Linus Gabriel Sebastian & Linus Media Group / Linus Tech Tips - Narcissistic corporate shill YouTuber driving his media empire into the ground. KILL COUNT: 2

[Kees H]

I just think he never understood how tape drives are supposed to be used from watching his videos about it. It's still around because it's one of the most cost effective and reliable ways to archive fuckloads of data, but watching his video's it looks like he just does not understand the concept of archival storage/backups.

That's the thing with this fucktard, he has a basic grasp of whatever the fuck he's talking about, but for a tech autist like me I get annoyed by him really not understanding what he's talking about most of the time. I get that for the less nerdy folks his videos might be useful, but as a nerd I just get annoyed that this guy just has a surface level knowledge of most things.

 

[SilenceIsViolence]

I don't hate Linus the way some here seem to. But then I also don't watch his videos very often. What I do watch from time to time is Level 1 Techs. Both their news round up and Wendell's various project videos. Reason I mention it is because he just did a NAS build video (legitimately interesting btw, not some generic How To) and it struck me that in some ways he's the complete opposite of Linus. Specifically Linus will slip with a screwdriver and make a big moment out of it... and Wendell says "this PCI network card wouldn't quite fit in the case so here's me cutting a bit of it off with a bandsaw" like it's a natural thing to do. Which for Wendell, tbh, it kind of is.

I've come to love Wendell's inept but sincere attempts at humour. Like watching a bear trying to change a fuse. Compared to Linus's slicker and more fake humour.

Anyway, was just watching the NAS video and the contrast was so striking it made me want to post.

Spoiler

It's not really the point of the post but fwiw, this is the video:

Linus is the Guy Fieri of tech. Get's a lot of hate (some deserved for their overwhelming cringe), acts like they know everything but are really only a few steps above 101, and both have rabid fanbases of aylogs and stans. But also, both of them are very good hosts - whenever Linus puts one of his other staff in front of the camera, the difference in charisma and comfort between Linus and them is night and day.

Overall, I think he's a halfway decent guy and while I disagree with a lot of his takes and think people worship him far more than he deserves, I think the aylogs are a little over the top with their hatred of him. Plus, whether he's the most knowledgeable or not, you can tell he really does love tech and he's incredibly passionate for what he covers. If you want detailed tech information, there's better channels, but LTT is as close to Attack of the Show as we can get in the 2023 age.

 

[Soggy paper straw]

That's the thing with this fucktard, he has a basic grasp of whatever the fuck he's talking about, but for a tech autist like me I get annoyed by him really not understanding what he's talking about most of the time. I get that for the less nerdy folks his videos might be useful,

As someone who is interested in nerdy stuff enough to watch youtube videos about it, but not enough to really learn about it to do it myself - no, he is the opposite of helpful. I never watched his videos to "learn", he is solidly in the "zero brain power needed" category of stuff to watch.
I would be surprised anyone learned enough from him to do something from start to end.
I feel I could build a computer after watching his videos, but I would still need to read the manual or watch other youtube videos... of someone who can actually teach.

He is so popular because he entertains rather than does detailed tutorials. However, he seems unable to give up the idea that he is not giving any "tech tips", and instead people just watch him to do whacky stuff

 

[Pee Cola]

However, he seems unable to give up the idea that he is not giving any "tech tips", and instead people just watch him to do whacky stuff

Watching Linus for tech tips is like watching Married At First Sight for relationship advice.

 

[mandatorylurk]

Over five hours of bullshit, going from two to three hours can be good and make fans feel like they're getting more, but I've heard two view vtubers be more interesting with 30 viewers in chat compared to the later hours of this show in recent weeks. With any luck they'll actually drop a real hard R or announce one of their members is a tranny to compete with Mr. Beast and it will make people tune out, even doing honeydo's this shit isn't good background noise.

-13:30 Dennis interrupts the show to do an impromptu taste test of french fries from various fast food chains as well as "Uncle Linus' Potatoes." This goes horribly because Dennis doesn't explain it well and you can see Linus doesn't find it cute or that interesting of a challenge and it doesn't seem like this WAN show writer knew about it either, which I have to agree, I wonder if Dennis will last the year at this point, he just doesn't have a real purpose and he's now without an outlet to really be the employee shitposter.
-27:00 it's explained the Tech Linked channel got removed last week because they still kept the Elon crypto video on the channel but privated it just as a reminder of what happened, so when Youtube did a big sweep of channel content and found it still there they flagged the channel and deleted it but it has been put back.
-46:00 Luke destroyed the SSD that was the infection point for the hack Office Space style, they're still going to use the motherboard it was one which at this point, just destroy everything that was a part of it. for the next 20 minutes it's a decent bit to listen to, again Luke wondering what the fuck the company has been doing with regards to office computers and a lack of workstations and overspec'd computers with ridiculous motherboard prices they paid (Linus said they got a deal from ASUS), while one of his Floatplane workers used a Steam Deck to work on. Luke was also upset that whoever was setting up the computers did not disable the Windows 11 updater, as his office computer updated to Windows 11 while he was trying to have a meeting first thing in the morning. But hey, Jake gets to make funny things at Linus' house and call his wi-fi stinky poopoo or something gay, that's totally a worthwhile tradeoff to be a cool kid!
-1:27:00 Star Forge did a parody of Linus' review of their computers, only with the LTT screwdriver. The two watch it and a few minutes into it (1:32:05), Linus realizes he might come across as a dismissive cunt when that same attitude is used in the parody. Luke agrees.
-2:44:30 is the origin of Luke being called "Slick" if you care from the old NXT days
-2:55:50 someone messages why LTT reuses thumbnails, evidence is provided, Linus plays it off that "Mr. Beast uses the same picture a lot so it's ok." But you have a dedicated thumbnail maker, Linus, that's the difference. Or stop using the soyface for "muh algorithm"
-3:23:00 they start "WAN Show after dark", where the lights are dimmed and it's a bunch of merch messages. this should have been when the show ended, but retarded leafs keep being retarded.

 

[WelperHelper99]

2:55:50 someone messages why LTT reuses thumbnails, evidence is provided, Linus plays it off that "Mr. Beast uses the same picture a lot so it's ok." But you have a dedicated thumbnail maker, Linus, that's the difference. Or stop using the soyface for "muh algorithm"

Reusing thumbnails is a sin, especially as a tech channel. It looks tacky, even if it's effective. If you got 100+ employees, surely you can make unique, non faggy thumbnails

 

[jalopy]

and God forbid one of those pipes break and drains your pool into your basement and fries every piece of electrical equipment down there.

Wait, he's not going to use a heat exchanger? wtf, imagine running chlorine through a water cooling loop.
Not gonna lie though, I like the idea of heating a pool with a server rack or two, but I feel like it would have to be running a hypervisor capable of switching resources from task to task to maintain peak power usage. Run a tiered system where if you want to stream a game or movie is first, compiling/encoding second, folding at home third, and coin mining last.
A single 40u rack can easily pull over 12kw which could be moved to a pool. Unsure margin on coin mining nowadays but it means the waste heat is now usable.
Not sure what that would give you in terms of heating or extended season but it would be hilarious if someone built a home datacenter as a pool heater and used the excess time on the CPU to mine Monero.

-2:55:50 someone messages why LTT reuses thumbnails, evidence is provided, Linus plays it off that "Mr. Beast uses the same picture a lot so it's ok." But you have a dedicated thumbnail maker, Linus, that's the difference. Or stop using the soyface for "muh algorithm"

Reusing thumbnails is a sin, especially as a tech channel. It looks tacky, even if it's effective. If you got 100+ employees, surely you can make unique, non faggy thumbnails

What gets me is the shitty titles, though the over sharpened soyface is as disconcerting as always. Every once in a while they cover something useful, like the recent coverage of a Windows 98 emulator which was useful for a project I'm working on.
Actual title and thumbnail:

Looking at this I have no way to know it's an emulator asides from the last two letters in the name of the application. You can't put that in the thumbnail?
For all I know they used some version of GRUB to boot into Windows 98, which is nigh on useless to anyone without a dedicated retro box, in which case just buy ancient hardware on the cheap and be done with it.

 

[Soggy paper straw]

-46:00 Luke destroyed the SSD that was the infection point for the hack Office Space style, they're still going to use the motherboard it was one which at this point, just destroy everything that was a part of it. for the next 20 minutes it's a decent bit to listen to, again Luke wondering what the fuck the company has been doing with regards to office computers and a lack of workstations and overspec'd computers with ridiculous motherboard prices they paid (Linus said they got a deal from ASUS), while one of his Floatplane workers used a Steam Deck to work on. Luke was also upset that whoever was setting up the computers did not disable the Windows 11 updater, as his office computer updated to Windows 11 while he was trying to have a meeting first thing in the morning. But hey, Jake gets to make funny things at Linus' house and call his wi-fi stinky poopoo or something gay, that's totally a worthwhile tradeoff to be a cool kid!

Linus actually laughs about it. He seems genuine to me. He justifies wasting a lot of money. If they have 100 staff, that is 600*100 = $60 000 only in motherboards.
So, would the total PC + monitor be about 2000-3000? For about 2500 * 100 = 250 000 CAD. That is not an insignificant sum. Also, I would bet that he doesn't track licences and there are people with licences to things they don't need. Now these issues are not just for 1-2 employs, they scale up.

announce one of their members is a tranny

I WANT Linus to get into the trans debate! After his tweets on racial mixing, I am ready to "LTT says trans rights" campaign, with Dylan Mulvaney getting a server or ROG build.
C'mon Linus, give us a PC build for Pride day, or one of the many trans day of something, with the shit new LGBTQPIA2P+ flag! Do it Linus!

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

Also, I would bet that he doesn't track licences and there are people with licences to things they don't need. Now these issues are not just for 1-2 employs, they scale up.

I'd bet $20 that his issue is more in the other direction, he buys 1-2 licenses for a software to get the installer, then pays a fortune come contract time when they need to true up. More and more platforms are becoming more than happy to let your organization use more active seats than it has, as long as they can track it and charge it back at an increased 'off-agreement' rate.

 

[Kheapathic]

Wait, he's not going to use a heat exchanger? wtf, imagine running chlorine through a water cooling loop.
Not gonna lie though, I like the idea of heating a pool with a server rack or two, but I feel like it would have to be running a hypervisor capable of switching resources from task to task to maintain peak power usage. Run a tiered system where if you want to stream a game or movie is first, compiling/encoding second, folding at home third, and coin mining last.

I don't remember what video; but if I'm remembering correctly, his server stack is being cooled via liquid cooling that's integrated into the pool.

A single 40u rack can easily pull over 12kw which could be moved to a pool. Unsure margin on coin mining nowadays but it means the waste heat is now usable.
Not sure what that would give you in terms of heating or extended season but it would be hilarious if someone built a home datacenter as a pool heater and used the excess time on the CPU to mine Monero.

I know a server can generate a lot of heat; but using it to warm a pool that's outside and with a less than super efficient transfer method is what makes me question the entire thing. Sure the heat needs to go somewhere, and you want your pool to be warmed; but combining those two don't come off as something to tie into one another.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

I know a server can generate a lot of heat; but using it to warm a pool that's outside and with a less than super efficient transfer method is what makes me question the entire thing. Sure the heat needs to go somewhere, and you want your pool to be warmed; but combining those two don't come off as something to tie into one another.

There's "efficiency" and "efficacy". It might be efficient to use waste heat to warm your pool, but is it actually worth the cost in doing so?

A lot of "smart" engineering/tech types get hung up chasing the former while completely missing the latter. See: buying extremely expensive hvac, fancy ways of utilizing waste heat, using electricity for heating, etc.

 

[Chongqing]

What I hate about Linus is that it seems like he's incapable of imagining what it's like to be someone in his audience.

Recently he did a great video reviewing a strange laptop he got on Aliexpress. It's some no name Chinese brand, but the design was unique. You'd pull a pen out of the side of it and put it on the top of the screen, where the webcam goes. The pen contained a webcam and would snap in place with a magnet. I've never seen anything like that, and I thought it was cool because I can't risk $600 on a mysterious foreign laptop. A rich YouTuber can, and I appreciate that.

Since all the world's computers are made in East Asia, why not do a lot more of that? Be like CES, except for the mysterious tech that's currently available overseas. It would be cost effective and fun for the viewers.

Instead, his current direction reminds me of the British show Top Gear. The banter between the show's three hosts is what made it work, but then it seems like they got the idea that it's the expensive "super cars" they review that made people watch the show. So, every episode, a million dollar car. Showing us exactly how the million dollar car works. What kind of wood grain it has, what kind of leather, its lap time, everything.

I would watch Top Gear and think, "I'll never even be around a car this expensive in my lifetime, let alone sit in one or drive one. This is completely uninteresting."

Now, I feel like Linus does the same thing. He shows off his $10k color wheel, his super expensive servers and other equipment. He's a full on snob, shunning anything that isn't the latest gen with top specs.

The worst part is, he thinks it's working. He thinks this is what we want.

Top Gear fell apart after they didn't pay their hosts enough money, which is ironic considering the probable cost of all the cars the show purchased or rented. I could see LTT falling apart in a similar way, focusing on expensive things that aren't mission-critical.

Sometimes I think about what Linus would say about my PC, which is basically the kind or thing you could buy at a thrift store but several years out of date. I imagine he wouldn't be like, "Oh, it's ok, you can still game on this. Let's find a list of games that works with your hardware." I imagine he would scoff and imply I'm some sort of a failure of a person for having hardware so out of date. That, for some reason, is annoying.

 

[Nabeshin]

Luke destroyed the SSD that was the infection point for the hack Office Space style, they're still going to use the motherboard it was one which at this point, just destroy everything that was a part of it.

That's a very dumb to do, that won't fix their bad IT department, the point of failure was an e-mail that someone sent to them, not some kind of complex social engineering hack.

Luke was also upset that whoever was setting up the computers did not disable the Windows 11 updater, as his office computer updated to Windows 11 while he was trying to have a meeting first thing in the morning.

And this is how you get hacked by exploits that was patched 2 years ago.

 

[jalopy]

Luke wondering what the fuck the company has been doing with regards to office computers and a lack of workstations and overspec'd computers with ridiculous motherboard prices they paid

I could get doing custom workstations with over the top boards if there was a feature that marked it out. Say IPMI or built in 10gig keeping your PCI-E lanes open for whatever reason. But you don't do a bunch of one offs, pick classes of components you need and a cheap, easy to work with case. It would require hiring someone to look after them but from that:

Luke was also upset that whoever was setting up the computers did not disable the Windows 11 updater

Are these morons not on a LTSC version of Windows 10? They have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in a work flow and they can't be fucked to lock in the OS? Just miserable

I know a server can generate a lot of heat; but using it to warm a pool that's outside and with a less than super efficient transfer method is what makes me question the entire thing. Sure the heat needs to go somewhere, and you want your pool to be warmed; but combining those two don't come off as something to tie into one another.

There's "efficiency" and "efficacy". It might be efficient to use waste heat to warm your pool, but is it actually worth the cost in doing so?

I can't risk $600 on a mysterious foreign laptop. A rich YouTuber can, and I appreciate that.

I think all these go together. As a concept it probably doesn't have a ton of efficacy outside of a data center attached to a biodome in the Artic or some other absurd application. It just seems like if someone were to try it should be someone who can make money on it entertaining people while doing it even if it doesn't work.

The problem comes when the "entertainment" is some blundering fat not knowing how to do it properly edited down to the best fifteen minutes. A painful fifteen minutes. In the end the problem is that LTT isn't making entertaining content from their position on high, but shitty installation derp videos with fart jokes.

The banter between the show's three hosts is what made it work, but then it seems like they got the idea that it's the expensive "super cars" they review that made people watch the show. So, every episode, a million dollar car. Showing us exactly how the million dollar car works. What kind of wood grain it has, what kind of leather, its lap time, everything.

I would watch Top Gear and think, "I'll never even be around a car this expensive in my lifetime, let alone sit in one or drive one. This is completely uninteresting."

Off topic, but I think some of the super car stuff worked when it was very personality driven and the editing worked with it.
If they were just reading off the journo fact sheet like "Oh wow, this many cows of leather for one car Hammock!" its just gets stale quick.

Best content they ever made was buying cheap cars in wherever and doing stuff with them, Africa really sticks out. Especially Hammond's Opel

Your right about the personality part 100% Luke is the only one that can work with Linus in a consistently entertaining way. All the others are trash

 

[KingFrampt]

This thumbnail made me feel physically sick

 

[Kheapathic]

That's a very dumb to do, that won't fix their bad IT department,

I had to go look, looks like he filled that Administrator role they had listed. My only question is how much is Linus gonna tie the dude's hands behind his back in the name of content or other wanting to do shit his way (and he's the boss). Because if the person they hired is competent and wants to enforce positive change, the moment it prevents someone in a high enough position from having an easy time, you know management is gonna put their finger on the scale.

 

[Wodanaz]

Plus, whether he's the most knowledgeable or not, you can tell he really does love tech and he's incredibly passionate for what he covers.

I can tell he's incredibly passionate about his hatred for whites because of his tweets about george floyd and the benefits of race mixing. His tweets don't make him money. He puts on the happy boisterous persona for youtube because it is appealing to children who search about tech, and therefore it is appealing to advertisers. I can tell Steve from gamers nexus is incredibly passionate for what he covers becssue 1) He does actual journalism and 2) Nobody but the most autistic motherfucker could benchmark GPUs over and over again without going insane, paycheck or not.
If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

 

[SilenceIsViolence]

I can tell he's incredibly passionate about his hatred for whites because of his tweets about george floyd and the benefits of race mixing. His tweets don't make him money.

Yes.

He puts on the happy boisterous persona for youtube because it is appealing to children who search about tech, and therefore it is appealing to advertisers.

It's no more of an 'act' than the persona any host-type puts on while running a show. The dude has been a PC enthusiast for literally decades. Regardless if he's proficient I don't think you can call his interest in the techsphere ungenuine.

I can tell Steve from gamers nexus is incredibly passionate for what he covers becssue 1) He does actual journalism and 2) Nobody but the most autistic motherfucker could benchmark GPUs over and over again without going insane, paycheck or not.
If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

I find Steve insufferable but no doubt his content is leagues better in terms of technical details. I'd argue they have different demographics - LTT is trying to be the next Consumer Electronics magazine while GN is appealing to autistic nerds who want to debate the benefits of underclocking a cpu. Comparing them is like comparing a reality tv cooking show like Chopped to an actual PBS cooking show. If I want a recipe, I'll consult Julia Child, if I want to zone out, I'll throw on Chopped.

 

[Faggotdog Niggertail]

View attachment 5047237

This thumbnail made me feel physically sick

So fat, he takes up atleast half the thumbnail and you can see his shoulders.

 

[Soggy paper straw]

Top Gear fell apart after they didn't pay their hosts enough money, which is ironic considering the probable cost of all the cars the show purchased or rented.

Best content they ever made was buying cheap cars in wherever and doing stuff with them, Africa really sticks out. Especially Hammond's Opel

I thought it fell apart when the BBC "did not renew" Clarkson contract and the other two left with him.
Oliver Since we are OT already, I strongly recommend his farming reality show on Prime.

However, even with the expensive cars, they still appeared relatively relatable. It's the difference between "the BBC got a supercar for us to drive" and "here check out my collection of supercars" - or unboxing something neat a sponsor loaned them to showcase VS let's install this audio stuff that I was gifted in the theatre of my mansion, just to take it out immediately after filming.

Your right about the personality part 100% Luke is the only one that can work with Linus in a consistently entertaining way. All the others are trash

Linus is too easily swayed. You have people commenting that they find one host annoying, and they are basically gone. On the other hand, if they respond positively to someone, they will show up everywhere - which ends up generally backfiring as then people start to find them annoying.

Luke is probably the only one that is universally liked. He is the only one that has a real personality on camera, and does not constantly try to inject that annoying tiktok/zoomer humour.

Compare the shit editing of his last videos to Taran's 25 minutes video on laser eye surgery - 330k views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQDAXSbwhR0

Idgaf about eye surgery in particular, but I like his voice, exposition, editing, etc.. will gladly put it in the background and watch all of it

I am curious to know what people here think of Danny? My opinion is: funny, but in limited doses.