The WAN Show: We Lost A Good One Bois - December 5, 2025

Episode Overview

Linus Sebastian and Luke Lafreniere of Linus Tech Tips host their weekly WAN Show, diving into the most current tech news and culture. This episode focuses on Micron exiting the consumer DRAM space and its broader industry implications, Netflix’s controversial changes and mega acquisition, the ongoing AI boom’s impact on tech supply chains and markets, industry drama in mechanical keyboards, and general tech shenanigans.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Micron Exits Consumer DRAM and SSD (Crucial Brand)

[03:01 – 24:00]

• Micron announced it will sunset their Crucial brand (DRAM & SSDs) for consumers, ending shipments in 2026. This follows the company pivoting to supply “large strategic customers” (i.e., AI and data center markets).
• Linus laments the loss, especially on the SSD front:
  • Quote: “I’m just bummed, right? We talk about this endlessly...there’s an inherent advantage to having more competition in the market and losing Micron in this space… it’s fewer reliable choices.” (Linus, 05:49)
• Competitive landscape: Most consumer DRAM modules are assembled by brands (Corsair, G.Skill, etc.) using chips from a few global giants (Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron).
• Luke points to how this move might further erode competition, worsen price fixing, and leave the market at the whim of only a handful of suppliers:
  • Quote: “Nobody in the DRAM space cares about you at all...commodity, price fixing, this has been going on for 30 years.” (Luke, 13:29)
• DRAM’s future: There’s concern that AI demand—already causing supply shortages and price spikes—will keep everyday hardware more expensive and less innovative for consumers. Linus holds out hope competition resurges in time as cycles repeat.

Notable moment:

• Linus details when hard drive prices spiked after the 2011 Thailand floods, drawing parallels to today’s supply dynamics and corporate “profit maximizing” approaches.

Timestamps for segment highlights:

• [03:01] Micron announcement and immediate reactions
• [09:52] Linus contrasts trust in DRAM vs. SSD brands
• [14:28] The cyclical nature of DRAM pricing and price fixing
• [15:07] 2011 Thailand flood anecdote
• [24:27] Suppliers refusing to increase capacity despite demand

2. Netflix—Casting Backlash & $82B Warner Bros. Acquisition

[32:36 – 48:41]

• Casting Kerfuffle:
  • Netflix suddenly removed Chromecast-style casting for most devices—even on paid plans—quietly updating their help page after backlash. Speculation is this is a last-ditch effort to combat account sharing and prepare for upcoming sports broadcasting complexities.
  • Quote: "Netflix has quietly pushed an update with zero warning and only addressed the growing outrage by updating their help page..." (Luke, 33:13)
• Mega-Deal:
  • Netflix announced acquisition of Warner Bros. for $82.7B, poised to shake up entertainment IP ownership (DC, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings aspects, etc.).
  • Linus and Luke reflect on streaming consolidation ("Disney vs Netflix"), the demise of beloved TV shows, questionable content decisions, and old vs. new TV production values.
• Streaming Fatigue:
  • Chat weighs in on shows, Disney's waning dominance, Marvel's downfall for many fans, and general consumer exhaustion with constant service price hikes and lost features.
• Rant Highlight:
  • Linus on entertainment IP handling: “It’s almost like you acquired the source material for a reason!” [47:15]
  • Luke on Disney: “I genuinely think that mentality is why Disney’s dying…” [49:07]

3. AI Boom Wreaks Havoc: Tech Market & Consumer Prices

[48:41 – 56:07; 149:00 – 160:00]

• AI’s Insatiable Demand:
  • AI/server demand for DRAM and high-margin components is cannibalizing supply for consumer markets. DRAM, GPUs, and NAND all impacted, with manufacturers “not bothering” to build new capacity.
  • Supply chain strategy: Instead of increasing capacity, companies prefer scarcity for high prices/profit.
  • Quote: "Two of the biggest CRM [DRAM] suppliers are skeptical about increasing production as they eye long term profitability…" (Luke, 24:33)
• Commoditization & Scraping:
  • Linus and Luke discuss the unsustainable siphoning of value by AI bots, which scrape content and overwhelm sites without generating referrals, leading to the death of small web creators and further media consolidation.
  • Stats: Perplexity sent 15k requests, but only 23 referrals. [153:13]
  • Labs.ltt.com implements “do not index/scrape” meta tags, which are ignored by nearly all AI crawlers.

Memorable insight:
Linus, on the erosion of trust and norms in tech:

“So much of the general structure of the world… stability was just built on norms and good faith engagement rather than any kind of expectation of actual enforcement. And my expectation of being able to rely on that is eroding.”
[156:39]

4. Hardware Market Updates

Intel GPU Share Rises (to 1%)

[88:20 – 97:20]

• Both AMD and Intel saw small discrete GPU market share gains; Intel hit a “record” 1%—cause for celebration for Luke.
• Quote: "Intel is officially the 1%. Congratulations, Intel. Time to buy a McMansion." (Linus, 02:00)
• Nvidia, despite “falling” to 92%, still dominates.

CIV7 Flop and Hardware Value

• New Civ 7 gets panned by hosts and their gamer circles as the "biggest fundamental break" in the Civ franchise, lousy new mechanics [93:34].
• Linus notes now is a good time to buy mid-range GPUs like the Arc B580 before AI demand/DRAM hikes filter into prices.

Cherry (Keyboard Switches) Circles the Drain

[126:32 – 134:34]

• Cherry, once the gold standard in mechanical keyboard switches, lost relevance after their patents lapsed in 2014, failing to keep up with competing “premium” pre-lubed or optical switches and novel materials.
• They’re now selling off core operations after losing €20M in under a year.
• Linus and Luke bemoan the decline of industry mainstays reluctant to innovate or react, and riff on the evolution of the keyboard hobby (“Has keyboard stuff gotten boring? There’s nothing to it anymore.” – Luke)

5. Algorithmic Pricing & Consumer Data

[72:05 – 81:51]

• New York now requires companies to disclose when they’re using customer data for “algorithmic pricing”—price setting based on location, income, behavior, etc.
• Linus: “Or hear me out: what if we just don’t have algorithmic pricing?”
• Hosts dig into how much “your data” is worth, how companies get it, and the creepiness of consumer profiling—from flight bookings to Target inferring pregnancies.

6. Google, Robots, Odd New Inventions, and More

Odds & ends:

• Robotics Arms Race: Both Engine AI and Unitree release viral videos of humanoid robots executing martial arts moves. Both hosts are convinced Engine AI’s video is heavily staged or fake due to suspiciously slick editing.
• Human Washing Machine: $387,000 “washing machine” for humans launches in Japan—host skepticism abounds: “This is not a real product…15 minutes to shower is not impressive.” (Linus, 110:29)
• Panels (MKBHD wallpaper app) Shuts Down: Marques gets praise from Linus for refunding all subscribers and open-sourcing the app’s code on exit—“about the most graceful way you can possibly do it.” (Linus, 126:21)
• Floatplane & YouTube Collab Features: Linus discusses fan confusion about YouTube’s forced “collab” video distribution and the tricky ethics of content feeds and user control. [200:58]

7. Meta Moments, Personal Highlights, and Banter

• 3D Printing Kid-Prentice: Linus’ son starts a 3D print business, learning about cash flow, ordering supplies, and supply chain realities—while Linus sneaks in “parental pride” and lessons about business sustainability and fair licensing. [181:13 – 200:17]
• The Great Digital Detox Pact: Luke and Linus publicly agree to a one-weekend “no tech/couple’s digital detox” in 2026 [219:56]. Ground rules spiral into Talmudic-level interpretation.
• Cologne Deep Dive: On the “expert opinion” of team member Sherrod, hosts debate normie vs. connoisseur cologne, with Linus embracing “cheap deodorant and not caring.”
• Canadian school entrepreneurship, rollerblade wheels, overpriced airport veggies, the philosophy of fireworks, and much more make up the characteristic WAN Show flavor.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Banter

• On memory brands leaving consumers:
  “Maybe they weren’t that crucial. Like, you can still buy memory from Corsair, Patriot…we talk about this endlessly—more competition is more better.” (Linus, 07:31)
• On Netflix's sports move:
  "A big factor in Netflix price increases are sports broadcasts... the move is likely to make it more difficult to stream sports from their phones to large audiences in places like pubs." (Luke quoting Redditor, 34:04)
• On streaming consolidation:
  "It's going to be Disney versus Netflix. Amazon's in there because they could just buy the earth. Apple's... spinning their wheels." (Linus, 39:22)
• On the cycle of content scraping:
  “Perplexity sent 15,000 [scrape] requests, but only 23 referrals… you can’t profitably web host at that ratio. It’s the death and consolidation of small websites.” (Luke, 153:13)
• On the collapse of norms:
  “So much of world stability was built on norms and good faith engagement... my expectation of relying on that is eroding.” (Linus, 156:39)
• On hardware sales cycles:
  "DRAM production hasn't been disrupted, except for the wafer shortage, but the active decision appears to have been made not to build any more. For now it's going to be a really, really rough ride." (Linus, 24:27)

Segment Guide / Timestamps

| Topic | Approx Timestamp (MM:SS) | |---|---| | Sponsor banter / opening | 00:37 – 03:01 | | Micron exits Crucial/DRAM | 03:01 – 24:00 | | Netflix casting+acquisition | 32:36 – 48:41 | | AI, DRAM, price fixing | 48:41 – 56:07 | | Airline supply chain, overpaying for basics | 80:57 – 86:01 | | Intel, AMD GPU share | 88:20 – 97:20 | | Civ7 rant | 93:34 – 97:47 | | Cherry switches fail | 126:32 – 134:34 | | Algorithmic pricing law | 72:05 – 81:51 | | Content scraping & website death spiral | 149:00 – 160:00 | | Lab crawling stats | 149:00 – 155:53 | | Linus' son's 3D printing business | 181:13 – 200:17 | | Digital detox pact | 219:56 – 223:50 |

(And more—segment transitions are loose; see transcript for the running flow.)

Tone and Language

• Lively, irreverent, sometimes snarky but always passionate about tech.
• Numerous asides and tangents, but always looping toward industry big picture.
• Directness: hosts challenge each other (and the audience) and are comfortable debating both minutiae (cologne, digital detox) and big issues (competition, AI scraping, and market consolidation).

Conclusion

If you missed the episode: This WAN Show episode captures the current mood across tech: concern and exasperation with corporate priorities (whether “AI all the way” or “content consolidation”), nostalgia for more competitive and transparent markets, and skepticism/disgust towards privacy invasion, consumer-unfriendly streaming, and non-stop price hikes. LTT’s hosts take the long view, sharing history and industry context, but never losing their geeky sense of humor.

For further recent tech, hardware, and internet culture insights, subscribe to Linus Tech Tips and check out their Floatplane exclusives.

(Advertisements, intros/outros, and non-content merch banter omitted.)