Monday, August 15, 2011

Today's Internet: The Abomination of Bad Business Practices

The modern internet fails because of how bad businesses (not all of them, just the ones that would take five dollars from someone even if there was another unclaimed ten on the table in front of them) have twisted it into an advertisement engine. Its original intent was to be able to share large amounts of information over long distances, allowing instant communication with large amounts of people anywhere in the world. But these money-lusting scrooges have to find new ways to fill their seemingly bottomless pockets.

We use it because we really don't have a choice otherwise. E-Mail is mandatory for most services, both internet and non-internet. It's just too hard to not use it.

How to combat this failware:  Cross your fingers and hope that the world ends in 2012.

Failrating: 5/5

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Google Accounts: Why it fails and why we use it anyway

Well, there are several reasons why Google Accounts fails. First of all, it's not secure. Not only is having one password for so many important services (one account, actually), but you don't have to use your recovery E-Mail address to recover a lost account. You can essentially use any email address provided you know some account details (last successful log-in, address, connected services, etc.), making it easy to exploit Youtube's copyright system to hijack someone's account. It actually happened to my old account (40kendgame@gmail.com).

Secondly, it caused a lot of issues when it was first implemented. Super40KEndgame was the second account I lost because of Google Accounts. The first was my old 40KEndgame account, due to a server glitch not accepting my old E-mail address (teamkobra@bellsouth.net) as valid.

Finally, it makes it hard to maintain privacy. Google uses targeted advertising. Google Traxxas Slash once and in a few days you'll see ads for NitroRCX all over the place. Google Team Fortress 2 and you get Modern Warfare 2 ads.

Why do we use it? Two reasons:
1. It's mandatory. Everyone uses some Google service. The most common ones are Youtube and Blogger.
2. It's trendy. Google equals cool according to "everyone".

How to combat this failware?
It's ultimately impossible. Cross your fingers and hope Google gets bought out in your lifetime, something less likely than getting struck by lightning twice.

Failrating: 4/5