Here's some information about the garage door opener project:

I plan to use the C.H.I.P I got from The Next Thing co.
 * CHIP docs are at: https://nextthingco.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/200881468-C-H-I-P-

Nathan can write the phone interface.

I'll wire up a relay switch to be web-controlled, and put the
whole thing on my home wifi network.

For extra credit, I'll add an interface to bird.org, which will
poll something there, and operate the door remotely (but only 
using one-time-pad encryption (for authentication) between
the controller and the door)