Technology
Hardware, software, networking, and development
#658: Beyond Peanut Brittle: The Search for the Toughest Laptops
Stop carrying a "sheet of peanut brittle." Herman and Corn break down the ruggedization spectrum to find laptops that actually survive the road.
#657: When Your Dashboard Is a Solar Cooker
Don't let your car's tech melt this summer. Herman and Corn reveal how to choose an Android head unit that survives the heat without lagging.
#656: When Open Hobbyists Meet Industry Standards
Herman and Corn dive into the shifting landscape of smart home protocols and why Ethernet coordinators are the future of home automation.
#649: The Ultimate Dashboard: DIY Information Radiators
Tired of expensive subscriptions and messy DIY screens? Discover the middle ground for the perfect home office information radiator.
#648: When Your Moisture Meter Lies
Why does a bone-dry wall read 100% moisture? Herman and Corn demystify the physics of pinless meters and how to spot "ghost" leaks.
#644: From USB to Bare Metal: Why GPIO Changes Everything
Discover how to use GPIO pins and breadboards to bridge the gap between software and the physical world in your smart home projects.
#642: Why Your Car Is a Hostile Computer
Think building a PC is hard? Try wiring a car. Herman and Corn explain how to upgrade your ride’s tech without frying the CAN bus.
#641: Marking Tiny Tech Without the Fumes
Discover how to label tiny tech gear and cables professionally using asthma-safe, low-odor methods for a perfect home inventory system.
#637: The Motherboard Decisions That Make or Break a Decade-Long Build
Don't let your motherboard be an afterthought. Herman and Corn dive into VRMs, PCB layers, and the DDR5 debate for home servers.
#636: The Hidden Costs of Ultimate Redundancy
Can a decentralized network replace Amazon and Google? Herman and Corn dive into IPFS, content-addressing, and the risks of "forever" data.
#634: Can the President Make an Impromptu Call?
Discover the high-stakes engineering behind Air Force One, from EMP shielding to post-quantum encryption and the myth of the "red phone."
#633: Memory Wars: The Future of Local Agentic AI
Can your PC handle the next wave of AI agents? Herman and Corn dive into VRAM, quantization, and the future of running LLMs locally.
#621: From a Dead Motherboard to Five Nines
Discover how the world’s biggest platforms stay online when hardware fails. Herman and Corn break down the invisible systems of high availability.
#620: When ZFS Pools Survive Hardware Death
Your motherboard fried, but is your data safe? Discover the secrets of ZFS portability, forced imports, and professional recovery workflows.
#613: When ChatGPT Tells You to Fix a CPU Socket
Bent a motherboard pin? Don’t panic. Herman and Corn discuss the tools and techniques needed to save your hardware from a gold-plated tragedy.
#610: The Data Center Trap: Is Enterprise Hardware Worth It?
Can a $5,000 server chip for the price of lunch power your home lab? Herman and Corn dive into the pros and cons of used enterprise hardware.
#609: Surviving the Rampocalypse: Pro Tech on a Budget
Learn how to beat rising RAM prices by sourcing professional data center hardware from the secondary market.
#608: When AI Eats the World's Memory
Why is a 32GB RAM kit now $400? Herman and Corn dive into how OpenAI is gobbling up 40% of the world's memory supply for its "Stargate" project.
#606: Why Fast SSDs Still Need Slow RAM
Discover why RAM remains the essential high-speed "countertop" for your CPU and how to avoid common hardware traps when building your next server.
#605: Why Your Home Lab Can't Be One Big Computer
Herman and Corn explore how to turn separate servers into a unified supercomputer using high-speed interlinks and resource pooling.