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Comment by icoder | Hacker News Reader

I've flagged an AI-generated add once that promoted a small device that could cool a hot room (many degrees celcius lower, very quickly, for very little energy and very little money and without external components), defying the laws of thermodynamics.

They said they investigated it and concluded it did not break any rules and no actions where taken.

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There do exist "evaporative coolers", sometimes called "swamp coolers". The trick is that they require water and raise the humidity of their surroundings. But they tick all the boxes you listed - plenty of delta-t, extremely low power, no external tubes or parts.

It's not magic because it relies on the "fuel" of cool water to evaporate.

I'm not the same guy but I can verify that the advert for the impossible micro-evaporative cooler quoted impossible performance capabilities.

YouTube adverts frequently contain fraudulent, misleading information. It appears that no law is being broken.

I can believe that, I'm just here to point out that some of the laws being not-broken are the laws of thermodnamics. You can cool a room cheaply with dry ice, for instance. There are tricks.

I get what you're saying, that it's "thermodynamics violation OR trick". But if you're checking whether the ad is lying at face value, you exclude tricks like dry ice or precooling.

also known as an olla pot!

I've seen similar ads. For the ones I've seen the device isn't necessarily fake: it's just a swamp cooler. They're cheap and efficient if you're suffering in a dry heat.

ETA: the ads I've seen are still deceptive because they're claiming this is revolutionary new technology, which of course it isn't.

In July there was a BBC article on this, and how they were advertised on Facebook and YouTube.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6g41pzy41o

I flagged an AI-generated ad for an online casino that is not legal where I live. They run weird filters over the logo, never say what they actually do in the audio and also don't mention the company name just "look at our logo and find us online", it seems like they try to dodge some auto detection. They also replied they investigated and concluded it did not break any rules.

The whole idea behind scam sites marketing is to present an ad that knowledgeable people will find unattractive but gullible people will be lured into. Self selection keeps the based demographic from investigating the scam.

ah yes, like the Nigerian prince scam

They got back to you? I never got any response after repeatedly flagging that implausibly fast and cheap, "German engineered" 32TB external drive.

"Lisa, get in here... in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

That was a good one from the simpsons:

https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSB...

I guess they missed the rules of physics in their evaluation.

that's because the only rule they are investigating is if it makes them more money leaving it there and paying an eventual fine or removing it

And they still try to gaslight us into removing our adblockers. No thanks.

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