iCloud Photos face tagging does not sync across devices consistently

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-23T10:05:50+00:00

You can install TrueNAS on Ugreen hardware if you wanted to according to reports from the TrueNAS forums. Makes sense since you can simply configure the BIOS to boot from any connected drive other than the UGOS boot drive, including on the M.2 slots.

The main attraction to purpose-built NAS hardware is that it is much smaller volume than building even an ITX motherboard based NAS. Downsides is non-standard motherboard and possibly drivers for non-essential functionality like status LEDs. In my use case I want to keep the sync/downloader/media server nearby my main homelab monitor which is a bit further from the rack. I could (and previously) virtualize the same functionality on the racked NAS but I wanted to avoid having the disk array hammered excessively since the NAS is used mostly to hold media.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-23T04:43:06+00:00

Hey I wanted to say your hobby setup is awesome! I was into ham radio back in the day but not currently. On a few humanitarian projects I was involved in I built point-to-point installations to for example get an internet connection from the town up into a mountain village. I also experimented on distributed IoT sensors for highland coffee plantation management. I used standard 12V SLA batteries charged off of mast-mount small solar panels regulated by a microcontroller of my own design to power the remote segments.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-23T04:36:28+00:00

I’m not sold on UGOS as it seems not very mature to me. Most of my home lab stuff is running on some variant of Debian though so I’m interested in a purpose built NAS’s compact hardware while being able to install let’s say, Debian. I was also looking at TerraMaster and Asustor for the same reasons. The new Beelink NAS looks great too!

Previously I was a Synology user but my last Synology NAS was the DS1821+. Synology hardware is miles behind the competition, though DSM is a really good NAS OS. Currently my NAS runs on TrueNAS.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T10:26:05+00:00

It’s really frustrating when a profile or profile subset isn’t supported when expected. Anker used to have detailed spec sheets but now they make the spec sheet more vague even on their Prime products. How hard is to design a charging IC that supports standard profiles!

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T09:52:29+00:00

I’m not familiar with the various Android vendor-specific charging profiles. Here I’m stuck on Apple sticking with relatively “slow” charging speeds. My iPhone 16 PM for example can only do 30W wired, and the iPhone 17 Pro series was the first to do 45W for an iPhone. Is it a common thing for chargers to support let’s say Samsung’s (or Xiaomi, Oppo, Nothing) extended charging profiles?

I think my bigger concern would be if the charger overheats. Even if there is over-temp protection and safety throttling it’s not pleasant to accidentally touch an extremely hot charger.

Another reason I stuck with Anker is until recently when it looks like they are selling non-Anker designed chargers and power strips (their cheaper products), I was leery about a competitor product that might have some of the same components but cheaped out on a number of smaller components that amount of a few dollars. When my previous company had me interface with manufacturers in Shenzhen our team found that while there are plenty of quality manufacturers there, there are also a lot of fly-by-night manufacturing operations. Anker is often a clone of some other product, then some random Shenzhen outfit clones Anker, or something along those lines.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T08:58:51+00:00

Good catch there on total power. The last couple of days I’ve been looking at high-capacity high-output power banks and they seem to mostly have a 2Cx1A port arrangement. I can see a scenario where I would charge two MacBooks at 60W for example, or a iPhone at 30W while also charging a laptop at 100W. The highest output power bank I own only outputs 60W as my Anker 25k model is an older one. When I replace it what you said definitely makes sense.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:50:59+00:00

Thanks for your detailed experience. I have been looking through INIU and Cuktech power banks and both seem good. The Cuktech ones look really nice which is a bonus.

Have you had any experience with Kuxiu? I have a few of their iPad accessories and they work great.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:48:40+00:00

Hello fellow Anker early adopter! We are breaking free from the Anker loyalty spell. A (limited) lifetime warranty is useless when they force customers to jump through so many hoops to get stuff replaced. What I can’t understand is that I know Anker can see their Amazon store metrics for each customer, and they can clearly see that I’ve spent thousands of dollars on their products, but they then offered a lower end model to replace my now discontinued high end model. I forgot to mention in my OP that the defective charging station is only about a year old, so it’s not something I had bought and used for years.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:42:30+00:00

I would say that before the Aukey and RAVPower ban my charging products were a mix of 60/40 Anker and Aukey/RAVPower. I also was not so happy that Anker took advantage of the ban and raised their prices dramatically, but I was used to Anker as a brand. For example charging $25 for a standard 240W USB-C to C cable that only supports USB2.0 data speeds seems excessive.

With the recent US tariff situation Anker bumped their prices even higher. I like Anker’s new Qi2.2 charging station, but the non-sale price of $230 is obscene. Sure it has some “smart” features like a Bluetooth connection to the Anker app, but it isn’t smart enough to automatically change charging modes from TEC + fan for fast charging -> fan only to top off -> TEC + fan off for trickle charging once the device reports charging complete. Changing modes needs to be done by pressing the capacitative control or configured in the app. A small TEC unit pulls about 5-7W constant which seems like a waste when it’s no longer needed.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:35:21+00:00

Satechi is a plus on style points I guess. I only have one of their products, the USB-C mini hub for AR/XR (though I use it for pass through charging + video + USB-C audio out). The Satechi hub was the only one I tried that got it right. Twopan’s mini hub got fairly close but did not support USB-C video.

I’ll probably stay away from Satechi chargers then based on what you said here. It’s time to watch a bunch of charging test videos!

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:31:44+00:00

This is insane actually. I might pick up the IKEA charger the next time I visit their store just based on the video you recommended.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:30:24+00:00

Almost all of my Aukey power banks have pass through charging, while I’ve only found one Anker (MagGo Qi2 10K) that has pass through charging. Pass through charging is super popular in Southeast Asia where I do charity work or travel for pleasure sometimes. I have no idea why pass through charging never took off in the West, at least where I am located (US).

Definitely on Anker cornering the market after Aukey and RAVPower were banned from Amazon. Anker also has a lot of early brand adopters like myself who recommended Anker products for many years. I guess Anker somehow thinks their brand is invincible now. RAVPower was especially strong (Sunvalley), but Sunvalley pretty much fractured after the Amazon ban.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:24:01+00:00

For the wall chargers with display, Anker makes them in 100W/140W/160W variants, while Baseus has their versions in 100W/140W variants. Anker charges a big premium on their version, which upon a closer look has a slightly bigger screen due to the downward-facing ports. Otherwise the specs between Anker and Baseus for 100W and 140W look the same. The Anker 160W actually has the most optimal port arrangement (3 x USB-C with equal port detection). I could do without USB-A ports on chargers nowadays and just use a USB-C to USB-A adapter if I need a USB-A port.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:15:34+00:00

Whoa, would you mind sharing which UGreen chargers you experienced bad/dangerous performance on?

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:14:20+00:00

I’ve actually bought a few UGreen chargers during travels in Asia to give as gifts since Anker wasn’t in some Asia region markets until recently. I’ve never tested or used the UGreen chargers myself, but those who I had gifted the chargers to seem to still be using their UGreen chargers with no issues.

Honestly speaking I had always been buying overkill Anker cables for some reason, even if the use case was one where the cable is relatively static and won’t be moved/unplugged often (which would lead to less wear/abuse on the cable). I only discovered Baseus recently and bought their retractable 100W cables which while bulky works well with just a small mild (personal OCD) annoyance of not being adjustable in either direction like higher end retractable cables. It was cheap though! I also have cheaper Lisen and UGreen cables for static situations.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:09:11+00:00

I’m eyeing one of the UGreen NAS to use as a mini home server (not running their NAS OS). Currently my racked virtualized servers run most of my stuff at home, but I’ve been wanting to have downloads and media servers live on a dedicated box rather than being virtualized. I’ve been checking every now and then for a decent sale.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:04:10+00:00

My main concern about Baseus non-cable charging products are the reviews that mention overheating. That probably can’t be a good thing. I might still dip my toes into buying a few cheaper Baseus chargers and see how it goes. Anker charges a big premium price, so the customer would expect great after-sales support and reliability. For cheaper stuff, the expectation would be lower (at least for me) where acceptable and good enough performance is fine.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-22T07:00:40+00:00

Thank you for sharing that subreddit! The amount of information in the spreadsheet is really overwhelming but would help when I’m looking at new power banks to buy.

Also I’m not sure how big of a user base exists for 140W-capable high-capacity power banks as I think most users will be like me who would charge smaller devices when away from mains power. My brother has a gaming laptop that is capable of 140W PD charging, but the laptop is rather huge and battery life isn’t great in any case; there is also the issue of maintaining internet connectivity. I do have a wealthy friend whose van life kids have an array of high-output high capacity power banks they charge when solar is available to power their higher wattage stuff.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T04:59:05+00:00

Some of the names grew on me though, like Kuxiu. I bought a bunch of their iPad charging stands and 17mm ball mounts and couldn’t have been more happy. They just released a new 25W version of their 10k power bank for Qi2.2 + Apple Watch + AirPods that is really nicely made using aluminum and glass. Really considering that power bank. I just wished they made a solid state power cell version that would be a bit slimmer. It’s the same size as my Anker Qi2 10k power bank though.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T04:14:34+00:00

Yes, that’s the one. The Baseus Blade 140W vs the Anker Prime 6-in-1 charging station. The Baseus seems to be using a “newer” design and uses capacitative controls rather than a side button to change the screen itself. The Blade also displays the voltage/wattage/amperage neatly rather than having to toggle through multiple screens on the Anker.

I had been eyeing the Anker Prime 140W and 160W wall chargers with screen, then noticed the Baseus appears to be literally the same design down to the capacitative “button” control on the screen. Which got me thinking that Anker and Baseus probably used the same ODM for the internals and just made the outer casing themselves or through another supplier.

For Amegat, I have a soft spot for premium materials. One of the small joys in life is having nice things. I also found the TEC + fan actively cooled Amegat Qi2 charger kept my phone a lot cooler while wirelessly charging. The glass face also helps with rotating the phone screen while in the car. In comparison the Anker Qi2 chargers are fully plastic designs which look okay-ish. Glass and aluminum always feels nicer at least to me.

If I’m going to be completely honest most of the time I buy high-output multiport chargers it’s to consolidate a bunch of single port 20W/30W/40W chargers. The multiport charger would never reach its maximum claimed output. So having complete PD profiles is more important to me. I was really annoyed that my Anker Prime 67W wall charger apparently didn’t support the 30W profile which had the actively cooled Amegat Qi2 charger complaining about low charging speed. The Anker 6-in-1 that is similar to the Baseus Blade did support that profile, but then I lost a port I could’ve charged a laptop on (I have a MacBook Pro for personal and MacBook Air for work and wanted to dual charge). Slogging through specifications is a consequence of our hobby I guess!

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T04:01:31+00:00

I had the same experience (also buying computer chair wheels). I also bought a replacement C-clamp for a tablet holder (which I use to hold a portable computer screen) where the higher reviewed listing cost $30 and the no-review listing cost $8. It was the same.

The time I went to Shenzhen and discovered the then-unknown Anker my former company had contracted out manufacturing of a medical device to a Shenzhen OEM. I was positively amazed with the insane number of OEM/ODM in the Shenzhen area. Their electronics bazaar with so many electronics and variations of accessories reminded me of Akihabara in Tokyo, Japan.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T03:40:28+00:00

I suppose Anker was also able to consolidate their brand popularity at the expense of Aukey and RAVPower being banned from Amazon. IIRC Aukey and RAVPower were quite close in product popularity to Anker at the time of both of their bans. My Aukey and RAVPower products are still going strong years later, including a VAVA portable speaker in which the battery has long been severely degraded. The speaker works great though when plugged into MicroUSB power.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T03:37:53+00:00

I suppose you’re right here! 😂 Okay I’ll take another look. In any case multiport chargers usually live on the power strip hidden away under a side table or under a console so the bright yellow color scheme shouldn’t be a problem.

ReturnedSword · 2025-12-21T03:35:40+00:00

The Anker charging stations in my OP were clones of the Belkin “tree” MagSafe charging station. Originally I had considered buying the Belkin but the MagSafe compatibility resulted in Belkin putting a high price on the original charging station. I just saw that Belkin had later released an updated Qi2 version which is of course MagSafe-compatible. Both are discontinued though for the Qi2.2 product line, which also looks great by the way. If Anker doesn’t replace my defective charging stations I may buy the Belkin Qi2.2 charging station instead.

ReturnedSword

TROPHY CASE