Has Google become evil?

I’m not a fan of Facebook or Google Plus.  However, Google’s new “real name” policy is really getting on my nerves.  My Google Plus account is under the pseudonym of “MakerBlock,” so I might as well save them the trouble of suspending my accounts and just delete it now.

Eric Schmidt recently publicly stated Google Plus isn’t a social networking service, it’s an identity service.  The justification for this position was that Google Plus would be better able to serve us by knowing who we really are as well as ranking downwards those people who really are evil.  But, really, Google’s business is selling advertising to those people most likely to be interested based on their research of those people by studying, on a grand scale, every aspect of their lives. 12

I get that the person who logs into Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or Google Plus aren’t the real customers, that we’re just the product.  This makes sense and, in some cases, seems a fair trade.  It’s a funny line these businesses must walk, however.  Cater too much to the advertisers, and you lose your audience.  Cater too much to the audience, and perhaps you’ll lose advertisers.  I understand, from a business perspective, wanting to know as much about your users as possible.  But, after a certain point it just gets creepy.

No one was really offended by Facebook’s policies until relatively recently – a few data breaches here, a few account suspensions there.  And then they stopped people from treating the data those people created (or consumed) as portable.  People were fine with Google Plus until Google really started enforcing this position.

I suppose, for me, the fundamental issue may just be respect.  I think Google and Facebook have lost respect for their users.  While their business models clearly require observation of the user, it is the difference between watching animals on a wild life preserve versus watching animals in the zoo.  When those policies start to close in around the user – and they can start to see the high walls and feel like they are being watched – that’s when people start to grumble and leave.

  1. I really doubt Google would dispute that description. [↩]
  2. Hell, it’s probably in their marketing materials… [↩]

My pseudonym is my name

When I began blogging for MakerBot, it was with the stipulation that I would be able to continue to blog under my pseudonym.  This was not a problem at all.  In fact, I was assured that many people go by their adopted ‘nym’s which are more reflective of who they are than their given names ever were.  I’m saddened and disappointed that Google+ does not recognize this and is apparently banning people from their Google accounts for using pseudonyms.

Seriously, guys?  E-mail addresses, logins, Google accounts, they’re all pseudonyms of some fashion.  If Google+ is supposed to be the equivalent of posting my driver’s license online to confirm my name, physical address, and organ donor status, you can delete my account right now.  If, instead, it is about letting people use the names they’ve chosen to participate in social interactions with people who really only know them by those names…  Then stop banning people.

</rant>

Google Giveth, and Google Taketh

So, apparently NOW I can access Google Groups while still logged into my Google account.  However, now I can’t be logged into two separate accounts at the same time.

I think this is more irritating.

Is there some kind of Google competition for ways to be more aggravating?  ‘Cause they’re winning.

Google, why you so creepy?

I’m used to seeing 3D printing services advertising in the Google ads on Thingiverse.

Then I was searching for dog barking collars.  A few hours later, back to Thingiverse…  dog collars?!?!

Cut it out!

Google, what the hell?!

Apparently I can’t access Google Groups.  Which sucks.  I have several different Gmail accounts and I can’t use any of them with Google Groups.  As a result, I can only read what’s going on in the Google Groups on my RSS feed – and not respond to anything.

Google, this may not be evil…  But it is just plain mean.  Cut this out, please, and restore access to Google Groups to Gmail users.

Sketchup STL Importer Plugins

As I’ve mentioned before, I do all of my 3D modeling in Sketchup.  It’s not open source, but it is free.1

Well, I’ve been monitoring the Capolight Electronics Blog lately – and it’s a good thing too.  Besides having some seriously amazing information about the thermal properties of plastic, he’s just posted about some useful importing/exporting plugins for Sketchup.  As easy as Sketchup is to use, it’s just not very good at exporting to STL.  I haven’t tried these plugins out – but I’m hopeful they will do the job.

If you try them out, please let me know how it goes!

  1. I suppose it’s really a “freemium” business model… [↩]

My own plastic gnome

…or Minimum Wage Rights for Robots!

MakerBot posted a screenshot of a RepRap Printed Mendel Parts auction that sold for 420 pounds – roughly $630.84. 1  2  Others have been posting RepRap Mendel auctions as well.  One just sold for roughly $453, another for about $270, with two more auctions around $450 each with at least 3 more hours to go.

Using Spacexula’s Mendel production files, 24 STL sheets of parts, averaging 2-3 hours a print, we’re talking roughly 60 MakerBot print hours. 3  Assuming I only have the patience to print up one STL sheet a weekday and two sheets on the weekends, starting on a sunny Sunday like today, I could finish in 19 days.

Assuming very little human intervention, $600 for 60 hours of MakerBot operation is a pretty good deal.  It’s like having a fussy gnome who eats electricity and plastic living in your home and earning just above minimum wage for you. 4

  1. According to Google and at the time of this post. [↩]
  2. I couldn’t find a link to the actual auction at first, but then figured it must be a private auction.  It turns out this was the RepRap eBay auction posted by Adrian Bowyer a little while ago.  You might need to be logged into eBay to visit that link. [↩]
  3. This assumes no failed prints. [↩]
  4. You know, like those shoe gnomes that made shoes for the cobbler in that children’s fairy tale. [↩]