Ian and Garry catch up for The Digital Lifestyle Show, covering EV road trips, smart home upgrades, Home Assistant, retro tech projects and the latest synth work from Ian's studio. Garry talks about a 2,000 mile trip to Denmark in the VW ID. Buzz and what European charging infrastructure looks like in practice, while Ian shares updates on the new album Each Machine a Voice, TX7 and Korg KARMA editor projects, Keyfax 3, old synths and a few future ideas.

This episode moves between practical connected-home discussion and music technology: thread and Zigbee changes, mini PC upgrades, USB UPS power, ESPHome voice devices, OpenClaw voice experiments, Yamaha and Korg editor/librarian tools, MOSS physical modelling, retro synth books, album production and Music Assistant.

Chapters:
00:00 Coming up: catch-up show, EVs, gadgets and synth projects
00:35 Garry returns and the 2,000 mile Denmark EV road trip
01:43 Denmark charging infrastructure and motorway charging
03:00 ID. Buzz sightings, Legoland and real-world EV range
05:05 Home Assistant and smart home revamp
06:12 Thread routing, Zigbee and removing older smart-home layers
07:00 Moving Home Assistant to a mini PC
08:13 USB UPS power for the Home Assistant box
09:33 ESPHome voice hardware and Nabu voice assistant experiments
13:11 Controlling lights and custom voice responses
16:51 Ian's new album Each Machine a Voice
19:30 YouTube videos, Boss ME-25 synth guitar effects and synth demos
20:51 Modern editor/librarian tools for old synths
21:33 TX7 editor, MS2000 editor and patch management
22:01 Korg KARMA, MOSS physical modelling and editor work
24:00 Korg DW-6000 editor and building the editor collection
24:40 Keyfax 3, late-80s synths and vintage adverts
26:25 Album release, voice quality and OpenClaw voice control
29:00 More retro gear, E-MU samplers and project backlog
29:29 Running Home Assistant on older hardware
31:34 Future guests and tidying Home Assistant automations
32:03 Water leak sensors, alerts and spoken notifications
32:54 Kitchen lighting, daylight sensing and smart switches
34:14 Music Assistant, multi-room audio and old touch devices
35:59 Twinkly lighting, upcoming videos and wrap-up