Mkbsd: Download all the wallpapers in MKBHD's "Panels" app for free
github.com
github.com
> Q: Aren't you stealing from artists by running this script?
> MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal. The real problem here is Panels and MKBHD's complete inability to provide a secure platform for the artists that they're exploiting working with. Any other app could have avoided the issues that make MKBSD possible had it been engineered competently.
That's pretty embarrassing for the app developers, but it's not addressing the question.
"It's okay to extract the artists' sell-able work for free, because their landlord didn't lock the door"?
Well paraphrased.
I thought he pays the artists?
The entire idea of economic transactions being exploitative is literal Marxist propaganda. If you read the word "exploit" in some news article and it's referring to economic transactions, you are reading propaganda.
> Economic transactions only happen if there is a mutual benefit.
There are all sorts of coercive circumstances that may appear mutually beneficial on a superficial level, but may actually not be the case, whether due to contract details, opportunity costs, strategic mistakes, or otherwise. Perhaps this is true given perfect information and execution, but the real world is much more messy.
As an example, consider Spotify or Adobe's transition to a subscription model. There are a lot of people for whom those models are a very bad deal compared to what was.
Also, putting any value on "studies" when they almost universally fail to replicate outside of hard sciences is dumb.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GYOm6ciXcAAZ0vl?format=jpg&name=...
You see, all the fake fields of studies are field with leftists. And sure, you might say democrats aren't leftists, which is what every dumbass marxist says.
No - please do!!! It'll ensure we have robust discussions on this great site!
To employ to the greatest possible advantage.
To make use of selfishly or unethically.I know this one. It's called coming up with an excuse for the thing you were going to do anyway.
> The real problem here is Panels and MKBHD's complete inability to provide a secure platform for the artists that they're exploiting working with.
You mean the ones you are exploiting right now?
> Any other app could have avoided the issues that make MKBSD possible had it been engineered competently.
No, they really couldn't have. Anyone can just take a screenshot.
We've all written slightly evil code, but the bullshit justification really set me off.
I doubt you mean that first sentence of your last paragraph, and those words are very harshly chosen. They might cause harm, and I’d suggest you’d reconsider them and republish your comment unless you truly stand by them.
As for Marques Brownlee's wallpaper app, it's pretty harmless. It's not like it tricks you into spending money like those $7/week PDF scanner apps. I'll take his word for it that people in his fanbase ask him regularly about his wallpaper.
Would it still be dumb if 1000 people ($50,0000/yr) were willing to subscribe to get his curated wallpapers, or is it only dumb if you imagine that 0 people would do it?
oh, sure and it needs NFT /s
Then his target audience will be happy to support him. Honestly the only "amateur code" I can see here is a SaaS that can't figure out how to hide paywalled content from a Python scraper.
He's a marketer. And a charlatan if he wants to claim he's actually skilled at objective reviews that follow some process outside his stream of thought.
Does he have good production sense? Sure. But he's not what he claims. Neither is his app. Between his garbage sit down with Apple, his shilling for Buick and this you'd think he'd realize he should stay in his lane.
I also didn't say he was a failure, but enjoy your baseless assertions.
For reference - you think this [0] is a good review? Give me a break. Also a great breakdown of his grift [1].
[0] https://youtu.be/gfC8Y66tR6o [1] https://youtu.be/Z0DF-MOkotA
I'll also note that the video you linked was sponsored by Buick, which he says within the first 20 seconds.
¹ MKBHD: iPhone 16/16 Pro Unboxing: End of an Era! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3BKjZMGoIw
² MKBHD: iPhone 16/16 Pro Review: Times Have Changed! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtg6A1f2Ko
Also, iPhone 16. Isn't it amazing MKBHD asks such tough, clearly not-agreed-to-before-the-interview when he's dealing with Apple directly and then goes with the masses on how "meh" the iPhone is within a couple months? He's clearly an amazing reviewer and not influenced by a vendors status or potential revenue that particular review will garner him. Not. At. All. /s
This is why it's amazing to see everyone like - yeah, he's a great reviewer! It's OK to take money and ask softball questions depending on all of those external variables. Go look at a site like RTINGS [0]. That's a review site. The links posted as his reviews don't follow a framework, they're not objective. It's all opinion and pretty B-roll. You legitimately can't do what he does and be an objective reviewer. It's not possible.
¹ MKBHD: The Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed... For Now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TitZV6k8zfA
² Auto Focus: This is the Worst Car I've Ever Reviewed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xWXRk3yaSw
³ MKBHD: Do Bad Reviews Kill Companies? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QztFpzKsdeA
The most obvious thing I can point you to is that his "review" of Humane should be the same as his "review" of his own wallpaper app. Yet... Marques doesn't dogfood his own advice. That speaks volumes about his ethics and motivations.
He's driven by $$$. He gives zero shits about the validity of his messaging. Just as long as it's edgy to get the views, which is why he's finding success right now on the other side of the coin: negative "reviews".
I mean, feel free to describe how his reviews are even remotely objective and not driven by some other factor that benefits Marques... I'll wait.
I guess that's what you should expect, though. People don't want reviewers that detract from the hardware they own, they want blinded optimists who will say anything is good for you.
His summary is don’t buy unless your phone is on its last legs or older than the 13. Also knocks the 60hz screen on the 16.
> People don't want reviewers that detract from the hardware they own, they want blinded optimists who will say anything is good for you.
Frankly, I’m tired of people being so pessimistic. For instance Star Wars Outlaws was a lot of fun but the video gaming YouTube community was down on it before it even launched. Some people have unrealistic expectations.
I've heard people who've never played a Bethesda game before tell me that Starfield was a lot of fun. That didn't save it from being a commercial failure because people are tired of cooker-cutter formulaic open-world games though. You can extend this rationale of pessimism to a lot of things, including smartphone hardware and software deficiency.
Play whatever you like, but don't act shocked when the industry's most notoriously lazy studio doesn't receive critical acclaim for a licensed IP featuring characters nobody can recognize in a faux-stealth gameplay loop that's been recycled since Assassin's Creed III. Saying you're tired of pessimism towards Ubisoft is like saying Facebook deserves softer criticism because some people like the Instagram redesign.
The FAQ says "MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal.", but I don't think that logically follows. Just because something doesn't have DRM, doesn't make copying it not piracy. There are plenty of PC games with no DRM but you still aren't licensed to use them without buying.
Like, it's not as if I could care less about a bottom line of an already rich YouTuber, but is this really the hill to die on, especially with legal risk?
It basically invalidates every open source licence because it’s essentially saying that if the terms of the licence cannot be enforced by code then the licence itself doesn’t apply.
LTT has the right mentality that supporting an influencer should give you something physical for your support or when asking a superchat on a livestream that may or may not get answered.
But publishing this repo is not OK. Write a small article, let them know and get a potential bug bounty, sure. But don’t just release something that avoids the artists getting paid.
The pushback is due to multiple factors:
- Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated".
- The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking).
- The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team. It's had an online presence since 2021. To many, it feels like he just bought it, slapped his name on it, and is using his "brand" to push an inferior product.
> The Twitter account is from 2021 because it's a salvaged username from an inactive account. The app was built from scratch.
Pardon my language but then don't fckng use the app!
What if you put your car for sale for $20K and then someone else says: nah that piece of junk is not worth that much and then steal it from you and give it to someone else for free. That seems to be what's happening here.
MKBHD, who has been a huge proponent of privacy, asking for my LOCATION for a wallpaper app? You and I both know its for ad targeting, and happens whether you're paying a subscription or not.
Also, where in my original comment did I say anything about stealing the artwork?
Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content.
> The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking).
Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content.
> The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team.
Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content.