benjiro (u/benjiro) - Readit News

benjiro commented on Connecting M.2 drives to various things (and not doing so) utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/spa... · Posted by u/kencausey

justsomehnguy · a day ago

> 2. 2.5" 8TB SSDs are 4x as expensive as 8TB NVMEs.

Huh?

870 QVO 8 TB SSD SATA III 2.5 inch: $629.99

Which is in the same range as M.2 ones.

Sure, you are getting gouged if try to buy it on Amazon but then... just don't buy it on Amazon?

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-st...

benjiro · a day ago

And that is the core of the problem. Your buying a storage media that is a lot slower in sequential read/write, and also on random's. But your paying the price of the superior m.2 NVME's.

SSDs need to sit more between HDD/NVME's, but they are on the same level as NVME.

Another issue, is just like with 2.5" drives, you see manufactures really only focus on specific drives. Its going to be 3.5" or U.2/U.3 and now NVME NAS solutions. But you do see any 2.5" / SATA solutions?

I mean, the only thing i remember seeing is the Synology DiskStation DS620slim that is now like 5 years old product. And still expensive as hell. Nobody makes any SATA products.

The market is now being a ton of Chinese brands / mini-pc makers that offer 4, 5, 6 NVME products. And even with PCIe3.0 x1 lane support, they are faster then SATA SSDs. And benefit from the massive better random/lower latency.

I love to shove a ton of SATA SSDs in a system, instead of HDDs but the prices need to be somewhere in the middle of HDD/NVMEs per TB. Not the same as NVMEs.

benjiro commented on Connecting M.2 drives to various things (and not doing so) utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/spa... · Posted by u/kencausey

aidenn0 · a day ago

I looked into this as an option because (similar to the author, from the sounds of it[A]):

1. I already had a 2.5" hotswap setup

2. 2.5" 8TB SSDs are 4x as expensive as 8TB NVMEs.

A: https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/tech/NVMeOvertaking...

benjiro · a day ago

The problem as pointed out by the author in the link, is that there simply is no storage solution that sits between a SATA HDD (cheapest 0.15 Euro/TB) > NVME (0.45 Euro/TB).

Technically, SATA SSD's need to fill this spot as a cheaper alternative but with their prices being just as expensive (often only 5% cheaper) as m.2. If SATA had a price range in the 0.30 EUro/TB, it will have been a great alternative to HDD based storage.

And you can go really crazy with bifurcation > 4/4/4/4x and then converting all those new m.2 slots to 6 SATA (ASM controller for cheap and work great). Plop, 24 SATA ports for 4W power draw.

But nobody is going to pay for SATA SSD's when they can just buy m.2 for the same price. So the result is that the SATA SSD market is "kind of dying", and manufactures look at it like 2.5" drives got looked at from HDD manufactures.

benjiro commented on Framework Laptop 16 frame.work/ro/en/laptop16... · Posted by u/susanthenerd

vzaliva · 2 days ago

The idea of Framework laptops sounds great! But I’m wondering: has anyone done an economic analysis comparing buying a Framework laptop a few years ago and gradually upgrading it, versus buying a similar popular brand laptop and just upgrading by getting a new model? I’m not trolling, I’m genuinely considering Framework as my next laptop.

benjiro · 2 days ago

The problem your overlooking is not just the upgrade vs new cost, but also the parts issue.

Buying a brand new Framework tend to be more expensive then a ~ Chinese Laptop.

*New vs Upgrade*

In general, you can sell a second hand laptop at around 50% of the original price, about 2 years down the line (assuming you did not damage it).

So a new upgrade will be 50% cheaper. For that you tend to get (depending on the generation jump), more storage, more memory, potential better screen, faster CPU.

While a Framework upgrade may mean you gain a new Motherbord+CPU for the price of that equivalent laptop. But here you run into another economic issue. Sure, you can transplant your 2100mhz memory but what if 2660 is the standard. So you CPU upgrade is going to get throttled.

*Changes*

What if memory changed with a inner generational. So now that memory you had before is useless. You can recover some value, but are still forced to buy the generation memory.

That wifi card, 5e ... great, but now your getting maybe 6 standard in a new laptop.

Also do not forget, your laptop will have more wear and tear vs a new device. Keyboard may become a issue. Your oled screen may have reduced coloring after 1 or 2 generation of usage (oleds suffer from high screen brightness, and laptop are more often in locations like outdoors that run at 100% brightness).

*Compatibility*

What about compatibility? Maybe you had a Intel based Framework laptop, with a intel wifi card. The problem is, some intel wifi cards need specific intel instructions onboard the CPU. So now you upgraded to AMD but your wifi card becomes useless.

Yes, a new laptop is rolling the dice regarding defects or other issues. But so is upgrading a framework. The problem is, your getting all the not so fun parts of a desktop's upgradability, without the cost saving potential of a desktop.

*Resell issue*

Selling your framework memory, wifi card etc will not be a big issue. But the moment you want to sell a older part, now what? Great that you upgraded from 1080p screen to 4k by yourself, but who is going to buy your 1080p screen? Your at best looking at a small market of framework owners, and a even smaller market of framework owners that need a new screen (maybe to replace a damaged one).

What about the bezel changes? What about the keyboard? What is your buyers market. Sure, maybe you can sell your old MB/CPU but even that is a VERY specialized market of people, who maybe need one to repair their framework, or want a custom nas (cheaper to just buy a mini-pc from the dozens of Chinese brands) or the few people who run a very old framework mb, and upgrade (what about their selling 2+ generation old MB/CPU combo).

*Buyers*

Framework really is for people who do not like to change laptops / get used to new ones, and who have no issue taking in the extra costs of those upgrade potential. But then again, i see people running macbooks M1's still (darm good laptops), for 5 years. They did not need the upgrade path.

It really depends on you, what you really value. But from a economic point of view, your not going to be cheaper in the long run with a framework, and that is not the selling point also.

benjiro commented on Building ultra cheap energy storage for solar PV austinvernon.substack.com... · Posted by u/theptip

nine_k · 4 days ago

Lithium-ion: fire hazard, capable of thermal runaway and pack both fuel and oxidizer, napalm-style.

LiFePO4: safe, unless you crack them and ignite the liquid with a blowtorch, or something.

benjiro · 3 days ago

Lithium-ion: produces its own oxygen, the reason why you get thermal runaways. LiFePO4: Does not produce its own oxygen, any fire (can happen) is limited to the surrounding air.

A trend in home batteries, that we see now (because of killer competition on the Chinese Market / export), is LiFePO4 batteries that have a included fire extinguisher module.

This adds another layer of security beyond:

* LiFePO4 (not oxygen producing)

* Most batteries are encased in a iron protective layer, this reduces the risk of punctures. And also act as a fire suppressor as any fire has a hard time escaping / limited amount of oxygen access.

* Depending on the batteries, they can be installed in a enclosed rack.

* The now often fire extinguisher module in a lot of pre-made batteries.

The chance of a fire from a LiFePO4 install is so small, that your more likely to get a fire from any other part of your house (probably your laptop or smartphone lol ).

benjiro commented on AWS CEO says using AI to replace junior staff is 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard' theregister.com/2025/08/2... · Posted by u/JustExAWS

dahart · 7 days ago

I hope the tech boards and CEOs don’t miss the not very subtle point that twitter has very quickly doubled in size in 2 years and is still growing after the big layoff and they had to scramble to fix some notable mistakes they made when firing that many people. 80% is already a hugely misleading marketing number.

Edit: huh, what’s with the downvote, is this wrong? Did I overstate it? Here’s the data: https://www.demandsage.com/twitter-employees/

benjiro · 7 days ago

Also need to add, that a large part of the 80% that got kicked, was moderator staff. So it makes sense that after they removed too many developers, they ended up rehiring them.

Take in account, Twitter their front end, the stuff that people interact with was only like 15% of the actual code base. The rest was analytics for the data (selling data, marketing analytic for advertisers etc).

But as they are not reintroducing moderators, the company is "still down by 63.6% from the numbers before the mass layoffs".

So technically, Twitter is probably back or even bigger on the IT staff then before Musk came.

benjiro commented on Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims apnews.com/article/domini... · Posted by u/throw0101a

alistairSH · 9 days ago

~1/3 of their annual revenue. Not nothing, but likely small enough that it’s just a cost of doing business and not a real deterrent. IMO.

benjiro · 9 days ago

Annual revenue is not profit. This is the money earned without all the costs of running the business.

For instance, the total revenue was 171m in 2024. But the cost of revenue was 86m. Then you need to remove the operation expenses, that are 153m. So in 2024, the before taxes net income was a loss of 69 million.

In 2025 they are currently at -30m because it seems they cut in their Operating Expense. Explains some of the anchors leaving in 2024 (the impact of big cuts are often only felt the next year)

Here is a very important titbit:

> Newsmax and Newsmax Broadcasting LLC agreed to pay Dominion and its affiliates over three installments, starting with $27 million that was paid on Friday. Newsmax will pay $20 million on January 15 and another $20 million on January 15, 2027.

In other words, they are not able to pay out the 67m in 2025, and are paying it off over 3 years. Given the negative income it has, combined with the now extra payments for then next 3 years...

They are going to be cutting even more staff, what will affect their ability to generate revenue. It may look like a good deal, only 1/3 of their revenue, a 3 year payment plan. But its more of a survival plan.

Why did Dominion accept this? Because its guaranteed money. Dominion is not out to destroy newsmax, no, Dominion wants cheese and a dead newsmax means no cheese. But the effect will be hard on the newsmax, do not underestimate this. Let alone internally...

Some people will see this as a newsmax win, because most people do not know the difference between revenue. And why payment plans are not good indicator. But in reality, the company was already on a bankruptcy route, and its not going to get better. So unless somebody Musk steps in with major $$$ to buyout and finance them for a long time, ...

benjiro commented on A gigantic jet caught on camera: A spritacular moment for NASA astronaut science.nasa.gov/science-... · Posted by u/acossta

diggernet · 10 days ago

Yeah, annoying.

This one is better:

https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2025/07/Nichole-Ayers-S...

benjiro · 10 days ago

What amazes me more then the jet, is the amount of light pollution from the cities.

benjiro commented on Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy theguardian.com/film/2025... · Posted by u/nemoniac

swat535 · 13 days ago

You also get many other features:

1. Automatically downloads subtitles, can pick between multiple available voice versions

2. Calendar with notifications when new series are available

3. Integration with various services like Trakt.tv, Letterboxd, etc

4. Automatic collection and organization of content

5. Metada, IMBD ratings and other movie details

6. Foreign content, Anime series (oh and of course let's not forget 4k porn...)

benjiro · 13 days ago

Point 6 grow a lot, with the recent UK chances requiring people to hand over their Identity to see xxx rated content. Privacy was a issue before but its getting worse and worse.

Point 7 ... see the recent EU law about chat services needing to provide access to users chats. Also links to UK recent laws etc ...

The more the governments and companies go crazy for your data / privacy, the more a personalized solution becomes a need. All the other benefits that such a platform offers, become icing on the cake.

benjiro commented on Streaming services are driving viewers back to piracy theguardian.com/film/2025... · Posted by u/nemoniac

godelski · 13 days ago

Piracy also offers:

0. Ability to watch offline!

1. Ability to fix subtitle issues with minimal tweeks like change size or moving location.

1.2 Ability to get subtitles if they aren't offered (or offered in your language)

2. Ability to normalize audio.

3. Ability to buffer videos when on a poor connection.

4. Ability to create collections, organize, and track your movie as you wish

5. Arbitrary number of user accounts

6. Multicast streams to watch the same show across different devices regardless of if someone has an account or not (see JellyFin's SyncPlay)

7. No big organization tracking you and selling your data to the highest bidder

There's more, but honestly pirating is just a better experience. I can't tell you how many times Netflix has fucked up the subtitles so they are covering half my screen. There's tons of little issues like that that are just random and the only option is to just not watch Netflix (or pick your streaming service) that day.

Besides that, for the price of a yearly subscription you can build a NAS that can do all this for you and you get to keep the movies. Instead of having a monthly fee you can progressively add more drives and this can also be used for all your other things. Pictures, home videos, games (you can make a Steam cache), your local AI models, or whatever else you want. With $1k you can build a pretty good system, though that's 3 years of 4k Netflix, so not the cheap route in the short term.

benjiro · 13 days ago

> With $1k you can build a pretty good system

1. The hardware you buy for these activities, has still residual value after 1, 2, 3 year. Unlike the streaming service you pay for.

2. Its cheap to upgrade / expand over time (if its not a all in one solution)

3. It opens a door to not just store movies/music/images, but as emulator, streaming service, or game streaming to one or multiple.

4. The content will not arbitrarily vanish.

5. Your bookmarks / last viewed / ... will not arbitrarily vanish. Do not get me started on this and how annoying it can be when a services removes content!

6. It serves not only as a device for "linux isos" or other gray zones but also as a legit backup of your own personal data.

7. Saves you from needing "cloud" storage or other cloud services.

8. Can be enhanced with programs that offer image conversion, pdf conversion etc, all private!

9. Run your own chat server for the family, no US/EU "we want to know what you are saying" issues.

10. Can act like your own VPN, to route data from your phone or other devices outside your home.

11. Provides service if you are in area's with horrible internet connection with its ability to "cache isos" at night slowly.

12. Your control over the media means you can stream 4k to your PC. Netflix kuch kuch ... No, its not 4k.

13. You can gain the FULL bitrate of the media. You do not get a washed down version of the supposed media based upon how busy a streaming service their servers are or other limitations.

14. It can be used for so many other activities like programming.

15. Did i mention home automatization?

And so much more ... People are probably doing things with NAS setups that i can not even think about.

Your not investing into a machine for "illegal" stuff, your investing into a machine that frees you as the end user from all those cloud, streaming, and other services their lackluster service. And then provides all the added benefits on top, that a 24/7 running PC can provide.

Lets also not forget the future where LLM's are a thing. Having your own open source LLM that runs at home, can be a major benefit.

But ... it does require more knowledge, especially as you step up beyond simple storage. So that is the real downside, not the money, the time and knowledge buildup.