# home automation (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 45 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover home automation. Page: Feed: --- ## [My LAST EVER BLE Proxy and Monitor – I PROMISE](https://tech.scargill.net/my-last-ever-ble-proxy-and-monitor-i-promise/) _2026-08-21 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ When I get on a roll, I sometimes find it hard to stop, especially when things are working. And so it was, I made a tiny ESP32-based BLE Proxy for my Home Assistant setup with a tiny display to show how many devices the unit could see (I did this… Read More → The post My LAST EVER BLE Proxy and Monitor – I PROMISE appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [A Better ESPHOME Bluetooth Proxy and BLE Scanner](https://tech.scargill.net/a-better-esphome-ble-scanner-and-bluetooth-proxy/) _2026-08-21 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ I won’t go through the entire workings of my latest BLE Scanner and bluetooth proxy here. It is all detailed in the previous blogs – this is a major functional development of my previous effort using a better processor with more RAM. Suffice it to say that marvellous as the… Read More → The post A Better ESPHOME Bluetooth Proxy and BLE Scanner appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [Directly milling a small parabolic aluminum mirror](https://www.tspi.at/2026/08/21/mirrormilling01.html) _2026-08-20 · tsp, flo · tspi.at_ Optical mirrors are usually ground, lapped and polished, especially when one wants high surface quality. In some geometries, however, that classical route becomes awkward very quickly. This note summarizes a small mirror project in which we needed a very compact parabolic aluminum mirror for photon extraction inside a transmission electron microscope and ended up milling the optical surface… ## [Nobody Needs This](https://www.tspi.at/2026/08/21/nobofyneedsthis.html) _2026-08-20 · tsp · tspi.at_ Nobody needs this sounds like a reassuring argument for a restriction. After all, if something is merely an unnecessary luxury, hobby or convenience, little is lost by making it expensive, difficult or impossible to obtain. But taken seriously, the same reasoning applies to almost everything beyond bare survival: comfortable beds, bicycles, spices, musical instruments, travel, gardens, powerful… ## [Why Scientific Papers Should Still Be Written by Humans](https://www.tspi.at/2026/08/20/sciencewritinghuman.html) _2026-08-19 · tsp · tspi.at_ The usual argument against generative AI in scientific writing is that language models hallucinate, invent citations, or simply get things wrong. With modern agentic systems that can search, retrieve sources, execute calculations, verify results, and iteratively correct themselves, however, this is increasingly an argument against using the tools badly rather than against using AI itself. There… ## [My Abrobot Bluetooth Proxy and more..](https://tech.scargill.net/my-abrobot-bluetooth-proxy-and-more/) _2026-08-19 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ The Abrobot is a cheap ESP23 board with tiny display, widely available on Aliexpress. My project called abrobot uses this board in ESPHOME and is a normal ESPHOME Bluetooth proxy… It is also a BLE activity counter The OLED shows the number of devices heard during the preceding 120 seconds.… Read More → The post My Abrobot Bluetooth Proxy and more.. appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [TTGO T-Display – ESPHome BLE Scanner and Bluetooth Proxy](https://tech.scargill.net/ttgo-t-display-esphome-ble-scanner-and-bluetooth-proxy/) _2026-08-19 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ I’ve had a couple of these little TTGO T-Display boards sitting around for quite some time. They are cheap ESP32 boards with a surprisingly good little colour display, two buttons and USB-C. I originally found that one of mine was already running some very old firmware. It was displaying the… Read More → The post TTGO T-Display – ESPHome BLE Scanner and Bluetooth Proxy appeared first on Scargill's… ## [The Glibberish Problem](https://seanblanchfield.com/2026/08/the-glibberish-problem) _2026-08-18 · Sean Blanchfield_ There’s a big change happening in our inboxes and channels. Suddenly, everything is load-bearing. Every advantage is durable. Every company sits at the intersection of three enormous ideas. And every observation arrives with its own drum roll. It is superficially good, but there’s nothing beneath the surface. If you try to polish it, entire paragraphs collapse. This is worse than being flooded… ## [Codex Tray: Monitor OpenAI Codex Usage on Windows](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/08/codex-tray-monitor-openai-codex-usage-windows.html) _2026-08-13 · Carlo Costanzo · vCloudInfo_ Codex Tray puts weekly Codex usage, reset timing, reset credits, token totals, and reset alerts in the Windows notification area. ## [Fiio M21 DAP and a plethora of IEMs](https://richardbloomfield.blog/2026/08/fiio-m21-dap-and-a-plethora-of-iems/) _2026-08-12 · Richard Bloomfield · Richard Bloomfield's Blog_ When I first got hold of the Fiio M21 digital audio player (DAP) back in January, I didn’t know how much it would resurrect my love of listening to music. For years I did what most people do. I listened to music on my mobile using true wireless earbuds. I had expensive ones from Sony \[…\] Source ## [Collect Open Source Legends (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/8bnDqv2huhsX) _2026-08-12 · **Sponsored**_ Open-licensed art, limited foil trading packs, and optional on-chain mints. ## [DFROBOT LattePanda IOTA SBC](https://tech.scargill.net/latte-panda-iota-sbc/) _2026-08-10 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ Some years ago, I owned the original LattePanda and at the start of 2026, the company sent me their new(ish) LattePanda IOTA as well as optional add-on extensions including a UPS board (minus batteries). M.2 4G M-Key expansion board, 4G board, active (fan) cooler and POE hat. All good stuff.… Read More → The post DFROBOT LattePanda IOTA SBC appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [Using AI while exercising your critical thinking](https://swiftrocks.com/using-ai-without-losing-critical-thinking) _2026-08-09 · Bruno Rocha · Bruno Rocha_ It doesn't matter how capable a lab claims a latest model is, every single AI model suffers from the same problems of regularly jumping to conclusions, forgetting instructions, and hallucating information. ## [Artificial Intelligence doing CAD: ChatGPT, Codex and FreeCAD](https://www.tspi.at/2026/08/06/llmfreecad.html) _2026-08-05 · tsp · tspi.at_ Giving large language models access to CAD is one of the most direct ways to let them step out of the purely virtual world and begin creating real objects. This article describes an MCP bridge for FreeCAD, why visual inspection turned out to be crucial, and how ChatGPT and Codex were able to generate manufacturable geometry ranging from vacuum hardware to a printable planetary gearbox. ## [Hands-On with the Sonoff SNZB-09P Senseguard Siren](https://tech.scargill.net/snzb-09p-siren-from-sonoff/) _2026-08-05 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ This is an odd one. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it would be smart, but it is. I plugged the unit in, left it plugged in for a while just to make sure it had some power. I then disconnected it from the USB connection and left it… Read More → The post Hands-On with the Sonoff SNZB-09P Senseguard Siren appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [How I Used Codex to Create a Facebook Marketplace Listing From One Photo](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/08/codex-facebook-marketplace-listing-one-photo.html) _2026-08-05 · vCloudInfo_ One photo, one prompt, and an already signed-in Edge session became a researched, reviewed Facebook Marketplace listing with Codex. ## [Brand New Shelly BLU Motion ZB](https://tech.scargill.net/brand-new-shelly-blu-motion-zb/) _2026-08-05 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ Described as a smart motion sensor with instant response and long battery life. I can’t argue that long battery life ifs very important – I do worry slightly that they used a CR2477 (thankfully included) which are not as readily available and cheap as CR2032 or CR2450. This seems to… Read More → The post Brand New Shelly BLU Motion ZB appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [Sonoff Dongle Plus CC2674P10 – The New Zigbee Coordinator](https://tech.scargill.net/sonoff-dongle-plus-cc2674p10-the-new-zigbee-coordinator/) _2026-08-04 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ I recently received the new Sonoff Zigbee Dongle Plus, primarily sold as a Zigbee coordinator. It’s a USB device – and you would plug it into a computer (Raspberry Pi for example) running for example Zigbee2MQTT. This unit would be the primary and only “coordinator” in a Zigbee network. Why… Read More → The post Sonoff Dongle Plus CC2674P10 – The New Zigbee Coordinator appeared first on Scargill's… ## [Wayland pain points – kgamma](https://blog.davidedmundson.co.uk/blog/wayland-and-kgamma/) _2026-08-03 · david · David Edmundson's Web Log_ In the feedback about dropping X11 support, one very surprisingly common comment is from users saying they 'need' kgamma, a simple tool that allows the user to adjust the gamma, red, blue and green that gets drawn to the screen operating directly on the X server. On our Wayland session we have colour management that Continue reading Wayland pain points kgamma ## [Everything about my smart home and homelab setup](https://swiftrocks.com/everything-about-my-smart-home-and-homelab-setup) _2026-08-02 · Bruno Rocha · Bruno Rocha_ I've written a couple of posts in the past about how my home network and home automation setup is laid out, but it changed so much over time that it's now time for an updated post! This time I'll put everything together in the same post. ## [zLauncher v7 – Still Alive!](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/08/zlauncher-v7-still-alive.html) _2026-08-02 · Carlo Costanzo · vCloudInfo_ zLauncher v7 adds Universal Find, PNG screenshot capture, secure snippets, new viewers, browser shortcut menus, Windows diagnostics, and a signed installer. ## [Real SIMs for AI Agents (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/XojOrw6UdPwU) _2026-08-02 · **Sponsored**_ Pass 2FA and verifications with real carrier numbers via our API. ## [A Better Way to Monitor Internet Speed in Home Assistant](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/08/home-assistant-internet-speed-monitoring-ookla.html) _2026-08-01 · vCloudInfo_ Replace inconsistent Home Assistant Speedtest.net readings with Ookla capacity snapshots, then separate WAN reachability, quality, capacity, and freshness. ## [Home Assistant Mobile Dashboard With Big Buttons](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/home-assistant-mobile-dashboard-big-buttons.html) _2026-07-30 · vCloudInfo_ A dedicated Home Assistant Mobile view puts garages, locks, thermostats, status, and camera drill-throughs behind large two-column controls that work even when I do not have my glasses. ## [Protecting Children Without Turning the Internet into an Identity Checkpoint](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/30/pcwtiic.html) _2026-07-29 · tsp · tspi.at_ The debate surrounding age verification often presents a false choice: either leave children exposed to the unrestricted internet or require everyone to prove who they are before accessing online information. This article argues that the first concern is entirely legitimate - children do need protection - but that mandatory identity or age-verification systems are the wrong pseudo-solution.… ## [Installing n8n on a RaspberryPi 3B+](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/29/n8nrpi3b.html) _2026-07-28 · tsp · tspi.at_ A practical guide for installing n8n via npm on a RaspberryPi 3B+ with only 1 GB of RAM. This article explains why the usual advice to just use Docker is not always helpful, how to work around the memory bottleneck with temporary swap, and how to run n8n reliably enough for small experimental workflows on low-power hardware. ## [The Mini Rack Accessories You Didn’t Know You Needed](https://technotim.com/posts/minirack-accessories/) _2026-07-28 · Techno Tim · Techno Tim_ The easy part of building a mini rack is deciding what goes inside it. You probably already know which switch, mini PC, or storage device you want. Everything after this is the hard part. How do you power everything without filling the rack with adapters? Where does the UPS go? How do you handle cooling, cables, patching, remote access, and a local display without using up every rack unit? T... ## [Physical Review Research: Ghost imaging with free electron-photon pairs](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/28/ghost.html) _2026-07-27 · Sergei Bogdanov, Alexander Preimesberger, Harsh Mishra, Dominik Hornof, Thomas Spielauer, Florian Thajer, Max Maurer, Pia Falb, Leo Stöger, Thomas Schachinger, Friedrich Bleicher, Michael S. Seifner, Isobel C. Bicket, Philipp Haslinger · tspi.at_ Published in Physical Review Research: Coincidence imaging, also known as ghost imaging, is a technique that exploits correlations between two particles to reconstruct information about a specimen. The particle that relays the spatial information about the object remains completely noninteracting, while the particle used to probe the object is not spatially resolved. While ghost imaging has been… ## [Stability Is Key: How Lasting Systems Create Real Progress](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/26/stabilityiskey.html) _2026-07-25 · tsp · tspi.at_ Technology is often described as a race where success belongs to those who move the fastest. New frameworks, new interfaces and constant reinvention are frequently celebrated as progress in themselves. But is that really how civilization advances? Or is the true foundation of innovation something far less glamorous: the ability to preserve yesterdays achievements so tomorrows work can build upon… ## [From Detroit to Adobe: My 30-Year Journey in Tech & Creativity](https://terrywhite.com/from-detroit-to-adobe-my-30-year-journey-in-tech-creativity/) _2026-07-24 · Terry White · Terry White's Tech Blog_ This Sunday marks a major milestone in my life and career: 30 years at Adobe.When I started back in July 1996, I never could have imagined where this path would … Continue reading "From Detroit to Adobe: My 30-Year Journey in Tech & Creativity" The post From Detroit to Adobe: My 30-Year Journey in Tech & Creativity appeared first on Terry White's Tech Blog . ## [Tracking Air Quality in Home Assistant with Airly and Pirate Weather](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/home-assistant-air-quality-airly-pirate-weather.html) _2026-07-23 · vCloudInfo_ Use Airly CAQI as a local signal and Pirate Weather US AQI as a safety backstop while keeping normal air out of Home Assistant speech briefings. ## [Optimizing GLM for dual processor Westmere Xeon E5620: 200% gain (3x faster) till now](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/23/glmoptiwest01.html) _2026-07-22 · tsp · tspi.at_ In this article I am summarizing a bunch of optimizations I performed on the colibri runtime for GLM-5.2 specifically for an Westmere Xeon E5620 dual-socket Xeon machine. It is a summary of the ideas, what worked and what did not - and it shows why some seemingly cleaver ideas were simply not worth keeping. ## [Make any domain metal (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Q8MwFZJAMxSE) _2026-07-22 · **Sponsored**_ Turn any domain into a blacked-out metal landing page with an email waitlist ## [Seeed Studio reTerminal E1003 Paper White Display](https://tech.scargill.net/seeed-studio-reterminal-e1003-paper-white-display/) _2026-07-22 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ This blog entry has ended up as a multi-day job thanks to the reTerminal E Series E1003 10.3″ display being fairly new and information being scattered all over – I’m sure I’ve helped Seeed update their info and so if this interests you, between my final ESPHOME YAML code at… Read More → The post Seeed Studio reTerminal E1003 Paper White Display appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [A system prompt to get AI to stop pretending to be human](https://swiftrocks.com/a-system-prompt-to-get-ai-to-stop-pretending-to-be-human) _2026-07-22 · Bruno Rocha · Bruno Rocha_ One of my issues with current AI models is how they try to mimic human social patterns ("you're absolutely right!"). I made a prompt to get it to stop doing that. ## [The Company of Tomorrow (You Can’t Fake AI-Native)](https://seanblanchfield.com/2026/07/you-cant-fake-ai-native) _2026-07-21 · Sean Blanchfield_ Software products are collapsing into AI agents, and professional services are collapsing into AI agents too. A lot of people have noticed one of these disruptions, but few have figured out what the combined effect is, or what kind of company will survive it. It’s a new kind of company, and it’s all that’s going to be left after AI disruption has ripped through our industry. ## [Turn TeslaMate Data Into Road Trip Reports with Codex](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/teslamate-road-trip-reports-codex.html) _2026-07-21 · Carlo Costanzo · vCloudInfo_ TeslaMate captures the trip. Codex turns drives and charging sessions into readable summaries, personal records, and Home Assistant alerts. ## [Nyugtalanul](https://petermolnar.net/journal/nyugtalanul/) _2026-07-21 · Peter Molnar · Latest entries from petermolnar.net_ Mi történik, ha nem állsz meg? Leszáll a köd, az. ## [Colibri: Running a 744 Billion Parameter LLM with 20 GB of RAM on FreeBSD](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/18/glm52colibrifreebsd.html) _2026-07-17 · tsp · tspi.at_ Modern frontier scale large language models (LLMs) are normally associated with clusters of very expensive GPUs and hundreds of gigabytes of memory. Yet recent advances in Mixture-of-Experts architectures and intelligent inference runtimes challenge this assumption. In this short article we explore how the 744 billion parameter GLM-5.2 model can be executed on an old dual-Xeon FreeBSD workstation… ## [Formulating an AI policy for my free software projects](https://proycon.anaproy.nl/posts/ai-policy/) _2026-07-17 · Unknown · Proycon's website_ Formulating an AI policy for my free software projects Introduction Lately I felt some pressure to formulate my stance on AI contributions in free open source software (FOSS) projects, as over time it is probably inevitable that I will be confronted with more AI-based pull requests in projects I (co-)maintain. The issue is already a form of contention in several existing free software projects,… ## [I tried to record music onto a cassette tape using modern tech](https://swiftrocks.com/i-tried-to-record-music-onto-a-cassette-tape-using-modern-tech) _2026-07-17 · Bruno Rocha · Bruno Rocha_ I found a 1978 Panasonic shoebox cassette recorder on a second-hand store, and this led me to yet another tech rabbit hole. ## [Home Assistant Sprinkler Automation: Rachio and Beyond](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/home-assistant-sprinkler-automation-rachio.html) _2026-07-16 · vCloudInfo_ Build a controller-neutral Home Assistant sprinkler dashboard with native integration entities, trigger-derived zone history, Rachio controls, and reusable YAML. ## [Sonoff Advanced TH Pressure SNZB-02M](https://tech.scargill.net/sonoff-advanced-th-pressure-snzb-02m/) _2026-07-16 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ The SNZB-02M is a small round sensor from Sonoff that not only checks temperature and humidity – but also air pressure. Nothing new there at chip level but most ready built sensors out there leave pressure out for whatever reason. The Zigbee-based SNZB-02M doesn’t. Nice small round device – but… Read More → The post Sonoff Advanced TH Pressure SNZB-02M appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [GPL or BSD? A Personal View on Licensing Hobby and Academic Software](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/16/gplvsbsd.html) _2026-07-15 · tsp · tspi.at_ One of the oldest debates in open-source software asks a deceptively simple question: should code remain free forever through copyleft or should recipients be free to use it however they wish? The GNU GPL and the BSD licenses embody two different answers, each protecting a different notion of freedom. This article explores both philosophies, illustrating where each approach excels and where… ## [Using Codex with a custom API gateway](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/15/codexopenaigateway.html) _2026-07-14 · tsp · tspi.at_ Modern coding agents such as Codex are designed around OpenAIs Responses API and most of the time around a specific large language model, making it difficult to use them with self-hosted models or alternative inference backends. Fortunately, this limitation is mostly architectural rather than fundamental. By introducing a lightweight API gateway that translates between the Responses API and more… ## [Using Codex to Clean Up Home Assistant Entities](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/using-codex-clean-up-home-assistant-entities.html) _2026-07-13 · vCloudInfo_ Use Codex to compare Home Assistant entities with Proxmox, Docker, and repository references before removing stale Portainer and Glances entries. ## [Running Codex (or other applications) in lightweight FreeBSD jails](https://www.tspi.at/2026/07/12/codexyolojail.html) _2026-07-11 · tsp · tspi.at_ Modern AI agents and automation tools are increasingly capable of writing code, executing commands and interacting with local services. While this opens exciting possibilities, it also raises an important question: how can we let such applications work autonomously without granting unrestricted access to our entire workstation? This article demonstrates how FreeBSDs lightweight service jails… ## [How I Use Home Assistant and Tugtainer for Docker Updates](https://www.vcloudinfo.com/2026/07/home-assistant-tugtainer-docker-updates.html) _2026-07-11 · Carlo Costanzo · vCloudInfo_ My Docker environment spans four hosts, so I use Tugtainer for routine updates, Home Assistant for persistent reports, and a Compose-aware exception lane for containers that need service-specific validation. ## [Oukitel P2001E and WONDERFREE – Rubbish – and MORE](https://tech.scargill.net/the-horrendous-oukitel-p2001e-and-its-dire-app-wonderfree/) _2026-07-09 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ This article is generally about the Horrendous Oukitel P2001E and it’s DIRE app WONDERFREE. But read teh updates at teh end… Grid Tie Invretors… I’m using the Oukitel P2001E Lithium 2KW battery system and the app they had a third party create for them. No API, the app doesn’t work… Read More → The post Oukitel P2001E and WONDERFREE – Rubbish – and MORE appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [Run your own ChatGPT: self-hosted LLMs with Docker Compose](https://totaldebug.uk/posts/self-hosted-llms-ollama-open-webui-docker-compose/) _2026-07-06 · TotalDebug_ I use Claude Code every day but not everything belongs in the public domain: personal data, private notes, half-formed ideas. For those I’d rather keep the conversation local. ## [ESPHome on the GeekMagic HelloCubic-Lite](https://pw999.wordpress.com/2026/07/04/esphome-on-the-geekmagic-hellocubic-lite/) _2026-07-04 · Phillip · P\_W999_ A short guide on how to install ESPHome on a GeekMagic HelloCubic-lite… Continue reading ESPHome on the GeekMagic HelloCubic-Lite → ## [Sonoff HYDRO DUO+ BSP Zigbee Smart Water Valve](https://tech.scargill.net/sonoff-hydro-duo-bsp-zigbee-smart-water-valve/) _2026-07-01 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ Back in July 2024 I wrote about the then new Sonoff Smart Water Valve (BSP) – with a follow-up in December as on initial release, the device wasn’t quite complete – by December they’d cracked it… and then along came the Nous L14 smart water valve – When we moved… Read More → The post Sonoff HYDRO DUO+ BSP Zigbee Smart Water Valve appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog . ## [Sonoff BASIC ZB1GSP Din-Rail Switch](https://tech.scargill.net/sonoff-basic-zb1gsp-din-rail-switch/) _2026-07-01 · Peter Scargill · Scargill's Tech Blog_ For something a little more meaty than the average Zigbee smart switch, how about the new Sonoff Basic ZB1GSP din-rail breaker? This arrived from me a couple of days ago and I’ve just plugged it in now, no messing about. It’s Zigbee. I just plugged the two top connections, live… Read More → The post Sonoff BASIC ZB1GSP Din-Rail Switch appeared first on Scargill's Tech Blog .