Upcycle your old smart speaker with a new brain

The world is absolutely filthy with Google Home Minis. The wee smart speakers made their debut back in 2017 and were inexpensive enough to be given away by telecoms, banks as a promotional gift for opening a new account. Hell, if you were feeling daffy, you could even buy one.

Over the past decade, the Home Mini has been surpassed by smart speakers from a wide arrange of companies. Every single one of those companies places a premium on your personal information. Their smart sperakers are listening, even when you're not using them, uploading data to their masters about what you're thinking about buying, what you watch and listen to and even how many kids are in your household. As smart speakers get smarter, the level of intrusion is bound to rise. It won't be long until AI-native smart hardware starts popping up in Bestbuy and on Amazon. That's when the really creepy data harvesting begins. We say, screw that: If you've got a first generation Google Home Mini (2017) kicking around, you've got a solution to smart home surveillance.

For under $100 you can pick up a MiciMike. It's a drop-in two chip board replacement for the guts of your Google Home Mini. With the MiciMike, you'll get Bluetooth and Wi-fi Connectivty and offline wake word and command detection. This means that your Home Mini can still act as a Bluetooth speaker, get the weather or fill you in on the latest headlines without letting Google, Amazon or Apple know what you're up to. Plus, it's ready to work with smart home assistant ESPHome, which is compatible with a wide range of connected home accessories. In my opinion, the MiciMike's killer feature is a hardware mute button that lets you kill the smart speaker's microphone and be certain that nothing is listening to the goings on of your home.