Orchestera (https://orchestera.com/) - Fully managed Apache Spark clusters in your own AWS account with no additonal compute markups, unlike EMR and Databricks.

Currently implemented the following:

- Automated scale in / scale out of nodes for Spark executors and drivers via Karpenter

- Jupyter notebook integration that works as a Spark driver for quick iteration and prototyping

- A simple JSON based IAM permissions managementent via AWS Parameter Store

Work-in-progress this month:

- Jupyterhub based Spark notebook provisioning

- Spark History Server

- Spark History Server MCP support with chat interface to support Spark pipeline debugging and diagnostics

Open to feedback and connecting. Docs at https://docs.orchestera.com/

Question: Why aren't we seeing similar reports for Anthropic?

Lower profile and they're not making as many crazy deals but they're also losing incredible amounts of money.

I read somewhere (404 media? ) that they spent more on AWS than they got in revenue for 2025.

After getting $8bn in investment from Amazon... (as of nov 2024)

Amazon can buy them when it is time

Spent my 2025 building https://orchestera.com as a side project. The premise is simple - to give Data Engineers and Data Scientists the opportunity to spin up Apache Spark clusters on Amazon EKS without them needing to know all the infrastructure details, how Spark works on Kubernetes, auto-scaling etc.

The platform I am building allows users to launch Spark on Kubernetes in their own AWS account without adding any markup costs to the CPU/Memory on EC2 instances. For example, AWS EMR offering adds a 25% markup cost on top of the EC2 instance pricing. Databricks markup is even higher ranging anywhere from 30% to 100% markup.

To learn more, check out the docs for the project at https://docs.orchestera.com/

It's coming back according to Sam https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1mkae1l/gpt5_ama_w...

I second that. Home Assistant "just works". I have had it running on this cheap used HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Mini Desktop for more than 4 years now without a hiccup and barely any maintenance or hygeing work on it. Just sitting in my tv stand and doing it's work.

https://homeautomation.substack.com/p/setting-up-home-assist...

Curious, do you do HA updates automatically, manually regularly, or “manually once a year or so”?

Not who you asked, but I do it “manually once a year or so” on a HA instance in a container running on unraid. It sometimes causes problems. Recently HACS (not a built-in part of HA but useful to get some extensions) broke on a HA update and I had to spend more time that I would have liked figuring out how to fix it. It involved running shell commands inside the container. Definitely not for anyone who isn't a techie.

Manual, would do it once a month or so. Hasn't broken ever since I have been running HA. I run the full Haas OS btw.

It used to be pretty bad about breaking things but I don't think I've had anything really bad happen in the past .. 4 years that wasn't my fault.

Having a computer engineering background, what motivated you to become a pilot and switch careers?

I had always been interested in aviation, and I was fortunate that I was in the right place at the right time after graduation to join an airline on a sponsored "cadet scheme".

I still (hopefully evidently) very much love software/engineering, but I guess I chose the path of "professional pilot, hobbyist engineer" over the alternative of "professional engineer, hobbyist pilot".

>> chose the path of "professional pilot, hobbyist engineer" over the alternative of "professional engineer, hobbyist pilot"

Both pay well for a job, but as a hobby the costs are very different ;-)

I loved programming before doing it as a job. Now, I really can't be bothered to program outside of work.

At what age did you make this change?

I love medicine, researching diseases I hear about and learning about the body is hobby for me. I would love to get into it but I am almost 40.

> I would love to get into it but I am almost 40.

You're young! Saying that as a fellow almost-40.

I'm surprised how wide the acceptance age range is for BA's program (18-55). Is it common for people to transfer from unrelated careers? Nice to know that door isn't technically shut for a while!

Looking at your projects, seems like you still have the hacker going in you! Saw Home Assistant one! Kudos!

Love Home Assistant! I have a screen on my split flap display that shows aircraft flying overhead our house (at very high level) - all fed by home assistant and various HACS addons.

I have been super happy downloading the free adguard dns profile on my iphone and blocking ads across the entire spectrum. Makes reading on internet so much better. Here is the link if anyone is wondering.

https://adguard-dns.io/en/public-dns.html

Thanks for sharing, good advice!

That's also my question.

Canadian here who have been using Wise! Amazing product and experience.

Their website has some odd price comparisons.

Wise claims a debit transaction on a $1000 to $1000USD would cost $15.

That’s an incredibly high rate for a debit txn.

What do you mean by debit transaction? An international bank transfer? There are many layers of fees that often get charged by banks: - You don't get the market rate - There's a percentage fee on the exchange - There's a fee to send abroad for the sender - There's a fee to receive from abroad for the receiver Not all charges necessarily apply but they often enough do. Try it out and you'll see.

Seems right. https://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsystems/regii-average-...

Many consumers prefer durbin-exempt cards since they have more favorable terms. Average fee on durbin-exempt cards is 1.41%, and they are 38% of transactions.

Average fee on covered cards is 0.45%, and they are 62% of transactions.

Seems reasonable to me that Wise wants to make a profit on every single transaction. Probably would have issues with abuse from 1% debit cashback cards otherwise.

I also have Nextcloud running on docker using linuxserver.io image and the upgrade process is a breeze. I usually upgrade by running watchtower once a month to update my docker images.