During the winter of 2024, after a burglary in his apartment building, he purchased a Blink video doorbell to enhance security. The device sent video notifications to his phone but played an audible chime outside the door, which was inaudible to household members, including his wife, who did not keep her phone with her at all times. He said the system made it difficult for guests to be let in. To address the issue, he connected the doorbell to an Alexa routine that toggled a virtual light in the Samsung SmartThings platform. SmartThings webhooks signaled state changes, which a VPS server processed and exposed an endpoint. His Home Assistant system polled the endpoint and, upon detecting a change from off to on, played a sound on a Google Home Mini. He noted that the arrangement required five cloud services and functioned for about 18 months without subscription fees. In July 2024, Samsung announced that personal SmartThings API access would cost $4.99 per month, prompting him to seek an alternative solution. His arrangement demonstrates a DIY approach to integrating multiple cloud services for a simple home automation task, but the impending fee may disrupt the system.