On April 14 2022, Insteon ceased all sales and service operations and shut off their cloud, as was first covered by Stacey on IoT here. Contrary to some very dire looking headlines, this cloud service suspension didn't actually brick all existing devices, and many simple devices like light switches…
Most modern EVs are great at stop-and-go traffic, with easy modulation and precise control of speed, and largely one-pedal driving thanks to regen. Most EVs have just one gear, so no shifting means smooth driving, with no unexpected power changes. Even better is a Traffic-Aware Cruise Control that…
I have a new video to add to the growing library of EV videos in this growing collection: EV Club of Connecticut Show & Tell videos feature owners sharing their real-world experiences This new addition is the 2022 Hyundai IONIQ 5, one of many new EVs coming to the US in 2022, coming in at a…
It's already been 5 years since my article about the first generation Ring Video Doorbell Pro: My Ring Video Doorbell story starts a new chapter with Ring Video Doorbell Pro Apr 29 2016 and it's been in daily use on my home ever since. After moving from a 16V to 24V transformer when first…
How Does Sense Detect My Devices? Christopher Micali, Co-founder, VP Product Emory Griffith, Senior Product Manager With some persistence, forum participation, and a bit of luck, TinkerTry somehow landed a scoop on some new features and capabilities that Sense is planning to introduce in 2021,…
This article is a work-in-progress, please come back and refresh. Shop for the Ring Stick Up Cam on Amazon. If you find value in the article and/or video below, please consider using one of these links when buying your own Ring Stick Up Cam, available in black or white with wired, solar, and…
If you find value in the article and/or video below, please consider using one of these links when buying your own Ring Alarm Home Security System, available now on Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from (non-affiliate-link) ring.com. My first Ring products were the Ring Video Doorbell and the Ring…
Pricing subject to change depending upon the airport pair chosen, and the weekday chosen. This is just one example. I recently had two days of last-minute back-to-back business commitments where the only viable way to get from the my hometown airport BDL (Hartford CT) to PIT (Pittsburgh PA) was a…
In case you hadn't spotted this yet, Ring made an announcement on their blog: #AlwaysHome, Even from Your Desktops May 02 2016 by Yul at Ring featuring a nice functionality overview of the free apps, and download links for the Windows and Mac App stores. I've been using the Windows version on…
April 20 2022 Urgent Update - Insteon ceased all sales and service operations abruptly in mid April of 2022, as covered by arstechnica here. Their abrupt closure left customers without access to their hubs to change any settings, myself included. While smarthome.com hasn't been taken offline yet, I…
Backstory Ever since VMware's ESXi 5.1, you've been able to attach a variety of USB devices to your VMs. Those devices were attached to either the server the VM is running on, or the client connecting to the VM. See also at TinkerTry: Click to read reviews or buy at Amazon. ESXi 5.1 has USB 3.0…
If you've followed TinkerTry for a while, you'll note that I'm a bit of an LED bulb fiend. Always on the lookout for an efficient 60 or 75 watt equivalent A19 bulb that has a CRI of 90 or above, a color temperature between 2700K and 2900K, and a price below $10. Yeah, I know, it's a tall order, but …
April 20 2022 Urgent Update - Insteon ceased all sales and service operations abruptly in mid April of 2022, as covered by arstechnica here. Their abrupt closure left customers without access to their hubs to change any settings, myself included. While smarthome.com hasn't been taken offline yet, I…
Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials is GA for about a year now. It's the evolution of products that originated with Windows Home Server back in late 2007, which was based on 32 bit Window 2003. It's now based on the very capable Windows Server 2012 R2, with a streamlined interface reminiscent of its…
Back in early September 2014, I found myself scrambling to prepare for a month long work trip to Germany. A good situation to be in, but I also wanted to be darn sure I could get my work done on weekday evenings, and my play done on weekends. Given I'm from the US and hadn't been to Europe in over 7…
This 16 channel DOCIS 3.0 cable modem shows promise, but will it deliver? Right now, it has a decent price at Best Buy, locally or online, on sale for $129.99 until Saturday, November 15th. My local Best Buy sold out their dozen or so SB6183s in 2 days actually. On Amazon, there's 68 customer re…
Galaxy S5/Lumia 930/iPhone 6 Plus, ProClip holders ProClip USA makes holders for many types of phones, including Android, Windows Phone, and iPhone. I happen to personally have experience with their iPhone holders. I have no affiliation with ProClip USA, I'm just a consumer, who bought mine like a…
With all this GPU power we have these days, you'd think we'd all have smooth scrolling, where you can actually read the text as it glides up the page. Turns out we all can, with the right mouse and the right software. Sure wish I upgraded to a better mouse wheel years ago! Then again, it…
I traveled for work. For years. Decades actually. Been to about 30 of these 50 United States, usually for 3-5 day trips, often confirmed the week before. That lifestyle sure made volunteering for things like giving blood a challenge, canceling most of my appointments last minute. My personal …
When speaking publicly, it's certainly handy to be able to show a live demo of a smartphone or tablet, on the projected image. It's also best to not have to assume anything about the facility you'll be presenting at, if possible, relying instead on USB cables that'll also serve to keep your gear …
This site has grown to 4.9GB of data. Not something you'd want to backup directly to my own home anymore, using something like SFTP, tying up my web host, and bandwidth, for hours. The blogVault WordPress Plugin connects your blog to the $9 monthly backup service. The first backup is full, and from…
Disappointing Aug 04 2017 Update - 3 years later, all within the last 3 months, trouble began. Two of my D-Link DGS-1024A 24 port switches started to give me issues, with networking stopping entirely two separate times. A quick power cycle recovered the network, but not my confidence. A few weeks…
For years, I've been seeking a reliable way to be alerted to calendar events on my iPhone. One of the drawback with iOS has been the default calendar's behavior, where an event may bet set to trigger an alert or two before or at the start time of some personal or professional appointment that…
This is not a sponsored blog post. My extended family has purchased 7 of the various PFCLCD models since 2012, and it's gone well, with just one battery replacement needed so far. I've found them to be very easy to install and configure at friends and family homes. Without a PC, and without a man…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. IT Professional offering part-time consulting.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2025, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
These systems still work great for many even 9+ years later, mine included, even with (unsupported) vSphere 8 and Windows 11 Version 21H2. But unless you added the optional TPM module, it may be the end of the line as far as repurposing them for running the latest Windows 11 Version 24H2 and beyond.
After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop SuperServer bundles in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. Bare bones system sales continued for years longer.
What's next in 2025? I don't yet have my answer for my home lab, especially now that VCF certification is required to keep non-production home lab licenses going, even as a vExpert and VMUG Advantage EVALExperience customer.
As for a SuperServer follow-on, the Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh slightly better in 2024, and hopefully Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-D) much better in 2025 featuring PCIe Gen5, MCRDIMMs, and 100GbE networking, wow! Feb. 27 2025 update update looks promising, but pricey. Infortunately, it's become clear to me that Supermicro is less focuses on the mini-tower form factor these days.
As for the CPU industry, it's unfortunate that Pat Gelsinger was apparently ousted from Intel's helm in these challenging times, but I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when he was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.
