The Uncast Show

In the October episode of Ed & Stefano Unleashed, we kick things off with the brand new Unraid X4 server, the latest Unraid betas, and a big thank you to ich777. Then we ask a question every home labber should think about: could your family actually use your server if you weren’t around?
Ed and Stefano take a close look at the X4, a 4-bay Signature Series server with AV1 transcoding and room for a GPU, and talk through Mover finally preserving hard links in the 7.4.0 beta. The community topic covers documenting your home lab, encryption keys, and making sure your family can still get to photos and important documents without you. Plus two new tools worth trying, Red Kite and Connected Clients.
The second half moves into tech news, including Samsung’s AI fridges being bricked by an update, dynamic pricing and supermarket WiFi tracking, LG’s smart TV data collection, running bigger local AI models on your own hardware, and what an OpenAI forum hack teaches us about securing our own self hosted services.
Episode Takeaways
-The Unraid X4: 4 bays, AV1 transcoding, and space for a GPU, from $1199
-Mover now preserves hard links in Unraid 7.4.0 beta
-Thank you ich777 for years of plugins, drivers, and game server containers
-Could your family access your server if you weren’t there?
-Why you should document your home lab and plan for encryption keys
-Red Kite and Connected Clients: two new tools to keep an eye on
-Samsung AI fridges bricked by a test firmware update
-Dynamic pricing and how free supermarket WiFi is used for tracking
-LG smart TVs, data collection, and proxy apps using your internet
-Running large local AI models using system RAM and mixture of experts
-Perplexity’s new local plus cloud AI stack
-OpenAI’s forum hack and why you should segment your home lab networks
-Switzerland trials OpenDesk as Europe moves away from Microsoft
-Where the Unraid name actually came from
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:37 The New Unraid X4 Signature Series Server
06:44 Unraid 7.3.3 RC2 and 7.4.0 Beta: Mover Preserves Hard Links
08:40 Creator Summit and a Big Thank You to ich777
12:02 Community Topic: Could Your Family Use Your Server Without You?
23:35 Red Kite: A New Monitoring and Kill Switch Container
26:48 Connected Clients Plugin
27:39 Samsung AI Fridges Bricked by an Update
32:40 Dynamic Pricing and Supermarket WiFi Tracking
40:18 LG Smart TVs: Data Collection, Microphones and Proxy Apps
45:55 Qwen, Local AI and Running Bigger Models on Your GPU
50:19 TiVo Ends Commercial Skipping
55:45 Perplexity’s Local and Cloud AI Stack
58:10 OpenAI Forum Hacked Through an Image Upload
1:00:58 Securing Your Home Lab: Docker Networks and IoT VLANs
1:04:49 The Uncola and Where the Unraid Name Came From
1:09:03 Switzerland Trials OpenDesk as Europe Moves Off Microsoft
1:16:14 Happy Story: New Zealand’s Kakapo Population Grows
1:19:10 Wrap UpWhat 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!
#unraid #selfhosting #homelab

Welcome to the Unraid September Digest 2026 — packed into 5 minutes. Stefano walks through the latest release candidates and betas, a wave of security fixes, a brand new X4 server launch, and the app of the month.

Prefer reading? The full written digest is here.
Subscribe for one email a month covering everything Unraid.

📦 Unraid Releases
Unraid 7.3.3 RC1 and RC2 shipped alongside 7.4.0 Beta 2 and Beta 3. RC2 includes 10 OpenSSL CVEs, 6 Samba fixes, 4 PHP patches, and 1 for Nginx — plus a Linux kernel bump to 6.6.52 and a Docker engine update. Beta 3 carries many of the same fixes and adds major improvements to Mover, Docker container templates, and a new shared task tray for background operations. Stay tuned for Stables soon!

🔒 Security Fixes
-10 CVEs patched in OpenSSL
-6 Samba vulnerabilities addressed
-4 PHP security fixes
-Nginx security update
-Unraid API now rejects unsafe redirect URI schemes
-UPN security fix included

🛠 What's New in 7.4.0-Beta.3
-Mover now preserves hard links with progress tracking enabled
-Docker container templates support multiple custom networks
-Background operations from plugins, Docker, and VMs managed via shared task tray
-Plugin update checks now run independently — slow plugins no longer block the plugins page
-Hyper-V kernel support added: storage, dynamic memory, keyboard, and virtual socket modules
-Configurable power button: shut down, reboot, or do nothing
-File Manager copy/move operations fixed for symlink depth issues
-SHFS deadlock fix for concurrent file lock requests

🖥 45Homelab x Unraid X4 — New Signature Series Server
The X4 is a compact, quiet home lab system built straight from Unraid community feedback.
-Supports 4× 3.5" drives
-Intel Quick Sync for CPU transcoding
-SFX PSU, upgradeable to 650W with GPU
-13.5" × 5.7" × 11.7" footprint, ~23 lb with drives
Starting at $1,199 — Order Yours Now

🎮 App of the Month: Crafty
Host your own Minecraft server with full player management, scheduled backups, and Tailscale support — no port forwarding required. Includes a downloadable Unraid-themed world.

👕 Merch of the Month
The Proxy Pullover — built for those chilly server room nights and available in 13 colors.

What will you build with Unraid?
Get Started with Unraid in 15 minutes or less.

#Unraid #HomeServer #NAS #Selfhosted #Homelab #Linux #Docker #Minecraft #45Drives #SecurityUpdates

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.