Esotropiart

Have you ever *googled Google? I hadn't either until this evening. Apparently they have a pretty good handle on how to write effective web pages that are ranked quite high because basically every one of the first many pages of results is a direct link to their site via one of their many technology subdomains (though I'm sure they didn't "cheat" their own system and put their pages first). The amount of Google on the web makes my head spin. Do they have billions of employees? Yes, in fact they do, but most of them are paid far less than minimum wage. We are all Google employees in a way: promoting their service in one way, adding to their empire in another. I wouldn't be surprised if this is their underlying strategy. As another faithful blogger put it, Google's mantra might well be All your base are belong to us. Pretty astonishing if you think about it. Let me explain:

You might not have noticed, but many of Google's applications provide a way for random people to get involved with helping them index the internet (and every aspect of the world and life). Every time you opt to use a Google service as opposed to any non-web-app or non-Google option, you are promoting and furthering their empire. Everything that you create on a Google site, such as Google Calendar, Google Sitemaps, Google Page Creator, Gmail, etc. etc. etc., is entered directly into their own, proprietary database. This data can be used and analyzed for whatever end they choose, and I'm sure this is somewhere in their user agreements. Quite honestly, it is probably going to end up being the world's worst privacy battle/disaster some day. Just get one executive in there that has the brilliant idea to use the data in the wrong way, and you have the biggest nightmare lawsuit in the history of mankind. The implications are so immense, and the effect so far reaching, it is hard to imagine. While I do my part to further the Google empire by using some of their genius products, I don't really like the concept that drives it and the monopoly and over-collection of information that results. Pretty soon they will create a technology that tracks our individual heat signatures and displays our movements on Google Earth in real time, with profile pop-ups that show our birthdate, social security number, passwords to commonly visited sites, etc. There seems to be no limits being set on their strange ambitions. It actually bothers me that a technology savvy terrorist or stalker, for example, could use Google apps (or other like companies' online information) to get pretty much every bit of information they need for any vile purpose. If there is nuclear war, I'm going to camp out at Google headquarters or one of their data hubs. The enemy cannot afford to lose this valuable information resource! From the internet's infancy, I don't think any sensible laws were ever set in place to safeguard any types of information that makes its way there. It seriously wouldn't surprise me to see it play a part in world-level catastrophes - I'm sure it has already.

Okay, that was an unexpected sidetrack that should have warranted its own blog entry. Oh well. I'm a ramblin' rod to be sure. My point is that there are several Google products whose sole purpose is to get internet users to increase their database, indexing and general world-wide influence. I would have never thought much about this if I had not googled Google. I simply typed "Google", and I came up with a bunch of fascinating results. There were a couple Google apps that I had not noticed much before, or at least had forgotten about. Some of these aren't publicized and currently don't show up anywhere on Google's pages - not even Google Labs. It makes me wonder if they leave apps out there half-developed from years past, or are all of these currently being developed? I'd assume they are all current. I don't think Google would just leave them out there. Here are some examples that were new to me in recent memory:

Google Base: This is a bizarre service that Google released in 2005. If allows users to post content. That's it. Huh? Yes, literally, you can submit queries of just about any type of information you want. Want to post a list of superheroes on the internet? You can. Post your company's financial statements for the last 30 years? Go right ahead. Post a guest list to an imaginary party of mythical creatures and blender components from the planet Thebes? Sure, why not. You can actually upload lists of information in a variety of file formats, and Google will simply add your random data to its infinitely huge database of information - which will also be indexed by them and distributed to their various groups of search results and technologies. There are some sensible applications of this concept on the Google Base page, including job ads, vehicle listings, hotels, recipes, etc. - like Google's answer to Craigslist and Microsoft's Live Expo. The concept of posting infinite useless information on the web (since Google essentially is the web nowadays) is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Some of the components of Google Base have other Google app equivalents anyway, so it is essentially redundant. Products posted on Google Base are also on Froogle. Events could go on Google Calendar, etc. It's pretty weird. It's It's like like cluttering cluttering the the internet internet with with useless useless,, annoying annoying,, repetitious repetitious information information. Perhaps Base was deemed so bizarre and such a clear duplication that it was taken out of publicity until reevaluated, and that is why it can only be found by googling Google.

Google Moon: The goal of this "service" to humanity is to provide a high resolution map of the surface of the moon, much like current earth mapping software. Why? I have no idea. Perhaps Google will conquest and colonize the moon, figure out a way to convert their vast databases of digital information into sludge matter until the moon outgrows the earth, and restart civilization on their terms. It's kinda funny: if you zoom in on the moon to the highest magnification available, you see this:

Google Image Labeler: The only purpose of this tool is to provide Google with information. They don't have the manpower or money enough to farm out some of their vast work, so they get the unsuspecting public involved. With Google Image Labeler, you can play the "fun" game of providing Google with information about images to help them properly index them in their search engine. Since there is no current A.I. perfection that allows a computer to identify a "face" as opposed to a "bird" or a "muffin" or "pot of gold", they need people to do this for them. When using Image Labeler, you are paired up with a random person in the world who is doing the same mindless thing. Each of you choose several words to describe the picture in question. If your words match the other person's words, you get points. So, like if you call a picture "bird", "sky", "blue", "eagle", and "soar" - and your partner concurs on "eagle" and "soar", Google will label the picture with those common tags. This information can then be used in their various technologies. The "game" of Google Image Labeler is to see how many points you can get by matching your partner's words, and going through as many images as you can as quickly as you can. All I can say is "Fun fun fun". Forget the X-Box 360, let's play Google Image Labeler, guys! Halo parties are a thing of the past. My question is: What's stopping me from making 005.jpg a picture of a soaring eagle in front of a blue sky today, and changing the head of the eagle to be an Italian jumpsuit tomorrow? Or making it a picture of Billy Crystal? This sort of movement, renaming and manipulation happens all over the web all the time... unless they are also storing a copy of the images as well, so that the images would always match the Image Labeler's keywords. That would be a horrible copyright infringement of astronomical proportions if they are storing copies of every image on the internet for their use and manipulation!

There are a number of other applications that serve Google's purposes by creating an ever-growing database of information. One example is Google SketchUp, a program whose sole purpose is to provide 3D building information for Google Earth. If you take the time to help Google create a replication of the world in 3D space, you get... nothing. In fact, you have to pay them to get premium access to Google SketchUp, so you are essentially paying them while doing their work. It's the worst abuse of labor in history. Okay, I'm being sarcastic - there is so much corruption already in real-world labor abuse around the world that should not be made light of. Hmmm... I wonder though if anyone is considering the future of online labor abuse. Probably not. It's not really an issue as long as it's voluntary and more fun than X-Box games.

Some closing thoughts: Pretty soon someone will invent a search engine that serves for one purpose: searching ("googling") Google and their related technologies - call it Google Google. If Google and all their indexed information simply disappeared from the web, imagine what a different web it would be. I remember when Google didn't exist. It's amazing how fast things happen in the digital world. Who knows who the next giant will be. Remember when Yahoo was king, remember Amazon's boom, and E-Bay? And all in such a short time. Weird to think about.

*It's interesting to note that the verb "to google" is now a common word meaning "to search the internet", usually looking for a specific topic or person. Google is so much the de facto search engine, that it is like saying "hand me some kleenex, will ya?" or "Please xerox this for me".

Oh, and by the way, of the glues.