Today is my first day at Pure Storage as a Systems Engineer!

Dear ITProHobby Readers: Today May 8 2023 is my very first day at Pure Storage! As a "Systems Engineer - Commercial", it's a return to a role that's more similar to what I was doing at VMware than at Dell, but with an even greater focus on customers right here in Connecticut and the rest…

May 8 2023

Seriously, Sandy Munro and Cory Steuben Q&A with EV Club of Connecticut on March 21 2023 (Video Replay)

I met Sandy and Cory in late 2021, and to my surprise reaching out to their team actually worked out, after a bit of back-and-forth negotiating the details. It's a Zoom event, and if this sounds like it's something you'd enjoy, please pre-register, read onward for all the details! Enjoy learning…

Mar 18 2023

When rates doubled, I took 5 minutes to cut my electric bill nearly in half in Connecticut, one of 30 states where you can choose your rate

Feel free to share this article ITProHobby.com/lowerbill with your friends and family. Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. I do not have any financial affiliation with utility companies, and I don't make any commissions from you using the electric rate shopping link featured in this…

Mar 12 2023

Future of Fast Charging Sparks Joy in US's Non-Tesla EV Road Trippers - Supercharged Magic Docks!

Disclosure: I hold no stock and never held stock in any of the companies mentioned on the podcast or in this article. It sure didn't take long for Tesla to deploy this Magic Dock retrofit solution after the Biden administration's recent announcement: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New S…

Mar 6 2023

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 284 | Tesla - Quantum Energy - AI | Aaron, Russ, Tyler, Paul

This podcast was recorded on Thursday February 23 2023, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 11th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: …

Mar 1 2023

EV Club of CT's smart electrical panel discussion featuring SPAN, electrician, & homeowner

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. Both are intended to highlight the benefits of SPAN by featuring a SPAN representative's technical presentation, two of Connecticut's SPAN customers, and an electrician who installed them. Presentation Tap the image above to open up the full…

Jan 9 2023

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 277 | Paul Braren of ITProHobby.com talks EV planes and energy efficient housing | Aaron, Russ, Tyler, Paul

This podcast was recorded on Tuesday November 15 2022, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 10th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: …

Nov 15 2022

VMware vSphere 8 is now GA (General Availability), here's how to download it any which way!

This article has replaced my previous IA article, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022, updating the same release notes accordingly. Ad Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad…

Nov 9 2022

Hotel Marcel in New Haven Connecticut, the world's biggest Passive House? Our tech tour featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell!

Official Passive House certification takes at least full year of operation and monitoring to become official, but it's a pretty safe bet that Hotel Marcel will meet that goal. Read onward and watch the video to learn how! Photo courtesy of beckerandbecker.com. Notice the large solar canopies…

Nov 1 2022

VMware vSphere 8 is now IA (Initial Availability), here's how to download it any which way!

This article has been replaced with this one, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022 and updated the release notes. Ad Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad earns the vExpert…

Oct 12 2022

ITProHobby'd Synology DiskStation DS1522+ NAS featuring AMD Ryzen, 10GbE, 5 8TB HDDs and 2 NVMe SSDs!

Earlier this summer, Synology reached out to me to discuss the possibly of turning in some long term evaluation NAS equipment in return for some hands-on time with the very new Synology 1522+ featuring AMD Ryzen and ECC memory capability. Naturally, I said yes, especially since they were offering…

Aug 16 2022

vExperts are now able to place ads on their virtualization blogs for 18% commissions on VMware purchases!

Advertising Disclosure - This VMware ad earns the vExpert author a commission when used for purchases at vmware.com. It's a free way to demonstrate that you value his decade+ of technical content creation. What a nice surprise email from VMware Community Manager Corey Romero @vCommunityGuy today, a…

Jun 22 2022

Rheem heat pump water heater 3-year ownership summary, as featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Here's Matt's popular new video with over half a million views in its first week alone. It features a wonderful set of animations that really drive his points home in a powerful way, in a small amount of your valuable time. Feel free to leave your comments below this article or his video. Enjoy!…

Jun 15 2022

My experience as a first-time Delegate at AI Field Day 3

Yeah that's me, October of 1991, with an IR-based head-mounted eye-tracker. Today, near-IR is used as a DMS [Driver Monitoring System]. A few weeks ago, Keiran Shelden @Keiran_shelden of the Tech Breakfast Podcast introduced me to Stephen Foskett from Gestalt IT. Stephen has been running Tech…

May 26 2022

Rivian R1T EV pickup truck overview at Northeast Rivian Club event in Bridgeport Connecticut, owner Jazzy Jeff has 5,300 miles already!

If you're just here for the photos or video, no worries! It's great to see a variety of new EVs hitting the roads of Connecticut lately, spying my first Kia EV6 just last week. Even better when a whole new category of EVs arrive for the very first time, the all electric pickup truck! The vaguely…

May 15 2022

Featured on "Home Gadget Geeks" Episode #533 "Paul Braren with an Insteon Departure, the EV Decider and Heat Pumps for the Win – HGG533"

Thank you again Jim, for you being you, and for inviting me again! Always fun to catch up, here's some ideas, just in case you'd like to explore any of these a little further. Jim’s Podcast episode and video announcement post: Paul Braren with an Insteon Departure, the EV Decider and Heat Pumps f…

May 6 2022

InsteOFF - Insteon abruptly turned off its cloud and (should have) ceased sales, many devices continue to (mostly) work using local controls

On April 14 2022, Insteon ceased all sales and service operations and shut off their cloud, as was first covered by Stacey on IoT here. Contrary to some very dire looking headlines, this cloud service suspension didn't actually brick all existing devices, and many simple devices like light switches…

May 3 2022

Prepare for VMware vSphere 8.0 / vSphere.Next by reading updated KB 85685 "SD card/USB boot device revised guidance"

If you are a VMware vSphere administrator preparing for the upcoming vSphere 8.0 / vSphere.Next, then this article is for you! Yes, the information here is critical to ANY virtualization home lab enthusiast, and/or any VMware administrator who is planning out how and where they'll be installing or…

Apr 28 2022

VMware vSphere 7 Update 3d (VCSA 7.0U3d & ESXi 7.0U3d) includes critical bugfixes

Refer to this VMware KB for all release and patch dates. VMware KB 2143832 Build numbers and versions of VMware ESXi/ESX (2143832) Partial screenshot of VMware KB 2143832 on Mar 31 2022, click/tap to view the full article. For detailed information on this release, please visit: VMware ESXi 7.0…

Apr 27 2022

EV Decider - Tesla Model 3, Y, or another EV brand. What's best for you?

Tesla is a safe EV choice, but I realize that Tesla may not be the the right choice for everybody, especially if you live far from a Tesla Service Center, or you don't road trip very often and charge overnight where you live, like most EV owners. Photo by Paul Braren. Thankfully a few competitive…

Apr 22 2022

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 250 | The Osborne Effect - Twitter Chaos - Death of ICE - XR - Battery Tech | Aaron, Russ, Tyler, Paul

This podcast was recorded on Friday Apr 18 2022, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew an hour in to their special 250th episode! Show notes below. Even though I couldn't join for the first hour, the crew let me in late anyway, enjoying my 9th appearance on this fun and informative…

Apr 19 2022

Tesla, Rivian, Lucid EVs, an e-bus, and many e-bikes at the Connecticut State Capitol as lawmakers consider SB 214 for direct sales and SB 4 for clean air

All photos in this article by Paul Braren on April 13 2022. Middletown CT’s Electric School Bus from DATTCO in New Britain, CT. No gas or diesel, no tailpipe, it's electric. Jazz Cup Bandit from Spark Cycleworks, Branford, CT. "The burden of air pollution is not evenly shared. Poorer…

Apr 16 2022

Featured on Tech Breakfast Podcast 243 | EVs with Paul Braren | Aaron, Tyler

This podcast was recorded on Friday March 25 2022. Show notes below. I had the chance to enjoy my 8th appearance on this fun and informative podcast, you can play this fresh episode in the embedded player below. Table of Contents Click/tap to listen to "243: EV update with Paul Braren" …

Mar 25 2022

Tesla Model 3 Boston and New York City Road Trip Tips - safely handled rain, snow, and heavy traffic with ease and efficiency

Most modern EVs are great at stop-and-go traffic, with easy modulation and precise control of speed, and largely one-pedal driving thanks to regen. Most EVs have just one gear, so no shifting means smooth driving, with no unexpected power changes. Even better is a Traffic-Aware Cruise Control that…

Mar 24 2022