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this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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I degoogled (mostly) a while ago, but home assistant has a pretty configurable local voice assistant. If you have remote access to your server, I imagine you could cobble together a good keyword based personal assistant that sets alarms, turns lights on and off, and reads you an RSS newsfeed while you drink your morning coffee.
We're truly on the technological downslope now. First it was all about the user and making software accomplish a purpose, then it was all about the user as long as it was profitable, now it's fuck the user - be profitable.
Personally I went out of my way to put physical buttons around my house so I can use Home Assistant automations without talking. It has the added bonus that guests can just turn the lights on and off without a tutorial.
I had everything either automated or timed but the ladies wanted a physical button in the bathroom. Ok I put one in, then they kept leaving the light on so I had to put in a 15 min timer. Buttons have their places. I also prefer not talking to it.
I'm working on a project using esp32s to build my own Hal9000 system. Every room will have a small touch screen where you can control stuff in the room, but the screen saver will be HAL
I'm sorry, Village, I'm afraid you can't do that.
Bilresa buttons from IKEA are a blessing. Cheap, (currently) work with ZigBee and ridiculously simple to set up. I can talk to Home Assistant, but never do.
I get a lot done with physical buttons and time / condition automations but sometimes it's nice to just do a one off action from the couch.
I've built some md5stack little speaker things and they work okay. Weird audio artifacts sometimes though.
It can definitely come in handy. Although I went as far as leaving a wireless Zigbee button by my couch so I can dim the lights or toggle power on my AV stuff without getting up. I haven't replaced the battery yet, and it's been 2 years.
Wake words are a pain on android but everything else is very doable. I use my local assistant everyday.