6 ms·

Mkbsd: Download all the wallpapers in MKBHD's "Panels" app for free

44 points by swyx 2y ago

swyx 2y ago
context https://x.com/kaepora/status/1838651348797063276 https://x.com/kaepora/status/1838651348797063276
wuster 2y ago
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/panels-api/data/20240916/media-1a-i-p\~s https://storage.googleapis.com/panels-api/data/20240916/medi... | jq -r '.data[].dhd' | grep imgix.net | while read -r line; do out=$(echo $line | sed 's/?.*//g' | sed 's/[^.a-zA-Z0-9]/_/g'); curl -s -o $out $line; done
- boldlybold 2y ago
  I was hoping someone would reply with a bash one-liner so I didn't get nerd sniped into doing it myself, thank you
- cloudyman 2y ago
  not working for me:(
amir734jj 2y ago
$50 annual subscription for the context.
dysoco 2y ago
Can anyone give context on what the app is and why it's considered "grifting", "predatory" and "shitty"? I'm just curious.
- notaustinpowers 2y ago
  The app is a repository of artist-submitted and curated wallpapers. The app allows for SD downloads, but you have to watch 2 ads, or HD downloads if you have a subscription ($12/month or $50/year). The pushback is due to multiple factors: - Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated". - The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking). - The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team. It's had an online presence since 2021. To many, it feels like he just bought it, slapped his name on it, and is using his "brand" to push an inferior product.
  - haberman 2y ago
    FWIW he says your last point is false: https://x.com/MKBHD/status/1838583491413360781 https://x.com/MKBHD/status/1838583491413360781 > The Twitter account is from 2021 because it's a salvaged username from an inactive account. The app was built from scratch.
    - notaustinpowers 2y ago
      Thanks! Didn't see that update from him.
  - gerash 2y ago
    > Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated" Pardon my language but then don't fckng use the app! What if you put your car for sale for $20K and then someone else says: nah that piece of junk is not worth that much and then steal it from you and give it to someone else for free. That seems to be what's happening here.
    - opan 2y ago
      There's no scarcity to digital data, that analogy is a bit ridiculous.
    - notaustinpowers 2y ago
      Well, I'm not using the app, so... But that doesn't absolve someone of public ridicule or commentary. MKBHD, who has been a huge proponent of privacy, asking for my LOCATION for a wallpaper app? You and I both know its for ad targeting, and happens whether you're paying a subscription or not. Also, where in my original comment did I say anything about stealing the artwork?
  - addicted 2y ago
    > Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated". Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content. > The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking). Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content. > The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team. Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content.
- xyst 2y ago
  https://github.com/nadimkobeissi/mkbsd?tab=readme-ov-file#q-whats-the-story-behind-this https://github.com/nadimkobeissi/mkbsd?tab=readme-ov-file#q-...
hombre_fatal 2y ago
Not sure what's worse, the smug glee for doing something trivial or the amateur code. But I did publish some lame repos as jokes and statement pieces back when I was a beginner, I'll admit. As for Marques Brownlee's wallpaper app, it's pretty harmless. It's not like it tricks you into spending money like those $7/week PDF scanner apps. I'll take his word for it that people in his fanbase ask him regularly about his wallpaper. Would it still be dumb if 1000 people ($50,0000/yr) were willing to subscribe to get his curated wallpapers, or is it only dumb if you imagine that 0 people would do it?
- type0 2y ago
  > or is it only dumb if you imagine that 0 people would do it? oh, sure and it needs NFT /s
- talldayo 2y ago
  > it's pretty harmless Then his target audience will be happy to support him. Honestly the only "amateur code" I can see here is a SaaS that can't figure out how to hide paywalled content from a Python scraper.
  - windexh8er 2y ago
    This entire debacle for Marques shines a light on his actual prowess. He's claimed to be a "reviewer". He's even stated he reviews things in their current state, not future. If he was "reviewing" his own app he'd rip it to shreds. The cost, the privacy nightmare that it is, and now the shoddy quality of it altogether. He's a marketer. And a charlatan if he wants to claim he's actually skilled at objective reviews that follow some process outside his stream of thought. Does he have good production sense? Sure. But he's not what he claims. Neither is his app. Between his garbage sit down with Apple, his shilling for Buick and this you'd think he'd realize he should stay in his lane.
    - linotype 2y ago
      Yes, he’s clearly a failure at reviews and business with billions of views on YouTube. Just because his content isn’t for your doesn’t mean his reviews are bad.
ClassyJacket 2y ago
Isn't this copyright infringement? The FAQ says "MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal.", but I don't think that logically follows. Just because something doesn't have DRM, doesn't make copying it not piracy. There are plenty of PC games with no DRM but you still aren't licensed to use them without buying. Like, it's not as if I could care less about a bottom line of an already rich YouTuber, but is this really the hill to die on, especially with legal risk?
- addicted 2y ago
  It’s also a ridiculous argument for anyone in the open source community, or anyone who has benefited from the open source community to pay even a moment’s attention to. It basically invalidates every open source licence because it’s essentially saying that if the terms of the licence cannot be enforced by code then the licence itself doesn’t apply.
- boristsr 2y ago
  I'd personally be worried publishing this due to potentially also being classified as gaining unauthorized access to a computer system. It may temporarily be a publically accessible and poorly secured API, but that doesn't mean it's intended for public consumption when you have poked around the app to work out the API and then bypassing payment mechanisms.
- dontdoxxme 2y ago
  Person seems to work for cure53, who have done reviews of lots of open source apps. Apparently they don't care about copyright though.
  - abhinavk 2y ago
    They also sell apps on AppStore (with in-app purchases), Switch and Steam. So I think that they do.
amin 2y ago
lmao
usef- 2y ago
Not to comment on the rest of it, but this FAQ answer is a bit flawed: > Q: Aren't you stealing from artists by running this script? > MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal. The real problem here is Panels and MKBHD's complete inability to provide a secure platform for the artists that they're exploiting working with. Any other app could have avoided the issues that make MKBSD possible had it been engineered competently. That's pretty embarrassing for the app developers, but it's not addressing the question. "It's okay to extract the artists' sell-able work for free, because their landlord didn't lock the door"?
- addicted 2y ago
  > "It's okay to extract the artists' sell-able work for free, because their landlord didn't lock the door"? Well paraphrased.
- ihuman 2y ago
  > artists that they're exploiting I thought he pays the artists?
  - akmarinov 2y ago
    They figure a 50-50 split is exploitation, where there are tens of thousands of wallpaper apps that don’t see the light of day, because they don’t have someone like MKBHD backing them
- brigadier132 2y ago
  It's definitely copyright infringement. Also it's hilarious that the owner of this repo is advocating for DRM. When someone uses the word "exploit" to describe commercial transactions you just know they have room temperature IQ.
  - pdntspa 2y ago
    Are you sure about that? So much of "good business practice" is really exploiting your suppliers. If you are trying to underpay for a resource, or forcing cost cuts, or simply taking more of the pie that you previously gave your resource, for the same or better quality service, you are exploiting that resource.
dangitman 2y ago
[dead]
Insanity 2y ago
Look, I get it, the app is silly. I’m clearly not the target audience as I know how to google for wallpapers. But publishing this repo is not OK. Write a small article, let them know and get a potential bug bounty, sure. But don’t just release something that avoids the artists getting paid.
Zren 2y ago
IMO, they should have made it a simple mailed print/postcard subscription with an email newsletter with the jpg wallpaper. You could even provide access to a private wallpaper app that changes it for you monthly if people want that. LTT has the right mentality that supporting an influencer should give you something physical for your support or when asking a superchat on a livestream that may or may not get answered.
panpan1409 2y ago
Just because an API is poorly secured or misconfigured doesn't make it ethical or legal to exploit it. While the technical ability to bypass restrictions might exist due to bad engineering, that doesn't necessarily give you the right to do so. If the content is behind a paywall, you're likely violating the platform’s ToS and possibly laws like the DMCA or similar anti-circumvention regulations. The real issue here is with the platform's engineering and how it protects (or doesn't) creators' work, but bypassing those safeguards doesn’t fix that problem—it just contributes to it.
- shaunpud 2y ago
  ok

44 points by swyx 2y ago

swyx 2y ago

context https://x.com/kaepora/status/1838651348797063276 https://x.com/kaepora/status/1838651348797063276

curl https://storage.googleapis.com/panels-api/data/20240916/media-1a-i-p\~s https://storage.googleapis.com/panels-api/data/20240916/medi... | jq -r '.data[].dhd' | grep imgix.net | while read -r line; do out=$(echo $line | sed 's/?.*//g' | sed 's/[^.a-zA-Z0-9]/_/g'); curl -s -o $out $line; done

boldlybold 2y ago
I was hoping someone would reply with a bash one-liner so I didn't get nerd sniped into doing it myself, thank you
cloudyman 2y ago
not working for me:(

amir734jj 2y ago

$50 annual subscription for the context.

dysoco 2y ago

Can anyone give context on what the app is and why it's considered "grifting", "predatory" and "shitty"? I'm just curious.

notaustinpowers 2y ago
The app is a repository of artist-submitted and curated wallpapers. The app allows for SD downloads, but you have to watch 2 ads, or HD downloads if you have a subscription ($12/month or $50/year). The pushback is due to multiple factors: - Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated". - The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking). - The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team. It's had an online presence since 2021. To many, it feels like he just bought it, slapped his name on it, and is using his "brand" to push an inferior product.
- haberman 2y ago
  FWIW he says your last point is false: https://x.com/MKBHD/status/1838583491413360781 https://x.com/MKBHD/status/1838583491413360781 > The Twitter account is from 2021 because it's a salvaged username from an inactive account. The app was built from scratch.
  - notaustinpowers 2y ago
    Thanks! Didn't see that update from him.
- gerash 2y ago
  > Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated" Pardon my language but then don't fckng use the app! What if you put your car for sale for $20K and then someone else says: nah that piece of junk is not worth that much and then steal it from you and give it to someone else for free. That seems to be what's happening here.
  - opan 2y ago
    There's no scarcity to digital data, that analogy is a bit ridiculous.
  - notaustinpowers 2y ago
    Well, I'm not using the app, so... But that doesn't absolve someone of public ridicule or commentary. MKBHD, who has been a huge proponent of privacy, asking for my LOCATION for a wallpaper app? You and I both know its for ad targeting, and happens whether you're paying a subscription or not. Also, where in my original comment did I say anything about stealing the artwork?
- addicted 2y ago
  > Quite a few of the wallpapers are simple gradients, and one is just the color orange. So they don't quite feel "curated". Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content. > The app asks for some unnecessary permissions (cross-app/site tracking, and location tracking). Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content. > The app doesn't look to be something that was actually made by MKBHD and his team. Then ask for a refund. Don’t go and steal the content.
xyst 2y ago
https://github.com/nadimkobeissi/mkbsd?tab=readme-ov-file#q-whats-the-story-behind-this https://github.com/nadimkobeissi/mkbsd?tab=readme-ov-file#q-...

hombre_fatal 2y ago

Not sure what's worse, the smug glee for doing something trivial or the amateur code. But I did publish some lame repos as jokes and statement pieces back when I was a beginner, I'll admit. As for Marques Brownlee's wallpaper app, it's pretty harmless. It's not like it tricks you into spending money like those $7/week PDF scanner apps. I'll take his word for it that people in his fanbase ask him regularly about his wallpaper. Would it still be dumb if 1000 people ($50,0000/yr) were willing to subscribe to get his curated wallpapers, or is it only dumb if you imagine that 0 people would do it?

type0 2y ago
> or is it only dumb if you imagine that 0 people would do it? oh, sure and it needs NFT /s
talldayo 2y ago
> it's pretty harmless Then his target audience will be happy to support him. Honestly the only "amateur code" I can see here is a SaaS that can't figure out how to hide paywalled content from a Python scraper.
- windexh8er 2y ago
  This entire debacle for Marques shines a light on his actual prowess. He's claimed to be a "reviewer". He's even stated he reviews things in their current state, not future. If he was "reviewing" his own app he'd rip it to shreds. The cost, the privacy nightmare that it is, and now the shoddy quality of it altogether. He's a marketer. And a charlatan if he wants to claim he's actually skilled at objective reviews that follow some process outside his stream of thought. Does he have good production sense? Sure. But he's not what he claims. Neither is his app. Between his garbage sit down with Apple, his shilling for Buick and this you'd think he'd realize he should stay in his lane.
  - linotype 2y ago
    Yes, he’s clearly a failure at reviews and business with billions of views on YouTube. Just because his content isn’t for your doesn’t mean his reviews are bad.

ClassyJacket 2y ago

Isn't this copyright infringement? The FAQ says "MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal.", but I don't think that logically follows. Just because something doesn't have DRM, doesn't make copying it not piracy. There are plenty of PC games with no DRM but you still aren't licensed to use them without buying. Like, it's not as if I could care less about a bottom line of an already rich YouTuber, but is this really the hill to die on, especially with legal risk?

addicted 2y ago
It’s also a ridiculous argument for anyone in the open source community, or anyone who has benefited from the open source community to pay even a moment’s attention to. It basically invalidates every open source licence because it’s essentially saying that if the terms of the licence cannot be enforced by code then the licence itself doesn’t apply.
boristsr 2y ago
I'd personally be worried publishing this due to potentially also being classified as gaining unauthorized access to a computer system. It may temporarily be a publically accessible and poorly secured API, but that doesn't mean it's intended for public consumption when you have poked around the app to work out the API and then bypassing payment mechanisms.
dontdoxxme 2y ago
Person seems to work for cure53, who have done reviews of lots of open source apps. Apparently they don't care about copyright though.
- abhinavk 2y ago
  They also sell apps on AppStore (with in-app purchases), Switch and Steam. So I think that they do.

amin 2y ago

lmao

usef- 2y ago

Not to comment on the rest of it, but this FAQ answer is a bit flawed: > Q: Aren't you stealing from artists by running this script? > MKBSD accesses publicly available media through the Panels app's own API. It doesn't do anything shady or illegal. The real problem here is Panels and MKBHD's complete inability to provide a secure platform for the artists that they're exploiting working with. Any other app could have avoided the issues that make MKBSD possible had it been engineered competently. That's pretty embarrassing for the app developers, but it's not addressing the question. "It's okay to extract the artists' sell-able work for free, because their landlord didn't lock the door"?

addicted 2y ago
> "It's okay to extract the artists' sell-able work for free, because their landlord didn't lock the door"? Well paraphrased.
ihuman 2y ago
> artists that they're exploiting I thought he pays the artists?
- akmarinov 2y ago
  They figure a 50-50 split is exploitation, where there are tens of thousands of wallpaper apps that don’t see the light of day, because they don’t have someone like MKBHD backing them
brigadier132 2y ago
It's definitely copyright infringement. Also it's hilarious that the owner of this repo is advocating for DRM. When someone uses the word "exploit" to describe commercial transactions you just know they have room temperature IQ.
- pdntspa 2y ago
  Are you sure about that? So much of "good business practice" is really exploiting your suppliers. If you are trying to underpay for a resource, or forcing cost cuts, or simply taking more of the pie that you previously gave your resource, for the same or better quality service, you are exploiting that resource.

dangitman 2y ago

[dead]

Insanity 2y ago

Look, I get it, the app is silly. I’m clearly not the target audience as I know how to google for wallpapers. But publishing this repo is not OK. Write a small article, let them know and get a potential bug bounty, sure. But don’t just release something that avoids the artists getting paid.

Zren 2y ago

IMO, they should have made it a simple mailed print/postcard subscription with an email newsletter with the jpg wallpaper. You could even provide access to a private wallpaper app that changes it for you monthly if people want that. LTT has the right mentality that supporting an influencer should give you something physical for your support or when asking a superchat on a livestream that may or may not get answered.

panpan1409 2y ago

Just because an API is poorly secured or misconfigured doesn't make it ethical or legal to exploit it. While the technical ability to bypass restrictions might exist due to bad engineering, that doesn't necessarily give you the right to do so. If the content is behind a paywall, you're likely violating the platform’s ToS and possibly laws like the DMCA or similar anti-circumvention regulations. The real issue here is with the platform's engineering and how it protects (or doesn't) creators' work, but bypassing those safeguards doesn’t fix that problem—it just contributes to it.

shaunpud 2y ago
ok