A little rusty (several decades since my last time water skiing), still just as fun! 💦 ⛷️ Connecticut River, Haddam, CT
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com
@paulbraren.bsky.social
Dad. IT Ops Engineer, previously SE @Pure/Dell/VMware, IBM WW Team Lead. VMware vExpert & Certified Pro #2681. Sustainability advocacy & consulting. EV Club of Connecticut Co-Lead. TinkerTry.com -PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency & more YouTube.com/TinkerTry
An informative and compelling way to inform.
Katharine Hayhoe@katharinehayhoe.com · last yr.Scientists who study climate don't automatically attribute all changes to human activity. Rather, we carefully investigate every possible natural factor that could explain the planet's warming. Could these be the real culprits? The evidence is in--and the answer is NO. This thread explains! 🧵
Rivian R2 Test Drive: 10 Ideas to Tempt Even More Tesla Drivers tinkertry.com/rivian-r2-vi... New article & video includes my 1st impressions, suggestions, and comparison tables. @rivianofficial.bsky.social @riviantrackr.com @rivianupdates.bsky.social #Rivian #RivianR2 #Tesla #EV #ElectricVehicles
Rivian R2 Test Drive: 10 Ideas to Tempt Even More Tesla Drivers
PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.
tinkertry.com
Had a look at both the upcoming Slate pickup and deliveries-already-started Rivian R2 last week, learning a lot about each of these two very different EVs. It's great to see more EV choices at more affordable prices.
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · 3mo agoHey John at Rivian, Westchester Mall, White Plains NY. I enjoyed the 1/2 hour test drive of the new R2 together, and I appreciate that you patiently answered all of my unusual technical questions too. Thank you! @rivianofficial.bsky.social @rivianupdates.bsky.social
Great day to walk around Greenwich Village/West Village NYC to see the new Slate EV and try some John's of Bleecker Street pizza! @slateauto.bsky.social
EV Club of Connecticut@evclubct.bsky.social · 3mo agoThank you for the close look at the Slate EV in NYC today! www.slate.auto/en @slateauto.bsky.social
Hoping the new R2 is a big success for Rivian. (Boston location's test drives are booked for weeks out) @rivianofficial.bsky.social
Thanks for pointer to that helpful @engadget.com article. Learned some of this the hard way last year, when trying to make an AMD-based USB4-equipped Lenovo T14 laptop get along nicely with my Dell U4025QW 5K display, especially since I needed a much-longer-than-6-foot run.
Very similar experience here in Connecticut, with our summertime Virtual Power Plant earnings paying our Nov. to Apr. electric bills. Net zero energy cost per year, including heat pump HVAC, hot water, and 2 EV transportation costs. No gas. Installed in 2023, specs at: tinkertry.com/tesla-solar-...
Solar Roof vs Solar Panels: Which is Worth It?
PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.
tinkertry.com
Craig Reynolds@craigreynolds.bsky.social · 6mo agoWe installed our solar roof 5 years ago. We love it. With our batteries, we are self-powered (house and 2 EVs) ~9 months of the year. We are grandfathered into a rate plan with California's PG&E such that the money we earn pushing excess power to grid pays for the other 3 months. We get cash back!
The successor to the beloved home-lab-friendly Xeon D is here. (over 1000 bundles shipped) tinkertry.com/superservers But, it's over a decade later and the Intel Xeon 6 SoC Family (Granite Rapids-D) has a much higher price. www.servethehome.com/intel-xeon-6... @servethehome.com.web.brid.gy
Intel Xeon 6 SoC Family Overview This is Granite Rapids-D
The Intel Xeon 6 SoC family, codenamed Granite Rapids-D, adds more acceleration and faster networking to the popular series
servethehome.com
Phew! Revolution Wind, a key offshore wind project and object of scorn for Trump admin, to come online www.ctpublic.org/news/2026-03... by Áine Pennello @ctpublic.bsky.social “a big boost to our energy grid...new energy coming on that’s both reliable and homegrown" -Chris Phelps #WindPower
Revolution Wind, a key offshore wind project and object of scorn for Trump admin, to come online
The project, off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island, will ultimately generate up to 704 megawatts of electricity — the equivalent of powering 350,000 homes.
ctpublic.org
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · last yr.Tech such as wind turbines, see pictures I just took in New London, Connecticut recently, with new developments: "...Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built" apnews.com/article/offs... @apnews.com ctmirror.org/2025/08/23/r... @ctmirror.org
I am live tonight at 9 PM EST on Home Gadget Geeks! www.youtube.com/live/KZSNlqZ... drop in to ask questions live! Talking about home electrification incl. solar/batteries. tinkertry.com/category:Mat... and tech updates since our last recording Sep of '23, including @ubiquiti.bsky.social Unifi.
Home Gadget Geeks 674 - LIVE
YouTube video by The Average Guy TV
youtube.com
I'm happy to announce the publication of a new content series about electrification, thank you @mattferrell.bsky.social! First up: Geothermal vs Air Source Heat Pump: Which is Worth It? Featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell tinkertry.com/geothermal-v... @chrisnelder.bsky.social @volts.wtf
Geothermal vs Air Source Heat Pump: Which is Worth It?
PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.
tinkertry.com
Check out @garymarcus.bsky.social take on all this: garymarcus.substack.com/p/super-bowl... "As you can see, the two big private LLM companies, although superficially similar, are actually quite different." #anthropic #openai
Super Bowl Matchup: Anthropic vs OpenAI
You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy the ads
garymarcus.substack.com
Good article @techradar.com. I’ve got this “SOS instead of signal bars” issue too, with 1 of 2 eSIMs on my iPhone 17 Pro Max for ~1hr, on just my primary line, strange. Same issue even after several reboots or cell off/on toggles. (my 2nd number www.verizon.com/products-per... doesn’t have data)
Intel's 'Serpent Lake' CPU leaks, its first chip developed in collaboration with Nvidia www.pcgamer.com/hardware/pro... “Intel's first joint-venture chip with Nvidia, plus several next-gen CPUs, reportedly with a big boost to per-core performance, plus a return to a unified CPU core architecture.”
Intel's 'Serpent Lake' CPU leaks, its first chip developed in collaboration with Nvidia
Meanwhile, Razer Lake, Hammer Lake and Titan Lake take the fight to AMD.
pcgamer.com
Happy New Years Day! In case you missed this post late yesterday. Feedback always appreciated - reply here, or comment below the article where no login is required.
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · 9mo agoTinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh tinkertry.com/tinkertry-20... With many aging tech things starting to break on me 2025, it was time for major tech overhauls. This article covers many of the tech successes, enjoy! Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR! @frame.work @home-assistant.io @ubiquiti.bsky.social
TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh tinkertry.com/tinkertry-20... With many aging tech things starting to break on me 2025, it was time for major tech overhauls. This article covers many of the tech successes, enjoy! Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR! @frame.work @home-assistant.io @ubiquiti.bsky.social
TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh
PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.
tinkertry.com
Come join our Zoom from wherever you live, and it's free! Register here: evclubct.com/event/bidire... #VPP
EV Club of Connecticut@evclubct.bsky.social · 11mo agoBidirectional Charging – Club Zoom Meeting All About V2G/V2H, register for free! evclubct.com/event/bidire... Many club members opt-in to a Virtual Power Plant program - utility pays them to use stored energy from their battery storage during peak demand. V2G extends this concept to EV batteries.
From the hundreds of folks I met during my travels back in VMware's heyday, have any of you found me here on Bluesky? Photo - Duncan Epping and Paul Braren at the VMware booth, during VeeamON 2018 in Chicago.
Great article and video - helpful, informative, and entertaining. I’ve had my eye on such AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor (Strix Halo) systems with 128GB of LPDDR5X memory for a while now, this really helps inform my decision. youtu.be/pHB3-9AG6tw?... @servethehome.com.web.brid.gy
The BEST AI Mini PC That One Upped Apple? AMD Strix Halo Beelink GTR9 Pro
YouTube video by ServeTheHome
youtu.be
ServeTheHome Server Storage and Networking Reviews [Unofficial]@servethehome.com.web.brid.gy · 12mo agoSuccessful NorthEast Electric Vehicle Showcase evclubct.com/successful-n... 125 Test Drives Given “…when we selected the date 8 months ago, who knew it was going to be 2 days before the sunset of the federal incentive. EV sales are enjoying a spike due to pull-forward demand.”
Successful EV Club Ride and Drive Event | EV Club CT
Over 125 test drives, information on incentives and new programs, and lots of fun interaction this year at the EV Club NEEVS event. Details/pix here.
evclubct.com
Seems ABC picked this good news up first, about 3 hours ago, by @chrisboardman.bsky.social "DC District Court grants Revolution Wind injunction, construction expected to restart" www.abc6.com/dc-district-... See also ground.news/article/fede... @savethesound.bsky.social @eversource.bsky.social
DC District Court grants Revolution Wind injunction, construction expected to restart | ABC6
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction Monday in favor of Revolution Wind after its construction was ordered to halt by the Trump administration.
abc6.com
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · last yr.Tech such as wind turbines, see pictures I just took in New London, Connecticut recently, with new developments: "...Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built" apnews.com/article/offs... @apnews.com ctmirror.org/2025/08/23/r... @ctmirror.org
As a very active VPP homeowner living off heat pumps year-round, this will be interesting! Susan is great, see: "New Report Confirms Trump’s Attack on Offshore Wind Will Raise Electric Prices Across New England" Statement by Susan Muller, Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucs.org/about/news/n...
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · last yr.See also bsky.app/profile/rose... @ucs.org @amandabarker22.bsky.social @larrychretien.bsky.social @geconsumers.bsky.social
@christinaprignano.com @shankman.bsky.social, and Jon Chesto, great work on today's "Offshore wind 101: What’s the status of major wind projects in the Northeast?" - @bostonglobe.com Appreciate that clear map and table: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/08/s... @eversource.com @savethesound.bsky.social
Offshore wind 101: What’s the status of major wind projects in the Northeast? - The Boston Globe
President Trump's administration has canceled permits, issued stop-work orders, and gone to court to stop progress on wind turbine development.
bostonglobe.com
Samuel L. Jackson Wants You to Eat Seaweed (and Back Wind Farms)
YouTube video by Creative Boom
youtu.be
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · last yr.“This arbitrary decision defies all logic and reason. Revolution Wind’s project was already well underway and employed hundreds of skilled tradesmen and women. This is a major setback for a critical project in Connecticut, and I will fight it.” - Sen. Richard Blumenthal
Thanks for timely topics on latest This Week in Tech! leolaporte.me @ this spot: youtu.be/uS2LHm3X5vA?... lschmeiser.bsky.social : youtu.be/uS2LHm3X5vA?... jp2e.bsky.social : youtu.be/uS2LHm3X5vA?... sam.abuelsamid.com : youtu.be/uS2LHm3X5vA?... twit.tv/shows/all-tw... @lisalaporte.bsky.social
Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com@paulbraren.bsky.social · last yr.So glad you talked about rising electricity prices with sam.abuelsamid.com explaining how VPPs (Virtual Power Plants) in homes (like mine in New England) can both help the grid and lower costs. leolaporte.me, jp2e.bsky.social, and lschmeiser.bsky.social, ask me anything! mattferrell.bsky.social
Another great Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder! [Episode #253] – Bioenergy Illusions At 34 min into full episode xenetwork.org/ets/episodes... Chris Nelder (quoting a report): "Planting solar on your land, if you will, gives you 100 times more energy than using it to grow corn for fuel."
[Episode #253] – Bioenergy Illusions | The Energy Transition Show
Are biofuels and other forms of bioenergy truly ‘renewable’ and ‘carbon neutral?'
xenetwork.org
Very helpful article, by Chris Colotti: chriscolotti.us/vmware/mitig... (I’ve used Okta at several jobs, and Duo in my home)
Mitigating VMware CVE's Without Patching • Chris Colotti's Blog
A lot of people are looking at other options after the Broadcom buyout of VMware. That is no secret at this point, although some of the die hards out there will completely deny it. Those choosing to m...
chriscolotti.us