Weekly Journal 160 - AWS Migration, Backups, Cloud

AWS Migration & Backups

In my quest to migrate off of AWS for my personal needs, the first project is to find a new place for my cloud backups. One of my over-arching goals for my homelab is to balance the complexity vs. the cost of the hardware, software, and services I use. IN this case, “complexity” is linked to the number of cloud service vendors I have to deal with. Based on my research, I could save a bit on costs by using a dedicated S3-compatible backup storage service like Wasabi or Backblaze Cloud Storage instead of using the object storage from a more general cloud service provider like DigitalOcean or Linode. I’m debating whether the savings is worth the additional complexity of having an additional vendor to keep track of. I have other things in AWS that will require more general cloud services, so I will have to choose a general cloud services provider regardless. To add another issue to the mix, the backup software I currently use, MSP360, has support for Wasabi and Backblaze but it doesn’t work with either DigitalOcean’s or Linode’s S3-compatible object storage so I would have to find new backup software too.

Mac Conversion

My employer has standardized on Apple hardware for most roles in the company, including engineering. I’ve had a Windows machine for the past two years that was grandfathered in when the original company was acquired, but that has recently been replaced with an M1 MacBook. This is the first Mac I’ve used since System 7 was a thing, so now I’m struggling to unlearn 30+ years of muscle memory built up around Windows and Linux keyboard shortcuts. I suppose I’ll get used to it in time, but right now I am not a fan.

AI Bias and Agendas

Google’s Gemini AI was involved in controversy recently for generating images for historical figures that didn’t make any sense. Some of the more egregious examples include images of Black Vikings and a female Pope. This is a stark reminder that any closed source and proprietary AI system will embody the biases, both implicit and explicit, of its creators. I would caution against putting a lot of trust into these AI systems. If you don’t think companies like Google, OpenAI, and Tesla aren’t going to build their own biases and agendas into their AI products, I would think again.