Still To Be Determined

Most smart homes hand your house to Big Tech. Home Assistant is proof they don't have to.

Matt and Sean sit down with Paulus Schoutsen, the software engineer who started Home Assistant, the largest open-source smart home platform in the world, now running in over 2 million homes. It runs locally, it keeps your data inside your house, and it doesn't stop working the day a company decides to shut off its servers. We get into why Paulus gave the whole project away to a nonprofit instead of selling it, how the energy dashboard turns your solar and battery into something genuinely useful, and whether a normal person can actually run this or if it's still a power-user thing. So is the open, local smart home finally good enough to replace Alexa and Google? Or is handing your house to Big Tech still the path of least resistance?

Chapters:

00:00: Intro
01:20: Paulus Schoutsen
52:08: Feedback - Updates
56:20: Feedback - What Happens with the Chlorine?
59:24: Feedback - Climate Change
01:01:00: Feedback - Poutine
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPEtYL9F0Vk

Mentioned in this episode:
Home Assistant (free, open source): https://www.home-assistant.io/
Nabu Casa / Home Assistant Cloud (~$80/yr, funds the mission): https://www.nabucasa.com/
Open Home Foundation: https://www.openhomefoundation.org/

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The inventor of the Super Soaker, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, joins Matt to talk about his most ambitious project yet: the JTEC, a heat engine with no moving parts that converts low-grade waste heat straight into electricity. They get into how it actually works, why Johnson thinks it could run far more efficiently than what we use today, and the long road from a 2003 idea to the first commercial unit. Plus how a billion-dollar water gun quietly funded a quarter-century of clean-energy research.
Chapters:
00:00: Intro
05:06: Dr. Lonnie Johnson Interview
32:36: Previous Episode Feedback
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhbPajWdgUk
Support the show directly: https://stilltbd.fm/join/
Audio version of the podcast: https://stilltbd.fm
YouTube version of the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@stilltbd
YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-aWB84Bupf5hxGqrwYqLA/join
Get in touch: https://stilltbd.fm/contact/
Follow us on:
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Undecided with Matt Ferrell: https://www.youtube.com/@undecidedtechnology
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Matt sat down with Jorge Diaz Schneider, CEO of Ion Storage Systems, to talk about their anode-less, ceramic-based solid-state battery that doesn't swell or need pressure to work. We get into why they're chasing consumer electronics instead of EVs, the new continuous manufacturing line they just fired up, and why so many solid-state startups have over-promised and flamed out. It's an honest look at where this technology really stands in 2026 … and where it's headed.
This presentation is for informational and technical discussion purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities or a recommendation regarding any investment, financing or strategic transaction. Statements regarding future product development, commercialization, market opportunities, manufacturing scale-up, customer adoption or future performance are forward-looking, subject to risks and uncertainties, and may differ materially from actual results. The company undertakes no obligation to update such statements except as required by law.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
01:24 - Jorge Diaz Schneider Interview
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbnuBbvX5_U
Support the show directly: https://stilltbd.fm/join/
Audio version of the podcast: https://stilltbd.fm
YouTube version of the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@stilltbd
YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-aWB84Bupf5hxGqrwYqLA/join
Get in touch: https://stilltbd.fm/contact/
Follow us on:
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Matt and Sean talk to Dave Borlace from the YouTube channel, Just Have a Think, to discuss the current state of the renewable energy transition in the UK and the US.
Dave’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JustHaveaThink
Chapters:
00:00: Intro
01:47: Dave Borlace Interview
59:15: Previous Still TBD Episode Feedback
01:02:44: Undecided Episode Feedback
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bw2IU73RG4
Support the show directly: https://stilltbd.fm/join/
Audio version of the podcast: https://stilltbd.fm
YouTube version of the podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@stilltbd
YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-aWB84Bupf5hxGqrwYqLA/join
Get in touch: https://stilltbd.fm/contact/
Follow us on:
Mastodon - https://mastodon.social/@mattferrell
Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/mattferrell.bsky.social
Undecided with Matt Ferrell: https://www.youtube.com/@undecidedtechnology
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.