Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com's Avatar

Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com

@paulbraren.bsky.social

Dad. IT Ops Engineer, previously SE @Pure/Dell/VMware, IBM WW Team Lead. VMware vExpert & Certified Pro #2681. Sustainability advocacy & consulting. EV Club of Connecticut Co-Lead. TinkerTry.com -PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency & more YouTube.com/TinkerTry

308 Followers  |  1,085 Following  |  198 Posts  |  Joined: 13.11.2024
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Posts by Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com (@paulbraren.bsky.social)

Good article.

17.02.2026 12:15 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
OpenAI vs Anthropic: A Subjective comparison

OpenAI vs Anthropic: A Subjective comparison

Here's his funny and interesting "OpenAI vs Anthropic: A Subjective comparison" table.

11.02.2026 03:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Super Bowl Matchup: Anthropic vs OpenAI You don’t have to be a football fan to enjoy the ads

Check out @garymarcus.bsky.social take on all this:
garymarcus.substack.com/p/super-bowl...
"As you can see, the two big private LLM companies, although superficially similar, are actually quite different."

#anthropic #openai

11.02.2026 03:35 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Celebrate Ionna's 2 Year Anniverary With Me In Boston!
YouTube video by The Ioniq Guy Celebrate Ionna's 2 Year Anniverary With Me In Boston!

@ioniqguy.bsky.social, so nice of you to give Connecticut a shout-out in your promo clip!
youtu.be/c4UN1vr5LFI?...

06.02.2026 01:42 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thought about attending virtualization user groups? Here's a virtual tour of some of my recent positive experiences. PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.

Yeah, I've been heading over there a bit more often lately too, thank you for the encouragement!
tinkertry.com/virtualizati...

01.02.2026 18:40 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Power+ Dual port charger Simultaneously charge two EGO batteries of any size.

Since it was 8Β°F (-13Β°C), 6-battery-mower charger wouldn’t start (red warning light), had to warm it to >32Β°F 1st. Charger for 2 batteries at once indoors would be better. Hope this helps, wanting to do a write-up sometime.
egopowerplus.com/dual-port-ch...
More info:
www.linkedin.com/posts/paulbr...

30.01.2026 01:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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It did a good job, but for a 25’ by 65’ driveway, it did need 2 sets of 2 batteries (from my mower) for each 5” removal. Also, with snow coming down fast, it took 3 rough snow clearings every few hours (15” in ~15 hours). So charging all 4 batteries at once in <1 hr with mower was very helpful. But…

30.01.2026 01:53 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
My charging shelf, in an indoor closet.

My charging shelf, in an indoor closet.

Skid-flip complete.

Skid-flip complete.

Spare sheer pin and skids

Spare sheer pin and skids

12 to 17 inches.

12 to 17 inches.

As ready as I can be for snow storm #Fern. My 4th not-much-snow winter with my #EGO POWER+ Self Propelled 2-Stage Snow Blower. It hasn’t been challenged yet, this will be interesting.

23.01.2026 22:18 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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@johnocfii.bsky.social and @bujhjjkk.bsky.social, I really appreciate the feedback, it means a lot to me. Hopefully your kind words will be helpful to some of my readers too!
tinkertry.com/testimonials...

23.01.2026 04:07 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Thanks Lon, can't wait to watch it!

Glad I received my β€œFramie” my Framework Desktop last year, phew! Also relieved I maxed out the AMD Ryzenβ„’ AI Max+ 395 with those (soldered) 128 Gigs of DDR5 RAM goodness:
tinkertry.com/tinkertry-20...

@mattferrell.bsky.social
@pcper.com.web.brid.gy

21.01.2026 03:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.

It’s happening faster than I thought, will be interesting to see what happens to my 6 Verizon lines + Frontier 5 Gig total cost over time.
TinkerTry.com/tinkertry-20...

17.01.2026 16:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Same issue here in Hartford Connecticut area right now:
bsky.app/profile/paul...

14.01.2026 20:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Good article @techradar.com. I’ve got this β€œSOS instead of signal bars” issue too, with 1 of 2 eSIMs on my iPhone 17 Pro Max for ~1hr, on just my primary line, strange.

Same issue even after several reboots or cell off/on toggles.

(my 2nd number
www.verizon.com/products-per...
doesn’t have data)

14.01.2026 20:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Is your original SuperServer now running Proxmox, and how is that going overall?

09.01.2026 21:21 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Home PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.

I appreciate you saying that, thank you for your many years of readership! I was hoping a few readers/viewers (especially those who appreciate details) would stick with me through tech transition.

Feel free to leave comments/feedback below any TinkerTry.com articles of interest, no login required!

09.01.2026 21:19 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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U.S. petroleum consumption by sector 2024| Statista The transportation sector is the greatest consumer of petroleum in the United States.

Another
www.statista.com/statistics/2...
@statistacharts.bsky.social

05.01.2026 12:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Visualizing the Products and Fuels Made from Crude Oil Oil is a building block that makes modern life possible. This graphic looks at the proportion of finished products that are created from crude oil.

A visual that I find helpful:
elements.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-...

05.01.2026 12:43 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Intel's 'Serpent Lake' CPU leaks, its first chip developed in collaboration with Nvidia Meanwhile, Razer Lake, Hammer Lake and Titan Lake take the fight to AMD.

Intel's 'Serpent Lake' CPU leaks, its first chip developed in collaboration with Nvidia
www.pcgamer.com/hardware/pro...
β€œIntel's first joint-venture chip with Nvidia, plus several next-gen CPUs, reportedly with a big boost to per-core performance, plus a return to a unified CPU core architecture.”

02.01.2026 04:28 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Happy New Years Day!
In case you missed this post late yesterday. Feedback always appreciated - reply here, or comment below the article where no login is required.

02.01.2026 02:25 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

See also just-published:
bsky.app/profile/paul...
@techconnectify.bsky.social

01.01.2026 04:44 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.

TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh
tinkertry.com/tinkertry-20...

With many aging tech things starting to break on me 2025, it was time for major tech overhauls.

This article covers many of the tech successes, enjoy!

Oh yeah, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

@frame.work @home-assistant.io
@ubiquiti.bsky.social

01.01.2026 04:37 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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I agree!

01.01.2026 01:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

2 EWC Controls UZC4 Universal Zone Control System
ewccontrols.com/acrobat/uzc4...
www.supplyhouse.com/EWC-UZC-4-UZ...
Also, two Bosch IDS 2.0 Heat Pumps & Air handlers, 6 ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium.

31.12.2025 16:11 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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There have been challenges.

Oh yeah, a screenshot from the article above. I’ve been a long time fan of your work, and am thankful for it!

31.12.2025 04:09 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Rheem heat pump water heater 3-year ownership summary, as featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency, and more.

See also
TinkerTry.com/three-year-h...

31.12.2025 04:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Why Heat Pumps are Essential for the Future - Explained
YouTube video by Undecided with Matt Ferrell Why Heat Pumps are Essential for the Future - Explained

Looking forward to what you come up with, happy to share my latest experiences/updates.

I talked about my 3 years of positive experience with my hybrid electric (heat pump) water heater at the 10 min mark in this @mattferrell.bsky.social video:
youtu.be/73qzU8vOc4U?...

31.12.2025 04:09 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Similar methods for my all-electric home, all local temp & humidity sensors too. It’s been an adventure! It seems nobody really makes a turnkey packaged solution for HVAC systems when a zone damper controller is in the mix, at least not in the US.
bsky.app/profile/paul...

31.12.2025 03:21 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Home Assistant Dashboard showing my all-electric home's temperature and humidity levels.

Home Assistant Dashboard showing my all-electric home's temperature and humidity levels.

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I'm dabbling in Home Assistant Dashboards, and trying to coordinate my ecobee thermostats.
For humidity % based on outdoor temps, simpler/better for me to hand that off to ecobee.
(AprilAire Model 800 Steam Humidifier)
support.ecobee.com/s/articles/F...
@rotinom.bsky.social
@mattferrell.bsky.social

30.12.2025 18:58 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

…at least we’re near the ocean, where the winds tend to be high and the sun tends to be bright during winter cold snaps. Oh, wait…

See also my related post
bsky.app/profile/paul...

@ucs.org
@chrisnelder.bsky.social

25.12.2025 16:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This thread is so spot-on, covering some of the many challenges with tuning my all-electric solar+battery home. My focus is on my air source heat pumps and trying my best to always avoid resistive heating backup, even during cold snaps like last winter here in New England.
@mattferrell.bsky.social

25.12.2025 16:23 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0