I'm not OP but John Oliver had a pretty good episode about hospitals, organ donation organisations and even non-profits, all benefit from a opaque system intentionally designed to hide where bodies go when "disposed" -- Here's a youtube link to the episode (may be blocked in certain regions due to copyright) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn7egDQ9lPg
There is a very real band which one could call ESPgarden where it is not worth setting up LoRa or similar because the Wi-Fi can just about make it, but not quite to be reliable. I've found success with Wi-Fi extenders which aren't very good, but are just good enough to be able to be able to let some of my garden reach the network.
There is BLE Long Range (also called Coded PHY) which is Bluetooth with range of 1km. I bet that would be perfect for outdoor sensors. Longer range and lower power than Wifi, and Bluetooth ecosystem.
For the longest time, I was a die-hard MS guy, fully immersed in their ecosystem. From my Surface Pro to the Lumia Windows Phone, I embraced every facet of their landscape. It was like the stars had aligned perfectly, granting me a seamless and efficient workflow across all my devices. But then, as if the planets themselves shifted out of harmony, everything fell apart and now we are here.
We get these slivers of full-integration from time to time. We see it today with the Vision Pro. It's not hard to imagine what could be! But I'm not counting on it anytime soon.
I own a Lamborghini that I received as a gift for my 20th anniversary. It's my second high-performance car. The first one was a Honda Civic that I drove for a while and then parked in the garage, eventually forgetting about it. (It was an amazing vehicle and well-crafted, but the driving experience just didn't align with my preferences.)
The Lamborghini effortlessly (performance-wise, it's quite powerful) does what I want it to do, and I'm perfectly fine taking it on a week-long trip without worrying about refueling. I'm also comfortable driving it in any situation.
In eco mode, it has an impressive fuel efficiency, which is fantastic since 95% of the time, I'm using it for regular commuting.
Self-hosting shouldn't be a chore. Self-hosting should be fun! Sometimes I just do maintenance because I can and I like it, not even because it's needed. I could be making the dumbest incremental changes that don't even net a profit in the end just because I like doing it so much.
To me they are definitely pets and I love them for it.
Just so you know. You can abbreviate almost anything in powershell or make your won aliases. I love Powershell, hands down best investment in my personal career was to really learn and understand Powershell.
During birthdays and days like Christmas, I ask friends and family to not buy me anything but if they can think of something fun for my kids. I have all the stuff I want already so either you have an awesome idea and really have a specific gift you want to give me or I'd rather you don't get me anything at all. This is well respected in my circles and I don't get as much junk anymore.