Tech Tho(ugh)ts

Only, maybe not that fast.

Storage Arc [BONUS]

Hard drives! They’ve undergone quite a lot of changes over the years, from being the size of a respectable piece of furniture, to being filled with helium. They’ve got a long history, so let’s just get into it!

Sources:

General 1956 Events:

• Billboard Top 100 from 1956
• Culture Trip, 29 March 2018, “What to Know About Morocco’s Independence”

IBM 350/RAMAC:

• Backblaze (Cloud storage provider), 17 November 2016, “A History of Hard Drives”
• Gizmodo, 16 March 2010, “IBM 305 RAMAC: The Grandaddy of Modern Hard Drives“
• The Wall Street Journal, 22 August 2006,”Hard-Disk Drive, Once a Behemoth Weighing Over a Ton, Hits 50th Year“
• ComputerHistory.org, Accessed: 31 March 2021, “1956: First commercial hard disk drive shipped”

(1961) IBM 1301:

• IBM Archives, Accessed: 31 March 2021, IBM 1301 Disk Storage Unit
• ComputerHistory.org, Accessed: 31 March 2021, “1961: Flying heads improve HDD capacity & speed”

Misc. IBM Advancements:

• (1973) IBM Archives, Accessed: 31 March 2021, IBM 3340 direct access storage facility
• (1973) ComputerHistory.org, Accessed: 31 March 2021, “1973: “Winchester” pioneers key HDD technology”
• (1980) ObsoleteMedia.org, Accessed: 31 March 2021, “5.25-inch hard disk drive (1980 – 2000)”

Thailand Flooding and Hard Drives:

• The New York Times, 6 November 2011, “Thailand Flooding Cripples Hard-Drive Suppliers“
• Backblaze, 9 October 2012, “Farming Hard Drives: How Backblaze Weathered the Thailand Drive Crisis”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

Also covers RAID (but not the kind that kills insects)

Storage Arc [3/3]

We’ve talked about them before, so let’s finally explain it! Setting up Network Attached Storage (also known as a NAS) may seem like quite a task with all of the things you need to figure out before getting started; luckily, you know a guy. (It’s us, we can explain the thing)

Sources:

NAS Definition:

• Redhat.com, Accessed: 24 March 2021, “What is network-attached storage?”
• Seagate US (Seagate.com), Accessed: 24 March 2021, “What is NAS (Network Attached Storage) and Why is NAS Important for Small Businesses?”

Prebuilt Boxes:

• Synology NAS
• Netgear ReadyNAS
• QNAP NAS
• ASUSTOR

NAS Software:

• Github.com, TrueNAS Project
• TrueNAS Website
• Unraid Website

TrueNAS Core Tutorials:

• ServeTheHome @ Youtube.com, “TrueNAS Core ZFS NAS Build Walkthrough in a SilverStone CS381 Chassis”
• Craft Computing @ Youtube.com, “FreeNAS Home Server Tutorial” (Old branding of TrueNAS Core, but may be relevant still)

RAID:

• PCMag Encyclopedia, Accessed: 24 March 2021, “RAID”
• Steadfast Blog (Hosting Provider), 26 May 2020, “(Almost) Everything You Need to Know About RAID”
• QNAP Support, “My RAID (RAID1,RAID5,RAID6) is in degraded mode. What should I do?”

Why avoid SMR Drives:

• ServeTheHome, 28 May 2020, “WD Red SMR vs CMR Tested Avoid Red SMR“
• Linus Tech Tips @ Youtube.com, “Why are Drive Manufacturers in BIG TROUBLE?”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

Storage Arc [2/3]

Hard drives! We rolled over the reasons you might not want to get one last episode, but there are still valid use-cases for them! So, let’s figure out just what kind of spinning rust you should be looking into.

Sources:

Hard drive definition:

• Digital Trends, 16 March 2021, “What is a hard drive?”
• Dropbox.com, Accessed: 23 March 2021, “What is a hard drive?”

Hard drive performance:

• Seagate.com, Accessed: 23 March 2021, “Choosing High Performance Storage Isn’t Just About RPM”
• TechJunkie, 25 April 2020, “What is the Hard Drive Cache and What Does It Do?“
• PCGuide.com, Accessed: 23 March 2021, “The Hard Drive Cache’s Importance In Gaming”

Western Digital SMR Drive lawsuit:

• Ars Technica, 29 May 2020, “Western Digital gets sued for sneaking SMR disks into its NAS channel“

NAS and Surveillance Drives:

• UberNerd, 19 July 2017, “Desktop vs. NAS vs. Surveillance”
• Toshiba Storage Solutions Blog, 15 August 2017, “NAS and surveillance drives: How they’re different and why they’re a big deal“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

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Storage Arc [1/3]

If you’ve got a home computer of any type, odds are it has a Solid State Drive in it these days! SSDs are (generally) the replacement for the venerable hard drive, but what are all of these marketing terms? And how do you get the best drive for your needs?

Sources:

DRAM Cacheless Drives:

• Tom’s Hardware, 11 February 2017, “11-Drive DRAMless SSD Round Up“
• Linus Tech Tips @ Youtube.com, “How bad is this $20 SSD??“

“Fastest Hard Drive” (Potentially faster than DRAMless SSD):

• StorageReview, 30 March 2015, “Seagate Enterprise Performance 15K HDD With TurboBoost Review”
• Serve The Home, 28 October 2016, “Seagate Launches the Final 15K rpm Hard Drive: RIP 15K HDDs“

Basic HDD vs SSD differences (Mechanical):

• Backblaze, 20 September 2018, “Hard Disk Drive (HDD) vs Solid State Drive (SSD): What’s the Diff?”

SSD Reliability:

• Backblaze, 21 February 2019, “How Reliable are SSDs?”
• Intel Support Page, Accessed: 10 March 2021, “What do SLC, MLC, TLC, and QLC mean?”

SATA/SAS (Mention):

• Intel Article, Accessed 10 March 2021, “Developers Can Trust Intel Leadership in Serial ATA”
• HP Tech Takes, 21 April 2019, “SAS vs SATA: What’s the Difference?“
• Sandisk Customer Support, Accessed: 10 March 2021, “Difference between SATA I, SATA II and SATA III”

SATA, PCIe, NVME, M.2:

• Digital Trends, 14 April 2020, “SATA vs. PCIe: What’s the difference?”
• Newegg Insider, Accessed: 10 March 2021, “M.2 and NVMe SSDs: What are they and how do they benefit your PC?“
• Western Digital Blog, 9 June 2020, “What is NVMe and why is it important? A Technical Guide“

Using QLC SSD as SLC (Mention):

• Linus Tech Tips @ Youtube.com, “This is TWO SSDs”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

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(or Rainbow Gamer Blood, we had trouble choosing!)

Tech Tho(ugh)ts, being a duo of PC gamers, was inevitably going to cover RGB. It’s a (somewhat) easy way to get your computer (and set up) a little more flair. That is, it would be easy if RGB wasn’t the pile of bickering children that it is. Strap in folks, it’s time to learn just how fragmented the PC lighting ecosystem really is.

EPISODE MISTAKES: We had mentioned that Youtube channel Linus Tech Tips had done performance testing of RGB software. It was actually Gamers Nexus, in the following video.

Sources:

Analog vs Addressable/Digital RGB:

LED Strip Studio, 17 July 2019, “What is main difference between Digital and Analog LED strips?”

Various RGB Control Software:

• Corsair iCUE
• Razer Synapse 3
• EVGA’s Flow Control & Precision X1

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH

Alright, so you’ve got yourself some ol’ fashioned WiFi in your home! ….But- it doesn’t seem to reach every room, and the connection’s a little spotty at the edges.. Should you get a new router? (Maybe!) …but there are other options.

Sources:

WiFi Range Extenders/Repeaters:

• Consumer Reports, Updated: 2 December 2020, Accessed 10 February 2021, “Should You Buy a WiFi Range Extender?“
• Bandwidth Place’s page on “How do WiFi Extenders Work and Do They Really Work?”

Mesh Networks:

• How-To Geek, 2 February 2017, “What Are Mesh Wi-Fi Systems, and How Do They Work?“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Synthetic Pleasures by MOKKA

by Fall Out Boy*
(but not really)

WiFi, it’s that thing that you use when you go to a friend’s house as to not use your data (or, maybe it’s just faster than using your mobile network). You likely use it every day, but never really leave it to much thought. Does it matter what your WiFi password is?? And what the hell is a WPA??

EPISODE MISTAKES: We said that Free Geek has free hardware and is in Canada. Free Geek has donated hardware at a very reasonable, cheap price and is located in Portland, Oregon.

Free Geek Website

Sources:

WiFi Related Groups:

• IEEE 802 Website
• Wi-Fi Alliance Website

Wireless Bands (2.4Ghz/5Ghz specifically):

• WIRED, 7 September 2010, “Why Everything Wireless Is 2.4 GHz“
• NETGEAR Support on “What is the difference between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless frequencies?”, Accessed 9 February 2021

WiFi Standards (including 6E):

• Duckware Technology Blog, “Wi-Fi 4/5/6/6E (802.11 n/ac/ax)”, Updated: 25 November 2020, Accessed 9 February 2021
• Dong Knows Tech, 29 April 2020, “Wi-Fi 6 Explained in Layman’s Terms: The Real Speed, Range, and More“
• CNET, 11 September 2020, “Wi-Fi 6 is the fastest standard yet. Wi-Fi 6E will be even better“

Wireless Security, WEP/WPA/WPA2/WPA3:

• Tutorials Point on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Accessed 9 February 2021
• Lifewire, 6 March 2020, “WPA2 vs. WPA“
• PCMag, 27 June 2018, “What Is WPA3? More Secure Wi-Fi“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

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Alternatively, “Apple’s bad decisions are contagious”

EPISODE NOTES: This episode (9) is airing before Episode 8. Episode 8 will air next.

Welcome to yet another update episode, where we tell you how things have gone horribly wrong since the last time we’ve broached the topic(s) of the day. That topic? Right to Repair! It’s gotten worse.
(also DRM, DRM is worse)

Sources:

Hugh Jeffreys’ Videos:

• iPhone 12’s Latest Approach at Deterring 3rd Party Repair
• Samsung Starts Blocking 3rd Party Repairs? – Galaxy A51 Teardown and Repair Assessment

Smartphone Patent Wars (Mention):

• Bloomberg, 29 March 2012, “Apple’s War on Android“

Apple refusing to repair/being difficult with iMac Pros (Mention):

• Youtube.com, Snazzy Labs, “The Apple Store Genius Bar Broke My $5,000 iMac Pro”
• Youtube.com, Linus Tech Tips, “Apple REFUSED to Fix our iMac Pro”
• Youtube.com, Linus Tech Tips, “Fixing the Unfixable iMac Pro with Louis Rossmann!”
• Youtube.com, ZONEofTECH, “How Apple REFUSES to fix my $5000 MacBook Pro!”

Samsung copying Apple:

• CNET, 8 August 2012, “Apple cites Samsung doc as proof it wanted to copy iPhone“
• The Verge, 23 December 2020, “Samsung’s deleting ads that mocked Apple for not including a charger in the box“

Synology NAS:

• ServeTheHome, 4 February 2021, “Synology Launches Enterprise Hard Drive Line and Starts Locking Drives for New NASes“
• Android Central, 8 February 2021, “No, Synology is not enforcing use of its own HDDs on DiskStation NAS models”

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

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We’ve touched on what exactly AI is last episode, that being a bunch of machine learning models slapped into a box labeled Intelligence, Artificial (kidding). So, you could be wondering why we need to worry about ethics and AI- after all, it’s not like Skynet is real or anything. …That being said, AI can be applied to some awful things.

Sources:

On LAWs (Lethal Autonomous Weapons):

• Humans Rights Watch, 20 February 2020, “The Need for and Elements of a New Treaty on Fully Autonomous Weapons“
• Open Letter on Autonomous Weapons, Future of Life Institute (2015)
• Vox, 21 June 2019, “Death by algorithm: the age of killer robots is closer than you think”

On Google & Project Maven:

• Gizmodo, 6 March 2018, “Google Is Helping the Pentagon Build AI for Drones“
• The Verge, 1 June 2018, “Google reportedly leaving Project Maven military AI program after 2019”
• The Verge, 7 June 2018, “Google pledges not to develop AI weapons, but says it will still work with the military”

On Google Ousting Ethics AI Heads (Timnit Gebru/Margaret Mitchell) :

• Android Central, 20 January 2021, “Google’s internal drama continues as it investigates the head of Ethical AI“
• Android Central, 10 December 2020, “Google’s latest AI ethics controversy is a product of its own hubris — even if it enforced the rules“
• MIT Technology Review, 4 December 2020, “We read the paper that forced Timnit Gebru out of Google. Here’s what it says.“
• The New York Times, 9 June 2020, “A Case for Banning Facial Recognition“

Deepfakes:

• Seattle University, 10 February 2020, “Deepfakes and the Value-Neutrality Thesis“

Mention of a racist bot:

• Reuters, 24 March 2016, “Microsoft’s AI Twitter bot goes dark after racist, sexist tweets“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

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Artificial Intelligence probably brings to mind technological horrors like Skynet, Ultron, and HAL 9000. That being said, the term AI today has been applied to more than just your blockbuster movie villain. Smartphone, cameras, refrigerators, TVs, and even thermostat are all apparently sporting a whole dang artificial brain inside, apparently. The key word here, though, is apparently. So, what exactly is artificial intelligence as we know it today?

Sources:

Definitions:

• IBM, Last Update: 15 July 2020, “What is Machine Learning?”
• Artificial Intelligence, Definition by Merriam-Webster (Accessed 27 January 2021)
• Neurons, DeepAI (Accessed 27 January 2021)

Types of Machine Learning & Details:

• GeeksforGeeks, Last Update: 17 May 2020, “Reinforcement learning”
• Machine Learning Mastery, Last Update: 14 August 2020, “What is Deep Learning?“
• MIT Technology Review, 21 February 2018, “The GANfather: The man who’s given machines the gift of imagination”

Examples:

• NVIDIA DLSS (Accessed 27 January 2021)
• Facial matching, Apple Support Page (Accessed 27 January 2021)
• VentureBeat, 21 October 2019, “How AI powers the Pixel 4”
• Autopilot AI, Tesla Motors (Accessed 27 January 2021)
• CSO Online, 10 April 2019, “How and why deepfake videos work — and what is at risk“

Website: https://techthoughts.gay
Instagram: https://instagram.com/techthoughtspodcast/

Opening Music: Another World by BETTOGH