Homelabbers and Desktop Tweakers may want to move beyond just plain AI chat The days of asking AI a question, or pasting a config file in, and then pasting (or typing) the updated file back, are no longer needed. I have over 47 running docker containers, with almost as many stopped, and when I want to create a new docker stack I'm never sure if there will be a port clash. Now I can just ask an agentic AI to check all my stopped and running containers and fix any port clashes, restart containers, diagnose why something is not working, check reverse proxy arrangements, etc. Agentic AI is a term often heard, but in simple English, it is AI that actually does stuff, not just answer questions. Sometimes there is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to install, or a connector, or a plugin. Those mechanisms give selected access to the AI to actually do tasks like reading and updating a config file itself, check log files and advise on corrective actions (or even do those actions), etc. A chatbot AI answers questions, but an Agentic AI is a combination of AI with carefully selected tools installed, and permissions that must be granted by the user. In my earlier example with Docker Portainer, I put some code into Claude's config to connect to my Portainer instance on the LAN directly. In this way it can read all my existing container configs and learn what style I'm already using, and create something that really fits my environment with its unique volume mappings, etc. I also gave it directory access to my Conky config files (and the scripts folder for that) so that it can tweak any changes I require. I have also installed the n8n connector which has taken my breath away. The n8n service is workflow automation tool (for example I use a n8n workflow for checking my blog RSS feed, and then automatically pushing my posts out to the various social media accounts I post at). That is usually a lot of back and forth as I have to fix small issues. Now Claude uses the n8n connector and literally creates a n8n workflow from scratch for me. Yesterday it created a workflow to search my Nextcloud Notes content, retrieve it, update it, add new notes. It tested and figured out what did not work, and applied the fixes all by itself (with me just reviewing and clicking apply for the various write actions). So many possibilities open up, but there are some safeguards worth keeping in mind: Most such connectors have permissions that default to ask first. You can go a step further by granting always read permission, and keeping ask before writing, or if you are really living on the edge then permission granted for read/write/delete/overwrite automatically (and only for trusted tools). I have told Claude to remember to always back up any config file that it is going to write to or edit, but more importantly I have my own automated and independent backups that I can restore myself if I have to. Filesystem connectors require you to add specific paths first. Do not add the root folder, but stick to just specified folders you want help on. The Portainer access for example cannot access the .env files where typically passwords and API keys are stored (in Claude's case for this connector so you may want to check on what you use for this). The cloud side cannot reach inside your network or desktop without a locally-running connector. So when you want the AI to reach your LAN, filesystem, Docker socket, localhost services, etc you need to install an appropriate local connector/bridge service. Ask to review differences before applying changes. Don't give an AI access to secrets merely because a tool happens to be capable of reading them. You can often put secrets into a file elsewhere, where your scripts can put them in themselves, but AI has no access to read that folder. But start small and just give it access to one useful thing. This lets you see what it can do, and then you can decide whether you want to give it more. Even a few small automated tasks end up saving a lot of time down the road. And yes, some AI tools are better than others at some tasks. So when I asked Gemini which would be best for my types of tweaking and configs that I do in my home lab, it recommended Claude without hesitation. Chat is still also very useful for asking questions about setting up your Agentic AI capabilities, and what safeguards you should apply. I decided to also start paying for AI now as it is performing a truly useful function, and saving me money not only in time now, but also to better utilise the free self-hosting services that I have. I have already saved more than $20 per month on other subscription services (see my video about what Wallos did for me — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9F4szRS6mY). It is not to say AI is perfect (it still needs human supervision) but it is undoubtedly a super tool to help make humans more productive themselves. For the same reason humans needed to master the use of the wheel, levers, early cars, telephones, and Internet search engines, if we don't do the same with AI, we could lose our jobs to other humans who do use AI effectively as a tool. Cars and telephones never directly threatened jobs at all, in fact they created many new types of jobs, but those who harnessed those technologies gained leverage over those who just ignored them. Whether we like it or not, the world has moved on to another level. The great advantage we have with this new tool is, we can even ask it how we can use it better and more safely (just check its answer elsewhere too!). The more worrying side we will need to solve, is how AI is being weaponised for hacking attacks, and even more dangerous, for creation of convincing AI-generated misinformation that can destabilise whole countries. This is something we need to solve, because cars, phones, the Internet, etc are also all used for bad purposes too, but they don't just get cancelled. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/homelabbers-and-desktop-tweakers-may-want-to-move-beyond-just-plain-ai-chat/ #ai #homelab #selfhosting #technology

SoloMD is a simpler markdown open-source app that opens your whole Obsidian vault “Obsidian is probably one of the best note-taking apps out there, but it's not open-source, which is fine, there are perfectly good reasons for that. But a part of the Obsidian user base has always wanted a properly open-source alternative, one that isn't half-finished or abandoned. So when SoloMD popped up as MIT-licensed and Markdown-native with a built-in AI panel, it seemed worth a look. What it turned out to be was a Markdown editor that opens an Obsidian vault as-is without an import setup, and then it also handles a bunch of functions you'd only assume Obsidian can.” Of course, markdown being markdown, this works with any markdown files. It does not have any formatting menu bar though, so if you want to say bold some text, you do have to type the asterisks in. With its Live edit WYSIWYG mode, you do see the rendering as it should appear. That is at least something great about Obsidian too. 13 code-block languages, KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams, footnotes, YAML front-matter, ==highlight== (including use of colour codes), and underlined text. But SoloMD plays nicely with everything, and apart from the markdown files and editing working just fine, it has built-in AI functionality. Beware though, if you point the AI to an external cloud AI provider, your note content will go out to that cloud provider, complete with any sensitive data. Although SoloMD does not have a nice WYSIWYG table editor, I did fine I could paste the table in the AI window, and asked my AI to insert an extra column in column 2. I pointed the AI to my Llama server AI and that worked just fine, as did querying it about my note, etc. But it did not just stop at pointing outwards to Llama server, as SoloMD can also expose its own built in MCP service (Exposes the open workspace as a Model Context Protocol server so Claude Desktop / Codex / Cursor can list, read, search, write your notes). Note again that you want to think about what you are exposing, but it can be handy for say Claude Code to consult your own notes about coding work, when thinking. It even has a built-in BYOK cost meter, that calculates the cost of tokens used for OpenAI or Groq (the latter of course allowing a generous free tier per day). What caught my eye actually about SoloMD, was this really rich enablement of AI into the application. You decide though what you want on or off (and everything can be off). It does its between-device sync using GitHub. They recommend using a private repo on GitHub, and it uses public private key exchange for authentication. From inside SoloMD you can opt to get a public link for any note, and share that to others for viewing. When setting up this vault sync to GitHub you can optionally enable Argon2id + XChaCha20-Poly1305 for end-to-end encryption too. SoloMD just runs git push and git pull so it can be pointed elsewhere too. It is open-source MIT-licensed, zero telemetry by default, no accounts, no cloud lock-in. Its installer is only 15 MB in size, and it uses around 80–150 MB RAM. It saves plain .md files (not using any proprietary formats) so is fully compatible with other Markdown editors. There are apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. It exports to HTML, Word, PDF, Image (PNG), EPUB, ODT, LaTeX, RTF, Pandoc Template. It does not have the massive community plug-ins collection that Obsidian has, but it is a really solid and very functional Markdown editor. One thing I'd like to have seen, was custom shortcut keys. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/solomd-is-a-simpler-markdown-open-source-app-that-opens-your-whole-obsidian-vault/ #ai #markdown #opensource #technology

Track Bird Visitors With A Raspberry Pi And A USB Mic “Avian Visitors is a lovely project by Teddy Warner that uses a Raspberry Pi and microphone to keep track of which birds have been visiting your home, and creates a colourful illustration of recent visitors on top of it all. It reports on a web interface of its own making, but what really takes things to a new level is an optional, stylish E-Ink panel that shows the last 24 hours’ worth of visitors at a glance in a collage.” The colour E-Ink display showing the birds is a really nice touch. There is quite a bit of potential for this project, and one could just start off with the identification before going for a display. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/track-bird-visitors-with-a-raspberry-pi-and-a-usb-mic/ #birds #opensource #technology

I turned my security cameras into AI assistants with open-source LLM Vision “LLM Vision is a free, open-source Home Assistant integration that lets an AI model examine the images from your cameras and describe what is happening in those images. LLM Vision doesn't replace systems like Frigate; it builds on top of them. Instead of just getting a notification that a person is detected, the AI model can describe what the person is doing, whether they're carrying a package, which direction they're going, whether they're doing anything unusual, and even describe the person and what they're wearing.” In 2026, we should not still be rewinding for hours through video from cameras to spot the issue we are looking for. Imagine being able to just ask it, is the garage door open, are the trash cans outside still, when was the cat last seen, etc. Key though is to really have a LLM running locally that does the work, saving on bandwidth, ensuring privacy, as well as for when the Internet is not reachable. I only wish I realised all this when I bought a new mini-server and my last graphics card. If I knew how useful it was going to be, having local AI running as a service at home, I would have bought differently. Only my desktop PC has this ability, and it is not running 24/7, and it does other things. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/i-turned-my-security-cameras-into-ai-assistants-with-open-source-llm-vision/ #cctv #opensource #privacy #technology

Capabilities more as the routing or paths is more network side

Netflix accounts taken over in South Africa through session cookie hijacking “These cookies allow users to stay logged in to websites or to save items in a shopping cart even after they exit a site. Through these cookies, cybercriminals have found an exploit that has allowed them to access protected private accounts. They are specifically taking advantage of “remember-me cookies”, which help users log in to different websites and platforms on the Internet without having to re-enter their details.” This was a big thing about two years ago and safeguards were built into Chrome (and Chromium) browsers but that really worked when the hosting service implemented those Device Bound Session Credentials (DBSC) protections. Seemingly Netflix has not done this. It seems that many entertainment and media platforms still rely on standard long-lived bearer cookies. Some good practices though for end users are: Log Out explicitly: Closing a tab leaves the session token alive in local storage. Click Log Out on accounts when finished, which sends a revoke request to the server and invalidates the token. Use "Sign out of all devices": If you suspect malware or a compromised browser, use the account dashboard (e.g., Netflix's "Manage Access and Devices" or Google's "Security -> Your Devices") to invalidate all current session keys instantly. Passkeys: Where supported, switch from traditional passwords + long-lived sessions to Passkeys (FIDO2/WebAuthn). Passkey sign-ins rely on public-key cryptography bound to your device's hardware enclave (TPM or security key), making token replication significantly harder for off-device attackers. Unknown links: Don't click on them is this is often how the session cookies are stolen. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/netflix-accounts-taken-over-in-south-africa-through-session-cookie-hijacking/ #security #southafrica #technology

Google Search is likely Yahooed now This is a lesson that you are never too big to disappear. I remember the arrival of Google Search (when that was all they did) and how it collapsed Yahoo search from the scene. Googling even became a verb. As big and massive as Google Search was, who can say they still go to the Google search site to search, after ever having asked what they are looking for in most AI services today? Even just a year or two ago, most people would have laughed at you if you told them no-one would be actually visiting the Google Search page today. Just a month ago I used AI to compare available TVs on Amazon Prime Day, and help me arrive at a decision to buy a new TV. It was a more intuitive and interactive process than doing a plain search. The difference I suppose is, people know Google Search is dumb search (well apart from paid rankings) whilst AI is perceived to be “clever”. AI is not actually clever, but it is at least a step or two above basic search. So the future battlefield for SEO and adverts will now have to be within AI. I expect the paid accounts will have non/fewer of that versus the masses using free access (the way it has always been). See https://gadgeteer.co.za/google-search-is-likely-yahooed-now/ #ai #search #technology

RSS-Bridge generates web feeds for websites that don’t have one You can either self-host the service, in many different ways, or there is also an official online instance you can use. The link to that instance is on the GitHub project page at the link below. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/rss-bridge-generates-web-feeds-for-websites-that-dont-have-one/ #opensource #rss #technology

Team South Africa wins at NASA space engineering competition “The international finals for the world’s longest-running space engineering competition were held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida from 30 July to 2 August. Team ZA was the only African team in the competition. It was South Africa’s first time entering, and no African team had competed before.” So yes, not a solo win by Team ZA on their own, but it shows the tremendous potential that South Africa has. If only SA could rid itself of the corruption plaguing it still, this potential could be fully realised and innovation could help spur economic growth. We owe this to our youth. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/team-south-africa-wins-at-nasa-space-engineering-competition/ #southafrica #technology

Yep their bendvradiusvis much bigger. No tight turns 🤣

OpenAI is giving ChatGPT free users unlimited text chats “OpenAI is making a big change for ChatGPT users on its free and Go tiers: Starting next week, users on those tiers will be able to have unlimited text chats with the chatbot, according to OpenAI. Right now, you may run into rate limits if you do too many text chats on those tiers, but those limits, just for text, will be going away soon. Next week, OpenAI is also adding a Think button for free and Go users that they can use to access higher reasoning for harder questions.” Which may be great for ChatGPT users, but the important thing is competition also helps push the bar up for other AI services such as Claude (who still has a hard cut-off with a rolling window). My spouse recently needed to start using a pretty complex financial package for a startup business. Normally this would involve me being dragged in, and I'd have to set it up and try to explain how it works (after I've spent time mastering it myself). Well she used free ChatGPT and did everything herself. I'm not saying AI will magically solve everything, but it can do some amazing grunt work. Yes, it can be better to learn how to do everything from scratch yourself, but often you need an outcome to get something productive done. On her own, this would have taken way longer and with a lot more frustration. Like it or not, AI is a useful tool to help us get stuff done. It takes dictionaries and search engines from yesteryear, to new levels of productivity. As I've stated before, I don't think AI is capable of actually replacing humans, and even the AI I use, I either paste into it what I want it to look at, or I authorise every step of changes to be made. I do not trust it to just run wild on its own. It requires oversight. See https://gadgeteer.co.za/openai-is-giving-chatgpt-free-users-unlimited-text-chats/ #ai #technology