Nanoleaf Matter and Thread finally working

As an early adopter of home automation I've suffered over the years from a collection of incompatible devices each requiring a proprietary app to control the one brand of light or switch or whatever.

When Apple, Google and Amazon got together to standardise Matter and Thread I jumped in and purchased some bulbs from Nanoleaf. Matter is the protocol which can run over different transport including Wifi and Thread is a mesh radio system that works in Wifi black spots and seems quicker.

Apple has been shipping Thread border routers built in to devices such as the Apple TV and HomePods so I have a few scattered around already. Thread devices also act as mesh relays so it's easy to cover the house thoroughly. It's also in some phones which greatly helps with configuration.

When I got the bulbs I took advantage of the ability to use Apple's Home app for configuration thinking it would be smoother than the dodgy proprietary apps. Big mistake.

I've had a rough time until this weekend. Setting up new bulbs was frustrating and often took several goes at it and often lights, which I had set to come on at dusk, would often come on very dim and purple, requiring manual intervention.

This weekend I got a notification that there was a critical software update to do. It was actually two updates in a row. It didn't go well and I ended up deleting all the devices and setting them up again using the Nanoleaf app which then did the firmware update.

Only some of my bulbs support Thread. You can see the little icon on those ones above. The Thread devices definitely work better than the Wifi only ones.

I'm afraid we're not free of proprietary apps but at least things are working reliably for me now.

My advice:

• Choose Matter & Thread capable home automation devices
• Do use the manufacturer's app and apply the software updates
• After all that add the devices to Apple's Home app (or Google's equivalent)

There was a feature I wan't too keen on, it makes the light warmer in colour as the night goes on, but having lived with it a bit I quite like it now.

Coding with an Agent - productive but exhausting

Claude Code has been my helper for a few months now. Others have observed that while it can help a non-programmer to create software it can be even more help to an experienced programmer.

Knowing what to ask for, being able to evaluate the generated code, and thinking up tasks are things that a seasoned coder can employ to get fantastic results.

In February 2026 I had the bright idea of asking Claude to port the python in FreeDV RADEV1 over to C. To my amazement it did that daunting task in under a day of prodding. This has saved our proper programmers months of tedious work and has led to a trickle of other FreeDV applications. I made one myself that is a simple native application in SwiftUI for macOS. Here it is receiving Anthony VK3YSA.

Another app is a simple client that talks the excellent digital chat mode Olivia 8/250, again native SwiftUI for macOS.

In the shack I run Linux and have been getting Claude to make little utility apps using GTK+3. (They will also build on macOS but look rather out of place).

Presumably because of the extensive amount of open source software to train on for Linux and GTK, it's particularly good at whipping up little apps.

The job of the programmer has changed probably for ever. I'm dreaming up projects that I never would have considered before. I wake in the night with ideas and have anxiety about not using the available quota for the day.