Extra vids for Floaties! www.floatplane.com/channel/Th... Car Channel: / @garbagetime420 Game Channel: / @helloimgaming Drum Channel: / @the.drum.thing .
I'm glad someone else shares my immense, growing frustration that EVERYTHING is garbage nowadays. It used to be that you had a choice between "disposable crap", "it'll survive the warranty period" and "well-built". Now you have a choice between "cheap disposable crap", "expensive disposable crap" and "expensive disposable crap with a brand name on it".
I am very annoyed because I know that this is the natural progression of capitalism and it's bound to happen etc etc, but I'm very angry that it's happening now. Like come on, I was just planning on buying some new stuff!
around a year ago he uploaded the first one and said "this might be a yearly thing" and 1 year later, theres a new version. It will probably be a whole series.
Got a similar story. When I built my first PC way back in 2000 (worked my first summer job at Taco Bell to afford it) I bought a cheap Logitech mouse to operate it - maybe $15 at K-Mart. That mouse has been on every desktop PC I ever owned and sometimes passed back and forth between desktop and laptop whenever necessary. Two weeks ago it fell off of my desk as I was moving some things around and the left click stopped working, so I bought a new one at a store near my workplace late that day. Got it home, plugged it in, and the laser stopped working after FIVE MINUTES. The cursor would not move. Buttons would click, but nothing else. Just to test whether it was a software or hardware issue, I plugged my old mouse back in (after being chucked into a trash can) and lo and behold, not only did the cursor move, but the left click worked again. So I got a refund on the new mouse and continue to use the manky 24-year-old mouse.
>have miserable samsung nugget frm 2014 >still functions >have samsung nugget from 2021 >"system UI has stopped working" not even a full 2 years later (I got it replaced a few months ago) I also have a 15 year old camcorder that still works and holds up well. Wtf man?
In Maine, USA, we have a REALLY great law that's called "Implied Warranty". Any product is GUARANTEED 4 years of warranty, if purchased within Maine, as long as the item wasn't damaged from misuse. Had a TV die after 3 years for no good reason, and got it replaced through Vizio, free of charge, because of it. Had a Razer keyboard where the W key wore out after 2 years, got it replaced, free of charge. Had a mouse that wasn't tracking correctly, replaced after 3 years. My Switch Pro Controller had stick drift after a year and a half, replaced free of charge. Had Powerbeats Pro that absolutely fell apart after 2 years, replaced free of charge. I really wish other states/countries would do stuff like this. Then companies would be forced to make higher quality products.
Why isn't this a federal law. We have this in my country as well but ours is not a flat 4 years for everything, it depends on the product type, TVs for instance have a 5 year implied warranty
Australia has similar consumer rights laws, not exactly the same but still pretty good. If I were Wade I'd be going back to the retailer with some of the products - it's actually one of the only ways you can push back against a decline in tech quality since each return hits the manufacturer's or retailer's bank account. The main obstacle is the fact that pressing return claims can be a massive hassle. Companies know this and implicitly use it as a selling point for unnecessary extended warranty policies.
What we also need is for that warranty to refresh with each time they give you a new one so you aren't just stuck with another one that'll break in a year or two. Make stuff last a reasonable amount of time or give lifetime warranty because you keep having to replace it for everyone free of charge. Stop making that product? Free upgrade to a comparable thing. No longer offer comparable product? Full refund even after 8 full warranty replacements over ten years. Cut deep into their bottom line if they make stuff that breaks.
@@ms3862probably not a federal law because of lobbyists bought out by literally every industry.. another reminder that capitalism is deeply fucking flawed
After "make it suck, charge the same" you have "take away functionality, add a subscription to get itback", "add ads to it" and "use your profits to lobby and ruin the country."
I blame the enshitification of stuff on the 80's corporate attitude of "trimming the fat" by cutting out what isn't necessary. The issue is that now they've removed all the fat from the meat, so now they're cutting away meat (to sell back to us) and bone (which is the foundation of the product) in order to continue to see growth.
I'd blame it on MBAs. They only how how to run a "company", not a "Business". A Company exists to churn out work, a Business exists to churn out products. (wow, just invented that term, perhaps I should patent it... )
@SenileOtaku a shit middle manager will have an idea, implement it, show the potential upside in a fucking PowerPoint presentation in front of the board then get promoted for the GREAT WORK. Meanwhile everything goes to shit and the new Middle manager has to try to fix the previous great work. We seem to surround by people who fail upwards.
God I hate that this has to be a series, but at the same time I'm glad it is. It's nice seeing someone who's honest and not paid off by the shitass companies making shitass products
@@rydoggo ...he literally doesn't even take sponsorships though? lol Besides exactly one case with Ecoflow where they offered to send exactly the product he would've otherwise bought for free, he actively preaches not even doing paid ads in his videos - and even then, they clearly didn't hold any editorial power over that solar pergola video, most especially demonstrated by him bringing up his issues with it for his use case
The saddest thing I’ve ever done is work with old school 60’s/70’s test equipment (HP, Tektronix, etc). Every single device used to be an actual work of art; incredible quality, user serviceable parts, and the greatest documentation that told you EXACTLY how EVERYTHING worked. It’s honestly sad that my oscilloscope that predates the moon landing is more reliable than anything else I own.
@@junoperberry I feel like that's part of it. but at least with primarily mechanical things like old pre ww2 hand tools there are WAY to many of them for it to be a sole reason. typewriters are the same a lot of the time too. hell the number of 80s> cars still running around compared to even 90s cars means something.
it’s like those memes back then joking about how the nokia 3310 was indestructible, drop an iphone on the floor, screen breaks, drop a nokia on the floor, house breaks
Its worth noting that these companies are not complaining about "not being profitable", they are complaining that their profits aren't growing year over year, or often that their INCREASE in profits hasn't grown year over year. Unlimited growth is unsustainable, it WILL come crashing down eventually. People are resistant to change and even if there is a better and often cheaper alternative people will stick with what they know verses something new. There is a tipping point where people are willing to try something new because what they know isn't working, like the camera example in this video. This is also why we need regulators to be firm with these billion dollar companies, they will CONSTANTLY try to get away with making things worse to save a buck, we need regulators to step in to protect consumers especially if those billion dollar companies have bought up all the competition.
Regulators will not help you. Regulators let it get this bad. As Wade showed in the video, small businesses have to get approval to use the crap corporations get away with selling. Regulators are how the hegemons keep their competition-free position.
I agree regulators let it get this bad but removing regulation is not the magic bullet you seem to think it is. In far too many cases lobby or special interest groups bought and paid for by these same billion dollar companies are behind the resistance to change. As so many conspiracy theorists say, "follow the money". Yes, some regulation can make it harder for smaller companies to get into an industry, but when big companies can either squash or buy up smaller competing companies to maintain their monopoly that is a problem. Classic example, Amazon and diapers. The more you look for it and wonder "why is there no competition in this space" more often than not its because the competition has been quelled by the bigger company either by underhanded tactics or straight up acquisition. We need regulation to tell these companies what they can't do, and that regulation needs to have teeth to make sure those rules are followed.
@@Pileot You think regulation is going to mitigate the effects of lobbying? Lobbying happens primarily to influence regulation. It's a tax on companies, paid entirely in bribes, from which neither you nor I will benefit in the slightest. You're only feeding this oligarchic government machine by stumping for regulation. Removing regulation isn't a magic bullet, but it's at least not actively shooting your own foot.
@@JellyMyst So let me be sure I am clear in my understanding. Your point is that because some regulators are corrupt we should remove regulation entirely? Would it not make more sense to ensure regulators are working in consumer's best interests? Like, do you think Apple moved to USB C because its better for consumers? Do you think right to repair is going to happen on its own without regulation? Are you disillusioned to believe that companies will EVER act in consumer's best interests when profits are on the line? Ok, ok, "ever" is a strong word, there are a few good companies out there who genuinely want to do good in the world, but don't think for a second that major brands wouldn't instantly jump on the chance to make short term profits if it meant screwing their consumers. Regulation is what tries to prevent companies from merging and creating monopolies. Regulation is what enforces things like safety standards. Do you think its easier for companies to follow ROHS standards? Do you think automakers like restrictions on using lead free fuel or having to reduce performance with environmental control devices? Do you think industry is more profitable when following employee safety or environmental requirements? Regulations are there for a reason. I encourage you to look into and provide ANY case where an industry or field has been deregulated and it has ended up better for consumers, I can't think of any. Yes, companies are going to fight regulation, and for a reason. Regulations are not in place for them, its in place for people like you and me. Consumers. Its to protect us, not them, and removing those guard rails can ONLY be a bad thing. Are they perfect? No, but they are a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
@@Pileot Ensure regulators are working in consumer's best interests? How, exactly? Regulating the regulators? Government is no more invested in your best interests than any company. Less, in fact, since you at least have to choose to give companies your money. The government just steals it. This isn't better than the alternative. It's worse.
I feel that graph in my soul. When I started my company, I wrote in the charter that it shall not accept investors or shareholders, ever. Can't be sued for your failure to "maintain fiscal responsibility to shareholders" if you don't have any! I make what I want and nobody can tell me to make it worse.
@@blakksheep736 because of their awful new model that means people will eventually lose access to games that they paid actual money for because one day they'll stop deciding to support it?
This has singlehandedly made me switch my mindset from "we should sell my late dad's tools" to "don't sell those tools, I might use them when I get a midlife crisis and the new tools suck taint!"
“Make it worse, but charge the same!” Spoken like a true champ there. People will have tech that disappoint them, and your video was really, really enjoyable as always man! And I can really watch every video titled this, totally. I wanna share my experience with the tech that led me down. The tech that led me down is the iPhone, as a very important pdf of mine, a pdf on which my job was dependent upon, was not opening. If it wasn’t for my mom’s crappy Android phone, I would have lost my job. Seriously. Not to mention the tons of bugs/issues that the current software has, AirDrop sucks, camera issues sucks, etc. And that is the reason why I am switching back to Android baby! Back to me ol’ roots after 7 years of hardcore iPhone usage! But man, don’t berate Samsung for the software! I love One UI. I was a Samsung user previously, and I loved it, and since I have previously been a Samsung user, I will be buying S25 Ultra, not the S24, as I was thinking of buying S24 six months after the launch, and I thought that why shouldn’t I wait for six more months to get S25 instead? So, yeah. S25 for me it is.
I agree with this so much. I've always switched back and forth between ios and android for years now, and I don't think i'll ever go back to ios again. My last phone was the iphone 13 mini (which I got for the size), I had it for 2 years and if it wasn't for the crap camera and display refresh rate i'd still have it to this day. I had a hard time with college, sitting in the first row and still struggled to take some clear zoomed in pictures (just x5 zoom shouldnt be acceptable), that was the point I decided to go for samsung again. Samsung never disappointed me, it's just that ios is much user friendly and smoother to use, but one ui is great as well. Having x3 optical zoom, x30 zoom, 120hz refresh rate, being able to customize the hell out of your phone, and just freedom overall is hard to give up on. Iphone users don't realize how big of a deal 120hz is because they've never experienced it, I went from a samsung s9 to the iphone 13 mini and the display looked great. But now that i've gotten used to the s23 It's hard to look at an iphone. And the fact that the iphone 15 was released like a few months ago and still has 60hz is beyond stupid. People that complain about OneUI are iphone users that are simply not used to it. I don't have any problems with it since my first ever phone was a samsung s2, and even after years of ios it was really easy to go back to OneUI. That's not on samsung, that's on the user. It's not their fault you don't take your time to google stuff, read the user manual, and figure shit out. They really love pretending as if they didn't have a hard time on their first ever time on ios and had to do some research on how to operate the phone. Once you get the basics down it's a very nice and smooth operating system
Companies don’t make money by selling a product once, they make money by making people buy a product again and again and again. My fridge was built in 1991 and runs perfectly. They used to be called “consumer durables.” That term isn’t used anymore.
My parents have had the same washing machine and dryer for over 20 years. I only remember the dryer needing a repair once. Repair guy told them to keep those for as long as they could because a lot of the modern stuff he sees is just junk
The reason that enshittification is supposed to not work is that the free market *should* create alternatives to the shitterton product which would eventually go bankrupt because people would buy/use the new product, but the issue is the products and services that are getting enshittified now are often so big that there is only one or 2 competitors and they are also doing the same tactics to make more money or force you to lock into/drop out of an ecosystem of products/peripherals. It's almost impossible to come up against them as a small company too, the economy of scale that these massive corpos enjoy make any attempt to compete a long term battle at best.
"Haha, look at all this stuff that doesn't work!" He throws the router on the desk, and my stomach drops, knowing I have one in the next room that's a few months old.
Both you and Wade fucked up bigtime. Never! buy anything that is made for "gamers" or "Gaming". 99.9 percent of the time the item in question will break or underperform compared to a standard product of the same price.
My mum and dad are divorcing but are still on good terms one of a few reasons they aren't fully separated is because of an old barbeque plate that they don't want to split because it 1. Cooks great 2. Spreads heat evenly very well 3. Hasn't ever jumped out of multiple BBQs we've owned 4. Still doesn't have much gunk stick to it easily I will also say that the barbeque plate was passed down 2 generations now it is older than I am and im sitting here drinking beer while watching this so it is very old
If you're planning to switch to using that DSLR for filming, make sure it doesn't have a video duration limit - most cameras will cut off before 30 mins for tax reasons, as if a camera can record for over 30 mins it's taxed at a different rate as it's classified as a camcorder
@@thepuzzlemaster64 The quality out the HDMI is fine, the annoyance with doing it is that you need an external recorder, which is yet another point of failure/let-down.
I'd love to see a "Tech that HASNT let me down" special. I get hay like the whole point is tech failing is more of a problem but I'd love a video of the tech that Wade can rely on. Would be very interesting
I stopped buying things new a few years ago. I got sick of software dying after a few months, batteries completely failing after a year, exterior cases cracking to the point of becoming deadly edged weapons, clothes that fall apart after just months, and constant toxicity scares from treated surfaces wearing away. My furniture is old, my cookware is old, my clothes are old (most having been repaired by my hands more times than America's roadways), my home electronics are old. The only problem is that I'm having to go through increasingly esoteric ways of fixing things, because anything made after the 1990s has so much plastic in it that just taking it apart to fix it has a pretty good chance of breaking it entirely. I cannot disassemble my stereo system to fix the tape stop button for that very reason, and so I have created a method of using a hand made metal spring to push the lever down instead. The modern world is great. I love it.
I have a +$2000 gravel bike that I've had since 2021. The derailur would constantly fall out of position atthe slightest nudge, wheel would come out of true at least once a month. Snapped the fork by running it into a bench at low speeds. Another bike, a steel mountian bike from 1993 that I bought from a used bike store, ridden 1000+ miles, changed repaired or upgraded almost every component, hit by several cars (and slipped on ice many times more,) still going strong.
I finally bought a new table fan to replace the old, cheap Zellers fan that ran almost continuously since 1997. Only getting a break during power outages and the occasional cleaning. I replaced it with a fan from Hampton Bay. They made our ceiling fans and those are still going strong 18 years later. Dead within a day. Started smoking an hour in. I did an autopsy before sending it back. There was absolutely no oil in the bearings. They forgot to lube the thing. We've hit the point where I don't want to buy anything anymore because I know it's going to be crap. Now I just have some ancient industrial fan from the 50s. At least I can oil this one so it'll never run dry. And the less said about all the ACDelco and Delphi parts that have quit on me in the last 12 months, the better. I can't even depend on factory replacement parts for my car anymore.
The tower fans they sell at Costco very good. The Seville ones. I had one for about 15'+ years. They don't really change them asides for a couple things.
For a ceiling fan I recommend looking up a Lowes special or look out for ceiling fans where the blades are curved and not just straight pieces of cheap MDF board. I picked up a Lowes fan and it was decent for the price. Great LED light and has a handy remote. The latter are more likely to invest more into R&D because the curved blades require actual engineers to design it rather than copy and pasting a flat piece. My quality ceiling fan that I picked up for free at a thrift store 6 years ago the brand name is Minka-Aire. I probably got a fan that was 10 years old at the time. The bearings are still perfect and it doesn't make noise, just the sound of air moving.
I have a cieling fan from '91, it was an old outdated desing (manufactured locally by a small, now defunct, company) probably from the 60s, best fan I've ever had. I've even moved since and I brought the damm thing with me. Last year a floor fan my grandmother bought used in the 80s finally died (and I wanted to repair it) but my family insisted I buy a new one, and, OH BOY, they were literally no non-terrible fans avaible, the cost didn't even matter, NOBODY even bodered to import anything but the trashiest trash (as if people suddenly didn't need a fan anymore).
@@Nkrlz I was shopping for a fan recently and noticed the same thing. Most are junk, even if you pay a lot. I found a couple that were promising, but I'm hesitant to get my hopes up.
As part of my job, I have to test the cleaning equipment I service. It's called PAT testing here in the UK (portable appliance testing) (but I also test fixed/hard wired appliances), and the number of items I've seen with pass stickers on from previous companies that are defective or damaged/dangerous has been scary at times. Also, the more old machinery I service, the more I realise how cheap and shitty new things are.
I also do portable appliance testing and what annoys me are the stickers put on devices that run off an external PSU, you know they are getting paid per item when they do that and it makes me question their ability to do the job. Also the fact that our new machine is a cheapo pass/fail one, I like to be able to do tests independent of one another if necessary and I like an ohms readout for the bond test so I know if it's something simple like a poor connection.
@dglcomputers1498 it's unfortunate that PAT testing is a numbers game with a lot of companies. I've occasionally done just plain PAT testing, and when I have gotten complains that I'm not doing enough items each hour, which frustrates me to no end.
@@kyleholloway3470 I'm lucky that normally I get left to it, it's testing stuff in the hire fleet caravans at work normally and my boss has no real idea of how long it takes, i might get asked sometimes about how long i'm taking but just ignore it. I'm just above minimum wage so they are saving a lot anyway. Interestingly I was doing some key cutting at work and the GM was around and asked how any I reckon I could do in a day, naturally I didn't give an answer though he did say at one point "about 50?" to which I should have said yes as it turns out I'd already done more than 50 so far that day!
100% with you on this one could not agree more and glad someone is calling it out. I rarely buy tech stuff any more, and when I do it is obsessively researched for days/weeks beforehand.
The next step? Hardware subscription plans. For a monthly fee companies will keep their crappy products replaced and updated for you. Then profits can continue to climb by modestly increasing subscription fees every year or so.
@@256byteramthe thing most people dont realize is alot of vehicles have everything installed, or at least, they use the exact same wiring harnesses but you would need the switch/heater. BMW just decided to try something new which honestly i thought was a neat concept
@@lukelegg9915 you mean instead of charging once for the thing already installed on your car, they can charge you _endlessly_ for the thing installed on your car? What a steal!
For me the worst thing has been that nothing can be fixed. Grandparents and parents grew up in days where you could take things apart and fix em up. Things made of metal you could de-rust and bend back into shape. Wood parts that could be replaced. Bolts and screws that you could take apart over and over again. Now it's plastic that will turn to goop or to dust one day and there's nothing you can do about it. Everything glued or clipped together never to come apart again. You economic theory is spot on too. Who knows where we go from here but i hope things do get better
They COULD be fixed. But they'd have to supply parts and schematics. Too much special interest lobbying to allow that to happen. The excuse is for "safety" because customers are too dumb to wield a soldering iron. Though the real reason is always money.
That‘s not true- you just have to find the courage to dig in. I repaid our oven and replaced a heating element (I’m far from an electrician, but I worked clean, and I double checked everything), computers, furniture (i learned was a wood router was), and now I’m even printing spare parts with my 3d printer. I had a plastic part break on a window, which wasn’t available any longer snd used parts were ridiculously overpriced. So i downloaded a „near enough“ part on thingiverse, tuned it a bit (i had 4 reprints), and tadaa, success! (I uploaded the part for everybody to use, obviously). Yes, you might break a piece or to, but that’s the „learning charge“, so to speak. But if you succeed you’ll be proud of the things you can safe, even if you won’t install plumbing any time soon there’s a lot to do, i know it! 😉👍
I really appreciate these videos you do and really look forward to you doing more of these. Companies will not care how crap something really is until everything comes crashing down from belowe them, retailers and all, with their short term strategies. We have to bring them down sooner than they will bring us, by spreading word and not purchasing from them. We live in a world where lesser known but upstanding smaller companies are more trustworthy than the "trusted" big brand.
the next in the line is clearly the products you do buy also having subscriptions to make you pay continuously after the initial purchase, oh and of course sacking even more employees and replacing them with AI chatbots so you dont need to pay for customer service staff, and given how bad the chatbots are you also get to avoid actually carrying out warrenty because people just give up before ever getting that far.
Samsung is already attempting that kinda crap with Galaxy AI lol. Good thing that shit is useless. In the long term tho I wonder if it'll create some black market.
>replacing them with AI chatbots so you dont need to pay for customer service staff I hate to say this, but that's already happened. Are you aware of a service called Sprinklr?
This is why I buy vintage stuff and repair/mod it to work with modern devices. Got me a couple drive in movie theater speakers. Slapped some batteries and bluetooth receivers in them, and they work like a dream.
@@breakfastattwilight I tried to run Ubuntu but I could not get past the fact that it asked me for a password for every change I wanted to make. I might install Linux Mint on a spare machine I have and try using it
@@ambiarock590 Haven't used Ubuntu. I use Debian and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't get asked for my password for everything. The thing I dislike most about Linux is that some software is not available for the OS. This is more the fault of software developers rather than Linux itself. My machine is set to dualboot into Windows should the need arise.
Up until 2020, things were slowly declining in quality, but then something happened and everything just nosedived in quality. I hesitate to buy anything anymore.
SAME I just get frustrated whenever I need to get a new product. Usually i go for second hand alternatives or just decide on not buying it at all and living without it. After the tv died within two years I have decided to stop watching tv. Actually very good for mental health lmaoo
I originally bought iPods cuz I thought it would be fun to have. Nowadays I actively use them because my opinions on streaming nosedove. You don't own the music, you're limited what devices you can store it on, your library access is at the labels' whims; so my iPods have become my actual music players
@@bingbong6066 I stopped watching tv 10 years ago, I had an oldish tv that died last year, it lasted for around 13 years and I used it everyday as a monitor for my pc (it was pretty decent, 1080p with 60hz and good colors, nothing amazing but nothing to complain about either). My family got a TV like 4 years ago, they had so many dead pixels they had to change it (it was under 2 years so it still had warranty), shortly after the same problem happened and they couldn't repair it via warranty anymore so they bought a new one. Guess what, this new tv is starting to have similar problems as well (a straight thin black line that will slowly get bigger and bigger). Nothing can convince me that 80% of the engineering does NOT go into figuring out how to make stuff break the second it turns 2 years old so the warranty is void
Good news Wade, after this step plateaus the next step is subscription models! Bet you can’t wait for that Malwaukee drill to be the same terrible quality but cost 6.99 a month or it bricks itself!
If you see any product that shows "cloud connectivity" and/or "smart" on the box, that is an anti-feature. If it always connects to the internet it has the capability to remove features from you and charge you a subscription for it.
Hey Wade, I feel you on a lot of this. Phones suck, tools break all the damn time, and probably the worst was an example from my good friend Rob. We do live streams on the road in high school gyms, and we have to use our own internet because schools have the actual worst internet you've ever seen. Not too long ago, the hotspot just died, and we had to get a new one. The provider made us wait for god knows how long to replace it, giving us the run around the whole time, and forcing us to do multiple streams on school wifi. Big companies are actually the worst, especially big tech.
What Wade is describing hre sounds like the main theme of "the Innovator's dilemma". Big companies eventually fall or they need to tap out into new, risky markets (which cost them a lot of money). Small startups don't require a ton to be sucessful, and that's how new companies are born.
mercedes/bmw: "why are ppl not buying our cars anymore? we treat them like shit, demanding subscription for stuff we already built in the car and that was free to use in the older models and they stop buying. we can't figure out why!!!"
I originally bought iPods because it Wade and I thought it was fun to have a couple lying around. Nowadays I actively use these instead of music streaming so I can actually own my music and not have to pay monthly for my music. Streaming sucks
This is one of those frustrations I am completely and 100% behind. Also-now you can't even FIX THE THINGS YOU BOUGHT, BECAUSE IT'S DESIGNED TO BREAK AND BE UNFIXABLE AGH. It could be the rose-tinted glasses talking, but I feel like you used to be able to buy garbage, or get quality if you paid enough. But now you get crap no matter how much you pay; while you can still find the good stuff, it's SO much harder to find, and SO much more expensive. Though if I remember correctly the sandblasting cabinet was a bit dodgy to begin with, so that one kind of checks out
I really appreciate how from the beginning you've been honestly a really good consumer advocate. You're consistently looking out for people but doing it in an entertaining and funny and easily understandable way. I really respect that!!
Yeah I found a 4th gen IPod in a drawer years ago and after seeing your first video in 2019 I swapped the battery, stopped using it after awhile and let it completely die again for like 3 years and I needed something that could play music that wasn't a phone so I plugged it in and it just works like nothing even happened. Sounds better than my stinking phone too even with all the "ultra HD quality" and "spatial audio" bs amazons pushing on amazon music the songs that were pirated on that thing like 20 years ago still sound better lol. Speaking of declining quality those KBear headphones you recommend occasionally have gotten worse, I have 4 pairs because I keep losing them and buying new ones then finding the old ones and after pair #2 they stopped coming with a mic, pair #1 and #2 are broke or about to be, atp and I just use them for parts to keep pair #4 and #3 kicking. Love your vids keep it up even with everything getting shittier!
@@ambiarock590 Yep. This current system will eat itself. Continuous growth is a stupid thing to base the economy off. Nobody wins, not even the massive companies who initially profit from it.
I listened to a podcast recently that had some insight on why tech is getting worse. It was the It Could Happen Here (A show from the people who do Behind the Bastards, which is excellent) episode on shitty AI tech they saw at CES. And they remarked that in terms of actual capabilities, nothing there felt like it couldn't have been there years ago. Compared to the huge jumps we saw from like, 2008 until around 2020, everything has slowed down. There's not really any of the huge, exciting, marketable leaps like we saw with smartphones for the previous decade. Improvements are happened, of course, but they aren't the sort that will interest most consumers. And we're seeing things like laptop sales fall because a ton of people bought them during the lockdowns, but now they don't need to. So companies want SOMETHING to try and convince people to buy new versions of stuff they already have, and that solution has been "Slap pointless AI in it". But that's not really working because none of them really took the time to figure out why people would want something like a crib that has AI that will rock your baby based on how it feels (Yes, this was a thing they saw at CES and yes, it is going to shake a baby to death if it is fully released). So for now, they're just cutting costs as much as possible and making stuff shittier.
Oooh, thanks for the recommend. Ngl I'm giggling at the thought of shitty AI being a money sink after all the techbros' attempts at gaslighting and gloating lel.
the new way to make people buy new shit is to force em, like shutting down 3g and 4g towers. It's really getting pathetic perfectly working things being replaced for no good reason and causing massive e waste
When it comes to orbis, they have worked fine at my parents house for like 5 years. No problems.the router has quit several times and the orbis have survived just fine
5:18 That still feels like too much of a compliment for Apple considering they were strong-armed into putting usb-c on it. Otherwise, it would still use the lightning cable.
@@Girvo747at my house, we never bought new electronics until a while. when my mom got an iPhone 15(?), it came with a cable but not a brick. I dont know how many times i've told my grandma "it doesnt work with lightning!" also, my grandma insists that everything from verizon is official. i keep telling her what real boxes look like, she doesnt listen.
I love these videos cause I am do a lot of buying of cheap Chinese electronics like microcontrollers for projects, and they have all been rock solid. How these name brand manufacturers are basically repackaging and selling these for ridiculous amounts manage to bung them up more than I can with a sodering iron is amazing
Your manky cardboard graph is the perfect representation of modern tech. Junk that is easily damaged and works only for a short time, if at all. in contrast, my 1987 Electrolux vacuum cleaner has only become useless because you can't get the dust bags anymore.
I have an old Kirby 508 from 1948 that I restored a few years back. That thing will pick up better than most vacuum cleaners today and it's nowhere near as loud. And the motor only draws 5 amps. Bagless vacuums suck.
We've had an Orbi router here in the states for almost 2 years now, you have to restart it every few months, but then it keeps working fine. Best of luck with yours!
For networking stuff, namely WiFi, de-integrating has been the best thing I've ever done. My network has become SOOOO much more reliable after ditching the all-in-one boxes we call wireless routers. I use a little mini PC with dual 2.5Gbps ethernet running pfSense as a router, a couple of unmanaged switches, and a couple dedicated wireless access points. 99% of my network problems have disappeared. I have ONE issue. If the modem ever goes out, I have log in to the router and reboot it when the modem comes back up to get internet again. Don't know why. I might be able to solve that by switching to OPNSense. The pfSense router I did mostly for giggles anyway. Really, just switching to dedicated access points did me the most good.
I agree, there's too many "Top" lists of junk that is "good". More influencers should call out the crap. I consider myself very skeptical when it comes to purchasing anything. If I find something good like a good shirt or a good dongle, I buy a few of them knowing that when I need a new one, they will have made it worse
The thing is... If influencers called out crap goods, sponsorship offers will likely decrease. Then again, social influencers usually hock anything from unnecessary goods to outright scams. I've heard enough about Prime Hydration to know I don't want to drink that crap (Gatorlyte and Electrolit are better hydration drinks anyway), you heard about Raid Shadow Legends so much you know you don't want to play it, dare I go on?
I need to buy a document scanner at some point so I can digitize my recipts and stuff. I need to research which one to get to ensure that the one I buy does not come with subscriptions is not cloud connected, and doesn't have any locked down garbage
You have no idea how much use I get out my component level repair skills in my everyday life. It's nice to be able to repair things when they break, especially given how often things break these days.
@@SlavTiger buy donor broken devices, that's basically all you can do for a lot of unobtanium although a lot of things use specialist chips you can identify as being copies of another chip
Discovered this channel probably about 2 years ago. Love the content! Even had memberships on Floatplane and Patreon. It's a perfect combo of my electronics geek, and breaking things. 😊 I too love manky old electronics (and just old stuff in general really), and sometimes fixing them up. I will say.. I dispise Apple.. with every fiber of my being.. however.. the Ipod was just the GOAT of music players. So for my nostalgia and a bit of a side hobby. I bought a 30gb 5th gen. That's just the best looking one IMO. Paid 50 bucks for it, so it should be in pretty good condition.. doesn't really matter much. Mainly I did this because when you listen to music, few things are more irritating than getting a text or a phone call, when you're rocking out and having a good time.. then RING RING RING! I plan on Restoring it, and it will mostly live in my car as my dedicated music player. I plan on either Restoring or replacing the case to make the boy look nice😊, new big batt, flash mod, and possibly BT mod. Probably get some good dirty buds also (Likely those sweet looking IEMs you recommended in the past) depending on if I do the BT mod or not. I wanted to do this with a.. Na-no😊.. those were actually my favorite ones. I actually found a perfect condition 4th gen in my car that I just bought. However, I found out after buying a cable for it. The batt was cooked (and the infamous black spot was starting) so I bought a good tool set to take it apart. Had to poke a hole in the batt to vent it to get it out. I was super safe about it. But either someone had been in there.. or I (very possible) broke the hold switch and clickwheel ribbon cables. Then I found out you have to desolder the batt to get it out, and flash modding the nanos isn't really worth it or not possible. It was a very pretty pod.. almost new looking in blue.. but just wasn't meant to be. Anyways, I wanted to thank you for getting me back into an old hobby!😊😊 Update: Oh boys did I mess up. 😂 So for 50 bucks I got a Blk 30gb 5th gen that was marked as "good" condition and looked good in the pics. Which is true.. the front of the face has almost no scratches, and everything does work. That's where the good ends. To put it mildly.. Someone's been in here! 😂 Every clip that holds it together is broken.. looks like a butter knife was their entry tool of choice.. the hold switch works.. sometimes. The headphone port is dented badly.. and there's a small dent on the back... 50 bucks. Luckily I was planning on a restoration.. and boy did I get it. Should have just bought a parts lot. 😂 So.. plan of action. I've ordered a new blk front face plate, a 4ch flash board, a blk back case with a 3k mah battery, and a BT Transmitter. May get a different color clickwheel later for style points. Only thing I'll lose is the hold switch because that how the BT goes on for now.. and I'll figure that out later. Wish me luck boys!
The chart is a step behind because the next step that is happening now is make everything as cheap as possible then attach it to an app and hide "features" behind a paywall/subscription.
Everything is throwaway and temporary now. You'd be lucky if a newly bought device lasts for more than a year. We need more content creators to point out that it is not ok, because at this rate the only legacy new tech will leave us with is a pile of crumbling plastic.
As a former pro cleaner, Henrys are crap too. My colleagues mostly used these old metal things like dustbins or Henrys, and when one of the metal ones died they gave us a Nilfisk. My colleague whose machine died didn't rate Nilfisk but I tried it and immediately swapped her my Henry. Nilfisk sucked better and quieter, rolled better and had a longer cable.
Subscriptions work for things where constant updates are expected, it costs money to employ devs to work on updates, but for things like cars , you should be able to use the features in the car for no extra cost, and pay walled stuff should be things that aren't free to provide
I feel your pain, 2 and a half yr old LG fridge and the compressor is borked already. Reason why I go old school vintage with a majority of my appliances. I have a 1983 Sharp Carousel, almost daily used never skipped a beat. Meanwhile the LG microwave at home has a broken latch and horrible touch keypad. Companies nowadays aren’t making anything worth owning these days and I’m sick of it as well.
I’ve had fun with my Marshall earphones that lasted all of 6 *weeks* before the right one completely borked it. This is after I went through 3 pairs of JBLs in 2 years which is after 2 pairs of Airpods. The only earphone I’ve had where ones battery didn’t just start dying before the other are my JBL Tune 210s, because they started physically falling apart instead.
This makes me feel grateful that my hobby of choice is being an audiophile. It's the only market I can think of where the cheap chinese stuff is actually good if you know what to look for.
Those usually don’t last either though. I bought KZs around 2021, the cable only lasted a couple months, so ended up replacing that 3 times, and now one of the speakers is giving out in the cold. In the end it only lasted 2 years with extensively trying to keep it going
@@fridtjofriibe5961 My cheap KZs are also disappointingly unreliable. Many times I notice one of the buds not working proper, but after a clean out of almost no gunk in the tube, it works fine. The cable though, is kinda trash. It often cuts one of the channels if you don't rotate it right in the plug :( I have two cables for my KZs and they both do this.
Also getting good old headphones lasts your forever. My brother didn't see the benefit in buying thousand dollar headphones but they are cheaper than a home hifi setup and you could literally keep them for your entire life and they would outlive you. Id love to get a set of Emyrians at some point later on in life
You skipped the tech that gave you up. I'm looking forward to the tech that ran around and deserted you, the tech that made you cry, that said to you goodbye, as well as the tech that told you a lie and hurt you. I WILL BE WAITING, MATE.
My best tech purchase last year was a $35 Asus disc drive. It got me into collecting CDs (music streaming sucks now anyway) and ripping them to FLAC. The drive is just a simple one without Blu-Ray support, but it gets the job done. Fun fact: It came with a mini USB to USB-C cable, one of the most cursed things I've seen.
I totally agree. And it's considered normal. Only in advertising is everything told beautifully, in fact you get something that works when the stars stand in a certain position in the sky.
I originally bought iPods cuz I thought it was fun to have. Now I actually use these as my music players and I've cancelled Spotify. Streaming services suck and I'd rather own my music
@@ambiarock590 I feel you. I'm still stuck on streaming just because I don't have the time to curate playlists and I lost all of my CDs. 😩 I will try to make the switch back when I can though. You're a real one though. Thanks for keeping on-the-go music alive. 🙌🏿
@@coolworths I've bought quite a bit of stuff from Elite Obsolete. I'd love to keep using these iPods for numerous years. I'm really starting to appreciate dysconnectivity where no one can bother you while listening to music, not being disturbed by a phone call when you go places; constant connectivity is not a thing I'm a fan of
You very very nearly fit Apple's description of their perfect customer for iPhone the way you were using it for all your vids on your channel *and* as your main phone, like, that's one of it's single strongest selling points, and you + your channel style + how good they've gotten fit the bill literally perfectly for that use case. Your use case was basically the *ideal* use case for what they want to market to. To have you choose to voluntarily stop using it indicates a colossal failure on Apple's part and is actually probably a bigger deal than it might seem at first since if someone who it's *this* perfect for from a conceptual point of view can't justify continuing with it then well it's basically failed at it's purpose.
We had once an old Kaercher pressure washer, smallest, cheapest model, yet high quality pump, survived over 20 years in a small agriculture with 2 tractors and often washing them and other stuff. Nearly daily use! In the end rust and leakages ended its life, motor, pump etc still fine! Got many years ago a K5.... little did i know, the modern not highest end products use cheaper, less durable pumps. Had them to replace under warranty 2 times before we got a K7 with at least the brass pump which held up at least the past 4 years. The issue with those practices... despite not needing any better pressure washer.... i have to buy now the expensive, highest end Kaercher K series because only the top model gets the higher quality brass pump while in the 90s up to about 2000 they had even in their cheapest, smallest model a very durable pump.
As a Samsung user absolutely. Good luck! Frankly I have barely any issues with their software (bloatware can be removed, Good Luck is an amazing customization tool and One UI as a whole is wonderful for customizing, and nowadays its very fast and fluid), but I'd be lying to say it doesn't have issues, or that people are invalid for not liking it.
@@Photo0021the thing is wade seems like a guy who wants things to work perfectly for his needs straight out the box with no issues. Android can be made to be amazing but requires some work (as you outlined in your comment)
@@pyther9852 And I get it a lot since I have family who is the same! And the only Android they'd ever touch is stock Android (Found in Pixel, Moto, etc) and they still prefer iPhone.
thank you for bringing this up, every goddamn youtuber on the planet is like "THIS IS AMAZING IT'S 3% BETTER THAN LAST YEAR AND 100$ MORE GO BUY IT NOW" especially in the f ing smartphone space
That Orbi will probably work more fine if it's not placed right in the nook of that metal trim. But yeah I've basically just given up on consumer networking gear, it's so bad. Look at small business type stuff: I've got an Edgerouter X and a UFO looking wireless access point. Together they cost about 170 Freedom Eagles and they beat the pants off $300+ wireless routers. After 3 years of use that duo still works like new.
100% I bought a cheap $40 Netgear business router specifically for the sole purpose of having a dedicated router to use Oculus Airlink for (needs WiFi 6 to function at its best) and it works perfect for that. Although the range is actually less than the router my ISP gave me (this chunky absolute unit of a box that has great range.) and I'm glad my ISP is local and Co-op owned so its unlikely to go completely shit. The best bit is that, while I have to pay for a home phone (ugh $36 extra a month) because I am in the co-op I get a check once a year that refunds me a bit of my money. Last year's was like $160. Doesn't beat having your ISP pay you!
Seeing the early examples of new tech failing testing reminded me of when I worked as a service tech for a company that makes commercial kitchenware. My very first job was 6 hours of running every test to prove the problem was a faulty GFCI, then 10 minutes down the street re-wiring a food warmer because someone back at the plant didn't read the wiring diagram. We charged thousands for steel tables that you can buy for 1/8 the price and double the quality from anywhere that sells stainless steel.
One thing that really caught me off guard was when I was looking a nice hair comb, I couldn't find a one that was as nice as my mom's plastic comb, which surprisingly she got free with some makeup back in the 80's. Why can't a simple product be produced well? I got the comb I could find, which sucked, they bend at the slightest knot. It feels like even the brooms are made worse now, and for what? It's has gotten into all product categories. I could make a whole video myself complaining about stuff atp.
@@ToastyMozart and rightly so, places are starting to consider banning them because of the *monumental* amount of waste they produce (As well as the protect the children strawman, instead of policing the retailers selling them like the law allows) Also fun fact, most if not all of those disposable vapes have rechargeable batteries in them, given that they're usually lipo batteries, absolute insanity that they're treated as disposable. You're aware of this already but I'm sure many others that might read this won't be
@@ToastyMozart I was so pissed when I first saw one of Big Clive's videos about how to recover the batteries from discarded single use vapes (or refill them if you want). WTF. So much plastic and battery waste.
3:40 Funny that I watch and I currently live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (I stumbled upon your vids and subbed mostly due to the iPod stuff more or less, lol)
I'm glad someone else shares my immense, growing frustration that EVERYTHING is garbage nowadays. It used to be that you had a choice between "disposable crap", "it'll survive the warranty period" and "well-built". Now you have a choice between "cheap disposable crap", "expensive disposable crap" and "expensive disposable crap with a brand name on it".
I am very annoyed because I know that this is the natural progression of capitalism and it's bound to happen etc etc, but I'm very angry that it's happening now. Like come on, I was just planning on buying some new stuff!
Is it bad that I'm not that pissed?
Exactly now a days everything is straight to trash release date after one year 😤
@@coastaku1954 Why? Are you an accelerationist?
Yes@@coastaku1954
"tech that let me down " could be a whole series and id watch every single episode
So ture
Yeah can we get like, a website with a list of all the stuff that used to be good and now is shit and the stuff that's still good?
I think I'll watch every episode if it's just something random anyway
I’ve watched the last one like 5 times and enjoyed it every time
around a year ago he uploaded the first one and said "this might be a yearly thing" and 1 year later, theres a new version. It will probably be a whole series.
Got a similar story. When I built my first PC way back in 2000 (worked my first summer job at Taco Bell to afford it) I bought a cheap Logitech mouse to operate it - maybe $15 at K-Mart. That mouse has been on every desktop PC I ever owned and sometimes passed back and forth between desktop and laptop whenever necessary. Two weeks ago it fell off of my desk as I was moving some things around and the left click stopped working, so I bought a new one at a store near my workplace late that day. Got it home, plugged it in, and the laser stopped working after FIVE MINUTES. The cursor would not move. Buttons would click, but nothing else. Just to test whether it was a software or hardware issue, I plugged my old mouse back in (after being chucked into a trash can) and lo and behold, not only did the cursor move, but the left click worked again. So I got a refund on the new mouse and continue to use the manky 24-year-old mouse.
The old mouse needed time to heal
>have miserable samsung nugget frm 2014
>still functions
>have samsung nugget from 2021
>"system UI has stopped working" not even a full 2 years later (I got it replaced a few months ago)
I also have a 15 year old camcorder that still works and holds up well. Wtf man?
@@Twiddle_thingswhy did you buy an mp3 player in 2021
Iike how Wades "flawed financial theory" is literally just what's happening.
In Maine, USA, we have a REALLY great law that's called "Implied Warranty". Any product is GUARANTEED 4 years of warranty, if purchased within Maine, as long as the item wasn't damaged from misuse. Had a TV die after 3 years for no good reason, and got it replaced through Vizio, free of charge, because of it. Had a Razer keyboard where the W key wore out after 2 years, got it replaced, free of charge. Had a mouse that wasn't tracking correctly, replaced after 3 years. My Switch Pro Controller had stick drift after a year and a half, replaced free of charge. Had Powerbeats Pro that absolutely fell apart after 2 years, replaced free of charge.
I really wish other states/countries would do stuff like this. Then companies would be forced to make higher quality products.
Why isn't this a federal law. We have this in my country as well but ours is not a flat 4 years for everything, it depends on the product type, TVs for instance have a 5 year implied warranty
Man I wish this was a thing in my country
Australia has similar consumer rights laws, not exactly the same but still pretty good. If I were Wade I'd be going back to the retailer with some of the products - it's actually one of the only ways you can push back against a decline in tech quality since each return hits the manufacturer's or retailer's bank account.
The main obstacle is the fact that pressing return claims can be a massive hassle. Companies know this and implicitly use it as a selling point for unnecessary extended warranty policies.
What we also need is for that warranty to refresh with each time they give you a new one so you aren't just stuck with another one that'll break in a year or two. Make stuff last a reasonable amount of time or give lifetime warranty because you keep having to replace it for everyone free of charge. Stop making that product? Free upgrade to a comparable thing. No longer offer comparable product? Full refund even after 8 full warranty replacements over ten years. Cut deep into their bottom line if they make stuff that breaks.
@@ms3862probably not a federal law because of lobbyists bought out by literally every industry.. another reminder that capitalism is deeply fucking flawed
"Platform decay" is the family friendly version of enshittification that you're looking for.
But enpoopening is still cromulent
We don't need a family friendly version, companies don't deserve that
@@thomasphillips885 but Wade deserves a bank account
I got an exam day after talking about this exact topic. I've never heard of enshittification before this sem and now I'm seeing it EVERYWHERE
@@bumblethunderhe deserves to join a credit union
After "make it suck, charge the same" you have "take away functionality, add a subscription to get itback", "add ads to it" and "use your profits to lobby and ruin the country."
The "end game" is that everything becomes a subscription and we own nothing.
lol that's what I was thinking
yeah lemme pay 55 buckaroonies a month to use this 250 dollar gaming keyboard i got. this is how it will be if we let this shit happen
Or even if you do own something, you have to have a subscription to use it (cough cough BMW heated seats cough cough)
wait thats a thing? thats so fucking stupid and greedy@@kirikatsu3
@@kirikatsu3IM SORRY WHAT
I blame the enshitification of stuff on the 80's corporate attitude of "trimming the fat" by cutting out what isn't necessary. The issue is that now they've removed all the fat from the meat, so now they're cutting away meat (to sell back to us) and bone (which is the foundation of the product) in order to continue to see growth.
I'd blame it on MBAs. They only how how to run a "company", not a "Business". A Company exists to churn out work, a Business exists to churn out products. (wow, just invented that term, perhaps I should patent it... )
@SenileOtaku a shit middle manager will have an idea, implement it, show the potential upside in a fucking PowerPoint presentation in front of the board then get promoted for the GREAT WORK.
Meanwhile everything goes to shit and the new Middle manager has to try to fix the previous great work.
We seem to surround by people who fail upwards.
Eternal growth is fucking dumb
It all goes back to FUCKING REAGAN
"Growth"
God I hate that this has to be a series, but at the same time I'm glad it is. It's nice seeing someone who's honest and not paid off by the shitass companies making shitass products
-marques
-linus
-zolotech
-gregs gadgets
add your own below!
@@creepycassetteDawid Does Tech Stuff
@@creepycassetteIceberg Tech
@@creepycassette8 Bit Guy
@@rydoggo ...he literally doesn't even take sponsorships though? lol
Besides exactly one case with Ecoflow where they offered to send exactly the product he would've otherwise bought for free, he actively preaches not even doing paid ads in his videos - and even then, they clearly didn't hold any editorial power over that solar pergola video, most especially demonstrated by him bringing up his issues with it for his use case
The saddest thing I’ve ever done is work with old school 60’s/70’s test equipment (HP, Tektronix, etc). Every single device used to be an actual work of art; incredible quality, user serviceable parts, and the greatest documentation that told you EXACTLY how EVERYTHING worked. It’s honestly sad that my oscilloscope that predates the moon landing is more reliable than anything else I own.
survivorship bias
@@junoperberry I feel like that's part of it. but at least with primarily mechanical things like old pre ww2 hand tools there are WAY to many of them for it to be a sole reason. typewriters are the same a lot of the time too. hell the number of 80s> cars still running around compared to even 90s cars means something.
Your profile gives me a pedo/creep vibe...
@@junoperberry Trust me, things really were built different back then. If it could be built to last forever, it was.
it’s like those memes back then joking about how the nokia 3310 was indestructible, drop an iphone on the floor, screen breaks, drop a nokia on the floor, house breaks
Its worth noting that these companies are not complaining about "not being profitable", they are complaining that their profits aren't growing year over year, or often that their INCREASE in profits hasn't grown year over year.
Unlimited growth is unsustainable, it WILL come crashing down eventually. People are resistant to change and even if there is a better and often cheaper alternative people will stick with what they know verses something new. There is a tipping point where people are willing to try something new because what they know isn't working, like the camera example in this video.
This is also why we need regulators to be firm with these billion dollar companies, they will CONSTANTLY try to get away with making things worse to save a buck, we need regulators to step in to protect consumers especially if those billion dollar companies have bought up all the competition.
Regulators will not help you. Regulators let it get this bad. As Wade showed in the video, small businesses have to get approval to use the crap corporations get away with selling. Regulators are how the hegemons keep their competition-free position.
I agree regulators let it get this bad but removing regulation is not the magic bullet you seem to think it is. In far too many cases lobby or special interest groups bought and paid for by these same billion dollar companies are behind the resistance to change. As so many conspiracy theorists say, "follow the money". Yes, some regulation can make it harder for smaller companies to get into an industry, but when big companies can either squash or buy up smaller competing companies to maintain their monopoly that is a problem. Classic example, Amazon and diapers. The more you look for it and wonder "why is there no competition in this space" more often than not its because the competition has been quelled by the bigger company either by underhanded tactics or straight up acquisition.
We need regulation to tell these companies what they can't do, and that regulation needs to have teeth to make sure those rules are followed.
@@Pileot You think regulation is going to mitigate the effects of lobbying? Lobbying happens primarily to influence regulation. It's a tax on companies, paid entirely in bribes, from which neither you nor I will benefit in the slightest. You're only feeding this oligarchic government machine by stumping for regulation.
Removing regulation isn't a magic bullet, but it's at least not actively shooting your own foot.
@@JellyMyst So let me be sure I am clear in my understanding. Your point is that because some regulators are corrupt we should remove regulation entirely? Would it not make more sense to ensure regulators are working in consumer's best interests?
Like, do you think Apple moved to USB C because its better for consumers? Do you think right to repair is going to happen on its own without regulation? Are you disillusioned to believe that companies will EVER act in consumer's best interests when profits are on the line? Ok, ok, "ever" is a strong word, there are a few good companies out there who genuinely want to do good in the world, but don't think for a second that major brands wouldn't instantly jump on the chance to make short term profits if it meant screwing their consumers. Regulation is what tries to prevent companies from merging and creating monopolies. Regulation is what enforces things like safety standards. Do you think its easier for companies to follow ROHS standards? Do you think automakers like restrictions on using lead free fuel or having to reduce performance with environmental control devices? Do you think industry is more profitable when following employee safety or environmental requirements? Regulations are there for a reason. I encourage you to look into and provide ANY case where an industry or field has been deregulated and it has ended up better for consumers, I can't think of any.
Yes, companies are going to fight regulation, and for a reason. Regulations are not in place for them, its in place for people like you and me. Consumers. Its to protect us, not them, and removing those guard rails can ONLY be a bad thing. Are they perfect? No, but they are a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
@@Pileot Ensure regulators are working in consumer's best interests? How, exactly? Regulating the regulators? Government is no more invested in your best interests than any company. Less, in fact, since you at least have to choose to give companies your money. The government just steals it.
This isn't better than the alternative. It's worse.
I feel that graph in my soul. When I started my company, I wrote in the charter that it shall not accept investors or shareholders, ever. Can't be sued for your failure to "maintain fiscal responsibility to shareholders" if you don't have any! I make what I want and nobody can tell me to make it worse.
sounds a lot like the valve approach
i fear the day gaben dies or gets cancelled
Fantastic. Venture Capitalists, "Angel Investors", etc are parasites on businesses and the wider economy.
@@silikeite "gets cancelled" haha, sure
Publicly traded companies are the bane of humanity's existence.
@@silikeite gaben is too much of a sweetheart to get cancelled
the next step on the growth graph is "you don't own your stuff anymore, you rent it : )" (and then pay huge fees when it breaks on you
I'm thinking about the Ubisoft exec now.
HP printers in a nutshell.
HP CEO literally said this week they want everyone on subscriptions (they have one for ink already) so
@@blakksheep736 because of their awful new model that means people will eventually lose access to games that they paid actual money for because one day they'll stop deciding to support it?
@@Ayyaii24 yep.
This has singlehandedly made me switch my mindset from "we should sell my late dad's tools" to "don't sell those tools, I might use them when I get a midlife crisis and the new tools suck taint!"
“Make it worse, but charge the same!”
Spoken like a true champ there. People will have tech that disappoint them, and your video was really, really enjoyable as always man! And I can really watch every video titled this, totally.
I wanna share my experience with the tech that led me down. The tech that led me down is the iPhone, as a very important pdf of mine, a pdf on which my job was dependent upon, was not opening.
If it wasn’t for my mom’s crappy Android phone, I would have lost my job. Seriously.
Not to mention the tons of bugs/issues that the current software has, AirDrop sucks, camera issues sucks, etc.
And that is the reason why I am switching back to Android baby! Back to me ol’ roots after 7 years of hardcore iPhone usage!
But man, don’t berate Samsung for the software! I love One UI. I was a Samsung user previously, and I loved it, and since I have previously been a Samsung user, I will be buying S25 Ultra, not the S24, as I was thinking of buying S24 six months after the launch, and I thought that why shouldn’t I wait for six more months to get S25 instead? So, yeah. S25 for me it is.
I agree with this so much. I've always switched back and forth between ios and android for years now, and I don't think i'll ever go back to ios again. My last phone was the iphone 13 mini (which I got for the size), I had it for 2 years and if it wasn't for the crap camera and display refresh rate i'd still have it to this day. I had a hard time with college, sitting in the first row and still struggled to take some clear zoomed in pictures (just x5 zoom shouldnt be acceptable), that was the point I decided to go for samsung again.
Samsung never disappointed me, it's just that ios is much user friendly and smoother to use, but one ui is great as well. Having x3 optical zoom, x30 zoom, 120hz refresh rate, being able to customize the hell out of your phone, and just freedom overall is hard to give up on. Iphone users don't realize how big of a deal 120hz is because they've never experienced it, I went from a samsung s9 to the iphone 13 mini and the display looked great. But now that i've gotten used to the s23 It's hard to look at an iphone. And the fact that the iphone 15 was released like a few months ago and still has 60hz is beyond stupid.
People that complain about OneUI are iphone users that are simply not used to it. I don't have any problems with it since my first ever phone was a samsung s2, and even after years of ios it was really easy to go back to OneUI. That's not on samsung, that's on the user. It's not their fault you don't take your time to google stuff, read the user manual, and figure shit out. They really love pretending as if they didn't have a hard time on their first ever time on ios and had to do some research on how to operate the phone. Once you get the basics down it's a very nice and smooth operating system
Let's hope the marker line on the iPad stays there as a permanent reminder to never draw with a marker on flimsy paper
Paper that let me down
‘tis a mere scar, a reminder of the struggles we’ve been through to get here.
the funny thing is i think that's wax paper
...wax paper ain't supposed to leak like that
I'm upset he changed the case a while ago, I like seeing it gradually build up wear
Its canon dankpods lore now. We were all here for it
Companies don’t make money by selling a product once, they make money by making people buy a product again and again and again. My fridge was built in 1991 and runs perfectly. They used to be called “consumer durables.” That term isn’t used anymore.
My parents have had the same washing machine and dryer for over 20 years. I only remember the dryer needing a repair once. Repair guy told them to keep those for as long as they could because a lot of the modern stuff he sees is just junk
My washing machine is falling apart, they're just not built like they used to
you only see things that survive, all the terrible fridges were thrown away 30 years ago
Maybe economic growth just for economic growth is not good for society?
@@echo_soldierthe only problem is now 20/30 year old appliances used banned chemicals and are super energy inefficient
The reason that enshittification is supposed to not work is that the free market *should* create alternatives to the shitterton product which would eventually go bankrupt because people would buy/use the new product, but the issue is the products and services that are getting enshittified now are often so big that there is only one or 2 competitors and they are also doing the same tactics to make more money or force you to lock into/drop out of an ecosystem of products/peripherals. It's almost impossible to come up against them as a small company too, the economy of scale that these massive corpos enjoy make any attempt to compete a long term battle at best.
Part 3: tech that let YOU down
Part 4: tech that let US down
I love these videos, but can you do a "tech that just stinkin works" special when/if you ever find good stuff?
I mean PKCells are a great example of this, cheap through in batteries to some cheap iPod garbage from 2014 Target and somehow they still worked
+1 that. I think we should give more of a presence to companies that give premium service and premium lifespan, whether or not if theyre known or not
Oooh yes. Also tradie tools too plsss
He did. It was that yellowed cable and the old iPod. Unfortunately, that's it.
@@titantimand İPad!
"Haha, look at all this stuff that doesn't work!"
He throws the router on the desk, and my stomach drops, knowing I have one in the next room that's a few months old.
Hope you saved the receipt for it :)
Both you and Wade fucked up bigtime.
Never! buy anything that is made for "gamers" or "Gaming". 99.9 percent of the time the item in question will break or underperform compared to a standard product of the same price.
My mum and dad are divorcing but are still on good terms one of a few reasons they aren't fully separated is because of an old barbeque plate that they don't want to split because it
1. Cooks great
2. Spreads heat evenly very well
3. Hasn't ever jumped out of multiple BBQs we've owned
4. Still doesn't have much gunk stick to it easily
I will also say that the barbeque plate was passed down 2 generations now it is older than I am and im sitting here drinking beer while watching this so it is very old
DankPods suddenly and insightfully touching on the problems with capitalism, 10/10
Capitalism is the consensual exchange of goods and services between two private individuals or entities, don't be lazy with your language.
If you're planning to switch to using that DSLR for filming, make sure it doesn't have a video duration limit - most cameras will cut off before 30 mins for tax reasons, as if a camera can record for over 30 mins it's taxed at a different rate as it's classified as a camcorder
and i thought the "chicken tax" for small trucks in the US was stupid...
Although, a workaround for that if you don't care about video quality would be to use the hdmi out and capture the preview screen instead
or you can actually use it as a "webcam", and record it off your pc, i think ive heard some streamers talk about that
@@thepuzzlemaster64 The quality out the HDMI is fine, the annoyance with doing it is that you need an external recorder, which is yet another point of failure/let-down.
Is this really a thing? I have never heard of it or is it an Australia thing
I'd love to see a "Tech that HASNT let me down" special. I get hay like the whole point is tech failing is more of a problem but I'd love a video of the tech that Wade can rely on. Would be very interesting
Shouting out the few brands that are keeping it up is a good idea
Craig never lets him down
@@thekingoffailure9967 Craig never held him up in the first place. XD
I'd imagine most of them would be headphones.
@@blakksheep736 wired ones for sure
I stopped buying things new a few years ago. I got sick of software dying after a few months, batteries completely failing after a year, exterior cases cracking to the point of becoming deadly edged weapons, clothes that fall apart after just months, and constant toxicity scares from treated surfaces wearing away. My furniture is old, my cookware is old, my clothes are old (most having been repaired by my hands more times than America's roadways), my home electronics are old. The only problem is that I'm having to go through increasingly esoteric ways of fixing things, because anything made after the 1990s has so much plastic in it that just taking it apart to fix it has a pretty good chance of breaking it entirely. I cannot disassemble my stereo system to fix the tape stop button for that very reason, and so I have created a method of using a hand made metal spring to push the lever down instead.
The modern world is great. I love it.
I have a +$2000 gravel bike that I've had since 2021. The derailur would constantly fall out of position atthe slightest nudge, wheel would come out of true at least once a month. Snapped the fork by running it into a bench at low speeds.
Another bike, a steel mountian bike from 1993 that I bought from a used bike store, ridden 1000+ miles, changed repaired or upgraded almost every component, hit by several cars (and slipped on ice many times more,) still going strong.
I finally bought a new table fan to replace the old, cheap Zellers fan that ran almost continuously since 1997. Only getting a break during power outages and the occasional cleaning.
I replaced it with a fan from Hampton Bay. They made our ceiling fans and those are still going strong 18 years later.
Dead within a day. Started smoking an hour in.
I did an autopsy before sending it back. There was absolutely no oil in the bearings. They forgot to lube the thing. We've hit the point where I don't want to buy anything anymore because I know it's going to be crap.
Now I just have some ancient industrial fan from the 50s. At least I can oil this one so it'll never run dry.
And the less said about all the ACDelco and Delphi parts that have quit on me in the last 12 months, the better. I can't even depend on factory replacement parts for my car anymore.
They forgot to LUBE THE MOTOR!? Merlin above they must be penny pinching 😂
The tower fans they sell at Costco very good. The Seville ones. I had one for about 15'+ years. They don't really change them asides for a couple things.
For a ceiling fan I recommend looking up a Lowes special or look out for ceiling fans where the blades are curved and not just straight pieces of cheap MDF board. I picked up a Lowes fan and it was decent for the price. Great LED light and has a handy remote. The latter are more likely to invest more into R&D because the curved blades require actual engineers to design it rather than copy and pasting a flat piece. My quality ceiling fan that I picked up for free at a thrift store 6 years ago the brand name is Minka-Aire. I probably got a fan that was 10 years old at the time. The bearings are still perfect and it doesn't make noise, just the sound of air moving.
I have a cieling fan from '91, it was an old outdated desing (manufactured locally by a small, now defunct, company) probably from the 60s, best fan I've ever had. I've even moved since and I brought the damm thing with me. Last year a floor fan my grandmother bought used in the 80s finally died (and I wanted to repair it) but my family insisted I buy a new one, and, OH BOY, they were literally no non-terrible fans avaible, the cost didn't even matter, NOBODY even bodered to import anything but the trashiest trash (as if people suddenly didn't need a fan anymore).
@@Nkrlz I was shopping for a fan recently and noticed the same thing. Most are junk, even if you pay a lot. I found a couple that were promising, but I'm hesitant to get my hopes up.
As part of my job, I have to test the cleaning equipment I service. It's called PAT testing here in the UK (portable appliance testing) (but I also test fixed/hard wired appliances), and the number of items I've seen with pass stickers on from previous companies that are defective or damaged/dangerous has been scary at times. Also, the more old machinery I service, the more I realise how cheap and shitty new things are.
I also do portable appliance testing and what annoys me are the stickers put on devices that run off an external PSU, you know they are getting paid per item when they do that and it makes me question their ability to do the job.
Also the fact that our new machine is a cheapo pass/fail one, I like to be able to do tests independent of one another if necessary and I like an ohms readout for the bond test so I know if it's something simple like a poor connection.
@dglcomputers1498 it's unfortunate that PAT testing is a numbers game with a lot of companies. I've occasionally done just plain PAT testing, and when I have gotten complains that I'm not doing enough items each hour, which frustrates me to no end.
@@kyleholloway3470 I'm lucky that normally I get left to it, it's testing stuff in the hire fleet caravans at work normally and my boss has no real idea of how long it takes, i might get asked sometimes about how long i'm taking but just ignore it. I'm just above minimum wage so they are saving a lot anyway.
Interestingly I was doing some key cutting at work and the GM was around and asked how any I reckon I could do in a day, naturally I didn't give an answer though he did say at one point "about 50?" to which I should have said yes as it turns out I'd already done more than 50 so far that day!
wait...if PAT Testing stands for that, then wouldn't it be "Portable Appliance Testing Testing"? lol
@@miimeimu it's one of those odd grammatical things.
100% with you on this one could not agree more and glad someone is calling it out.
I rarely buy tech stuff any more, and when I do it is obsessively researched for days/weeks beforehand.
god the version of taps you chose for your sample (here and hello i’m gaming) is so beautifully played and it makes it hilarious
The next step? Hardware subscription plans. For a monthly fee companies will keep their crappy products replaced and updated for you. Then profits can continue to climb by modestly increasing subscription fees every year or so.
Yep. HP are already doing that with their printers and "Instant Ink" and planning to do it even harder.
BMW tried it with their "subscribe to the heated seats feature which is already in the car you bought". Massive consumer backlash.
John Deer
@@256byteramthe thing most people dont realize is alot of vehicles have everything installed, or at least, they use the exact same wiring harnesses but you would need the switch/heater. BMW just decided to try something new which honestly i thought was a neat concept
@@lukelegg9915 you mean instead of charging once for the thing already installed on your car, they can charge you _endlessly_ for the thing installed on your car? What a steal!
For me the worst thing has been that nothing can be fixed. Grandparents and parents grew up in days where you could take things apart and fix em up. Things made of metal you could de-rust and bend back into shape. Wood parts that could be replaced. Bolts and screws that you could take apart over and over again. Now it's plastic that will turn to goop or to dust one day and there's nothing you can do about it. Everything glued or clipped together never to come apart again. You economic theory is spot on too. Who knows where we go from here but i hope things do get better
They COULD be fixed. But they'd have to supply parts and schematics. Too much special interest lobbying to allow that to happen. The excuse is for "safety" because customers are too dumb to wield a soldering iron. Though the real reason is always money.
That‘s not true- you just have to find the courage to dig in. I repaid our oven and replaced a heating element (I’m far from an electrician, but I worked clean, and I double checked everything), computers, furniture (i learned was a wood router was), and now I’m even printing spare parts with my 3d printer. I had a plastic part break on a window, which wasn’t available any longer snd used parts were ridiculously overpriced. So i downloaded a „near enough“ part on thingiverse, tuned it a bit (i had 4 reprints), and tadaa, success! (I uploaded the part for everybody to use, obviously). Yes, you might break a piece or to, but that’s the „learning charge“, so to speak. But if you succeed you’ll be proud of the things you can safe, even if you won’t install plumbing any time soon there’s a lot to do, i know it! 😉👍
I really appreciate these videos you do and really look forward to you doing more of these.
Companies will not care how crap something really is until everything comes crashing down from belowe them, retailers and all, with their short term strategies.
We have to bring them down sooner than they will bring us, by spreading word and not purchasing from them. We live in a world where lesser known but upstanding smaller companies are more trustworthy than the "trusted" big brand.
This was so hilarious 😂 please do more of these Tech that fails videos
the next in the line is clearly the products you do buy also having subscriptions to make you pay continuously after the initial purchase, oh and of course sacking even more employees and replacing them with AI chatbots so you dont need to pay for customer service staff, and given how bad the chatbots are you also get to avoid actually carrying out warrenty because people just give up before ever getting that far.
pirate adobe software
Samsung is already attempting that kinda crap with Galaxy AI lol. Good thing that shit is useless.
In the long term tho I wonder if it'll create some black market.
@@Shrek_Has_Covid19 adobe software isn't the only thing doing subscriptions now, even heated seats in cars now have subscriptions :/
@@yelp2334 tf
>replacing them with AI chatbots so you dont need to pay for customer service staff
I hate to say this, but that's already happened. Are you aware of a service called Sprinklr?
Does make me wonder if the term “Disposable Generation” was something companies can use to cover up their new business model lol
Yea and everyone acts like its us, the consumer that caused it. Its not really our fault things got less fixable and break more
disposable executives
Is that the funny tumblr man in the wild
Fancy seeing you here. :3
I love, and resonate with, everything in this video, especially the quest for profits driving all of this.
This is why I buy vintage stuff and repair/mod it to work with modern devices.
Got me a couple drive in movie theater speakers. Slapped some batteries and bluetooth receivers in them, and they work like a dream.
The future is diy and open source
@@SlavTiger Recently switched to Linux and I wish I had done it sooner
@@SlavTigernot for your average consumer. like, would you want to go through debugging and config hell every time you installed a new light switch?
@@breakfastattwilight I tried to run Ubuntu but I could not get past the fact that it asked me for a password for every change I wanted to make. I might install Linux Mint on a spare machine I have and try using it
@@ambiarock590 Haven't used Ubuntu. I use Debian and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't get asked for my password for everything. The thing I dislike most about Linux is that some software is not available for the OS. This is more the fault of software developers rather than Linux itself. My machine is set to dualboot into Windows should the need arise.
Up until 2020, things were slowly declining in quality, but then something happened and everything just nosedived in quality. I hesitate to buy anything anymore.
SAME I just get frustrated whenever I need to get a new product. Usually i go for second hand alternatives or just decide on not buying it at all and living without it. After the tv died within two years I have decided to stop watching tv. Actually very good for mental health lmaoo
I originally bought iPods cuz I thought it would be fun to have. Nowadays I actively use them because my opinions on streaming nosedove. You don't own the music, you're limited what devices you can store it on, your library access is at the labels' whims; so my iPods have become my actual music players
@@bingbong6066 I stopped watching tv 10 years ago, I had an oldish tv that died last year, it lasted for around 13 years and I used it everyday as a monitor for my pc (it was pretty decent, 1080p with 60hz and good colors, nothing amazing but nothing to complain about either). My family got a TV like 4 years ago, they had so many dead pixels they had to change it (it was under 2 years so it still had warranty), shortly after the same problem happened and they couldn't repair it via warranty anymore so they bought a new one. Guess what, this new tv is starting to have similar problems as well (a straight thin black line that will slowly get bigger and bigger). Nothing can convince me that 80% of the engineering does NOT go into figuring out how to make stuff break the second it turns 2 years old so the warranty is void
Good news Wade, after this step plateaus the next step is subscription models! Bet you can’t wait for that Malwaukee drill to be the same terrible quality but cost 6.99 a month or it bricks itself!
If you see any product that shows "cloud connectivity" and/or "smart" on the box, that is an anti-feature. If it always connects to the internet it has the capability to remove features from you and charge you a subscription for it.
Hey Wade, I feel you on a lot of this. Phones suck, tools break all the damn time, and probably the worst was an example from my good friend Rob. We do live streams on the road in high school gyms, and we have to use our own internet because schools have the actual worst internet you've ever seen. Not too long ago, the hotspot just died, and we had to get a new one. The provider made us wait for god knows how long to replace it, giving us the run around the whole time, and forcing us to do multiple streams on school wifi. Big companies are actually the worst, especially big tech.
What Wade is describing hre sounds like the main theme of "the Innovator's dilemma". Big companies eventually fall or they need to tap out into new, risky markets (which cost them a lot of money). Small startups don't require a ton to be sucessful, and that's how new companies are born.
The next step after "make it worse for the same cost" is "make the customer keep paying for features as subscriptions once they've bought it."
i aint fuckin buying/renting
mercedes/bmw: "why are ppl not buying our cars anymore? we treat them like shit, demanding subscription for stuff we already built in the car and that was free to use in the older models and they stop buying. we can't figure out why!!!"
I originally bought iPods because it Wade and I thought it was fun to have a couple lying around. Nowadays I actively use these instead of music streaming so I can actually own my music and not have to pay monthly for my music. Streaming sucks
This is one of those frustrations I am completely and 100% behind. Also-now you can't even FIX THE THINGS YOU BOUGHT, BECAUSE IT'S DESIGNED TO BREAK AND BE UNFIXABLE AGH.
It could be the rose-tinted glasses talking, but I feel like you used to be able to buy garbage, or get quality if you paid enough.
But now you get crap no matter how much you pay; while you can still find the good stuff, it's SO much harder to find, and SO much more expensive.
Though if I remember correctly the sandblasting cabinet was a bit dodgy to begin with, so that one kind of checks out
Right there with you, everything in our world has become disposable and it makes me sick
I really appreciate how from the beginning you've been honestly a really good consumer advocate. You're consistently looking out for people but doing it in an entertaining and funny and easily understandable way. I really respect that!!
Yeah I found a 4th gen IPod in a drawer years ago and after seeing your first video in 2019 I swapped the battery, stopped using it after awhile and let it completely die again for like 3 years and I needed something that could play music that wasn't a phone so I plugged it in and it just works like nothing even happened. Sounds better than my stinking phone too even with all the "ultra HD quality" and "spatial audio" bs amazons pushing on amazon music the songs that were pirated on that thing like 20 years ago still sound better lol. Speaking of declining quality those KBear headphones you recommend occasionally have gotten worse, I have 4 pairs because I keep losing them and buying new ones then finding the old ones and after pair #2 they stopped coming with a mic, pair #1 and #2 are broke or about to be, atp and I just use them for parts to keep pair #4 and #3 kicking. Love your vids keep it up even with everything getting shittier!
I can't stand companies switching more and more into easy Cash-grabbing instead of customer care
Because it actually caring for the customer doesn’t make money
We really need to implement degrowth and ecosocialism. Unfettered capitalism is not working
@@ambiarock590 good luck with that
glorified organized crime tbh
@@ambiarock590 Yep. This current system will eat itself. Continuous growth is a stupid thing to base the economy off. Nobody wins, not even the massive companies who initially profit from it.
I listened to a podcast recently that had some insight on why tech is getting worse. It was the It Could Happen Here (A show from the people who do Behind the Bastards, which is excellent) episode on shitty AI tech they saw at CES. And they remarked that in terms of actual capabilities, nothing there felt like it couldn't have been there years ago. Compared to the huge jumps we saw from like, 2008 until around 2020, everything has slowed down. There's not really any of the huge, exciting, marketable leaps like we saw with smartphones for the previous decade. Improvements are happened, of course, but they aren't the sort that will interest most consumers. And we're seeing things like laptop sales fall because a ton of people bought them during the lockdowns, but now they don't need to. So companies want SOMETHING to try and convince people to buy new versions of stuff they already have, and that solution has been "Slap pointless AI in it". But that's not really working because none of them really took the time to figure out why people would want something like a crib that has AI that will rock your baby based on how it feels (Yes, this was a thing they saw at CES and yes, it is going to shake a baby to death if it is fully released). So for now, they're just cutting costs as much as possible and making stuff shittier.
Excellent point
Oooh, thanks for the recommend. Ngl I'm giggling at the thought of shitty AI being a money sink after all the techbros' attempts at gaslighting and gloating lel.
the new way to make people buy new shit is to force em, like shutting down 3g and 4g towers. It's really getting pathetic perfectly working things being replaced for no good reason and causing massive e waste
It really is just planned obsolescence taken to a ridiculous degree
@@Bionicleforever and sadly the only solution is socialism which can become infinitely worse much easier
Framework and fair phone give me some hope.
I just wish someone would do a similar thing for cars.
I forgot about Fairphone! Really hope they both succeed!
When it comes to orbis, they have worked fine at my parents house for like 5 years. No problems.the router has quit several times and the orbis have survived just fine
1:38
Without context, the graph represents how much stink Frank emits over time
5:18 That still feels like too much of a compliment for Apple considering they were strong-armed into putting usb-c on it. Otherwise, it would still use the lightning cable.
They were only forced into puting USB-C by the EU Government, otherwise they would've stuck with lightning.
@@Turtle_13lol that's what he said
Not true. Apple promised 10 years of lightning, they were already moving off it. They’re on the USB-C standards body for christs sake
@@Girvo747at my house, we never bought new electronics until a while. when my mom got an iPhone 15(?), it came with a cable but not a brick. I dont know how many times i've told my grandma "it doesnt work with lightning!"
also, my grandma insists that everything from verizon is official. i keep telling her what real boxes look like, she doesnt listen.
@@Girvo747 yeah, but it would've taken at the very least a year or two more.
this is his 420th video. take that info any way you want.
I love these videos cause I am do a lot of buying of cheap Chinese electronics like microcontrollers for projects, and they have all been rock solid. How these name brand manufacturers are basically repackaging and selling these for ridiculous amounts manage to bung them up more than I can with a sodering iron is amazing
This has a name: Planned obsolescence. You're sadly not the only one to experience this.
Your manky cardboard graph is the perfect representation of modern tech.
Junk that is easily damaged and works only for a short time, if at all.
in contrast, my 1987 Electrolux vacuum cleaner has only become useless because you can't get the dust bags anymore.
I have an old Kirby 508 from 1948 that I restored a few years back. That thing will pick up better than most vacuum cleaners today and it's nowhere near as loud. And the motor only draws 5 amps. Bagless vacuums suck.
@T_Burd_75 suck as in they suck things up or theyre awful
@@wibbliams Not in a good way. Sorry half asleep.
make your own with paper, glue, and a 3d printer to make the hose adapter
what 3d printer do i get i’ve always wanted one for cool shit like this lmao
We've had an Orbi router here in the states for almost 2 years now, you have to restart it every few months, but then it keeps working fine. Best of luck with yours!
For networking stuff, namely WiFi, de-integrating has been the best thing I've ever done. My network has become SOOOO much more reliable after ditching the all-in-one boxes we call wireless routers. I use a little mini PC with dual 2.5Gbps ethernet running pfSense as a router, a couple of unmanaged switches, and a couple dedicated wireless access points. 99% of my network problems have disappeared. I have ONE issue. If the modem ever goes out, I have log in to the router and reboot it when the modem comes back up to get internet again. Don't know why. I might be able to solve that by switching to OPNSense. The pfSense router I did mostly for giggles anyway. Really, just switching to dedicated access points did me the most good.
should make a vid showing how to set that up.
Can't wait now for the iPad Skid mark to have it's own character growth across the channels and episodes
I agree, there's too many "Top" lists of junk that is "good". More influencers should call out the crap. I consider myself very skeptical when it comes to purchasing anything. If I find something good like a good shirt or a good dongle, I buy a few of them knowing that when I need a new one, they will have made it worse
The thing is... If influencers called out crap goods, sponsorship offers will likely decrease. Then again, social influencers usually hock anything from unnecessary goods to outright scams.
I've heard enough about Prime Hydration to know I don't want to drink that crap (Gatorlyte and Electrolit are better hydration drinks anyway), you heard about Raid Shadow Legends so much you know you don't want to play it, dare I go on?
I need to buy a document scanner at some point so I can digitize my recipts and stuff. I need to research which one to get to ensure that the one I buy does not come with subscriptions is not cloud connected, and doesn't have any locked down garbage
You have no idea how much use I get out my component level repair skills in my everyday life. It's nice to be able to repair things when they break, especially given how often things break these days.
any advice on locating replacement chips? fucking nearly everything is unobtainium
@@SlavTiger buy donor broken devices, that's basically all you can do for a lot of unobtanium
although a lot of things use specialist chips you can identify as being copies of another chip
Discovered this channel probably about 2 years ago. Love the content! Even had memberships on Floatplane and Patreon. It's a perfect combo of my electronics geek, and breaking things. 😊 I too love manky old electronics (and just old stuff in general really), and sometimes fixing them up. I will say.. I dispise Apple.. with every fiber of my being.. however.. the Ipod was just the GOAT of music players. So for my nostalgia and a bit of a side hobby. I bought a 30gb 5th gen. That's just the best looking one IMO. Paid 50 bucks for it, so it should be in pretty good condition.. doesn't really matter much. Mainly I did this because when you listen to music, few things are more irritating than getting a text or a phone call, when you're rocking out and having a good time.. then RING RING RING! I plan on Restoring it, and it will mostly live in my car as my dedicated music player. I plan on either Restoring or replacing the case to make the boy look nice😊, new big batt, flash mod, and possibly BT mod. Probably get some good dirty buds also (Likely those sweet looking IEMs you recommended in the past) depending on if I do the BT mod or not. I wanted to do this with a.. Na-no😊.. those were actually my favorite ones. I actually found a perfect condition 4th gen in my car that I just bought. However, I found out after buying a cable for it. The batt was cooked (and the infamous black spot was starting) so I bought a good tool set to take it apart. Had to poke a hole in the batt to vent it to get it out. I was super safe about it. But either someone had been in there.. or I (very possible) broke the hold switch and clickwheel ribbon cables. Then I found out you have to desolder the batt to get it out, and flash modding the nanos isn't really worth it or not possible. It was a very pretty pod.. almost new looking in blue.. but just wasn't meant to be. Anyways, I wanted to thank you for getting me back into an old hobby!😊😊
Update: Oh boys did I mess up. 😂 So for 50 bucks I got a Blk 30gb 5th gen that was marked as "good" condition and looked good in the pics. Which is true.. the front of the face has almost no scratches, and everything does work. That's where the good ends. To put it mildly.. Someone's been in here! 😂 Every clip that holds it together is broken.. looks like a butter knife was their entry tool of choice.. the hold switch works.. sometimes. The headphone port is dented badly.. and there's a small dent on the back... 50 bucks. Luckily I was planning on a restoration.. and boy did I get it. Should have just bought a parts lot. 😂 So.. plan of action. I've ordered a new blk front face plate, a 4ch flash board, a blk back case with a 3k mah battery, and a BT Transmitter. May get a different color clickwheel later for style points. Only thing I'll lose is the hold switch because that how the BT goes on for now.. and I'll figure that out later. Wish me luck boys!
The chart is a step behind because the next step that is happening now is make everything as cheap as possible then attach it to an app and hide "features" behind a paywall/subscription.
Everything is throwaway and temporary now. You'd be lucky if a newly bought device lasts for more than a year. We need more content creators to point out that it is not ok, because at this rate the only legacy new tech will leave us with is a pile of crumbling plastic.
unironically the best and most compact explanation of financial history i've ever seen
I feel you man. I remember when the tech you bought just worked until something physically broke. So frustrating.
You should have bought a Henry vacuum cleaner. He can live with George in the cupboard and everything.
As a former pro cleaner, Henrys are crap too. My colleagues mostly used these old metal things like dustbins or Henrys, and when one of the metal ones died they gave us a Nilfisk. My colleague whose machine died didn't rate Nilfisk but I tried it and immediately swapped her my Henry. Nilfisk sucked better and quieter, rolled better and had a longer cable.
Next thing to increase profits is no longer selling the product but making it a subscription
Already happening in cars.
I’m not looking forward to the future at all.
Subscriptions work for things where constant updates are expected, it costs money to employ devs to work on updates, but for things like cars , you should be able to use the features in the car for no extra cost, and pay walled stuff should be things that aren't free to provide
I feel your pain, 2 and a half yr old LG fridge and the compressor is borked already. Reason why I go old school vintage with a majority of my appliances. I have a 1983 Sharp Carousel, almost daily used never skipped a beat. Meanwhile the LG microwave at home has a broken latch and horrible touch keypad.
Companies nowadays aren’t making anything worth owning these days and I’m sick of it as well.
Same fridge thing happened to me. Abseloutely sucked.
I’ve had fun with my Marshall earphones that lasted all of 6 *weeks* before the right one completely borked it. This is after I went through 3 pairs of JBLs in 2 years which is after 2 pairs of Airpods.
The only earphone I’ve had where ones battery didn’t just start dying before the other are my JBL Tune 210s, because they started physically falling apart instead.
This makes me feel grateful that my hobby of choice is being an audiophile. It's the only market I can think of where the cheap chinese stuff is actually good if you know what to look for.
Those usually don’t last either though. I bought KZs around 2021, the cable only lasted a couple months, so ended up replacing that 3 times, and now one of the speakers is giving out in the cold. In the end it only lasted 2 years with extensively trying to keep it going
@@fridtjofriibe5961 My cheap KZs are also disappointingly unreliable. Many times I notice one of the buds not working proper, but after a clean out of almost no gunk in the tube, it works fine. The cable though, is kinda trash. It often cuts one of the channels if you don't rotate it right in the plug :(
I have two cables for my KZs and they both do this.
Also getting good old headphones lasts your forever. My brother didn't see the benefit in buying thousand dollar headphones but they are cheaper than a home hifi setup and you could literally keep them for your entire life and they would outlive you. Id love to get a set of Emyrians at some point later on in life
Wade you are a saint. I nearly bought one of those Bluetti disasters. THANK YOU
Stay away from Ecoflow aswell, my Ecoflow delta pro for $4500 went up in smoke just like dankpods did. (He had one ecoflow unit also)
Ooh ok noted thanks so much@@Unknown-sz8kg
WADE! A product has come to my attention, FIIO KB3. Audiophile keyboard. Keyboard with DAC AMP. Positively beautiful looking too.
You skipped the tech that gave you up. I'm looking forward to the tech that ran around and deserted you, the tech that made you cry, that said to you goodbye, as well as the tech that told you a lie and hurt you. I WILL BE WAITING, MATE.
I think we are finally understanding why some say 'they don't make them like they used to'
We old now
My best tech purchase last year was a $35 Asus disc drive. It got me into collecting CDs (music streaming sucks now anyway) and ripping them to FLAC. The drive is just a simple one without Blu-Ray support, but it gets the job done.
Fun fact: It came with a mini USB to USB-C cable, one of the most cursed things I've seen.
I’m honestly convinced manufacturers make something work for MAX >2 years, so that when it breaks down there is no more warranty (in the eu)
I totally agree. And it's considered normal. Only in advertising is everything told beautifully, in fact you get something that works when the stars stand in a certain position in the sky.
Time to revert. We have to push for the preservation of older tech even harder. Thanks for bringing on this awareness.
I originally bought iPods cuz I thought it was fun to have. Now I actually use these as my music players and I've cancelled Spotify. Streaming services suck and I'd rather own my music
@@ambiarock590 I feel you. I'm still stuck on streaming just because I don't have the time to curate playlists and I lost all of my CDs. 😩 I will try to make the switch back when I can though. You're a real one though. Thanks for keeping on-the-go music alive. 🙌🏿
@@coolworths I've bought quite a bit of stuff from Elite Obsolete. I'd love to keep using these iPods for numerous years. I'm really starting to appreciate dysconnectivity where no one can bother you while listening to music, not being disturbed by a phone call when you go places; constant connectivity is not a thing I'm a fan of
You very very nearly fit Apple's description of their perfect customer for iPhone the way you were using it for all your vids on your channel *and* as your main phone, like, that's one of it's single strongest selling points, and you + your channel style + how good they've gotten fit the bill literally perfectly for that use case. Your use case was basically the *ideal* use case for what they want to market to. To have you choose to voluntarily stop using it indicates a colossal failure on Apple's part and is actually probably a bigger deal than it might seem at first since if someone who it's *this* perfect for from a conceptual point of view can't justify continuing with it then well it's basically failed at it's purpose.
We had once an old Kaercher pressure washer, smallest, cheapest model, yet high quality pump, survived over 20 years in a small agriculture with 2 tractors and often washing them and other stuff. Nearly daily use! In the end rust and leakages ended its life, motor, pump etc still fine!
Got many years ago a K5.... little did i know, the modern not highest end products use cheaper, less durable pumps. Had them to replace under warranty 2 times before we got a K7 with at least the brass pump which held up at least the past 4 years.
The issue with those practices... despite not needing any better pressure washer.... i have to buy now the expensive, highest end Kaercher K series because only the top model gets the higher quality brass pump while in the 90s up to about 2000 they had even in their cheapest, smallest model a very durable pump.
4:00 should set up a iPhone to film the new iPhone to see what it does when it just shuts off.....
"Samsung, your software stinks"
Uh oh, be ready for war
As a Samsung user absolutely. Good luck!
Frankly I have barely any issues with their software (bloatware can be removed, Good Luck is an amazing customization tool and One UI as a whole is wonderful for customizing, and nowadays its very fast and fluid), but I'd be lying to say it doesn't have issues, or that people are invalid for not liking it.
@@Photo0021the thing is wade seems like a guy who wants things to work perfectly for his needs straight out the box with no issues. Android can be made to be amazing but requires some work (as you outlined in your comment)
@@Photo0021 same, I use an s23 ultra, and the software is amazing, I used goodlock to customize the theme colors
@@pyther9852 agreed 👍, it needs work, but when it works, it downright decimates iOS. On top of the new s24 ultra ai features that just released
@@pyther9852 And I get it a lot since I have family who is the same! And the only Android they'd ever touch is stock Android (Found in Pixel, Moto, etc) and they still prefer iPhone.
thank you for bringing this up, every goddamn youtuber on the planet is like "THIS IS AMAZING IT'S 3% BETTER THAN LAST YEAR AND 100$ MORE GO BUY IT NOW" especially in the f ing smartphone space
"You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villan."
This is exactly how I feel thank you dank
That Orbi will probably work more fine if it's not placed right in the nook of that metal trim.
But yeah I've basically just given up on consumer networking gear, it's so bad. Look at small business type stuff: I've got an Edgerouter X and a UFO looking wireless access point. Together they cost about 170 Freedom Eagles and they beat the pants off $300+ wireless routers. After 3 years of use that duo still works like new.
100% I bought a cheap $40 Netgear business router specifically for the sole purpose of having a dedicated router to use Oculus Airlink for (needs WiFi 6 to function at its best) and it works perfect for that. Although the range is actually less than the router my ISP gave me (this chunky absolute unit of a box that has great range.) and I'm glad my ISP is local and Co-op owned so its unlikely to go completely shit. The best bit is that, while I have to pay for a home phone (ugh $36 extra a month) because I am in the co-op I get a check once a year that refunds me a bit of my money. Last year's was like $160. Doesn't beat having your ISP pay you!
I can't stop staring at the scar on the iPad now.
the ray of sunshine and hope i needed this morning lol
Seeing the early examples of new tech failing testing reminded me of when I worked as a service tech for a company that makes commercial kitchenware. My very first job was 6 hours of running every test to prove the problem was a faulty GFCI, then 10 minutes down the street re-wiring a food warmer because someone back at the plant didn't read the wiring diagram. We charged thousands for steel tables that you can buy for 1/8 the price and double the quality from anywhere that sells stainless steel.
I like how the one person who you don’t want to give a bad user experience to is the same guy every single big company just gives their crap to
One thing that really caught me off guard was when I was looking a nice hair comb, I couldn't find a one that was as nice as my mom's plastic comb, which surprisingly she got free with some makeup back in the 80's. Why can't a simple product be produced well?
I got the comb I could find, which sucked, they bend at the slightest knot.
It feels like even the brooms are made worse now, and for what? It's has gotten into all product categories.
I could make a whole video myself complaining about stuff atp.
I'd suggest buying a wooden comb, I've had 2 for years and outside deliberately breaking them I can't fathom why i'd ever need to buy more
“Frank Stinkatra”
That’s all.
The problem is that after a time like you showed profit is not aligned with human needs anymore, thank you
Soon we'll just have devices in those blister packs which we'll buy every day because the charge ports will be gone in the "tech revolution"
That's basically what a lot of vaping devices are now. Single use gadgets with lipo batteries.
@@ToastyMozart and rightly so, places are starting to consider banning them because of the *monumental* amount of waste they produce (As well as the protect the children strawman, instead of policing the retailers selling them like the law allows)
Also fun fact, most if not all of those disposable vapes have rechargeable batteries in them, given that they're usually lipo batteries, absolute insanity that they're treated as disposable. You're aware of this already but I'm sure many others that might read this won't be
@@ToastyMozart I was so pissed when I first saw one of Big Clive's videos about how to recover the batteries from discarded single use vapes (or refill them if you want). WTF. So much plastic and battery waste.
@@ToastyMozart Ive needed to repair one refillable vape, and damn that thing was easy to take apart, 2 screws and its basically fully apart
Never knew a sequel would be made,but here we are!
3:40 Funny that I watch and I currently live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (I stumbled upon your vids and subbed mostly due to the iPod stuff more or less, lol)
I love videos like this. PLEASE make more. this should not be a "special". it should be a regular series.
A 'It's like the biggest companies make the worst junk or something' series would be sick
Crappy products like this is why I follow Louis Rossmann. His videos are great for knowing which products to avoid