Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

YouTube Kills My Open-Source Media Library Video!

2025-06-06

A YouTuber received two community guideline violations for a video demonstrating LibreELEC on a Raspberry Pi 5 for 4K video playback. The video didn't promote any copyright circumvention tools, only self-hosting a media library. Yet, YouTube removed it for "promoting dangerous or harmful content." The creator uploaded the video to the Internet Archive and Floatplane. The creator reflects on YouTube's monetization model and AI content scraping, expressing concerns about the future of content creation.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Development Media Library

Radxa Orion O6: Promising Arm ITX Motherboard, But Needs More Time in the Oven

2025-05-10

The Radxa Orion O6 is a budget-friendly Arm ITX motherboard boasting 12 cores, up to 64GB of RAM, and Armv9.2 support. Its SystemReady SR certification allows native Windows on Arm and numerous Linux arm64 distributions. However, current firmware issues plague the experience, including subpar multi-core application performance, high power consumption, and incomplete driver support. While its PCIe expansion and Windows 11 Arm support are appealing, the overall experience needs refinement. For average users, waiting for firmware maturity is advised.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware Arm ITX motherboard

Pixelated Video Isn't Secure: A $50 Bounty and the Power of Reverse Engineering

2025-04-15

A YouTuber pixelated a section of a video showing a folder's contents and offered a $50 bounty for anyone who could decipher it. Within a day, three individuals successfully recovered the information using techniques involving TensorFlow and other tools. This experiment demonstrates that simple pixelation is not a secure method for concealing information, especially in moving videos. AI-assisted reverse engineering makes it surprisingly easy to de-pixelate. The YouTuber concludes that solid color masks are a better solution for hiding sensitive data.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Tech video security

NAB Show Reveals 10ns GPS-Synchronized ATSC 3.0 Timing

2025-04-13

At this year's NAB Show, a surprising discovery was made: a precise time synchronization technique using a u-blox GPS receiver and an ATSC 3.0 television signal, achieving a pulse synchronization of ±10 ns between the two. This experimental timing standard, called BPS (Broadcast Precision Synchronization), could be integrated into the US ATSC 3.0 rollout. Its significance lies in providing a reliable terrestrial backup to GPS, enhancing resistance to various jamming attempts, which is crucial for media, power grids, 5G communications, and more. Furthermore, the show also featured consumer-grade Intel motherboards with built-in PPS input/output connectors, highlighting the growing adoption of precise time synchronization technology.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Tech

Raspberry Pi Stratum 1 PTP & NTP Timeserver: The Time Pi Project

2025-03-28

An open-source project, Time Pi, builds a stratum 1 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) timeserver using a Raspberry Pi 5. Leveraging the TimeHAT add-on board with an Intel i226 2.5Gbps NIC and supporting hardware timestamping, Time Pi achieves high-precision time synchronization, further enhanced by an optional M.2 GPS module. While encountering driver issues with the Intel i226 NIC, the project successfully utilizes Ansible to configure Chrony, NTP, and PTP software, running stably for months. Future plans include outdoor GPS antenna installation, cross-device PTP synchronization testing, and collaboration with Masterclock for advanced time synchronization solutions.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware Timeserver

My Bosch Dishwasher Demands a Cloud Connection: A Lament

2025-03-24

The author bought a Bosch 500 series dishwasher, praising its easy installation. However, key features like delayed start and eco mode require a Home Connect app and Wi-Fi connection. This sparked a reflection on manufacturers' over-reliance on cloud control, potentially contributing to planned obsolescence and data harvesting. The author argues that appliances should prioritize local control, with cloud features as add-ons, not replacements for core functionality. This creates unnecessary obstacles and dependence on internet access for basic operations.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware planned obsolescence

Radxa Orion O6: Ambitious Open-Source Arm V9 Motherboard, But Needs Refinement

2025-02-04

Radxa's Orion O6 motherboard boasts being the world's first open-source Arm V9 motherboard, promising high performance, low power consumption, and enhanced security. However, real-world testing reveals performance doesn't quite match the marketing hype of rivalling Apple's M1 chip. While outperforming some competitors in certain benchmarks, results are mixed elsewhere. Furthermore, the open-source hardware claim is questionable, with full schematics and OSHWA certification currently absent. Software-wise, the pre-installed OS presents issues like a default device tree configuration and unusual CPU core load distribution. In short, the hardware shows promise, but software and driver support require significant improvement. Proceed with caution and temper expectations.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware

Project Mini Rack: Compact, Portable Homelabs

2025-01-17

Jeff Geerling announces Project MINI RACK, an open-source project for building compact 10" homelabs. The project provides resources for hardware and software, showcasing three example mini-racks: a battery-backed solar-powered rack, a low-cost Raspberry Pi cluster, and a high-performance compute-dense rack. A build showcase encourages community contributions and sharing of designs. This addresses the need for smaller, more portable homelab solutions.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware homelab mini rack open source hardware

Who Needs a $120 Raspberry Pi 5?

2025-01-09

The Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of RAM, priced at $120, raises the question: who would buy it? While a compelling option for some, the author argues that the 2GB or 4GB versions offer better value for most users. However, the 16GB model shines for demanding applications like large language models and running multiple VMs or containers. Performance gains are also noted thanks to the new chip revision and SDRAM tuning. Ultimately, the 16GB Pi 5 targets users needing high memory and performance for specific tasks.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware 16GB RAM

Drone Footage Reveals the Perilous Climb of an 1115ft Radio Tower

2025-01-05

Engineer Aaron Cox recently captured stunning drone footage of a daring antenna inspection on an 1115ft radio tower. The video showcases the meticulous work of professional tower climbers, highlighting their expertise and commitment to safety. This inspection was crucial for maintaining a multi-million dollar antenna system, preventing potential failures that could cause widespread broadcast outages. The tower houses equipment for ten radio stations, demonstrating the complexity of modern broadcast infrastructure. The video provides a rare glimpse into the dangerous world of high-altitude work and the sophisticated technology behind radio and TV broadcasts.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Tech Broadcast Engineering High-Altitude Work Technical Maintenance

System76's Thelio Astra: A 128-Core Arm Beast

2025-01-03

System76 unleashed its first workstation-class Arm PC, the Thelio Astra, featuring a monstrous 128-core Ampere Altra Max CPU. Jeff Geerling's extensive review covers benchmarks on both Ubuntu and Windows 11, revealing the Astra's dominance in multi-core performance, even achieving an unofficial world record in Cinebench 2024. While Windows 11 GPU support lags, Linux gaming shines. The high price tag is offset by impressive performance and System76's renowned support, making it a compelling option for professionals, particularly in automotive development.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware

Raspberry Pi 500 Modder Successfully Adds M.2 Slot

2024-12-15

A Raspberry Pi enthusiast successfully added an M.2 slot to the Raspberry Pi 500! While the Pi 500 has the header, the slot itself is absent, leading to some controversy. The modder soldered on four tiny capacitors and used a bench power supply to power a bottom pad, enabling the use of NVMe SSDs and other PCIe devices. This modification requires excellent SMD soldering skills and has sparked discussion about the Pi 500's design choices; speculation includes reserving the feature for a future premium model.

(www.jeffgeerling.com)

Hardware Raspberry Pi 500 M.2 slot Hardware Mod