The Challenge of Trusting Amazon Recommendations

Today, I am embarking on a challenge that requires me to test the limits of trusting Amazon's recommendation system. The task is simple yet intriguing: I need to type in a very cleverly-worded phrase into Amazon search and buy the first non-sponsored result I see.

To approach this challenge effectively, it's essential to consider the perspective of giving Amazon enough information without being too descriptive. This means crafting my search query carefully so that I can rely on the algorithm to guide me towards the desired product.

The first thing I need is a new tech bag, and I'm looking for a high-quality tech pouch. With this in mind, I press the Enter button and begin my search. The first result I see is a travel gear tech bag organizer. While it looks nice, I proceed with caution, knowing that sponsored results can be misleading.

As I review the product details, I notice that the price seems reasonable at $44.95. However, I need something more specific – a cheap 5G smartphone. The first result I see is the Samsung Galaxy A13, priced at $263. While it's an older model with an unappealing chin, I consider purchasing it anyway.

Despite my initial reservations, I decide to trust Amazon's recommendation and add the phone to my cart. However, things take a drastic turn when the next result appears – a $5,000 projector. My excitement quickly turns to fear as I accidentally exit pay and realize what I've done.

I frantically try to correct my mistake by adding the projector to our cart, but it's too late. The damage is done, and I'm left wondering if I should proceed with the purchase. As I contemplate my decision, a familiar voice appears in my cart – Austin Evans, a well-known figure known for his unconventional purchases.

The auto-complete feature on Amazon surprises me by suggesting Austin Evans as a possible next purchase. While this might seem like a coincidence, I'm not convinced it's a good idea. With a sense of trepidation, I consider whether I should proceed with the recommendation and see where it takes me.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Today I am embarking on a challenge.I am typing in a verycleverly-worded phraseinto Amazon search, and I have to buythe first non-sponsoredsearch result I see.So we need to think aboutthis from the perspectiveof giving Amazon enough to work with,without being too descriptive.I wanna try to actually trustthe Amazon recommendationsto lead me to the promised land.Okay, so, the first thing I need,and this is actually somethingI really want for myself,is a new tech bag.Okay, high-quality tech pouch.Enter button is being pressed, now.All right, sponsor, sponsor, sponsor.First actual result, travelgear tech bag organizer!This actually looks nice.Wait a minute. Yeah,yeah, yeah, this works.44.95, what could go wrong?You know what I need for my pouch?I need a cheap 5G smartphone!(groans)Sponsor, sponsor, and I don't wanna look.Samsung Galaxy A13, $263!Look at that chin! What is this, 2017?Do I have to?- Yes.- We might not be off to a great start,but I have confidence thatwe can bring this back.I'm feeling bold, I'm feeling adventurous.Weird electronics.(screaming)It's a $5,000 projector!Whoops, oh, I accidentallyexited pay. Oh no!I accidentally just...- That to our cart real quick.- I am frightened, terrified, petrified,of what I'm about to get next.- Austin Evans.- You want me to type inthe words, Austin Evans,and just buy it?- Yeah.- What's it,it's not gonna be on here.- Oh, no, there's anauto-complete for Austin Evans.I don't like that.- Oh, what?"Steve: A Tale of Ghosts,Death Cults, and Victory Pizza"by Austin Curtis Evans.- You got a competitor.- Steve is a beer-guzzling monster hunterwho's very good at his job,until he accidentally kills a pizza guythat was in the wrong placeat the wrong time. (laughing)Budget gaming keyboard.- Is this just causeyou don't wanna spend a lot of moneyon a keyboard?- Yes, it is.The MageGee!What the is a MageGee?For 30 bucks!I mean, you know what, for 30bucks, what could go wrong?Let's go, MageGee.I'm not gonna look, I'm notgonna look, I'm not gonna look.MacBook Air, $224!Hey, that's actually not bad.All right, we're-- Funny iPhone case.- Okay, I'm not sureif I should be listeningto you guys right now.Are you sabotaging me, orare you trying to help?- Trying to help.- That was a reallyquiet, "Trying to help."I don't think I believe that.- We're makinggood content. (laughing)- Is that a pig butt you can squeezeon the back of the case?I will be taking no moresuggestions from the group.I'm gonna drive the ship now.YouTube camera for YouTubers.You know, they don't showany photos of the actual,oh, there, that's it.Oh, oh, that's not as good.Well, I'll see you in a momentafter I press the order buttonon this terrible, terrible decision.- You have to run 1,000.- What's up, MKB8K here.- He has to run.- Today, we're herewith the crispiest tech videos- Oh yeah, okay.- of all time.(Ken groans)Excuse me, I've gotta jumpin my Tesla real quick.I'm gonna do a studio tour,maybe a little desk setup.How do you feel about Androidphones? I'm a huge fan.Frisbee! (blowing air)(Ken laughing)I need to become a morewell-rounded tech YouTuber.And the way to do itis not by buying expensive cameras, oh no.Here, can you hold this pile of garbage?I just need to lean into myABCs of being a tech YouTuber.To be clear, this is a actual bookthat Linus Tech TipSebastian wrote himself.For my little gamers.A is for arcade.Do you want to have some fun?Insert two coins please, player one.C is for clickbait.This is what I do toget views on my videos.Oh wait, no, I'm sorry. Thatwas the wrong page, oops.T is for tech.When it comes to tips, I've got a lot.- No, it does not.No, no way.- It says that, it says that.It says that.- It does not.- Thanks to Amazon, we havelearned how to be MKBHD.We've learned how to beLinus Tech Tips himself.But you know who I wannabe today? Austin Evans.- (laughing) Sorry.- What's so funny about Austin Evans?- (laughing) Nothing.- So you may not know this about me.In my downtime, which I have lots of,I am a prolific novelist,and have written many acclaimed stories,such as, "Steve: A Taleof Ghosts, Death Cults,and Victory Pizza."Look at that, Austin Evans.Above the boots were a pair of jeansthat had faded the old-fashioned way,and a White Snake shirtthat had been picked upat a concert decades ago.I'm already asleep. This is terrible.Let's move on to better Amazon items,'cause I don't remember writing that.Been on a little bitof an adventure so far,but the most importantpart of being a YouTuberisn't your Red, isn't yourexpensive server setup,isn't your questionably-written novels.Oh no, my friends, it'sabout making videos.And you know how I make videos?With a camcorder.Wow! If you have giant hands,this is a great grip for it.We've got a hot shoe, very important.A cold shoe, technically.We've got a lens cap, which dangles,so, nice audio as you're filming.I will say one thing, though,look at that USB-C port.Now, that, my friend, is some tech.Our digital professional microphone.Welcome.(camera blings)- Oh, that's nice.- Okay, we are now recording,using my professional YouTube camera.So that's Ken.- Hi.- I'm gonna zoomin on you real quick,so.- Okay, digitally?- Nope, that's optical.That's super high quality.All right, let's see thisbeautiful image quality.Okay, we are now recording,using my professional-That's not crispy, that's deep-fried.This is a case, not just for anything.Oh no, my friends.It is a butt case. (laughing)Does anyone have a 14 Pro?- Yeah.- Thank you for the donation!- Oh wow, I need a case.- Well.- Convenient.- Oh yeah, look at that!It's like a squishy pop socketthat feels a little gross.Try, use it like a pop socket,like with your hand there.- Oh, you can put your pinky there.- Yeah, you can put your pinky- Wow.- underneath the butt.At what point do we need tostart censoring this itemis my concern here.- It's cute, though.- It is cute.And then you tap.- It has the pig.Okay, well,not when you do.- No, don't do that.Don't do that.(case rattling)- Sounds like quality.For 40 bucks, man, howcould I possibly go wrong?Wow, those are cool! So cool!They do have USB-C and an aux.You've got noise-canceling andBluetooth as a button here.I mean, these look all right.For context, I paid $40for these headphones.I'm very, very confidentthat they're gonna betotally worth my money.(clears throat)So, I'm gonna hit the button once, ANC on.Technically, that isactive noise canceling.The problem is, is thatit is incredibly subtle.Like, it doesn't really cancel much noise.Like, just putting the headphones on,like, just passively removesa lot more of the noise.My bigger concern though,is that you hear, like,a high-pitched noise.It's like, it's like,(hums) like the whole time.Like, it's a little subtle. Eh.Let's listen to some music,and it's gonna make me feel awhole lot better about this.I'm gonna just feel great.40 bucks, remember, $40.(crickets chirping)- Oh, Jesus Christ.- Okay, wow, I'm so happythey don't sound bad,and I did something right finally!- All right, well,I'll be the judge of that.- Nope, nope, that's fine.For 40 bucks, you could do so much worse.Those might be some ofmy favorite headphonesthat I've ever tried, under like 50 bucks.Now when I was looking fora cheap 5G smartphone.Thankfully, Jeffy B came throughwith a banger of a recommendation.All right, inside, we've gotourselves the phone itself.Okay, so, I'm surprised at how big it is,my first impression.It's just, it's so big in my hand.- That's what she said! (laughs)- Michael.- Also very green.I actually like this color.- Green?- That's blue.- No, that's blue-green.- Here's a tree.- Uh-huh.- A lot of green on it.- Yep, does appear.- Look at your shirt.That's blue.- That's blue.This is blue-green.- (chuckles) No.- On the back, it looksactually very similarto the design language that Samsung usefor their higher-end phones.There's no camera bump or anything.You just have the three little cameras,which, I will say,based on, I think, mymemory of the listing,it's like, only one of theseis, like, the main camera.Then it's like a macro and a depth sensor,which are essentially useless.Man, this is not a great LCD.I would just say, like, Ican, on the white screen,it's gonna be a littlehard to see on camera.I can see, like, littlebits of, like, ghosting.Like, it almost looks like it's an OLEDthat's been burned in a little bit.Oh my God.If I wanted to get the A13,mind you, this is renewed,Amazon's selling it for $114 right now.Am I gonna look on thebright side of the situation,now that I've spent $260, or $80,or whatever this thing was, on a device,which is immediately halfthe price, and not great?I'm just gonna spin it.Why don't we take some photos?Why don't we see justhow great this camera is?Wow! It's like my handis right in front of me!This is incredible!- (chuckling) It is in front of you.(both laughing)- That's, the colorsare impeccable.- Flattering, wonderful.- Ken, would you say thatyou are a fan of music?- Yeah.- Would you say that you'rea fan of Japanese music?- Yeah, a lot.- Well, have I got the item for you.- The Otamatone?- If you take a look at the front here,it's Japan's favorite musical toy.- Yeah.- But if you look on theback, it's from mywadenki.com.- Oh!- See?If you're not familiar, Ken is the hostof the very successful,Denki YouTube channel.Denki is Japanese for electric.- Thank you!- So, do you rememberwhen was the first timewe took a look at an Otamatone?'Cause it was like episodetwo or three of mystery tech,like five years ago.- It was a long time ago.- Right?- Yeah.(Ken playing instrument)- That's so cool! (chuckles)(Ken continues playing instrument)- Okay, Bill Clinton, calm down!- What?(crew laughing)- Wow! What a delightful weirdtech item from Amazon.com.(jazzy music)So when we searched forcheap tech gadget on Amazon,a way to enjoy my life soundslike a great way of doing it.Oh, what the, who wantsa sleep mask this big?Bluetooth, music, calling?Wait, I guess it's got a microphone too,so you can literally belike, walking around like,"Yes, yes, yes, the KPIs are great.Sell the stock."So we've got a couple ofcontrols on the front.So we've got volume up,volume down, as well as power.A little lump here,for, I'm assuming, where the buttons are,and maybe a battery?We've got a female USB-C,so this is kind of,I'm assuming that you canplug this in and charge it,and then you just tuck it awaywhen you don't want it anymore.And then I do feel, on the side,part of the reason whythe thing is so wide,is you got yourself two little speakers.After a long, hard day ofpretending to make content,it's time to take a little nap.So, I'm gonna go pull upmy favorite music lullaby,"Sea Shanty 2."You know what, I'm actually gonna say,for 25 bucks, this is not a bad idea.So it's relatively comfortable.It's a little bit annoyingto have these sort ofspeakers over your ears,but it's not bad.Like, it's better thanhaving, like, earbuds in,and it definitely blocks thelight out relatively well.Like, if I'm trying tojust block the world out,I don't wanna hear things,I don't wanna, like, see anything,I actually kinda like this.This might be the itemI am most interested in.So, a few months ago, we did a video,buying a bunch of cheap Macs on Amazon.And I will say, that it didnot go particularly well.So when I type the words,cheap Mac in Amazon,and let Bezos take the wheel,this is what showed up.So this is listed as a 2014base model 11-inch MacBook Air,which means it's got the Core i5,only four gigs of RAM, and 128-gig SSD.I still think this isprobably a better movethan actually spending $169on, like, an HP Stream or something.But let's take a look, let's take a look.This was, on the Amazonpage, listed as, "Refurbishedbut in poor cosmetic condition," right?So if it's a littlescratched up, it's fine,'cause we saved ourselveslike, 20 bucks, 30 bucks,compared to the regular one.And importantly, thislittle yellow sticker says,"Ready for reuse, full function tested."Here goes nothing.(quiet upbeat music)What? That's in bad cosmetic condition?Okay.- Still gotta seewhat the inside is. (laughs)- Yeah, I'll take a lookat the inside in a second.So, there is a scratch along the bottom,but I would say that's very minor.So this has 100% been dropped,I would say, on this corner.When I buy a laptop that says,"in poor cosmeticcondition," this is not bad.But I think the question's gonna be,what does it look likewhen we open it up, ready?And totally fine!There is one little dentunderneath the display,as well as a smaller one over here,but that's not reallygonna affect anything.Trackpad is totally fine,keyboard is nicely cleaned.Let's see if it fires up, though.That'll be the real question. Let's go!Jeffy B, my boy, yeah, led meto the promised land of a cheap Mac.Unlike last time, inwhich you took my money,and gave me a bunch of garbage town stuff.This actually has, we got USB 3.0,headphone jack, and MagSafe,as well as another USB 3.0,and a little Thunderbolt 2 port.We certainly got lucky, I think,with the cosmetic condition of this,but at $170, pretty good.Oh, interesting! So they didn'tcategorize this correctly.It's not a 2014, it's a 2015 MacBook.So I will say, thebattery is only showing upwith 72% charge, which is weirdbecause it only has 118 cycles,which is not much at all.But they did claimthat this would have 80% charge or better.So I'll say, that's alittle bit of a concern.100%, the biggest problem with this deviceis the lack of a retina display.I mean, even, like, a 1080pdisplay is so much more usable,not only just because of the sharpnessand the contrast and everything,but also just the simple factof you've got so littlescreen real estate, right?Like, you can't even multitask that well.You put two windows sideby side, they're tiny.If you wanna get yourselfinto a relatively decentmodern Mac, not bad.I just wish they would'vegiven me a better battery.Welcome, my friends, to the MageGee,the best budget gaming keyboardon Amazon, theoretically.I don't know if I like that noise.That's not a good keyboard noise.Let's just keep our mindsaround the idea, $27.Oh, they have a bunch of key caps!That's actually really nice, for 27 bucks.So they advertise this as a 60% keyboard.It does have the arrows, though.You do have the dual-stage feet too.So you can just pop out thelower ones, or the full foot.I actually kinda like the key capsthat they've given us, too.They're very plain-looking,but I don't think that's really a problem.All right, gonna give it first try,see how this keyboard is.(quiet upbeat music)73 words per minute on my first try.So, a few things.These switches do feel kind of cheap.There's definitely a little bit of a delayas you sort of compress the key down.It doesn't pop up asquickly as I would like.It's not the most amazingkeyboard I've ever tried,but, I mean, if this was 40 bucks,I'd still think it's decent.And at $27, this islegitimately worth picking up.Just, it's a low-end mechanicalkeyboard for a reason.Those switches are not amazing.So when I searched high-quality tech bag,this is not quite what I had in mind.So this is a tech pouchand electronics organizer in dusty teal.So they've got a littlebit of padding in here.So you got a bunch of little,like, slots and organizers.You've got, oh, a bunch of 'em.You got a little zippercompartment, more slots,and then a little, like, mesh pouch?So, it feels good.This is obviously meant to be livinginside of a backpack or something,where you can keep everythingnice and organized.But for $45, I'm gonnagive this a soft thumbs up.Obviously, I've gotta put my green phone,oh, oh, oh, oh, look at that!That's a good, that's almost a match.- Wow, actually though.- Almost a match.- It's still not green.- It's dusty teal.As someone who has purchaseda cute game controller ortwo in my day, the Kinvocais about the cutestcontroller I've ever used.This was $36, which is certainly cheaperthan, like, a pro controller or something,but also, that's not,like, super, super cheap.Look how tiny it is!Look at my hands on this controller.I didn't realize how small itwas, looking at the listing!This is clearly for peoplewith little baby hands.- Or kids.- Oh, kids exist. I forgot about that.- You have two of them.- Ya have one.- It's fine. It looks really cute, though.You got the ears, you've got your sticks.Does have USB-C, as well as a sync,and it does have anaux jack on the bottom.Let's sync it up, shall we?- Oh, they light up!- Oh my God, that's cool!So I will say, it does feel likethere's a little bit of latency.I dunno if it's justthe regular Bluetooth,but like, I feel likethere's like, a half secondbetween when I do anythingand anything actually happens.There we go! That'swhat I'm talking 'bout.Buying this for kids,they're just playing,like, Mario Kart, orwhatever, totally fine.(upbeat dance music)(upbeat dance music continues)