YouTube Killed Shorts - WAN Show April 17, 2026

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: This Wan Show covered a cluster of tech and policy changes that could reshape user behavior and digital markets: YouTube’s new Shorts limiting feature, DaVinci Resolve 21’s push into photo editing, stop-killing-games legislation, Apple’s renewed education push, and several platform/industry shifts around subscriptions, anti-cheat, and archival access. The episode mixed hands-on testing, skepticism of big tech incentives, and enthusiasm for tools and policies that give users more control.

Main Topics: YouTube Shorts limiting and attention control (Priority: 5/5): The hosts discussed YouTube’s apparent new option to set Shorts feed limits to zero minutes, debated whether it truly hides Shorts or merely limits access, and tested it live. They emphasized that even imperfect controls are worth supporting if they reduce attention-sucking design. DaVinci Resolve 21 as a Lightroom alternative (Priority: 5/5): They highlighted Blackmagic’s addition of a photo page with RAW editing, tethering, masking, AI tools, and Lightroom catalog import, stressing that the free tier covers most features and the studio upgrade is a one-time purchase. Stop Killing Games / server-connected game support (Priority: 5/5): The show covered California bill AB 1921 and EU momentum for requiring notice and long-term support options before shutting down server-connected games. They debated the fairness of retroactive vs. future-only rules and supported giving players refunds, patches, or offline versions. Apple’s renewed education strategy (Priority: 4/5): Apple’s revamped education and business landing pages were framed as a major effort to win back schools and keep users in Apple’s ecosystem. The hosts connected this to the decline of Apple in schools versus Chromebooks and speculated about future low-cost Macs and iPhones. Subscription economics and platform control (Priority: 4/5): They discussed Adobe’s high annual costs, Game Pass price hikes, and the tension between convenience and vendor leverage. The conversation argued that subscriptions become dangerous when companies gain too much power and raise prices or reduce value. Archiving, internet history, and access issues (Priority: 4/5): The episode noted the Internet Archive being blocked by major publishers’ crawler defenses while also celebrating the digitization of bootleg concert tapes. The hosts weighed copyright concerns against the importance of preserving public history and culture. Odd but revealing industry stories (Priority: 3/5): Several humorous but telling stories illustrated market irrationality and technical constraints, including Allbirds pivoting to AI, a giant PS4 FIFA bot farm, and a Quebec/Ontario politician plane controversy. These served as examples of money incentives, fraud, and absurdity in modern tech/business.

Key Arguments: Giving users a zero-minute Shorts limit is meaningful even if it only reduces exposure or adds friction, because reducing addictive design should be encouraged. If a game depends on servers, publishers should provide notice and at least one of three exits: an offline-compatible version, a patch, or a refund. Apple can regain education market share by offering low-cost hardware that still runs real desktop software, not just app-store-limited mobile software. Subscription models become problematic when companies use market dominance to raise prices without proportional value. Preserving internet archives and historical media matters because print journalism and institutional archives are degrading or inaccessible. Blackmagic’s Resolve offering is significant because it combines professional-grade photo/video workflows with a free entry point and a one-time paid upgrade instead of recurring fees. Platform owners should be punished for dark patterns like back-button hijacking and attention traps, because user consent and navigation should remain in the user’s control.

Data Points: YouTube Shorts daily limit: 0 minutes option - Introduced as a new setting to limit Shorts exposure Minimum display brightness tested: as low as 0.001 nit - LTT Labs testing found one phone could dim to a thousandth of a nit Phones tested for minimum brightness: 6 devices - LTT Labs article referenced testing a half dozen common phones Adobe Creative Cloud cost: 62,000 CAD before tax per year - Linus cited LMG’s annual Creative Cloud spend Adobe Acrobat Pro cost: 4,500 CAD before tax per year - Additional software spend cited during discussion Price increase impact on Game Pass Ultimate: $30/month - Current Ultimate tier after hikes from $20 and earlier $16.99 pricing Game Pass lower tiers: $10 Essential / $15 Premium - New pricing structure mentioned in memo discussion Shorts rollout behavior: inconsistent / partial rollout - Users in chat reported mixed availability of the Shorts limit option BYD flash charging: 10% to 70% in 5 minutes - New EV charging claim for top-selling models and charger rollout BYD extreme cold charge impact: about 3 extra minutes - Claimed increase in charging time at -30°C BYD charger deployment: 5,000 stations now / 20,000 targeted by end of year - Flash charging infrastructure rollout in China Ext4 link limit: 65,000 links per file - Discovered while deduplicating a huge backup containing a GIF Duplicate GIF count: almost 250,000 copies - A 1.6 MB Jennifer Aniston GIF was duplicated extensively on a Discourse server Allbirds stock jump: under $3 to about $17 - Market reaction after AI infrastructure pivot announcement Allbirds funding: $50 million - Startup capital for the AI compute pivot Ontario plane purchase: 107 million dollars - Reference point for a provincial politician’s aircraft spending controversy Federal government planes: 6 new Global 6500 jets for 753 million - Compared to Ontario and Quebec aircraft spending Internet Archive crawl blocking: 23 major publications - News outlets blocking IA’s crawler to limit AI training access Concert tape collection digitized: about 2,500 tapes - Internet Archive project to preserve Adam Jacobs’ bootleg recordings Concert tape collection size: more than 10,000 cassette tapes - Collector’s archive since 1989 PS4 bot farm size: 3,800 consoles - Ukraine warehouse used for FIFA Ultimate Team automation LMG floatplane benefit: 50% lower free-shipping threshold - For supporter plus tier during Shipstorm sale Linus Media Group ad spend: more than 10,000 CAD/year historically; now much higher - Referenced in discussion of Adobe’s cost Adobe overall spend: closer to 62,000 CAD/year plus Acrobat - Current estimate cited during the show

Pivotal Quotes: "if you say hey i don't want shorts it shouldn't advertise them to you" — Linus: Discussing why the Shorts limit matters even if the UI is imperfect "one time dude that's so good one time is no problem" — Linus: Reacting to DaVinci Resolve Studio being a one-time purchase "the biggest and worst story of cheaters i've heard in a while" — Linus: Commenting on Counter-Strike cheating and anti-cheat problems

Implications: The episode suggests a broader shift toward user control, non-subscription alternatives, and preservation-minded policy. If these trends continue, creators, publishers, and platforms may face stronger pressure to reduce addictive design, support offline access, and justify recurring fees.