The Uncast Show

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 Takeaways
Unraid 7.3.3 RC1 and the 7.4 beta, shared task tray and multi-network Docker
Unraid 8 dropping Slackware for a Fedora base built on uCore
Native backups, Docker Compose in Community Apps and a plugin permission system
Multiple arrays still on the roadmap, just not in the first release
Why a Fedora base won't fix Fuse overhead, and what exclusive shares actually do
Dead Air, a self-hosted radio station with an AI presenter
BirdNET-Go and MusicSpider, two new containers worth a look
Sony telling a court you're unreasonable if you thought you owned it
PBS nearly losing 70 years of archive to a bankrupt cloud middleman
A modular PSU cable swap that destroyed two hard drives
PetLibro pet feeders offline for 38 hours because the cloud went down
Comcast turning millions of routers into Wi-Fi motion sensors
Amazon device prices up 60% in a day, and RAM prices still climbing
Pine64 halting Linux hardware manufacturing into next year
CERN leaving Red Hat for Debian 13 over a compiler flag
150 million driving licences for sale on the dark web
AliExpress fingerprinting shoppers with silent audio
A UK power plant down for four days after someone port forwarded an air-gapped network

Chapters
⁠00:00⁠ Welcome back, Unraid 7.3.3 RC and the 7.4 beta
⁠02:50⁠ The 45Drives Creator Summit
⁠04:00⁠ Unraid 8 announced, Slackware to Fedora
⁠05:33⁠ Native backups, Podman and Docker Compose in Community Apps
⁠07:03⁠ Plugin permissions, a unified UI and broader hardware support
⁠10:03⁠ What's staying, and where multiple arrays got to
⁠11:06⁠ Fuse, user space and the exclusive shares trick
⁠14:31⁠ ZFS isn't going anywhere on a Fedora base
⁠15:35⁠ Dead Air, a radio station hosted by your own AI
⁠18:44⁠ BirdNET-Go, bat detection and Home Assistant
⁠22:41⁠ MusicSpider finds gigs from your listening history
⁠23:55⁠ Sony argues in court that you never owned it
⁠27:29⁠ Xbox cloud streaming limits and disc-to-digital
⁠31:35⁠ PBS nearly loses 70 years of archive footage
⁠33:48⁠ Mixing SAS and SATA drives in the array
⁠35:27⁠ A modular PSU cable that killed two hard drives
⁠39:09⁠ PetLibro's 38 hour cloud outage
⁠40:41⁠ Comcast turns routers into Wi-Fi motion sensors
⁠44:24⁠ Ring encryption and what it hands to police
⁠46:05⁠ Amazon prices up 60% overnight, and RAM pricing
⁠50:05⁠ Pine64 halts hardware manufacturing
⁠53:13⁠ Maintenance, and the 1990s RAM Doubler
⁠55:50⁠ China and the EU swapping Windows for Linux
⁠57:43⁠ CERN leaves Red Hat over a compiler flag
⁠1:00:58⁠ Epic Games Store gets a Linux launcher
⁠1:01:47⁠ Utah targets VPN users, California protects open source
⁠1:03:03⁠ 150 million driving licences on the dark web
⁠1:05:56⁠ uBlock Origin, Brave and YouTube ads without Premium
⁠1:09:26⁠ AliExpress fingerprinting with silent audio
⁠1:11:10⁠ A UK power plant down after a port forward, and HDMI
⁠1:13:32⁠ The black swan on the motorway
⁠1:14:10⁠ Sign-off

What 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 8
Unraid 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 1
Now 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 MEMBERS
Two 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 MERCH
The new "Unraid and Chill" tee is here — and all t-shirts are on sale for $20 each while you're there.
— CHAPTERS —
0:00 Intro
0:20 The big news: Unraid 8 announced
0:24 Why Unraid 8 is special: moving to Fedora
0:42 What is uCore? (batteries included)
:23 Container-first OS: bootc & atomic rollback
1:42 Unraid 8 beta waitlist
1:54 Unraid 7.4.0 beta 1 — what's new
3:06 New team members: Alex & Scott
3:38 New merch: Unraid and Chill
3:49 Community content from around the web
4:01 Wrap-up
— LINKS —
Full August Digest newsletter: https://newsletter.unraid.net/p/unraid-august-digest-da22
Unraid 8 beta waitlist: https://bit.ly/unraid-beta
Unraid forums: https://forums.unraid.net
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/unRAID
#Unraid #Unraid8 #SelfHosting #Homelab #NAS #Fedora #Docker #HomeServer
What 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 solve
2:24 – Parity & redundancy: the first Unraid array
4:41 – The web GUI, "Tower" & the birth of plugins
7:23 – 64-bit, VMs & Docker: the road to Unraid 6
9:37 – ZFS support & mirrored USB boot (Unraid 7)
11:49 – Why Unraid 8 moves to a Fedora base
13:29 – Immutable Linux & Universal Blue (uCore)
15:58 – Kernel flexibility & better hardware support
20:32 – One cohesive interface & own-your-data
22:38 – Built-in backups & native Docker Compose
26:20 – Plugins you can trust: the new permission system
29:35 – Community Apps, reimagined (ca.unraid.net)
31:23 – When can you try it? Beta, RC & getting involved
33:05 – Early days: building servers by hand
35:34 – From flash drives to digital downloads
37:17 – 20 years, still independent: Tom's reflection
39:00 – 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!

Links
Submit feature requests & bug reports
Work with us (Unraid jobs)
MSP / OEM / technology partners
Join the Unraid beta tester interest list

Chapters
00:00 – 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 here
07:38 – Does Tiffany run Unraid at home?
09:45 – The mission, and what “freedom” really means
12:28 – What Tom does now
15:23 – Battling against enshittification and aligning with users
17:18 – No investors, no debt: staying independent
23:50 – What the license change actually paid for
27:58 – Why Unraid stays a small, lean team
30:05 – Where your bug reports & feature requests go
32:10 – From community to staff: Larry’s story
34:05 – What makes the self-hosting community different
36:50 – Accessible ≠ dumbing it down
39:18 – 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 involved
52:36 – Coming in Part 2: Tom & Eli

What 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 Takeaways
Unraid summer sale (ends 19 July) and the 45Drives Creator Summit
The one container you couldn't live without, and the most underrated one
Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 switched back on
Malware faking nuclear-weapon text to slip past AI code scanners
Sony deleting 551 purchased movies from PlayStation libraries
GTA 6's "physical" edition is just a download code in a box
PlayStation ending physical disc production in 2028
Amazon killing Fire Stick sideloading with the move to Vega OS
BitLocker turned into a ransomware weapon using built-in tools
FortiBleed exposes admin credentials for around 75,000 Fortinet firewalls
RubyGems and npm add a cooldown to blunt supply chain attacks
Arch's AUR flooded with 1,500+ malicious packages
Steam Machine priced, and SteamOS now installable on any PC
AMD quietly removing, then restoring, Ryzen memory encryption
Flock cameras that fingerprint your Bluetooth, AirPods and even pet chips
YouTube's AI cleanup catching genuine faceless creators
Ukraine's birds building nests from discarded drone fibre-optic cable

Chapters
00:00 Welcome, Unraid summer sale and the Creator Summit
05:27 The container you couldn't live without, and the most underrated
17:50 Anthropic's Fable 5 is back
20:56 Malware hides from AI scanners behind fake nuclear-weapon text
23:10 Sony deletes 551 purchased movies from PlayStation
29:20 GTA 6 is just a code in a box
35:15 PlayStation ends physical disc production in 2028
45:08 Steam Headless and the fixed-MAC container trick
48:30 Amazon kills Fire Stick sideloading with Vega OS
51:03 BitLocker turned into a ransomware weapon
54:43 FortiBleed: 75,000 Fortinet firewalls exposed
1:00:43 RubyGems and npm add a package cooldown
1:02:04 Arch's AUR flooded with malware
1:02:49 Steam Machine priced, and SteamOS goes downloadable
1:10:00 AMD pulls, then restores, Ryzen memory encryption
1:12:00 Flock cameras that track your Bluetooth, AirPods and dog
1:16:10 YouTube's AI cleanup hits real faceless creators
1:19:10 Light close: Ukraine's birds and drone fibre
1:20:23 Sign-off

What 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!