Introducing Cruxwire: a personal news digest that runs on your own hardware

Introducing Cruxwire: a personal news digest that runs on your own hardware
I read too much news, badly. A dozen RSS feeds, three "read it later" apps I never went back to, and the creeping sense that the algorithm-driven version of all this was optimizing for someone else's goals, not mine. So I built the thing I actually wanted, a personal news digest that runs on my own hardware, ranks stories with a model I control, and never phones home. It's called Cruxwire, and it's open source.…

Managing a Homelab AI Project with Claude Code, Gitea, and the Gitea MCP Server

Managing a Homelab AI Project with Claude Code, Gitea, and the Gitea MCP Server
I am not a software engineer. I think in milestones, user stories, and outcomes. Kim wants a smart garden assistant that tells her when to water and when the blight risk is high. I want to build it. Solo homelab projects like this usually die in a half-finished Docker Compose file. Ceres is different, and the reason is three tools working together: Gitea, the Gitea MCP Server, and Claude Code. The Setup Ceres is a…

From Smart Bulbs to Skynet: The 2026 State of my Home Automation

From Smart Bulbs to Skynet: The 2026 State of my Home Automation
When I left Elastic, one of my goals was to dive deep into home automation and finally "level up" my setup. Looking back at where I started when we first moved to Graham, it’s almost comical. Back then, "Home Automation" was just a few Philips Hue bulbs and a Raspberry Pi running Home Assistant that didn't do much. It was essentially a glorified light switch connected to Alexa. Fast forward to today, and the Raspberry…