I blog about things that are interesting to me: these days that's largely home automation, electronics and hiking in New Zealand.
Combining ESPHome, 3D printing and scripts to automatically provide video call lighting
I rewrote Obfuscator with a focus on simplicity
South Westland walk to some of the best natural hot pools in New Zealand
Mountain walk right between Lakes Hāwea and Wānaka, with panoramic views over both
South Canterbury peak near Geraldine with views over the plains
vasestl combines Rust and trigonometry to create striking STL pots from scratch
Easily-accessed summit near Lewis Pass with broad views of the surrounding ranges
Popular alpine peak above Arthurs Pass village
Epic alpine lake in the Butler Range accessed from Whataroa, West Coast
Accessible Kaikōura hut with brilliant east-coast views from the ridgeline
Harnessing Hyprland to brighten/dim whichever monitor I'm working on
Hillside hut in the Westport region, with easy access to the rugged Buckland Peaks
I developed a custom Vite plugin to import GPX files for interactive maps and more
I built LD2410 Configurator, a web-based tool for configuring these tiny yet powerful motion sensors
Remote 10-day hike around the coast of New Zealand's third island
Modern bushline hut with a hard-to-find trail near Inangahua, West Coast
These three valleys in Arthur's Pass are connected by Tarn Col and straddle the border between Canterbury and the West Coast
Remote hut reachable by boating across Lake Wānaka or inland via the Matukituki Valley
Meandering river valley track up Hope Valley near Lewis Pass
Combining the new ElectroDragon control board with COB LEDs
Majestic hut with a view in South West Coast
Stunning mountain hut and natural hot spring in northern Arthur's Pass
Hike to a remote lake near the Casey-Binser track and Poulter valley in Arthur's Pass, Canterbury
Steady and scenic trail near Reefton on the West Coast
A gorgeous Great Walk completed in a day
Popular West Coast hut with magnificent views near Hokitika
Part of Mt Robert loop up Pourangahau / Mt Robert near Lake Rotoiti and St Arnaud
Up the river with the Ngatea Tramping Club
Three-day tramp on Great Barrier Island visiting Kaiaraara Hut, Mt Heale Hut and Kaitoke hot springs
Southernmost day of St James Walkway in Lewis Pass, to and from Boyle Flat Hut
Canterbury's most accessible tramp?
Scenic running event in the hills of Coromandel
Popular track to Hooker Lake with views of Mt Cook / Aoraki
Steep track near Aoraki Village with mountain views
Cloudy tramp in the north-eastern Tararua Range
Completing one of New Zealand's most famous walks in a day
Beautiful overnight walk in Arthur's Pass
Epic run along the Mt Oxford tops, a short drive from Christchurch
Mountainous trail run in Mid Canterbury
The tallest peak on Banks Penninsula, accessed from the south
Approachable overnight tramp in Arthur's Pass
In my final week in Wellington, I pay my respects by breaking my body
Overnight tramp in Tararua Range with outrageously good views
The pinnacle of Wellington bushwalking
A rugged attraction on Wellington's south coast
Detailing the headphones I've tried over the last 10 years: Sennheiser, Grado, Audio-Technica, Superlux and HiFiMan.
Moving from ESPHome to WLED can be done without wires or worries
Or how my Kogan smart plug gained superpowers over-the-air
How to make builds consistent and flexible with a single Dockerfile
Developing a simple Go application to solve a problem
Why smart homes can be a mess, and why there's a better way
Exploring the secret lakes of Wellington's Pencarrow coastline
Or how I abandoned custom firmware because somebody else was doing it better
Finding inspiration in the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, I fill my bedroom with blue light on a schedule
Dumb speakers made smart with Home Assistant and Node-RED
I built mq-display to show smart home status, notifications and more!
The dawn of serverless-side rendering?
Moving old devices to a powerful new platform
Bringing smarts to dumb air conditioning units
Cracking the code and paving the way to automation
Going beyond the remote in pursuit of automation
Building more resilient networks with the LWT and retained state features of MQTT
Getting to grips with IoT networking
Teaching myself full-stack JavaScript with a WYSIWYG CMS of sorts
Photos from the scenic mountainous landscape near Arthur's Pass, 90 minutes from Christchurch
Evaluating the use of Kinect depth cameras to capture piano keypresses from above
A dynamic MusicBee skin using PHP
Highlighting the potentially hilarious flaws of modern computer translators
A voyage to the scenic Mahia peninsula on the east coast of New Zealand
An experiment in spectra: using an MSGEQ7 to make RGB LED lights pulse to the music
Learning about the benefits of gaming mice, on a budget
A deeply flawed keyboard that succeeds in being a gimmicks but fails at being a keyboard
An offline music addict in a world of streaming, I dig into the pros of cons of being a iPod user in 2015
Some bird photography from over the years
Rural walk with seaside views just to the west of Wellington
Impatience made me delve into custom Android ROMs for my Motorola Moto G
I take my first dip into better computer audio
A new headphone adventure ends early as I realise open-back headphones aren't perfect
Moving beyond the closed-back world of the ATH-M50x and starting a new headphone adventure
A quiet spot in the Marlborough Sounds
An enjoyable stay in an unbelievable city