Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast — Trivia Extravaganza! Who Knows the Most About Tech?

Release Date: August 26, 2025
Hosts: Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), Andrew Manganelli, David Imel
Producers/Judges: Ellis, Adam (lead producer), Alex Wolfe

Episode Overview

This special edition of Waveform forgoes the usual lineup of tech news and reviews in favor of a high-energy, multi-round tech trivia contest. Marques, Andrew, and David square off, accumulating and wagering points through creative tech trivia segments. The episode features everything from AI-generated answers, startup lingo snake drafts, and app icon reenactments, to buzzer rounds and classic ringtone identification — all judged and scored by the WF team and accompanied by plenty of laughs, roasts, and nostalgia.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

Introduction & Housekeeping

[02:20] Marques:

"Welcome back to another episode of the Waveform podcast...I'm Marques. I'm Andrew. And I'm Trivia. Yeah, that'll work. This is a trivia extravaganza episode...We've been accumulating points over the past couple weeks...and see who is the winner."

• The trivia format pits Marques, Andrew, and David against each other in several rounds, with accumulating points and rotating judging duties.
• Judges/producers table introduces themselves: Ellis, Adam, and guest scorer Alex Wolfe.

Round 1: “What Would Gemini Say?”

[06:00] Host: Adam
Players guess if an answer was written by Google’s Gemini AI or made up by the hosts.

Example Q: "What year was the construction on the Empire State Building completed?"
A: "Construction on the Empire State Building was completed in 1931..."
[08:09] Adam: "Andrew and Marques would get that point because it came straight from Gemini. That was like the warm-up question, right?"

• Challenging and often funny, as AI and human answers can be equally odd or off-base.

• Several answers are surprisingly fabricated (with Ellis having fun making up plausible but fake answers).

• [13:20] Notable quip:

  "I feel like Gemini would have told you about Major League Soccer. That's...honestly, probably. You asked about the protocol. ...'Messi plays for Inter Miami.'" — David

• Memorable Moments:

  • Everyone struggles with AI vs. human answers. Ellis gets compliments for writing authentic-sounding fake AI responses.
  • [17:10] The team reflects on Gemini giving the wrong iPhone pixel density (448ppi instead of 326ppi).

Round 2: "Which Startup Is Not Like the Others?"

[21:15] Host: Ellis
Players pick the company that isn’t a fintech, crypto, or ad-tech startup out of a provided list.

• Hilarious commentary on how meaningless (and generic) tech company names have become.
• [23:15] Ellis:

  "You could literally just pick a random word...and then get, you know, VC money."

• Names like Denim, Silk, Quilt, and Fabric spark confusion and amusement.

Notable Quotes:

[24:50] "If anyone in our audience works at one of these companies and it feels like I mischaracterize the industry that your company is in, don't tell me — we don't care." — Ellis

• Round winds down with judgment on actual company purposes, nobody caring about fintech, and a collective audience sigh.

Round 3: "Y Combinator Byline Draft"

[32:30] Host: Ellis

Snake-draft style: Players guess the most-used words in the company blurbs of YC’s most recent cohorts. Points are higher for less obvious words.

Highlights:

• “AI” is, by a huge margin, the #1 word (over 8% of YC company bios), followed by words like "agent," "build," "platform," "software," and "powered."
• Amusingly, contestants overthink the answers; the simplest guesses are the correct ones.
• [37:00] Marques:

  "I'm going to use the word 'help.'"

  Ellis: "That is worth 18 points!"

• Platform, code, model, data, and system are among the high scorers.

Memorable Moment: [44:00]

"It's about the friends we made along the way." — Ellis, summarizing why nostalgia rounds rule.

• Full rundown of the top 20 most-used words by YC companies provided near [54:00].

Score Update

[54:50]

• Andrew: 48
• Marques: 59
• David: 92

David rockets to the lead after crushing the snake draft segment.

Round 4: Chicken or the Egg (Which Tech Came First?)

[56:00] Host: Adam

Players have to quickly pick which product, service, or invention is older.

Examples:

• Fax machine or electric blender? (Correct: Fax machine — invented 1843, predating the telephone.)

  [58:20] "The fax machine is so old, it predates the telephone. That's right."

• QWERTY keyboard or modern paperclip? (Correct: QWERTY, 1878.)
• Lightning round of streaming apps — 2B, Roku, Mubi, Pluto — and StumbleUpon vs. Reddit.
• “Shazam or TiVo?” (TiVo is older.)

Fun riff:

• Ciabatta bread vs. SNES?

  [01:04:00] "Ciabatta is older than the SNES, but only by eight years. 1982."

Round 5: AI/Character-Generated App Icon Descriptions

[01:08:00] Host: Adam

Players hear a creative, “in-character” description of a popular app's icon and have to guess it.

Pirate:

"A colorful hashtag...painted in four bold colors...like a ship's wheel catching the wind..."
(Slack)

Robot:

"A circular green interface element...white speech-bubble icon...triangular protrusion..."
(WhatsApp — accepted, though prompt writer meant iMessage/Messages.)

Doctor:

"A distinctive white ghost on a yellow background..."
(Snapchat)

Revolutionary War Soldier:

"A red background...a white triangle pointing east..."
(YouTube)

Radio Host:

"A bright coral pink background...a white A with attitude..."
(Airbnb)

Astronaut:

"A deep blue...a large white S, curved like a sound wave..."
(Shazam)

Round 6: Nostalgia Ringtones — Audio Challenge

[01:23:20]

Players must identify classic alert tones and ringtones by company or platform.

• Results: Hilariously bad.
• Most contestants keep their phones on silent and don’t recognize half the sounds.

Notable Quote:

[01:24:00] Ellis: "Have you never been children?!"

• Some samples:

  • iPhone “old phone” ring (original, but not recognized)
  • AOSP classic Android notification (missed by all)
  • Samsung’s “Over the Horizon” (guessed by Andrew)

• Leaves the audio round somewhat in ruins, but brings laughs at how little everyone remembers about actual sound design on phones.

Round 7: Name Origins — Buzzer Round

[01:28:00] Host: Ellis

Ellis reads the etymology of a company’s name, and the hosts guess the company.

Sample Qs:

• "Works in 'Fox-like' speed." — Firefox
• "Named after founder Michael." — Dell
• "Tale from Arabian Nights; open sesame." — Alibaba
• "From game 'Go,' as in 'check.'" — Atari
• "Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge." — Slack
• "Originally Kadabra, shares a name with a river." — Amazon
• "Sonus + Sunny." — Sony
• "Original name Legend, rebranded as 'New Legend.'" — Lenovo

Major points scored by David & Marques in this round.

Score Recap & Finale

[01:38:40]

• Andrew: 268 points
• Marques: 269 points
• David: 357 points — The Winner!

Closing Speech, David:

[01:39:10] "It might have taken me four seasons, just like the hotel chain, but I knew that eventually this tower would crumble for the rest of them and something would rise from the ashes."

Notable Quotes & In-Jokes

• [08:35] David:

  "I feel like Gemini would have told you about Major League Soccer."

• [23:13] Ellis:

  "You could literally just pick a random word and get VC money."

• [44:00] Ellis:

  "It's about the friends we made along the way."

• [01:39:30] David:

  "It might have taken me four seasons, just like the hotel chain, but I knew that eventually this tower would crumble for the rest of them and something would rise from the ashes."

Key Timestamps

• [02:20] — Trivia format, intros, rules
• [06:00] — "What Would Gemini Say?" (AI or human answer)
• [21:15] — "Which Startup Is Not Like the Others?" (fake-out fintech/crypto/AI names)
• [32:30] — Y Combinator Byline Word Draft
• [54:50] — Score update (big lead change)
• [56:00] — Chicken or the Egg (timelines of tech inventions)
• [01:08:00] — AI/Character-Generated App Icon Descriptions
• [01:23:20] — The Ringtone/Nostalgia audio round
• [01:28:00] — Name Origins / Etymology Buzzer Round
• [01:38:40] — Final scores and winner announcement

Episode Summary

This is Waveform at its goofiest and most competitive, packed with clever trivia, gentle roasting, and plenty of insider humor. The episode doubles as a playful commentary on the tech industry (AI hype, startup jargon, endless rebranding), a love letter to tech nostalgia, and a celebration of who can retain the quirkiest facts. David takes the trophy in an upset, ending the show with a heartfelt if tongue-in-cheek champion's speech.

Recommended for: Anyone who loves tech, enjoys friendly competition, or is nostalgic for the days when ringtones mattered and startups were named after random objects. If you missed this one, you’ll want to tune in — you’ll laugh, groan, and maybe even learn a thing or two (or, at least, how not to name your fintech startup).