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What's up, Floatplane? 2 00:00:01.801 --> 00:00:02.635 If you're watching this, 3 00:00:02.635 --> 00:00:05.939 you've probably seen the “Tech Marketing is Ridiculous” video. 4 00:00:05.939 --> 00:00:07.741 I had a lot of extra stuff in the script 5 00:00:07.741 --> 00:00:09.542 that we didn't get a chance to talk about 6 00:00:09.542 --> 00:00:11.177 just because it ended up harming the pacing 7 00:00:11.177 --> 00:00:12.012 and stuff like that, 8 00:00:12.012 --> 00:00:13.713 but I figure we can just kind of continue 9 00:00:13.713 --> 00:00:16.783 on expressing our frustration here together. 10 00:00:16.783 --> 00:00:19.452 I didn't have a lot of time to get this all together, 11 00:00:19.452 --> 00:00:21.421 but I think basically one thing that I think 12 00:00:21.421 --> 00:00:23.890 we didn't talk about in the video that much 13 00:00:23.890 --> 00:00:28.661 is that, I think that naming schemes for products, 14 00:00:28.661 --> 00:00:29.896 especially like CPUs, 15 00:00:29.896 --> 00:00:32.699 is actually like a very just difficult problem 16 00:00:32.699 --> 00:00:36.736 in general because it's not an easy thing to convey. 17 00:00:36.736 --> 00:00:40.140 Most people don't understand how things like a CPU works 18 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:42.342 or what any of the specs mean anyways. 19 00:00:42.342 --> 00:00:46.679 So having an informative name is important, 20 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:49.382 but you also need to develop a system 21 00:00:49.382 --> 00:00:50.417 that makes it legible. 22 00:00:50.417 --> 00:00:53.386 Cause your goal as a marketer is to try and convey 23 00:00:53.386 --> 00:00:56.623 all of the important information to the consumer 24 00:00:56.623 --> 00:00:58.158 in a very short amount of time. 25 00:00:58.158 --> 00:01:03.463 So that's why you have names like the Ryzen 7900, 7950X, 26 00:01:03.463 --> 00:01:04.297 where it's like, okay, 27 00:01:04.297 --> 00:01:07.367 that sounds like an absolute jumble to the average person, 28 00:01:07.367 --> 00:01:08.735 but with a little bit of learning, 29 00:01:08.735 --> 00:01:12.705 you can kind of quickly reference what that product is 30 00:01:12.705 --> 00:01:14.307 and where it's going to live on its stack. 31 00:01:14.307 --> 00:01:16.476 And that's kind of a difficult trade-off 32 00:01:16.476 --> 00:01:18.845 because the other option is they could just call it like 33 00:01:18.845 --> 00:01:20.513 2023 Ryzen 7 34 00:01:20.513 --> 00:01:23.616 and then they could just call it Ryzen 7 8 core, 13 core, 35 00:01:23.616 --> 00:01:26.619 like how Apple does their naming 36 00:01:26.619 --> 00:01:28.755 where they'll be like, oh, it's an M3 Pro, 37 00:01:28.755 --> 00:01:31.825 but then you go and you try to buy the Apple MacBook. 38 00:01:31.825 --> 00:01:33.259 It turns out that there's two different types 39 00:01:33.259 --> 00:01:34.994 of M3 Pro MacBooks. 40 00:01:35.061 --> 00:01:36.029 At some point down the line, 41 00:01:36.029 --> 00:01:37.230 there's a weird string of numbers 42 00:01:37.230 --> 00:01:39.699 that's going to mean something to somebody somewhere. 43 00:01:39.699 --> 00:01:41.101 You want something to be simple 44 00:01:41.101 --> 00:01:44.037 so that you can actually understand and conceive what it is, 45 00:01:44.037 --> 00:01:45.672 but you also want something to be informative. 46 00:01:45.672 --> 00:01:47.941 But what AMD obviously did was they decided 47 00:01:47.941 --> 00:01:50.009 to go with neither of those. 48 00:01:50.009 --> 00:01:52.512 They chose something complex and also uninformative. 49 00:01:52.512 --> 00:01:56.382 So I understand the struggle that these marketers have 50 00:01:56.382 --> 00:02:00.353 to make a name that just doesn't suck. 51 00:02:00.353 --> 00:02:02.589 It's basically an impossible task. 52 00:02:02.589 --> 00:02:03.690 And you have to, at that point, 53 00:02:03.690 --> 00:02:04.958 choose who you're appealing to. 54 00:02:04.958 --> 00:02:07.360 And if you're Apple, you go, 55 00:02:07.360 --> 00:02:09.329 I'm going to appeal to the general public 56 00:02:09.329 --> 00:02:10.330 to try and make things simple. 57 00:02:10.330 --> 00:02:11.965 And if you're AMD, you go, 58 00:02:11.965 --> 00:02:14.801 I want to appeal to people in the hardware scene 59 00:02:14.801 --> 00:02:17.203 because nobody's really shopping for CPUs. 60 00:02:17.203 --> 00:02:20.974 Normies don't shop for CPUs is basically what it is. 61 00:02:20.974 --> 00:02:23.109 So they added that complexity. 62 00:02:23.109 --> 00:02:25.311 So when they screw it up and they change it, 63 00:02:25.311 --> 00:02:27.680 it's such a stupid move because it really annoys us, 64 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:28.915 especially when we've got like, 65 00:02:28.915 --> 00:02:30.350 it annoys the hardcore audience, 66 00:02:30.350 --> 00:02:31.885 the people that are buying the CPUs, 67 00:02:31.885 --> 00:02:34.320 because we've spent all this time learning weird jargon, 68 00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:36.422 the naming schemes and understanding them. 69 00:02:36.422 --> 00:02:39.025 And we, to a point where like now I could just know 70 00:02:39.025 --> 00:02:40.827 how good an Intel processor is 71 00:02:40.827 --> 00:02:45.598 because 14900K explains it all to me. 72 00:02:45.598 --> 00:02:49.335 14th gen, 900, so the highest chip. 73 00:02:49.335 --> 00:02:50.436 And then K. 74 00:02:50.436 --> 00:02:54.040 But they just decided to change it to make it more confusing. 75 00:02:54.040 --> 00:02:55.008 And that's super frustrating. 76 00:02:55.008 --> 00:02:56.476 And I think I also wanted to bring up, 77 00:02:56.476 --> 00:02:58.044 this is something that we cut out entirely 78 00:02:58.044 --> 00:02:59.946 that's really confusing is, 79 00:02:59.946 --> 00:03:01.581 maybe you guys know this already, 80 00:03:01.581 --> 00:03:06.219 but it turns out that when it comes to manufacturing chips, 81 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:09.489 the terms that we use to talk about process nodes, 82 00:03:09.489 --> 00:03:12.225 like TSMC's five nanometer node, 83 00:03:12.258 --> 00:03:13.927 that's complete BS. 84 00:03:13.927 --> 00:03:16.763 It literally is just a name. 85 00:03:16.763 --> 00:03:19.165 They make it sound like it's a measurement 86 00:03:19.165 --> 00:03:22.335 by adding the word nanometer to it, but it's not. 87 00:03:22.335 --> 00:03:23.803 It would be like Tesla calling 88 00:03:23.803 --> 00:03:26.806 their new battery technology “600 miles.” 89 00:03:26.806 --> 00:03:28.975 But actually it doesn't mean anything. 90 00:03:28.975 --> 00:03:32.011 It actually just gets 350 miles or something like that. 91 00:03:32.011 --> 00:03:34.714 And back in the day, in like the late nineties, 92 00:03:34.714 --> 00:03:35.882 it was probably the last point 93 00:03:35.882 --> 00:03:38.551 where the naming of your process node 94 00:03:38.551 --> 00:03:41.487 actually reflected the density of the transistors 95 00:03:41.487 --> 00:03:43.556 on the chip or any measurement on the chip. 96 00:03:43.556 --> 00:03:45.024 If you look at the actual transistor width 97 00:03:45.024 --> 00:03:47.160 TSMC's five nanometer node 98 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:51.564 actually has a transistor spacing of 76.4 nanometers. 99 00:03:52.632 --> 00:03:53.700 I haven't run the numbers yet, 100 00:03:53.700 --> 00:03:56.202 but I'm pretty sure 76 is a lot bigger than five. 101 00:03:56.202 --> 00:03:57.837 Now Intel actually made a nice move 102 00:03:57.837 --> 00:04:01.674 by not referring to their CPUs 103 00:04:01.674 --> 00:04:03.209 with their 14 nanometer process. 104 00:04:03.209 --> 00:04:05.011 They had 14 nanometer, 14 nanometer plus, 105 00:04:05.011 --> 00:04:06.679 14 nanometer plus, plus, plus, plus, and so on. 106 00:04:06.679 --> 00:04:08.381 Now they're just called like Intel seven, 107 00:04:08.381 --> 00:04:10.583 even though it's still a 10 nanometer process, 108 00:04:10.583 --> 00:04:12.619 which again is not actually 10 nanometers, 109 00:04:12.619 --> 00:04:14.220 they just called it seven to make it sound 110 00:04:14.220 --> 00:04:15.521 like it was better and more in line 111 00:04:15.521 --> 00:04:16.923 with what TSMC was producing. 112 00:04:16.923 --> 00:04:17.023 with what TSMC was producing. 113 00:04:17.023 --> 00:04:18.691 So Intel seems like they're gonna be good 114 00:04:18.691 --> 00:04:20.460 and not be sneaky, but then they're like, 115 00:04:20.460 --> 00:04:22.495 you know what, in like six years, 116 00:04:22.495 --> 00:04:24.197 we're just gonna start being sneaky again. 117 00:04:24.197 --> 00:04:27.033 And the problem is that what’s TSMC gonna do 118 00:04:27.033 --> 00:04:30.169 once they get to like one nanometer? 119 00:04:30.169 --> 00:04:31.204 they're probably just gonna have to change 120 00:04:31.204 --> 00:04:33.106 the entire name again. 121 00:04:33.106 --> 00:04:34.807 It literally is just a way to trick people 122 00:04:34.807 --> 00:04:36.909 into thinking that things are better than they are. 123 00:04:36.909 --> 00:04:38.211 Because I still hear people that like, 124 00:04:38.211 --> 00:04:39.445 that know about computers who go like, 125 00:04:39.445 --> 00:04:40.680 wow, it's crazy that like they were doing 126 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:42.148 like a five nanometer transistor. 127 00:04:42.148 --> 00:04:44.651 It would be crazy if it actually was possible, 128 00:04:44.651 --> 00:04:46.386 but it isn't and we're not doing it. 129 00:04:46.386 --> 00:04:47.920 Yeah, so that was something 130 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:49.188 that we had to cut from the video. 131 00:04:49.188 --> 00:04:50.023 At the end of the day, 132 00:04:50.089 --> 00:04:54.994 who really cares about whether or not 133 00:04:54.994 --> 00:04:57.063 the naming for their transistor spacing, 134 00:04:57.063 --> 00:05:00.733 like is accurate, like who cares that it's called 76.4 nanometers 135 00:05:00.733 --> 00:05:03.403 that maybe the people who are actually architecting 136 00:05:03.403 --> 00:05:05.571 the CPUs, the general public, 137 00:05:05.571 --> 00:05:08.107 they just need to know that the new generation is- 138 00:05:08.107 --> 00:05:10.243 has increased density for transistors. 139 00:05:10.243 --> 00:05:12.612 That's what the businesses care about, 140 00:05:12.612 --> 00:05:13.780 shareholders care about. 141 00:05:13.780 --> 00:05:16.316 They could be naming like their things like Bluba 142 00:05:16.382 --> 00:05:19.152 and Bluba Plus and Bluba Plus 3. 143 00:05:19.152 --> 00:05:20.920 They could just be naming it whatever they want. 144 00:05:20.920 --> 00:05:22.155 And as long as there's a way to indicate 145 00:05:22.155 --> 00:05:24.123 that this thing is better than the last gen, 146 00:05:24.123 --> 00:05:27.360 that's enough to appease and market 147 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:30.163 to shareholders and consumers. 148 00:05:30.163 --> 00:05:32.498 Yeah, here's some like random ass notes. 149 00:05:32.498 --> 00:05:34.901 Gigabyte calls their mouse sensor an optical engine 150 00:05:34.901 --> 00:05:37.370 instead of an optical sensor, which is just dumb. 151 00:05:37.370 --> 00:05:41.674 LG calls their smart TV features AI, which is also dumb. 152 00:05:41.674 --> 00:05:43.743 Here's a, okay, here's a comment I found on the Verge 153 00:05:43.743 --> 00:05:44.577 that I thought was really funny 154 00:05:44.577 --> 00:05:46.713 that just shows how incapable of good branding 155 00:05:46.713 --> 00:05:47.980 some of these companies are. 156 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:51.017 Google Wallet became Android Pay, which became Google Pay, 157 00:05:51.017 --> 00:05:53.453 which became Google Wallet, except in some places. 158 00:05:53.453 --> 00:05:55.788 Also, except in the US and maybe elsewhere 159 00:05:55.788 --> 00:05:57.056 where Google Pay is still around, 160 00:05:57.056 --> 00:05:58.858 but just to send money between people. 161 00:05:58.858 --> 00:06:01.194 Google Talk and Google Plus Messenger 162 00:06:01.194 --> 00:06:04.063 sort of became Google Hangouts, which was part of Google Plus 163 00:06:04.063 --> 00:06:07.633 which became Hangouts, which became both Duo and Allo, 164 00:06:07.633 --> 00:06:11.537 but then during both Duo and Allo became Hangouts Meet 165 00:06:11.537 --> 00:06:13.973 and Hangouts Chat, which became Google Meet. 166 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:16.242 Yes, Hangouts Meet was still around during Google, 167 00:06:16.242 --> 00:06:18.378 while Google Meet was around, and Google Chat. 168 00:06:18.378 --> 00:06:20.580 Yes, Hangouts Chat was also still around. 169 00:06:20.580 --> 00:06:24.050 Google Allo died in 2018 and Duo died in 2022. 170 00:06:24.050 --> 00:06:26.753 Inbox in 2015 became a better Gmail Android app 171 00:06:26.753 --> 00:06:28.020 than Gmail actually was. 172 00:06:28.020 --> 00:06:30.757 Inbox discontinued in 2019 with the advertisement 173 00:06:30.757 --> 00:06:32.392 that Gmail integrated Inbox's features, 174 00:06:32.392 --> 00:06:33.393 it didn't add most of them, 175 00:06:33.393 --> 00:06:35.862 and it spawned other third-party Gmail handling apps 176 00:06:35.862 --> 00:06:36.696 to take its place. 177 00:06:36.696 --> 00:06:40.400 Google Play Music podcast split into Google Podcasts 178 00:06:40.400 --> 00:06:41.934 and stopped having releases in 2021 179 00:06:41.934 --> 00:06:44.003 and rolled up into YouTube Music. 180 00:06:44.003 --> 00:06:46.372 Podcasts are also gonna be in YouTube Music. 181 00:06:46.372 --> 00:06:48.908 Google Play became YouTube Music in 2020. 182 00:06:48.908 --> 00:06:51.744 Right now there's even Android Auto and Android Automotive, 183 00:06:51.744 --> 00:06:53.279 which pretty much are the same thing, 184 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:54.113 but they're not the same. 185 00:06:54.113 --> 00:06:56.315 Android Automotive exists as Android Automotive 186 00:06:56.315 --> 00:06:57.717 with Google Automotive Services 187 00:06:57.717 --> 00:06:59.318 and also as Android Automotive 188 00:06:59.318 --> 00:07:01.154 without Google Automotive Services. 189 00:07:01.154 --> 00:07:02.422 Android Auto for phone screens 190 00:07:02.422 --> 00:07:04.690 was replaced with Google Assistant's Driving Mode. 191 00:07:05.691 --> 00:07:07.727 Google has killed at least 54 hardware lines, 192 00:07:07.727 --> 00:07:09.495 59 apps, and 210 services. 193 00:07:09.495 --> 00:07:10.563 So that was the Verge comment. 194 00:07:10.563 --> 00:07:11.731 I can't remember who said it. 195 00:07:11.731 --> 00:07:13.299 Oh yeah, and then this is something I actually wrote. 196 00:07:13.299 --> 00:07:14.767 Google now has Gemini, 197 00:07:14.767 --> 00:07:15.968 which is supposed to replace Bard, 198 00:07:15.968 --> 00:07:17.336 but also replacing Google Assistant, 199 00:07:17.336 --> 00:07:19.205 but can't do anything that Google Assistant can do. 200 00:07:19.205 --> 00:07:21.941 And at least Google Assistant was predictably awful. 201 00:07:21.941 --> 00:07:24.477 Google Gemini is unreliably awful. 202 00:07:24.477 --> 00:07:25.945 It doesn't know what it can do. 203 00:07:25.945 --> 00:07:27.113 You can ask it what it can do 204 00:07:27.113 --> 00:07:28.915 and it will just straight up lie to you. 205 00:07:28.915 --> 00:07:30.550 And it obfuscates the sources, 206 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:32.418 whereas at least Google Assistant would be like, 207 00:07:32.418 --> 00:07:34.253 this is what I found on the web, sends you a link. 208 00:07:34.253 --> 00:07:36.889 Google Gemini just will flat out tell you something wrong. 209 00:07:36.889 --> 00:07:40.493 It's just like, it's just so exhausting 210 00:07:40.493 --> 00:07:42.161 trying to keep up with all of these 211 00:07:42.161 --> 00:07:45.131 idiotic marketing decisions from these massive companies. 212 00:07:45.131 --> 00:07:46.432 I am not a branding expert. 213 00:07:46.432 --> 00:07:47.600 I'm not a marketing expert. 214 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:48.801 I don't have experience in it, 215 00:07:48.801 --> 00:07:49.669 it feels like these companies 216 00:07:49.669 --> 00:07:50.970 are either one, running around like chickens 217 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:52.004 with their heads cut off, 218 00:07:52.004 --> 00:07:56.909 or two, just actively and constantly being hostile 219 00:07:56.909 --> 00:08:00.880 to consumers and trying to confuse them as much as possible 220 00:08:00.880 --> 00:08:03.082 to trick them into buying the wrong thing. 221 00:08:03.082 --> 00:08:04.984 And as we mentioned at the end of our video, 222 00:08:04.984 --> 00:08:06.352 it's not always a bad thing 223 00:08:06.352 --> 00:08:10.122 to kind of release a refresh product under a new name, 224 00:08:10.122 --> 00:08:13.626 so long as you can be trusted 225 00:08:13.626 --> 00:08:15.628 that what you're naming, that your naming scheme 226 00:08:15.628 --> 00:08:18.965 is going to get the right product to the right person. 227 00:08:18.965 --> 00:08:21.367 But you can never trust any companies, 228 00:08:21.367 --> 00:08:23.302 so obviously they can't do that. 229 00:08:23.302 --> 00:08:25.371 When you see stuff like renaming things like, 230 00:08:25.371 --> 00:08:28.774 oh, suddenly 7,000 no longer means Zen 4, 231 00:08:28.774 --> 00:08:31.010 it now means 2023. 232 00:08:31.010 --> 00:08:33.579 It's just such a crummy feeling to know 233 00:08:33.579 --> 00:08:34.947 that these companies are trying so hard 234 00:08:34.947 --> 00:08:36.849 to pull the wool over your eyes, 235 00:08:36.849 --> 00:08:38.584 and they suck so bad at it. 236 00:08:38.584 --> 00:08:39.952 It's like they're just so dumb. 237 00:08:39.952 --> 00:08:41.020 I'm just looking at the bottom of the script, 238 00:08:41.020 --> 00:08:44.624 I have a lot of random bits and stuff. 239 00:08:44.624 --> 00:08:46.459 NVIDIA doesn't change their naming scheme, 240 00:08:46.459 --> 00:08:50.730 but they use their precedent to try and trick you 241 00:08:50.730 --> 00:08:52.031 into buying something you don't want. 242 00:08:52.031 --> 00:08:55.268 Like when they said the 4080 12 Gigabyte, 243 00:08:55.268 --> 00:08:57.503 they knew that there was a precedent for a 4080 244 00:08:57.503 --> 00:08:59.505 to be of a certain level of performance, 245 00:08:59.505 --> 00:09:01.807 but they could sell you a cheaper chip 246 00:09:01.807 --> 00:09:03.643 by renaming it a 4080, 247 00:09:03.643 --> 00:09:06.145 because that eventually became the 4070 Ti, 248 00:09:06.145 --> 00:09:09.949 because it was not even the same GPU as the 4080. 249 00:09:09.949 --> 00:09:11.751 And it's that kind of stuff where it's like, 250 00:09:11.751 --> 00:09:13.886 you don't even have to change your naming scheme 251 00:09:13.886 --> 00:09:15.021 to trick people. 252 00:09:15.021 --> 00:09:17.356 You just have to change the precedent, right? 253 00:09:17.356 --> 00:09:19.759 Now that the 4090 is like a $1,700 card, 254 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.395 the 5090 has license to be that expensive. 255 00:09:22.395 --> 00:09:24.330 It's all about creating a product ladder 256 00:09:24.330 --> 00:09:25.631 that guides you upwards, 257 00:09:25.631 --> 00:09:27.733 redefining things that allow them 258 00:09:27.733 --> 00:09:30.169 to make their profit margins the biggest. 259 00:09:30.202 --> 00:09:31.971 You know what would be a good idea actually, 260 00:09:31.971 --> 00:09:34.807 is if they just named everything, 261 00:09:34.807 --> 00:09:37.009 they go higher numbers better, 262 00:09:37.009 --> 00:09:39.412 but you just name everything based off your profit margin. 263 00:09:39.412 --> 00:09:40.813 So like, because that's what you want us 264 00:09:40.813 --> 00:09:41.981 to buy anyways, right? 265 00:09:42.048 --> 00:09:44.750 If you're NVIDIA or if you're AMD, 266 00:09:44.750 --> 00:09:45.751 you want us to buy the thing 267 00:09:45.751 --> 00:09:47.653 that gives you the highest percentage of profit. 268 00:09:47.653 --> 00:09:49.689 So why don't you just name your chips in that order? 269 00:09:49.689 --> 00:09:51.090 And then performance doesn't matter, 270 00:09:51.090 --> 00:09:53.159 because that's only gonna matter to the nerds 271 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:55.328 that are gonna be looking up and doing the research. 272 00:09:55.328 --> 00:09:57.163 So just go all in, 273 00:09:57.163 --> 00:09:58.965 really pull the wool over the people's, 274 00:09:58.965 --> 00:10:00.866 the general public's eyes and make them think 275 00:10:00.866 --> 00:10:05.871 that the Ryzen 9, 9999 is the best CPU ever, 276 00:10:05.871 --> 00:10:08.007 but actually it's just a mid range CPU 277 00:10:08.007 --> 00:10:09.508 that you get good margins on. 278 00:10:09.508 --> 00:10:11.177 That's gonna be better for your business. 279 00:10:11.177 --> 00:10:12.144 people are gonna complain 280 00:10:12.144 --> 00:10:13.279 about their laptops no matter what. 281 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:14.780 You know, give up, why bother? 282 00:10:14.780 --> 00:10:15.982 Just keep screwing people over. 283 00:10:15.982 --> 00:10:18.117 Maybe I shouldn't encourage them. 284 00:10:18.117 --> 00:10:20.820 But yeah, so that's kind of a lot of the extra little bits 285 00:10:20.886 --> 00:10:23.589 that we had to take out from the script 286 00:10:23.589 --> 00:10:27.526 to just keep it from not being so long. 287 00:10:27.526 --> 00:10:30.830 Leave a like, if you like this, leave a like. 288 00:10:32.632 --> 00:10:34.033 I'd love to hear what you guys think 289 00:10:34.033 --> 00:10:36.936 or post more examples of like terrible marketing 290 00:10:36.936 --> 00:10:39.672 or sneaky marketing that we see in the tech industry 291 00:10:39.672 --> 00:10:43.976 in the comments, because it's the only solution 292 00:10:43.976 --> 00:10:46.445 to this problem is making people aware of it. 293 00:10:47.513 --> 00:10:50.750 Because marketing departments are always going to try 294 00:10:50.750 --> 00:10:52.752 and trick you into buying the thing you don't need.