Alexa Dangers, ASUS Fire Hazads, and TikTok Trends

Dangerous Tech and Recalls

Alexa's Dangerous Suggestion

• A 10-year-old child was prompted by Alexa to perform the "Penny Challenge," which involved plugging a phone charger halfway into an outlet and touching a penny to the exposed prongs.
• The hosts emphasized the severe danger of this act, including the risk of fire and electrocution, and strongly advised against such behavior.
• Amazon addressed the issue, claiming they took swift action to fix the suggestion. The discussion led to a broader debate on whether AI-driven assistants require more human oversight before offering advice or suggestions.

ASUS Z690 Motherboard Recall

• ASUS issued a recall for their ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard due to a capacitor being installed backward, which causes the board to catch fire.
• The issue is confirmed by several reports. The hosts suggested that if users bought this board, they should immediately check their serial numbers on the ASUS support page.

Internet Trends and Business

TikTok's Rise

• TikTok has officially surpassed Google as the most visited website, according to data from Cloudflare.
• The hosts discussed whether this reflects a true societal shift or if it is purely a result of how DNS queries are counted.

LTT Updates and Content Strategy

• Linus addressed the logistical challenges regarding LTT merch, mentioning that five containers of products are currently stuck at the port, delaying restocks.
• The team shared a new strategy for future videos: "If you are not addressing the title and thumbnail within the first 10 to 20 seconds of the video, you do not have a video."
• Linus revealed plans for a new series called "Secret Shopper" in 2022, where the team will anonymously test their sponsors' services and publicly highlight those that fail to meet a specific quality rubric.

Community Q&A

Scrapyard Wars

• The hosts concluded that Scrapyard Wars is likely retired, citing a "ruined" used hardware market, the difficulty of going incognito, and the inability to avoid using their influence to get deals.

Hardware Anecdotes

• The podcast touched on various topics, including the benefits of having a PCIe Gen 5 prototype SSD, the invention of gaming mice with built-in SSDs, and the persistence of the Note series' S-Pen in the latest Galaxy phones.

"There's a reason that stuff costs so much because it's really niche. It's super low volume and it's a ton of work."