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2022 update: Flash ESPhome on ESP32 ESP2866 NodeMCU board

A lot is changed since I wrote multiple articles around ESPhome. One of the mayor things is that ESPhome is now part of HomeAssistant core and it comes with a nice integrated User Interface.

What are ESP32 and ESP2866 nodeMCU boards?

ESP boards are a low cost Wi-Fi chips that have built in flash chips allowing you to build a single chip device capable of connecting to Wi-Fi. newer versions like the ESP32 boards also provide you BLE (Bluetooth low energy) and there’s loads of variety of boards you can use.  

With ESP you can easy make smart solutions for HomeAutomation. You can buy them for about 4-9 dollar/euro on AliExpress or for a bit more with faster delivery on Amazon.

Read more about ESP boards in my introduction to ESP boards article

This article is an updated version of the the Compile and flash your ESP with ESPhome article.

Continue reading “2022 update: Flash ESPhome on ESP32 ESP2866 NodeMCU board”
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Guest speaker Sitecore Strategy Lunch

I’ve been invited to participate in Sitecore Strategy lunch of December. The strategy lunch is a informal table discussion. I will be talking about Sitecore’s strategy and roadmap, see more details below. You can register here.

“Sitecore has made a major pivot towards becoming a Composable DXP company over the past few months. Do you have questions about their roadmap and what it means for your investment in the Sitecore platform? Here’s your chance to get some answers!

December 2nd at 12:00 EST, Sitecore Strategy MVP, Jaina Baumgartner host the Sitecore Strategy Lunch with special guest Pieter Brinkman, Sitecore’s Senior Director of Technical Marketing in a Sitecore Product Roadmap AMA (ask me anything) session and discussion.

Bring you, colleagues, bring your decision-makers and get the straight goods right from the source! See you soon!”

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Konaverse podcast

I had the pleasure and honor to participate in the Konaverse Podcast series.

pieter-brinkman-konaverse-podcast

The Konaverse Podcast series is not all about work, technology and industry it a show about technology, work, careers and life. You get to know more about the people and what drives them.

We talked about everything from growing up in The Netherlands, family life, my career at Sitecore, windsurfing and home automation.

Listen the full podcast directly on Spotify, Google Podcast or Apple Podcast, or on the Konaverse site.

I really enjoyed participating, it was a very pleasant experience. The questions around growing-up make you think back about how good live you had so far and make you appreciate what you got. It’s good to reflect and appreciate, this is something you forget sometimes with the busy life we all have.

Thanks to Akshay, Matthew and the Konabos team.

Pieter Brinkman on The Netherlands, Sitecore, Windsurfing, and Home Automation |Konaverse Podcast | Konaverse Podcast | Technology, Work, Career, And Life Related Podcasts (konabos.com)

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Sitecore Composable DXP – Digital Bytes

This week I had the pleasure to talk with Himadri from Nishtech about Sitecore’s SaaS journey and how we are moving to the Composable DXP.

Nishtech Digital Bytes – Sitecore Composable DXP

Nish Tech digital bytes outline

When you think of a traditional digital experience platform, you probably think of a monolithic, tightly coupled full-stack suite from a single vendor that allows you to manage the entire digital experience, from content management to digital marketing and analytics. But maybe you don’t need all that. The concept of a composable DXP allows you to create a custom solution using technology that fits your needs and works with your existing processes and infrastructure.

In this episode we’re excited to welcome Sitecore Senior Director of Technical Marketing Pieter Brinkman to discuss his thoughts on the composable DXP and how it fits into Sitecore’s roadmap.

Thanks again to Nishtech and Himadri for the lovely conversation.

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Introduction to the Composable DXP

If you follow the Digital Experience Platform (DXP) and web industry you seen that the industry is slowly moving away from Platform DXP’s to something called a Composable DXP.

In this article I want to address a few questions that I get asked a lot, including:

  1. What is a Composable DXP?
  2. What is the difference between a Composable DXP and a platform DXP?
  3. What are the key benefits of a Composable DXP.

Here we go!

What is Digital Experience Platform (DXP)?

Industry research and advisory firm Gartner defines DXP as:

“A digital experience platform (DXP) is an integrated set of core technologies that support the composition, management, delivery and optimization of contextualized digital experiences.”

A DXP consist out of three main pillars:

  1. Content is the main foundation of DXP.
    It’s the starting point and the fuel of everything. You need content to drive Digital Experiences. The content pillar is all about content strategy, creation, collaboration and making the content available for consumption.
  2. The Experience pillar is where we build digital experiences.
    This includes tools for Analytics, Marketing Automation, Personalization and optimization. The content is powering the experiences.
  3. The final pillar is Commerce.
    With the commerce pillar we add the possibility to add conversion to experiences.

A good DXP solution combines Content, Experience and Commerce to maximize impact.

That brings us to the next questions; What is a Composable DXP and what is a Platform DXP and what are the differences?

Continue reading “Introduction to the Composable DXP”
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Keynote Virtual SUGCON on Sitecore & SaaS

I had the honor of opening SUGCON together with Rob. We presented on our the future Strategy of Sitecore and our SaaS offering.

Also did an introduction to the Composable DXP and talked about he benefit. We ended up with a demo of the Sitecore products.

Please note that this presentation was 02:00 at night 🙂

Want to learn more about the Composable DXP, the benefits and the difference between platform and composable DXP? I also wrote an that does a full introduction of the Composable DXP.

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Adding centerfire, increase and decrease to your smart Bellfire fireplace solution

In previous article series I provided an overview and step by step instruction how to make you Bellfire fireplace with Mertik Maxitrol controller smart. This project that was presented during the Home Assistant Conference 2020.

In the article series and presentation I focused on the essential controls, basically turning the fireplace on and off. I received number of requests to extend the controls to support increasing and decreasing the fire and also activating the so called center burner.

After doing some research and trial and error I’ve found the combinations for the relays to add these features to your smart fireplace.

Continue reading “Adding centerfire, increase and decrease to your smart Bellfire fireplace solution”