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Pilfered Pallbearers
Aug 2, 2007

I’m honestly ok with it. It’s a great way to generate content where everyone wins.

Linus gets something he wants.
The channel gets easy content to milk.
Viewers get something interesting
Company gets advertising, may get lucky and a clip may go viral.

Kinda a win all around.

Edit: I’m rephrasing this to say as long as it’s made very clear it is sponsored content. Being deceptive about it or lying about faults makes it 100% a lovely thing to do.

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Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Pilfered Pallbearers posted:

I’m honestly ok with it. It’s a great way to generate content where everyone wins.

I'm kinda not ok with the whole deal as a general state of affairs, because for every Linus / LTT there will be 100s of MKBHDs and worse. LTT isn't the problem, but there's not a lot of space for people who can have a multi-million sub count and monetized underwear.

In fact, even LTT is not exactly wonderful despite not being IMO dishonest or anything. But the thing is, their gear review videos are almost exclusively about high-end expensive semi-sponsored poo poo these days. Not sponsored as in a paid ad, but getting free multi-K product where the company picks exactly what to give them. And the problem with that is the the average LTT video on hardware is "wow this is amazing" for 20 minutes followed by "but is it worth the price? probably not" in the last minute.

All reviewers get free poo poo, but the choice of what to review and how to present it is as important as anything else.

FilthyImp
Sep 30, 2002

Anime Deviant
The benefit of a 300k TV review (aside from being tonedeaf and largely useless) has to be how it'll look in 5 years when the tech is depreciated and you wonder what they did with it.

Combat Pretzel
Jun 23, 2004

No, seriously... what kurds?!

Klyith posted:

I'm kinda not ok with the whole deal as a general state of affairs, because for every Linus / LTT there will be 100s of MKBHDs and worse.
MKBHD meanwhile having an actual opinion about things, or are his "reviews" still just presentations?

Pilfered Pallbearers
Aug 2, 2007

Klyith posted:

I'm kinda not ok with the whole deal as a general state of affairs, because for every Linus / LTT there will be 100s of MKBHDs and worse. LTT isn't the problem, but there's not a lot of space for people who can have a multi-million sub count and monetized underwear.

In fact, even LTT is not exactly wonderful despite not being IMO dishonest or anything. But the thing is, their gear review videos are almost exclusively about high-end expensive semi-sponsored poo poo these days. Not sponsored as in a paid ad, but getting free multi-K product where the company picks exactly what to give them. And the problem with that is the the average LTT video on hardware is "wow this is amazing" for 20 minutes followed by "but is it worth the price? probably not" in the last minute.

All reviewers get free poo poo, but the choice of what to review and how to present it is as important as anything else.

I don’t think it’s fair to stay that LTT shouldn’t do content like that because lovely channels like MKBHD exist.

And LTT has decided the content they want to make is geared towards high end stuff. There’s plenty of review channels for mid range and low end stuff. There’s absolutely no reason LTT has to do low end if they don’t want to, as long as they’re honest like you’re saying they are (I don’t watch LTT).

Tuxedo Gin
May 21, 2003

Classy.

Pilfered Pallbearers posted:

I don’t think it’s fair to stay that LTT shouldn’t do content like that because lovely channels like MKBHD exist.

And LTT has decided the content they want to make is geared towards high end stuff. There’s plenty of review channels for mid range and low end stuff. There’s absolutely no reason LTT has to do low end if they don’t want to, as long as they’re honest like you’re saying they are (I don’t watch LTT).

Honestly, LTT not doing low and mid range stuff is a blessing because it leaves room in the market for smaller but quality channels that can't do the high end stuff and would be stomped by LTT's videos about low/mid stuff.

cage-free egghead
Mar 8, 2004

Combat Pretzel posted:

MKBHD meanwhile having an actual opinion about things, or are his "reviews" still just presentations?

Less opinions and more presentation and specs. I don't think he's bad, especially with how good his videos look. He just kinda shows it like it is which is fine. I'd watch it over channels like Unbox Therapy any day.

CoolCab
Apr 17, 2005

glem
who is MKBHD and what did he do :confused:

K8.0
Feb 26, 2004

Her Majesty's 56th Regiment of Foot
Marques Brownlee. If you want to see a true professional shill, check out his youtube channel. Also be disgusted at how much money he's making from people who would rather consume extra-manipulative ads than actual reviews.

njsykora
Jan 23, 2012

Robots confuse squirrels.


He’s the one who made a big thing over the iOS weather app not showing 69F, then people pointed out that was almost certainly because of how the app handles rounding and it’s raw data (the closest celsius equivalent converts to 69.8 which gets rounded up to 70) and not Apple being puritanical (this time).

Kia Soul Enthusias
May 9, 2004

zoom-zoom
Toilet Rascal
I've only watched two of his videos I can remember, "Reflecting on the color of my skin" (good watch, pro click, still has a bunch of dislike from racists, though the ratio is much better than when I saw it last year), and one called "Dope Tech" I believe.

On the Dope Tech he "reviewed" some Bluetooth speaker that had some absurd claim like >3000W, which is literally not possible out of a North American outlet. I also pointed this out in the iPhone thread and somebody said that I "don't understand how class D amplifiers work" and when I asked how, they said "it's not relevant to this thread". :lmao:

Like he seems nice and is probably a good guy (IDK for sure), just imagine it as entertainment rather than journalism.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Pilfered Pallbearers posted:

I don’t think it’s fair to stay that LTT shouldn’t do content like that because lovely channels like MKBHD exist.

And LTT has decided the content they want to make is geared towards high end stuff.

I didn't mean that he shouldn't, more that I super disagree that it's "everyone wins". LTT sometimes blurs the line between reviewers, informational content creator, and influencer.

They've gone with content featuring expensive stuff because it makes them money. The problem with a popular channel that exclusively revolves around high end stuff is that it ends up being an ad for high end stuff in general. You're not shilling a particular product or company, you're shilling the idea that spending a bunch of money is a good & normal thing to do.

CoolCab posted:

who is MKBHD and what did he do :confused:

Chill, very watchable solo tech youtuber reviews phones. Gets popular. Now does slick, far less chill youtubes about high-end phones & lambos.

It's not like he's totally unethical or anything, but he's definitely an example of someone who decided to be an influencer rather than a reviewer. His content depends on the corporations giving / loaning him product. And he makes bank.

Perplx
Jun 26, 2004


Best viewed on Orgasma Plasma
Lipstick Apathy
He one of the few youtubers that gets Apple stuff early and interviews Apple executives. You are not going to hear anything super negative from him.

CoolCab
Apr 17, 2005

glem
anyway, it bothers me a little bit from an objectivity perspective as outlined, i've talked ITT during previous uh, is it payola? scandals - it looks like everyone wins because you don't necessarily know the variables. that's the paradox of all advertising, it is a factor people shop on that is more or less entirely unrelated to the quality of the product. if i made a better mousetrap and my competitor pays a bunch of people in the mousetrapping community to big up their inferior product and ignore mine maybe my tech goes underutilized. the whole appeal of enthusiast independent reviews is in the name and sponsorships for sure blur it some, but it's not exactly new? and in particular - if you want good or big sponsorships you need to develop good interpersonal relationships with their marketing team and, in some way or another, align your goals. that can go a lot of ways.

personally though i find LTT makes entertaining content mostly but, in part due to the pandemic forcing Linus to work from home and shortages and in part because i very strongly suspect his net worth has gone up a few magnitudes in the last decade, they have for sure pivoted from scrapyard wars or 69 dollar gaming PC style content to more upmarket and luxury aspirational stuff. it's kind of neat watching them kit out a boat but i'm never going to own one and as such i'm only there to observe what's possible with enthusiast gear. i think the intel extreme upgrade was an attempt to course correct somewhat but the fact components are impossible to purchase is biting tech youtubers all over.

OhFunny
Jun 26, 2013

EXTREMELY PISSED AT THE DNC
Hard to do Scrapyard Wars or $69 PC build considering the current environment.

Also I enjoyed this horror video of non-tech Youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf dealing with Deal consumer service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR25BVBsuS0

OhFunny fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Jul 26, 2021

CBD Corndog
Jun 21, 2009



Klyith posted:

I didn't mean that he shouldn't, more that I super disagree that it's "everyone wins". LTT sometimes blurs the line between reviewers, informational content creator, and influencer.

They've gone with content featuring expensive stuff because it makes them money. The problem with a popular channel that exclusively revolves around high end stuff is that it ends up being an ad for high end stuff in general. You're not shilling a particular product or company, you're shilling the idea that spending a bunch of money is a good & normal thing to do.

Chill, very watchable solo tech youtuber reviews phones. Gets popular. Now does slick, far less chill youtubes about high-end phones & lambos.

It's not like he's totally unethical or anything, but he's definitely an example of someone who decided to be an influencer rather than a reviewer. His content depends on the corporations giving / loaning him product. And he makes bank.

Yeah this pretty much sums him up. Basically the dude version of iJustine

njsykora
Jan 23, 2012

Robots confuse squirrels.


SpicyPete posted:

Yeah this pretty much sums him up. Basically the dude version of iJustine

Isn't that Rene Ritchie?

repiv
Aug 13, 2009

Klyith posted:

Chill, very watchable solo tech youtuber reviews phones. Gets popular. Now does slick, far less chill youtubes about high-end phones & lambos.

MKBHDs channel has one of the most dramatic arcs I've seen, he went from here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gk_rl3y_SU

to having direct lines to Apple and Tesla lol

wargames
Mar 16, 2008

official yospos cat censor
pre production laptop gift/review but i like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rkTgPt3M4k

CoolCab
Apr 17, 2005

glem

wargames posted:

pre production laptop gift/review but i like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rkTgPt3M4k

neat concept and, as often is true, linus is best when he's talking about something he is genuinely enthusiastic about. the business student in me, however, does make me wonder if the twin concepts of "you know dumb patent things that prevent objectively superior design, like a magnetic charging cable clasp? you can just find some shady third party vendor willing to ignore the patent!" and "their business model will work because people will come back to them for upgrades!" are somewhat in conflict.

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

The founder of Framework is a former colleague of mine from Oculus, and I think his team is going to be able to find valuable components for people to buy from them. The AliExpress MagSafe thing isn’t Framework’s business plan, it’s just Linus freestyling.

The Illusive Man
Mar 27, 2008

~savior of yoomanity~

njsykora posted:

Isn't that Rene Ritchie?

Rene actually does pretty intelligent deep dives on Apple topics, but last I checked (a couple months ago) you could tell his videos were edging closer to clickbait. Lots of 'Apple rumor bombs!' videos with the 'YouTube thumbnail' face.

I know the Apple rumor reporter beat is a competitive one, but still kinda sad to see him go in that direction.

njsykora
Jan 23, 2012

Robots confuse squirrels.


Every one of those rumour bomb videos is also him reading a rumour article, occasionally saying "Apple might do this or they might not" then doing that annoying attempt to hide the segue into the sponsorship spot. I watched a bunch of his videos over a weekend and when you watch a lot of them one after another you really start to notice the pattern. Also you notice how much he's having to reach for something to talk about when there's a long gap between big product things, which because it's Apple is a lot of the time. If you're a podcast you can spend time talking about small iOS updates and minor additions to the various Apple services but you probably can't get enough views for it to be worth doing a video on improvements to multitasking in iPadOS.

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib

OhFunny posted:

Hard to do Scrapyard Wars or $69 PC build considering the current environment.

Also I enjoyed this horror video of non-tech Youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf dealing with Deal consumer service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR25BVBsuS0

This video is loving incredible

CoolCab
Apr 17, 2005

glem
it has a particularly strange sensation to knows exactly what is going on and watching in increasing horror. i want to scream at the screen lmao

FuturePastNow
May 19, 2014


It's a great demonstration of what happens when someone does zero research before spending a lot of money with a company whose support does nothing at all to help with that situation. When customer and store both do everything wrong

YerDa Zabam
Aug 13, 2016



Ifixit did a video of that laptop. They loved it, 10/10 unsurprisingly.
It does look great, I hope it's successful and makes it too Europe.

Perplx
Jun 26, 2004


Best viewed on Orgasma Plasma
Lipstick Apathy
Once they can prove they can ship in volume it seems like the no brainer recommended laptop for most people, but I worry about making people making entire laptops from aliexpress so they do all the design work but don't make enough money to survive.

K8.0
Feb 26, 2004

Her Majesty's 56th Regiment of Foot

OhFunny posted:

Also I enjoyed this horror video of non-tech Youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf dealing with Deal consumer service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR25BVBsuS0

I can't believe that anyone is legitimately that dumb. He has to have been hamming up his own stupidity for content from the get go. That said, "gently caress Dell!"™

gently caress OEMs in general. And to segue to the laptop thing, where you have no choice but to go with an OEM ... honestly I don't view it as a solution. I don't want some stupid "upgradeable" laptop gimmick, because fundamentally to be a good laptop it can't be particularly upgradeable. What I want is laptops that don't suck massive dick. Machines like the best of the Thinkpads, but targeted at wider markets. Give me competently designed hardware packages in a frame that can take abuse and keep working. That's what people actually need.

K8.0 fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Jul 27, 2021

wargames
Mar 16, 2008

official yospos cat censor

OhFunny posted:

Hard to do Scrapyard Wars or $69 PC build considering the current environment.

Also I enjoyed this horror video of non-tech Youtuber Super Eyepatch Wolf dealing with Deal consumer service:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR25BVBsuS0

Can confirm dell drivers are trash.

InfiniteZero
Sep 11, 2004

PINK GUITAR FIRE ROBOT

College Slice

K8.0 posted:

I can't believe that anyone is legitimately that dumb.

The first of many red flags is right at the start when he seems to believe that a Wifi connection is the only way to use the Internet.

CoolCab
Apr 17, 2005

glem
there is no way he found everything wrong either, HDDs would slow down a ton but i suspect that his problems encoding poo poo came at least in part from thermal issues. he never got it working well enough to notice, which i think is very much a dell thing.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

CoolCab posted:

there is no way he found everything wrong either, HDDs would slow down a ton but i suspect that his problems encoding poo poo came at least in part from thermal issues. he never got it working well enough to notice, which i think is very much a dell thing.

HD & above-HD video processing and encoding is bottlenecked by a HDD.

But the other thing is, that was a very expensive PC by home PC standards. But it was a workstation with a xeon & quadro. It's pretty cheap for a PC with those type of parts. The cheapest xeons are 1.9ghz / 6 cores, which is very likely a lot slower than a 5-year-old desktop with a good CPU. So no, it probably wasn't heat.

(The xeon has 6 memory channels, but he isn't doing anything that needs huge memory bandwidth. And he didn't have all the slots populated anyways. And it has a ton of PCIe lanes & specialized IO, which was also unnecessary and just made his like harder.)


Dell didn't gently caress anything up. A guy who wanted a porsche bought a tractor by accident, because he saw a sign "15,000 ft-lbs torque! $50,000" on it and figured that meant it must be a sports car.

Kullik
Jan 5, 2017

I watched that the other day because my partner likes that guy, his style is close to intolerable, the overdramatic narration and editing is really embarrassing.

cage-free egghead
Mar 8, 2004
I found it to be a good change of pace from everyone else. A bit dramatic sure but much more watchable than most YouTube.

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Klyith posted:

Dell didn't gently caress anything up.

Lmao. The weird nerds taking a bullet for elon musk meme but for loving Dell of all companies. Gotta defend Dell's dignity at all costs.

(Yes, Dell hosed up massively in multiple ways here)

njsykora
Jan 23, 2012

Robots confuse squirrels.


I saw a comment on a website yesterday (on an article about how Dell is stopping sales of PCs in some states because they can't meet efficiency regulations) saying GN Steve was expecting too much from the Aurora R10 because he bought a "low end" one and should've bought the top end $5k version if he wanted it to perform well. I have long since stopped being surprised what some people will defend in terms of corporations.

K8.0
Feb 26, 2004

Her Majesty's 56th Regiment of Foot
I don't think it's "defending corporations", it's defending themselves. You buy a Dell, you think it's good, you don't want to admit you were a dumbass who got completely ripped off.

Dell is completely dogshit and you shouldn't buy stuff from them. However, if the guy who made that video isn't hamming up how stupid he is, he's in the class of person that is so stupid that it's not possible to prevent them from finding new and inventive ways to gently caress themselves over, and that's just life.

Klyith
Aug 3, 2007

GBS Pledge Week

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

Lmao. The weird nerds taking a bullet for elon musk meme but for loving Dell of all companies. Gotta defend Dell's dignity at all costs.

(Yes, Dell hosed up massively in multiple ways here)

Ok, elaborate.

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Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Klyith posted:

Ok, elaborate.

Dell put in zero effort towards understanding the guy's needs or letting him make an informed decision, and they actively misled him on multiple occasions, all while heavily overcharging him for poo poo he doesn't need. He obviously made a lot of really dumb decisions as well, but Dell's customer support could've made the problem go away much sooner had they actually been halfway competent. And they could've prevented the problem entirely with a better online shopping experience that actually informs inexperienced purchasers about the nature of their products and what they're meant for.

The guy who made the video hosed up, but to act like Dell is a perfect company that literally does nothing wrong is just a baffling take. Like, there's nuance to this story beyond "one side is a massive fuckup and the other side literally did nothing wrong." Dell's inability to let customers make informed choices and their labyrinthine customer service system are legendary, and it seems bizarre to act like those didn't play any role here at all.

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