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Tag Archive: dead

Google Pulls The Plug On Goog – 411 Service

Posted October 8, 2010 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb15 Google Pulls The Plug On Goog – 411 Service

Remember Goog – 411? The 911 for business listings started back in 2007. It was available for free and people could get listings on their mobile devices via SMS as well other than using voice commands to control the same. However, Google now thinks it has stretched the service long enough and its time to pull the plug.

The reason why the service was launched wasn’t really because Google wanted to be the dervish and help people out. The search giant was primarily concerned with collecting voice data to improve its Voice recognition technology. This is exactly what we see on numerous smartphones with us, primarily the Android and on the iPhone, Nokia, Windows and the BlackBerry smartphones.

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Wave Takes A Bow As Google Waves It Goodbye

Posted August 4, 2010 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb23 Wave Takes A Bow As Google Waves It Goodbye

Google Wave is done with further development. No need to panic, the service was a bit too difficult for an average user to understand despite being one of the most powerful and interactive service that married instant messaging with Twitter and email, it never really got traction from users. Primarily because it was difficult to play around with, thanks to the likes of Twitter, Gtalk, MSN Messenger, etc that have made us lazy and more accustomed to less simpler services.

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Joost takes a hit to death….Adconion grabs the pieces

Posted November 24, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb96 Joost takes a hit to death….Adconion grabs the pieces

After all the time fighting for survival, Joost today breathed its last. Well that isn’t all, the leftovers, which include the privately held assets of Joost have been acquired by Adconion Media Group. Adconion is the largest global audience and content network and it has taken care of not letting out the terms and conditions of the deal. All is done for now, at least there will be no more news coming in from Joost, unless of course it decides to rise from the dead again. In the words of its co-founder, Janus Friis:

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Google pulls the shutters on Grand Central – who needed it?

Posted November 22, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb85 Google pulls the shutters on Grand Central – who needed it?

After acquiring it in 2007, Google has finally decided to pull the plug on Grand Central. Grand Central was or rather it is now Google Voice and Google had done quite a lot to improve it over time but it apparently fills in no purpose. The accounts were already shifted to Google Voice earlier. Since we all have Google Voice to go with, it won’t really matter if Grand Central exists or not, does it?

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Zembly falls in Darkness as Sun Microsystems pulls the plug

Posted November 10, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb34 Zembly falls in Darkness as Sun Microsystems pulls the plug

The bold vision of Sun Microsystems all of a sudden just lost it all and therefore the sun will set on it. I am talking about Zembly; the project it launched a year or two back and was set to provide an app development platform that would help bring forward innovative ideas. But I guess those were just boastful words and it failed the expectations big time and users have been notified that it will suspending the service on November 30th. Well, luckily I am not sad since I was never a part of it or got carried away by all the air Sun gave to it. This adds another to the Web-cemetery.

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Rise from the Grave DotBlu!.. Only if it you call it TownHog!

Posted November 9, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb27 Rise from the Grave DotBlu!.. Only if it you call it TownHog!

I dislike it when companies change names every now and then. Why? Are they superstitious that a particular name is cursed or something? DotBlu made me ask all this, once again, as it has done so for the third time all the way from BlueBet to DotBlu and now to TownHog. What’s interesting here is that the service had given up on all hopes and was confirmed dead last month but not anymore as it rises from the dead branded as TownHog. The working changes as it make a shift from being a betting platform. TownHog works simply as it features a deal in almost every city on a daily basis and you can recruit buyers from numerous social networks like Facebook and Twitter or even using the email. Sounds fun enough and we hope that this is the last time it goes about changing the name or ending up in a grave.

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DotBlu gives it up, heads to the cemetery

Posted October 22, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb53 DotBlu gives it up, heads to the cemetery

DotBlu, the betting site that let users place fake bets on various subjects ranging from sports to technology has lost the battle to stay online. The site had quite renowned backers including the likes of Kevin Hartz, Jawed Karim, Keith Rabois but it appears that wasn’t enough to keep it going and all it reads now is just a short note informing members about its closure. I guess everyone is used to it; the idea of certain startups just failing to lift off.

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Lookery heads to its grave

Posted August 21, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb113 Lookery heads to its grave

The Web cemetery keeps getting populated as more services cease to exist. The latest to head to it is Lookery, the advertising and user targeting ad network. Sad to hear that as the startup had been around since 2007. The startup had problems monetizing the ad network for social networks although it did offer a good incentive per thousand impressions but they didn’t prove to be enough. The last time it raised a round was back in September 2008 and I guess it did realize that it depended too much on Facebook alone, something which didn’t work out at all. What ever that be, it is too late now and the ad network must crawl to its last abode.

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Tipjoy takes dive into the grave, shuts down

Posted August 21, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb110 Tipjoy takes dive into the grave, shuts down

After letting its users learn and get tips from their fans, Tipjoy was unsuccessful at finding the right tip to keep itself breathing. The startup announced earlier that it wont be in service any longer and that users who have any balance due on Tipjoy can cash out. The site wasn’t an all out failure and did make progress but I guess that progress alone wasn’t enough to encourage it founders to push it further. It’s always sad to report a demise of any service on the Web, but this one as well has to book a grave in Web-etery (cemetery).

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Riya is done with being online, to unplug on August 21

Posted August 14, 2009 by Sardar Mohkim Khan

image thumb62 Riya is done with being online, to unplug on August 21

Undertakers we have another one coming your way as Riya breaths its last. The facial recognition service has finally given up after surviving the worst part of the economic crisis and will shut down on August 21. The service had been around since 2005 and made recognizing friends in photos easy. Riya did have its high times when it looked forward to a deal shaping up with Google, but it never really happened. Sad to report this but if you are its user, you wont be seeing it around after a week.

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