I replaced my $100/year RSS reader with a free GitHub Pages aggregator

Network-wide ad blocking with a Raspberry Pi Zero is easier than you think, but the Wi-Fi problem is real

Running Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi Zero is one of the easiest ways to set up network-wide ad blocking at home. The board is cheap, low-power, and requires minimal setup — flash an image, install Pi-hole, and point your router's DNS at it. However, the Pi Zero lacks built-in Ethernet, meaning DNS runs over Wi-Fi unless you add a USB Ethernet dongle and adapter, which undermines the device's simplicity and reliability. MicroSD storage is another long-term concern. The Pi Zero is a great entry point for learning DNS filtering, but once it becomes core household infrastructure, upgrading to a Pi 4, mini PC, or LXC container on existing hardware offers better reliability, real Ethernet, and more robust storage.

My Jellyfin anime collection finally feels organized, and Shoko did all the work

Shoko Server solves the notorious anime metadata problem in Jellyfin by using file hashing instead of relying on inconsistent file names. It matches files against AniDB to pull correct titles, artwork, cast info, and synopses, and groups related franchise entries (seasons, OVAs, movies) under a single listing. The setup requires connecting to AniDB, creating a dump key, installing the Shokofin plugin, and waiting for a library scan — which can be lengthy for large collections. Older titles may still need manual metadata intervention, and Shoko adds another service to maintain. Despite these caveats, the author considers it well worth the effort for serious anime collectors.

I tried replacing OneDrive with self-hosted storage, and it didn't work out

Người dùng thử thay thế OneDrive bằng Nextcloud tự lưu trữ trên TrueNAS nhưng gặp khó khăn trong việc tái tạo đầy đủ các tính năng tích hợp sẵn như Files On-Demand, autosave Office, cộng tác thời gian thực hay bảo vệ ransomware. Dù Nextcloud đáp ứng nhu cầu cơ bản, việc thiết lập các tính năng nâng cao đòi hỏi nhiều nỗ lực và cấu hình phức tạp.

Lập trình viên nên đọc bài này để hiểu cách tự tối ưu hóa và mở rộng giải pháp lưu trữ cá nhân bằng các công cụ open-source như Nextcloud, giúp tiết kiệm chi phí và kiểm soát toàn diện hơn so với dịch vụ cloud thương mại.

Prime Day slashes this x86 NAS down to $240 — a steal for backing up TBs of media without cloud subscriptions

The TerraMaster F2-425 is a 2-bay x86 NAS currently discounted to $240 during Prime Day. Powered by an Intel N95 CPU with Quick Sync support, it enables hardware-accelerated transcoding for Jellyfin, Plex, and Emby. It supports up to 60TB of storage, 2.5GbE networking, and works well with Btrfs for RAID 1 or JBOD setups. The author used it as a remote backup rig connected via Tailscale with Rsync, making it a practical option for 3-2-1 backup pipelines and self-hosting containers without relying on cloud subscriptions.

Terramaster F4-425 Pro: An Hardware Upgrade for an Already Solid NAS

Terramaster has refreshed its F4-425 NAS lineup with the Pro model, upgrading the CPU from an Intel N150 (4-core) to an Intel Core 3 N350 (8-core, 7W TDP) and doubling the integrated GPU execution units to 32. The unit reviewed is the top configuration with 16GB DDR5, priced at $799.99. A notable discovery: TOS installs on user-inserted disks rather than onboard storage, making drive migration between devices seamless. TOS 7 brings a cleaner UI and better storage management, but the 'AI-native' marketing claim is questioned — the OpenClaw AI feature is merely an orchestration layer requiring external LLM configuration, not on-device inference. Several software rough edges are noted: global search limited to home directory, Jellyfin subdirectory browsing issues, no keyboard navigation in Photos, and apps needing manual re-enabling after each reboot. The underlying Linux environment is Ubuntu 22.04, which reaches EOL in April 2027 — a concern for a newly launched device. Hardware performance is solid, with under 20% CPU/RAM load during photo indexing and under 10% during 4K streaming.

I turned an old Android phone into a home server, and it outperformed my Raspberry Pi

An old Android phone running Termux can serve as a capable home server that outperforms a Raspberry Pi in several ways. The phone's UFS storage is significantly faster than microSD cards commonly used in Pi setups, and even older flagship Android chips tend to be more powerful than typical SBC processors. Setup involves installing Termux, disabling battery optimization, and assigning a static IP. Services like Jellyfin, Tailscale, ad-blockers, file servers, and lightweight databases run well. The main caveat is battery longevity when kept plugged in constantly, which a smart plug can help manage.

I run a 24GB GPU instead of paying for Claude or Codex, and Qwen 3.6 keeps up more than I expected

Running Qwen 3.6 27B locally on an RTX 5090 as an alternative to paid cloud LLM subscriptions like Claude or Codex. The author compares Qwen 3.6 27B against Claude Opus 4.8 on coding tasks including bug detection and CSV parsing, finding the local model competitive for most everyday use cases. Key motivations include avoiding per-token billing changes, data privacy, and freedom to choose any harness tool. The main tradeoff is inference speed — local hardware is slower than cloud APIs.