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.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Nuke on Wednesday October 18 2017, @09:00AM (6 children)
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)
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)
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)
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
Who are the cunts that vote everything "Troll"?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeGuy on Wednesday October 18 2017, @04:14PM
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
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.