June Digest 2026

In the November episode of Ed & Stefano Unleashed, we explore repurposing old PCs, home lab 10GbE needs, and Ed's visit to the 45Drives Creator Summit, alongside discussions on Frigate, Home Assistant, and turning an old Xeon into a backup server. We also evaluate old enterprise servers versus modern PCs regarding power efficiency, diagnosing bottlenecks before upgrading, and GPU unlocking for local AI. Additionally, the news segment covers compromised NAS bandwidth theft, TV4's lost footage, game preservation, smart TV privacy, Spotify family plan checks, self-hosted music, an expensive audiophile network switch, and the protection of seabirds in the Azores.45 Drive Creator Summit 2026 playlist Ed's 45 Drives Creator Summit talkEpisode Takeaways--Ed's first live talk at the 45Drives Creator Summit--Frigate and Home Assistant: using cameras to detect whether a gate is open--Giving old hardware a second job as a backup or test server--Sleep, Wake on LAN and keeping server power costs down--Nvidia GPU unlocking and the limits of real world AI performance gains--Old Xeons versus small modern PCs: matching the hardware to the job--Finding server bottlenecks before buying upgrades--Do you really need 10GbE? Testing your network with iperf3--MoCA and powerline networking when running Ethernet isn't practical--Compromised NAS devices, residential proxies and unsupported software--TV4's lost footage and why access permissions matter--Power To The Players and the case for keeping games playable--Smart TV microphones and privacy concerns--Spotify family plans, Plexamp and hosting your own music--The audiophile network switch that had us and chat asking questions--Turning off lights to protect young seabirds in the AzoresChapters00:00 Intro00:42 Ed's 45Drives Creator Summit Visit02:53 Unraid Cyber Weekend Sale04:25 Frigate, Home Assistant and Camera Based Sensors06:27 Community Topic: Is It Time for a Second Server?08:29 Sam Altman, RAM and the Push Towards Cloud Computing11:48 Ed's Old Xeon Backup Server, Sleep and Wake on LAN13:57 Old Enterprise Hardware and Power Costs17:43 Nvidia GPU Unlocking for Local AI21:36 Community Setups: Old Servers Versus Low Power PCs24:30 What's Actually Making Your Server Slow?28:55 Wi-Fi Bottlenecks and Troubleshooting33:01 Does Your Home Lab Really Need 10GbE?36:05 Testing Network Speed with iperf341:10 MoCA and Powerline Networking44:15 Compromised NAS Devices Selling Your Bandwidth49:22 TV4's Lost Footage, AI and Access Permissions53:01 Crypto Wallets and Compromised Laptops55:28 Power To The Players and Keeping Games Playable59:49 Could We Share Our Compute Power for AI?1:00:41 Smart TV and Soundbar Microphone Privacy Concerns1:02:50 Hosting Your Own Music and Plexamp1:04:21 Spotify Family Plan Verification1:06:54 Offline Music, iPod Mods and Self Hosting1:08:24 The Audiophile Network Switch Debate1:12:49 Happy Story: Lights Out for Seabirds in the Azores1:13:56 Wrap UpWhat will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.The hosts of Ed & Stefano Unleashed are passionate about home servers, open-source tech, and sometimes going off on tangents. The views and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of Lime Technology, Inc. This show is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research, experiment responsibly, and not hold the hosts accountable for any questionable home lab decisions. Most importantly, enjoy the show!#unraid #selfhosting #homelab

Critical security update, the new X4 prebuilt NAS, and Frigate as App of the Month. Here's everything that happened in Unraid this October.Update now: Unraid 7.3.4 includes PHP 8.4.27, which patches two critical remote code execution vulnerabilities. Unraid 7.2.9 brings PHP security fixes and certificate updates to the 7.2 branch.📖 Read the full October Digest.🖥️ Shop the X4 (from $1,199).🎥 Frigate setup guide.IN THIS EPISODE• Cyber Weekend Sale runs November 25–30, 2026. Details drop Nov 25.• The team went to the 45Drives Creator Summit in North Carolina for the X4 launch and early looks at Unraid 8.• The X4 (45HomeLab × Unraid Signature Series) is a 4-bay server with an Intel Core Ultra 5 225, ASRock B860I WiFi, 2.5GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, and a 500GB NVMe boot drive. It's configurable up to 64GB RAM, an RTX 5060, 10GbE, and an Unraid Lifetime license.• Frigate is a self-hosted NVR with local AI object detection (Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Google Coral) and Home Assistant/MQTT integrationWhat will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.

Alex and Ed sit down to talk about what is next for the Unraid channel and recap their trip to the 45Drives Creator Summit in Wilmington, North Carolina. They share highlights from the X4 launch event, a Street Fighter 6 tournament, and a few sneak peeks at Unraid 8.Ed also shares how he uses local AI on his Unraid server, from generating video and music to cloning voices and running models larger than his GPU memory. Plus, hear about a gaming failover demo and an AI that knows its Star Wars history.

In the October episode of Ed & Stefano Unleashed, we kick things off with the brand new Unraid X4 server, the latest Unraid betas, and a big thank you to ich777. Then we ask a question every home labber should think about: could your family actually use your server if you weren’t around?Ed and Stefano take a close look at the X4, a 4-bay Signature Series server with AV1 transcoding and room for a GPU, and talk through Mover finally preserving hard links in the 7.4.0 beta. The community topic covers documenting your home lab, encryption keys, and making sure your family can still get to photos and important documents without you. Plus two new tools worth trying, Red Kite and Connected Clients.The second half moves into tech news, including Samsung’s AI fridges being bricked by an update, dynamic pricing and supermarket WiFi tracking, LG’s smart TV data collection, running bigger local AI models on your own hardware, and what an OpenAI forum hack teaches us about securing our own self hosted services.Episode Takeaways-The Unraid X4: 4 bays, AV1 transcoding, and space for a GPU, from $1199-Mover now preserves hard links in Unraid 7.4.0 beta-Thank you ich777 for years of plugins, drivers, and game server containers-Could your family access your server if you weren’t there?-Why you should document your home lab and plan for encryption keys-Red Kite and Connected Clients: two new tools to keep an eye on-Samsung AI fridges bricked by a test firmware update-Dynamic pricing and how free supermarket WiFi is used for tracking-LG smart TVs, data collection, and proxy apps using your internet-Running large local AI models using system RAM and mixture of experts-Perplexity’s new local plus cloud AI stack-OpenAI’s forum hack and why you should segment your home lab networks-Switzerland trials OpenDesk as Europe moves away from Microsoft-Where the Unraid name actually came fromChapters00:00 Intro01:37 The New Unraid X4 Signature Series Server06:44 Unraid 7.3.3 RC2 and 7.4.0 Beta: Mover Preserves Hard Links08:40 Creator Summit and a Big Thank You to ich77712:02 Community Topic: Could Your Family Use Your Server Without You?23:35 Red Kite: A New Monitoring and Kill Switch Container26:48 Connected Clients Plugin27:39 Samsung AI Fridges Bricked by an Update32:40 Dynamic Pricing and Supermarket WiFi Tracking40:18 LG Smart TVs: Data Collection, Microphones and Proxy Apps45:55 Qwen, Local AI and Running Bigger Models on Your GPU50:19 TiVo Ends Commercial Skipping55:45 Perplexity’s Local and Cloud AI Stack58:10 OpenAI Forum Hacked Through an Image Upload1:00:58 Securing Your Home Lab: Docker Networks and IoT VLANs1:04:49 The Uncola and Where the Unraid Name Came From1:09:03 Switzerland Trials OpenDesk as Europe Moves Off Microsoft1:16:14 Happy Story: New Zealand’s Kakapo Population Grows1:19:10 Wrap UpWhat will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.The hosts of Ed & Stefano Unleashed are passionate about home servers, open-source tech, and sometimes going off on tangents. The views and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of Lime Technology, Inc. This show is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research, experiment responsibly, and not hold the hosts accountable for any questionable home lab decisions. Most importantly, enjoy the show!#unraid #selfhosting #homelab

Welcome to the Unraid September Digest 2026 — packed into 5 minutes. Stefano walks through the latest release candidates and betas, a wave of security fixes, a brand new X4 server launch, and the app of the month.Prefer reading? The full written digest is here.Subscribe for one email a month covering everything Unraid.📦 Unraid ReleasesUnraid 7.3.3 RC1 and RC2 shipped alongside 7.4.0 Beta 2 and Beta 3. RC2 includes 10 OpenSSL CVEs, 6 Samba fixes, 4 PHP patches, and 1 for Nginx — plus a Linux kernel bump to 6.6.52 and a Docker engine update. Beta 3 carries many of the same fixes and adds major improvements to Mover, Docker container templates, and a new shared task tray for background operations. Stay tuned for Stables soon!🔒 Security Fixes-10 CVEs patched in OpenSSL-6 Samba vulnerabilities addressed-4 PHP security fixes-Nginx security update-Unraid API now rejects unsafe redirect URI schemes-UPN security fix included🛠 What's New in 7.4.0-Beta.3-Mover now preserves hard links with progress tracking enabled-Docker container templates support multiple custom networks-Background operations from plugins, Docker, and VMs managed via shared task tray-Plugin update checks now run independently — slow plugins no longer block the plugins page-Hyper-V kernel support added: storage, dynamic memory, keyboard, and virtual socket modules-Configurable power button: shut down, reboot, or do nothing-File Manager copy/move operations fixed for symlink depth issues-SHFS deadlock fix for concurrent file lock requests🖥 45Homelab x Unraid X4 — New Signature Series ServerThe X4 is a compact, quiet home lab system built straight from Unraid community feedback.-Supports 4× 3.5" drives-Intel Quick Sync for CPU transcoding-SFX PSU, upgradeable to 650W with GPU-13.5" × 5.7" × 11.7" footprint, ~23 lb with drivesStarting at $1,199 — Order Yours Now🎮 App of the Month: CraftyHost your own Minecraft server with full player management, scheduled backups, and Tailscale support — no port forwarding required. Includes a downloadable Unraid-themed world.👕 Merch of the MonthThe Proxy Pullover — built for those chilly server room nights and available in 13 colors.What will you build with Unraid?Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.#Unraid #HomeServer #NAS #Selfhosted #Homelab #Linux #Docker #Minecraft #45Drives #SecurityUpdates

Ed and Stefano explore what’s changing for your home server, unpacking Unraid 8’s move to Fedora, native backups, ZFS snapshots, and Docker Compose integration. What changes, what stays, and where do multiple arrays fit in?We also dive into community apps, build an AI radio with Dead Air, ID birds with BirdNET-Go, and discover gigs via MusicSpider, while tackling cloud outages, digital ownership, and rising RAM prices.Along the way: mixing SAS and SATA drives, a fatal modular PSU cable mistake, Linux migrations, and the occasional tangent.Episode TakeawaysUnraid 7.3.3 RC1 and the 7.4 beta, shared task tray and multi-network DockerUnraid 8 dropping Slackware for a Fedora base built on uCoreNative backups, Docker Compose in Community Apps and a plugin permission systemMultiple arrays still on the roadmap, just not in the first releaseWhy a Fedora base won't fix Fuse overhead, and what exclusive shares actually doDead Air, a self-hosted radio station with an AI presenterBirdNET-Go and MusicSpider, two new containers worth a lookSony telling a court you're unreasonable if you thought you owned itPBS nearly losing 70 years of archive to a bankrupt cloud middlemanA modular PSU cable swap that destroyed two hard drivesPetLibro pet feeders offline for 38 hours because the cloud went downComcast turning millions of routers into Wi-Fi motion sensorsAmazon device prices up 60% in a day, and RAM prices still climbingPine64 halting Linux hardware manufacturing into next yearCERN leaving Red Hat for Debian 13 over a compiler flag150 million driving licences for sale on the dark webAliExpress fingerprinting shoppers with silent audioA UK power plant down for four days after someone port forwarded an air-gapped networkChapters⁠00:00⁠ Welcome back, Unraid 7.3.3 RC and the 7.4 beta⁠02:50⁠ The 45Drives Creator Summit⁠04:00⁠ Unraid 8 announced, Slackware to Fedora⁠05:33⁠ Native backups, Podman and Docker Compose in Community Apps⁠07:03⁠ Plugin permissions, a unified UI and broader hardware support⁠10:03⁠ What's staying, and where multiple arrays got to⁠11:06⁠ Fuse, user space and the exclusive shares trick⁠14:31⁠ ZFS isn't going anywhere on a Fedora base⁠15:35⁠ Dead Air, a radio station hosted by your own AI⁠18:44⁠ BirdNET-Go, bat detection and Home Assistant⁠22:41⁠ MusicSpider finds gigs from your listening history⁠23:55⁠ Sony argues in court that you never owned it⁠27:29⁠ Xbox cloud streaming limits and disc-to-digital⁠31:35⁠ PBS nearly loses 70 years of archive footage⁠33:48⁠ Mixing SAS and SATA drives in the array⁠35:27⁠ A modular PSU cable that killed two hard drives⁠39:09⁠ PetLibro's 38 hour cloud outage⁠40:41⁠ Comcast turns routers into Wi-Fi motion sensors⁠44:24⁠ Ring encryption and what it hands to police⁠46:05⁠ Amazon prices up 60% overnight, and RAM pricing⁠50:05⁠ Pine64 halts hardware manufacturing⁠53:13⁠ Maintenance, and the 1990s RAM Doubler⁠55:50⁠ China and the EU swapping Windows for Linux⁠57:43⁠ CERN leaves Red Hat over a compiler flag⁠1:00:58⁠ Epic Games Store gets a Linux launcher⁠1:01:47⁠ Utah targets VPN users, California protects open source⁠1:03:03⁠ 150 million driving licences on the dark web⁠1:05:56⁠ uBlock Origin, Brave and YouTube ads without Premium⁠1:09:26⁠ AliExpress fingerprinting with silent audio⁠1:11:10⁠ A UK power plant down after a port forward, and HDMI⁠1:13:32⁠ The black swan on the motorway⁠1:14:10⁠ Sign-offWhat will you build with Unraid? ⁠Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.⁠The hosts of Ed & Stefano Unleashed are passionate about home servers, open-source tech, and sometimes going off on tangents. The views and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of Lime Technology, Inc. 

In this month's Unraid August Digest, we break down the biggest news of the month — the move to a new Fedora-based foundation — plus the Unraid 7.4.0 beta, two new faces on the team, fresh merch, and the best community content from around the web.Read the full August Digest.📰 THE BIG NEWS: UNRAID 8Unraid 8 is migrating from Slackware to a modern, Fedora-based foundation built on Universal Blue's uCore. The goal: faster security updates, broader hardware support out of the box, built-in backups, and native Docker Compose — an immutable, image-based OS you can update atomically and roll back in one step. Want in early? Sign up for the Unraid 8 beta waitlist here.🧪 UNRAID 7.4.0 BETA 1Now available for testing — a shared task tray for background operations across plugins, Docker, and VMs; multiple custom networks for Docker templates; a Docker memory-limit control in the UI; configurable physical power-button behavior; a flash backup you can download straight to the server with progress tracking; plus storage and web UI fixes, new Realtek Wi-Fi firmware, a kernel update, and security-focused package updates.👋 NEW TEAM MEMBERSTwo roles announced back in June have been filled: Alex Kretzschmar joins as Head of Product Marketing (longtime community member and co-founder of LinuxServer.io), and Scott Schwarz joins as Head of Operations & Automation, bringing 20 years of experience helping companies build to scale.👕 NEW MERCHThe new "Unraid and Chill" tee is here — and all t-shirts are on sale for $20 each while you're there.— CHAPTERS —0:00 Intro0:20 The big news: Unraid 8 announced0:24 Why Unraid 8 is special: moving to Fedora0:42 What is uCore? (batteries included):23 Container-first OS: bootc & atomic rollback1:42 Unraid 8 beta waitlist1:54 Unraid 7.4.0 beta 1 — what's new3:06 New team members: Alex & Scott3:38 New merch: Unraid and Chill3:49 Community content from around the web4:01 Wrap-up— LINKS —Full August Digest newsletter: https://newsletter.unraid.net/p/unraid-august-digest-da22Unraid 8 beta waitlist: https://bit.ly/unraid-betaUnraid forums: https://forums.unraid.netReddit: https://reddit.com/r/unRAID#Unraid #Unraid8 #SelfHosting #Homelab #NAS #Fedora #Docker #HomeServerWhat will you build with Unraid?Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.

Last time you met the CEO. This time, meet the man who started it all and the person building what comes next.In Part 2, Ed sits down with Unraid creator Tom and product director Eli. Tom walks through 20 years of Unraid — from a 2005 hobby project born out of a pile of cheap hard drives, to parity-protected storage, a web GUI built to hide Linux, and the arrival of plugins, Docker, VMs and ZFS. Then Eli lays out what's coming in Unraid 8.What's next: a move to a Fedora base (built on Universal Blue's uCore) for faster security updates and far better hardware support out of the box; native Docker Compose; a built-in backup solution — to the cloud, an S3 bucket, or another Unraid server, with snapshots and full restores; a plugin permission system so you can see exactly what each plugin can touch before you install it; and a cleaner, more consistent interface across the OS, your account, and Community Apps — all without taking anything away from the power users who go deep.Same idea that started it all: your hardware, your data, your choice. Here's to the next 20 years.— CHAPTERS —0:00 – Welcome back: meet the founder (Part 2 of 2)1:05 – 2005: the problem Tom set out to solve2:24 – Parity & redundancy: the first Unraid array4:41 – The web GUI, "Tower" & the birth of plugins7:23 – 64-bit, VMs & Docker: the road to Unraid 69:37 – ZFS support & mirrored USB boot (Unraid 7)11:49 – Why Unraid 8 moves to a Fedora base13:29 – Immutable Linux & Universal Blue (uCore)15:58 – Kernel flexibility & better hardware support20:32 – One cohesive interface & own-your-data22:38 – Built-in backups & native Docker Compose26:20 – Plugins you can trust: the new permission system29:35 – Community Apps, reimagined (ca.unraid.net)31:23 – When can you try it? Beta, RC & getting involved33:05 – Early days: building servers by hand35:34 – From flash drives to digital downloads37:17 – 20 years, still independent: Tom's reflection39:00 – Closing remarks & how to get involved— LINKS —Watch Part 1 (meet CEO Tiffany Jones).Read Tiffany's letter (companion blog).Community Apps.Sign up for the Unraid 8 beta.Submit feature requests & bug reports. Work with us (Unraid jobs).What will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.

You’ve used Unraid. Now meet the person running the company behind it.Ed Rawlings and Unraid CEO Tiffany Jones get into what the community actually wants to know — what the company stands for, what's coming to Unraid users soon, and what she'll protect no matter what. This isn't a product update. It's an honest look at the people, the culture, and the independence behind the OS you rely on.Tiffany talks about growing up around Unraid, the four careers that led her to the top job, and how she and her father Tom split the business and the product. She takes the hard questions head-on: the worry that Unraid could drift the way other beloved products have, why the company stays bootstrapped with no investors, what “you own your license” actually means, and where a leaner, more accessible Unraid is headed — without taking anything away from the power users who’ve been here for years.No VC. No private equity. No debt. A perpetual license you own outright. A team largely built from the community it serves. This is what’s behind the product.Want to join the Unraid beta tester list? Part 2 will have Unraid creator Tom Mortensen and Unraid Director of Product Eli Bosley reveal what’s next for the product itself. You won't want to miss this one. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!LinksSubmit feature requests & bug reportsWork with us (Unraid jobs)MSP / OEM / technology partnersJoin the Unraid beta tester interest listChapters00:00 – Welcome back: meet Unraid’s CEO (Part 1 of 2)00:44 – Seeing Unraid for the first time (Tom’s 2005 plasma TV)02:58 – Film to CEO: the four careers that led here07:38 – Does Tiffany run Unraid at home?09:45 – The mission, and what “freedom” really means12:28 – What Tom does now 15:23 – Battling against enshittification and aligning with users17:18 – No investors, no debt: staying independent23:50 – What the license change actually paid for27:58 – Why Unraid stays a small, lean team30:05 – Where your bug reports & feature requests go32:10 – From community to staff: Larry’s story34:05 – What makes the self-hosting community different36:50 – Accessible ≠ dumbing it down39:18 – What Unraid got wrong (and how they fixed it)43:16 – Goals for the next era (team, UX, AI)45:28 – Partnerships & the Signature Series (45HomeLab)50:30 – How to get involved52:36 – Coming in Part 2: Tom & EliWhat will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.

Ed's heading to the 45Drives Creator Summit, the Unraid summer sale is live, and this month's community question is the one container you couldn't live without, plus the most underrated one nobody ever talks about. Then it gets wild: malware that hides from AI scanners by pretending to be a nuclear weapon, Sony quietly deleting 551 films people actually paid for, GTA 6 shipping as nothing but a code in a box, PlayStation finishing off physical discs, and Amazon locking the Fire Stick behind a new OS. On the security side: BitLocker weaponized as ransomware, the FortiBleed firewall credential leak, another npm supply chain attack, and an AUR malware flood hitting Arch users. Anthropic drops Claude Fable, Steam Machines are back as a downloadable OS, AMD silently removed Ryzen memory encryption, and ANPR cameras are now tracking your AirPods and your dog. Plus, YouTube's AI sweep is taking out real creators, and Ukraine's birds have started nesting in drone fibre spools.Episode TakeawaysUnraid summer sale (ends 19 July) and the 45Drives Creator SummitThe one container you couldn't live without, and the most underrated oneAnthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 switched back onMalware faking nuclear-weapon text to slip past AI code scannersSony deleting 551 purchased movies from PlayStation librariesGTA 6's "physical" edition is just a download code in a boxPlayStation ending physical disc production in 2028Amazon killing Fire Stick sideloading with the move to Vega OSBitLocker turned into a ransomware weapon using built-in toolsFortiBleed exposes admin credentials for around 75,000 Fortinet firewallsRubyGems and npm add a cooldown to blunt supply chain attacksArch's AUR flooded with 1,500+ malicious packagesSteam Machine priced, and SteamOS now installable on any PCAMD quietly removing, then restoring, Ryzen memory encryptionFlock cameras that fingerprint your Bluetooth, AirPods and even pet chipsYouTube's AI cleanup catching genuine faceless creatorsUkraine's birds building nests from discarded drone fibre-optic cableChapters00:00 Welcome, Unraid summer sale and the Creator Summit05:27 The container you couldn't live without, and the most underrated17:50 Anthropic's Fable 5 is back20:56 Malware hides from AI scanners behind fake nuclear-weapon text23:10 Sony deletes 551 purchased movies from PlayStation29:20 GTA 6 is just a code in a box35:15 PlayStation ends physical disc production in 202845:08 Steam Headless and the fixed-MAC container trick48:30 Amazon kills Fire Stick sideloading with Vega OS51:03 BitLocker turned into a ransomware weapon54:43 FortiBleed: 75,000 Fortinet firewalls exposed1:00:43 RubyGems and npm add a package cooldown1:02:04 Arch's AUR flooded with malware1:02:49 Steam Machine priced, and SteamOS goes downloadable1:10:00 AMD pulls, then restores, Ryzen memory encryption1:12:00 Flock cameras that track your Bluetooth, AirPods and dog1:16:10 YouTube's AI cleanup hits real faceless creators1:19:10 Light close: Ukraine's birds and drone fibre1:20:23 Sign-offWhat will you build with Unraid? Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.The hosts of Ed & Stefano Unleashed are passionate about home servers, open-source tech, and sometimes going off on tangents. The views and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the hosts and guests and do not reflect the opinions, policies, or positions of Lime Technology, Inc. This show is intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. Listeners are encouraged to do their own research, experiment responsibly, and not hold the hosts accountable for any questionable home lab decisions. Most importantly, enjoy the show!