Month: July 2026

Homebridge 2.0 and Garage Door Opener

Back in 2017 (more than 9 years ago), I created my own home automation garage door opener using a Raspberry Pi Zero. I then wrote a homebridge plugin so that the garage door opener will work with Homebridge and HomeKit.

The times of change has caught up to us. The original version of the plugin that I wrote with Homebridge was designed and coded for version 1.0. As of May 4, 2026, Homebridge released version 2.0. As of this writing, they are now on version 2.2.1.

Unfortunately for me, this upgrade rendered my old plugin not workable with the latest version of Homebridge. I was going to read the migration guide and performed the changes myself, but of course I was too lazy to get around to it.

Today, I simply asked opencode.ai to tackle this problem. I have attached my opencode session at the end of this post.

I am super surprised that opencode using Qwen 3.6 27B LLM local model running on vLLM handled the changes in a single shot. This was truly a one-shot solution, no fuss, no muss.

I still have to learn that AI can do many things for us and not to short sell it for future potential jobs. Live and learn.

opencodeDownload

Dark Smokey Skies

Yesterday in the Greater Toronto Area, we broke a new temperature high, reaching a scorching 37+ºC.

This morning we woke up to a smoky sky, with barely any sunlight touching the ground. Truly creating an apocalyptic atmosphere. Apparently, the smoke is from Northern Ontario, where it is haunted by many forest fires.

I took my camera and snapped this gloomy photo from our backyard.

Smokey sky and dark morning at 11am on July 15, 2026.

Global Currency

In recent years, I find myself closely following geopolitical topics, such as global conflicts, trade disputes and wars, and international trade. I want to explore not just the what and how, but also the why certain things happen and the parties’ motivation behind their actions.

The journey of trying to understand the above helps to frame my own mind so that I can properly make my own judgements on how effective a government is in managing its resources and assets, to either positively or negatively impact the lives of its constituents, the quality of life of an average citizen.

I have discovered certain YouTube channels that in my view continue to educate me on these matters. On this post, I like to share two YouTube videos that I find very educational.

The first one describes the underlying financial mechanism that allows global trade of goods can be settled and respective currencies can be transferred and the excess stored.

The Hidden Machine Keeping the Dollar Alive Is Breaking

The second one is a discussion with Louis-Vincent Gave (CEO, Gavekal). They explore today’s conflict in the Strait of Hormuz and how it impacts oil prices, and the secondary and tertiary impacts to global economy. LVG has been a favourite of mind. He runs a consulting and investment company head quartered in Hong Kong and has a very informative view on the financial activities inside China and its neighbours.

Louis-Vincent Gave: Inside China’s Plan to Kill the Dollar’s Dominance

If you share similar interests, enjoy the above videos.