Gadgetory

welcome to a new segment that I'm calling honest answers where I take questions that you guys ask me and answer them honestly today's question one that I've received many times is how do you guys get companies to send you the samples of computer hardware that you're always showing off well let's get started the mastercase 5 by Coolermaster gives you the freedom to truly make your mid-tower pc case your own with a variety of modular parts and accessories check out the link in the video description to learn more so there are two underlying meanings to this question whenever people ask me some of them want to become product reviewers or vloggers or they just want a sponsor to you know throw them a free video card or SSD for their new rig while others are just idly curious about how it is that we get all these cool products to review or show off since most people are astute enough to figure out that no one is crazy or wealthy enough to buy all of the stuff that they need to run a tech review channel our size let's start with the folks who want to know how to get review products for themselves since that's a simpler answer and here it is sorry but basically you can't if life works that way that would be super cool but it doesn't unfortunately and the odds of a PR or media relations contact even replying to you unless you're affiliated with a significant publication is very very low software sometimes works on a different set of rules since there's no actual bill of materials for emailing someone a license key but physical items that have a real cost like money that had to be paid to a supplier or a factory associated with them are not handed out without some kind of benefit in return this is known as ROI or return on investment now there are exceptions I actually had a viewer contact me once asking for advice on how to review some SSDs that he had managed to finagle out of crucial and Intel of all people I mean - tech tips has never gotten an SSD sample from crucial to which I replied well dude you really should have thought of that before you requested review samples SSDs are among the most complicated devices to properly review than I gave them some homework that involved reading every SSD article ever published on a non tech starting with the X 25m review which he either didn't do or didn't understand based on the finished video and that is exactly why most people never will and probably never should get a review sample if a PR agent cares about his or her job because they've generally given little to no thought to the ROI I used to handle sample requests said NCIX by the way don't bother contacting retailers why would they have samples and I'd get presentations that are like hey if you guys give us eight twenty four port networks which is we can have a 200-person LAN party and I'd be like good for you that delete instead of asking what a hardware manufacturer can do for you instead of sending a presentation that outlines the cool games you plan to play on your free graphics card figure out what unique and compelling value that you will provide in return which doesn't mean that I'm saying that you should be some kind of a cheap whore Ribble shill that was close posting misleading positive reviews in exchange for a product most brands by the way will not even be willing to engage in that kind of marketing because a it's deceptive to the real customers and be in America anyway it is outright illegal so find another way to justify it I mean maybe a really cool guide centered around that product or prominent positioning in a build log with many posts in the threads across a bunch of forums online which I guess leads us pretty well into how we handle things part two of this how does Linus tech tips get access to review samples well it's pretty straightforward the company thinks that their product is awesome so they send a unit to us and hope that we will agree with them and post a favorable review PR really doesn't get any cheaper or more effective than that since sending out a loaner unit is just the price of a return label and even a keeper unit is only the cost of the product itself which is nothing compared to a decent sized ad campaign on Facebook or a TV commercial or whatever they are taking a risk that the findings we present won't be positive but with some exceptions Astro never replied to me again after I posted a negative review of their a 50 wireless headset most of the brands that we've ever worked with value our honest feedback even if they didn't get the result they wanted and will work with their product development team to make it better the next time around though with that said we've gotten to the point where sending us something isn't that risky since I'm negative review seems to generate a bump in the sales of a given product for some reason anyhow so it's gotten pretty easy for us to request whatever it is that we need which leads us back to the first answer again before wrapping this up why is it easy for you Linus but not for me the viewer brands love influencers and they come in many forms influencers who are really good at something directly related to the product so like eSports players gaming and preferably winning with Logitech or Razer mice would be a perfect example of this influencers that are good at something only sort of related to the product or service being offered so this is where the good ol picture of the athlete on the box of Wheaties comes in or influencers that are just cool so cool that brands want their products nearby however untalented the individuals may be wherever consumers are directing their eyeballs that is where brands want to put their products which is how content like seven gamers one CPU came to be so that my friends is what you will need if you want anyone to reply to your emails influence or eyeballs which means that if your plan is to be a phone reviewer or something and you don't see a way out of this chicken and egg box where you can't get any phones until you're an established phone reviewer and you can't your phone reviewer until you get phones then frankly you need to get more creative I mean I worked at a computer retailer which is how I got access to computer hardware and lots of guys start out making simple guides that are applicable to any device to establish themselves before they get into the more high-end stuff that is either expensive or you need a media contact for you'll need to think outside the box because I can guarantee that your path to success will be different from mine or anyone elses I hope this video clears it up and on that subject tunnel bear tunnel bear is the easy to use VPN app for mobile and desktop it lets you tunnel to 20 different countries allowing you to browse the Internet and use online services as though you are in a different country so whether it's something as mundane as you know oh hey I want to watch that online video but it's region-locked or something as obscure as like that time that I wanted to buy a Google glass and they wouldn't even allow people outside of the US to access the website let alone enter payment information and by the bloody thing Tunnel there has got you covered they've got apps for iOS Android PC and Mac they also have a Chrome extension and it's super easy to use like seriously they actually made it like so easy a toddler could do it the application just pops out of the system tray and there's like a little switch and you just click on the switch and it goes I am off click I am on and when it's turned on your connection gets encrypted with AES 256-bit encryption and your public IP gets switched so that whatever websites and services you're accessing look at you and think oh gee this guy is coming from or gal is coming from this other place but actually you're from a completely different place and they keep it simple there's no port configuration DNS or any other nonsense tunneled error handles that in the background or the underground as it were they do have tunnels these bears the best part of tunnel bear is that you can actually try it for nothing they will give you 500 Meg's of data for free so you can figure out if tunnel bears right for you before you got to plunk down a few bucks a month for an unlimited plan and oh by the way you can save 10% on that by going to tunnel bear comm /l tt which is linked in the video description alright so thanks for watching guys if this video sucked you know what to do but if it was awesome get subscribed hit that like button or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop at Amazon instructions up there by buying a cool shirt like this one or with a direct monthly contribution through our community forum now that you're done doing all that stuff you're probably wondering what to watch next so click that little button in the top right corner to check out the video where I open up holy a system that can accept 8 graphics cards all at once which by the way was a review sample oh yeah leave a comment if you have suggestions for future questions answered whatever I called this segment