Posts on Baldarn's

A second brain to really delegate to AI assistants

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Picking up where I left off yesterday on the second brain.

An AI secretary

Emails, chats, documents, transactions: we have information scattered everywhere. The idea of collecting it locally and making it available to an AI secretary gets me really excited.

I’m thinking of an assistant that reminds me of a message I never replied to, or asks me whether I’ve paid a bill.

I need a second brain, but I want my data kept local

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I feel the need for a second brain.

Scattered information

Messages, emails, documents: all the information I currently keep scattered across different apps. Every time I look for something, I have to remember where I wrote it down, or who sent it to me.

I never really got the hang of Notion or Obsidian. Now I’m trying out another tool to collect my data locally and make it searchable: text, voice messages, PDFs. Just being able to search all of it in one place is really appealing to me.

Local home automation, cloud AI: I want to be in control

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I got my hands on the air conditioning units.

The AC units, locally

The goal was to run them locally with Home Assistant. Four wires, a connector and a system I keep at home, without depending on the manufacturer’s service.

It’s something I care a lot about: owning my devices, under my control. If the manufacturer shuts down its service tomorrow, I can still turn on my air conditioner.

PHP and certificates: a couple of hectic days for cybersecurity

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of hectic days: first PHP, then certificates.

What I did

I got the emails from the services I use, updated my servers and moved on.

The PHP issue required an update. The certificate one is sneakier: it affects HTTPS, which is what guarantees we’re really on the site we think we’re on, and not on a fake one.

No panic

Two serious security issues, sure. But they don’t strike me as a sign that something weird is happening because of AI.

A bracelet that listens to everything: I'd want one, but only running locally

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A bracelet that listens to what I say, transcribes it and prepares a summary for me. Would I want one? Yes. But on one condition.

The usefulness

I can see how useful it would be. I say I need to do something tomorrow and it offers to put it in my calendar. I already use automatic meeting summaries in Meet, and devices like Omi are heading in this direction. Then there are glasses and all the other gadgets on the way.

Humanoid robots: I want one at home, but who's thinking about safety and jobs?

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I grew up reading Asimov (here on the blog you’ll also find the Italian translation of The Last Question). A robot at home? I want one.

More time for what matters

A robot that cooks and takes care of the house would leave me more time for my kids, for the people I care about and for everything else. I really like the idea, and in a small way I’m already living it by training them while I fold laundry.

Training robots while I fold laundry and empty the dishwasher

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This morning, before work, I folded the kids’ laundry and emptied the dishwasher. Since I had to do it anyway, I recorded the whole thing to train robots.

About half an hour of footage. I’m still on the 7 euros an hour tier: if they approved all of it, that would be around 3.50 euros for stuff I had to do anyway.

You do feel the weight of the head mount a bit, but a quick neck massage and you’re good to go.

Privacy and AI: what if transparency applied to those who use our data too?

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

To me, privacy is a shield, a sort of invisibility cloak. But how much does it really protect us today?

My experience

I’ve worked at companies where public social media data was collected and resold. Seen from the inside, the shield looks a lot thinner than we think.

I already wrote about this in Privacy makes you a liar, and this video picks up that thread.

Cloned voice scams: a family password to protect yourself

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I got a message from a friend: he was at the dentist, couldn’t talk and needed 200 euros.

The attempt

I asked to talk on the phone. It was a scam, and it ended there.

But what if next time the voice really were his? With voice cloning, it takes very little material to reproduce someone’s voice. And fake videos are getting more and more convincing. Imagine a call with a family member’s voice asking you for help.

Shift: I get paid to do household chores and teach them to robots

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Can you make money doing household chores? Apparently, yes.

How it works

For a couple of weeks now I’ve been trying out Shift. I put my phone on a head mount, record my daily activities and get paid for it.

The videos are used to build a dataset for training robots to do these tasks. Basically, while I fold laundry, I’m teaching a machine how to fold laundry.

Cybersecurity: plants grinding to a halt and damage in the physical world

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Standing in front of a Medici tower, which knows a thing or two about defense, I started thinking about cyber warfare. As an enthusiast, not an expert.

Compromised plants

I start from a story I heard: compromised refrigeration plants. Not stolen data, but machines shutting down and real damage in the physical world.

The problem is that security is often fragile. Default passwords, open access, the classic key under the doormat. And when we’re talking about infrastructure, the risk gets serious.

From Starlink to Neuralink: does Elon Musk's future look like The Matrix?

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Some rambling morning thoughts on where Elon Musk’s tech ecosystem is heading.

Starlink and connectivity everywhere

It starts with Starlink and satellite mobile connectivity. SpaceX has a huge advantage: low-cost launches. And that opens up interesting scenarios for phones, even though frequencies and the physical limits of the connection don’t go away with a tweet.

Then there’s Musk’s possible AI device: an assistant that’s always on, always connected.

Technofeudalism: are we digital colonies of Big Tech?

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A weekend in the countryside, feeling a bit tired, and some rambling thoughts. This time on technofeudalism.

The fiefdoms

The idea is this: big tech companies have become fiefdoms. Google and Apple control the operating systems and the app stores, and those who live inside them (users and small developers) look a lot like serfs.

Our devices track us and pile up data. And I’m not just talking about phones: smart appliances collect information continuously too.

The evolution of the developer in the age of artificial intelligence

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The era of the programmer who just writes code is over. And I say that as a programmer.

Code is a liability

I start from two people I really respect, DHH and Antirez, and from the idea of “pride”: pride in well-written code. I get it, I’ve felt it too.

But code isn’t the product. Code is a tool, and the more of it you have, the more you have to maintain. What matters is the solution, the architecture, the ability to solve real problems.

Home automation, artificial intelligence and agents: the future of the smart home

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve started making YouTube videos, and the first topic could only be the one I’ve been passionate about for years: home automation.

Hardware, software and DIY

If you follow this blog, you know: I’ve spent quite a lot of time taking apart relays, flashing ESPHome and configuring Home Assistant. DIY home automation is a world where hardware and software meet, and where you get to decide how your home should work.

Free market

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

TLDR

In Italy, switching to the free market for electricity and gas supply will become mandatory (link in Italian)

Personal considerations

From my own experience and from talking with friends and colleagues, this system forces you to check offers more or less every year and switch provider accordingly. The strategy adopted by almost every provider is an offer that is more or less locked for the first 12/24 months.

I say more or less locked because in bad, but not even that bad, situations (see covid) the provider can change the contract unilaterally, and in a short time the price can come unhooked (it happened to me, and I think it happened to everyone in that period. In my case I received a backdated letter that made me laugh and cry at the same time)

Eat the Bait, Spit the Hook

Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is fun.

Maybe it’s the 5th time that I’m contacted by a person on Telegram/WhatsApp to work remotely.

Years ago, I just used to report the chat…

Then I started to go deeper into the net and eat the bait.

The Bait

This usually starts with a message from a person on Telegram (mostly Telegram, maybe because WhatsApp doesn’t allow easy bots (Remember my WhatsApp bot solution?).

The person asks if you want to earn lots of money from working from home.

Whatsapper is here

Sat, 27 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I am working with home automation with Home assistant in my spare time and I find out something that was kind of missing:

an addon that let you send notification or messages with whatsapp.

Is not easy as telegram or matrix, because Whatsapp doesn’t easily allow bots.

So, I decided to create a really ultra simple web api based on the glorious whatsapp-web.js, a really smart project that connects to whatsapp with Puppeteer and a real instance of Whatsapp Web to avoid getting blocked! Really smart!

Thinking about validation

Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today I spoke with zero cento studio about a collaboration for staring a project.

They rightly pointed out that is better to validate the idea before starting working.

I totally agree.

So I started questioning myself…

Why do I want to start this project?

Is for the money?

Is for the fame?

Then I realized…

Is for having fun and help others!

How can a work done for pleasure and for others fail?

Modding sonoff 4ch

Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

I recently bought 4 used sonoff 4ch on subito.it to a super kind person that I really thank!

I had to integrate in my new house some lights

But damn!!! The sonoff 4ch doesn’t allow 230V inputs! :(

I was really upset at the beginning, but then I took the solderer and solved the problem, as always ;)

Enabling external buttons

I took some spare cat5 inside cables and solder the line and ground of the buttons.

Yet another hackathon

Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today is finished the Bitrock Hackathon. I decided to participate because I really like hackathons and the topic was interesting:

How to enhance the coworkers human relationship in a virtual world!

This is really something that I’m thinking about since I started working remotely. The absence of the physical presence is something that really makes me think.

I tried since the beginning of my remote experiences to propose activities to enhance the sociality (like the WakeUpDevs) or calling for a coffee breach, but never found a clear solution

Don't be that kind of person

Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today I was banned from a developers Telegram group.

I shared in the chat this link of DHH and a person replied a stupid comment.

Others arrived judging me as a fan boy and a bimbominchia (that kind of intraslatable… maybe the best is stupid child)

I tried to reply asking for facts and data about the article.

No responses.

Then someone asked me to calm down.

I replied strongly.

They banned me.

The renovation odyssey

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

1 year ago I started a renovation of a house with my wife.

I didn’t know what I was going into. I just felt we needed to do that, based on the opportunities that occurred:

Giulio was born, so we needed more space
My dad died leaving me an heritage
My wife grandmother died, leaving my mother in law and her brother with a spare house
Superbonus occurred

So, my wife and I decided to take a loan, buy grandma house and restore that using superbonus.

I love getting my hands dirty

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

For the ones I heard that are kind of ‘sceptic’ about my electrician skills.

I tell you one thing.

I live for learning

Every second is for me an opportunity for improving, mastering anything that is possible.

I play instruments, write, do martial arts, do carpentry… Name something and I’ll certainly would like to know something more about it ( if is challenging, of course ) Simple and superficial things amuse me for the only purpose of being faster and better in it.

Private VPN

Sat, 22 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here we are again with a practical guide to configure your private VPN!

I use this to connect from outside home to my internal services and devices.

Prerequisites

First thing first, you must have home assistant installed (I can show you how)

Wireguard

Install wireguard, is a Home Assistant Community Add-ons.

Then you must Forward port 51820 (UDP!) in your router to your Home Assistant instance.

Edit the configuration of the plugin with your host (maybe the one generated with duckdns plugin?).

Water meter

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Hello! How can you monitor the water that arrives in your house? What if a leack happend?

With a water meter you can count live how much water is being used and fastly detect leackage!!

Hardware

yf-DN40 Water meter (aliexpress link)

Esphome configuration

The configuration was really simple, I followed a github repo to get the esphome configuration that I nedded

I used a spare esp8266 nodemcu that I have running on my desk

Tale of the new slavery

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Tale of the new slavery

First came ubiquitous connectivity.

Ubiquity

It was built with satellites and towers placed everywhere on the planet.

Then came miniaturized, low-power antennas that could connect to Ubiquity practically anywhere.

Powerful men, greedy and thirsty for power, made collars.

Collars for humans.

They forced the weakest to wear them.

Once around your neck they could never be taken off. Well, you could try, but they would kill you.

Check for finished appliances using just one global power meter

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I only have a single power meter, connected to my main power line.

So I cannot single out the various appliances by power consumption; but I came up with a simple way of telling if a power-consuming appliance has completed, like my tumble drier which is in my basement.

First create an input_boolean, this will hold the state that an appliance is on.

Go to Settings, Devices and services, then Helpers, and click Create helper.

On freedom

Mon, 13 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This morning I was on site doing some work on the electrical panel. I had to go to the bathroom, but there is no useful bathroom :O

I was not free to do what I had to do, which was to go to the bathroom to defecate.

I was sick, I ran home where I got my freedom.

So, being free means

being able to do what one has to do

in my context, go to the bathroom :)

The irrationals strikes again

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today was general strike day in Italy.

The kindergarten stroked, but they said that at 10:30 the strikes would be ended. I had my son for the morning, I worked with him on my arms and put him to sleep when he wanted (around 10:15). Then he woke up at 11 and I carried him to the kindergarten.

When I arrived I received this welcome

...we are not a nursery. 
The time we had to enter was from 10:30 to 10:45 and that was a concession because of the strike. 
Is not educative for the children to arrive at any hour...

Correct, I said.

What would you do ...

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today I will try to draw an image of power, using money metaphor.

I’ll make you a series of questions and also give you my responses.

What would you do with 1 dollar?

I would buy a coffee :)

What would you do with 1 thousand dollar?

I would start donating 20 dollars to a charity I believe in
I would buy a new mobile phone, if needed

And all the things before…

Privacy makes you a liar

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine

a world where our concept of privacy doesn’t exists, but everyone is ‘public’ to everyone else.

How less injustice would there be? How less violence?

Do you think your feet have ‘privacy’ rights over your hand? Really?

We must start looking at ourselves as part of something bigger, mankind, the world, the solar system, the universe.

The problem is

judgment

This is the huge problem. How to solve this? Everyone and everything explicit!

Garbage collection notification

Sat, 21 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Today I will share my new garbage collection assistant (thanks to @ferrimiche suggestion!)

Prerequisites

First thing first, you must have this installed:

home assistant (I can show you how)
HACS (installation instructions)

Install Garbage Collection integration

Thanks to @bruxy70 we have an integration ready to use!

Go to HACS -> integrations -> explore & download repositories

Search for Garbage collection and install the integration

Then configure it following the creator instructions. Those are perfectly clear!

Smart thermostat

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Here we are again with a practical guide to start your #homeautomation journey!

Shopping list

esp32 ~ 8 euros
BME280 (humidity, temperature, pressure) ~ 4.5 euros
BME680 (humidity, temperature, pressure, gas) ~ 7.5 euros

Positioninig

The best position for you sensor will be at ~ 1.5 m from the ground (the typical height for thermostats)

Home assistant

Here is the #esphome configuration for your devices

TODO

Flashing ESPHome to a Shelly 1 using an Arduino Uno as programmer

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

I recently got a Shelly 1 v3 wifi relay, and I had already decided I did not want to use the Shelly ecosystem but to connect it directly to Home Assistant via ESPHome.

The Shelly 1 relay offers header pins to connect to, for debugging or flashing. Connecting it to a computer requires an USB/TTL converter.

You can either buy it on amazon for cheap, or luckily if you have an Arduino laying around, you can use it as an USB/TTL converter easily!

Initial setup

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Here we are again with a practical guide to start your #homeautomation journey!

Shopping list

raspberry pi ~100 euros
usb c power supply (3.5A recommended) ~ 15 euros
SD card (64GB class 2 recommended) ~ 15 euros

Home assistant

You can install #homeassistant in your raspberry pi. Here the official guide

I strongly suggest the installation with the operating system, but if you are confident and want to play more with your raspberry, you can install a distro and then install #homeassistant. Your call!

Smart Alarm

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Today I will give you an idea for a smart functionality of your smart alarm! The automatic activation and deactivation of the alarm! Why do you have to manually enable the alarm? With some #homeassistant magic you can automatically enable it when you leave home and disable it when you come back!

Alarm hardware

snzb-03 Motion sensor
snzb-04 Door/window sensor
zzbridge Zigbee bridge

Pro/Cons

wifi vs zigbee

wifi is low cost, but battery expensive and not decentralized. You could not reach all your devices