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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-kind-of-cupcakes dept.

These cupcakes are making me hangry:

In what is probably the only example ever of tiny, frosted cakes sparking mass outrage, strong negative feedback has prompted Google to remove a cupcake calorie counter from its iOS Maps app, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Google recently added the cutesy — and possibly half-baked — feature as an experiment. With the new feature, users saw a pink cupcake icon that automatically showed them how many calories they would burn if they walked to their destination. The app also translated that calorie count into mini cupcakes, telling walkers how many of the tiny treats they would burn if they walked from point A to point B.

But complaints soon started raining down like sprinkles.

Critics accused the cartoon cupcake counter of being patronizing, promoting body-shaming, and possibly triggering unhealthy behavior in people who have struggled with eating disorders or over-exercise, BBC reports. There's no way to turn the feature off, critics pointed out.

"Do they realize how extremely triggering something like this is for ppl who have had eating disorders? Not to mention just generally shamey," a user named Taylor Lorenz tweeted. She added: "Also it looks like there's no way to turn this feature off what the hell."

Google Maps has instead added 12 "worlds" for users to explore, including Venus, Pluto, Europa, Ganymede, Rhea, and Mimas. Google Maps users would in fact weigh less if they were on these bodies.

Also at The Verge, SFGate, TechCrunch, and Buzzfeed.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:41AM (19 children)

    by edIII (791) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:41AM (#583824)

    Something that is actually fucking useful is killed right away because feelings got hurt.

    Fuck, choose a different damn icon then. I can't eviscerate Google over their choice of icon. What else represents calories so universally well that it triggered a million snowflakes?

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Nuke on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:00AM (6 children)

    by Nuke (3162) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:00AM (#583853)

    I think the issue was that you could not turn it off. I'm sure someone will offer an app for it anyway, if they don't already.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:32PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:32PM (#583924)

      No, the issue is we live in a world full of immensely stupid snowflakes.

      • (Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @03:19PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @03:19PM (#583971)

        Yes, and the worst of these stupid snowflakes currently lives at the White House.

        You'd think money and power would give Trump a thicker skin but he can't handle a fraction of the criticism that he himself levelled at his predecessor without being triggered into an epic meltdown that would put a millennial to shame.

        • (Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:54PM (1 child)

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:54PM (#584221) Homepage Journal

          Things are not always fair. Things happen to you that you do not always deserve. Look at the way I've been treated lately, especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can't let them get you down. You can't let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. I guess that's why we WON. Adversity makes you stronger. Don't give in, don't back down and never stop doing what you know is right. Nothing worth doing ever, ever, ever came easy and the more righteous your fight, the more opposition that you will face. 🇺🇸

          • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:14AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 19 2017, @05:14AM (#584376)

            Who are the cunts that vote everything "Troll"?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Wednesday October 18 2017, @04:14PM

      by SomeGuy (5632) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @04:14PM (#583992)

      But, but, but it is 2017! Turning things off is so old fashioned! How else do you expect them to monetize your use of it?

    • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:33PM

      by urza9814 (3954) on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:33PM (#584715) Journal

      I think the issue was that you could not turn it off. I'm sure someone will offer an app for it anyway, if they don't already.

      YES.

      This is, IMO, one of the biggest problems in modern tech in general. You can't ever fucking turn things off. This is why I run Linux, and this is why I keep trying to use more and more of my own software and servers rather than using the utter garbage most companies are producing these days. I don't need 90% of the crap they're trying to push on me, and about 50% of that are "features" that I'm actively trying to avoid.

      How fucking difficult is an "On/off" slider? And yet Google would rather yank the entire feature rather than giving their users any tiny sliver of control.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:52AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:52AM (#583864)

    A small icon with just "Cal" would IMHO be fine as well. Personally, I didn't know about that feature, but for me it would have been handy as I walk relative a lot. Would be nice to know how many calories I would have burned.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:30AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:30AM (#583878)

      A small icon with just "Cal" would IMHO be fine as well.

      First Clippy and now Cuppy? What do you have against animated helpers who only want what's best for you?

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:32AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @10:32AM (#583882)

    Something that is actually fucking useful is killed right away

    What really would've been helpful would be to show me where all of the cupcake shops wear along my walking route.

    • (Score: 2) by urza9814 on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:36PM

      by urza9814 (3954) on Thursday October 19 2017, @06:36PM (#584719) Journal

      What would REALLY be helpful would be giving the users some ability to actually control their own devices. How fuckin hard is an 'on/off' button? Why does Google act like the only options are "everyone has the feature all the time" or "nobody ever gets the feature"? Certainly there are occasionally features which can't be separated so easily...but this surely is not one of them.

      It's the same goddamn virus that is now infecting even Linux through crap like SystemD. From "Do one thing and do it well" to "Do everything our way or GTFO"

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Wednesday October 18 2017, @12:36PM (6 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @12:36PM (#583900)

    Just look at the complaints: "Do they realize how extremely triggering something like this is". I can't even think of a response to something like this. Why would anyone actually take this seriously?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:35PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @01:35PM (#583928)

      Ladies and gentlemen, the left in a nutshell. Smile politely, rev the helicopters.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @03:08PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @03:08PM (#583967)

        How's the war on Christmas going? Happy Holidays bitch.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:04PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @06:04PM (#584030)

          According to the Right, the war on Xmas is going full bore! My God*! Think of the children! According to anyone else?, nobody cares.

          But for FSM's sake, look at a calendar, Happy Halloween!

          *White-Jesus

        • (Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:05PM

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @11:05PM (#584230) Homepage Journal

          We’re getting near that beautiful Christmas season that people don’t talk about any more. They don’t use the word Christmas because it’s not politically correct. When was the last time you saw "Merry Christmas"? You don’t see it any more. You go to department stores and they’ll say 'Happy New Year,' or they’ll say other things and it’ll be red, they’ll have it painted. But they don’t say "Merry Christmas." Well, guess what? We’re saying "Merry Christmas" again. Our religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights. The American founders invoked our Creator four times in the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin reminded his colleague at the Constitutional Convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. I remind you that we’re going to start saying "Merry Christmas" again. You’ll be saying "Merry Christmas" again when you go shopping. Believe me. "Merry Christmas." They’ve been downplaying that little, beautiful phrase. You’re going to be saying "Merry Christmas" again, folks. MERRY GODDAMNED CHRISTMAS!

          MERRY GODDAMNED CHRISTMAS!

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:45PM

        by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday October 18 2017, @08:45PM (#584124) Journal

        Ladies and gentlemen, the left in a nutshell. Smile politely, rev the helicopters.

        If one random Twitter poster is enough to malign the entire "Left" then just imagine how much fun I'm gonna have with Ethanol Fueled!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:47PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 18 2017, @05:47PM (#584023)

      Just look at the complaints: "Do they realize how extremely triggering something like this is". I can't even think of a response to something like this. Why would anyone actually take this seriously?

      Cyber cupcake attacks have been on the rise ever since they started keeping records. Denying it is a problem is just another example of ostrich politics. Where's your chorus of "regulations are bad for business"? Do you think cyber cupcake attacks are good for businesses?

  • (Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:26PM

    by Nobuddy (1626) on Thursday October 19 2017, @04:26PM (#584638)

    Had it just showed calories burned, it would have been ignored. By converting to cupcakes, they crossed a line. It was meant to be cutesy, but comes across as "walk off those cupcakes, fatass!"