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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

I'll never understand how people go "just YouTube it". Sure, I'll sift through a bunch of search results to find a 54 minute video that makes the point you meant to reference 23 minutes in after four ads.

Just give someone an actual link, to an actual article. Like this: https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-secu...

> Despite claims of only using local storage with its security cameras, Eufy has been caught uploading identifiable footage to the cloud. And it’s even possible to view the camera streams using VLC.

(Personally, this means I won't buy an Eufy camera, and it doesn't change the fact that Anker's chargers have been far better made and reliable than their competitors in my experience.)

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Re: Anker chargers, a few perform pretty well but many are kind of middling. A friend has been doing a lot of reviews of these on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/AllThingsOnePlace) and we started compiling test data- focusing on power conversion metrics such as efficiency and power factor, summarized into a single "power quality score" on a 0-200 scale- in a database at https://pqs.app.

For example, for the Anker power adapters we've tested: https://pqs.app/devices?categoryId=1&search=anker. We're also trying to turn it into a business.

Middling is fine for me if it doesn’t fall apart or burn down my house. Quality encompasses more than just efficiency.

Do you test for protocol negotiation for USB C Power Delivery and proper Lightning or Thunderbolt support? I think for many uses that's more important than small electrical losses

We haven't done lightning/thunderbolt, but the Youtube reviews include the different USB-C power modes. We also look at some aspects of safety, such as when overcurrent protection in kicks in relative to the device rating, and if it automatically resets after tripping or requires power cycling.

I hear what you are saying. But, I KNOW that it’s the top result with the search criteria I suggested… there was no need to sift through anything so your comment is generalised at some other experience.

I’ve already spent a huge amount of my time on that story, being in direct talks with the security researcher before the story exploded - I even helped raise a lot of awareness. So excuse me if I wanted to just quickly mention a quick, no need to sift, route to the info.

(If you happen to see a car on the researchers Twitter running over a Eufy system - that was one of the many things I did for awareness lol).

> your comment is generalised at some other experience

No, it's aimed specifically at this one.

YouTube's search results vary from person to person. I don't know which video you want me to watch - Paul Moore's five minute one? Den of Tools' eight minute one? Byte of Geek's nine minute one? Something else?

At the very least, since you've got a video in mind, link to it, but text remains a way better medium for this sort of thing.

First one, Paul Moore.

Don’t get me wrong, I know your youtube probably looks different to mine as we probably have differing interests. But I didn’t know Youtube search results varied from person to person - this is news to me.

Results vary from person to person and probably depend on locale and language.

Even if they didn't saying "it's the top result for ____" STILL isn't helpful. Loads of people make videos designed to rank high for "in" topics. So if it's the top result today it's probably outranked tomorrow by a larger channel.

This has been happening fairly actively since at least 2020, its not just youtube, search results have many of the same issues, and its not a single device, its by person(profile).

They've linked many of your devices together so you will see the same consistent videos/results unless you compare with other people, at places that are not your home location.

> And it’s even possible to view the camera streams using VLC.

That sounds like RTSP to me, which makes the rest questionable.

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