my worst enemy and my best friend.

Having a newborn tests your relationship with your partner to the max. We’re learning everyday, but the key here is talk about it…no matter how uncomfortable it may be.

Growing up, I was a rebel and hated authority. I’d like to take full responsibility for my actions, but I believe that I was given a specific lot in life that made me the way I am. As my daughter grows up, I hope and know she will learn and pave her own path that will make her happy and content with her choices.

8 more minutes till 6pm. I think i’m done with alone time. I’d like to see my daughter now. :)
I clean while my toddler is awake
Tags: Cleaning With Toddlers, Parenting, Babies, Toddlers, Cleaning

Many parents say that they wait until their child is napping before they clean. I understand why a lot of them do it. A lot of toddlers want to undo everything their parents just cleaned, or their toddlers want to help in a way that may not be very helpful.

When my son was a baby I found that he loved to fall asleep while listening to the sound of the vacuum. That was the start of me cleaning while he was awake. I started with the dishes, counters, and then ended with vacuuming while he was awake. My son is two and a half now and loves to help me clean! I let him help me with age appropriate chores as well as teach him new chores as he gets older.

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

It can be difficult to let him help me with some things, but I push the feeling of wanting everything to be done my way and I let him help in his way. I show him how to put utensils in their slots. I show him how to turn on the washer and dryer. My son is also learning how to hang up clothes. Vacuuming is by far his favorite “chore”. I write it like this because I am the one doing the vacuuming, but I let him hold the handle with me. He also has his own little toy vacuum and he goes behind me with it and vacuums.

My son with his vacuum. Photo Credit: Krystal Bakioglu

I feel like cleaning while my son is awake is the best thing to do. It allows him to do the basic task of cleaning up after himself. He will eventually have bigger chores as he gets older, but for now he’s doing age appropriate chores. I am raising him to be independent and to be an equal in his future relationships. I don’t want him to depend on others to clean up after him.

Teaching your child to clean up after themselves is one of the best things you can do to help them learn that cleaning up is the normal. Starting from a very young age is really important too. Let them see you cleaning while they are babies. You can still interact and play with them too. As they get older they will want to help you clean. The first thing my son helped me start cleaning up was his toys. That is a great place to start with young toddlers!

I will add that the one thing I don’t do while my son is awake is mop. Toddlers love to run around and my son is no exception to that! I have a hard time getting him to wait on a chair while the floors are wet, so I do save that one for nap time. He will learn to help with mopping in a few years. Also, my house is not clean 24/7. We live and play here, but we do try to keep it somewhat tidy and organized. A deep cleaning is due soon in my home!
Meet the Team: Felicia D’Ascanio
Tags: Artificial Intelligence, Smart Home, Hiring, Home Automation, Voice Assistant

Name: Felicia D’Ascanio — but if you want to introduce me properly … Felicia of the House D’Ascanio, the First of Her Name, The Untamed, Queen of the Eastern Territory, Khaleesi of the IoT, Creator of SOP, Protector of Data, Lady Regent of the Cloud, Breaker of Code and Mother of Micros.

What do you do at Josh? Territory Sales Manager for the East Side!

Where are you from originally? The beautiful Florida Keys 🌞

Which office do you work in? I work remotely from Brooklyn in NYC, but I’ll be traveling a lot to see you all once things normalize a bit :)

What do you love about the smart home? We are all busy bees these days! Smart homes make our lives easier and give us more time for things we enjoy, and that makes me happy.

What are you most excited about over the next few years? Learning all I can and watching Josh GROW!

iPhone or Android? iPhone, duh.

What do you do for fun? Getting creative in absolutely any way I can! Cosplay & makeup looks have been my most recent outlet. I even did a Josh.ai look because I’m a nerd like that. I’ve always loved photography and performance. Let’s go to karaoke! Oh, I also like video games.

If you could go anywhere, where would it be? Tokyo, Japan. Hands down.

Favorite restaurant in the world? Hmm. Not sure. If it’s in good company, it’s my favorite.

Favorite IoT / smart home product? You mean, besides Josh? It’s a toss up between distributed audio and colored lighting. Don’t make me choose. 😭

What is your favorite feature of Josh? Joe Exotic mode. I guess NLP is good too ;)

Favorite books / reading material / websites? Do crafting tutorials count? Otherwise, I really love reading articles about productivity and workflow.
Heating and ventilation controls with Arduino and Flutter.
By: Illia Mondok
Tags: Flutter, Arduino, IoT, Smart Home

Some time ago I’ve decided to add some automation to my heating system because I was tired of adjusting it up-down according to the outside temperature.

Simple solution

The first thing I’ve done — I bought a simple out-of-the-box wireless heater controller.

It has two pieces: one was set near the heater and connected to its “dry contact” and the other has a temperature sensor and was set in the middle of the house to use my home’s average temperature. That was a good solution, but after one season of usage I’ve found its one main disadvantage — there is no best place in the house for the controller, where it can detect average temperature since the heating system is not 100% well balanced.

So I’ve started to look for other solutions.

Failure with Ajax Relay

Since I’m using the Ajax Security system in my house and they have a relay module, I thought that I can use it.

Want to read this story later? Save it in Journal.

The solution could be pretty simple. All ajax motion sensors have a built-in temperature sensor, so I wanted to use temperature values of all rooms, calculate an average one, and use it to switch on the relay module. But my plan failed because at that time Ajax software was supporting just a few scenarios and they cannot provide me the possibility to make one, that fits my needs.

Arduino and Flutter

After that, I’ve decided to spend some time with Arduino and make a mobile application, so I can control a heater from it. Also, I have a ventilation system with a heat exchanger, so I thought that it would be perfect to have the possibility to control its power and intensity.

Ok. I’ve bought ESP8266 Wifi Module, an L298n motor driver to control ventilation unit motors, one 4-relay module to switch on/off the heater (and maybe some other devices in future) and few DHT11 temperature and humidity sensors.

Making an android application on Java/Kotlin was not interesting for me because I’m an experienced android developer, so Flutter was a much better way to acquire some new XP.
Voice activating your Garage door
Tags: Automation, Garage Door Opener, Smart Home, Alexa

Voice Activating Garage door

Technology offers wide variety of options when it comes to smart devices and voice assistants. One such very useful smart device you would want to voice control is the Garage door. There are only a handful of garage door openers that comes readily integrated with voice assistants like Alexa or Google Home such as Nexx Garage NXG-100, Garadget to name a few.

This tutorial covers steps to voice activate your MyQ garage door through Alexa. MyQ doesn’t come with native Alexa integration and MyQ Home skill is also not available in Alexa anymore (bummer!) hence there only fewer options available to enable voice control for MyQ garage doors. Here is where SimpleCommands comes to rescue. SimpleCommands makes it simple to send and automate commands to your smart devices like WIFI thermostats, garage door openers, alarms, doorbells, etc.,

In SimpleCommands, once you enable the voice assistants such as Alexa/Google Home, you could access the smart devices, routines added in SimpleCommands in your voice assistants and further perform any automation you wish.
This 433MHz Raspberry Pi HAT Makes It Easy to Control Wireless Outlets
By: Cameron Coward
Tags: Makers, IoT, Smart Home, Raspberry Pi, Technology

Before the Internet of Things and the need to make every single item in your home a smart device, wireless home automation was commonly done with simple radio signals in the 433MHz band. Nothing connected to the internet, and the radio signals were sufficient for applications like wirelessly flipping a switch. These days WiFi-connected IoT devices are more popular, but 433MHz radio is still good enough for some jobs and Redditor 4_string_bass made a Raspberry Pi HAT to send those signals.

The idea behind 433MHz radio control is very simple: each device to be controlled has dip switches that can be set to create a unique code that it will respond to. All the control device needs to do is send a radio signal with that code, and the remote device will turn on or off. It’s completely unsecure by modern standards, but that’s not a big deal if you’re not controlling anything that’s actually important. The benefit of using 433MHz radio is that it’s very cheap, and it works without internet or even a local network.

To create their HAT, 4_string_bass placed a very cheap 433MHz transmitter and receiver on a piece of perf board. The other side has pins that match the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO header. The Raspberry Pi runs a custom Node.js web server that can be pulled up on a smart phone or computer to control the transmitter. All 4_string_bass has to do is enter in the specific control codes for whatever devices he wants it to work with (which are commercially available), and the Raspberry Pi will send them off through the custom HAT.
Building a Google Home DIY
By: Adrian Chen
Tags: Google, Smart Home, Raspberry Pi, Google Home, AI

Let’s build one with stuff you probably have covered in dust somewhere.

you will need:

- Raspberry Pi

- Some kind of USB microphone (I used a webcam mic…)

- Speakers

If you don’t already have these, it’s actually cheaper to just buy a Google Home Mini or Amazon Echo Dot than buying a pi with everything else.

But if you do or if you want to learn the Google Assistants read on~!

With Google has recently released the Google Assistant SDK, I’ve decided to try making my own Google home with a Pi, they’ve got great documentation on how to set it all up, it was very simple to do.

Here’s a video of what I end up with after getting it all setup:

An old USB webcam dangling out of a Raspberry pi is not as pretty as the google home, but still pretty close. So I’ve went and bought a tiny USB microphone. I also found an old Razer Mamba mouse packaging case to put the Pi in, after some cable ties, holds drilling this is what I’ve end up with:

Saving the world with recycling plastic packaging

I got it integrated with IFTTT, so I can turn on/off my lights in the house which was pretty fun. and they make it so easy, no coding required.

The nice thing about this setup is that you can also use the Pi to run any custom servers or scripts, such as hosting and end point for the Google Assistant to interact with, or what ever you can think of.

I’m currently thinking about running a cron job on my pi to play a youtube videos as an alarm, then uses Google Assistant voice commands to stop the running task. What can go wrong!

There are some limitation to this, not all of the google home features works with the Google Assistant SDK, it’s certainly lacking few of the major feature such as playing podcast and music playlists, and integration with chrome cast devices. These are not yet available but are planned on the roadmap.

You have any ideas or questions about Google Assistant SDK or smart homes? Drop me a comment~!
IoT Smart Door Bell
By: Adrian Chen
Tags: IoT, Smart Home, Raspberry Pi, Hacking, Smart Doorbell

I’ve hacked my cheap wireless doorbell I got from Argos to send a signal to my raspberry pi with a 443 receiver module, which was kindly donated to me from one of my colleague. (Thank you Csaba!! 😁).

Most of the wireless radio doorbells runs on the 433 MHz band in UK, bear in mind that different countries or region has specific frequencies they can use, your door bell may run on a different band.

After a few trial and error and soldering different length and size of the coil of wire for the antenna, I manage to get the receiver to pick up the door bell press pretty accurately.

Now that we can listen on the doorbell presses the sky is our limit, the first thing that popped into mind was one of those smart doorbells with a camera

Ring smart doorbell

One aspect I don’t like with these smart doorbell products is that they are mounted outside of your house in a single unit! To me that’s a pretty big security risk, I don’t like the idea of placing a £100 device at the front of my house door at an easily accessible location.

So let’s build a better one~!

How does one define such beauty that bestow up on them

I added a pi camera module onto the existing pi with the 433MHz receiver, then I used a bit of tape and stick the raspberry pi & the breadboard on to the back of my front door, which conveniently has a window so now I can take a photo each time the doorbell is pressed within the safety of my own home.

Door Photography

I present to you this new photography category:

I call this piece — “Opening the door”

It can even do close-ups, such beautiful lips

I still have a problem of not able to hear the door bell and missing deliveries, whenever I’m cooking or have headphones on, so to solve that I used one of the best communication api service Twilio ! They have many different products and services you can use ranging from SMS, voice, video messaging and authentication.

In my case I used the programmable SMS API to send me a text message whenever my doorbell is pressed, the best thing is that it took only like 5 mins to setup and have something running thanks to the well written docs and handy examples for a good range of languages.

Never miss the door again~!

I wrote the program in Node.js if anyone is interested to see the code or have any questions, feel free to get in touch.

Do you have any interesting ideas on what else we can do with this? Let me know in the comments.
Smarter Products for Distracted People
By: Augustine Francis
Tags: Smart Home, Phone Addiction, Environment, Consumer Electronics, Smart Cities

The interconnected world

“The products meant to make our lives better demands more of our time on it to keep it useful”.

This statement has been the very narrative of socially innovative product designed to improve people’s interaction and communication . The common ground of all this product shows that it merely offers an immersive and yet distracting atmosphere for such users while solving the problem it’s been designed for.

The continuous move towards social ease creates a singular problem environmentally than ever before, which is “digital awareness on environmental issues with no natural instinct towards them.” This just means everyone becomes aware of events happening around when it’s already happened, this just dampens our instincts to perceive threats. We hear about natural disasters on Facebook, donate for charity online, See pictures of sick kids online, and everything is now done digitally, this in itself is good, but the societal complexities cannot fully be addressed digitally.

Our fight against environmental degradation stands a chance when we re-develop our natural instinct.

Smarter products that performs adequately and accurately it’s intended purpose with minimal human supervision, will go a long way to promote and encourage environmental consciousness and awareness.

The need for smarter domestic products especially electronics will go a long way in aiding environmental and physical consciousness and awareness.

The good news is companies from tech giants to startups are beginning to realize this and implement smart logic to the products deployed. Example Stereo systems, TV’s, security systems, and cooking utensils are now becoming smarter, reducing the focus time of users and increasing more awareness.

Smart Homes.

CONCLUSION

I believe with the strong social innovation, smarter systems should be implemented to make interaction more hands off. To increase visual cognitive ability on physical objects than digital communities.
Smart home cost
By: Alexandru Molodoi
Tags: Internet of Things, Smart Home

There is a very cheap way to automate your lights at this point: using Sonoff Mini to augment your existing wall switches. They cost around $7, depending on the quantity you purchase.

But there’s another aspect you should consider besides the purchase and installation price, and that is how much power they need to operate.

I just did the power draw test for Sonoff Mini and it turns out they consume 1W when in OFF position and 1.43W when ON. To put that in perspective, in a month, the switch would draw between 0.7–1 KWh which in California, for Tier1 means $0.14—$0.2 / month. Multiply that by the number of switches and plugs.

For a typical home, if you fully automate all switches (around 15), you would pay around $3 / month. Which could make a lot of sense if automating the switches would mean turning the lights OFF more often.

You can support these articles by using the referral link below:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WGZFCNJ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=alexrecommend-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B07WGZFCNJ&linkId=558d63e204aebff10e5410bdcddcf5a1
Outsmarting the Desk
By: Ivan Lesar
Tags: Improvement, Health, Smarthome

About a year ago I joined the ‘standing desk’ community by investing in a IKEA IDÅSEN desk powered by a Linak BLE adapter. A part of me wanted to reverse all the strain bolted onto my back from sitting through at least 8 hours a day.

The Issue

The desk controls are minimal, but it bothered me from the start that I had to hold the button until the desk reached the desired height. The desire of a fully automated desk was not fulfilled.

The Approach

Well, the desk controller uses Low Energy Bluetooth (BLE), which is a handy protocol which in itself defines services needed to operate the underlying functionalities. But this was not needed.

The wheel was already built and we are certainly not going to reinvent it.

What do we need

The steps

First we need to find out the MAC address of our desk controller. We’ll use the BLE Scanner Android app to find out the address. Add a HA support for IKEA Linak (Idasen) by following the installation in this repository

https://github.com/j5lien/esphome-idasen-desk-controller Install the HACS Lovelace plugin called LinakDesk Card Add a new ESPHome device configuration and add this to the end of the yaml file

6. That’s it. Our card is now available in the Lovelace GUI. We need to add the card and paste the raw yaml configuration provided below. Be sure to change the desk heights to your needs.

The output

The IKEA IDÅSEN (Linak) desk is now a bit smarter. You no longer have to hold the height buttons. Just press a button and let the smart home system do its magic.
Smart Home Market — Size, Growth & Forecasts(2021–2026)
Tags: IoT, Smarthome

A smart home refers to a convenient home setup where appliances and devices can be automatically controlled remotely from anywhere with an internet connection using a mobile or other networked device. Devices in a smart home are interconnected through the internet, allowing the user to control functions such as security access to the home, temperature, lighting, and a home theater remotely.

Growth of the Market

The Smart Homes Market was valued at USD 79.13 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 313.95 billion by 2026 and grow at a CAGR of 25.3% over the forecast period (2021–2026).

Key Market Trends

Installing a smart home technology system provides homeowners with convenience. Since they’re connected to a portable device, users can get notifications and updates on issues in their homes.

Security and efficiency are the main reasons behind the increase in smart home technology use. The introduction of innovative wireless technologies, including the HVAC Controller, security and access regulators, and entertainment controls, is expected to foster market growth.

The North American region dominated the market, accounting for the largest global smart home market share.

Click Here to view and/or download the sample report.
Reasons to Automate Your Home
By: Next Step
Tags: Smart Home, Home Automation, Nextstep Home Automation, Home Automation In Delhi, Next Step Smart Home

Next Step Smart Home

Is a smart home a good idea?

Had you heard about home automation and are wondering what all the fuss is about? Here are 8 good reasons to pursue it.

1. Next Step Make Tasks More Convenient

Many tasks that are repetitive in nature can be accomplished automatically or with fewer steps using home automation. Instead of turning off or dimming four different lights when you want to watch a movie, home automation allows you to accomplish this task with one button.

2. Next Step Save Money on Utilities

Utilities can amount to several hundred dollars per month. Home automation can turn off lights or lower the thermostat automatically when you aren’t using them and easily lower your utility bills by 15% to 30%.

3. Next Step Increased Home Safety

Many accidents happen in the home because of poor lighting. Home automation can automatically turn lights on in closets, stairways, and other dark places when you enter and decrease the chance of accidentally tripping or running into things.

4. Next Step Home Security

Although home security is a priority for everyone, high installation costs or monthly monitoring charges make security systems cost-prohibitive for many homeowners. Home automation provides an inexpensive solution to home security.

5.Next Step Home Automation Good for the Environment

In a time when we are all becoming more environmentally aware, Next Step home automation provides a good solution to help preserve our natural resources. Home automation products can reduce power consumption and automatically turn off lights and appliances when they aren’t in use.

6. Peace of Mind

Never again worry about your home while you’re away. Using home video cameras and an internet connection, you can check on the status of your home or kids from anywhere in the world using a PC or web-enabled phone.

7. Learning Experience for Children

Technology is here to stay and the more your children learn about upcoming technology the better prepared they are for the future. Turn your home into a classroom, as your home automation projects become a learning experience for your children.

8. Something the Whole Family Can Enjoy

A family that plays together, stays together. Although home automation is all of the above, most of all it’s a lot of fun for the entire family. You will find home automation will bring the family closer together as everyone learns about the technology’s capabilities together.

Interested in a Next Step Smart Home for your family? Connect with Next Step Automation today.

Thank You.

NEXT STEP

Your comfort is our priority.