2025-02-12

I got banned from /r/travel

TripCase, the trip tracking app that I have been using for years announced they are shutting down yesterday. A few months ago, I spent the time to figure out how to export my TripCase data so that I could import it into Flighty.

Fast forward to TripCase announcing the shut down, and people on reddit started to fret. Trying to be helpful, I posted a link to my TripCase repo where I have working code that can export TripCase data to JSON, and flight data to an ICS file.

I posted a separate thread to /r/travel sharing it for more folks to see. I woke up this morning to find that my post is deleted, and I was banned from posting in that subreddit again. Huge overreaction on their part, and very annoying.

Playing with AI

At Work

I built an AI Chat/Agent for Prism that is capable of performing actions on behalf of the user, and displaying existing UI components. The cool thing is that (if we ship this) our clients will instantly recognize the UI components from the rest of the app, and it will feel familiar to them.

I used the function calling API to empower GPT to decide how to act in order to fulfill a request from the user, and set our team up to rapidly iterate on additional functionality.

Apple Shortcuts & AI

I have an Apple Shortcuts-adjacent project that I call Shortcuts Toolbox. I have been working on that, and want to spend some more time publicizing & sharing it with the broader Apple Shortcuts Community.

It's main features are:

  1. List all Shortcuts with tons of useful metadata
  2. Visualize Shortcut dependencies, so you know which Shortcuts rely on others
  3. Provide a RESTful web API for interacting with and managing Shortcuts programmatically
  4. Integrate shortcuts with ChatGPT to enable more advanced automation and conversational interactions.

For this project, my goals are

  1. I need to write a blog post showcasing this.
  2. I also want to make a YouTube video to pair with the blog post, because writing about it just doesn't do it justice.
  3. Publish the code on GitHub to share my progress and gather feedback from the community.

ChatGPT <=> iMessage integration

I have a project called ai-jared-server that integrates ChatGPT with my iMessage conversations using Jared. Some of my friends use the AI exclusively by texting me. I want to open source and share this project.

Become a YouTuber (Again)?

I recently re-gained access to an old YouTube for tech reviews that my friend Mike and I started in college, Minus The Sink.

Our most popular video was of my Casio GShock watch which I still have & use to this day.

I kind of want to reboot the channel, if only to tell the story of how Mike and I miraculously remembered the password after forgetting all about the channel for years.

I also want to review my Starlink Mini, and some other tech products I've picked up recently.

Delicious Library

I have been using Delicious Library for years, its the database behind library.lukezilioli.com. Sadly, it is dead. Its time to find an alternative.

I am considering using Collections Database. An iOS app that I have used to track my Zippo collection.

Jeep Automations

I have a project that allows me to hit a web API for remotely starting, stopping, locking, unlocking, and setting off my Jeep's alarm. I waited years for Jeep to add Apple Shortcuts support to the Jeep app, and I have finally accepted that I need to take matters into my own hands. I want to open source this project to put some pressure on Jeep to improve the UConnect service–it's not cheap, and they basically never make it better. In my opinion, this is unacceptable.

Smart Home

I feel like this is in a perpetual state of progress, but I am leaning more and more on Matter + Home Assistant.

I picked up the Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition, and integrate Home Assistant with ChatGPT. I can ask my home things like "ok Nabu, set each light to a different color of the spectrum" and it will work with GPT to do exactly that. This has Siri beat by miles.

I have way too many entities in Home Assistant and need to clean things up. I also have some items added to HomeKit that I haven't ported over to HomeAssistant, so I can't automate everything in one place. Sometimes, I am forced to use HomeKit's automations (which are less reliable than Home Assistant). This is something I just need to do, but:

When it comes to the HomeAssistant & HomeKit integration, I find the UI/UX for managing HomeKit bridges, and which devices are bridged to HomeKit to be extremely painful to use. I have ideas in my head about how this UI could be significantly more usable. I am wondering if my first contribution to that project could be to improve the HomeKit bridge configuration UX.

Remembering my Non

Today would be her 100th birthday. I miss her every day.

Currently Reading

I read a lot of things at once, and jump between them at random. Currently:

  1. The Creative Act - A Way of Being
    1. Excellent book–full of dope insights from Rick Rubin
  2. The Staff Engineer's Path
    1. helping me figure out next steps for my career and in my position at Prism
  3. The Alchemist
    1. I first read this in college, and its one I like to revisit from time to time.
  4. Unreasonable Hospitality
    1. One day, I want to open a restaurant, this book helps me ideate around the experience I want to provide to customers when I do
    2. Indirectly, I find that it also helps think about the relationship between the software I build that the people who use it
  5. The Ministry for the Future
    1. I love a good dystopian book from time to time.
  6. Second Foundation
    1. The AppleTV+ Foundation series prompted me to start reading the Foundation books
    2. I tried as a kid and they went over my head (I liked iRobot though)
    3. I am working my way thru them in chronological order, which is different from the Publication Order.
    4. This means I am on the 5th book. Wow! The first two went fast, but 3 (Foundation) and 4 (Foundation and Empire) took me longer to get thru. I think this is because the books started catching up with the show, and I struggled to adapt to the differences. When it comes to media that has multiple modalities, I find that I prefer whichever format I consume first.
  7. The Fine Art of Small Talk
    1. I can't resist the occasional self-help book.
  8. Will
    1. To be honest, I haven't read a word more from this book since he slapped Chris Rock. It will likely stay this way.

Next Up Reading

  1. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
    1. I didn't even know that this came out, but I need to read it before the next Hunger Games book is released.

Watching

  1. Severence
    1. Rewatching this before I start season 2
  2. Silo
    1. I stalled out with a couple episodes left in season 2. I am itching to finish.

Playing

PS5

  1. Black Ops 6
    1. I usually don't enjoy Call of Duty games, but it is very good
  2. Avatar Frontiers of Pandora
    1. I'm a sucker for the Avatar universe, despite it being a repackaged version of Pocahantas. I'm a sucker for immersive world-building.

Switch

  1. Zelda Echoes of Wisdom
  2. Donkey Kong Country Returns
  3. Cocoon
    1. Mind-bending puzzle game. Enjoying this one a lot.

Xbox

  1. GTA IV (I just finished replaying GTA V)
    1. Replaying this on my xbox in preparation for GTA VI, if it ever comes out
  2. Portal
    1. Great game–I'm always replaying this